The talk of performance stats, tuning setups, and money spent is so prevalent in the pits and paddocks of time trial events. Perhaps it’s impossible to get away from these conversations when searching for eye-opening lap times, and the unfortunate result is that, so often, discussion of driving ability and a drive-what-you’ve-got approach don’t get the emphasis they deserve.

Some still dream of a series in which the car plays less of a role—where drivers are the determining factor in race performance. Thankfully, Gridlife has created a series that caters to technique-driven drivers: Sundae Cup.

The recipe for competition is simple: find a quick shoe, stick them in a car with a 25:1 weight-to-power ratio, and drive it hard enough to put in a competitive time. It’s a simple formula that brings out a different side of the typical time attacker. Instead of obsessing over parts and horsepower, they shift their focus to the pedal dancing and car placement that make the difference of a half second.

Given the introduction, a tech-obsessed driver like Kevin Burke might not be the first name which comes to mind when Sundae Cup is mentioned, but it was Kevin who provided this particular Honda Fit.

Three years ago, Kevin’s C7 and S2000 were developing rapidly. With more and more tweaks made to realize their full track potential, their street usage diminished. In need of a comfortable daily, Kevin grabbed this Fit and enjoyed the fuel savings for the next few months.

Kevin being Kevin, it was only a matter of time before he had to try tinkering on it. Kevin being Kevin, he wasn’t going to half-ass it, either. With a set of bespoke Feal shocks and track-oriented pads, he found that this little hatchback was more engaging—and demanding—than most low-cost track toys.

WedsSport TC105X

Before/After Wheels

Feal 1-Way

**Final Results after wheels, tires, and suspension**

Though it wasn’t necessarily fast, it requires near perfection to get everything out of it. For that reason, it can separate the good from the great. That gave Sina Zendehnam an idea for challenging the best of his ShootOut drivers.

“Let’s give the fastest guys a chance to prove themselves in a budget track toy,” Sina started. “I told Kevin that OnGrid was interested in providing our ShootOut winners the chance to turn laps in the same vehicle for real, conclusive results. If everybody ran the same car in the same conditions, we’d know who was the fastest there that weekend. Kevin agreed to sell us the car if he could continue to use it for marketing purposes and occasionally drive it when he flew to NorCal for a weekend with us.”

“To keep it fun, we told each session’s winners to get a chance to spank the Fit like a rental car. To control for the weather, we made sure that they all went out back-to-back. To make it as competitive as possible, each driver had one out-lap, two timed laps, and an in-lap,” Sina described. The plan was set.

Technical Difficulties

For over a year, the Fit became a mainstay at OnGrid’s events. Kevin would occasionally fly in and try the less familiar tracks in his old commuter, but the real focus was on bringing the competitors closer together by using the same equipment. This started the excited banter in the pits from drivers who’d been struggling to get the most from the little Fit.

“It’s pretty clear that you need to get off the brakes as early as possible and try to scrub a little speed mid-corner. Since there’s no power requiring you to get the car pointed early, you have to focus on hustling it into the corner, even if it’s a little scruffy and the corner exit isn’t too strong.”

However, it’s not as simple as aggressive-in, deflated-out. “You can’t be that messy,” Kevin added. “Running wide is no good, so you have to judge how to pitch the car into the corner to get just the right amount of rotation early in the corner. Your feet are very busy dancing on the pedals—it’s like a ballet that balances finesse and aggression.”

**Using the brakes to help agitate the car and induce slip angle, then scrubbing whatever is necessary with a little mid-corner friction are the keys to getting the Fit through most corners quickly.**

While it’s entry speed and mid corner rotation that yield the greatest gains in lap time, if the power isn’t applied in the right way, few dividends are paid. “The front pulls the car, so if you can’t get it rotated early, you usually have to lift off the gas to regain the right line exiting the corner.”

That isn’t to say that wheelspin is an issue. With a little under 100 horsepower at the front wheels, the Fit almost feels four-wheel drive. Instead, it’s the rear which has to be cared for a little more. “Many people have spun or half-spun the car over the last couple years. It only takes a mid-corner lift to get it out of shape—it definitely catches a lot of people out,” Sina added.
Not surprisingly, the option of a free car and such an exacting challenge attracted quite a few of OnGrid’s faster shoes. In fact, about fifty drivers have tried their hand at the fit over the last eighteen months.

“It got pretty heated. Alessandro [Sensoli] nearly flipped it at Phil Hill, actually,” Sina said. Just part of the challenge of driving a top-heavy front wheel drive car which needs some curb-hopping for a fast lap intensified by serious competition. Thankfully, it can take the abuse—Vin Atra from Hoonigan attacked Buttonwillow’s Bus Stop without any brakes and made it out in one piece.

