turn3 doesn’t just create automotive apparel because it’s the in thing to do; they have a strong love and passion for cars and motorsports. That’s why they were extremely excited to announce the debut of their race team for 2006. There are many platforms that could have been chosen for their first venture into professional motor sports and in the end turn3 teamed up with Honda and Motegi to campaign their new ‘06 Civic Si coupe in the NASA Honda Challenge Series.
Glenn Oyoung of turn3 was especially enthusiastic about getting the new Si. “We were very excited to get our hands on a new SI before the general public, for sure,” Oyoung commented. One of the best parts about turn3’s racing program is that they have signed on the very talented Andy Hope as their driver. Hope was the 2003 H1 Class Champion in NASA’s Honda Challenge Series, so even though this is turn3’s inaugural season they have the advantage of a seasoned driver.
When I asked Glenn about what racing the Honda Challenge means to turn3 he explained: "First and foremost, as car freaks we're all excited to have the chance to get behind the wheel, get on-track, and have lots of fun. For turn3 it's a chance to show our customers that we're car lovers too and we put our money where our mouth is." You can definitely see that turn3 isn't just doing this for the fun but because they take this stuff seriously.
Now that we know a little background on the turn3 road racing program let's take a closer look at the car itself. Out of the box, the new Si is already a very potent sport compact coupe. The Honda gods have blessed the latest incarnation of the Si with a near-200HP iVTEC motor mated to a 6-speed close ratio transmission AND a helical limited-slip differential. These specs alone prove that Honda is serious about taking back its share of the extremely competitive sport compact car market.
Honda also made it very easy to turn the new Si into a front-wheel drive track monster, and that's exactly what turn3 did with it. There aren't too many engine modifications allowed in the Honda Challenge Series so turn3's main priority was to get as much performance possible without exceeding the stringent regulations of the Honda Challenge boundaries. Luckily the team has Andrew Horn of PASSWORD: JDM as its crew chief. Horn is an experienced technician and has been with this project from the start. An aspiring race driver himself, he is well aware of what important elements a race car should have and has the know-how to do all the wrenching himself.
Since engine modifications are strictly limited in this particular series Horn knew that his first priority was to help the K-series engine breathe better. For that task the team reached out to their friend Lawson Mollica at AEM. The team's first mod was to enhance the Si with the race proven performance of AEM/DC sports products. An AEM cold air intake sucks in cold air from the wheel well while the motor exhales through a combination for off-road use only (read: CARB, what's CARB?) - a DC sports competition header that feeds into a competition exhaust. These changes alone gave the already sweet-sounding exhaust note a throaty, menacing tone. More importantly they brought even more bite to the engine's pull.
Whenever you're not racing, you or your crew chief are usually under the hood of your car replacing parts, tuning, or making other adjustments. If you ever have to do any of those things during a pit stop you and your crew have to be able to work fast and have plenty of room to get as many hands in there as possible. To this effect, Horn used an Evolution Industries alternator relocation kit to free up some space. Last but not least under the hood an Evolution Industries light-weight flywheel is bolted onto the gearbox to help the already quick close ratio transmission accelerate the car even faster.
Andy Hope's driving style is aggressive and he thrives in the corners. To make the already nimble Si handle even better for competition, turn3 turned to their friends Roland and Lindy and H&R, one of the best suspension companies in the world. Thanks to H&R's support the team was able to procure H&R's professional series fully-adjustable coil over suspension system that was used by Honda Racing in Europe. H&R camber adjusters were also bolted on to allow the team to finely tune the suspension for track conditions. Finally, H&R Trak+ wheel spacers were added to widen the wheel base and a 24mm H&R rear sway bar was installed to stiffen up the chassis.