| Soundbase's weapon of choice is a Honda Civic hatchback.
Not a modified SiR, mind you, but a genuine Type R straight from Japan.
This means of course a DOHC VTEC engine, at a higher state of tune than
the SiR's. The engine is managed by a Mugen ECU, and together with
exhaust modifications, the engine output is a meaty 185 bhp. The
suspension is also by Mugen, and it's stiff enough that the car can stand
on three wheels when cornering. Brakes are the same as a Honda NSXs.
Clearly there wasn't much risk of a brake failure here. If you tune
in to Star TV for the Southeast Asian Touring Car races, this is the very
same car that you'll see blasting its way around Subic and other courses.
Soundbase driver Angelo Barretto explained that their Civic Type R was
at a power disadvantage compared to the aforementioned Civic SiRs and "Corolla
Atlantic", by perhaps 20 and 65 bhp respectively. However, the Type
R exhibited a better balance due to its racing suspension and brakes.
Also, its chassis was reinforced at just the right places to ensure that
cornering was optimized. He hoped that this superior handling combined
with his driving would be enough to win that day.
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| Redline Racing brought
three Civics into the Supercup Division, but the biggest surprise didn't
come from them. |
|
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| Wild, fun and fast...Soundbase'
Civic Type-R was the best handling car of the bunch and still managed to
finish in a high grid position despite using road tires compared to slicks. |
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| This has got to be the
weirdest entry into the Supercup division: a Toyota Corolla with a Toyota
Atlantic engine. That's 250-bhp in a boring Corolla shell! Now, if you
could just listen to its low-bass voice too... |
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