8/3/09 – Well after a long week of working on the car the side impact damage is fixed, headgasket replaced, replacement radiator installed, and a new splitter for Auto Club Speedway is on the front bumper. John had no money for paint so there is fresh primer covering the repair, and a black door on the driver side. Miguel and his guys did a great job pulling everything out and making the body look unscathed. Arriving at the track Saturday morning, John had enough time to do a brake bleed and a front alignment. He had a fresh set of tires on the car to heat cycle for use on Sunday, and going out for practice was the fastest car in H4. Adjusting the brakes and changing back to the old tires for qualifying John took the 2nd spot, only one tenth behind pole, Terry Rossi.
Saturday’s race saw a rolling start, and John was able to pass Terry for the lead going into NASCAR turn 2. Braking for turn 3 Terry re-passed John, but most made it through turn 3 and 5 without incident. John fought hard to stay on Terry’s bumper and while drafting around the oval was able to try and pass for the lead a few times. The two of them would go through turn 2 side by side at over 125 mph (slow H4 cars!), but braking for 3 John would never be able to get the inside line. While these two were battling, Johnny Mac was inching closer and tried a few times to get by John to take 2nd place. He was successful once, but John was able to regain 2nd the next lap. Then braking for turn 9, John saw Johnny Mac trying to go around the outside, so he eased off the brakes to go a little deeper and after it was all said and done, Johnny Mac had slid off to the outside. By now Terry had a one second gap or so, just far enough that John couldn’t catch his draft on the straight away. For the rest of the race the 3 of them raced, just out of reach of each other, until the checkered flag fell, Terry in first, John second, and Johnny Mac third. Terry’s fastest race lap was a 2:02.465, Johns was a 2:02.495!
Sunday morning John did a pre-race check and looking at the brake pads realized that they were down to just 1mm of life left! That would explain the fade John was experiencing after braking for turn 3. Luckily John still had his old pads from before. Although there were not in the best of shape (bad grooves, one backing plate was bent from heat, pad material separating from the backing plate) at least they had some life on them. John also put the new tires back on the car and was a whole second faster in morning practice! No changes for qualifying, but Terry again was able to out qualify John, this time by two tenths. Sunday’s race was a standing start, and John got a great launch, but went to pass Greg (H2) and went below the white line. Suddenly realizing that you cannot go below the white line to pass before the start finish line, John had to lift and tuck back in behind Greg, losing all the momentum he had gained from his rocket launch. Approaching turn 3 John was able to stay behind Terry, but Joe (H4) came from the outside and took 2nd place. Exiting the sweeper of 6 John was able to go side by side with Joe and make it back into 2nd. Just pass corner exit and passing Joe, there was a cone bouncing in the track and as John swerved to avoid it, Johnny Mac following right on Johns bumper, was not able to do the same. He struck the cone head on and it shattered his splitter and eventually caused a tire failure. That left just John and Terry to battle it out for the lead. Sunday John was determined not to let Terry get a gap so he concentrated on smooth driving and no mistakes to stay with him. John finally caught up to Terry’s bumper as he was drafting Manny (H2) around the oval. Together the two of them were able to draft pass Manny going into turn 3. From this point forward each lap would be similar, Terry would pull maybe a car length in the infield, but John would be able to draft right back down the oval. Braking for turn 3 nearly always saw the two go side by side, with John being able to make a pass twice. The first time Terry was able to retake the lead in turn 5, coming out of nowhere on the inside, something John certainly didn’t expect. Then the second time, John had the lead for a whole lap and had pulled maybe 4-5 car lengths. Amazingly Terry was able to catch his draft and pass him on the inside going into turn 3. There was now only two laps to go so John knew his time was short, he had to figure something out fast. He presented himself in Terry’s mirrors everywhere, from side to side, he tried all his tricks, but Terry is a good racer and never gave John the inside line. Finally the last lap arrives and John and Terry go side by side through turn 2 as always, this time both of them are determined to take the lead so each extend their braking zone by just a hair. When turn in arrived John saw a puff of smoke from Terry’s tires, followed by Terry’s car understeering…he’d locked up his brakes! John was able to trail brake and let Terry slide for a moment, allowing John to turn in right behind him and pass for the lead. Terry made the turn but was now a couple car lengths behind, and had less than a lap to go. John focused on one final lap of no mistakes, pushing just hard enough to stay in front, but not hard enough to risk a costly mistake. When the checkered flag dropped John had done it. His third victory in H4! Post race impound had no inspections so the results were official. What a nail biter!
John would like to thank the Stepanyan’s for coming to watch his race on Sunday, and also Esteban Wu for all the help over the weekend and the week prior, preparing for the race.
7/1/09 – Coming off of last month’s disappointment, John went to work on the car installing some steel mesh in the bumper to protect the cooler and radiator, as well as a new oil pressure gauge. He also fabricated a radiator enclosure and vents to route air to the oil cooler and radiator more efficiently, to combat the high temperatures at Willow Springs and Buttonwillow in the hot summer months. In morning practice on the 26th the car felt ok, so John paid attention to the temperature gauges to see how the ducting worked. Throughout practice everything ran cool, but on the cool down lap the water temperature suddenly jumped from 80 to 130 C, and then fell back down. In the paddock John investigated and found that the overflow tank was pouring over and the radiator had lost lots of fluid. John discussed with Edo the possibilities, and they decided to try a new radiator cap for qualifying. John went out on track, got a good lap, but still experienced the same problem on the cool down lap. Deciding to try an even stronger cap for the race, John lined up in grid for the rolling start.
John got a good jump on the start and was in the lead, but found himself on the outside braking for turn one, allowing Ben and Johnny Mac to slide inside. John fought hard to stay close on their bumpers, and within a few laps Johnny Mac spun coming onto the front straight and grazed the wall to the inside. Now John was just chasing Ben, but also watching his mirrors as Ryan (driving Benny’s old H4 car) and Terry were slowly approaching. The race was now past half way and the John was starting to get concerned about his temperatures, as the water and oil were over 120 C. Eventually Ryan and Terry caught up to John and for a few laps John worked to hold off Ryan. Coming out of star Mazda John and Ryan raced side by side down the short straight, Ryan testing John by putting his mirror just inches away from Johns. As they approached Magic Mountain Ryan had the inside, so John conceded and slipped behind him to go over the hill and on to riverside. Near the turn in for Riverside/Talladega Ryan passed a Porsche 944 on the inside, and for a moment John thought of riding his bumper and following him through, but thought it was safer to pass the Porsche in the bus stop braking zone. Well just as Ryan went by, the 944 went into a small slide, and slid off to the inside of the turn. John watched the car the whole time and seeing that it was just a small tail slide, figured the 944 would easily regain control off to the inside, so he only gave a light lift before turn in, but was then committed to the turn (going 100+ through here). Being safe however, John watched the 944 as he was going by and much to Johns dismay, saw the 944 take a turn and point right at him. Fearing a collision John turned to the right, hoping to just drive off track and avoid a wreck, and he’d worry about finishing position later. Little did he know that Terry was sticking his nose on past Johns rear bumper on the outside, and when John veered right, Terry was caught off guard and braked to try and figure out what was going on (could not see the Porsche). This gave Terry a front row seat as the 944 T-Boned John and sent the two of them flying off track sideways at nearly 100mph. John slammed the brakes, held the wheel at full lock, tried a few times to successfully find the clutch, and just waited for the slide to end. When the dust settled the safety crew came over and got each car back to the paddock, and fortunately both drivers suffered no injuries.
