John Fallon's Jdm-Spec Dc Itr"I find cars without VTEC very boring these days," John Fallon, from Edinburgh, Scotland says. Obviously, John's a man with good taste. Although he's favored Japanese cars since he could reach the pedals, it's Honda's VTEC with its instant throttle response rather than big laggy turbos that excite him. He's lost count of just how many Hondas he's owned over the years. He's had more than his fair share of ITRs and CTRs-and not just UK-spec ones-John's earned his share of respect for delighting in what the JDM market has to offer.
This Scot's JDM enthusiasm soon led to a part-time business venture, Private Imports, specializing in importing JDM cars and parts over to the UK for him and his mates. Needless to say, the small company has helped fund John's Honda addiction. John actually imported this Integra for his cousin who was looking for something a bit different in a daily driver. "He really liked the car...but once it had arrived and he'd actually driven it he realized it was a bit too wild for everyday use and that he had no real plans to use it on the track," John says.
Yes, his cousin noticed the full-polished Carbing rollcage, the door bars, the Bride seat and Takata harness combo and quickly came to the conclusion that it was little more than a track car-a track car that, by some definition could be street driven-but by most accounts was simply unsuitable for regular road duties. John's cousin owned it for a couple of weeks before swapping it for a more driver-friendly Integra Type R that John also had imported.
"I took it out on some empty country roads for a good thrashing and it was certainly as wild as my cousin had promised," John says. "The close ratio gearbox meant you were changing gears all the time and the suspension was so rock solid and tight that it was stiff enough to lift wheels when you were cornering."
None of this, however, deterred John from putting the ITR to work as his daily driver. Sure, he made a few changes along the way though. First he replaced the adjustable rear wing with a standard spoiler and then ditched the 15-inch alloys for a set of 16-inch Regamasters, which he conveniently had sitting in his garage. There are those out there who will say that switching to 16s can negatively effect handling but John's a 16-inch kind of guy and has yet to encounter size issues. John also replaced the carbon-fiber bonnet, err hood-he's just not a fan of them-and had the entire car repainted in Silverstone Gray, covering the red and adding a bit of discretion. "I did feel quite self conscious in it," he admits. "Everybody looked while I was driving it."