Adam Saruwatari To Race Honda Civic Si Hatchback In 2002

[kris]

Adam Saruwatari To Race Honda Civic Si Hatchback In 2002


Import drag racer Adam Saruwatari will campaign an all-new 2002 Civic Si hatchback during the upcoming drag racing season according to an announcement made jointly today by Saruwatari and American Honda Motor Co., Inc. at the 2001 SEMA Show.

Underscoring Honda's commitment to the performance aftermarket and professional racing, American Honda will provide parts support for Saruwatari in 2002 as he competes in the NHRA and other drag racing series. Saruwatarai will also be eligible for Honda contingency awards.

"The new Civic Si provides the foundation for a very fast race car," said Saruwatari. "We're combining the latest technology with a race proven formula that we believe will result in a very successful 2002 season."

Set to debut in early 2002, Saruwatari's drag car will appear similar to the street version displayed at SEMA. The street version features a supercharged 2.0-liter i-VTEC 4-cylinder engine with engine modifications by DC Sports, a lowered suspension by Ground Control and Eibach Springs, 4-piston Brembo brakes, 19-inch Enkei wheels and P215/35-ZR19 Nitto tires.

"American Honda is pleased to be a part of Adam Saruwatari's Civic Si race program," said Jim Roach, executive vice president of Honda Parts and Accessories. "We've built a great relationship over the past two years and we look forward to seeing the potential of the new 2002 Civic Si hatchback."

Saruwatari's reputation for speed began in the mid-nineties when he campaigned a Mazda RX-7 and became one of the fastest import racers. As Saruwatari's career grew, he switched to Acura power for 2001 with a specially built Acura NSX drag car, which he intends to run for a partial schedule during the 2002 season. The NSX drag car ran the quarter mile in 8.2 seconds at 166 mph in its early development stages. The Civic Si will be Saruwatari's primary car for 2002 and remain the focus of his building and tuning efforts. The Civic Si drag car will be based on a design similar to the current NSX drag car.

[JD@af]

I personally am very excited by Saruwatari's usage of superchargers in the Honda camp. There clearly needs to be more research and development done with the SC'd cars, since they offer great throttle response and very broad, flat torque curves, and yet with the four options of engine building for drag racing (turbo, nitrous, all motor, and SC) the supercharged cars remain the slowest. They shouldn't be the fastest or even the second fastest IMO, but I believe that with the right modding they should be able to take the fastest NA cars (although admittedly Jeremy Lookofsky's H22A-powered CRX [~2.5-liter displacement, static compression ratio on the order of 16:1] is no slouch in the quarter mile, with a best of [email protected]).

I think that to this day, few people look at superchargers as a viable option for building a champion-caliber quarter-mile Honda (and indeed, it may not be possible with the B series engines - but with the new K series, it's got the makings of a different ball game ). We shall see with time.