**

George Doganis is a Rally and Solo/Pro Solo Racer and long-time customer of King Motorsports.

He has multiple championships including:
4 California Rally Series Class Championships ('06,'07,'08,'10)
Bilstein Rally Cup(2010)
4 SCCA Solo National Championships
2 SCCA Pro Solo National Championships

George's rally car is a fully-prepped EK hatch. His latest King-supplied additions include WPC-Treated Gear-X close-ratio gears, Mugen Limited Slip Differential, and AEM adjustable cam gears.

Other notes on his car:
The car is built with an FIA-standards cage for Rally America/NASA 2WD class. The shell has been seam welded and strengthened in critical areas. Suspension has been reinforced and some of the links have been replaced with heim-jointed, chrome-moly custom pieces. Shocks are modified Bilstein units. Steering quickener was added and PS pump modified. Engine is 2-liter B-series VTEC. Trans has Gear-X gears (WPC’ d as well) and Mugen LSD. Brakes are Fastbrakes 11” F&R. Gravel tires are Pirelli(as of the next event) on Team Dynamics Pro Rally 1 wheels.

Congratulations on all of your success George!

Soichiro Honda was driven by a lifetime of passion for all things mechanical. That passion led him to become a skilled mechanic, driving the creation of the company we know and love today. Along the way, Soichiro’s enthusiasm for speed and adventure never took him far from racing cars and motorcycles.

It’s no accident that Soichiro’s love of motorcycles, horsepower and engineering is shared by one of the best Honda engine builders in the world: King’s own Chad LeBeau.

I caught up with Chad recently to talk engine building, motorcycle racing and the beer he would have had with Soichiro Honda.

What do you do at King Motorsports?

My title is Engine Builder. In the past, I also did fabrication (such as roll cages), but we've since hired other people to do that so I could focus on engine building. I used to do a little of everything. Compared to 12 years ago when I first started, we have so much engine work to do now that I primarily focus on engine work. But I can do pretty much everything except for tuning, which is Tim's area of expertise. But we can both do roll cage work and any type of fabrication, machining, etc.

For the most part, for the last several years I've been doing engine work.

I build the engines. Sometimes I'll install the engine, but usually someone else installs the engine and Tim will then tune it on the dyno. I'll do the cylinder head work, all the blueprinting and balancing, and assembly. Then it's up to Tim to make horsepower. If it doesn't make horsepower as it should, I just blame it on Tim. (laughs)

As far as tuning goes, we work with Hondata for engine management. We work with the AEM units too. It's basically putting the engine on the dyno, hooking it up to a wideband O2 so you can get the air-fuel, and making adjustments on timing, air-fuel, and VTEC engagement. With the K series, we also have cam advance on the intake, which is a whole other variable when it comes to tuning. It's a lot of dyno runs, then fine tuning fuel, ignition and stuff like that.

How did you first get connected with King Motorsports?

Back around 1999, I was a customer when the shop was located in Sullivan, WI. I was out there several times picking up parts. I got to know King’s President and CEO Scott, and he mentioned he was looking for an engine builder (who could also be a fabricator). I told him “Well that's what I'm doing now.” So we set up an interview, and it all worked out from there.

What drew you to Hondas?

I worked at a Harley-Davidson shop prior to King Motorsports. I was into motorcycles and motorcycle racing. I raced Honda bikes, but I knew a bunch of guys who raced both bikes and cars. Before the Harley-Davidson shop, I was working at a Ford dealership.

One of the salesmen from Ford moved over to a Harley-Davidson dealership. He got me a job at Harley-Davidson.

I've always been a Honda guy. Motorcycle racing is where I got started on Hondas, transferring my engine and racing experience over to cars. The more I learned, the more I saw just how far ahead Honda was ahead of the other guys, especially in their engine program. Back in the early '90s, just when I was getting into motorcycles, it seemed like Honda was way ahead of everyone -- both motorcycles and cars.

Did you have any formal training?

I took every shop class in high school. I took auto, welding, machine shop, electronics, you name it. I also went to UTI Auto Tech School, but left after 3 months. I already had a job at the Ford dealership, where I was able to learn on the job.

I am fortunate to have worked at places with knowledgeable people. The Harley-Davidson dealership was very involved in both motorcycle road and drag racing. They are just down the street from us. We did really involved engine work, they have smart guys that work there, so I learned cylinder head flow and other skills. I also learned from people at King. I’m fortunate to be around smart people I can ask questions of.

So what was your interview with King like?

It was a typical interview. We reviewed my background and work at Harley-Davidson. I told them I could weld, fabricate, machine, etc.

But did Scott ask you to build an engine blindfolded, ninja-style?

No, ha ha.

What is your background in racing?

I raced in CCS (Championship Club Series), which is like the SCCA, except it’s for motorcycles. It’s road racing at a regional level. I always raced the Honda CBR600F2. I did that for 2 years before I went broke and couldn't go any further.

What project cars have you owned over the years?

Just my '90 Integra LS, which is the car I was buying parts for from King. I still have the car. I do track events with it now. That's my project and hobby car.

Although I'm not the original owner, my favorite mod was putting Hoosier racing tires on it. (laughs)

I’ve had several motors in my Integra over the years. Currently it has B17 VTEC from a ‘92-93 GSR. It makes about 200-ish WHP, not bad for a naturally aspirated motor. I'm building out a different motor for it right now, a 92 stroke motor. Hopefully I’ll get 240-250 WHP out of that, we'll see.

What categories of engine building are you involved in?

At King, we do it all. That includes working on the bottom end, measuring all the bearing clearances, and balancing the crank, rods and pistons. We bore and hone it. A lot of the work is in the cylinder heads, as far as doing the porting and the valve job. We also run it on the flow bench, trying different things with the porting and valve job to increase flow. Once all of that's done, I do a mock up assembly and check the piston and valve clearances, degree the cams in, etc. Once I make sure all the clearances are right, I go back and clean everything, re-assemble it, then do a final check on the cam timing. That’s pretty much the short version. It's a lot of measuring and checking clearances, which can be a time consuming process. By the time you're done, you've disassembled and assembled things 3 or 4 times.

I've seen your work area, and it resembled an immaculately clean laboratory!

Yeah, any nicer shop is going to have a separate clean room for doing all the final assembly work. It's too hard to have all that stuff out in the open in the shop. With all the machining stuff, and grinding cylinder heads, I'm making quite a mess, so we have to keep that stuff separated otherwise it's almost impossible to keep it clean.

What does it take to have a good reputation as an engine builder?

I’d say it’s a balanced combination of making an engine that a) gets good HP numbers and b) performs reliably.

