So why did I create this page? To petition for my chance at running in the Grassrootsmotorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge of course!!!

I'm going to keep this simple. No rice, no bikini clad chicks denting up my hood and no BS to distract the lovely GRM Staff from seeing why my vehicle and I should be picked to represent "the little guy". It doesn't get any more "Grassroots" than myself and my car and I think I represent your average reader of the mag extremely well.

I'm not picture kind of guy, especially when it comes to taking pics of my own vehicle (makes me feel "vain" in a weird sort of way). Then to top it off, since I'm sure everyone and their grandma knows what a Honda Civic looks like, I only chose to post 3 pics where it was featured in some magazines. While they aren't the greatest pictures of the actual car, this competition is suppose to be about raw lap times right? Well, I think the context that the photos are in speaks for themselves.

The first picture is a scanned image of my article where I was featured in the January 2008 issue of Super Street magazine:

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This second picture is a scanned image from the current newstand issues of Super Street and Modified magazine (maybe others too). It's an add for this years Super Lap Battle (@ Buttonwillow again I might add) and I am featured as one of the top cars to beat (I'm on the far right):

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Here's a pic of the Nitto add on the back (or the opening page) of several publications currently. This add should run through the rest of this year and I'm sure it will be on the back of future issues of GRM in the near future. I'm the car on the top if you couldn't tell already.

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While it may seem like I'm some pro driver backed by some unlimited budget, it is FAR from the truth. I'm just a normal dude that works a normal 9-5 job with a tremendous passion for motorsports. I've got a wife, 2 kids and 2 Siberian Husky dogs (i.e. "high maintenance" doggies). Up until early this year I received zero help from any sponsors. No free parts, no free tires, no anything! I paid for my car with my own money on a modest salary and did ALL the modifications myself. Obviously I outsourced the machine shop work on the block and head, but with the exception of those things, I completely assembled the car piece by piece, bolt by bolt. Everything from the engine assembly, custom transmission gear ratios, welding in of the rollbar and a host of custom fabricated parts, it's all me. The car has never been worked on or maintained by anyone besides me. Being a "family guy" I did all the mods in the evening after the kids and family were all fast asleep so as not skip out on my duties as a husband, daddy and "human dog toy".

Last Summer I qualified for the 2007 Super Lap Battle Finale and decided to take a shot at the top tuners in the country (and world in some cases). I honestly just went to see how I would stack up against the big name shops/tuners with no expectations. Low and behold, not only did I win my class but I broke the class track record by OVER 1 SECOND against long time record holder and the uber famous HASport K24 Supercharged CRX with Pro Driver Bob Endicott at the wheel.

My car does not have 500+HP nor is it only 1600 lbs. In fact it doesn't have a turbo, supercharger or some wild K-series build. It's just a highly tuned B-series motor. Don't get me wrong, it's no slouch, but compared to many of the Time Attack vehicles it has beaten; it's fairly low powered at just 229WHP. Tipping the scales around 2200 lbs w/driver it's amazing how quick this car gets around the track. I attribute its performance due to an amazing Kaaz clutch pack LSD (<-- the least expensive clutch pack LSD that works I might add) that lays down the power w/o issue, the Nitto NT-01 tires (i.e. the best "100 Treadwear" tires on the planet!), some light, wide (yet inexpensive) 949Racing.com wheels, an amazing (ly affordable) big brake kit developed by FastBrakes.com and some very careful planning and use of custom gear ratios, that keeps the engine ALWAYS on the boil (i.e. no turbo lag here!). Also, because the car isn't ridiculously excessive, it's easier than most to drive at the absolute limit.

If I am picked, MY CAR AND I WILL BE THE TOP CONTENDER AT BUTTONWILLOW IN MY CLASS! If I am wrong, I promise to buy the entire staff at GRM lunch as well as a lifetime subscription to GRM... :-)

Thanks for taking the time to check out my page!

Tage Evanson
Tage@autocrossing.com

UPDATE (3/17/08): I just got back from a photo shoot with "Import Tuner" in CA. My car will be featured likely in the Aug or Sept issue just a few months away. It should have some pretty good coverage consisting of 2-4 pages. The theme will be something along the lines of "The anatomy of a Giant Killer". It should be very cool!

UPDATE (4/1/08): I just got back from the Redline TA at Buttonwillow. On day 1 I was running lap times in the 1:56s until I busted my splitter. I made an emergency trip to Home Depot in Bakersfield (30 miles away) and fabricated a new splitter out of plywood that evening. The next morning I again was running 1:56s and decided to pit until the TA but as I came off track I saw my splitter laying out on the track busted up again! During the TA I did ONE lap which was a 1:58.3 and on my 2nd lap I had a rod bolt failure and sent my motor to "motor heaven". My one lap (1:58.3) was good enough for the class and overall FWD win though. So my plans now are to go with a K24 motor and leave it 100% internally stock. It will make about the same HP and a little more torque so it should be just as fast or maybe a little faster but it should be much more reliable. The car will be ready before the GRM UTCC event...