Honda Civic Si Takes 1st Place At SCCA RallyCross Championships

When someone says, “rally car” you probably immediately think of a Subaru WRX STI or Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Perhaps with the PR around the new 2011 Ford Fiesta, you think of Kent Block’s tricked out WRC Fiesta rally car. One thing is for sure, you probably don’t have your eyes set on something like a Honda Civic Si. However, much to the surprise of a lot of people, one particular stock Honda Civic Si took not only 1st place, but 2nd place in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) RallyCross® Modified two-wheel drive championships. It just goes to show that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

For the second consecutive year the SCCA National RallyCross Championships have been held in Fountain, Colo. at the U.S Truck Driving School. Last year’s event was so successful that the SCCA home office in Topeka though it would be a good idea to come back to the Rockies and run another championship event. Quite an event it was too, with almost 80 cars, some of which traveled from all over the contiguous 48 states. The real surprise though was the type of cars that come out to race at these events.

The SCCA National RallyCross Championships saw cars from the expected Subaru WRX to VW Golfs to the more unusual Chevrolet Berretta. To some degree, Rally racing isn’t so much about the type of car, as it is about the driver. Ken Cashion, operational steward of the National RallyCross Championships, wanted to prove that sometimes you don’t have to go overboard to win a Championship title. Cashion and myself set off to do what some deemed to be the impossible—win the modified two-wheel drive championships with a stock (except for rally tires and rims) Honda Civic Si with six-speed manual transmission. At 195 horsepower and with the infamous Honda VTEC motor, the Civic Si isn’t playing around. However, could it beat fully modified cars?

The answer was yes. Honda, from the factory, is able to build a car that could not only take first place in the Championships, but also claim second place (with yours truly behind the wheel) in the same category and another second place victory in the prepared two-wheel drive class. This little red Civic also claimed the fastest time of the day in its class on Sunday with myself piloting it around the course.

Bottom line—Small cars aren’t what they used to be and Honda has the proof in the pudding with the Civi Si. The question now is, will you check on out for yourself?

Source;
http://www.allsmallcars.com/blog/1048629_honda-civic-si-takes-1st-place-at-scca-rallycross-championships