Lets Dig in
A kit car brings a different dynamic to the mix, and it’s a normal progression in our society as well. Kit cars are, dare I say it, the “TikTok” remixes of the car world. Its more substantial though, instead of being washed away into the endless ocean of content, this stays with you, every day you look outside and it’s there.
All this talk about “Gap Burgers” and the like, has us all in anticipation for this car, my eyes were ready to feast on the finished product created in front of us for the last few articles. I turned my camera lens toward Project Lamb and was not disappointed.
“Gimme de gap burger nuh”
Finally, seeing this car in person, I would like to share my thoughts and feelings in this article, it’s great to know the numbers and the mechanical aspects of this car but, the majority of the experience of owning a car like this touches on the emotional side. If you haven’t read the previous articles I will drop a link here for the first “Project Lamb” Article. I have touched on the specs of this motor, suspension, and drivetrain.
Cars are utilitarian devices, and they take us from one point to the other, before cars, we used carriages and before them we used horses and if we go further back we walked. Now here’s a thought, do you think in the year 6000 BC a well-to-do caveman would show off his latest iteration of “barefoot transportation”? It seems like a dumb thing to suggest, but how is it that in this day and age, our mode of transportation means more than just travel? Society needs art and art needs society. Artists carry with them the ideas and pervading thoughts of a generation of persons and they document them in the work they do.
I love art, I love design, and I love cars. When an artist, a mechanic, and an engineer come together, it makes something special. The “Countach” was a functional art piece. It looked like it belonged more in the living room than on the road. It’s exceptionally difficult to imagine this car sitting in traffic, but in the 1980s when this car first rolled off the lot it was something that happened. Its lines differ so much from the normal round body design of a turn-of-the-millennium car we know, or the square box of an older car from a similar age. This car was built to stand out.
A kit car brings a different dynamic to the mix, and it’s a normal progression in our society. Kit cars are, dare I say it, the “TikTok” remixes of the car world. It’s more substantial though, instead of being washed away into the endless ocean of content, this stays with you, every day you look outside and it’s there.
It’s a personal iteration of the best “Countach” in a person’s opinion. There are no numbers to match, no factory paint to maintain, and no random logos on parts to subtly place for a viewer to see by “accident on purpose” to make them feel they noticed something because they are observant. This gives free rein for the taillights and the wing to be from different eras of the model. The 25th-anniversary wing looked hella cool, but the more subtle full lens of the later model Countach was way more stylish and suited the body lines better.
This car was built around having fun, as crazy as the thought of driving it is, imagine driving it fast. Yes, this art piece that should be sitting in someone’s living room, will do immense numbers, if you have the constitution for it. I am not sure if the thrill of driving it fast comes from the thought of impending doom if it’s hit, or maybe the fun is derived solely from the speed. Perhaps it’s a mixture of both, you can ride on the razor’s edge of losing years of work and experiencing this machine come to life. It bites back, it attacks you whenever you let your guard down, but mastering it feels incredible.
The first man who took the step to go from barefoot to horseback, what was his reaction to experiencing the fastest he ever went in his life? How did feel when descended from the horse and parked it outside, did he crave the freedom of riding, lying on his back unable to sleep because of pure excitement? How did he feel knowing he had the only black horse in the village and it was the fastest? He would’ve made a special bond, only he and the horse would understand, solely because of a shared experience.
He could groom this horse, and tie its hair in different patterns, historically it varied from culture to culture. We can see where this obsession could have started. From horseback to chariot, from a single horse to 2 horses, to 4 horses, and the luxury of a coach and in our age, 400+ horses at your command, to take you where you need to go. Would you be able to sleep when you parked this or would you lay on your back unable to sleep because of pure excitement?
This car hits on all the points that make something enjoyable to own, and drive. It makes me so excited and I don’t even own it. writing this article, it really built up in me that excitement all over again when I saw it for the first time. It is something incredibly special. I am sure, everyone who loves their car will feel the same way, about their car, the freedom that comes with the car, and the enjoyment you gain from using it.
Working with SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares Inc. on covering this project has been amazing. I want to thank them for reaching out to us, and we encourage all our readers, to give them a call and see if they can help you with your personal projects. Until next time,
Happy Motoring!
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Consistency
Since the last update the GC8 WRX has been through A LOT, project cars are a true test of patience, will power and financial wizardry.
