Assembled for the 2005 SEMA show and the 2006 racing season, the Ridgeline and the Civic Si needed a driver. A good driver. Former West Coast Honda Challenge champion and self-proclaimed "CRX god," Andy Hope, was asked to step up to the plate. Hope, who started street racing in 1996, is perhaps best known for his golden Honda Challenge H1-class CRX. A regular at Battle of the Imports events in the mid '90s, Hope saw the light after a chance encounter with the Touring Car Racing Association (TCRA). In just his third event, he found himself careening wheel-to-wheel against ex-BTCC cars equipped with air jacks, dry sump oiling systems and sequential transmissions. But, after winning his class in a bone-stock, D-series powered CRX that very race, Hope decided to make the jump from drag racing to road racing. After winning the 2003 Honda Challenge championship in the SoCal region with the Hybrids.jp forum race team, Hope was plucked to help build and drive Motegi Racing's Civic Si.
With the team chosen and ready, the Civic build began with six weeks remaining before SEMA. With no time wasted, the Si was brought to the turn3 Creative headquarters and stripped to the seams. The stock Si badged seats, stereo system, carpet, interior panels, climate control system, seatbelts, sunroof, hand brake, sound deadener, airbags and dashboard were all removed. Far from any simple task, the new Civic Si possesses no less than six air bags, counting the side, curtain, and front systems. Gutted to within an inch of their lives, the Si's side doors no longer have power windows, locks, glass, door bars, or any sort of inner door skin. Open the latch to one of the Motegi Si's doors and you'll be amazed at the difference in weight, it literally feels like swinging a sheet of metal. The final count on the scales told the truth, from 2850lbs. to a much more acceptable 2275lbs.
Built to compete in the US Touring Car Championship (USTCC), Honda Challenge, Honda Cup, and SCCA ITE series, the Motegi Civic Si is designed to be entered in as many events as possible. Thus, the car had to satisfy the rulebooks of all the different sanctioning bodies. ProMod Welding & Fabrication of South Gate, California, was given the task of building the rollcage. A notorious drag racing roll cage fabricator, owner Danny Sanchez, poured over the rulebooks with Hope and came up with a 1.75-inch diameter by 0.095-inch wall thickness drawn over mandrel (DOM) steel tube roll cage design. Tucked as close to the interior shell as possible, the roll cage also features custom door bars that extend out into the gutted door skin and "X" bracing throughout its layout.
To fill in the now gaping hole left by the vacated sunroof, Hope brought the Si over to Rio Hondo College, a local Southern California area community college. It was at Rio Hondo College that Marc Maksimow and the autobody department students tackled the Si, grafting on the roof skin of an older EK chassis Civic and painting the roof, trunk, and interior in gloss black paint. Even more impressive than the results is the fact that all the bodywork on the car was done in only three days.
Returning to turn3, the Civic Si was on the home stretch to being finished. Looking more and more like the racecar it was meant to be, the inside of the Si was fit with a pair of red Sparco Circuit racing seats with integrated head restraints, 3-inch six-point harnesses with nomex shoulder pads, and a suede wrapped Sparco steering wheel. Autometer Nexus water temperature, oil temperature, and oil pressure gauges are used to keep Hope up to date with on-track temperatures. The Nexus lineup features easy-to-read dialing, selectable LED illumination, 270-degree sweep stepper motor accuracy, and most importantly for a track car, color-changing gauge faces in the event of a threshold warning. Blow past your preset peak temperature, and the entire Nexus face will change color, alerting your peripheral vision of an impending disaster. To help make sure that the driver only has to focus on driving, the Motegi Si was fit with an oil cooler kit from Earl's Performance Plumbing. Using a large core with plenty of air directed at it, the Earl's kit features more AN fittings than you can ever hope to use, and plenty of heat dissipation. To date, Hope has never blown up or overheated this machine.