A long time coming: Robbie's EP3

I wrote an article on this car once before in an attempt to get a job. Didn't work. Some crap about not reaching a word minimum. Sounds just like school. But that's all behind me now and I'm finally going to write about it the way I damn well please and not to meet some stupid requirements. This is way overdue and I should probably be listening to my professor right now or doing homework that's due tonight but "frankly my dear, I don't give a Damn"!

First and foremost, I am a NISMO man, always have been, always will be. That being said, I have a sort of bittersweet relationships with Hondas. I got my first ticket not a month after I got my restricted license. My punishment? spending the summer driving my mom's car. Blech. Turns out my mom had a '98 accord. 4 doors, leather interior, japanese luxury...you get the idea. But thank the lord that my dad had a say in buying it. His only condition was that the car came with the V6. that is where my punishment became fun. It introduced me to the mighty and legendary VTEC!!!!1!! (I know, I know, it's i-VTEC, but still). The engine sounded like it was trying to eat it's way out of the crumple zones encasing it. I loved walking away from my friend's '98 stang. All good times from my highschool years but Robbie's civic is different...and yet.

The EP3 is strange. It oozes Honda: not bland but not exciting styling, economy, ergonomics, practicality, comfort, all wrapped around a nice little nugget of surprise. Robbie's car is not fast in a straight line. It is not heavily modified. It is uber-stock. yet driving it or riding with him still brings back those immature tire-shredding days in a grocery getter. It is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's limits are far beyond what it's humble grin expresses. And the ever so quietly puttering engine has the potential for greatness. It is in fact a K20A3. A variant of the superman of 4-cylinder powaaaaaa, the K20A2. But for now, it's happy staying under the radar. And that's why it's so fun. It's like a boxer fighting with weights on. It's like putting a Monet in the closet. Its like a stripper keeping her clothes on. It knows it has the potential for attention, but it's happy right where it is. That's where I respect it most. It is quick enough and asks for nothing more.

Being the Z guy that I am, it felt like cheating on my car driving the Civic. Nissan and Honda remind me of Ford and Chevy: both accomplishing sporty goals through different methods. But as much as I prefer Nissans and Robbie prefers Hondas, we can agree on one thing: at least it's not a Toyota!

Autocrossing

This is the fourth time I've started this post. I really don't know what to say, so I'll just give my account of things. Yesterday, my parents got up at 6:30 on a saturday to drive from Charleston to Clemson. In the back seat of our family truck was a set of black 17x8 Enkei RPF1's with 245/45 ZR17 Dunlop Star Specs with the chemicals still clinging to the rubber. My first sponsorship, and the beginning of much high-speed mayhem. They were on their way to the last spring autocross for the CSCC this year. With a paddock of 65 people, we were allotted 5 runs per person divided into 3 run groups. I ran in the third for my parents. The first run consisted of me sliding and fighting my way through the course, mom riding shotgun. She handled herself well, other than pulling the emergency brake in panic. She went for run two and was done. My friend Zach G. (who has attained disgusting amounts of control in our crappy little club car) rode for runs three and four. My fifth run was the fastest, but still not quite where I wanted it to be. I ended up with tires that are properly worn in and an overall placement of 39th, 10th out of 12 in my class. Things I've learned: 1. New wheels and tires change every dynamic of a car. The looks, the grip, the turn-in, the acceleration, the braking... Everything. 2. I expect too much of myself and my beast and 3. I am surrounded by the most supporting friends and parents I could hope for. I thank my friends for making me feel better about losing to them and my parents for driving a total of 8 hours yesterday just to bring me my sponsorship incentives. Having talked to many of the people who have teams and race specific cars, I feel like I'm on the right track to be a driver/engineer/hotrodder. This is my dream and with the help of the people I surround myself with and a lot of hard work and perseverance, I can become just that. So thank you to my sponsor: Wholesale Wheel in N. Charleston, thank you to the people who keep me going, and thank you to my amazing family. I couldn't have done it without ya'll.

UPDATE! Well my good friend Patrick McGinnis is a photographer and got the last of his pictures up on his website. there were four of my car and I. We had a standing bet that if I could three wheel my car in front of him and he got the shot, he'd send me a print of it. Lo-and-behold, with the new rubber getting worn in by the late runs and Zach's extra weight on the passenger side, there it is. My left rear tire exiting the sweeper is ever so slightly off the ground. The print goes in the mail today, and I'm going to practice to find ways to make more stunning and dramatic shots for him. Patrick's site: http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/

Keep the motor running.