JIM BROWN

Acura's press department probably had no idea of the hornet's nest it would stir up when it passed out six shiny new RSX Type-S sports coupes early last year to six car-magazine staffs, asked them to modify the cars in clever ways, and invited them to a driving shootout to determine a winner. By the time these magazine gearheads descended on California Speedway in Fontana last October for the put-up-or-shut-up portion of the RSX Challenge, the buzzing colony was in full sting mode.

The competition centered on performance events—a slalom, an autocross, a quarter-mile run, and braking from 60 mph to standstill—but included other factors, too. Spectators at two locations would vote on how they viewed the cosmetic modifications to the cars. The magazine staffs at Road & Track Speed, Super Street, Import Tuner, Import Performance, Honda Tuning, and Car and Driver were free to modify the cars as each saw fit; the beauty aspects were judged at Honda headquarters in Torrance and at the NHRA Sport Compact World Finals at Pomona Raceway. In addition, points would be awarded for horsepower increases that would be measured on a chassis dyno in Anaheim, and the modified RSXs would have to pass California exhaust-emissions standards. Winners of each category would get 100 points, with second place worth 90 points, third 80, and so on. The emissions test was pass or fail, 100 points or none. After the scores were privately tallied, a winner would be announced November 1 at the SEMA show in Las Vegas.

As for modification rules, entrants had to stick with the stock engine block and use nothing stronger than 91-octane fuel. Nitrous-oxide injection was forbidden, teams could not alter the basic body structure, and every car had to have at least two pieces from Acura's A-Spec aftermarket parts line. And this caught our eye: "[Entrants] must supply a member of the editorial staff as a driver for each track competition. Proof of employment by magazine required before competition."

We were somewhat concerned about the subjective tastes of passersby voting on our stylish RSX, but we had confidence, to some degree, that decades of track testing would give us an edge in the performance tests.

Acura delivered our RSX on March 3 to King Motorsports Unlimited of New Berlin, Wisconsin. We subcontracted the project to King because we've driven a number of well-developed Hondas and Acuras from the company over the years, and the shop also produced an RSX that won an SCCA Speed World Challenge race in 2003. We anticipated correctly that the other magazines would also seek out pro tuning shops.

King owner Scott Zellner had no desire to simply slap on a turbo and call it a day. Front-wheel drive and extreme horsepower levels do not mix, he said. Do that, and the front tires simply spin when asked to transfer ridiculously high levels of horsepower. He reminded us that 91-octane fuel, when used in a highly boosted turbo engine, can cause engine-damaging preignition or detonation. One way to avoid detonation is to increase the amount of fuel that goes into the engine, which can cool the intake charge enough to keep it from igniting before the spark plug fires. But that would likely mean failing the emissions test.

Zellner's approach was to install a Comptech supercharger that pumped in a mild 6 psi of boost, far below the 20 or so psi that turbos can blow in. To win the autocross, he set out to revise the suspension for tighter handling and eliminate brake fade by installing larger front rotors and calipers. Our plan was to have the car mechanically modified by midsummer so we'd have time to test and tune it and figure out some way to add some zip to the exterior.

When Zellner and crew got under way, they quickly developed a severe case of the what-ifs and decided to increase performance the old-fashioned way by removing as much weight as possible.

That involved, for example, ditching the stock 51-pound bucket seats and slipping in 15-pound Racetech units (seat mounts that used the factory sliders were fabricated). Out went the air conditioning, plus everything under the dash and rear seat. The stock gauges were replaced by a lightweight cluster. Nicely done carbon-fiber panels filled the places where the radio, HVAC controls, and vents had been. They even swapped the car's hydraulic power-steering system for the electric power-assist system from a 2003 Honda Civic Si, an extensive job that required modifying the wiring harness but saved roughly 65 pounds. Every unnecessary bracket, bolt, or body tab was ground off. Even the rear wiper mechanism was canned.

When the mechanical modifications were finished in early September, the $24,240 RSX Type-S had been fitted with $38,373 worth of new parts. The stock 210-hp four-cylinder engine had been enhanced to produce 274 horses, and 273 pounds had been hacked off, bringing the RSX's weight to 2570 pounds. Check out www.CARandDRIVER.com for a detailed mods list, but the big items included a set of Moton shocks ($7670), a Mugen carbon-fiber hood ($1958), a StopTech front-brake kit ($1795), and of course the $3895 Comptech blower. As for labor costs, it took some coaxing for Zellner to concede that our RSX had 160 hours' worth at $60 per hour, adding $9600 to our theoretical bill.

Zellner had held up his end of the deal, and now it was our turn to spice up the exterior. After six months of not thinking about it, our ideas amounted to what you'd expect: none. In last-minute desperation, we contacted the youthful body-shop crew at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor. WCC has a terrific program where auto-body students run a simulated custom-car shop, called Custom Cars and Concepts, and have turned out a number of slick projects.

We were steered to students Phil Davie and Adam Hubers. In our panicky editorial voice, we pleaded with these guys, both just 21, to come up with a winning paint design that would pop eyes in Southern California, and, oh, yeah, we need it done in a week. The wonderful thing about young people is they say okay to absurd requests like ours, and Davie and Hubers worked almost around the clock for the next seven days. If you had to pay for this, think seven grand. We think their result is terrific. Our only concern was that if a bunch of guys in their mid-30s and 40s living in the doughnut center of the Midwest liked their work, would the Southern California youth culture go for it, too?

The RSX was finished on September 28. We spent the next day at the drag strip tinkering with the suspension setup and obtaining the performance numbers you'll see in the specification panel. On September 30, we loaded the car into a hauler for the drive to L.A. and our first big tests, the emissions and dyno checks set for four days hence.

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