What is the most interesting part of engine building for you?

I definitely like the cylinder head, porting and valve jobs. I like working on our flow bench, constantly trying to make the cylinder heads better, and the valve jobs better. I like the challenge of getting more flow out of a motor. I definitely found that how the engine performs on the flow bench relates directly to how it will perform on our dyno. If we get an improvement on the flow bench, we almost always see an improvement on the dyno too.

What is a flow bench?

It's a machine, basically a big vacuum cleaner, if you will. It has several big vacuum motors in it, and it measures the head, the lifts at the valve ... simulating the moment when the cam opens the valve. Our flow bench measures air flow at each lift and the flow of the cylinder head at all the different lifts at the valve.

So it's like a simulator of the engine movements without the inherent risks of having gas exploding?

Right. Basically the way you increase a motor’s power is to increase the air flow both in and out. The quicker you can get it in and the quicker you can get it out, the better. Compression plays into that too. The higher the compression ratio, the more it compresses, the more power it makes. The flow bench can help me determine how effective the porting and the valve job were.

How many customers do you have that are local vs. ones that ship motors to you (such as from outside the US)?

We have a fair mix, about even across the board... Local Wisconsin guys as well as from Northern Illinois and Chicago, but we have plenty from other states as well as from around the world!

We also have customers that ship us their engines from overseas – they just put them on a pallet and crate them up.. We use Mike's old drag car as a K series motor tester, and we have another car for the B series motors.

Do you have a favorite engine or swap?

Hmm, I don't really have a favorite. But we do more B series than anything else.

That said, I like doing the K series – they’re interesting motors. They have roller rockers, an adjustable intake cam, and the advance on the intake cam is controlled by the ECU, so you can control the cam timing on the intake cam, which is pretty neat. It’s a lot more work for Tim to tune though. There are a few things they've improved on over the B series engine: the bottom ends are a little stronger; the way the main bearings hold to the block as one big “girdle” if you will. All the main bearings are connected to each other in one big piece of aluminum, so the bottom end is pretty stout. The cylinder heads flow better, there are bigger valves, bigger ports. It's a little better in terms of wear on the cam shafts.

The B series are definitely our core. We have the most R&D done for B series cylinder work, valve jobs, custom intake manifolds, headers, etc.

How much do you get involved with R&D?

We’re doing a little R&D with every engine build. I'm always working to get the heads to flow a little more, trying new things... I've got plenty of scrap cylinder heads that I'll experiment with to find new ways to port and valve to increase flow in the flow bench.

With the B series we've done quite a bit of R&D on intake manifolds, cutting them apart, porting, and then welding them back together; even making our own from scratch. We'll take the flange off a stock manifold and go from there. Some of the aftermarket and Edelbrock ones are pretty good. We modify them and keep trying different things. It's always a learning process. We never get to a point where we're like "Ok, we've got the end-all best solution now." Instead, every month we see new ways improve flow. It's kind of a never-ending pursuit. We're always striving to extract more horsepower.

How long do typical builds take?

They typically a month in terms of duration, accounting for getting parts in and taking parts to the machine shop (we have a machine shop that does all of our boring, honing and balancing). So by the time we get all the parts in and get the cylinder head worked on it's about a month to a month and a half.

What do you think about the industry’s shift towards greener power plants? What do you think of the CR-Z?

I personally only have modest experience with the CR-Z. King did the Mugen suspension on one and had it on the dyno, but I haven’t yet had the chance to take the engine apart to see how the engine's electrical assist works. I know when the CR-Z is wide open and the electrical assist is working, it's draining the battery. You can only do that for so long and then it's got to recharge itself.

So the first thing that came to mind for me is that the stock electrical assist might not be practical at a track event because you'd probably get half a lap in and then the battery power might start to drain. So I don't know how well the electrical assist would work on the track.

It's sort of like the technology in F1 cars. They have an electrical assist called the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). Drivers are only able to use the system a couple of times per lap. So they’re incorporating a similar technology into F1.

It would be nice if the CR-Z had a bit better power plant to start with. Like if it had a K series motor. Obviously the CR-Z is more about fuel economy then high performance, but it seems Honda is trying to feel out a balance. The CR-Z looks great. I'd love to see Honda try to make a similar style hybrid out of a Civic Si.

It's a little discouraging to see Honda get rid of the NSX, then the RSX and now the S2000 -- it seems like Honda is getting away from performance cars a little bit. So I'm looking forward to seeing what Honda comes up with to replace those models. In terms of performance platforms, right now we just have the Civic Si and TSX.

What makes King Motorsports different from other shops?

I don't think there are a lot of shops that do as much as we can. For example, we do roll cages, engine work, development, chassis dyno, and all the rest of the heavy lifting that goes into preparing race-spec vehicles. There aren't a lot of shops that can offer all those things.

We're well-rounded. We're not just a place to come get your car tuned or buy parts. We can build your car from the ground up: fabrication, engine work, tuning, suspension, brakes -- everything you need to build a race car. So if you’re looking to build a race car, you don't have to take your car to multiple shops. We can do everything right here; We're a one-stop shop.

What can you tell me about King’s long-standing relationship with Mugen?

I don't personally get into the part sales. But I can say it was definitely nice when we were racing the World Challenge series and we'd have a couple of guys from Mugen come out from Japan to support us at the races. We'd hang out with them and talk shop. I got to spend time with one of Mugen's engine guys, asking questions and sharing stories.

If you could go back in time to meet the founder of Honda, what would you do?

I'd have a million engine questions to ask him. It'd be cool to see his facilities, see his machines and what makes his shop run. I'd ask him about his cylinder head designs, the differences in bore and stroke and rod ratio. Stuff like that.

So you'd buy him a beer and pick his brain for a while?

Right! I wouldn't know where to start!

I might ask why they never came out with a V8 NSX, or an inline six S2000. Honda has always pursued the most power-per displacement engines, but they never seem to make a big displacement motor. Their focus is getting the most power out of smaller motors. Man it would be cool if they had a V8 NSX ... or that inline six S2000. Seeing as how they get so much out of those smaller motors, I can only imagine what they'd do with larger motors!

What do you think the next 30 years will be like for Honda and the tuning scene?

It’s hard to say, especially if they keep going in the hybrid direction. It might put a damper on the kind of stuff we do, especially if they keep getting rid of their performance-based cars. But we'll still always have the people who are building and swapping the cars that are on the road now. The only problem is these car's shells won't last forever. But there are plenty of them out there.

There will always be racing, and there will always be people who want to get their car around the track faster. So I’m sure King will always be busy.

If you weren't working with cars or motorcycles for a living, what would you be doing?