There was talk of pulling out the rear corner panel at the track and trying to run Sunday, but since the car was also overheating and pushing the water out of the radiator, John decided to just head home early on Sunday. For a third time now its back to the body shop. This time John will take the car to fellow H4 racer Miguel’s shop to get repaired. Then he’ll have to troubleshoot the cooling issue if he wants to have any success at Auto Club Speedway in July. Best of luck to him.
6/17/09 – Each month Burns Stainless sends out a newsletter which has articles on exhaust related topics as well as special monthly discounts. This month John was featured in their newsletter, where they talked about his racing and part of what went into his preparation for last year’s National Championships. Here is a link to the article the newsletter points to; http://www.burnsstainless.com/Newsletters/Articles/JHRacing.html. To see more about burns Stainless check out www.burnsstainless.com. To join their newsletter go to their website and click on the newsletter button from the menu.
5/27/09 – This past weekend saw races 7 and 8 at Willow Springs in Rosamond, CA. John was able to get up to the track early Saturday morning and prepare the car for the day. Between the April event and this event John had the wonderful opportunity to attend Skip Barber Racing School at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca driving their formula cars. Due to the different abilities and driving characteristics of the formula cars and Johns H4 car, his practice session on Saturday was used to get reacquainted to the car. Qualifying saw him going faster again, but there was still time to gain. A rolling start for the race saw John fighting for position, but losing a few spots to H2 vehicles. Approaching turn 5 following Ken and Greg, Greg spun mid way through the turn and when Ken swerved to the right, John hit the brakes and took the inside making it safely around. By the time he crested turn 6 he could see the lead pack was already entering turn 8, so he would be hard pressed to catch up. To make matters worse, the loss in momentum avoiding Greg gave Miguel in H4 the opportunity to catch up and make a pass on John down the front straight. For a few laps John battled Miguel until finally he was able to sneak on by and pull ahead. As the checkered flag fell John was in 5th place.
After good nights sleep John felt refreshed for Sunday. Practice went well and the car was pretty dialed in. For qualifying the field did an inverse qualifying race. Finishing 5th Saturday put John smack in the middle for the start of this race, and he was able to get by the slower cars quickly and take 2nd place earning a 2nd place start for the race. Another rolling start on Sunday and John was staying as close as possible to Loren. As Kiwi blasted through the field from the back, nearly turning down on John into turn 2, John decided not to go side by side entering turn 3 and as a result saw Terry pull alongside and take 2nd place going up the hill. A few laps later John was on Loren’s bumper and went for the pass entering turn 1. Together they went side by side all the way to turn 5, at which point John realized that they could go faster single file and possibly catch Terry, so he filed back in behind. This one lap battle slowed them enough that Johnny Mac was able to catch up and slide by John to take 3rd place. John decided to stay in 4th saving the car and tires for a strong charge near the end of the race. Going down the front straight a bouncing rock appeared from under Johnny Macs CRX and flew into the front of John’s car. It was a hard hit and John did not know if it was cosmetic or if the rock hit the oil cooler. Checking his gauges throughout the lap John noticed that his temperatures started to climb. Two laps later a check engine light appeared in the dash. Fearing the worse John decided to pull in and save the motor from any potential damage and costly rebuild. Exiting the car in the pits he discovered that the rock only hit the splitter! Thinking more about it he then realized the temperature rise was most likely due to drafting Loren and Johnny throughout the race, and not getting enough airflow through the cooler and radiator! What’s worse, the CEL disappeared and was not recorded by Hondata. Needless to say John was quite upset with how things turned out on Sunday. He vowed to fix his broken oil pressure gauge and install a wire mesh in the bumper because had those been on the car he would have been able to see that he still had good oil pressure, and would have been confident that the mesh would have stopped the rock from damaging the cooler/radiator. It’s a lesson learned in a disappointing way, but there’s nothing that can be done but come out and win both races in June!
Let’s hope it happens.
4/27/09 – Races 5 and 6 in the 2009 season with NASA took place at Buttonwillow Raceway in Southern California. The weather was predicted to be a warm 75 - 80 degrees for the weekend, and it held true to its predictions. John arrived at the track early Saturday morning and started prepping for the race. The car had received a new sway bar, shift linkage, and splitter, as well as a new front end courtesy of Mirage Auto Body in Canoga Park. Thanks to them the car was looking beautiful again. Edo and Harut arrived shortly after John, and they began to help align the car before John took it out for practice.
In practice the car handled well, posting the fastest time for H4 and a personal record for John. Between practice and qualifying it was decided to make an alignment change and put on new tires hoping to gain more speed. Due to the Saturday night enduro, Honda challenge was practicing and qualifying with the spec miatas, so needless to say there was a good bit of traffic making it difficult to get a clean lap. The new tires are their fastest the first few laps and John was unable to put down a clean one, so by the time he had enough room for a lap the car was sliding all over the place. As a result John only managed 4th in qualifying. Thinking about the race John decided to leave the alignment where it was since even though the car went slower it felt like it was handling better, so hopefully it will come together in the race. A mix of tires were selected for the race, and John headed off to grid. Everyone was grid by time so H4 was mixed in with H2, meaning there were two cars between John and Johnny Mac, one car between him and Ben, and two cars between him and Terry. It was going to be a challenge if a close race was to be had. On the green flag John got a good start, pulling up along an h2 car, but gained no real ground going through the first few corners. Exiting Talladega and coming up on Magic Mountain, Kiwi (H1) dive bombed and got past John, and a bit later Tom Landry (H2) made it by as well. The next few laps went by in the same order, John just hoping that these two cars maintain their pace and together they will catch up to the cars in front of them. Landry goes off track after going through a dust cloud, and shortly after has to pull in to clear his radiator of foliage. It is now just Kiwi in front of John, and while John is running faster than Kiwi he is just unable to get a chance to get by. Little by little John can see his closest competitor slip further and further away. Resigned to his 4th place fate John still pushes hard but as the checkered comes out he is still behind Kiwi. Due to the spread of cars no positions changed from qualifying, the final order being Terry, Ben, J Mac, John, and Loren.
