Luckily, one of the best things about being the executive producer for Best Motoring International is that you have access to lots of talented guys like Keiichi Tsuchiya and Daisuke Ito. Keiichi is most famous for being the Drift King and making cameos in popular Hollywood flicks, but he's also a fairly well known ex-GT racecar driver and tester. Daisuke Ito is KT's protg and is currently piloting the Honda NSX in Super GT. It is believed he may even win the series title this year.
The drivers chosen to confirm my impressions don't get any better than these 2. And whereas some tuners get cold feet bringing their cars to get throttled on camera, Ichishima does not. One thing we pride ourselves in at BMI is our ability to judge cars without prejudice. That's how we've earned respect, but also why we aren't among everybody's best friend.
So Ichi-san gracefully took on the challenge to pit his baby Civic "R" against a stock S2000 and a 4-door ITR. We picked the 2.2L S2K to see how the Civic would fare against it in terms of power and total performance, and the Integra to compare the sedan with another 4-door. We contemplated bringing out the EP3 CTR hatch, but in truth the EP was never considered in the same league as the EK9 CTR. The EP3 was a mildly tuned Civic that never really resonated with most enthusiasts. We figured a better yardstick would be to race Spoon's sedan against the highest performance Honda currently in production, the S2000.
Before the battle, Keiichi Tsuchiya took the Spoon Civic out for a test run, and when he returned, he was all smiles. In a tone of sarcasm, he teased Ichi-san about how Spoon had finally come up with something worth driving. It became clear, though, that the seasoned driver was truly impressed with the car.
He raved about the engine, the smooth and perfectly geared transmission, and the chassis' high level of handling performance. We were genuinely glad to see this, as KT can sometimes be harsh in his assessments. He's not the considerate type that hands out passing grades for "effort," so when he gives the thumbs up, he means it.
His fastest lap was 1:12.63. Finishing in the one minute, 12-second range on Ebisu's East course suggests the Civic has enough to compete against the S2000, which can rip off laps in about the same time. At that moment, the Spoon Civic became the fastest new Civic in Japan.
The battle had more surprises in store.
Juichi Wakisaka, another Super GT driver who happened to be with us, took the reigns of the S2000, while Daisuke Ito climbed in the 4-door Integra. KT stayed in the Spoon Civic. Conditions at the time were semi-dry, as it had rained a little just before the battle.
The Integra, with a lap time of 1:17.23, had the first grid spot as an advantage, which it desperately needed. The S2K and Spoon Civic, coming up from behind, overtook the struggling Integra on the very first lap. The decade-old Integra R was visibly not in the same class as the top two cars.