The Cars - Introduction
Under new ownership we wanted to get Torque Performance Developments back on the map, and with our experience on performance vehicles, fabrication equipment, tuning capabilities and our Dynamometer, what’s better then to develop a car that showcases what we do.
As our directors couldn’t come up with one single car due to having similar but different tastes in vehicles, they have opted to build two cars side by side. The goal is to build track racing orientated cars that will still be certified and registered for the street. This poses a challenge as we plan to push both cars in performance for circuit racing but still having to keep within the confines of keeping both road legal by conforming to LVVTA certification rules.
Now for the cars ……………….
2005 Honda Fit 1.5L Manual
Normally you would find a Honda Fit parked in your Nana’s Garage, but this was JP’s choice of vehicle. Cheap, plain and simple but in JP’s eyes is full of potential and he is not wrong. The little 1.5L naturally asperated engine packs around 130hp which is impressive for its size, and the car weighing only 1100kg puts the power to weight ratio at around 116.6Hp/ton.
Suspension is MacPherson front with solid beam rear, might not sound like anything fancy but being a front wheel drive shouldn’t matter too much especially when FWD European hot hatches were running a sold beam rear right up until recently.
Another benefit of the fit is that it has a very flat floor, an aerodynamic body shape that was intended to get fuel consumption down and also a fuel tank that sits in the middle of the car (under the front seats) to improve weight distribution. In the looks department it isn’t a car you would attribute with a sporty look, but we have plans to improve this drastically.
Parts are harder to come by as this isn’t a model that has a large range of performance support so we are going to need to make a lot of parts but as our friends at JS’Racing have worked on this model before we can call on them for some support.
2004 Volkswagen Golf Gti
Daniel has opted to donate his wife old VW Golf GTI to the mix, he has had this cars for many years now and was a car he did lots of R&D in the tuning department on the factory ECU, mods were simple with downpipe, intake and intercooler and suspension being upgraded. However as a comparison and the fact we are going back to the drawing board with this car we are going to compare factory with factory.
Now you might be thinking this isn’t a fair comparison with the Golf having a bigger engine (1.8L) and turbo, the Fit wouldn’t have a chance, but a closer look would show otherwise. The golf with its 150Hp and weighing in at 1270kg (Auto is heavier than manual) puts power to weight ratio at 116.5Hp/ton, pretty much bang on the same as the Fit. The suspension design is the same with Macpherson front and solid beam rear, and even if you compare track and wheel base they are almost the same too.
On the plus side, the Golf and its 1.8T engine has a lot more support around the world then the Fit, so plenty of parts available, but as we are still going to push it to the max so some custom fabrication is going to be needed.
Comparison
So comparing the two, performance is pretty much on par, suspension configurating is the same, both are front wheel drive, so we think we have two cars that are comparable to modify. Yes you can wind the boost up on the Golf and it will be quicker but as we are going beyond the realms of normal mods this is irrelevant. As we will improving both cars in all areas possible with serious engine mods, suspension upgrades, body mods, fuel system upgrades and both getting electronic packages courtesy of Haltech.
*note - as we are starting the blog a little late as we are already half way through building both cars, we will be posting an update every 1-2 weeks until we are up to date with where we at. As such pictures above are not of the actual cars.