In my last article, I mentioned the next step for the car would be getting some work done on the engine, and I did. It was way worse than anyone expected. The valve stem seals were worn and that's the reason the engine would smoke on cold starts.
The rod in the third cylinder was discoloured and extra toasty. The bearings were worn and pitted and there were oil leaks everywhere, I have no idea how this thing didn't blow up, maybe it was Subaru reliability? Now that the engine was rebuilt with new seals and bearings it runs like new.
My goal with this car has always been to get it back to stock form and keep it reliable and fun. I think I've achieved that, but I've wanted to have some fun with it. When I got the car back I decided to give drag racing a try. It's fun and challenging on its own but I'm more interested in something a little more technical and better suited to my car. Plus, I'm scared of blowing up my 5-speed during a 6k rpm launch.
What I've always been the most interested in was Autocross, we've covered a few autocross events and it's always been fun, the competition is friendly and healthy, it's a good group of people. So back in 2019, I decided to compete. I was a complete novice to this motorsport, I've never really pushed the car so I didn't know its limits. It was exciting. To this day (2021) I've done 9 events or 1 and 1/2 seasons. For my first event, I replaced the brake pads and just sent it, crappy tires and all. It was fun but the car was everywhere a N/A Toyota starlet with coil-overs beat me by two seconds, granted he is a good driver, but I knew my car could do better, even in stock form.
In an effort to make the car more suitable for the second event, I got new tires 205/45/16s just road tires. Competition tires weren't in the budget yet but maybe further down the line I'll get a set. I've also gotten a Cusco front and rear strut brace, which has really helped with the handling. The front of the car feels much stiffer now.
The more events I entered, the more I realized that the drivers skill is more important than the mods. Granted, good tires are probably the best mod you can make for this event but they're useless if you can't drive. Our autocross group held a training session recently and I let two of the previous champions drive my car and it felt completely different, I didn't know it could perform like that. I've decided to focus more on improving my driving skills rather than mod my car. All in all, the car performs amazingly, there's a lot of body roll because the suspension is still stock and my bushings are as old as time, but I'll get to that. I really need to become a better driver for now.
I’m looking forward to seeing what my mostly stock WRX can do.
I’m not that great, I was just more consistent than the other rookies.
More to come - Keep Motoring Along
I don't even have a competitive bone in my body
We caught up with Jason Downey and Kristina Pinto after Sol Rally Barbados, for a chat. We learned more about them, what inspires them, and drove them to take part in the 2020 rally. Find out about the spills and thrills and the unique opportunities had when persons pursue their passions with the spirit of persistence.
We caught up with Jason Downey and Kristina Pinto after Sol Rally Barbados, for a chat. We learned more about them, what inspires them, and drove them to take part in the 2020 rally. Find out about the spills and thrills and the unique opportunities had when persons pursue their passions with the spirit of persistence.
Enjoy the Image Gallery Below!
Photos By: Alexandre Haynes & Jody Forte
So until next time! Happy Motoring!
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This Canary's magic may surprise you.
To build a car correctly having a workspace to do so is important. What I really love about SDRR is the way they have taken a passion for working with the passions of their staff. The passion of Motorsport. They have allowed this car to be built on-site, and they have offered some assistance as well, for major hydraulic oriented parts and spares needed to make the build happen.
I think Rally has a lot of expectations behind it. There’s so much footage of purpose-built cars tearing up gravel, tarmac, and even ice stages around the world. Ridiculous anti-lag systems and fire all over their business end. Needless to say, this is why so many of us really love Rally as a discipline. Lets be honest, even if it was just a fad, we have all wanted to be a rally driver, in the hot seat of a car doing 160 kmph with only a twitch of the steering wheel separating you from a tree or post and shaving 0.223 seconds in a stage. What though, does it take to be a Rally driver? To have a car that’s competitive? To have that crucial ability to change adverse circumstances into learning experiences and character-building opportunities?
Meet Pierre Clarke. During the day he’s an employee of S.D.R.R Hydraulic & Industrial Spares Inc. (SDRR) here in Barbados, but on his off-time, he moonlights as a Rally Driver. He’s been doing pretty well too. We have covered one of SDRR’s cars already, a K-swapped Honda Fit. In their garage though, there was another project coming together, Pierre’s EK 4 Honda Civic. Despite the annual Rally Barbados season not coming off as planned because of the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020, I am pretty glad I was still able to have a first-hand experience with the car being prepped and put together along with SDRR.
