Keep the pedal down till the needle hits the red stuff. These are the first words Joji Donald says to me when I climb behind the wheel of his '99 Civic Si. It takes me a while to register what he's just said. My mind instantly jumps to the conclusion that Joji is asking me to beat on the car, which may or may not be his intention. I don't know because I don't even pause to ask. I obey the orders that are given to me and scream through the gears.
The B18C5 Type R engine sounds like a beefy buzz saw. It winds from the low-to-high rpms up to VTEC and beyond without a stutter or hesitation. It doesn't take long for me to run out of gearing, which is probably a good thing because I'm on my way toward either collecting a well- deserved ticket or putting the car into a cement retaining wall.
"How does it compare to the Spoon Integra?" Joji asks, and it's a worthy question. This is just how good the Civic Si runs. It warrants comparisons to the best in the world. It's not just a street car. It's a fully tuned track car that's been prepped for the street. Lose some of the weight, add a rollcage, and the proper driver, and you would have a circuit car capable of some killer lap times.
Joji, the marketing director for DC Sports, admits that the race-ready toughness of the Civic Si comes from his personal experience working with the manufacturer's World Challenge Touring Car campaign three years ago (the company left the race series after the 1999 season). "Spending a year with the DC Sports race team working on the two Type R race cars and seeing all the cool things that could be done to the cars and the motors put a thought in my head," he says. "What would one of these [Integra Type R] race motors be like on a street car?"
Yes, the wheels started turning in Joji's industrious mind. "I noticed race parts all over the Research and Development shop an engine block here, a head over there," he says. "I thought it would be cool to build a motor from all these parts and see what kind of power we could get without having to go by a set of rules."
How much power? Two hundred and two max hp to be exact the result of a bulletproof motor that's been tricked to the hilt. We're talking about a lightweight bottom end made up of DC Sports World Challenge spec (11.0:1 compression) pistons (built by JE Pistons), Crower connecting rods, and Honda piston rings and crankshaft. The head has seen a port and polish job and has been outfitted with JUN camshafts and valvesprings to go along with Ferrea .5mm oversized valves and Crower titanium retainers. That's more than a heavy handful. And we haven't even gotten to the bolt-on parts yet.
As I mentioned before, Joji works at DC Sports, so you'd think that he'd get a pretty snazzy deal on the company's bolt-on power parts. Well, think again, brainiac. This Civic had to work hard for its money. It served as guinea pig in the research and development phase of the DC Sports Civic Si product line. Joji even points out that the brand-spankin' new twin canister system exhaust currently on the car is still a prototype version. I guess it's a good thing he works for DC and not DeLorean.
Believe it or not, pounding on the car takes its toll after a while not on the car, but on my mental state. This is especially true when the car is so well put together. No, it doesn't have a wide mouth kit that's been molded in a hundred different places. No, it hasn't been shaved and paint matched with a glass-flaked honey mustard shade that's never been seen before by humankind. And no, the interior hasn't been re-upholstered in a rare breed of llama's wool. It's the motor. There's just something wrong with pushing something that's been put together so well that hard. I know it can take it. But it just doesn't make sense like an El Debarge reunion tour. And so, I stop the car, hand the keys back to Joji, and lift myself out of the Recaro seats. It's not an easy thing to do. (Did I mention that the car has Volk Racing SE37K wheels and a full H&R Springs coilover setup?) Who knows when another nutter will toss me the keys to his fully tuned ride again. Better make a mental note to call Acura and ask for an NSX in Type S trim. Yes, definitely a Type S. That will calm me down.