Jonathan’s Del Sol: Rotation on Demand

Jonathan Lugod had been tinkering on bargain-rate Hondas and getting them to handle beautifully on one of the more challenging environments to sort a car for: the canyons. As much good as these experiences did to lay a foundation for this racing career and his suspension company Shaftworks USA, this long period of backroads antics came to a close when he found a safer, more satisfying alternative: autocross.

During that introductory period, he was able to learn the ins and outs of the most popular lightweight track platforms: a series of Golden Era Civics, S2000s, and BRZs – all streetable DE cars he’d been driving to track days and autocrosses.

After several years of winning SCCA autocrosses, he decided to delve into road racing with a dedicated racing car. His plans for something a little outlandish was best tolerated in Gridlife, where uncommon cars were appreciated. “As long as you can hit their power-to-weight ratio, they give you a lot of leeway. Plus, it looks like the series is continuing to grow,” he elaborated.

He was committed to sticking with the Honda name, as he knew he had a tall order ahead of him and wanted to simplify the process if possible. “I knew them well - I felt I could do a motor swap in the paddock if I had to,” he said.

When friend Oscar Jackson mentioned his friend had a caged Del Sol shell for sale, Jonathan jumped. Not only did the car share most of its parts with the DC2/EG platforms, it already had some of the hard cagework done. “I figured it would be helpful to start with something that was already partially done, but I ended up having to redo lots of stuff anyways,” he sighed.

The first iteration of the car involved a stock K24, an OS Giken LSD, Shaftworks-spec JRZ triples, PCI spherical uppers and lowers, and an ASR 32mm rear bar. That big rear bar helped point the car in a way reminiscent of the S2000, and the inverse stagger helped there as well, as does the 95” wheelbase. “Once you stick a cage in it, the Del Sol behaves like a CRX, or like a front-drive S2000; if you lift, it’s going to rotate!” he explained.

The car was far from fine tuned when he attended his first race event with it, but that didn’t matter. “It was a mess, but the first Gridlife was a blast,” he said.

That bliss wouldn’t last long, though. Nearing its first year as a running, driving race car in Jonathan’s hands, he cracked the chassis after bottoming out at Willow Springs’ Turn 9. He considered salvaging what he could and sticking it into a DC2, but Oscar Jackson protested. “Nobody’s going to remember an Integra - stick with the Del Sol,” he insisted.

Oscar made a cogent point. This time around, Jonathan would take it to another level. Aside from MK60 ABS, he’d bump power with one of his friend’s supercharger kits and aero with a one-off bodykit from Epsilon+.

The Jackson Racing-built Rotrex kit brought power from around 230 to 470 horsepower at full tilt, which, thanks to the tuning of the Haltech and the supporting boost control, has been fairly easy to administer to the pavement. “We teamed with Turbosmart for one of their boostgates to help shape the power curve. “This gives us flexibility in what kinda power curve we have,” he said.

“The Boostgate50 is an electronically controlled throttle plate that allows you to leak out boost in a controlled manner. This combined with their Black Box and the Haltech ECU made it easy to control boost and bleed out pressure as necessary. Now, it has the same curve as a J35.”

With around 300 pounds of ballast added to the rear, the car rolls onto the scales at 2,850 pounds - and only 42% of the total weight rests over the rear axle. However, the crossweights are even, and so the car pivots around the front end in a manageable way.

Aside from a tubed front end for a wider front end, the chassis isn’t widely altered. To give control over those 18X11” Wedsports front wheels, Jonathan installed a power-steering rack from a DC2, a reinforced Prius’ steering column, and an electronic power steering system from ePowerSteering.

Currently, he’s sorting out some reliability issues and hopes to use the upcoming Speed SF enduros and Challenge series to identify his gremlins. Last weekend, after setting a new PB, his transmission went, as did his ABS. There’s a little left to do before this car is ready for longer sprints, but at least the suspension is beautifully sorted, as you’d expect from someone who’s made their name by making Hondas handle.