Pierre started rallying back in 2013, so he’s about 7 years into his rally career at this time of writing, and he really has had his share of trials. He’s experienced crashes, rollovers, and had to deal with the injuries that come with these. None of these have deterred him from pressing on. A serious crash can really damage your confidence as a driver, I’m sure many persons who would’ve spent some time putting together a rally car out of pocket, only to ram it into a telephone pole, trying to shave off half a second would rather just give up. Not Pierre, he pressed on, showing admirable tenacity about his craft.
There’s no magic behind a competitive car
Time for some hard truths! Magic doesn’t make your car fast, but when you build it correctly putting time and effort into it, there’s definitely a magic that results from the car. An important factor in building a car correctly is having a proper workspace. What I really love about SDRR is the way they have taken a passion for working with the passions of their staff. The passion of Motorsport. They have allowed this car to be built on-site, and they have offered assistance for major hydraulic oriented parts and spares needed to make the build happen.
Pierre has experienced the bittersweet challenge of building a second a rally car. He decided to start with a good base. He acquired his EK 4 out of the UK, where the team at Racinglines oversaw the preparation of the car, so it would meet the safety requirements for a rally. Class requirements limit the number of engine options available for the car. Pierre competed in a class that’s similar internationally as Clubman last year, but now the car is in Modified 1 (M1) class. This means he has to keep the car, drive-train wise, pretty close to what it would’ve been built with from the factory but he’s allowed some slight modifications. The Honda EK series, saw it’s halo engine with the EK 9’s Type R variant, which used the B16 motor.
This B16 despite being a halo engine doesn’t mean it can do without modification. In fact, this is really Pierre’s first time using an engine that has been modified, it’s only smaller mods that help with the flow of the head. He’s replaced the factory throttle body with a Skunk 2 throttle body, and he port matched the manifold so it opened up to the head more. He also dropped in some larger cams in the head as well, this pushed the power band of the engine more to the top end where it would usually sit during a stage.
On the Exhaust side, the same treatment of port matching was used; this helped the exhaust gasses escape at a higher rate. What this means is that the engine will breathe better and be far more responsive to throttle positions. Besides this, the engine is still pretty much a standard Type R B16 motor.
The oil pan was baffled, to prevent oil starvation during cornering. This by far is one of the most important modifications you can do to a race-oriented engine. Especially a front-wheel-drive car. Oil starvation is probably at the top of the list of things that kill an engine in a build. Keeping engine temperatures down is also important as well because the engine is mildly tuned, a standard double cored half size radiator and an oil cooler will do the trick for the coolant, and this Setrab oil cooler works for keeping the oil temperatures down in the car.
Showing an image of his modified oil pan
Sure, this is a standard B16 with a few mods for flow, it’s nothing over the top, but it’s reliable, it has never stopped running and it’s putting its power down to the road. In a rally, this is by far more important than an engine at its limit thats unreliable and finicky. The engine of a car doesn’t make the car entirely, it’s what the engine is teamed up with that’s important. The chassis, and the suspension.
AN old block
A drivers’ Car
I’ve mentioned building a second rally car as a bittersweet experience. This refers to the gains and losses incurred when it comes to what a team would’ve spent on development for the previous car and what goes into the new car. Pierre would’ve spent a few years developing the car as a package which made it competitive for him at that point in time. The team would lose that research when going into a new chassis. On the other hand, a new platform brings with it, new possibilities. This can change for the better what you may be able to accomplish in a season, and so far, despite some hardships last season they are confident the car’s weak points are now covered.
It’s a spartan interior. Just the essentials are displayed on the dash, it’s funny, but he doesn’t use a speedometer, no time to check how fast you’re going when you’re going fast, it’s ironic. The tachometer and the shift light is very prominent, as well as water temp, and oil pressure. The car still uses the standard gearshift, it feels “notchy” enough and it communicates well with the driver.
Ah yes, the pedal box was completely changed to this Tilton kit, which gives great feedback when it comes to braking, the brakes are now fully manual, and it takes some getting used to, really have to press the brakes like a madman. This is a huge modification to the character of the car. We take it for granted how easy our vacuum-assisted brakes are, but having the tactile feel of your calipers on the rotors can really be intuitive when it comes to gauging needed stopping power for a rally stage. When a driver climbs this learning curve, it’ll be difficult to go back to the more humane way of braking.