Going to Nationals

As fun as it was passing the Fit around friends like a village bicycle, Kevin, Sina, and Marios Komvopoulos behind it couldn’t help but wonder where their little car stacked up against the other Sundae Cup drivers in the nation.

To get a better sense of where they might stack up in a real Sundae Cup event, they took the opportunity to the Streets of Willow one weekend, where a Sundae Cup podium finisher happened to be driving. When Kevin was able to lap that track in the Fit in just 1:30—a good five seconds faster than their new rival, they knew they stood a chance. It was time they looked into taking the next step.

The nearest event was at Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR) in Colorado Springs. They crunched the numbers and determined that shipping the car and flying themselves to the track was the cost-effective, time-efficient solution.

To prepare the Fit for PPIR, some small upgrades had to be made. First a bucket seat was installed to keep the team planted in place, allowing the drivers to focus on driving instead of bracing themselves around turns.

The factory cat-back exhaust was unbolted and replaced with a turn-down. This allowed the Fit to save some weight. More importantly, it allowed the drivers be able to actually hear the engine because it was too quiet, causing everyone to bounce off the limiter.

A set of caster/camber plates were also added to the mix to give the Fit some much needed caster, which would allow it to gain a lot of mid-corner grip and stop destroying front tires. The installation required the factory shock tower to be cut to allow the increase in camber and caster.

Lastly, The boys wrapped the car in an old iRacing livery which Kevin and Hotlap had created for an iRacing car a few years back.

Unlike most budget track toys, the Fit has a remarkable amount of interior space—53.7 cubic feet with the seats folded down—which they took full advantage of. “We packed all the tools, six spare tires, miscellaneous gear, and our pit scooters in without any problems,” Sina laughed. Who says you can’t have practicality, speed, and savings in one package?

The three of them rendezvoused at Denver International and hopped a shuttle to Enterprise. On the way, an older man wearing a Patek Phillipe noticed the guys had their helmets in hand.

“Are you guys racers?” he asked.

“We are,” Kevin said.

“I am too! What do you guys drive? I’ve been tracking a 911 GT3 RS this year,” he exclaimed.

“We’ve brought a Honda Fit here to run in the Sundae Cup,” Kevin said proudly, beaming from ear to ear.

Going by the glazed expression on his face, mentioning the Fit and the term “racing” in the same sentence caused some sort of mental short out. Though Kevin’s enthusiasm was flowing out of him by the bucketful, it still wasn’t enough to capture this man’s interest.

Once they’d arrived at their Airbnb, they got a few hours of fitful sleep before they scuttled off to the track through the pea-soup fog. Once there, they couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with the choice of venue. PPIR resembles a low-budget version of Auto Club Speedway; a technical infield surrounded by a fast oval with plenty of banking. Though the track itself hadn’t exactly impressed them, the ease with which they got through tech and the compliments the other competitors paid them lifted their spirits. “Of course the Californians have the best-looking car,” someone complimented.

Their heads held high, they sprinkled a little sample of Buttonwillow dirt on the new track and got to work.

Because of the sparkling exterior, one rival team assumed the OnGrid Fit was K24-powered, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Dynoing the car at 8,000 feet revealed the motor was not breathing like it should; making only 94 horsepower at the driven wheels and putting it at a lamentable 28:1 weight-to-power ratio.

To try and make up for the shortcomings of the car, the three pleaded with the officials to strip some of the interior from the Fit, but they were denied. Still, that didn’t dampen the exuberance of Kevin, who stayed ‘til midnight chewing the fat with the other Sundae Cuppers. When he got back to their shared Airbnb, he found he’d been relegated to the kiddie room.

Friday morning, they decided it was Kevin’s duty to go out first; he was historically the fastest and they felt he could make the most of the weather—the coolest it would be that day. Before he set off, Sina leaned in the window and reminded him that he’d lose his job if he didn’t perform. A whispered threat between friends does wonders for motivation.

Sure enough, Kevin lived up to his reputation as a naturally aggressive driver and put in a scorcher after just three laps. What’s more, he beat the previous record by a full two seconds. The crew hoisted their star driver over their shoulders in jubilation. Then it all went downhill.

The following session, Kevin tried a few more tricks, but a faulty TPMS sensor kept him from improving upon his previous best. The error thrown by the sensor prevented Kevin from shutting off the stability control, keeping him from getting the necessary rotation from the car.

