D.R.E Shift Light and Drainage Holes

Having loved my track day at Brands I decided to get a simple track mod, a shift light.

Research pointed me to the Digital Race Electronics SLD5 unit, or DRE shift light as it's more commonly referred to.

Most shift lights rely on the rev counter to program the shift points whilst revving the engine. However, the SLD5 features a built in digital display to enable simple, accurate programming without starting the engine, eliminating the inherent inaccuracy associated with rev counters.
Tested and approved by the multi-championship winning Bennett Silk Formula Ford team, the SLD5 has been developed to include all the features the drivers found useful whilst racing.

The SLD5 is made up of 5 lamps and a digital programmable disply on top of the unit. The lamps are programmable across your desired rev range. For example I have mine set from 6k - 8.5k revs. The lights consist of 3 colours that are grouped together in pairs for the first 4 and the 5th light is always red (it's also the largest). I had specced mine to show orange blue and red, so the lights as they sequentially lit up would be:

Orange, Orange | Blue, Blue | Red

Yes I know this is showing Green, Green | Blue, Blue | Red

By noting how many lights are illuminated at the entry and exit of any turn, you should get an indication of where you have gained or lost time well before knowing your lap time. for those of you who track your car, you will know that timing equipment is banned and only permitted for competition use so this is pretty handy.

Once I had taken delivery, I was off to TGM to get it fitted as I'm not one for soldering anything on to my ECU. As luck would have it, the motorsport electician that Tom uses for his own race cars was there and so he installed it there and then in under 5 minutes!

DRE shift light mounted on top of the steering column. Excuse the winter mats and seat cover!

Below is a rather poor video (bit of an understatement!) where you can just about see the shift light lighting up on start up. Don't ask me why I held my camera so low...



Whilst I was there I also asked Tom to drill some small drainage holes in my rear light units. A common problem with facelift Tegs is that after a while, the rear lights take in water and end up looking like mini fish tanks. Drainage and re-sealing is an option, but the permanent solution is to drill a couple of small unobtrusive holes in the bottom of the units. You would only notice them if you were looking for them or polishing your rear lights closely so the visual impact is minimal to non-existant.

Therefore if you're ever buying a facelift Teg, don't be alarmed if you see a couple of tiny holes in the rear lights!

Track Day at Brands Hatch

I booked a track day at Brands Hatch for obvious enjoyment but also to see what the Teg could do on track. I was accompanied by my good friend and trusty wing man Tsuyoshi aka Squashi.

It was a cold Sunday morning and minor surface frost was thawing out quickly in the Winter sunshine - fantastic conditions.

Throughout each session I grew more confident and began finding a natural rhythm, finding my ideal lines; linking turns more smoothly but also finding later and later braking points. It also gave me a good chance to properly bed in my new Dixcel Discs and Pads. I can confirm that they provided outstanding stopping power with no brake fade at all ;)

By the 3rd session I now understood why many people say the DC5 puts many higher powered cars to shame on track. The car is so easy to handle and corners unbelieveably well. I must've overtaken around 8 cars including a Lotus Elise and a Subaru WRX STI. Granted they weren't the fastest of drivers but it shows how good the Teg is at carrying speed through corners. In a straight line drag the Subaru would normally leave me for dust. Corner exit speed FTW.

Brake Upgrade

Having had my FRSU done, the logical next step was to get my brakes uprated. Many DC5 owners get on very well with just brake pad upgrades, afterall the brake discs are Brembo. However I wanted to do some track work throughout the life of my Teg so I opted to upgrade the brake discs, pads and brake lines.

After a lot of research, I had decided on the following parts:

• Dixcel slotted front and rear brake discs
• Dixcel Z Type front and rear Carbon brake pads
• Hel stainless steel brake lines

Dixcel used to be the sister company of AP Racing in Japan and at one point I believe were called AP Dixcel. Their brake products are used throughout One Make Racing and other Championships in Japan. Presumeably, they were so successful that they broke away from AP Racing.

Feedback from other owners including non-Tegs was excellent and the constant mention of 'great stopping power' and 'no fading' pretty much sold me on them.

Now just a note on the above. For a DC5 you don't really need to uprate the rear discs and pads as they don't do much of the braking. However firstly I wanted to balance out the braking to the optimum degree and secondly I wanted the rears to match (call me fickle).

Dixcel Slotted Brake Discs

Dixcel Z Type Carbon Brake Pads

Hel Stainless Steel Brakelines

Front Brake Disc being fitted

RBC Intake and Throttle Body

I came across a RBC inlet manifold (modified to fit the DC5) and throttle body (TB) combo that was on special offer over the Christmas period. The RBC is the inlet manifold from the Euro Accord Type R that has longer runners and features higher air flow capabilities. The proven benefits include:

• Better throttle response
• Better mid range and top end power

The RBC was port matched to a true 70mm TB which would allow a greater mass of air into the engine from the airbox. Note, the OEM TB is 62mm.

I snapped one of these combo's up and also a Hondata gasket. The Hondata gasket is a replacement intake manifold gasket made from special high temperature plastic, designed to insulate the intake manifold from the cylinder head. This reduces the transfer of heat from the head to the intake and incoming air giving you more power.

