2012 Honda Civic Si Wows At SEMA Show

Limited-edition Honda Factory Performance kit unveiled and Honda Performance Development reveals new grassroots racing program for the Civic Si
11/01/2011 - LAS VEGAS
Seven modified 2012 Civic Si Coupes and Sedans are featured prominently in the Honda booth at the 2011 SEMA Show, which opens today. The all-new 2012 Civic Si Coupe and Civic Si Sedan emphasize the performance potential of the Civic lineup and represent great platforms for vehicle personalization. Several significant vehicles are being unveiled at the show, including a 2012 Civic Si Coupe equipped with a limited-edition Honda Factory Performance™ (HFP™) package, the Honda Performance Development, Inc. (HPD) Compass360 Racing HPD 2012 Civic Si Coupe Racecar, the Accord Coupe HFP Concept and several vehicles equipped with Honda Genuine Accessories.

“The Honda Civic was instrumental in the first import-tuner movement in the U.S. during the ‘80s,” said Bruce Smith, vice president of Service and Technical Operations for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “The all-new Civic Si builds on that proud history by offering inspiring performance, improved fuel economy and a great platform for personalization.”

Show-goers will get the first look at the 2012 Civic Si Coupe fitted with a limited-edition HFP package. Limited to only 500 complete kits and on sale today at Honda dealers in the U.S., the package includes: high-performance springs, reducing ride height by 15 mm; high-performance dampers tuned for enhanced road handling and decreased body roll; 18x7 inch HFP Alloy Wheels; full HFP aerodynamic body kit; HFP carpet floor mats; red ambient interior illumination; and, HFP emblems. All of the painted parts will come color-matched to each of the seven available Civic Si Coupe colors.

After unveiling the Compass360 Racing HPD 2012 Civic Si Coupe Racecar, HPD provided details about its new racing performance parts program for the all-new Civic Coupe. Earlier this year, HPD began sales of Civic bodies-in-white, also on display. For builders of racecars, starting their build with a body-in-white represents significant cost and labor savings when compared to the purchase and conversion of a fully-equipped production car. Sales of the body-in-white began in July, and HPD has delivered a number to licensed race teams thus far, priced at $3,500 each. Additionally, HPD will soon offer HPD-designed parts and branded racing components for the new Civic through the Honda Racing Line. These racing parts are tailored for use in the SCCA World Challenge and Grand Am's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. They will be available early in 2012, and full details and pricing will be available at that time.

Combining the expertise of HPD and the styling and performance history of HFP, the Accord Coupe V6 HFP Concept features a full suite of currently-available HFP components. HPD guided the creation of the “concept,” which includes a supercharger and performance air intake and exhaust systems. Building upon a stock 3.5-liter V6 engine, the supercharged engine is estimated to produce 335 hp and 285 ft. lbs of torque (up 64 hp and 34 ft. lbs vs. stock car). This vehicle was modified to demonstrate the performance potential of the Accord V6 coupe and to gauge consumer interest. Honda has no current production plans for the concept.

Sporting available Honda Genuine Accessories, the 2012 Civic Si Sedan shows that performance and style can come with four doors. It features 18x7 inch HFP alloy wheels, all-season floor mats, trunk tray, cargo net, cargo hook and splash guards. All Honda Genuine Accessories, including HFP components, offer a 3-year/36,000 mile warranty like the Civic itself, if they are purchased and installed at the time of new vehicle purchase, and are engineered to be fully compatible with each Honda vehicle.

Nestled amongst two previously-seen Honda-modified CR-Z sport hybrids, the HPD CR-Z Hybrid R Concept and the CR-Z with MUGEN accessories, is a stand-alone HPD CR-Z engine concept equipped with a supercharger. This 1.5-liter engine concept builds upon HPD’s experience with the turbocharged HPD CR-Z Racer that competed at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill last year and represents HPD’s continued exploration of the performance potential of the CR-Z.

Reaching out to the import community, Honda invited three independent vehicle tuners to build and display their Civic Si concepts at the SEMA Show. Tuners were asked to push the limits of performance and style with their builds, and the vehicles on display demonstrate the personalized potential of the Si Coupe and Sedan. Following last year’s amazing CR-Z build, Bisimoto Engineering delivered a 1004 hp version of the Civic Si Coupe. Having previously built two generations of Fit project vehicles, Tjin Edition brings its own take on the Civic Si Sedan, showing that style and performance can coexist with kids and a family. And making its Honda SEMA Show debut, Fox Marketing pulled out all of the stops to create a wide-body, turbo-charged version of the Civic Si Coupe.