I’d probably an engineer of some kind, building things. Right now I have the role of "re-engineering" so it would be nice to be on the other side of things. It would be nice to be designing things for a change.

Do you have a dream car?

Being a Honda guy, I've always liked the NSX. I'd probably set that as my realistic dream car.

Since the cat is out of the bag. We figured we would post pics of the new engine and turbo process.

 Out with the old......

In with the new.....

(Continued from Part 1 of our Staff Interview with Mike Lindquist)

In Part 2 of our interview with King's Service Manager Mike Lindquist, we talk about customer collaboration, favorite projects, and tuning myths.

I’ve heard that you really take the time to listen and ask questions when customers come to you for a build. What is the initial contact like with your racing customers?

Mike L: Our customers from the Dominican Republic are a recent example. They knew King had been building race cars for years, and they always thought of us as the “go to guys” if they ever built a Honda.

Previously, they were running Mazdas that were ex-US World Challenge or Grand Am cars. The cars were from a company called Tri-Point Engineering, the team that really won with those cars. So once  Tri-Point went to the newer Mazda chassis, the older Mazdas got shipped down to the Dominican Republic where our customers raced them. Those Mazdas were kind of heavy, and they’re not as tuner-friendly as the Hondas. The rules are very lax down there.

They called and said, “Hey we know Hondas, we used to race them years ago. We want to go back to the EG hatchback, with a properly built engine. We knew that if we ever did a Honda that you guys would be the people to talk to. Here’s what we’re looking for... here’s what the displacement of the engine needs to be per the rules,” etc. Basically if they tell me the rules, I can come up with something that fits those rules. I send them pictures and dyno charts from previous customer’s builds so they know what we’re talking about throughout the conversation.

We usually go back and forth until we get a quote hammered out. It’s usually a good five or so phone calls (with race engines we’re talking about a project that’s the price of a new Civic, so it’s not something you get done in the first phone call). So the process starts with letting the customer know that we can definitely accomplish their goals. I’ll usually ask them specifics about those goals. Then we go from there: “I have this idea” or “I have that idea.” If they’re ok with my initial ideas, I check the dyno charts for a couple of engines that I’m thinking will fit what the customer’s looking for. They give me feedback like, “This looks good, but can we do this or that?” Then I’ll send them a chart for another variation, and we’ll work on it together and come up with a final build strategy. It’s definitely a team effort between the customer and King.

Usually the race guys pretty much know what they want, so it’s different than talking to a customer that’s less experienced and might be looking for our direction 100% of the way.

So there’s quite a bit of collaborative consulting with the race guys?

Mike L: Right, I won’t build anything or recommend anything that wouldn’t be right. So there have been times when someone has insisted on running a certain part and I’ve had to say, “I’m sorry but we can’t do that part because of reliability issues, and here’s why ....” and I send them pictures of how that part failed in previous builds. That pretty much makes the case. We’re talking from experience, not just personal opinion. Our recommendations are based on facts.

Understandably, customers are used to doing it their own way. Especially overseas, everyone does it differently. They may have theories: “Oh these guys are fast, and they’re doing this ....” They talk to us and we might flip their world upside-down sometimes. At the end of the day what matters is that the customer understands we’re here to help. 

So the race rules are a driving force for their goals?

Mike L: Right, that’s pretty much the first thing to consider. I usually start the conversation by asking what the race rules are. They’ll  tell me something like, “We’re racing in the Dominican Republic, we have this race that’s 2-liter class, the car has to weigh this much, the only real regulations are stock throttle body and stock intake manifolds. Compression is unlimited, cams are unlimited... what do you think you can do for me?” In any racing, the first question I ask is about the rules: What are your rules? What class are you racing? ...so I know what to start out with, and make sure we’re going the right direction to begin with.

So what about the non-racing customers? What are the common services requested?

Mike L: These customers require anything from full engine builds to simple things like “I have a ‘check engine’ light in a car that I bought modified by the previous owner.”

As far as the engine build customers that come off the street, they’ll say “I really want to make my car go faster, I don’t really care if it’s all motor or turbo.” But I prod them a little bit for what they’re really going to be doing with the car. How do they typically drive it? Do they pound the car from stoplight to stoplight? Do they like driving it in pretty much stock manner versus something they can take to the track on weekends? I try to get a better feel for what the customer does with the car.

Sometimes the customer doesn’t know how to describe what they’re looking for. Which is fine, that’s what I’m here for. I help them along by asking questions about how they’re going to use the car, then suggest a build accordingly. Now, if it’s someone that is really a hands-off car guy (and we’re going to be doing maintenance on the car), we’ll give them a more conservative build as far as reliability of parts... or try to work with the OEM build and see if they’re happy with making 200hp on all-OEM parts and internals. Or if it’s a guy who says he wants to go 12 flat in a street car -- then he’s asking for something that can’t be done with OEM stock parts. So I educate them along the way.

We take pictures of every part of the engine build, and the customer gets a whole file folder with all his pictures from the build. I can sit down with the customer for a visual explanation: “Here’s what we do with the sleeved block, here’s what we do with a non-sleeved block, or here’s what we do when we add valve cover vents to the valve cover, these are the kind of pistons we use .... see this mark here? This is what we machine versus the stock one.” We show it to them in pictures.

A customer can know nothing about parts, but the pictures and my explanation will teach them. That’s a big part of getting the people’s business. I kind of like teaching them, helping them along, you know? We get all kinds of customers. If the customer is willing to take the extra time, I can explain all the stuff to them so they can feel like they have and understand all the facts. I want to make sure they don’t feel like they’re getting “taken” or whatever.

A lot of customers bring us stuff built by other people where they don’t even know what’s inside these engines. They don’t even have an invoice that shows the individual part breakdown, so all they can say is, “I think it has CP pistons, maybe Eagle rods, but I don’t really know.”

So we take the extra steps. Our builds may be more expensive than other places, but a lot of that cost comes from my time spent with them making sure they’re comfortable and on board with everything, as well as our painstaking methods for assembly. The whole build is well-documented with pictures, dyno charts, and itemized invoicing. We make sure everything’s done right.

When we’re building an engine, we keep communication flowing with the customers. If they ever call with questions or they stop in, I walk them out to the shop and show them where Chad [King’s engine builder] is. He’s always willing to show people the work in progress. I walk people right in all the time in the middle of him working. I say “Here’s where you motor is, and here’s what we’re thinking about doing with this, and here’s why this is going to better...” I physically show them.

Are there any tuning myths that you have to dispel? Do any customers come in with unrealistic expectations?

