Integra Type-S at VIR for Car and Driver's Lightning Lap 2024

[StingertimeNC]

Lots of speculation.

Spoke to a buddy of mine who works for Car and Driver, he called out the different driver, different temps, and different tires.

I'm with Optronix, if you can learn to drive it, the ITS is within 5 seconds (over a 4.1 mile track) of a lot of fast cars over the last 10 years, it's really awesome given what it is.

 

[ITSDAD]

Lots of speculation.

Spoke to a buddy of mine who works for Car and Driver, he called out the different driver, different temps, and different tires.

I'm with Optronix, if you can learn to drive it, the ITS is within 5 seconds (over a 4.1 mile track) of a lot of fast cars over the last 10 years, it's really awesome given what it is.

Totally agree, as a guy who'll likely never track, its the perfect daily dad mobile, and its plenty fast when i need it to be.

 

[optronix]

Totally agree, as a guy who'll likely never track, its the perfect daily dad mobile, and its plenty fast when i need it to be.

You really should consider getting some track time in. I know it's expensive and probably anxiety-inducing, but if you like cars I can't imagine a better way to manifest your enthusiasm. And with the ITS, you don't really need to do anything, it will hold up to track use pretty much as it is from the factory*.

*I'd consider changing out the brake fluid at least before tackling something like VIR. But smaller tracks without gigantic straight sections, good to go.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Watched a bunch more of that Ligthning lap stuff.

C&D missed the boat by not having Tony Q drive the ITS. He drove the Type R last year and I think he would have done better. Sadly we'll never know how close it could have been.

Lucid Sapphire was crazy to watch, just silently rolling along at 165+

GT3 RS- dream car.

BMW X5 M-Comp- say what? That's my dream SUV now.

Nissan Z Nismo- Respect! Kind of like it now, but not at that price. Would rather have the M2.

 

[ITSDAD]

You really should consider getting some track time in. I know it's expensive and probably anxiety-inducing, but if you like cars I can't imagine a better way to manifest your enthusiasm. And with the ITS, you don't really need to do anything, it will hold up to track use pretty much as it is from the factory*.

*I'd consider changing out the brake fluid at least before tackling something like VIR. But smaller tracks without gigantic straight sections, good to go.

Absolutely appreciate the vote of enthusiasm along with the added note.

Tracking is definitely not out of the question, may even become an unhealthy addiction once my wheels touch that tarmac lol. Im hoping to once the kids are outta carseats and I dont need to deal with that.

 

[optronix]

Absolutely appreciate the vote of enthusiasm along with the added note.

Tracking is definitely not out of the question, may even become an unhealthy addiction once my wheels touch that tarmac lol. Im hoping to once the kids are outta carseats and I dont need to deal with that.

Try autocross at least. Safer than driving to the grocery store, and TBH not much harder on your car.

 

[Gregg]

In case you missed this one.... Dan Edmunds was driving the Grand Course for the first time after very limited experience with the "full" (3.27mi) course. "I still don't count myself as an expert with the best line everywhere." ;-)



And the Grand Course really is a different beast. Once you round "the Bitch" (the hairpin on the back straight), the Patriot portion doesn't really reward high HP. It's far more technical. Also, I don't believe it got repaved in '17 with the main course. The only time I raced the Grand Course was in 2005 where I had my 130hp ITA CRX down to 3:11.009 and the fastest ITS E36 (approx. 220hp) in the country at the time was running 3:04's, with the other ITS cars (approx. 190-200hp) running 3:09-3:10. Of course we were on R-compound rubber but there have been a lot of advances in the last 20yrs. A good 200 TW tire is probably comparable to the Hoosier RS304s we had back then but both considerably better than the Michelins the Lightning Lap was run on.

My point being that the Patriot section negates the HP & top speed advantages you would get from using the full back straight.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Last time at VIR with the ITS I was running 3:32 on Grand. so slow! was kind of babying the car.

 

[SilverRocket]

Last time at VIR with the ITS I was running 3:32 on Grand. so slow! was kind of babying the car.

You have to drive your car home and live with it, they just hand back the keys to Acura.

That's worth at least 30 seconds of confidence

 

[StingertimeNC]

You have to drive your car home and live with it, they just hand back the keys to Acura.

That's worth at least 30 seconds of confidence

So True! I think I should be able to shave another 10-12 seconds off, but you're right, I need to get the car home in one piece!

 

[VarmintCong]

Last time at VIR with the ITS I was running 3:32 on Grand. so slow! was kind of babying the car.

I think I did about a 20 min Nurburgring lap with my rental Fiat Punto, 80 year old dad and pregnant wife in the car.

We didn’t know til 2 weeks later she was pregnant.

 

[Yhippa]

Absolutely appreciate the vote of enthusiasm along with the added note.

Tracking is definitely not out of the question, may even become an unhealthy addiction once my wheels touch that tarmac lol. Im hoping to once the kids are outta carseats and I dont need to deal with that.

I saw your earlier comment about using this as a family car. I have two little ones (infant and toddler). How's this car working out for your kids? I'm concerned about the lack of rear A/C vents in the summer. Also would have been nice to have rear charging ports for the tablets on trips.

 

[ITSDAD]

I saw your earlier comment about using this as a family car. I have two little ones (infant and toddler). How's this car working out for your kids? I'm concerned about the lack of rear A/C vents in the summer. Also would have been nice to have rear charging ports for the tablets on trips.

So far its working out incredibly well, I've got one rear facing and one forward facing.

The lack of vents doesnt seem to be an issue and we live in Canada and experience both temp extremes, ceramic tints and window shades for the kids def helps on hotter days. Albeit there are threads on the forum detailing after market solutions for rear vents and USB outlets.

My only qualm is, despite the cavernous trunk, its not quite a replacement for an SUV, eg: your use case will hugely vary if you need to pack a stroller. I can get a wonder wagon in it with the wheels off, but everything else gets piled on top.

Also, rear head rests are NOT adjustable, so if your kid is in a forward facing seat with a rear anchor, your head rest is getting squished, OR you can get a car seat with a Y shaped rear tether. I havent really found a good work around, I've been told a rolled up towel helps minimize the squish but am not sure about how that compromises safety.

 

[Integra23]

I saw your earlier comment about using this as a family car. I have two little ones (infant and toddler). How's this car working out for your kids? I'm concerned about the lack of rear A/C vents in the summer. Also would have been nice to have rear charging ports for the tablets on trips.

You can add rear vents with USB, but not really needed since there are floor vents.