Tired and frustrated John packed everything up for the night and prepared his thoughts for Sunday. Sunday morning he arrived at the track and puts the full set of the newest tires on hoping to put in another few heat cycles before the race. The alignment is kept the same as John wants to see how it fares in the morning, so he can compare it to the day before. In practice the car rotated well the first few laps, but as the tires gained temperature the balance shifted to understeer. Still John again posted the fastest practice time in H4 (although Terry skipped practice, must be nice…). Checking the pressures, John made a tire pressure and damper adjustment for qualifying, but still was only able to qualify 4th. This time Loren took pole, having received a new motor the night before, and putting it to good use. Terry was 2nd, Ben 3rd, then John, and Jonny Mac in 5th. At the drivers meeting it was announced that they would be doing an inverted grid by class, so the H4 field was at the front, H2 behind, and H1 in the back. This put John on the front row outside spot for the standing start. Having never led the field before, Johnny Mac pulled too far up to the starter stand for the green flag. Distracted by being so close to the stand, John checked his mirror to see how close the cars were behind him, and when he looked back the green flag was waving. In a flash John dumped the clutch and floored it and to his luck the car took off towards turn 1. John was able to get around J Mac through turn 1 and was leading the race. Coming up to Magic Mountain there was a yellow flag, but J Mac passed John under braking. It is what it is, so John fought hard to stay with him for a few laps until he noticed that Terry was getting ready to make a move on him. Diagonally they tracked down the straight away, John hoping to out-brake J Mac, and Terry hoping to out-brake John. J Mac in the middle to defend, John moves outside to take a normal line through turn 1, not wanting to go three wide, and Terry dives right up the inside past John and next to J Mac. Seizing this opportunity, John is able to follow Terry right by J Mac and hold second place. The next few laps John kept Terry within reach as they worked through traffic until they hit a pair of 944’s. Terry got by cleanly and the first Porche pointed John by. Coming up to turn 1 John felt he wasn’t close enough to dive inside, so he setup to pass on the exit. Getting alongside the 944 headed towards Buttonhook, he was pinched to the side and had to tuck in behind under braking. The 944 slowed considerably more than John, and as John got on the throttle later than usual, that was still earlier than the 944 and a slight bump was delivered. That was enough to urge the 944 to move over, but by now Terry was no longer within reach, and J Mac and Ben were right on Johns tail. More trouble with traffic over magic mountain and John checked his mirror in time to see Ben about to pull alongside him. It was too late for the block, so John just held him on the inside as they approached the sweeper. John got on the brakes a bit early in anticipation for what was to happen next. Ben braked at the normal point, but being on the inside the car did not turn in as well for the sharper line, and he slid to the outside, giving John enough room to put his civic on the inside, and retake the position by the exit of the corner. More laps went by, John just trying to make the best of traffic and hoping that the battle between Ben and J Mac would slow them both down. As the checkered flag came out it was Terry in 1st, John 2nd, Ben 3rd, J Mac 4th, and Loren 5th. The top three hit the scales, with Terry haven eating just enough at lunch to make weight, so the results were official.
Sunday’s race made up for Saturdays so John is happy how the weekend turned out. By overall points he is still in the lead for the SoCal championship, but if one calculates a couple drops then it is Terry who is leading. Next month the team will be at Willow Springs, where John hopes to repeat the victory he earned in March, and decisively retake the championship lead.
3/30/09 – Last weekend NASA met at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA for the second round (races 3 and 4) of the 2009 season. This weekend would be the first weekend where Team John Howard would split the car, with John driving on Saturday and Edik driving on Sunday. For this event the front splitter was trimmed down and the rear wing removed to help reduce drag in the hopes of higher speed around the oval. John had installed new stainless lines in the rear as well as new piston assembly for the rear drums to hopefully cure the brakes.
Arriving at the track early Saturday morning John unloaded the trailer and began to get the car ready for the track. Out on track it took a few laps for John to get back up to speed (he’d only done three races ever around this course). The brakes didn’t feel much better at all so it was determined that for best performance the drums need adjusted after each session to ensure the proper clearance. Qualifying found John in 3rd place, less than one second behind Sam, and less than two seconds behind Terry (Note: Johns times around this track in years prior were around three seconds slower!). The race was deemed a flying start and John was able to get a good jump, pulling alongside some H2 cars and staying near the front H4 cars. Braking for turn three is always chaotic on the first lap and John was passed by Loren, but was able to pass many as he went wide through 4. Coming up to turn 5 John was right on Loren and Sam’s bumper when they got on the brakes sooner than expected and unfortunately John locked up his brakes and slid into the two of them, causing them to touch as well. During the lockup the motor stalled so John started it back up and continued on, radioing to Edik to check for damage as John could tell that the bumper was now causing aerodynamic drag. Edik gave the ok so John stayed out on track and worked on cutting the gap that now existed between John and the 1st and 2nd place cars. By the time the checkered flag came out John had cut down nearly a 10 second gap but was unable to pass the 2nd place car of Johnny Mac. Final position was 3rd place.
Assessing the damage found a large piece of the front bumper missing on one side and a large crack on the other. Zip ties and tape fixed the crack and the missing piece of bumper was solved with a piece of cardboard and more tape! During practice everything held up fine for Edik, but we decided to make an alignment change for qualifying. Qualifying again went well with Edik grabbing second place. This time the race was to be a standing start. Edik got a great jump on the flag, no wheelspin, and passed H2 and H1 cars heading toward the oval and turn 3. Going into turn 5 Edik was still in first place but a H1 car went to pass and Edik had to lift to avoid contact on the exit. This loss in exit speed caused two H4 cars to get by, putting Edik in third for the next few corners. Nearing the end of the back straight Edik went to pass Ben but had to move over and ended up braking in the marbles causing him to lock up the brakes and slide into the rear of Terry’s CRX. After this contact the car was noticeably slower, but Edik trudged on fighting off a few cars and ending up in 5th place.
Overall it was a stressful weekend leaving more body work to be done, but with the results John Howard is first in points in Socal H4. Hopefully the car will be ready for the April event where the team will see some clean races and hopefully a victory or two!
3/10/09 – This past weekend at Willow Springs was the NASA season opener. March is a busy month this year for the racers as NASA is holding two race weekends; this past one at WSIR, and again in a few weeks at California Speedway. John figured he could only do one weekend this month so he chose Willow Springs since he felt he had a better chance of winning. The choice paid off on Sunday!
Preparing for the race, John had the car mostly ready by Friday night, then he loaded up his trailer and hooked up to Sam’s van and headed for the track early Saturday morning. Having not run the car for a long time the battery was dead, so it needed jump starts the first couple times. Arriving at the track around 7 AM he began to unload, prepare for the annual tech, and try and get the car ready for practice. John had been playing with the brake system, trying to solve the spongy pedal and long travel issue once and for all, but as of Saturday morning it was worse than ever before. John bled the system again, and gave the front end a toe adjustment, but as he strapped in and headed for the track entrance it was checkered flag already. John would have to wait for qualifying to see how the car feels and the brakes perform. Qualifying went well with John coming in 3rd place, Johnny Mac in 2nd, and Ben Tang on pole in H4. All of the regulars from the last three years are now running H2, but this being their first race outing with the cars, many of them were found gridded behind the top H4 cars. That will soon change and the H2 class will be bustling with excitement.
