One Lap Of America: Up Close And Personal With The #86 Honda Odyssey
Filed Under: Aftermarket/Tuners, Motorsports, Tech, Minivans, Honda, Automotive News, One Lap Of America May 7th, 2007 3:16 PM 6 Comments
Upon entering the paddocks at any of the racetracks, there are a few cars that truly stand out from the others. Sure, there’s the general assortment of Vipers, Corvettes, Mustangs, 911s and WRX, but a Honda Odyssey? That’s pretty remarkable.
What’s even more remarkable is that the Odyssey managed to nab the first place spot in yesterday’s event at the Mid America Motorplex. The team of Bradley Buchanan, Toby Leslie, and Paul Street managed to pull off a total run time of 5:45.797 – that’s a four-second lead on the second-place BMW M5. (Click here for the complete list of results). Naturally, there’s a reason for this: Rain. Inclement weather hurt the majority of the One Lap field, but the weather cleared up in time for this Honda’s run. With that said, we don’t mean to take away anything from the engineers who have wrought one seriously impressive Mommymobile.
We had a chance to talk with the Odyssey team this morning before the event at the Miller Motorsports Park began. The van is powered by a turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 engine and mated to a six-speed manual transmission (pulled from an Acura TL) with a custom-built clutch. The turbocharger was custom built by the Honda team, and the engine is estimated at producing 350-400 horsepower at the wheels.
Inside, the standard dashboard kit has been removed, as well as passenger seating and most of the interior panels. The rear seats can be put back in the van with ease, though, and the team says that the van is quite comfortable for the long-distance driving between tracks.
We like the Odyssey because it offers a different perspective on the track, and makes us realize that just about any vehicle can be tuned, power-boosted, and dare we say it… sexy. While we don’t see this race-Odyssey as the perfect vehicle to take the kids to soccer practice in, we like it’s presence on the course and will be interested to see if the minivan will continue to do well the rest of this week.
Click the images below for more photos of the Odyssey.
1 comment:
I like some Honda cars but Honda Odyssey doesn’t actually attract me with its exterior design. With Honda’s, I most likely admire the parts… How did they customize a honda clutch anyway?
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