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Hot cars for a hot day in Markham
Originally published July 12th, 2003 in The Toronto Star
Written by: Richard Young
Tuner cars defy the norm at national meet
It's hard not to talk about Hondas at any tuner-car gathering.
The field at Darknights Nationals last weekend was covered in them. There were at least 40 Civics from the Toronto Civic Club alone, says Duy Hua, president of the group whose life centres on the Japanese make. It's the Machine of Choice among the tuner crowds. It was cheap (not so much now) and aftermarket parts are plentiful and powerful. In fact, there are so many Hondas that if you can win a class award you've probably got a pretty smart ride. Heck, the classes are divided into "mild," "wild" and "heads-up." For most makes, if you show up, you're bound to win something. In the Honda Universe, competition is fierce. I'd bet it would be wise not to start with a Honda if you want to compete because you're going to have to learn a lot fast and, above all, be good, really good. (Did I mention rich?)
Probably the top dog in the modification ranks was the Altech Performance Honda CRX drag car owned and designed by Joe Conde of Toronto. Hua, in for the hot and wild weekend in Markham — yes, I said "wild" and "Markham" in the same sentence — to rep for Conde, says the 200 horsepower CRX will do an 11.8 on the Cayuga quarter mile. Nearest competitor is in the mid-12s — might as well be three counties away on the dragstrip. All of those 200 horses are produced by the engine (H22 model) without nitrous or super- or turbochargers. And almost the whole thing was designed and fabricated locally. No imported stuff, or at least not much.
Funny thing to see Canadian Tire there (probably one of the more staid of mass marketers in any sector, but especially in the auto department), offering aftermarket filters and muffler tips for 12-year-old Buick Centurys. But the Tire is modifying its image. It had a tentful of — wait for it — Hondas at Darknights, in partnership with the ubiquitous Meguiar's, the polish people who seem to be everywhere there's even a whiff of a custom car. So, in the interest of ignoring the hundreds of Hondas, what else could there be besides Civics, CRX's, Accords, Integras and S2000s?
Rare on the road as well as rare at Darknights, Brennan Clarkson's Mazdaspeed Protegé, in all its stock "orange flake" glory, shone like a beacon. It's Mazda's answer to the tuner car trend these days and it's a pretty good one. All Clarkson has done — aside from replace the stolen stereo in his two-month-old precious — was add a turbo boost controller. When the Waterloo-based owner installed it, he found out the blower was only putting out 5.9 pounds. It's now 11.0, good for 195 hp at the wheels. A big boost, so to speak, from the stock 170 at the crank, or about 154 at the wheels. Winning the size category, if there were one, was the burnt orange Hummer H2 with the 24-inch chrome wheels. It and a sister Hummer were promoting monster in-car entertainment systems (formerly known as a stereo).
The stereo system speakers looked like North Sea oil rig pumps installed in a pickup. (Did I mention they were chest-crushing loud?) The guys with a taste for the different were members of the Toyotanation club. Leading the show-off parade were a pair of L-Tuned IS 300s, with the requisite Altezza body kits and lights. Martin Lewis of Stouffville says the L-Tuned parts catalogue will soon be gone after a short life in Canada. He had already bought aftermarket bits for his red IS 300 from California. And Jackie Wan of Scarborough had a yellow all-JDM Altezza — that's codespeak for Japan Domestic Market, the ultimate in jonesing.
Strangely enough, the Subaru Club of Toronto seems to have gone missing in action. I was interested in finding out what it takes to build up a WRX and only came across three Subes of any distinction: two WRXes and an Impreza RS. Someone said Carl Cheung was around with his ultimate JDM STi, a right-hand-driver imported part by part. I first saw the car at the first Canadian Autotech in April, 2002. It looked unusual until I realized the steering wheel was on the right. But I didn't see it at Markham.
But Adrian Cordina of Brampton has a heavily leaned-on white WRX, which is also due for an STi 2-litre infusion. The original North American WRX (model-year 2002) has a 2-litre engine with turbo, which boosts power to 227. The current (and new) North American-market STi has a turbo'ed 2.5-litre engine producing 300 hp (but with 94 octane fuel, not exactly common around these parts).
That engine, used because it handles emissions standards better, is near its development limits. It's the "real" STi 2-litre that everyone covets — and, no, the WRX 2-litre is not related to the STi's 2-litre. Other than that, Cordina has done lots to his car (worked over at Four Star Racing in Georgetown), such as cold air intake, up- and down-pipes, bigger turbo mouth, plus, plus, plus. Output is now about 275, he says. But the JDM STi 2-litre starts at around 320 hp. A Montreal WRX, owned by Steven Bergeron, puts out 346 hp, running 18 psi on the boost controller.
But the proof is always at the track where the BS goes up in smoke. Still it's always interesting to hear what owners at the cutting edge have done. Of course, this huge collection of tuner cars attracts not only spectators but also the police. Apparently, various forces surrounded the Darknights venue and started raking in tuner cars on the way in and out of the area of the show and laying hundreds of charges. I'm of two minds on this issue: if you're driving a car with important items disconnected or bypassed such as emissions systems or mirrors shrunken or made useless, or tire-fender clearance so tiny you can't steer, then give your head a shake.
The life of you and your friends is not worth the risk. But there were also many stoppages of cars whose "mods" were factory or not even remotely challenging to safety. That, to me, is profiling at its worst, no matter the subject. It really has to stop, because you could imagine the day in the future when another "issue" comes along and police decide to invade people's lives because of some trumped-up need to "do something." The key question is: Who are these silent decision makers anyway?
Richard Young is assistant editor of Wheels. E-mail: ryoung@thestar.ca.
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