Originally Posted by xbook

Hiya MaxN,

Thanks so much for being out there @ Streets yesterday to do some photography. I am Jason, and I was driving the DS MCS in the beginner group.

Originally Posted by valcom111t

Was this by chance the car that was in the latest Grassroots Motorsports?

Originally Posted by MaxN

Yesterday (11/17) I became the very first person to be a passenger in Kimini at warp-speed at the streets of willow (race track).

As a long term follower of the story of the build (see http://kimini.com) I was privilaged to be the 'wing man' on Kimini's first trip beyond a 'round the block test'. I was also the photographer at her first autocross event, and yesterday I was the photographer at her first track appearance.

Then in the third session I was strapped into the passenger seat and well....

Before I experienced the craziness, I knew the numbers, 1600lbs (with fuel and driver), Honda H22A1 powered, carbon shell, steel space-frame chassis etc.

Here is a photo of her in the pits prior to the first session.




As you can see, its tiny, very, very small.

here she is on the track with Kurt at the wheel.



As you can see there where a couple of MINI's on the track at the same time - if you are the drivers of those, I will post linkage in the CA section for all of the photo's.

But, back to Kimini...

At the first session after lunch, I was strapped into the passenger street.

Its tight and I am not small (6-2 and 215lbs). I barely fit, but that was not going to worry me. The 5-point harness held me tighly, My legs where restricted by a diagonal tube that the dash is connected to and my feet had inches of movement only. Who cares, this is not a luxury barge, this is a race-car (Kurt maintains that Kimini is a toy, I disagree).

After flicking switches, the starter button is pressed and Kimini burst into life, there are a few vibes through the cabin and you can actuall feel the exhaust pulses, snicking her into first we move off.

At this stage I knew I was in something special from the passenger seat I could feel the road surface, not in a bad way, there was no crashing and banging, just information through the seat of my pants - literally.

We drove sedately onto pit-lane, and waited to be given the signal to join the track.

When we accelerated up the pit lane I remember feeling slightly disappointed for a second or two, Kurt changed into second prior to my expectation of the V-TEC fury.

Then he nailed it.

All hell broke loose. The mechanical fury behind us defies description, the V-Tec houl is almost feral, Kimini squatted on he suspension (maybe an inch) and hurled us up the track. Imagine being strapped into a jet fighter on full afterburners - same sort of thing (I have been there).

Then he dabbed the brakes and turned into turn one - on cold tires - slightly sideways, controlled nicely, onto the power short straight and then there is a little kink - you turn right then left in a short period then rocket up to the right hand bend.

As we accelerated into the kink the acceleration was intense - I had heard about the 0-60 in under 4 seconds, but boy oh boy, its brutal. Then the (slightly early) braking, and then power through the kink, the car just changed direction. As simple as that - incredible, almost un-natural.

The rest of the lap was amazing, the experience is beyond my ability to explain, the noise, the smell, the G-forces, even the tastes ! We had a number of slightly sideways moments, Kurt was trying hard, but not showing off, I had watched him on previous laps, He was trying to ignore my presence and enjoy it.

The view out of the (tiny) screen is best described as 'nintendo', as Kurt hit the 'loud pedal' (literally as Kimini was running an open exhaust) there is an attitude change in the car and she just hurls herself forwards, each gearchange seems to have no real effect on the acceleration, it appears to be just as brutal in 2nd as 4th, the view blurs in a 'warp drive' fashion as he gets into the power. V-TEC is not seemless at all, the exhaust takes on a harsh (in a good way) note and the urgency with which kimini drives forwards is increased almost exponentially.

But thats not the dominant factor. The car has an amazing ability to change direction, so sublime are her abilities that I would hazard a guess that she is actually underpowered !

Sure grip becomes a factor - the tires are old (see the design diary for the reason) and a mere 13" but the chassis control is beyond measure, more power, more grip and more brakes would not require a single change in the suspension.

We did several laps of the track, we had fun with a very well driven Scooby (with over 400hp, expensive suspension and massive willwoods), on the back straight I saw 107mph on the speedo (digital), under braking the harness did its job, in he corners I was thankfull that the seats have amazing bolsters, generally we could have run quicker than the scooby, but as Kurt was still not entirely sure of the track it was a good policy to follow a quick car and also an impressive demonstration of Kimini's abilities.

After 'my session' I was grinning like a maniac, I beleive that we ran about 1:33 which considering the traffic and Kurts 10 year old knowledge of the track was pretty impressive, there is a lot more to come too.

After 'my' ride, Kurt took two others out, both had pretty similar impressions.

Kimini is definitely NOT a toy.....