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Building the world's fastest front-wheel-drive time attackerNovember 22, 2005 When sport compact superstar RJ de Vera planned the Time Attack RSX, his object was to build America's fastest front-engine, front-wheel-drive time attacker. Making his project even more interesting, RJ's Time Attack RSX track car runs street-legal tires: BFGoodrich 265/35R18 g-Force T/A®KD tires. Why street legal tires on a car designed only for the track? "I think the g-Force KD will give us the best grip and the best chance of achieving the fastest lap," says RJ, who runs BFGoodrich® tires on all his project cars. "We're also trying to prove the point that the KDs are just as fast as some of the race tires out there." BFGoodrich® g-Force™ tires have long distinguished themselves in the time attack arena. The BFGoodrich tires-equipped Signal Auto Skyline R-34 has won several events and set the highest cornering mark The Tire Rack has ever recorded. 
The Time Attack Acura project began with an RSX that RJ and his crew lightened from 2800 to 2300 pounds by stripping everything they could.
Power is a Honda K20 I-VTEC turbocharged to pump out 450 HP. The chassis has upper and lower cross-braces and a full roll cage. The suspension was modified with an Endless/Zeal V6 full coil-over set-up front and rear, with Comptech sway bars and a titanium upper tie bar. But the major effort went into lightening and stiffening. "We did everything we could to stiffen the car's chassis except spot-weld it," says RJ, proprietor of RO_JA Motorsports in Rancho Dominguez, California. "And we re-routed the exhaust through a side exit system to achieve a flat-bottom for full aero effects. "We also punched the fenders out to run the widest KD we can," RJ says. The tires are BFGoodrich® 265/35R18 g-Force T/AKD tires mounted on 18x9-inch RO_JA by Rays R2-5 rims front and rear. "That's pretty massive on a front-wheel drive car. The width is one of the tricks we use to give the car good turn-in." "We built the car with a super-stiff rear suspension which provides lots and lots of oversteer. That's the way Andy Hope likes it," says RJ, referring to hot-shoe Andy Hope who has already raced the car, in a different configuration, in Honda Challenge events, and will drive the RSX Time Attacker in competition. Along with RJ's stated goal of building the fastest front-engined, front-wheel-drive time attack vehicle in America, they hope that Andy will become the fastest front-wheel driver in the country. Visit RO_JA Motorsports online at www.rojawheels.com 
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