While looking for some nice build threads for his month I came across this blog called projectDC5. The car belongs to Ronald Gosens who also happens to own Showoff Imports, one of the biggest tuning stores in Europe. I met Ronald almost ten years ago when we were both part of the same crew called Streetlegal Honda. So it was cool to catch up and see what he has been up to.
The car you see before you started life as a standard Integra that was imported from Japan. Ronald used the car as a daily driver and ran the Time Attack series with it last year. But for this year he wanted something that was more competitive. So a plan was made and work started quickly after that.
First the car was stripped, spot welded and painted. Every piece of excess weight has been removed from the interior and instead a custom made roll cage was fitted. I really like the contrast between the orange and white.
From this angle you can also see the custom housing in which the gas tank has been placed. It sits in between the two strut towers for better weight distribution.
A custom eight piece bodykit has been custom molded to the exterior of the car.
The wheels that are going to be used are these orange painted Rota's. They come in 17" and are wrapped with Toyo R888 tires.
These massive JBT brakes at the front will make sure the car will slow down when needed. The brakes in the rear will be replaced with Brembo items.
In the right upper corner you can see some of the stitch welding.
The strut towers got the same treatment. All in favor for a stiffer ride and less body roll.
Another look at the front brakes reveals some parts of the suspension components. It consists of a Track Suspension system, Buddyclub P1 Roll Centre Adjusters and a whole plethora of Ultra Racing struts, braces and swaybars.
Here is a look at the Skunk2 control arms and the Ultra Racing swaybar.
These carbon doors are made by Seibon and will be left unpainted to show off the carbon. This car will also be a demo car to show the people what Showoff Imports can deliver.
On the right is a box with the wiring loom. At first they tried to reuse this loom and remove all the wires they didn't needed but it proved to be impossible. So they started fresh and are going to rewire the car from scratch.
Here we see the custom fuse and relay box. The guys already got a new wiring plan but they are waiting for the Hondata ECU that will arrive next week.
These cool orange brake lines are made by HEL Performance and are connected to the hydraulic handbrake, Buddyclub short shift system and brake force distributor.
I almost forgot the most important thing, the engine. Showoff Imports went to R-Developments and asked if they could build there engine. After a few phone calls the engine made the long trip to the UK and came back reborn. For a full spec list I suggest you can log on to ProjectDC5.
In the middle of the giant warehouse I found another car, this Dodge Magnum. For us Europeans it is still a rare sight.
At the front of the building you enter the showroom with a selection of the parts that Showoff Imports sell. I can still remember buying stuff from Ronald when he still had a small garage besides the house where his parents lived.
On the first floor I found this relax area with a carbon hood that served as a table. On it was a cool article on the Hi Octane GT-R shot by Mark Pakula.
I will pay them another visit when the car will be finished and shoot a full feature.
-Jeroen Willemsen