Project Hatch

[JustinG]

Not to be a spoil sport but if it's not oversteering at an autox, it might be a little pushy on track. Such is life with a FWD

I just read this fully, It was oversteering a bit with the shocks in the rear not set to full stiff, im sure if i turned them to almost full stiff it would rotate a bit more.

REVIEW:

So I figured I would write up my initial impressions of the car, since I drove it for the first time this weekend.

Lets start at the beginning, driving up from Richmond, and the skies opened up DUMPING rain, couldnt see 10 feet in front of you, standing water all over the interstate. That was the worst 45 minutes ive ever experienced in a car.

Anyway, onto Saturday/Sunday, I was not really sure what to expect in regards to how the car would handle. Ive driven FWD cars before and they just seem to plow. Then I of course had the GSX which would plow, and you gave it throttle to get the car to turn.

Traction:
Taking off from the line I get some wheel spin, to be expected from cold tires that have never been driven on, much less scrubbed in, but once the tires hook up halfway through the beginning sweeper I hit the rev limiter (Tach seems to be off), and shift into 2nd, without hesitation the car just hooks up. The course kept me in 2nd the entire time. I was very very happy with the car in regards to traction, I never once felt wheel spin aside from the initial launch at the beginning of the course. So :thumbup: for the transmission/LSD.

Handling:
The car felt great, IMO, I really only have the GSX and DJs M3 to compare it to on an AutoX course. The car felt neutral or what I think is neutral. It didnÔÇÖt seem to push in the turns, or I wasnÔÇÖt driving it hard enough to push, and I felt some oversteer in some of the sweepers of the course, which was easily corrected with a little more throttle. Now it could be me not driving the car hard enough, but the car never felt out of control, sometimes I would feel that way in the GSX. I never felt that way in DJs car it always felt easy to recover from. I felt the same way in the Hatch, whenever I did something wrong it was very easy to recover from. It may just be me feeling comfortable in the car? I feel like I had the front shocks dialed in for this, but the rears I feel could have been a tad stiffer to get more rotation. So this was my impression with the car needing an alignment and corner balancing, and I am very happy with the stuff I have done to it in regards to AutoX, on track could be a completely different story.

Power:
I am really surprised by the motor in the this lil thing. Its very torquey for a Honda motor, I thought I would struggle going up Afton mountain, but she was chugging along at 70 without a problem. In the AutoX I didnÔÇÖt feel a bog in power, I felt I was always in the powerband by staying in second, but this will obviously vary by course. But, all in all, I am very happy with the power in the car. Again in regards to AutoX, on track could be different.

So I am happy with my purchase, mods, blood, and sweat put into the car as of today. It got me a 3rd place TIRE finish, which apparently over runs your base class (SM FWD), so an Unofficial 1st place SM FWD finish, (stupid confusing SCCA classing). I think the best thing is, when I got home, I didnÔÇÖt even unload the thing . Hooray for track car, I donÔÇÖt have to drive it to work on Monday.

So next on the list is really nothing, which I love. I did order an EBAY radiator fan, because there was an accident on 64 on my way home from the AutoX, this caused stand still traffic and slow moving like 5mph traffic, so the car started to heat up. I had to pull over and let the car cool off. So until I start to trailer this thing, I am gonna wire up a fan to keep that from happening again.

Still waiting to hear from Greg Greenbaum in regards to my classing for NASA-X. But I have signed up for another AutoX in October at RIR and I will be doing the last NASA-X in November on the 20th at VMP. After this weekend, the GFCP has got me hooked again, which to be honest I had kinda lost interest in with the GSX. But the excitement to AutoX and get on track is back, all because of a Hatchpile. :mrgreen:





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EDIT: If any of my analysis of theis car is incorrect, please help me out, this whole preped track car thing is new to me