What an exciting day at the track! Another in the long line of Slowpokes events, this one proved to be a challenge on a couple different levels. This was a test day for three items; New StopTech brakes, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires (on '91 factory rims) and EXP4 fuel and oil additives.

My buddy John F. came up to the track for the day to see what going fast was all about. He didn't have a helmet, so Fred was kind enough to lend him one of his. Having a passenger does add to the car's weight, and I could feel the difference, but it was great letting someone who's never experienced 145 mph straights, 125 mph corners, heavy braking and a near "off track experience" see what its all about. His eyes were pretty big after the rear stepped out a couple times, but I think it was good for him - it builds character!

So lets get to the excitement! As I said, the tire test was a part of the days experimenting, so I did a little research, talked to the guys at Tire Rack and came up with hot tire temps at 35 front and 38 rear. Things started well, as I drove at 85% getting use to the feel of the car with a passenger. Braking was many times better with the new brake setup - stopping distance was definitely shorter, and they felt very positive with no fade at all. The Pilots felt great during braking, but under acceleration out of the corners they seemed slick - causing under steer push and over steer slide balanced on a razor thin throttle line. It was way too twitchy when I was driving as aggressively as I ever have, and really was pushing the tires in all aspects. After session one I saw a lot of melted rubber balls on the tires - far more than the Kumos ever did, but as I don't have a pyrometer (yet) all I could do was check air pressure, and it was right were the Michelin guys suggested. As I wasn't getting side wall rollover, and it didn't seem to be using just the center of the tire, (I know, as nonscientific as I can get) the pressures didn't seem to be the problem. I was just plain over heating the tires. I'll have to get back to you on better data and another test. I haven't given up on these yet, I just need to know more.

Back to the brakes; these things are a giant step above the stopping power of the factory rotors w/similar pads. Running flat out into 3, I started braking one whole marker later and still had room for safety. With a little work I could do even better. For those who want to maintain stock wheel sizes, this is the best mod you can do to your car (plus sway bars). It's huge.

As for the EXP4 products, I'd have to say that there is a marked increase in gaining revs exiting corners, and the mechanical "engine noise" level is easily half of what it was. You know when you have the engine cover off and the glass open, you hear that valve train noise? Not any more! Less noise means less friction which means faster revs = more horse power. With crappy tires (but better brakes) I was at least 4 seconds a lap faster than a month ago. I'll continue to use EXP4 and add more testing details (as well as a trip to the dyno) coming up. Performance was easily better as gauged by my speed and acceleration on the main straight. At one point, I came out of 10 with Phil's Porsche a few lengths ahead of me. I pulled to the right and came up next to him - waved - and left him. Of course he caught me in the corners (I blame the tires!) but the car was the fastest it's ever been on the straights. Go buy some EXP4 and let me know how it works for you.

Then it got exciting! As I said, the tires were a little squirrely coming out of corners, and I had a couple wiggles that were easy to correct for - and one that wasn't. Heading out of 5 I got into the gas a little early and the back started coming around. I figured I could just stay on it and power my way out, but it just kept on going! I did a lift/re-throttle blip, corrected back the other way and was sliding exactly the same amount the other direction. Two more of those little whips and I got it pointed the right direction with two wheels on the gravel, still going 45. I pulled off, kept rolling, checked for traffic and pulled back on. Easy! John was pretty excited at that point, but that's what friends are for. He said he's never seen hands move so fast before. Knowing that "four tires off = black flag" I cruised back to pit lane and checked to car over - no problems. Back out on the track and away we went with a little bit of an idea of just where the edge is with these tires.

I was pushing it, using N2O pretty much any time I was straight and keeping the revs high. A few sessions later, I was coming out of 5 again when I noticed a sever lack of grip in the rear - even more than normal. I checked gauges to find the water temp nearly at the top, and oil temp the high side of 290. As I watched, the check engine light came on so I shut it down and coasted into the pits. At this point, I'm thinking there's parts of my motor all over the track. Hmmm, overheating, broken hose, what do I have going on I ask. I find out that the lack of grip was from the coolant that sprayed all over my driver's rear tire from the overflow tube (let me tell you, THAT little feature is going to get fixed ASAP!) dumping down onto the cross member. This is good news I say, as that means I didn't blow a hose which I would NOT be able to find in northern Minnesota. OK, so what made it overheat?

A couple calls to the dealer and a few options come up; stuck shut thermostat, air bubble, or air being introduced into the system via the head gasket. Well there's no foam in the oil, but air could still be getting squeezed into the coolant by a weak gasket. I hope for the best, let it cool and run up to the local Honda store to get a jug of coolant and some lunch. I head back, add about a half a gallon (!) back to the system, tap the t/stat housing, and fire it up. It seems to work just fine, doesn't go past three bars on the coolant temp gauge, the check engine light is off, but the radiator doesn't get hot even after 15 minutes of idling. I need gas anyway, so I take it out the front gate to the Tom Thumb, put in a half tank and start driving back when the check engine light comes on again. I have oil pressure, it's not hot, I check for dripping fluids - everything seems fine. Back to the pits at a crawl. Once there, I figure I better jumper the check engine connection and get the code(s) for the light. I'm not very happy at this point, but what can you do.

So being Mr. Prepared, I had the service manual with me. I have never done the jumper thing before, so I go to look it up in the book - and take 1/2 hour to find it! For those who need to know, the Engine Troubleshooting section starts on page 11-16. The connector to jumper is located in the passenger foot well. Pull back the carpet on the right top and you'll see a blue connector plugged into a "dead end" contact protector. Follow the instructions for reading the code. I did, and found that my light was error 41 - front O2 sensor heater failure. This is a cold start emissions feature, so I could give a rat's butt. I reset the ECU just to be sure, and the error comes back. I decide to say "screw it - if it ain't really broke, lets go racing!" I did two more sessions hoping that the head gasket was OK, and ran about 85% and stayed off the juice. It was good to know the car was working, not losing fluid, getting hot or otherwise making bad noises.

After the event, I drove the 2 hours home and it ran fine. I was still wondering about the possible head gasket issue. I brought it to the dealer to have the t/stat replaced (as a precaution) and the system flushed. They tested the old coolant and found no contaminates or carbon! Hoorah! I don't have to pull the motor apart just yet.

So then all I had to do was replace that front O2 sensor. I had Susan Tableman from Goodson Acura in Texas send me up a new one for $148 skins and went to install it myself. Yeah, right. I have the RM stainless headers and that old sensor is nearly welded on. I tried for two hours to weasel that bastard out of there to no avail. I let the dealer take a crack at it and they couldn't do it either! It's in a bad spot and there is just no room between the header and the firewall to work. The front header will have to come off to replace it, and that means some pretty serious surgery. I decided to leave it alone for now. The O2 sensor still works, it's the heater that's broke - it just decided to die while I was at the track and scare the hell out of me. Again, nice. I'll wait until I do the oil pump upgrade to take the whole bottom of my car apart. Until then, I get to have the check engine light glowing at me - I just hope I don't have a REAL check engine condition because I won't know until it's too late!

Sorry I don't have more pics, but I was a little busy.