Mike L: Well I think the Internet is the worst source when it comes to leading people to draw conclusions based on incomplete or faulty information. There are so many myths, I could talk about them for days. There isn’t a specific one that sticks out to me, since there are so many. But I’d say the concept of “You don’t need tuning,” or “I saw this guy do such and such on the Internet and he got away with using this part or that part,” or “I can run 400hp on stock internals,” or “this guy made 600hp on pump gas, why can’t I?” I have to explain to them, “well, he probably made three pulls before it broke,” or “he’s running a giant turbo and can make a lot of power with a little boost because it’s so huge.”

So they don’t have all the facts?

Mike L: Yeah, or they think they can buy a turbo kit off of eBay and turbo their car the same as someone who turbo’d their car for $8,000, versus a generic $2,000 turbo kit that doesn’t get the same results. They don’t understand why it takes two days to install something that’s “just bolt on.” Well, it’s not so much the bolting on the manifold and turbo that takes time, it’s trying to maintain quality for everything else that goes into the installation. We end up replacing most of the eBay kit parts, making custom parts anyway. Ultimately you’d be better off having us build the kit with the correct parts in the beginning, because we simply won’t put a turbo on with silicone hoses as the oil feed lines instead of a braided line. And we won’t use zip ties instead of proper hose clamps. These eBay kits get really generic. A customer may end up with a turbo that’s just awful and will probably smoke from day one and never stop smoking. So a major myth would be that you can buy an eBay turbo, have us tune it, and expect that everything is going to be just fine. It just doesn’t work that way.

So it sounds like you really have the customer’s best interest at heart...

Mike L: Yes. Sometimes they may not think so at first. But they come around once you go through the explanation and show them you’re not just trying to sell them a part. I explain the reasons in detail, which is something other shops can’t always do. A customer might ask, “Well why do I need a breather kit?” and another shop might dismissively say, “Well, it’s just better.”

But why is it better? If you can explain something technical in terms that customers can understand, it arms them with real knowledge. An informed customer is a happy customer. A customer should never feel like you’re telling them to buy a part they know absolutely nothing about, like they’re only doing it because I said so. Maybe not every shop feels that way but that’s what we try to do for our customers at King.

Do you have any favorite customer projects that come to mind?

Mike L: We have a turbo car that we’re working on. ...These are guys that I drag race against so I know them. Theirs is one of the fastest cars we’ve ever built as far as drag strips go. It hasn’t put down majorly impressive numbers yet but the car’s won events. I was driving the car for them as sort of a “hired driver” to shake out the bugs for them. Got the car to go 10.70 at 135mph. We tuned and did a lot of fabrication on their car; a lot of turbo set up, the fuel system and everything else. It’s a B16 making almost 590hp, and it’s a real small engine.

This winter, we’re taking that same car and building it out to make over 800hp, and they want the car to go mid to low 9’s. We’re stepping it up to a proper 2-liter build and going with a bigger turbo. We’re really turning the corner towards “serious” drag racing now.

That build is a respectable endeavor, financially speaking. Just the gears for the transmission alone are $8,000. So when you get to that level and you’re making that much power, you have to step up your game on all fronts. It’s a great challenge.

I’m an all-motor guy at heart, but the turbos are pretty cool. Getting them to run efficiently is what’s fun. But all-motors are still my first love since it takes so much careful tweaking and so many specific part changes to get to a power goal. I was running 11.1’s making 280hp while another car running 10.70’s is making 583hp or something. It shows that in a car that’s all-motor, you can still make the car fast without making the big power of a turbo car. So I guess I’ve always liked that. I like the responsiveness of an all-motor car.

When I sold the engine out of my old drag car, I used the money to purchase a white Integra Type-R. The Type-R was a theft recovery. The car only had 49k miles on it, and King had done all the work on it, Mugen parts, etc. So I rebuilt it to factory spec as far as the chassis goes, and built a bigger 2.2-liter B-series stroker for it, and that’s been my project that replaced the drag car.

Is that the white Integra Type-R that was parked in King’s showroom at King’s Dyno Day in 2010?

Mike L: No that’s Tim’s car. His has a stock motor and is very, very clean. Mine was parked out front for Dyno Day. Our cars are similar; same year, same white color. Tim’s is just a lot cleaner. He’s got black wheels on his. It’s just immaculate. Mine’s clean, but not that clean. Tim’s is so clean that he’s had it for 10 years and it’s only seen rain twice -- by accident. The engine bay is ridiculous too.

Were there any least favorite customer projects?

Mike L: What comes to mind again are the guys with the eBay turbo kits. The owners spend so much money to get the kit set up right, but the car itself may not be worth all the effort. We get the turbo to the point where it’s reliable, but it still doesn’t make any real power. So we put a lot of time and effort into something that’s mechanically sound, but it’s still not right because of the parts the customer brought to the build. We can’t change those parts if that’s what the customer wanted us to do.

Then there are cars that come in here that are plain scary. They are so dangerous that you’re afraid to drive them. Just tonight, we got a car that the customer shouldn’t even have driven on the road. I took it only ten, twenty feet in the driveway. I got out of it and said, “This is going on the lift, there’s obviously a major problem.” One axle nut was tightened so tight it broke off. If you grab the top and bottom of the wheel and you can wobble it an inch, inch and a half, that’s bad. The only thing that was holding the wheel on the car was the brake rotor and caliper.

The really scary part is that it was a tech at a Honda dealership who originally put the wheel bearings in the car. At a dealership! So that’s even scarier, that people like that work on cars and allow it to go out like that.  Basically the wheel was loose because the tech just kept tightening the axle nut until it broke off. So when I took off the wheel, the nut fell on the ground with part of the axle still in it. I took off the wheel and heard “clink!” I looked on the ground and saw that the axle had sheared off and is stuck in the spindle nut. That’s a big nut that requires a 32mm socket.

I can’t say that I have any specific cars that are least favorites. I’d just say that the least favorites are the ones that are just pieced together. I know that everyone can’t have something really cool. It’s respectable to have a car you thought through and did right. Don’t just buy someone else’s botched-together project. It’s a gamble that may not pay off. That’s what we’ve sometimes seen when people don’t have the money to build their own so they just trade cars on Craig’s List and end up getting a pile of junk.

Um, I have to admit I look at those Craig’s List cars too. I’m glad you tell it like it is.