Saturday’s race was a flying start and John got a decent jump on the green flag, almost pulling alongside an H1 car but going into turn one and two both Loren and Patrick slipped past him. John fought hard the next few laps to pass Loren, and once he got by started to try and close the gap with the top 3. John could see that he had the same pace as the front cars, and he hoped that if they battled he would be able to catch them. Looking ahead he saw that they mainly ran three in a row for the remainder of the race, and it there appeared to be no hope of closing the gap, so John resorted to having a bit of fun with an old H4 racer, now in H2, Tom Landry. With 5-10 minutes left to go in the race, a PT car went off the track to the inside of turn 8 and kicked up lots of debris on the track, causing the 944 spec car, driven by HPDE instructor Mike Peters, following him to spin out and come to a stop in the middle of turn 8. Unsure of which direction he was pointed in the dust cloud Peters waited to try and regain his bearing, but unfortunately since he couldn’t see out of the dust, other cars couldn’t see in, and as Gus came through the dust he clipped the 944. The track went full course yellow for two laps raising hope for some for a restart, until the black flag came out ending the race. Final H4 standings were Patrick, Johnny Mac, Ben, then John.
John thought overnight how to improve the car and the brakes. Saturday the brakes came back to their previous condition (still long travel, but at least they worked consistently) during qualifying, but as the Stepanyans arrived in the morning with parts, he put on a new set of stainless braided lines. Swapping tires around and setting pressures, John went out for practice and found himself keeping pace with the H2 car of Manny who was running in the 1:35’s. Unfortunately John forgot to turn on his transponder, so when he pulled in a few laps early due to low fuel, he had no results for his efforts. Both John and Manny’s car appeared to handle the same, both understeering a bit more than they’d like throughout turn 2 and 9. John pulled the endplates off his wing to reduce the aerodynamic efficiency at the rear. Going out for qualifying the car was better at first, but John still could not get the balance where he’d like it. Having his transponder turned on helped, as he qualified in the number 2 spot. Final changes for the race would include staggering the tire pressures even further to get higher pressures at the rear, as well as a small effort to reduce drag on the front end.
Sunday’s race was a standing start, and John got a good drop on the green but experienced a bit more wheelspin than desired. This time he was able to hold his ground throughout the first two turns, trying to maintain pace with Ben. Renan and Ryan (both H2) started at the back of the grid, and Renan was already beside John during turn 2, and Ryan made his way up on lap 2. Approaching turn 8 Ryan was right on Johns rear, and gave him a bit of a push much to Johns delight. Carrying more speed through 8 and approaching 9 John went to downshift and couldn’t find 4th gear, wasting time and speed trying to finesse the gear shift into his home. Disgruntled that he wasted Ryan’s help, John was on a mission to regain the lost time on Ben. It was not long before Patrick came close enough to become a threat to John, diving inside him at turn 1 numerous times, only to have John pass him on the outside again in turn 2. Trying to keep their battle to a minimum they were slowly creeping up on Ben as he found himself held up through lapped traffic, and the slowing H2 field. Then came the moment when the H2 cars all entered turn 9 much slower than they should have, holding Ben up and allowing John to get a run on him and make the move to pass going into turn 1. Much to his dismay, John found Patrick making the same move on him! Three wide into turn 1, Patrick took the lead, and John went side by side through 2 with Ben, passing him on the outside and closing on Patrick hoping to do the same to him. Nearing the exit of the turn Patrick started to drift out, and while there was still room for John there, John found himself in the marbles with no grip, and slid off the outside of turn 2. Keeping his foot in it he rejoined the track as quickly and safely as possible and determined to not let this ruin his race. He knew there was little time left, and fortunately there were enough cars battling that John was able to catch Ben again. Approaching turn 8 a quick glance at the clock showed that there was only time for one lap left, and sure enough the starter was waiving the white flag. It was now or never to pass Ben, so John presented himself on the inside of 1, and side by side through one they went, putting John on the outside for turn 2. John gave it a slight lift on entry, and it proved worthwhile as Ben entered on the inside and understeered out allowing John to slip behind him and then take the inside position pulling alongside, then slightly ahead throughout 2 on the way to 3. Ben didn’t go quietly, taking the inside through 3 and up to 4, but the outside line through 4 is at a disadvantage so by turn 5 Ben found himself tucked in behind John. Only 4 turns remained in the race and John knew he could hold him off, which was exactly what he did. Unofficial results were Patrick, John, and Ben. In impound a protest was declared against Patrick’s motor and Patrick wanting to get home early without tearing down the motor, decided to DQ himself, giving John the number 1 spot.
In a few weeks the rest of the Honda Challenge field will be taking to California speedway, and while John previously decided he wouldn’t run there, time will tell if he shows up ready to go. If not, it’s the last weekend in April for the next race for John at Buttonwillow Raceway, his favorite! See you there.
2/13/09 – This past weekend as Imports@UCI’s track day with Speedventures at WSIR. Even though John’s car is on stands, he still made the trek to support his friends in the club who were tracking their cars. It was a gloomy day, with the weather at the track unable to decide if it was actually going to rain or not. At the track John ran into some more friends, one of them with a shifter kart. The kart track was rented out for the day to one person, but that person allowed John and friends free reign for the day. Thank you, whoever you are! John was able to get two good sessions in the kart, improving his second go around (only his second time in a shifter kart, after all). Afterwards, John and Bettina hiked up the hills above the race track and were able to get a full view of all areas at WSIR. The view was great and he took some nice photos. John said it was neat to be able to hike up there, as during race weekends he’s usually too busy for such things. All in all, the long, wet drive to Willow Springs proved worth it. He’ll be back in March!
1/20/09 –The NASA banquet is this weekend at Dave and Busters in Orange, CA. John will be attending to catch up with old competitors and see what everyone’s plans are for the season. It is also worth noting that John was pre-selected to attend qualifying at Infineon Raceway for Volkswagens TDI Cup. If John wishes to continue and take part in the series he has only to show up at Infineon with a check for $15,000. Upon qualifying for the series he would be locked in, and has two months to supply an additional $30,000. As exciting as it is to have been pre-selected, it doesn’t look like John will be able to participate this year due to obvious financial reasons. Perhaps next year John will be able to consider such an endeavor.
12/20/08 – Happy Holidays everyone! John is relaxing in the offseason, taking some well needed rest and time away from the car. He hopes to begin working on the car again in January in preparation for the first race at WSIR on March 7th. See you in 2009!
11/12/08 – This past weekend marked the last race weekend on the 2008 calendar of the regular NASA Southern California season. John got his car back from the frame shop, body panels looking good as new. There was not time before the race weekend to slap on a new coat of paint so the car went out in a black and white scheme. New fenders, bumper, hood, and radiator support were installed, and the alignment was redone to undo the previous changes made at the track. Unfortunately the radiator support that was purchased turned out to be of inferior quality than the OEM part it replaced, and the first time John tried to jack up the car, the support just bent upwards. John just had to cope with this throughout the weekend, lifting the car from the sides.
