Markus’ EP3 Civic: Rapid Ascent
Growing up in Singapore, Markus Lendermann was never able to witness his preferred generation of Civic. ”There were lots of EG and EKs, but no EP3s. Actually, I never saw one until I moved to California for college. I liked the looks of it, and I wanted to turn one into something that resembled the Type R.”
“My freshman year, I bought a white one – completely stock. I had no intention of tracking it; I didn’t know tracking was a thing. Then Sean Win-Yepez, whom I met by complete coincidence, approached me in a parking lot at Stanford and we started talking cars. By the end of our chat, he’d convinced me to join him and his friends at Laguna Seca. That was the end of 2023,” he reminisced.
While he had not been to a track before, he had learned how to drive. “I was an avid sim racer from the age of 13 until I enlisted for mandatory military service, so I had a fairly good idea of how to drive. The sim racing helped more than I thought; I was on it by lap 2,” he recounted.
Just as surprising was how fun the real thing was. “I expected to enjoy it, but I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I did,” he admitted. Soon, he was trying to go as often as his schedule and his student’s finances would allow.
Fortunately, even a relatively stock EP3 has some potential for a fun track toy. With only Carbotech pads, MeisterR coilovers, a set of Hankook RS4s, and his matching Recaro RSG seats, he was soon setting respectable times. Some of that, he believes, comes down to the way he’s able to focus in the car, which he credits to his sim training.
“It rotated very happily, but it was still stable enough to feel confident in it. I prefer understeer; being able to put the throttle down when the car slides has been fun and not too scary,” he elaborated. With some seat time, he was able to whittle his times down in the 1:48s at Laguna, which he felt satisfied with for something not really designed to do much track work, with just 135 horsepower at the wheels and an open differential.
Around that point, he started getting comfortable with the idea of putting some money into his daily and getting a little more out of it. “I remember getting overtaken by another white EP3 at Sonoma, and met with the owner in the parking lot afterwards. The rear interior was out, the K20A was in, as were AP Racing brakes, and it had a basic aero kit installed. To me, that seemed like a reasonable car to model mine after. Then, the owner had a kid and before long, the car was up for sale. Within 2 days, I drove from LA up to the Bay Area to buy it – it would’ve cost a lot more money to modify my old car to that standard, so I figured I’d save my money and skip a step.”
The USDM version of the EP3, badged as a Civic Si, comes with the neutered K20A3, which has weaker internals, no proper VTEC, and a lower 6,700-rpm redline. Markus’ new car came equipped with the full-fat K20A from the JDM EP3 Type R, which, paired with a RBC intake manifold and full Solid Fabrications exhaust with a high-flow cat, made 209 horsepower on the Blacktrax Performance dyno. That was plenty for a reasonably light car weighing in at just over 2,600 lbs with full fuel and without a driver.
The K20A completely changed the character of the EP3. “A lot of people throw a K24 in this car, which does make a lot more torque and is probably even faster still, but there’s something about the way the K20A sings and pulls towards an 8,700-rpm redline which is rare to find in any production vehicle, let alone an economy car like a Civic. It makes wringing this car’s neck on track a very special occasion.”
With 50% more power than the previous engine and a functional splitter and wing, he had to use a bit more tire to take full advantage. Volk Racing CE28Ns measuring 17x9” with 235/40 up front, and 17x8” with 225/45s in the rear. With the front wheels doing all the work and a 63/37 weight distribution, the reverse stagger helped with rotation, traction and braking, while the smaller diameter front tires effectively increased the final drive ratio to help pull the car along. Along with YellowSpeed coilovers as used in the Civic Cup series in the UK, it had the makings of a fast track toy.
Coming from a stock EP3, every time I climb into the car, I have to remember to trust the aero. It still doesn’t feel believable yet until I work up to it, so I spend the first session pushing a little beyond what I believe it’s capable of. By the second session, I’ve unlearned most of my old mid-corner speeds and can find another 5-8 miles an hour.
The RSX Type S six-speed fitted to the car was reluctant to get into second gear once hot, so Markus took it out for a rebuild and took the opportunity to install an OS Giken 1.1-way differential. “The way that diff pulls the car – it’s a very different experience to anything else. Driving a front wheel-drive car with a clutch-type diff is completely different to driving one with an open diff.
While Ghostwerks was busy rebuilding the transmission, Markus used the downtime to perform further weight reduction and increase headroom; installing a lightweight Antigravity battery and CanComposites carbon sunroof delete using brackets courtesy of his friend Kai Workman down in SoCal, and swapping out the heavier Sparco bucket seats for the Recaro RS-Gs from the old EP3. He also switched the Nitto NT01s the car came with to Maxxis RC-1s, since his friend knew them well. Sean Win-Yepez was only too happy to see his new friend advancing as quickly as he was, and so he made his RC-1 data available to help his growth.
Where Sean’s data couldn’t help, he had his old sim racing friends to turn to. “Take out some rear camber; you look like you’re not getting enough rotation mid-corner and on corner exit,” his sim racing friend suggested.
“I’ve been seeking advice from an old sim racing friend who races an EP3 in the Civic Cup in the UK where the cars are super well set up. For instance, they’re using rear tires worn to different amounts to dial in the car’s balance, so it’s no wonder the top 10 in that series are within a tenth or two,” he explained.
It has exceeded my expectations as far as how well this can keep up with similarly-specced S2000s. Sean’s lap times are currently what I’m aiming towards; my times are currently around two seconds slower than his. Of course, there’s more than can be done, both in terms of setup and driver mod.”
In the immediate future, I’m going to try more camber in front and less in the rear because it needs a little more rotation. The S2000 folks are running expensive Ohlins TTX shocks and benefit from a much larger track community that has figured out what works and what doesn’t. Somehow, this EP3 on relatively budget YellowSpeed coilovers is keeping up with most of them. The next step is probably a set of JRZs, but I don’t think the time is right; I can still improve much more as a driver before I go for more trick suspension. The EP3 platform is heavily slept on in the US and I want to show everyone what it’s really capable of.
There’s a lot to do, but I’m going to put my time and money into getting more seat time for now. I believe there’s easily a second to gain from just driving better; maximizing the brakes and carrying more mid-corner speed. To do that, the car needs to be robust; I don’t want to have to rely on a mountain of tools each time I’m at the track. Ideally, I would prefer to simply show up, check the tire pressures and oil level, drive five sessions, and drive home.
A lot of these cars are stressed beyond what they’re designed for, so breaking parts comes with the territory, but as long as I keep the car in the fairly mild state as it currently is, I believe it’ll remain robust enough to focus primarily on driving. At my previous track day, I had zero issues with the car except for when the throttle position sensor died in the final session, which forced me to have it towed off track. Thankfully, the sensor started working again once the car cooled down. In an ideal world, I’d like a few more issue-free track days and a notable drop in personal bests before I spend much more on go-fast parts.”