Mike L: I want to make sure I can make every customer comfortable. Some of our customers might be more reserved in personality. They don’t want to feel like they’re getting that snobbish, over-priced tuner shop attitude.  We work hard to avoid that stereotype. Street-build customers generally need more explanation and help with developing their build. Also, their budget is tighter. With racing customers it’s a bit more cut and dried. They usually know their cars inside and out, and come to us for specific work. They’re well aware that power and speed cost money and they’re not shocked at the cost. In either case, I really enjoy finding out what their needs are and being able to help them out. We want to make our customers feel comfortable enough where they can speak their minds, and trust they are collaborating with us. I know we’re on the right track when we use plain English instead of stuffy professional-speak that doesn’t really mean anything. Professionalism is important of course, but you have to be able to relate to the customers too. I think that’s the difference between customers that walk in and then right out, versus those that stick around. Being easy to talk to can make the difference on whether someone comes back again.

I do my best to figure out where the customer is coming from. I’ll give customers a shop tour, show them around, and remind them that, “Hey, we’re here to help you. We’re a full-service facility. We aren’t those guys who want your money but don’t care about your car.” Some people focus on our prices, and once in a while we take some heat for it on the Internet. But we have way more customers posting that their money was well spent and they’re really happy with our work and our customer service.  The bottom line is that when people come in here, I want them to realize that we’re friendly people who genuinely know our craft and care about the customer’s real needs.

Atari. Nintendo. Sega. These are the platforms of retrogamers, the original video game worshipers that cut their teeth on classics, earning credibility through countless hours of dexterity, problem-solving, creativity and perseverance. These were the days before hard drives, WI-FI and wireless controllers. They were old school.

Mike Lindquist is an old-school Honda tuner. Like an old-school gamer, he cut his teeth on the classics. His platforms of choice? The EG, CRX and EK. He put in the hours: in the books, under the hood and on the road. And those hours paid off on the track.

You might have talked to Mike if you’ve ever called King Motorsports to schedule an oil change, order a part, or just get some advice for your build. Like all the staff at King Motorsports, Mike wears a lot of hats. He’s a scheduler, project manager, consultant, parts expert, account manager, and more. He puts his customers first, and won’t hesitate to steer them away from a part or service that isn’t in their best interest.

I caught up with Mike recently to talk about his old-school roots, his first cars, and more. What follows is Part 1 of his interview, with more to come soon.

What do you do at King Motorsports?

Mike L.: My job title is “Service Manager” and I also do retail sales and walk-in sales. I also help with any kind of engine build that someone may be inquiring about, or I make recommendations based on ideas a customer already has. Maybe I’ll give them some pointers or discuss parts that might help them. Or, someone might come in who has no idea what they want, and they have a goal – i.e., a power goal, time at a track, or “I want to spend this much money,” or “I want this much power for the money.” Those are all types of things I tackle on a daily basis as far as builds go.

I also handle the day-to-day service work that comes in. “My car’s got a clunk,” “My car’s got a 'check engine' light,” “I want my car tuned, it’s not running good,” any of those things I’ll schedule repairs and quote ahead of time.

How did you get involved with King?

Mike L.: Well I had been working with several different shops through the years around the area, and knew of some of the guys that worked here. Specifically Tim... we knew each other, we both grew up in the same city, went to high school together (he was a grade older than me). We didn’t really know each other so much at the time but we knew of each other as far as he would have customers, he was building motors for friends... and I had my brothers and other friends, so we sort of had a friendly competition just knowing that we both were doing something in the same city. So as I worked through these other shops, I kept in contact with him and then developed more of a friendship. Because of the friendship I was hanging out at King a little bit.

Then one day I was in the shop picking up parts for another shop I was working for and Scott was walking through the shop and kind of just giving Tim some crap because Tim wasn’t there yet. He said “Oh geez, you get here before my own employees.” And I said “Well, that could be changed,” were my exact words. Scott kind of laughed and walked away. Later he asked Tim or Chad if I was serious. I said, “Of course I’m serious when it comes to job openings.” At the time I was driving 62 miles one way to the place I was working at before, doing that for almost three years. So it was getting kind of tiring. So it literally happened that way. They were planning on a new building so I helped with the move over here, moving some of the machinery and stuff one weekend, then pretty much got a fresh start at our current location.

I’ve been with King for 3 years as of October 2010.

What got you started with Hondas? Was it something in particular?

Mike L.: Well it wasn’t so much *something*, as it was *someone*. When I was seventeen, I had a friend with a Civic who wanted to build it out. So I helped him, even though I was more into the domestic stuff at the time. I thought the potential of these motors was good. I was just learning, I was just seventeen. We learned it together. He had been rolling around Honda-Tech a couple years before me, and was into the scene a little more than me. There wasn’t much of a Honda scene at the time (about 1996), around here it wasn’t huge as far as I knew.

We just went from there. I started swapping Hondas before I even owned one. My first engine swap was a 1991 Civic hatchback (EG) for one of my good friends that I’ve known since grade school. We got rid of the DX dual-point engine and put an LS Integra B18A engine in there, and that was kind of a big deal at the time. Back then there weren’t many engine swap kits (just one or two companies making them) and nobody was making adapter harnesses or wiring schematics so you had to figure it out on your own by looking at the factory schematics for both cars and figuring it out. So we had a good time – I spent several nights on that. So for my first swap we put an Integra LS B18A into a 1991 Civic hatchback, which was a standard model so it had a 1.5 liter 4-speed. The car was gold, it was sweet. In fact to this day he still drives it. First engine swap I’ve ever done, and it’s never had a “check engine” light since day one or since. So that was the first thing that really got me into it.

What did you work on before Hondas?

Mike L.: I owned mostly domestic cars, and didn’t really tune them per se. I had a Beretta and a Saturn. The Saturn is probably the car that started me into the whole “tuner world.” It was a ’94, twin cam 1.9 liter. That car was fairly quick. I did a lot of street racing with that car, it had a pretty short geared tranny and those cars didn’t weigh much – you know, the body panels are plastic. The motor had a good amount of potential, and I rebuilt it. I put in an intake manifold and throttle body on it, did all the bolt-ons and put some upgrades from other year cars that had better parts. Got the car pretty quick for an all-motor Saturn. Did suspension and things like that. Then as I was building that car, I was swapping Hondas and realizing that I was just wasting my time with the Saturn, since Hondas just had so much more potential. I had probably swapped like twenty cars before I even thought about getting rid of my Saturn.

So how did you find the info you needed?

Mike L.: Well that was before there was a lot of info about swapping. The only thing I could really find on the Internet at the time were the ECU pin-outs that showed which pin did what. Together with the Haines manual’s wiring schematics (I didn’t have the money to buy factory manuals at the time), I just bought the manuals we could find at the local parts stores, where the wiring was in the back. I mean, most of it was right, but not all of it. You just took the Civic wiring diagram from the Haines manual and the Integra Haines manual with the pin-outs and I sat in a chair. Several nights I was working in my friend’s barn and we actually fell asleep. We were out there all night with the books in our laps, making this wiring octopus. We weren’t sure if it would work, so we put the engine in the car and literally just set it on some 2x12 boards across the radius arms. We lifted the motor and tranny with our hands and just set it in there. So it was literally just sitting on boards, just enough so that we could hook up the wiring and the fuel to it and see if the thing would start.

