My passion for Honda goes back to around 95' when I bought my first car, a 1991 Integra RS. I actually wanted a car with a sunroof but couldn't find one in good condition (lucky for me). At that time me and my buddy Jay where into rallying, and did a few races in his Hyundai Excel, which we killed. I soon turned my interest into track driving instead, since I didn't want to destroy my teg on the brutal gravel country roads of Canada. Going fast on 4 wheels, I guess was a natural progression I got from growing up skateboarding. Being French Canadian might have something to with it, as many people who ever raced or attended the Montreal F1 event might account to. The passion for Motorsports in Quebec is more closely related to its European counterpart than that of its neighbor to the south. Which brings me to my next point, what the F@%#K is Nascar? Lucky for me I lived about 20min. from Shannonville raceway, which made it very easy for me to spend as much time as possible at the track. Back in 1996, track days where about 60$-80$ and I could do evening sessions after work for 40$ sometimes. This track is not good, and the condition is about as bad as streets of Willowsprings in So-Cal but without elevations. Slowly, between 1996 and 2001, the car and the driver got quicker, driving on various circuits in Ontario against mostly Chinese kids in their parents BMW's. Getting a little frustrated with the local interest of the average car enthusiast at the time leaning more towards "show than go", I decided that if I wanted to really learn anything about Motorsports I should go to a place where it exists as a culture and not a hyped up media fad. Because of my passion for Honda and my hunger for tuning knowledge, I went to Japan in 2001 in hopes of learning from one of the forefathers of Japanese racing, Honda. At that time I realized that Honda Canada had very little engineering resources, which I would later find out is the cause of Honda Japan classifying material to all other "Genpo's". Anyway's off to Japan I went, with a backpack and 3 Japanese words to my vocabulary. Note: On my DA9, even when I raced it fairly stock, its nearly impossible to corner balance it with oversteer. When keeping with a front bias set-up, this can only be achieved with chassis tuning such as tires stagger, swaybars, and ride height bias. I am currently running Front 225 50 32 offset tire and Rear 205 50 45 offset tire with a 22mm rear sway and I still had to raise the rear, which disturbs the corner balancing. You weigh all these factors and it comes down to the same thing, the DA's chassis was engineered with too much weight ahead of the front axle. I've even gone as far as moving the left side of the engine back 2mm, and opting to not use an aluminum radiator because they are heavier than stock (unless running half size dual core unit$$$). I've also stripped the paint from the front bumper and applied only one coat of paint to shave weight in that crucial area. And I've cut off all unnecessary sheet metal and trimmed 1.2 pounds of plastic from the bumper. Theory #1: Because of the smooth surface on circuits Japan, you can use a really high front spring rate and slightly lower rear spring rate to keep the front bias set-up. The car is easier to balance close to neutral with basic chassis tuning. In America, the asphalt is very rough and the tracks are not smooth (even Cali speedway is bumpy compared to Tsukuba), so its difficult to run a heavy front spring (18-20Kg/mm), which is why everyone here runs a rear bias set-up and that's also why all the Japanese tuners come over here and say "that's wrong"... Hence, sometimes too stiff is bad! Something I have always had a problem with under hard braking from 4th gear speeds. The solution I came up with is to use a short stroke damper in the back with more downforce. Conclusion: If you want the DA9 to be corner balanced, and run a front bias set-up (which is ideal for FF with bad weight distribution), you need to stiffen up the rear by seam welding or with rivots and run a 24-26mm rear sway. Plus stagger, offset...While this is fairly simple and inexpensive, the real challenge is shaving weight from ahead of the front axle. After 4 track days in the US (Cali Speedway, Streets of Willow, and Buttonwillow), I now have the car set-up with a rear-bias set-up (14K Front, 16K Rear as of Dec. 05).

Shannonville circa 95-96 :
This was the local track for 3 years. This is the only picture I have from back then. The car was pretty stock, but running this track cost 60$, and it was 20 minutes from my house, so I went as often as I could.

DA6 XSi:
I had to wait 4 years to drive the DA9 again. Even though I had a DA6 XSi in Japan, working on cars over there is a completely different subject, especially when your a "salary man" putting in over 60 hrs a week and living in a 6 tatami room apartment with no parking.

This is my friend Yukinobu whom I worked with at Honda. He gave me this car, after he bought an Austin Mini Cooper. Needless to say, Japanese are very giving people...that, and the fact that it cost more money to throw it in the scrap yard! He also hooked me up with most of the parts that are on my current DA9. Arigatou gozaimashita Yuki San!
Many parts where conceptualized on this DA6, such as the titanium muffler and the front diffuser.

Getting the car ready in Cali:
After the 6 month car rebuild in Oshawa ontario, I was lucky enough to have my now current employer, Axis Engineering, ship the car along with their EP3 Civic Si from Ohio to California.

Brocken Clutch at Streets:
My very first track day after the rebuild at Streets of Willow with some fellow DA friends, November 2004. Within 6 laps, the brand new stock Honda OEM B16A clutch decides it doesn't have enough capacity for 174ps. I didn't even have the tires or pads warmed up when I heard the rivets snap, sending the diaphragm spring through the transmission case. I thought the secondary shaft had snapped it was so loud. Thanks to some friends who used their AAA service to get the car back to Costa Mesa for free, instead of 800$ it would have cost.

Click on image to view album.

Buttonwillow:
This is a very fun track, technical, fast and interesting with lost hill. I need to run more oversteer on this track to post good times, which I plan to do next time out. There's a picture of me with Rob Walker who runs very fast laps in his S2000, which is one of the faster chassis's on this track...especially with Rob behind the wheel.
One of the best track days I've ever done with some friends who drove up in a camper for the weekend (thanks Scott).
Placed second in time attack with Speed Ventures.

Update: Speedventures 08/11/06 track day.
Running 14a CW. Best time of the day 2:07:8 (on street tires-Advan 032 with +10 events)
(http://www.speedventures.com/event_results_db.asp?
Car had some understeer and ran the fastest lap in the morning when the track wasn't as hot. Not a great time, but first time running CW so lots more to learn.

Click on image to view album.

Big Willow:
Thanks to Tony Jackson and Brandon Mallough for inviting me up for Buddy Clubs test day in March 2006. It was my first time at Big Willow, and had lots of fun with the big elevations and high speeds.
I instantly felt very comfortable on this track as turn 8 and 9 are well suited to the DA's natural understeer characteristics. It would be nice to have a bit more power going up turn 3, but mostly the car is well set-up for these high speed turns. I'm hoping to be able to take turn 1 much faster once I start running S compound tires.
Thanks to http://www.honda-cup.com/ for the photos