Saturday John went out for practice and began making adjustments and checks to make sure everything was ok. Qualifying went well with John pushing hard and ending up with a 3rd place spot for the start. John got a good start as always and managed to take second place away from Manny, tapping Terry down the front straight. Following Terry for a few laps it was clear he was faster, but John focused on maintaining the gap while trying to keep Manny and Benny behind him. A few laps later Terry appeared to be slowing down, but as John reached him his speed returned to normal. Going into Star Mazda, Terry took the inside, John was in the middle, a Manny on the outside. Terry locked up the brakes a bit and left just enough room for John to slip on by and take the lead. The next lap the three CRX’s were right behind him, and lapped traffic was already beginning to play a part in the race. On the next lap at Star Mazda again, Manny was right on Johns tail and begin to pull alongside him leading into the braking zone so John took the inside, placing Manny on the outside. Once there John began to move over to the edge of the track leaving just enough room for many and the rest of the CRX’s to brake in a single file line. As Manny and John hit the brakes, Terry was a second too late and Manny received a slight tap sending him sliding straight off track, tires smoking. This caused enough commotion to slow the group of CRX’s and John continued on, pushing enough to gain a lead and was able to maintain it for the remainder of the race. Johns first win!
Sunday saw John reveling in the win from the day before and hoping to make the weekend even better by taking yet a second win. Benny found some speed in qualifying and John ended up fourth on the grid. At the green flag John saw one of his most disappointing starts as he simply hesitated and was not able to gain any ground, actually giving up a position to Edo and an H2 car. Through the next few turns the H2 car was sliding all over the place and John found himself frustrated, having to hold back throughout the corner to avoid him. In doing so the lead pack took off and the gap was too much to make up throughout the course of the race. John fought hard with Loren for a few laps until Loren experienced a mechanical issue and was forced to retire early, leaving John comfortably in 5th place.
Overall the weekend had its highs and lows, but most important for John was he got what he came for. He was finally able to achieve a well earned win after three seasons in H4, and on the eve of many competitors switching classes. Next year John plans to stay with H4 due to the practicality of H4 and the lack of funding to build a proper H2 motor. He wants to thank all who supported him in 2008, and hopes to have another exciting season in 2009!
10-13-08 - Last weekend was the 2nd to last weekend for the NASA SoCal season. The races took place at buttonwillow raceway and for the first time in Johns time with NASA they decided to run the track in opposite directions each day. Saturday the racers were travelling clockwise, Sunday counter clock wise. Saturdays pracitce session saw John doing some easy laps bedding in his new pads, rotors and drums, and making sure the car felt ok. It hadn't had a good alignment since the cahnges made after Mid-Ohio so that was another reason not to push hard. An alignment was done before qualifying and John lined up to head out. Ahead of him were fellow H4 racers and a few other cars. On the outlap John went to pass Gould after the busstop but as they were approaching a dust cloud gould hit the brakes. John eased off the throttle to wait and get through the dust but as the cloud cleared there was a Mini right in front of him broadside. Hitting the brakes and turning was all he could do before he slammed into the right rear of the Mini. Both drivers emerged ok but the same could not be said about the cars. The right front of Johns car took the majority of the hit, thank you honda crumple zones. The hood, bumper, fender, headlight, bumper support, radiator support and frame all received major damage. In an effort to just salvage the day and get a few points then possibly go home John and the Stepanyans decided to hook the car between the two Chevy van tow vehicles and pull out some of the frame damage. A large hammer fixed the fender, wheel well, hood, bumper support, and some carefully placed self tapping screws secured the bits so that John could race and get some points. Benny was experiencing problems as well as his motor was developing a loud rod knock. Together John and Benny raced at the back of the field on Saturday having a fun race of the crippled cars; John had the power but the car wouldnt handle while bennys car could handle but he was unwilling to use the power. Together they got 7th and 8th place out of 10 cars. After the race John was considering heading home but numerous people said he should just stay do an alginment and see how it is in the morning, so thats what he decided to do.
The next morning came and Harut helped John with an alignment. he went out for practice started pushing the car (going counter clockwise today). The handling wasn’t great but was still faster than some of the other H4 cars. For qualifying John took out some rear wing and the car handled better, he qualified 4th with a 2:05, Benny (who had Jeremy stay up all night swapping in a 'new' motor) was right in front of him with a low 2:05 and Edo (who lost 3rd gear in the transmission) was right behind him with a high 2:05. Before the race John reattached the front bumper to meet the NASA 50/50 rule (John was allowed to race the day before without the bumper thanks to the kind race director), and help get some front downforce. The car certainly didn’t look pretty but it had the speed, John was up to 2nd place on the standing start and put his nose inside Benny a few times trying for 2nd place. Manny and Edo were behind John for the first part of the race before Manny had a few off course excursions/mistakes and before Edo's ECU called it quits. Terry was getting away out front and John was fighting Benny for 2nd. Through traffic and slight errors Benny got a gap on John, but for a few laps John was chopping away at the gap until with only a few laps to go and Benny in sight, two H2 cars passed John ruining his exit off of turn 1 and allowing Benny to get a large gap again. John's hopes at 2nd place were over so he raced smart, not making any mistakes to just bring the car home in 3rd. After weigh in Terry's car came un underweight and Benny got bumped to 1st place, John got 2nd. Not bad for a crumpled front end, securing Johns first ever SoCal podium and 2nd place.
The car is going to hit the frame shop in the next week and new parts are being sourced out so John can have a chance in November to beat the fast men of H4 before many of them make the jump into H2 for 2009.
9-15-08 - This past weekend, John was out at Mid-Ohio Raceway participating in the National Championships. It was a four day event with Practice sessions on Thursday, qualifying races on Friday and Saturday and the main event on Sunday. Benny transported the car out to Ohio so John flew in on Wednesday and arrived at his hotel around 12am. Thursday the weather was dry and warm and John spent the day trying to set up the car. Mid-Ohio called for an even looser setup than John had been running in SoCal so it was quite a task to get the car to turn. Setup efforts were thwarted when the rain rolled in Thursday night.
Friday was spent driving in the rain. The rain line at the track was completely different than the dry line so a few sessions to perfect the line and John was improving his times. Fortunately John decided to go for the supersize option NASA offered that weekend, allowing him to drive in both the Honda Challenge run group and the Performance Touring group. The extra track time was well worth it. After practice and qualifying it was time for the qualifying races. At the standing start John experienced an engine issue where it seemed like the motor was misfiring and not running right. It continued throughout the first lap so John decided to pit and attempt to fix it. He got out pushed the spark plug caps back on the distributor, strapped back in and headed back out. He lost a few laps but the problem seemed to go away. So much for HC qualifying race 1. In the Performance Touring qualifying race John experienced the same issue at the start but since it seemed to go away he decided to stay out for the race and making a fun pass on the last lap onto the straight. That night John headed to the local AutoZone for some new plug wires for himself and Benny.