We ran the wires outside the car, through the window and just temporarily hooked them up to see if we were even on the right track. It fired up! I was actually holding the motor – it wasn’t hooked up to motor mounts or anything – because it was literally just sitting on a board. When we fired it up, it ran the first time, with no "check engine" light. We were like “Holy cow,” you know, all the time we spent was actually worth it, double checking everything. Then we took it back out and finalized the wiring, re-installed it, and he has literally had it in there ever since. It was probably 1999 when we did that swap, and we just kind of figured it out. After that I started working on other people’s cars that were the same vintage, and starting to get the hang of it. I was swapping a fair amount of cars on the side, for friends and making some side cash.

At the time I wasn’t working at any car-related places. I was working at a television repair place, doing a lot of home theater and satellite installations. I repaired a lot of TVs and things like that. Did a lot of soldering. After that I started doing more landscaping for my friend’s dad at a pretty decent landscaping business. So I cut grass and did maintenance on his stuff during the day, and then I would rent a bay out at the local salvage yard and work on the swaps at nighttime. The salvage yard would buy cars that had swaps in them; I would tell them which cars to buy since they didn’t know what a swap was – they would just sell the engine and tranny as separate pieces as replacements for local shops. I said “you should start leaving these together, we can stick them in these cars.” They said, “We’ll give you a cheap deal per swap – just pay like $50 for bay costs for selling our product.” So I was basically doing that.

So what was the first Honda that you bought?

Mike L.: My first Honda was a CRX HF. It was baby blue. I can’t say I remember where I bought it from, I don’t remember if I did a trade for that car, or what. It was a shell, without a motor in it. It was pretty rusty. I took that car, filled the quarter panels with expanding foam and painted over it so it didn’t look so bad. Welded a little cage in the car, a real simple one (it had square tubing actually), and then I put a single-cam VTEC into it from a ’94 Civic. Stock motor, with a bunch milled off the head. The car was super light – it weighed 1650 because it was so stripped out. It pretty much ran the bare essentials to drive on the road legally. I raced around with that car a little bit, it was pretty much my first one. I think I had that car at the same time as the Saturn, so that was my little project car I was kind of playing with, like a “beater” I guess.

Then I got rid of the Saturn. Actually the engine block cracked in the Saturn because I had a radiator hose blow (it was winter) and I quick-filled it with water to get back home. I forgot to plug in the block heater that night, and the water expanded and cracked the aluminum so that was pretty much junk.

Then I ran across a silver ’97 Civic EK hatchback at a local dealership. The same dealership that sold me the Saturn. It was a Chicago car, stock standard Civic with 120k miles on it. That was my first car where I really started putting swaps into it, you know, it was a B-series. I had that car from 125k miles on that chassis, and sold it with 294k miles on the chassis to a friend of mine. I had seven motors in it during that time. Just kept changing motors as I ran into different deals, every engine was just a little bigger than the last one. I sold that car to a friend of mine once I started working at King. So I had that car pretty much my whole “Honda career” up to then. When I sold it I still got $4k for the car and it was awful. But it was fast, so that’s what sold it. The car went 14 flat in the quarter so it wasn’t a slouch for a street car. It was nothing fancy but it was pretty good. He drove it for a year or so and then sold it to a friend. It’s been through five owners since him, and the car’s still on the road. One of the kids that owns it now knows me here, and called me and told me it was at the track running the same times as it did before, and the car’s got 330k miles on the chassis now. The motor’s still untouched. I built that motor with used parts, and I put 100k miles on those used parts … those bearings have got over 250k miles on them. It was an LS VTEC with used pistons from another customer’s build. Put new rings in it, just honed it, never bored it, ran standard sized pistons, threw some Type-R cams in it. Pretty much just left all the bearings. Didn’t even put a new oil pan gasket on it. I just ran it bare bones and I drove that car every single day for that 62 mile commute for three years, racking up the miles on it. It still got 32 miles to the gallon and was fast. So I pretty much just drove that car to the ground, and it’s still going. That’s probably the car I’ve had the longest.

I saw a video of you (on the King Motorsports YouTube channel) in an EG Civic drag car, what’s the story there?

Mike L.: At the time I had that EK Civic, I started building my drag car. While working at the salvage yard, I bought an EG Civic hatchback for like $500, it was automatic with a blown head gasket. I stripped the car out, then randomly acquired parts from cars we got in the auction, or I’d do jobs in exchange for payment in parts. The first time I got the car down the track, it was running low 13’s. Then I started working my way into the 12’s. I think the fastest I got that car to go with the 1.8 liter was 12.6, then with a 2.0 liter I got the time down to 11.78. I was running 11.80’s with 220 horsepower.

The show 'Name That Test and Tune' (before it was called 'Pass Times') was recording for their show pilot at our local drag strip. When I heard about it I decided to go check it out. We got a ton of people who came there to show off their cars and such. It turned out I was one of the faster imports there, so they picked me to represent the imports on the show. It was a fun time doing it - the video is up on YouTube. I wish the car hadn’t bogged as much as it did, but it was still a decent run at the time.

I got the car up to 282 HP to the wheels and the car did 11.1. And that was the fastest I got it. So the whole time I was driving my EK I was also working on my drag car, which I raced for six years. Went to a lot of import events with that car, traveled, raced it in Ohio, Norwalk, and ran a lot of the stuff around here. I retired the car when I started working at King. We started using it as a test chassis here at King. We put engines into the car, dyno them, break them in, etc.

We used that car as a test chassis for one of my customers is in Bahrain. They have road racing and an F1 race circuit in Bahrain. They race in import events there, and we’ve built a lot of motors for them. We needed a car to test the engines and break them in because we don’t have an engine dyno, so that’s how my drag car became our test chassis. It still sits here in the back with no motor in it, but I’m still planning on doing something with it at some point I think.

You have a customer in the Middle East?