The team has invested man-hours making this car a driver’s car. Rally is a sport, where drivers gain one up on their competition through corners, and driver confidence. Class restrictions, call for limitations in power, so gains are made where the car makes contact to the road. This is why trust in your machine is so essential to making a car competitive.
With added suspension modifications a car will corner at higher speed. This in turn changes the fluid dynamics of the car’s factory fuel system. A car starving for fuel, won’t be competitive, this fuel system was built entirely in-house at SDRR, with a surge tank which keeps fuel under pressure, this negates side to side movement, and gives the car a constant fuel supply in any situation.
A rally Car takes more than just a driver
When it comes to Rally legends, we talk about the names of the drivers, sometimes the name of the co-driver is lost in the fanfare so imagine what happens to that engineer who found the issue in a gearbox at the service stop, or the engineer who patched together a fix so the car could go on to win. We forget that it’s not the driver that makes the team great but it’s the results of the chemistry of a group that comes together with a specific goal in mind.
They are some persons on the team though, who weren’t physically there while I was shooting this article, but I could see the results of the work they put into the car. The core team at SDRR and Pierre’s co-workers really do share that same passion and love for Motorsport. Birds of a feather really do flock together and it’s exciting to see what results with when the opportunity arises.
At the outset, I asked 3 questions. What does it take to be a Rally driver? What does it take to have a car that’s competitive? What does it take to have that crucial ability to change adverse circumstances into learning experiences and character-building opportunities? From what I found it, I think I can answer those 3 questions, firstly it takes tenacity and perseverance. Secondly, there’s no magic behind a competitive car, take your time and do your research, build it to the specifications you need and drive the car so you can make more realistic decisions about what changes need to be made. Lastly, how can you take adverse circumstances and turn them into character building opportunities? Facing your weak points, working on them and having a reliable team, that bolsters confidence when looking into the unknown.
Finishing up the shoot and interview with Pierre and the team, we left off with the car basically reassembled and starting. A video of the car will be posted so you can take a look and hear what it sounds like for yourself. Pierre was waiting for his exhaust manifold to come back from the fabricator. This won’t be the last we will hear from them. Once the car is up and running, look out for another update on this Canary. I was really happy for the chance to work with SDRR to make this content!
So until next time! Happy Motoring!
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Westcoast Kings Take Over
I'm in love with Car Culture, and I'm sad it died down a bit here, but We are trying to bring everyone together again, so we can show it off internationally.
It's been a long time coming, but we finally were able to hang out with Westcoast Kings! It's really awesome to see groups start and grow and really add to the Car Culture of our small island, Barbados. Nickolai the founder of Westcoast Kings, let us in on some information about the group, how it started and where he's headed.
What do you drive?
My car is a 1996 EJ6 Honda Civic, it was bought new back in 1996 here on the island. Back then I was a lot younger, and I went with my dad when he was buying a car for my mom. He took me to Tucker, and I was able to choose the car for her back then. Eventually my mom moved on, and bought a CRV, and I was able to take this car off her hands, and the mods began.
“I’m in love with Car Culture, and I’m sad it died down a bit here, but We are trying to bring everyone together again, so we can show it off internationally.”
The search for Orginality
When the car was passed on to me from my mom, it was a bit rusty, so it went to the body shop first for some work to be done on it. The car was OEM pearl green from Honda but it was a becoming a common Honda color, so I picked a random color to start with from Automotive Art and changed the color. The car was automatic so I did a manual conversion. After that came the stance. I bought D2 fully adjustable coil overs and lowered the car so far. I have plans for K-swap of the engine eventually.
Tell us a bit about westcoast kings
I really loved the movement we had in Barbados a while ago, but it slowly died down. I started my brand as a Youtube channel first then I moved on to Instagram. It really started to pick up traction though, and after going to a few car shows with some friends, persons were asking if they could join the group, and be a part of the Westcoast family. Now we are selling T-shirts, Snapbacks and stickers, so persons can identify with the group. We started an online forum as well and we organize meets that way.
Check out some of their content
Big thanks to Nickolai for giving us an chance to hang out and get to know the group, I really love when friends come together for something they all share and love, groups like this continue to keep our Car Culture alive here in Barbados.