Afterwards, they found one tire was deflating rapidly, so they threw a new one on, made sure all four were filled to the same pressure, and took it for a test drive on the highway. That cleared up the TPMS error and gave them a chance to push again. Unfortunately, the regular curb bashing had thrown the alignment, and they now found their steering wheel canted at a 45° angle.

Their joy was momentary. Following the freeway test, they gave Formula D ace Matt Field to fling the Fit around, who noticed the stability control was on and would not shut off. They frantically searched for a solution; consulting with the Falken team who were suffering from similar issues. In the end, one of their Fit-driving friends from the Midwest helped them resolve the issue. Closer inspection revealed a nail in the tire, which they pulled, patched, and then yanked the yaw sensor located just underneath the shifter bezel. The first day was a mix, but at least they were at the top of the timesheets when the sun went down.

Saturday started a little soggy. When the rain started to let up, they threw the keys to Sina, who ran a few laps as the tire shagger. The rain subsided after some time, so Kevin went to scout out the drying track, only to spin on one of the few remaining wet patches. Sensing that the day wasn’t going to get much better, they skipped a session so that the car could get a much-needed alignment and they debated their next step.

Marios then jumped into the Fit, but he couldn’t improve on the damp and slow-drying circuit. Unfortunately, they were about two seconds off the pace. The discouragement could not be denied when another driver, a local driving a punchy Escort ZX2, went out and reset the lap record by a second. Now in second place, the OnGrid trio had to study this Ford to explain their loss. After discovering that his car weighed in about 250 pounds lighter than theirs, they accepted their demotion with peace of mind. It still stung to sit in second, so they eased their pain by staying late and enjoying an amazing performance from Taking Back Sunday.

A little sore from the previous night’s revelry, the three awoke bleary-eyed on Sunday morning to find the weather was nearly perfect: cool, crisp, but not so cold to prevent the tires from working. Everyone there was improving on their lap times, so they slapped a fresh set of Falkens on the Fit and sent Kevin for a few fast laps. Wisely, he’d done more than just party the night prior.

“I came home from the concert and, against my better judgment, I decided to stay up and watch the Escort driver’s onboards. I could see that we needed to go faster on the straights and use more of the curbs, so I ran a few mental laps and decided to send it.”

In addition to Kevin’s amped-up driving, they made a few changes to squeeze out a few more miles an hour. Save for a peephole to feed the radiator, they covered the front end in drag-reducing duct tape, pulled the filter out of the airbox, and tossed the floor mats. Hopefully, these meager modifications would put them back in the fight.

His first session out, Kevin went balls-out, smacked a curb with the turndown exhaust, and broke the manifold in two places. “I heard this horrible sound from the middle of the car. Some people watching said they saw sparks,” Kevin groaned.

Though they’d planned on cooperating with a comparably quick competitor for a bump draft down the banked section, their hamstrung Honda was now too slow to keep up—even with a tow.

“On Sunday, everyone else got faster while we got slower,” Marios recalled.

Now in third, Kevin, Sina, and Marios realized they were holding onto the last of the podium places by the skin of their teeth. One-thousandth of a second separated third and fourth at the end of the day, and the three OnGrid guys breathed easily for the first time all day as they received cheers from the crowd.

Though it wasn’t the shining success the three hoped it would be, a third-place finish, a few battle scars, and a trip back to your teens via the pop-punk time machine would be considered a victory by many. Plus, they had taken a stab at a new challenge, driven the car as hard as it could go—and done all of that with their heads aching. That’s something to be proud of.

Fighting for the Fit’s Future

The future for this little trooper and the trio behind it isn’t certain, but they have plans to return to Gridlife Sundae Cup next year with an improved setup, more power, and better organization. “We’re going to start by fixing everything Kevin broke,” Sina laughed.

Recap of Kevin Burke’s Destruction

Alignment

Tire #1

Tire #2

TPMS

Exhaust

Windshield

The car will continue to provide OnGrid’s fastest drivers with a chance to prove themselves as the fastest overall. Following the long list of repairs, there’s a shorter list of power-adders including an eBay exhaust, a filter intake, and an ECU flash. With a little luck, they’ll be able to hit that desired 25:1 ratio and prove its potential among their rivals.

Since keeping it stockish, street legal, budget friendly, and reliable are paramount, they can’t get too ambitious when sorting their car out for Midwest Festival next year. At least they know that they’ll be able to thrash the Fit’s mega-reliable engine and gearbox without any headaches. Those haven’t given them any problems after more than twenty track days with a variety of drivers—some more mechanically sympathetic than others. For these brave three, any headaches involving the Fit will most likely come from late-night festivities.