Mike L.: Oh yeah, we have customers from all over the world. A lot of our customers aren’t in the States actually. They could go anywhere in the world (to have their engines built), but they say that the US builds the best engines as far as reliability and power. All the cars that are really fast in Dubai are getting built by people in the States. Bahrain is an island in Persian Gulf - the track that these customers use for their drag races is the F1 track. Pretty much nothing’s there except for an F1 track. When F1’s not there, they fill it with other events. They have a series they race in during the spring and fall, because it’s too hot in the summer. They said that people stop working at noon because it’s so hot. They said it gets 55 to 60 degrees Celsius there (about 131 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit). We developed a good relationship with them and offered the installation services (installing and breaking in their engines on a test car) because they wanted us to give them a tune for the engine. But we needed to do a little R&D because it was actually a restrictor motor class and we had never built a K Series with a restrictor on it. They were K series engines; one was running an EG and other was running a Del Sol. It was a 2-liter class, so we built K20’s. They had to run a 50mm restrictor on the intake pipe. So after some R&D we designed and built a custom header and engines and everything for them. We used my old drag car as a test chassis for the R&D (this allows the engines to be dropped in turn-key: completely broken-in engines with Hondatas and intakes, already tuned).

Where else around the world are your customers?

Mike L.: King’s owner, Scott, has customers from all over the place too. For me, I have engine build customers in the Caribbean, Turks and Caicos Islands, Santo Domingo Dominican Republic, Guyana, Puerto Rico, Grand Cayman, all over. The guys in Turks and Caicos are rally car guys. We’ve built a couple motors for them. One has a rally EG, the other is a rally EK, and they travel the cars around and rally them. They have classes for those cars -- half tarmac, half dirt, depending on where they’re at.  They’re not running against cars that are all-wheel drive. They ship those cars all around.

I have customers in Canada who do a lot of ice racing. One guy has a CRX that’s an ice race car, with spikes in the wheels and they do like an autocross on the ice. So we’ve done a lot of work with his car.

How do these international customers find King? Do they call you or just fly in and surprise you?

Mike L.: It always starts with a call, and they inquire about our engine build services. Maybe they heard by word of mouth, a lot call after seeing our website. I talk to them about what we can do based on what their race rules are. I send them some dyno charts – I know every chart from our dyno almost by heart. So when they mention what they want to do, I can pick out a dyno chart that would be similar to what they’re asking for, and send it over. We can show real results from something they’re asking for. That seems to sell a lot of the builds -- once they realize they’re talking to people that really understand what’s possible, I think that’s what sells it. So they’re willing to spend the money to ship the stuff around to make sure they get something good.

King’s reputation has always been good before my time here. But I’d like to think I’m adding an extra level on the technical engine side.

** We just got this note and review from John Hinrichs for the Mugen High Performance Air Intake System (Carbon Fiber) for CR-Z - Thanks John! **

Scott,
 
Just got back from making the holiday rounds. Driving through five states visiting friends and family (and showing off my car, of course).
 
Some of the people I visited are car guys, some just thought it was pretty, most loved the way it sounds (thanks, by the way) (Mugen Exhaust, ed.) , but everyone had something to say once the hood went up.  Even with all that's going on under the bonnet of a CR-Z, with the normal engine stuff and all the extra IMA wiring, the first thing everyone locked on to was the Mugen intake. That smooth expanse of carbon fiber had everyone interested, and I can't blame 'em, it is gorgeous. 
 
Not only does it look great, but under load the intake provides just enough extra sound to balance the tone of the Mugen exhaust.  Its obvious these two pieces were designed for each other: Subtle with a hint of badass.
 
Special thanks to Mike for doing such a great job on the install.
 
Happy Holidays! 
 
-John Hinrichs

When I read that Mugen would be creating a special edition of the Civic Type R sedan, I immediately thought two things: It would be awesome... but, I would probably never see one in person. The Milano red, 240 horsepower beast would be a limited to only 300 units, sold only in Japan. The Mugen Type RR (ABA-FD2) sold out in minutes, some going for double the sticker price.

Mugen must have heard the collective sound of JDM hearts breaking around the world. Their answer: celebrate the Type RR by creating an RR-themed wristwatch, the Mugen Time Machine. Not just any watch – but a true timepiece that could rival Seiko’s Sportura line of racing-inspired watches. The design would have to walk the fine line between being lazily rebadged (“just slap a Mugen logo on it!”) versus grotesquely over-designed (“let’s mold the case in the shape of a car and add aero vents!”). Mugen’s designers walked that fine line, and did it brilliantly. The designers chose to use the Type RR’s unique tachymeter as the starting point for design inspiration, while borrowing cues from materials and details you’ll find beyond the RR’s cockpit.

The result is a well-made, exceptionally-executed exercise in product design that takes the soul of the Type RR and puts it on your wrist. Mugen boiled it down: Carbon fiber. Red stitching on black. Tachymeter typefaces and markings. High-RPM redline. Gunmetal with red accents. Top-end mechanical engineering.

Redlining

The design of the watch face (the “dial”) is styled after the actual tachymeter in the Type RR. The attention to detail is remarkable and on par with the quality found in Mugen’s other products.

The watch face is styled after the tachymeter found in Mugen’s Civic Type RR. The homage to the vehicle is the most literal in this design aspect, and it works well. A thin red stripe surrounds the outer edge of the dial from 6 o’clock to 3 o’clock. Numeral typefaces match those found on the Type RR, complete with a “x 1000r/min” marking. The second hand is a thin solid red arm that looks just like the tachymeter needle.  The Mugen logo appears in white just below the 12 o’clock position.

The watch face surface is carbon fiber, a clean upscale finish. The hour and minute hands are chrome with luminescent inserts that glow in the dark after being exposed to light.

A squared date window is set into the 3 o’clock position, nicely done as white numbers against a black field (In lesser watches, manufacturers sometimes cut corners and use black numbers against white). I appreciate that the date window is framed in a subdued matte black; Mugen’s designers resisted the trend to make the date frame chrome or white.

Surrounding the dial is a world time dial. This rotating dial frames the watch face like a slide rule and displays the relative times in various countries around the world, including Cairo, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and more (23 cities in all). The display also includes a thick red line that mimics the redline area of the Type RR’s tach. The dial moves by rotating a ruggedly-molded knob that is finished in black with a red detail. My only gripe about this knob is that it lacks any kind of resistance, gliding a bit too easily.

Sturdy Chassis

Made from black ion-plated stainless steel, the watch case is a dark matte gunmetal finish with chiseled edges around the crown and strap lugs. The bezel, crown and world time knob are the same color but in a gloss. The dial pulls out nicely and has discrete clicks at position one (to set the date) and two (to set the time). I like watches like this that have very little play when you set the time.

The case is water resistant, rated at 10 BAR (aka 10 ATM, 100m, 330ft). So it will hold up for swimming and snorkeling, but not for aggressive submersion uses like high-board diving or sub-aqua diving.

