Building a Racer to beat a Honda CRX - Options?

[jdbubb at verizon.net (Dan Bubb)]

Don't know what legal mods are, but the 1.7 might have a problem in this class.
It's got the early head with 34mm intake valves, so there is no way it'll match the valve area of the Honda. Being able to swap to a later GTI head would help a lot.
Camshaft is probably pretty mild also, although I know of no way to directly compare it to the Honda. All I can say is the torque peak on the VW is around 3000 RPM indicating generally restricted breathing either from a mild cam or insufficient valve area.
You'd have 13% more displacement, so you should be able to match the Honda's peak torque rating despite the poorer breathing, but I can't see any way you'll match the Honda's peak power.
And despite some of those catchy phrases about torque does this and HP does that, I think the HP deficit will kill you.
You might be able to make up the power deficit with a close ratio tranny, but again, don't know if it's legal to swap trannies and the 1.7 only came with relatively wider ratio boxes.
Is anybody else running a VW in this class that could give you some indication of its competitiveness?
Dan

From: "Cory Langford" <Cory_Langford@bcit.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 1:10 PM
Subject: Building a Racer to beat a Honda CRX - Options?> 
> 
> 
> After doing some nosing around, it seems the class that a mk1 (or mk2) roc
> would end up in at the local track is dominated by 90s Honda CRX's with the
> 1.5L 16V engines.
> 
> They seem to be putting out about 108-110 HP with legal mods and weigh in
> around 2000 Lbs.  Internet lists the torque from the factory at 90 Ft-lbs
> at 4500 RPM.
> 
> The local track is short and full of corners. It is far from a high speed
> track, there is only one real straight section and it is not that long.  So
> a quick point and shoot style setup seems to be the way to go.
> 
> I figured a high torque car would be better than a masive HP beast.  So the
> question remains, can a Roc be designed to out class the 0.06 HP/Lbs crx?
> 
> Class is limited to 1750cc, so the 1.7L from a mk1 or early mk2 works
> great.  BUT: the 75HP it comes with stock might get bumped to 80 with legal
> mods (still invstigating) and the curb weight for a mk1 roc is around 2000
> Lbs as well is it not?
> 
> That puts the roc at only 0.04 HP/Lbs, what I am hoping for is to get a
> whole lot more torque out of the engine to pull out of the corners.
> 
> Just looking for ideas :)
> 
> Cory


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