The Best CTR FL5s at SEMA 2023

[phothrottle]

Alright friends here is the top CTR FL5s is found at SEMA this year. I am for sure a big fan of the Spoon Sports race car! Looking forward to installing these parts on mine.

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[Cornercarver]

That was a great way to start the day. Thank you for posting this.

I got a huge kick out of both builds. I think the SPOON build is really fun, and appreciate their form follows function philosophy. The paint job is fire. I prefer a lot of color, so this really caught my eye.

Honda Pro Jason's cohesive build really elevates and flatters the exterior design of the FL5. Nothing I would change except maybe an exhaust without rivets, and for me the OEM seats are too good to swap.
Really got a kick out of being able to see the workings of the Acuity shifter. One of the highlights of a Lotus Elise interior is being able to see the shifter cable, etc. Glad to see that done in the Honda.
And I like the wing better on this as well. Mirrors also a plus.

it is interesting how the SPOON car looks shorter than Honda Pro Jason's build. I know they are the same length.

 

[Two Step Performance]

What I loved about the Spoon car is that it's an actual race car. They put countless hours into the build and then completed the 25 Hours of Thunderhill with it last weekend.

 

[Toprarnen]

Looking forward to installing these parts on mine.

Thought this was an interesting article, before you drop $90 on an air filter (which you're absolutely welcome to do if you like)

https://www.thedrive.com/features/dyno-testing-air-filters-9-to-90-in-my-civic-si-do-any-make-power

 

[惹Raizzelle]

Does anyone know the exact wheel and tire spec on the Spoon FL5 Type R used in the SEMA2023 and/or Thunderhill? Much appreciated!

 

[Clark_Kent]

Thought this was an interesting article, before you drop $90 on an air filter (which you're absolutely welcome to do if you like)

https://www.thedrive.com/features/dyno-testing-air-filters-9-to-90-in-my-civic-si-do-any-make-power

The test subject isn't even an FL5. It's an N/A K motor from over 10 years ago. Why would this be used as the basis to not buy an "expensive" air filter?

 

[phothrottle]

Does anyone know the exact wheel and tire spec on the Spoon FL5 Type R used in the SEMA2023 and/or Thunderhill? Much appreciated!

265 35R 18

 

[惹Raizzelle]

265 35R 18

Thank you so much! Thought it was the 19” that was just released. Enjoyed the video btw.

 

[RacingManiac]

The test subject isn't even an FL5. It's an N/A K motor from over 10 years ago. Why would this be used as the basis to not buy an "expensive" air filter?

FWIW the FL5 Spoon Filter is I think a different filter media from their previous filter offering(Sprint Filter https://www.sprintfilter.net/). Its not hard to believe the performance filter might flow more air, but how much it filters can be kinda suspect. The points raised by the drive article is more or less correct. It might also have some additional reason why the aftermarket ones didn't actually net more power, MAFs are also pretty sensitive to flow quality(how turbulent/consistent the flow might be), or even just flow pattern(how the flow is), and that could have a pretty big impact on how the tune works with any given car. You can re-cal the MAF for any filter, but without additional tuning you might be making less power even if maybe the filter is less restrictive.

I did OEM performance air intake at GM for 3 years I had to deal with filter a lot...they are kind of an interesting area and honestly a lot of technology goes into good filter supplier's quality control.

 

[Toprarnen]

@Clark_Kent , it was just an invitation to do some research.

Thanks @RacingManiac , for providing a more complete response than I could ever hope to!

 

[ender_ong]

What I loved about the Spoon car is that it's an actual race car. They put countless hours into the build and then completed the 25 Hours of Thunderhill with it last weekend.

I was there cheering them on while helping out Team Honda! Spoon persisted to the end despite some major hurdles!

 

[tezzasaurusrex]

I was there cheering them on while helping out Team Honda! Spoon persisted to the end despite some major hurdles!

I imagine you cant share what the hurdles are in detail but would love to know what they related to!

 

[ender_ong]

I imagine you cant share what the hurdles are in detail but would love to know what they related to!

Spoon’s FL5 had a sequential gearbox, but before qualifying a malfunction happened and it needed to be replaced; American Honda had a prototype direct replacement at their HQ (8 hours away from the track!) and agreed to loan it to Spoon. Spoon sent someone to go pick it up, but this whole ordeal meant they missed qualifying. The transmission arrived in the middle of the night, and after installation Spoon’s car was ready at 5 AM, cutting it close to race start at 11 AM. Spoon had to start at the back of the grid, and throughout the race they clawed their way up to 3rd in class (behind American Honda FL5s in 1st and 2nd), but then another malfunction happened 3 hours away from race finish. I don’t know the details about that one but looked like intercooler and turbo replaced. Spoon ended up finishing the race just out of podium, 4th in class. American Honda took 1st and 2nd, I was hoping for Honda sweep

 

[tezzasaurusrex]

Spoon’s FL5 had a sequential gearbox, but before qualifying a malfunction happened and it needed to be replaced; American Honda had a prototype direct replacement at their HQ (8 hours away from the track!) and agreed to loan it to Spoon. Spoon sent someone to go pick it up, but this whole ordeal meant they missed qualifying. The transmission arrived in the middle of the night, and after installation Spoon’s car was ready at 5 AM, cutting it close to race start at 11 AM. Spoon had to start at the back of the grid, and throughout the race they clawed their way up to 3rd in class (behind American Honda FL5s in 1st and 2nd), but then another malfunction happened 3 hours away from race finish. I don’t know the details about that one but looked like intercooler and turbo replaced. Spoon ended up finishing the race just out of podium, 4th in class. American Honda took 1st and 2nd, I was hoping for Honda sweep

Thanks for the insider scoop. They did very well all things considered!

 

[OsosikMedia]

Spoon’s FL5 had a sequential gearbox, but before qualifying a malfunction happened and it needed to be replaced; American Honda had a prototype direct replacement at their HQ (8 hours away from the track!) and agreed to loan it to Spoon. Spoon sent someone to go pick it up, but this whole ordeal meant they missed qualifying. The transmission arrived in the middle of the night, and after installation Spoon’s car was ready at 5 AM, cutting it close to race start at 11 AM. Spoon had to start at the back of the grid, and throughout the race they clawed their way up to 3rd in class (behind American Honda FL5s in 1st and 2nd), but then another malfunction happened 3 hours away from race finish. I don’t know the details about that one but looked like intercooler and turbo replaced. Spoon ended up finishing the race just out of podium, 4th in class. American Honda took 1st and 2nd, I was hoping for Honda sweep

The stock turbo unfortunately gave out. They were going to hang it up, but last minute decided to just swap it and finish the race. Which is why in some videos circling you can see smoke coming from the exhaust but that could've been just from not being able to clean everything out since it was a time crunch.

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