The watch case measures 46mm, including the crown. From lug to lug (measured vertically), it’s just shy of 50mm. The Time Machine’s 46mm case size is larger than a typical Seiko 5 (40mm), but not so large that you’re pushing U-Boat territory (55mm+). Personally, I prefer watch cases between 42mm and 47mm. The case thickness is about 15mm, so it sits off your wrist a bit higher than most watches. This is great if you need a watch that won’t slip out of sight under a jacket cuff (which is what you’d want while driving).

Power Plant

If you’ve ever shopped for a watch that cost more than $200, then you know that high end watches are typically automatic winding (or “self-winding”). The “engine” of the watch is a mechanical machine (called a “movement”) powered by the motion of the wearer’s arm (instead of via a battery, electricity, or physical winding of the stem). A weighted rotor turns in response to motion, which in turn winds the mainspring. If you wear your watch daily, it will stay perpetually ready to go, and you’ll never have to do anything (such as replace batteries or wind the stem). The downside is that if the watch is unworn for a day or two, it will wind down and you’ll have to set the time.

For this reason, some watch collectors buy a watch winder. You can buy one for as little as $30, or fairly good ones can be purchased from Brookstone for $100-200. A watch winder is basically an electrical watch display case that also rotates your watch at periodic intervals. When I’m not wearing my Mugen Time Machine, it is on display (and getting wound) in a watch winder.

This Mugen timepiece has a sweeping seconds hand that glides across the dial nicely. Watching the seconds tick by echoes the thrill of revving the Type RR’s 2.0-liter DOHC i-VTEC.

The movement appears to be a Seiko-made Y675B, a solid choice by Mugen that will be maintenance-free for quite a while.

Under the Hood

Turn the watch around and you’ll find a transparent crystal on the exhibition caseback that reveals the mechanical heart of the watch. “Lift the hood” by looking through the clear 22mm diameter window to admire the weighted rotor and the tiny, precise pulsing of the innards. The Mugen logo and the words “The Time Machine” are printed on the inside of the crystal in gray. Surrounding the crystal are etchings indicating assembly and movement origins, and that the watch is water resistant.

Strapped In

I ordered my Time Machine with the cloth strap (a version with a matching black ion-plated stainless steel band is also available at additional cost). The heavy-weave cloth strap has a nice thickness and weight that curves to your wrist very well. The textured surface features red stitching along the straps and the strap loops, matching the red-on-black stitching you find in many Mugen interior accessories (and the seats in my EP3). The inside of the strap has a thin black lining that feels soft against your skin. The metal buckle is dark gunmetal with a slight gloss finish that matches the crown and bezel. There are no markings on the outside of the buckle; I would have loved to see the Mugen kanji stamped on it. The underside of the buckle has a tiny “INOX” stamp on it, which means that it is inoxidable stainless steel (and not just regular steel).

The fitment of the strap is comfortable and tailored to favor smaller (Asian) wrists. I use the forth strap hole (from the top) on this watch, compared to my other watches where I usually use one of the first three. That said, it will still fit larger wrists just fine (unless you have wrists as thick as exhaust pipe).

Taking Delivery

The Time Machine comes in a sturdy custom presentation box. The outside of the box is silver, black and metallic red with a faux carbon fiber finish and white Mugen logo. Open the hinged lid and you’ll find another Mugen logo and  the watch propped up in by a foam cylinder. A tightly-folded instruction booklet sits beneath the foam, and is extremely detailed. I was relieved to see that instructions are in English as well as Japanese, since most Mugen products only include Japanese instructions.

Finish Line

Mugen has set the bar for Honda-themed timepieces. A masterful balance of design and engineering, the Mugen Time Machine RR is a must-have for Mugen and watch enthusiasts alike.

About the Author. Perry Wang is a designer, auto-enthusiast and manager based in Portland, Oregon. He's one of the founders of Trigger Global, a digital marketing firm in Los Angeles. His Honda and Mugen illustrations can be found at AngryYoda.com.

** Please do not copy this post without permission from King Motorsports. **

** Long-time King supporter Dewi sent this product review in... Thanks Dewi! **

My family are Honda/Mugen nuts and we import all of our Mugen goodies from King Motorsports to Scotland, so when we found out we were having a baby girl we started our DB8 (4 door Integra Type R) project as our family car.  It came as no surprise we wanted the right JDM parts to finish it off. This consisted of a baby Recaro in grey to match the car and whilst trawling King’s website we came across a black Mugen fleece blanket, so we ordered it up for car and stroller duties. 

The blanket is lightweight but warm, also very easy to keep clean if any spillages occur and our daughter loves the softness of the fleece. When it’s all tucked in, it keeps her very warm and she sleeps well without irritation.  We like to call her the ‘Mugen Slug’ so from a happy mum and dad we rate this product 5 stars for Mugen pervyness and 5 stars for performance and functionality.  Thank you very much King Motorsport for supplying us with this awesome quality product.

Thanks to Bob and Joe Moser for these amazing pics!

Click the buttons in the lower corners of the picture below to see the slideshow.

11/6/10, Road Atlanta

by Scott Zellner

photo and video courtesy Moser Racing

Heading into the SCCA ITA American Road Race Championship, Brian Price’s Miata was considered the car to beat. With the horsepower and torque of a 1.8 engine combined with near 50/50 weight distribution, superior suspension design and rear wheel drive, the Moser Racing CRX had an uphill battle.

As expected, Brian Price and his Miata took the pole position with a new record of 1:41.589. Moser and his CRX were a close second at a 1:41.953. The strength of the Miata’s being its straight line speed on the long back straight of Road Atlanta became a nightmare for the CRX contingent. The Moser race strategy was to avoid losing contact with the Miata, apply pressure and use track knowledge to gain the upper hand.

The race is on! Moser and Price begin their battle for first place.

The first lap saw the Miata and the CRX go two abreast into Turn 1, the Miata taking the point on corner exit. A true battle was on! Lap after lap, Price and Moser swapped the lead for the entire 45 minute race! The Miata and CRX battled nose to tail, always racing cleanly but not giving an inch. Price bobbled at turn 10a with one lap to go and Moser grabbed the lead.  Price then used the 1.8 Miata power to repass Moser on the back straight but then bobbled on 10b on the last lap which opened the door for Moser to make the final pass for the win.

Described as the best race of the weekend, Price set a new race lap record of 1:40.741 with Moser second fastest at a 1:41.253. King Motorsport congratulates the 2010 ARRC ITA champion Joe Moser and the entire Moser race team, unbeaten in 2010!

Here is the entire race from the in-car on Joe Moser's ITA CRX. Incredible racing and well worth the watch!