Saturday morning saw more rain but it stopped and soon began to dry. Even with the new plug wires John still experienced the same issue causing him to rethink the situation. This whole time John has been running his cold air intake purely because he does not have a spare intake. Taking a look at the filter which was sopping wet John thought that maybe water was getting into the motor or hitting the air sensor causing it to misread the amount of air. Shortly before qualifying John took a hacksaw to his cold air intake and viola! a short ram was born. By this point however the track was drying up and there was not pouring rain as the day before so even though the problem went away a final conclusion is still up in the air. As the first qualifying races started that afternoon the racers were looking to the sky to decide what setup to run. Everyone made the decision to go full dry as the gains were worth the risk of a few slick corners. Some aluminum tape and racers tape brought the cold air intake back to life, sway bar reattached and wing angle set back to 0 John was good to go. He had a couple of quick saves in the race but overall was still outrun by the competitors. The PT qualifying race gave him more time to think about his setup as the track was truly dry now, and John was able to hold off Edo (who went off track in the 2nd lap) on the last lap using a Miata as a blocker.
Sunday morning and the weather was clear and temperature was on the rise. It was going to be a good day for the race but John was still concerned since he would be starting near the back of the field and still could not find the pace. A talk with Sam R. and a new alignment was performed and a combination of tires selected and John was ready to go. He got a good jump on the standing start and was staying fairly close to the front guys until a few laps into the race Bob M. and Edo both spun off track at the end of the back straight. Unfortunately they both hit the wall and their weekend was over. Manny now was in first place, Benny 2nd, John 3rd and Jeremy L. in 4th. Jeremy made a pass at the end of the back straight right before the course went full yellow. On the restart John got a jump and got beside Lucas but by the next turn was behind him again. They battled for a few laps until a slight mistake allowed John to get beside through thunder valley and a tight pass for 3rd place on the front straight (their side mirrors touched!). All the battling for 3rd place allowed 1st and 2nd to get a gap so John resigned to just fight off Lucas for the rest of the race. Lucas tried multiple times under braking to get by but just couldn't make it stick and when the checkered flag came out it was Manny, Benny, John, a SoCal H4 1, 2, 3.
Immediately after the race the cars were sent to impound and all three passed with no issues so the results were final. The awards ceremony was delayed and took place during the PT race so John decided to skip the race to appear on his first ever podium and a podium at his first National Championships.
After the ceremony the cars were all packed up and the competitors departed, strong winds moved in and started blowing items around the paddock and power went out to various parts of the town. Johns car was on its way back to California and he flew out a few hours after his family departed on Monday. It was a great weekend.
9-9-08 - Saturday John dropped his car off in Riverside into the careful hands of Benny P. and Sam R. as they are going to drive it out to Ohio for him. John was able to get the transmission in, get the car aligned at Glens Alignment in Costa Mesa, get some work done by Chris Parker at CPR Fabrication, and finish up a few things before the car had to leave, but there is still a bit more to do at the track. Nevertheless it is a relief to have sent the car off and have a few days rest before flying out to Ohio on Wednesday. John leaves tomorrow and arriving late tomorrow night will head to the track first thing Thursday morning to get started in his first National Championships. Look for an update upon his return next week!
9-2-08 - Seeing as how the August NASA event was canceled, John took this extra time to better prepare his car for the National Championships taking place September 11-14th. He began to acquire many new parts and sent out a block and his old cylinder head for machine work for a fresh motor to be ready for the big week. New pistons, bearings, rings, rod bolts, oil pump, water pump, gasket kits, some new valves, clutch, flywheel, crank pulley were all gathered for what John hoped to be the strongest motor he's built yet (only his second one too!) Receiving the parts from the machine shop Friday afternoon he began the build on Saturday and by Friday had it in the car ready to start up. Initial startup went well but after a few minutes developed an oil leak. The crank seal on the brand new oil pump had a crack/tear in it and oil was just pouring out. Fortunately John had a spare seal that was ordered by accident with his large order from Honda. New seal installed and the motor was leak free and running well.
The oil pump seal drama prevented John from making is dyno appointment at Church Automotive Testing on Friday but Shawn called to inform him of an opening Saturday at noon so John was in luck. The motor performed quite well making much more horsepower than his first H4 motor two years ago. These extra horsepower can be attributed to the new parts in the motor, extra machine work and detail, and the brand new Burns Stainless header and exhaust system. This equal length try-y, featuring true 2-1 merge collectors, adjustable secondary’s, megaphone with reverse cone and a lgiht weight racing muffler is truly a work of art. Many thanks to Jack Burns for the hard work and attention to detail that went into this system.
Fresh off the dyno John headed straight from Wilmington up to Buttonwillow to catch the final day of the SCCA double regional at Buttonwillow. Sunday morning John registered for his first ever SCCA race, got his SCCA log book, roll cage stamped, and classed in RS (didn't really matter what class as he was just hoping to test the car). Needing to finish up a few details such as hook up the oil cooler, install the wing (featuring brand new wing mounts of Johns own design) and front bumper, John missed practice and managed to just get out for qualifying. RS ran in group 1 for the day out with ASC, GT cars and ITE, so the H4 cars of John and Edik were very much down on HP. The configuration they were running was clockwise, skipping the bus stop and magic mountain and favors high hp, so the closing speeds were great and John needed to watch his mirrors at the end of the back straight closely. Nevertheless the car was running decent but the alignment and old spare transmission were really troublesome. Pulling in after just 2 laps due to the poor alignment John worked on getting it fixed before the race. Finishing the alignment he was granted a hardship lap, the car certainly handled much better and while still far from being perfect, the car felt ready for the 40 min race.
On the rolling start Edik and John were side by side until the higher gearing in the integra proved useful and Johns stock final drive plagued him for the rest of the race. Still concerned with testing only John ran the motor for the entire 40 min closely watching the oil pressure and temp, and the coolant temp. All 3 of them were great throughout the race, and for the most part the car seemed to be doing good. Edik was testing as well and made a pit stop during the race which allowed John the lead and his first SCCA regional win! The car still needs a final alignment to straighten out the rear end, a tid bit of welding, and a few other small tasks but with some more hard work John will be able to finish it up.
The major concern is the transmission, parts have been on order from Honda for over 3 weeks and are nowhere to be found. Without his Gear-X 4.9 final drive John just wont have the pull and gearing to keep up with the front runners out at Ohio. neither of the two transmissions John has are good, and swapping parts between the two of them to make one "good" tranny is a very risky move. Currently John and the trans builder are looking for another transmission in good condition as a new home for the Gear-X final drive and Quaife differential. If that can be completed this week without hiccup John will truly be ready to give Edik and the rest a run for their money at Ohio.
Wish him luck!
7-16-08 - After a disappointing June, John took the transmission to get fixed and ordered a new distributor in the hopes of fixing the misfire. Turns out 3rd gear was completely sheared off and the transmission couldn't be put back together in time for the July event. As such John reinstalled his spare transmission, figuring again to just go out and score some points. The distributor arrived from Majestic Honda broken due to poor packaging, but a Kragen distributor cap fixed that. A short test drive on the freeway revealed the distributor wasn't the problem, so it was back to the drawing board. Thinking about the symptoms John decided to check the Walbro fuel pump he installed not a few months ago. Replacing it with the stock pump miraculously the misfire went away. It turns out the Walbro doesn't like running on low fuel loads and went bad.