RBC with TB attached and Hondata Gasket

70mm True TB

Buddy Club Racing Spec Condensor, Mugen Socks and Bulbs

At idle, my car had a tendency to vibrate. Nothing out of the ordinary at all but I wanted to try and smooth the idling. I had always been aware that one of the supposed benefits of an earthing kit was a smoother idle but I wanted to go one better with some current and voltage stabilisation. Buddy Club's racing spec condensor immediately sprang to mind and additionally it was a nice bit of engine bay bling.

The Condenser combines an electrical grounding system with a battery current and voltage stabilization control unit. The unit is designed to stabilize electrical "noise" and voltage spikes, and offers additional grounding for vehicles.

Benefits include: 

• Improved Horse power and torque (realistically this is very negligible if at all applicable for a N/A Type R)
• Improved Fuel Economy
• Smoother idling with improved engine response (what I was interested in)
• Improved electrical component performance (again what I was interested in)
• Improved battery life (and also what I was interested in)

I also got a pair of Mugen socks i.e. reservoir covers for a bargain £15 brand new. They're designed to minimise clutch and master cylinder leaks. In reality though, they're used more for a bit of engine bay bling.

And last but not least a pair of PIAA bright white side lights to replace the yellow OEM bulbs.

Rays Centre Caps

Anyone in the Jap scene will tell you that Rays, specifically their Volk Racing line are 'generally' the most desired wheels on the market and for good reason too. Not only do they look the dogs danglies, but they are incredibly light and strong due to the forging process.

I was 90% sure that I would be getting a set of CE28's but wasn't sure which ones. What I did know though was what centre caps I wanted regardless of the CE's I chose - Volk Racing GT Black Overseas Limited Edition. As there was obviously only a limited number of these I decided to get them whilst I still could.

Limited Edition Volk Racing GT Black Overseas Centre Caps

Fast Road Set Up

Fast road set up or FRSU for short essentially is a nickname given for adjusting the geometry of your suspension, predominantly to increase the level of corner speed capability of your car by adjusting the camber, toe and caster angles. Everyone who has had this done will undoubtedly tell you the difference from a normal geo setup is like night and day. Of course you can go more aggressive with your setup depending what your car is used for, so you get other nickname terminology such as aggressive road setup, mild track setup, track setup etc etc.

I was due for my annual service and there was only one place I was ever going to go for all my car's needs - Tom Gannon Motorsport or TGM as they are more commonly known, based in Fleet. Tom and his guys have a  reputation second to none. Many people would argue he knows more about Hondas than anyone else in the country, not to mention he's worked on more DC5's (and prepped more DC5 race cars including his own beasts) than anyone else. On top of this, his prices are always competitive and he's a thoroughly decent chap who will always give you the best advice. Sounds too good to be true? It's really not. You can't beat him.

Anyway, it so happened that Tom had a couple of sets of Eibach Pro S coilovers on special offer. The Eibachs are rated by many over here (based on experience) as one of the best 'fast road' coilovers you can get. Reason being that they ride our cruddy roads and speed bumps very well yet when pushed, they perform excellently.

It would be rude for me not to take advantage of this offer so I booked my car in for a major service, Eibachs, rear Eibach camber arms and fast road set up dialed in.

One week before my car was due at TGM, I was cleaning my car and noticed some fancy writing on my stock suspension. My 'stock' suspension turned out to be this.

Yes that's right, Mugen Sports Suspension

Mugen Sports Suspension

My initial thoughts were "crap what have I done? I've just splashed out on a brand new set of coilovers when I have Mugen suspension!" Cue lots of frantic research and my fears were laid to rest. Don't get me wrong they are a nice bit of kit, but the Eibachs as I've found from research and experience are a much better option, for the UK roads.

Rear Eibach Pro S Coilover.

Dampers engineered by KW under Eibach's specifications

Whilst my car was in, I decided to get my gear shifter changed to a B&M short shifter. I was now used to the gear throw of the Teg and although nice and crisp, it didn't feel as short as it used to. The 30% throw reduction should improve the feel of the gear change.

OEM Gear Shifter

B&M Short Shifter

A week later I collected the car and the difference was like night and day. Here was why:

• After the service, the car felt more healthier. It may have something to do with the oil as it was running on 10w 30 semi synthentic. Opie Oils recommend 5w 40 fully synthetic, so I asked Tom to use 5w 40 Silkolene Pro S fully synth - a great brand and oil grade that I would recommend to any DC5 owner. Note: Silkolene Pro S is now called Fuchs Titan Race Pro S.
• The throw of the B&M short shifter was unbelieveably short. It was almost comical (but in a very nice feeling way) how short the gear changes were, I was loving it.
• The biggest change by far though was how the car handled after the coilovers, rear camber arms and FRSU. The difference really was like night and day. Even going at slow speeds you could feel how much more sure footed the car felt. It not only enables you to take corners faster, but gives the reassuring feeling of added stabilisation.
• Eibach coilovers - I found my car was able to ride over speed bumps, pot holes and bad road surfaces without that 'crashy' feeling. They were noticeably less harsh than the Mugens and perfect for the roads we have here.

My FRSU settings are below: