My TEP (Tiger Eye Pearl) Integra Type S at the Dragon + Driving Impressions

[Gregg]

I'm fairly certain that on the 4th of July I was the first to take a Type S to Deals Gap and the Tail of the Dragon. Here are some photos:

 

[Gregg]

 

[VinnyDaFish]

Absolutely love these photos. Would love to hear more about how the car drove through those roads. Makes me smile just to imagine at 3-4k rpm coming out of each turn.

 

[Gregg]

Absolutely love these photos. Would love to hear more about how the car drove through those roads. Makes me smile just to imagine at 3-4k rpm coming out of each turn.

Here’s what I posted on my socials…


As a little history, I’ve been SCCA road racing for a number of years and do have a bunch of wins of which I’m proud. I’ve also run the Dragon before, but that was almost 25 years ago for the very first S2K Days. I went into yesterday knowing I wanted to push the car (and myself) but not too much. There are plenty of people that have destroyed cars and bikes at the Dragon and more than anything I wanted to be able to give a bit more nuanced driving impression that the folks testing dealer demos on a couple of exit ramps and highways.

The road itself is populated primarily by low-speed (15-40mph) switchbacks with pretty short runs to the next one. For the most part, the surface is fairly smooth and very grippy due to the amount of rubber that gets laid down during the day.

So where to start? First, let me say that I have not driven an FL5 or FK8 on the track or at the Dragon so can’t really compare/contrast differentiators like how the seats handle something more spirited than 80mph on the interstate. That said, between the DE5’s bolstering and my left leg firmly planted on the dead pedal when possible, the seats held my fat ass just fine, though I wish the seat backs had some more shoulder support.

Coming from primarily naturally aspirated Hondas, the car was a revelation, able to dig out of those slower speed corners. It’s the combo—mechanical grip from the suspension, the decent rubber, and a limited slip that was truly working hard (you could definitely feel it locking up the inner front wheel)—in concert with TORQUE that allowed me to put the power down either at the apex or just after and set up for the next complex WITHOUT drama. I wasn’t doing any trail braking and so couldn’t get the rotation from the rear of the car the might have helped a bit, but there was ZERO understeer and I never had a problem placing the nose where I wanted.

As for braking, with stock pads and fluid and cliffs that you could drive right off if you weren’t careful, I chose to be somewhat tentative on the middle pedal as I had had ZERO experience threshold braking the car in the four days I’d owned it. But the brakes were there every step of the way. It was a firm pedal and, more importantly, easy to modulate.

I wasn’t running data acquisition, and I wasn’t running video, and these were just “fun” runs for me, but I was constantly running up onto the backs of other drivers who were obviously trying to hard. But I came away knowing that this is definitely the best handling FWD car off the showroom floor I’ve hustled, and better than a lot or RWD machines.

Thanks to the folks at Killboy.com and 129photos.com for the great shots of me and my Type S in action.

 

[optronix]

Would you have rather been in a rear-wheel drive car, let's just say an F80 M3?

 

[Gregg]

Would you have rather been in a rear-wheel drive car, let's just say an F80 M3?

For a road with soooo many tight, slower corners, I don't know if the longer wheelbase of the F80 would serve it well, but the additional torque might have. I also found a new found appreciation for EPS in the Integra. I think it's a bit more communicative that the F80. It was very easy to place the nose. That said, if I was on a road made up of primarily open sweepers, I don't think RWD would be that much of an advantage. Not having driven a FK8 or FL5, I can honestly say that this is the most neutral handling FWD machine out of the box that I've driven on the street.

As mentioned above, I would have liked have been able to induce a bit more rotation...far easier to do that w/ the right foot w/ RWD. My comments about trailbraking (or lack thereof) notwithstanding, I don't think the entry speeds for a majority of the corners and the fact that I had to stay right of the center line would have allowed for a different technique.

I should also add that I left the auto-blip for downshifts enabled. I find the pedal placement (more specifically the height difference between brake & gas, not the distance) to impede my own heel/toe downshift....and I know there's a hardware kit available to modify that...but the electronics did a pretty good job assisting my 3->2 downshifts

 

[mopar_man]

Had to be an absolute blast. Great photos also!

 

[BBauto]

So envious, great photos , but I just had to buy a red one, so the wait continues until early August. Funny, but I'm buying this for my birthday and the build date is on my birthday.

 

[jmoncer]

Last time I ran through there I was in my 2006 Mazdaspeed6 and was stuck behind a local lady driving a beater Plymouth Minivan who was holding back about 15 cars. Looks like a blast; I'll be running that area on my BMW R1200RT later this month on my way down to Savannah, Georgia.

 

[koatic]

great pics!!!
nice to see what I am waiting for in high res, Dealership said after my deposit they could "expedite" the order but we all know that was a bunch of sales crock.. I have already placed the order but second guessing the Orchid interior on my TEP..

 

[6-Speedio]

The Tiger Eye Pearl is such a mind boggling color. It looks so vastly different from picture to picture.