Lude Generation

Copied most of this from the Prelude UK forum.

Firstly a Big Thankyou to Rich at Performance Autoworks for all the tips & advice on setting-up the car & also for his endless enthusiasm.

I bought the Prelude as a cheap track 'weapon'.
It was £600 & had done 81,000 miles.
The paintwork is bit faded but virtually no rust on
body or underside & mechanically very sound.

Here's how it looked originally;





I already had a spare set of track wheels & tyres off my DC2.
After digging around on various Honda forums, I spent a weekend fitting the D2 coilovers, Neuspeed up-rated anti-roll bars, new front discs with Dixcel pads & a pair of Corbeau buckets & 5-point harnesses that I'd bought .

All these goodies cost a grand total of £750!

First track day was at Bedford Autodrome.
The prelude didn't miss a beat all day despite being driven very hard.

The handling wasn't quite as sharp as my integra but boy does it shift.
Was a case of well-measured corner entry speeds & then letting the
lsd hook-up through the apex.

It was flat in 4th at 5 points around the gt circuit! Had to use 5th on the
back straight otherwise was bouncing off the rev limiter.

Very hard to compare it against other cars, as there was a real mix
of driving ability, but definately not the slowest. Having looked around
the pits i think it easily won the cheapest car competition.





Next up-grade was stiffer rear springs to try & improve turn-in & reduce understeer.
This pic shows the result



Also converted the car to 2ws to save weight & also because it the 4ws warning
light had appeared on the dash.

Then it was off to Donington.
This highlighted the fact that my Hankook RS2 tyres were well passed their
best as you can hear in this video;

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/v ... nny011.mp4

Still quicker than an S2000 that I had some fun against;







So onto the present & the car now has a baffled sump fitted & is running Toyo R888's, which
I bought nearly new for £200 with wheels!
Also it's had a 4 wheel laser alignment to get it more track-focused & this has helped the
handling enormously.





skyline: http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/v ... kyline.mp4

rx8 'off': http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/v ... nt=rx8.mp4

clio: http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/v ... t=clio.mp4

Future mods are weight saving. Car interior is already stripped, but it still has air-con & cruise!

Looks great. As you have found out you cant get much better for the money for some cheap track action!

Personally I would be a bit apprehensive about using 5 point harnesses and race seats wihout having a cage installed. The reason being if you roll it there is nowhere for your head to go

Merlin wrote:Looks great. As you have found out you cant get much better for the money for some cheap track action!

Personally I would be a bit apprehensive about using 5 point harnesses and race seats wihout having a cage installed. The reason being if you roll it there is nowhere for your head to go

I'm going to see how much a cage will add to the insurance when it renews in June.
May take it off the road then & trailer it instead.

Or just dont tell the insurance company If its a track only car I wouldn't feel bad about it. My 4G doesnt see that much of the road.

Tom.... Car is looking awesome as always.

You popping along to oulton park next month for vtec challenge?

Thanks Dino.
Unfortunately Oulton Park is too many petrol pennies from where I live,
but I'll probably be at the Snetterton round.

Looks awesome on the track.

I don't get why Preludes are always considered slow cars as you can get them for so cheap and will be just fast as some real Type-R's. Keep it up.

looks great matey the lude is a shorter wheelbase than the teg can you feel the difference in turn in?

nitin_s1 wrote:Looks awesome on the track.

I don't get why Preludes are always considered slow cars as you can get them for so cheap and will be just fast as some real Type-R's. Keep it up.

Thanks.
My Prelude has always felt quicker than my 'teg in a straight line & I think it's mainly down the
the extra torque.

mercutio wrote:looks great matey the lude is a shorter wheelbase than the teg can you feel the difference in turn in?

I had an EG6 Civic for years before the 'teg & that was brilliant in the tight twisties
due to the suspension mods & the short wheel-base, but it made it VERY twitchy in
the faster stuff

The 'teg was disappointing comparatively when I first got it & tried to throw it round
a roundabout, but it is soo much more stable & quicker when belting down a 'b' road.

Likewise, when I got the Prelude. At first I was disappointed with the turn-in, but
now it's set it up to my liking, that has improved alot & it is really quick in the fast
stuff.

I would say that they now feel equally as good

looks great