This is the story of opportune meetings, overcoming odds, and unrelenting levels of girl power. It is also the story of an undersized Honda Civic, its equally tiny engine, and the tenacity that it takes to become one of the fastest front-wheel-drive drag racers on the planet.
For Process Development Manager, Nichole Elff, adrenaline has been a core component in her life for as long as memory serves. So when she was introduced to the import scene back in college, her interests pivoted from horseback riding, to customizing cars with friends on the weekends. The following twenty-year import automobile love affair would see Nichole start with a 1994 Acura Integra rocking basic bolt-ons, to what what you see here today: A dedicated XFWD championship Honda race car driver with stacks of wins to her name, including the title of 2nd fastest FWD female driver in history.
All of this has been made possible by a surprisingly small powerplant: A 119ci 4-cylinder B18 Honda engine that puts down around 1,500 wheel-horsepower. If our math is correct, that averages out to an astonishing 12.6 horsepower per cubic inch. Compare that to a Pro Modified car, which is averaging anywhere from 7 to 8 hp/ci, and you can see the performance appeal of this Honda platform. However, what you don’t see are the tuning and engine-building challenges of running a dedicated race program that can safely and consistently supply these extremes, which as Nichole explains translates to, “…overbuild, demand high quality, and constantly seek out the weakest link.”
These values have also helped determine how Nichole’s Civic engine gets rebuilt after every other event or so. For as she is quick to admit, there is always room for improvement on her overbored B18C Honda motor, with the latest and greatest being of particular interest to us here at EngineLabs.
Elff’s best time in her 1992 Honda Civic is a 7.78 at 196mph, which at the time of this writing, makes her the seventh-quickest XFWD competitor in the world, and the second-fastest FWD female driver of all time.
Indy Racing and High-Speed Honda Goals
As for the racing side of this story, that all starts way back in 2006 when Nichole moved to Indianapolis. It was there that she became part of a car forum called IndyHP, where she met her eventual husband, Damon. A 2007 trip to a NOPI Drag Racing Association event marked Nichole’s first time seeing ProFWD and SFWD racing, and it blew her mind that these cars were running…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at DragzineDragzine…