This weekend John was able to convince his friend Nam Tran to borrow his truck and trailer. This was the first event ever where John was able to tow to and from the track, and now he feels spoiled and wishes to continue this style of racing. At the track the car was off the pace without the 4.9 final drive (stock is 4.2), but he was able to have a good battle with tom Landry both days, getting 6th and 5th Saturday and Sunday respectively. Both days H4 received a standing start, and on Saturday John had a great start getting up alongside Manny for 3rd, but the low gearing saw him getting passed exiting and headed for turn 2. From turn 2 to three John made a move on Landry and got by him, but 2 laps later Landry got him going into turn 1 and held it for the rest of the race. Sunday's start wasn't as good for John, but he managed to get by Landry into 3 again and was able to stay within a second of the 3 car battle in front of him. Fighting traffic trying to keep up with the cars in front and fend off Landry behind him, eventually the race was yellow flagged for a BMW that spun in turn 2. On the restart John saw the green before the rest of the cars in front of him and got by two of them and alongside Manny again going into turn 1, but as before was passed again by turn 2 by Manny and Loren, and Benny got by going up 3 into 4. John then held 5th place the rest of the way to the checkered flag.
NASA has canceled the August event giving competitors a little break, and time to prepare for nationals. John is working on a new motor, fixing the transmission, and looking for a tow vehicle/trailer so he can make the haul to Nationals and shoot for a podium.
6-23-08 - After missing the May races John decided to do a test day at the end of May at Buttonwillow in preparation for the GRM Ultimate Track Car Challenge on June 8th as well as the H4 races on the 21st and 22nd. The test day proved enjoyable until John suffered a flat tire at the end of the day.
The GRM UTCC took place on the 8th at Buttonwillow configuration 13. John and Edik competed in the JV Independent class, but were out gunned by cars with over 200hp. The day turned out poorly for both of them as Edik bent a valve, and John suffered overheating issues and a cracked radiator. Fortunately Edik let John borrow his radiator for the drive home.
Arriving to Buttonwillow for the H4 races with a new radiator, new tires, and a Quaife LSD, John was determined to go out there and score some points. Practice went well as John found himself lapping slightly faster than Benny. Qualifying ended early as John overheated and the car was developing a misfire. The moment the green flag dropped John knew he had a problem as there was a terrible misfire from 6000rpm and up under full throttle. Giving as much throttle as he could John raced until he noticed he was overheating as well. Slowing down but still lapping the track in the hopes of completing half the race, John stayed out just long enough to score some points. That evening John took the head off the car in preparation of changing the head gasket. the next morning the head gasket arrived via Zach Lum, and John missed practice putting the head back on. Nothing could be done about the misfire so qualifying still saw John only using 80-90% of the throttle. On the last lap of qualifying about to pull into the pits the transmission popped out of 3rd gear, and would not engage in 3rd anymore. Playing around with the transmission in the paddock it was discovered that there was no fluid in the transmission, and 3rd gear was gone. Where it went, nobody knew! As a result Sunday's race saw John driving his heart out staying away from full throttle and only using 2nd and 4th gear. Fortunately the car count was low that weekend, so John still saw 5th and 4th place finishes. Nevertheless, another disappointing and expensive weekend in H4 for John.
4-30-08 - The latest rounds in the H4 2008 season took place at Buttonwillow Raceway on the 26th and 27th of April. The weekend went fairly well for John as Saturday saw him qualify on pole, and his first ever front row start. After the time attack where John tested the difference between 16 and 15 inch wheel tire setups, he decided to stay with the 15's. He was able to find a set of tires, which he got shaved right before the event. Saturday's practice went well with the new tires doing their job, and Johns times were 2 seconds faster than at the time attack! Before qualifying he lowered the car all around, but did not have time to change the alignment. Qualifying was cut short due to a H2 racer dropping oil at the entrance to Talladega/riverside, but when the results came in John was on top! Knowing that the rest of the field would be faster in the race than they were in qualifying and that John's car would be faster with the correct alignment settings, John decided to change the alignment before the race. For some reason the alignment change did not go as planned, and post race checks revealed that the alignment was not set where John wanted it, but rather with way too much toe out up front. Thus the car turned in great, but understeered too much, and John fell back to 6th place throughout the race. Starting at the front was a lot of fun however, and something John hopes to do again sometime soon.
Sunday's practice found John 2nd fastest in H4, running faster than Saturday due to the corrected alignment. Qualifying was not cut short today, and John ended up in 5th position. For the rolling start John got a good start but was passed by Benny between buttonhook and cotton corners. The rest of the race was spent keeping pace with Benny, running slightly faster times than him, but not enough to overtake. Manny was black flagged due to the two off track excursion rule, so John ended up in 5th place at the end of the day. Not as exciting as Saturday, but a top 5 finish is acceptable.
John will not be able to make it to the May event at Willow Springs due to family reasons, but he will be testing at Buttonwillow on the 31'st, then attending the Ultimate Track Car Challenge on June 8th at Buttonwillow, and then will be present for the June H4 races on the 21st and 22nd again at Buttonwillow Raceway.
3-31-08 - The season opening event for the Redline Time Attack series was held this past weekend at Buttonwillow Raceway. Redline has H4 spec cars classed in their Modified category, which puts them at a disadvantage as other cars in Modified are allowed engine swaps, forced induction, and R-compound tires. Nevertheless John went out to get some testing in and experience the pressure of a time attack setting. Through three practice sessions and two time attacks John's best time was a 2:07.4, not close enough to the 290hp civic that took the gold, but still beating out a few others (official time attack recorded time was a 2:07.5). John enjoyed the experience but was disappointed in how his car responded to his changes made since the previous race. He is planning on thinking more about his setup and reviewing his in-car to see how he can drop his times in preparation for the H4 race on the 26th (same track and same configuration coincidentally)!
3-23-08 - Happy Easter. On Friday NASA held the 3rd race in the series at California Speedway, and unfortunately for John a conflicting school schedule prevented him from attending this race. On Saturday he arrived and went out for practice, taking his time getting used to the track again as its been 2 years since he was on this course. Qualifying saw an inverted qualifying race based on the previous day's results, so starting from the back John made his way to an 8th place starting position. The race saw John battling it out with Loren Fancy for 7th place, and John had to settle for an 8th place finish come the checkered flag. Not as high as he would have hoped, but John says he had a great time and it was the perfect way to end a stressful quarter of school.
2-11-08 - This past weekend John attended the NASA season opener at Willow Springs. Saturday was eventful as a series of mishaps cause John to not get a qualifying time, and suffer from constant camber changes from the front left suspension throughout the race. Still he managed a 10th place finish. Sunday he was able to solve the issue, and went out to secure a 5th place finish.
11-15-07 – The season finale at Buttonwillow raceway on November 10th and 11th saw John ending the season strongly. Throughout the entire season John has been improving both the car and himself, however the rest of the field were improving as well. The overall pace of the Honda Challenge H4 pack was much faster this season as opposed to last season, with some track records being broken, and many more cars at near front running speed. On a whole this is good, but in the beginning of the season it was a little discouraging for John, as no matter how much he seemed to improve the car the rest of the field would improve as well and continue to finish in front. The past months however have shown a change for the better as John has been seen with enough speed to be a steady top 5 contender.