Vehicles on Display at the Honda Booth
From American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
2012 Civic Si Coupe with limited-edition HFP™ package
2012 Civic Si Sedan with Honda Genuine Accessories
2012 Accord Coupe V6 HFP™ Concept
2011 CR-Z with MUGEN Accessories
2012 Civic Si Coupe modified by blink-182 for the Honda Civic Tour

Historic Civic models from the American Honda Collection
2000 Civic Si Challenge winner (by Superstreet magazine)
1975 Civic 3dr

From Honda Performance Development, Inc.
2012 HPD Compass
360 World Challenge Spec Civic Si racecar
2012 Civic Coupe body-in-white
2011 CR-Z Hybrid R Concept HPD CR-Z engine concept with supercharger (engine only)

Aftermarket Project Vehicles
Bisimoto Engineering 2012 Civic Si Coupe
Fox Marketing 2012 Civic Si Coupe
Tjin Edition 2012 Civic Si Sedan

Source;
http://www.hondanews.com/channels/corporate-headlines/releases/2012-honda-civic-si-wows-at-sema-show

Inside Honda Performance Development

By Carlos Lago of www.motortrend.com
"Oh cute," I'm thinking, "Honda's strapped a wing and a roll cage to a CR-Z and called it a racecar." Burbling out of pit lane at Willow Springs Raceway in the Honda CR-Z Racer, with what sounds like a swarm of bees armed with a megaphone in tow, I roll on the throttle. Suddenly the tach needle jumps by two thousand rpm, the front wheels jolt, the steering wheel scrambles in my hand, and I'm heading into turn one much faster than anticipated.

This white and red concoction of turbochargers, nickel cobalt magnesium batteries, and racing slicks is the work of Honda Performance Development, a research and development subsidiary of the Japanese automaker that focuses solely on racing. Based in Valencia, California, the roller coasters at Six Flags Magic Mountain are visible from the road that approaches HPD's two-story, 125,000 square foot building. Home to an engine assembly hall, machining rooms, dynos, and so on, HPD is responsible for producing about one-third of the engines for IndyCar -- each of which takes 120 hours -- and for developing products for ALMS, go-karts, SCCA World challenge racers, quarter midgets, and SEMA show pieces.

Hence, the CR-Z Racer I'm fumbling around the big track at Willow Springs. It bowed at SEMA last year, alongside a group of similarly modified stable mates, with a turbocharged 1.5-liter I-4 and a higher output battery pack; combined, the package makes right around 190 horsepower. The hybrid system offers interesting approaches to racing. The 25 horsepower and 65 pound-feet of torque Honda estimates it delivers can be activated by pressing a button, push-to-pass style. The powertrain can even revert to an economy setting for endurance races. How well does it work? Honda entered two CR-Zs at the arduous 25 Hours of Thunderhill (a race famous for its "I survived the 25" finish line slogan) one of which placed second in class and ninth overall.

If there were a finishing place for fun-factor, the result might've been similar. The CR-Z is exceedingly hilarious. It is not a fast car, although it offers admirable acceleration in the upper arches of its powerband. The CR-Z's strength is maintaining speed. Its 17-inch wheels are shod in BFGoodrich racing slicks which beg to be pushed harder corner after corner. After a two-lap taste, I want to gorge.

The CR-Z Racer remains a small part of HPD's interests, which range from top-tier IndyCar and ALMS series to grassroots efforts. In 2010, the SCCA approved a variant of the Fit-based 1.5-liter engine for use in Formula Ford, or as it's now known officially, Formula F. The engine that powers your Honda generator? HPD turns that into a mill for quarter midget racing. It also takes 125 cc dirt bike engines and readies them for go-karts.

Most recently, Honda has been working with other manufacturers to introduce B Spec, a racing series for subcompacts like the Fit. The cars rely on production components -- engine, transmission, and chassis -- to drive down the cost of entry; a finished racecar should total around $25,000. Required changes for safety include a roll cage, suspension upgrades, wheels and tires, and a few other pieces, and HPD will, of course, offer these parts for your Fit. Mazda has been gung-ho with its Mazda2 -- such that it and Honda debuted the two racecars simultaneously. Ford and Kia have subsequently prepared versions of the Fiesta and Rio for competition. Toyota may even offer a Yaris. The series is rapidly gaining traction, and the automakers plan on having the cars performance balanced soon (a process that ensures that all cars perform on an equal level).

