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This Honda Civic rallycross racer will zoom in to sixty MPH in about 2 seconds. It's got a spec that will slay almost anything else on the floor with 700 horsepower, 850 ft.-lb of torque, four wheel drive, four wheel drive, brake regeneration, and tailpipe emissions that exceed the 2025 EPA standards. The Civic, dubbed "Deep Orange 9" has a supercharged K20 engine in the back and a 200-horsepower battery-electric motor in the front.This is not a project built by Honda Engineers to show off the company's future tech, this was basically the Clemson University engineering program's senior thesis.
The project took 18 months ago from design concept to where it is right now, and the students tell me that at least 12 months of that was in the design and programming phase. They did not actually start working until about six months ago. Their goal has been much greater than average, but with vastly improved emissions. It would seem that they've succeeded.
The team started with a Honda Civic body-in-white and a stack of parts. The K-series in the back of a dismantled Acura sedan, and the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research students boosted power with a big supercharger. The design team added an active rear view of their own design, just to spice things up.
The engine is accessed through the rear doors. The fuel tank is in the back seat, now engine compartment. The battery array lies in the foot where the passenger's seat was. Of course, both are separated by the thick firewall, and a roll cage is integrated for proper safety.
Having heard of this monster of a rallycross because, they're really damn smart. I have aspirations of building my own home-brew hybrid, so they were able to answer a lot of questions that most people have just shrugged off as impossible. Things like power delivery management and communication between the engine's stand-alone ECU and the EV motor management were no problem for them. They're the real deal.
Things at SEMA get lost in the shuffle, and they are blissfully unaware that they were in the presence of pure badassery. The most popular Fender Flare and Big Truck Nationals in Vegas this week, this was just another Honda Civic with flares and a wrap. I was drawn in by the electric vehicle signing bright orange high voltage wiring in the engine compartment. That's not normally found in a Honda Civic.
Of everything I saw at SEMA this week, this one still blows me away just thinking about it. It is the perfect opportunity for students to learn the necessary engineering disciplines that are desirable in the current automotive market, while building something fun and exciting. It's so important to get involved, but also to continue to be involved in their career. Great move, Clemson.
Find out more at cuicar.com.
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