Race Updates

AEM Civic Sets New Bonneville Speed Record

08/24/05

Bonneville Salt Flats, UT - Speed Week 2005 has come and gone and the AEM Race Team was there to test the salt with their 2001 Honda Civic. Car #529 H/BFALT, powered by a Garrett GT3782, was looking to set a new speed record on the legendary strip, but there would be hurdles to cross before it could be entered into the record books.

The team had loaded a perfectly good race car into the trailer for the 700 mile trip to Utah and expected to see the same when they unloaded it. Somewhere along the way, a crack had developed up the center of the windshield. For a 200 MPH racecar that was stationed 110 miles from the nearest town on a Friday afternoon, this is a huge problem. The team's only choice was to drive the 440 miles (there and back, twice!) to the nearest town and have the damage repaired at the cost of all runs through Saturday.

The team was up at first light on Sunday morning and the Civic was rolled up to the start line of the 3-mile "short course" at 8:30 a.m. The run was a huge success and tripped the lights running a flying mile average of 195.557 MPH; more than 75 MPH above the existing record! This was the best time of any vehicle running the "short course" on Sunday. The onboard data logger showed that the car left the flying mile at a speed of 205 MPH and was still accelerating strongly. Not bad for full-sized car with a 1.5L engine.

The run was not without its complications. As John Romero, head of performance electronic engineering at AEM explains, "The car exhibited the frightening tendency to dart from side to side on the 150 ft wide racecourse. This was due to the very uneven traction afforded by the salt coupling with the new limited slip differential. In the past, we have used a spool and in the future, we will use it again! But for Speedweek 2005, we had to live with it. The result was a car that darted severely from side to side, using every foot of the 150 ft wide course while attempting to go straight at better than 200 mph. I didn't think it was possible to spin a front wheel drive car while going straight. Now I know better."

On Monday morning, the team lined up the Garrett-powered Civic on the short course again to make the record official. The flying mile average was 196.079 MPH with a data logged top speed of 207 mph after the 3rd mile. This set the new Bonneville H/BFALT record at 195.818 MPH and it was time to go to the 5 mile course and let it stretch its legs.

The 5-mile "long course" was in much worse condition than the short course, however, and the car was forced to lift several times to avoid going off course. Even with these difficulties, the Civic registered a top speed in excess of 199 MPH. Knowing the car could be squeezed for even better speeds, the team returned to the pits to add ballasts to the car. But before they could run again, a storm blew in and cancelled Speed Week 2005 three days early.

John Romero reflected on the week. "We are pleased with the racecar and with very minor changes we know it will be stable and much faster than it has shown. We are going back to Bonneville, probably this October, and are shooting for 200+ MPH! We now know that we have the power and aerodynamics to do it."

Look for the full coverage of the AEM Civic with the Garrett GT3582 in Honda Tuning Magazine.