On Saturday John qualified 5th, and with a good rolling start, made it through turn 1 cleanly but was passed by Benny entering the esses. For the remainder of the race John followed Benny, running slightly faster times, but unable to make a successful pass. Overall finish was 6th place out of 13 cars. Sunday saw a 1st place time in morning practice (in the rain), and a 5th place qualifying position again. This time John was able to fend off Benny and the rest of the gang, keeping pace with the group of 3 CRX’s fighting for 2nd place. At one point John was up to 4th place as James Landry went off track under braking, but he was unable to keep James behind him. Overall John finished in 5th place, again out of 12 cars.
The newfound speed of the car may have come a little too late for 2007, but there is now a renewed hope of a front running 2008 season. More work will be done to the car over the winter, in an effort to make more power, lose more weight, and find more cornering speed.
Stay tuned for an exciting 2008!
10-17-07 – This past weekend at Buttonwillow saw John’s best performance yet in his Honda Challenge career. Saturday he finished a respectable 4th place, and Sunday saw him finishing around 6th place. Although there were some extraneous circumstances leading to his finish on Saturday, he is very pleased nonetheless. The morning commute to the track was delayed first by a late departure, and then by a closure of the freeway, and associated delays. The end result saw John (and others) showing up just as qualifying had ended. This meant John was forced to start at the back of the pack, with no shake down session or morning practice to ensure a solid performance.
The race began well with a great start by John, passing a couple of cars before turn 1, and over the next few laps fighting past a few more. Unfortunately there was an incident with the CRX’s running further up, and Sam R. was on the receiving end. This incident caused first a full course yellow, which turned into a yellow checkered. One disqualification later, and John ended up in 4th place. A technicality yes, but John is still quite satisfied with his performance starting from the back.
Sunday saw good times in practice, and again in qualifying. John started 5th and fought hard throughout the race, only giving up one position. Though not as satisfying as the day before, he is still happy with the result.
The next event will take place on November 10th and 11th, and will be the season finale. Lets hope this success continues throughout the end of the season.
10-8-07 – The last two months have proven to be quite busy for John, and as a result the car saw very little development. However agreements were made with both APR and Enkei and the car can be seen sporting a brand new APR wing along with Enkei RPF1 with freshly shaved Toyo’s. The wheels are extremely light and as such, the change from smaller/lighter 14” wheels to the 15” Enkei’s, along with the larger tires, should show no straight line losses. The response however, should be much improved due to the smaller sidewall.
Last weekend the car saw some testing at Buttonwillow raceway with a fellow HC racer, and John’s times were much improved compared to his old times on a similar configuration. Hopefully he can knock some more time off come race day, and finally stand a fighting chance.
8-17-07 – As the saying goes “no risk, no reward.” Well John certainly took some risks, and was rewarded with technical problems on Saturday, but a good race on Sunday. Saturday saw a variety of issues including a kill switch short, alternator malfunction, and the car overheating throughout the race, forcing John to end his race early. Sure enough, though somewhat loud, the transmission performed flawlessly and the combination of the tuning, the final drive, and the aero the car posted some decent times.
Sunday saw a better race, with all of the wiring issues resolved, as well as the overheating issue. Unfortunately the race saw many laps under full course yellow so there was not as much time available to make crucial passes and make a get away from the competitors behind. Regardless, this was one of the closest races John has seen due to the fact that the car is now a mid pack contender.
Overall John is disappointed in Saturday, but satisfied with his result on Sunday. He is looking forward to the two month break until the next race in October, where he can rest up and strategize how to continue to improve the car.
8/9/07 - After careful thought, some risks are going to be taken this weekend, as John is going to attempt to use the rebuilt transmission. Between a trans. that has a useless 2nd gear and stock gearing, vs. a trans. that has all 5 gears, higher gearing, but a rubbing noise, its been decided to take the risk in the hopes that nothing goes wrong and the higher gearing helps with faster laps. The 2nd transmission will be brought along, just in case.
Also, the car was just dyno tuned today at Church Automotive Testing in Wilmington, CA. The new Hondata s300 is working well and the car is making great power, and good useable torque. In addition to the Hondata, the car also received a new DC Sports 4-1 header, a rear wing was mounted, and a front splitter fabricated. It’s been told that the car is making more horsepower to the wheel than the CRX's, so this weekend looks to be an exciting one. So far, there are 14 entries for H4 this weekend.
Here’s for a close battle in Honda Challenge H4!
8/6/07
- After installation and testing of the transmission, it appears that the
grinding noise is still present. Further testing will take place tonight
to see if the issue can be resolved. Some good news however, is
that Hondata has given me a great deal on their s300, so the car will be dyno
tuned and ready to roll for this weekend.
7/31/07 - Been a while since an update. The transmission has been completed and is being installed and will be tested this week to ensure that it works. If it does not work, since the cause of the grinding has been very elusive, there are plans to run the transmission until either the noise disappears, or until something breaks, at which point the true cause of the problem will become apparent. The car has undergone more lightening, as well as received a "new" radiator, and a higher quality intake. There is more work planned for the car this week, but it is all pending John's schedule/budget.
7/9/07 - The car performed decently this past weekend, suffering neither failure nor contact. John managed to continue his streak of 0 dnf's, and no last place finishes, so the weekend was relatively good. However, John is still disappointed on how far behind the front runners his car is. Change after change each month, and no large improvement is being seen. This month he will be trying to get the car tuned, with a new intake, exhaust manifold, smaller lighter radiator, lighten the car more, get the good transmission back on the car, and add some aero in the hopes of higher cornering speed.
7/6/07 - The transmission did not finish in time sadly, so John will be running his spare transmission again (which has a faulty second gear). Hopefully the other racers will agree when he requests to do rolling starts both days, and hold off on a standing start until August. The MSD seems to work, and all the gauges work like they are supposed to now, so John is just looking forward to another fun weekend of racing, where he'll put his heart into it and see how fast he can get his little civic to go (sub 1:40's are the goal!!) Let's wish him luck!
7/4/07 - Happy 4th of July! Today the transmission will be coming back and John will install it to see if it finally works. He had a Gear X 4.9 final drive gear installed, and initially it was causing problems in the gearbox, resulting in a loud grinding noise. The transmission was taken to the local shop, 2 bearings replaced, and the gears reinstalled on the countershaft, and the noise still persisted. Referred by Special Projects Motorsports, the transmission guy has currently replaced 3 bearings, reinstalled the gears, and will be checking the spacing of the differential from the casing. Hopefully all went well, and the noise will be gone, and the transmission ready for this weekend.
Also for today, the water temperature gauge will be wired up, the brake fluid replaced with Motul RBF 660, and the car checked over in preparation for the race at Willow Springs.
7/3/07 - This page is created so others can stay up to date with John Howard and his racing career.