DEPENDABLE RACE CARS
Honda calls itself the most dependable name in racing and eagerly backs up the claim. Since becoming the sole supplier, HPD's IndyCar V-8s have broken records for reliability; the last in-race engine failure happened in 2009. Such performance is the result of scrupulous investigation. A materials analysis room at HPD is the home of countless slivers of metal and rubber, material encased in plastic. Each one has a story to tell. A piston, for example, is cross-sectioned, sliced thinly like a steak. Across the length of the slice, every few millimeters, HPD takes measurements to see what temperatures the metal has experienced. Knowing the temperatures means knowing how far the pistons can be pushed in the future, or how much to back off.

Other pieces tell stories of tragedy. A square gasket, no taller than a coffee mug, hangs from a wire stand. It's from Fernandez Racing's ARX-01b, the then Acura-branded American Le Mans prototype, which finished second overall at the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring. During the post-race inspection, the engine refused to stall after its intakes were plugged (ALMS requires all air entering an engine to go through inlet restrictors). The team was disqualified. After an intense search, HPD found that the supplier responsible for the small gasket switched glues during production. That glue failed and the gasket unseated, allowing extra air through. Though a small, seemingly insignificant piece, the gasket cost the team the race. HPD doesn't forget, and team members still sour when telling the story.

The injury is one to ego. HPD knows the ins and outs of its hardware, as most of it is factory spec. The V-6 the new ARX-01d chassis relies upon is based on a stock Honda Accord engine. HPD changes the crank, cam profile, and adds two turbochargers. There's your race engine.

When I toured the facility, I was guided to one of the dyno rooms, where an example of the twin-turbo V-6 sat. In the isolated room, the bare engine was hooked to an innumerable amount of wires, looking ready to enter the Matrix. We entered an adjacent room for monitoring, separated from the dyno chamber by two heavy doors. We watched as the engine ran a simulated lap of Sebring raceway, using data gathered from a race. The suspended engine revved to its 6200-rpm limiter, simulated an up shift, and continued again. Its sound is a flat and low burble, the piping around the turbochargers quickly glows orange. When needed, HPD will run an engine for 24 hours to simulate the rigors of endurance racing. I closed my eyes and pictured running a lap, downshifting for braking, maintaining throttle during long corners. At one point the engine audibly shot past limiter. "Over rev," the technician says. The driver from when this data was gathered put a tire on the slippery painted curbing, getting wheel spin.

This type of development is one of HPD's contributions to Honda products. Since its inception in 1993, HPD has learned much about efficiently developing cars for extreme scenarios. For example, HPD doesn't rely on wind tunnel testing anymore, favoring computational fluid dynamics, or CFD, until race day. Eliminating wind tunnels means eliminating costly and time-consuming scale models; designing and building a front splitter for that 50 percent scale ALMS prototype costs $25,000. The company relies on computing power and claims no downsides. The team says it has so much success with the process that they can take a prototype out on a shakedown and it will perform just as CFD predicted. Passing this expertise on to the parent company has the potential to cut development time and costs.

Admittedly, I wasn't thinking about development practices while heading towards turn one at Big Willow. I was thinking about attempting the fast left-hander in fourth gear and pushing those tires harder. I wasn't thinking "Oh, cute" anymore. I was thinking that while the showroom may not inspire the enthusiast within, enthusiasm for racing is alive and well at Honda.

Source;

http://www.motortrend.com/features/performance/1110_inside_honda_performance_development/

Report: Honda confirms ‘new NSX’ in the works

With so many renditions to choose from....
Honda is reviving the NSX with an all new version of the sportscar icon, revealed by president and CEO Takanodu Ito.

Part of what Ito is setting out to enhance is the power-to-weight ratio, as he comments “I spent part of my early career at Honda developing the NSX, and specifically the aluminum body…I really enjoyed that experience, and learned much, so it is my wish that Honda engineers have the experience of developing a sportscar like the NSX in the future. Within Honda, our engineers are already looking at developing such a car.”

Previous plans for a 2010 release of the NSX were up cancelled due to economic decline back in 2008. Since then, Honda has decided to enhance the sport aspect of the brand, but in a manner more conducive to the economic climate.

Ito says “Our recent efforts have been focused on fuel efficiency, and that perhaps gives the impression Honda is behind with pushing the brand image of sportiness, but let me assure you that is not the case…We will address that impression with our new generation of cars.”
- By: Alexandra Koken

Source;
http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/09/13/honda-confirms-new-nsx-supercar/