A Look Inside – APD's MPTCC TU Class Killer Acura TSX
By Jonathan Donner and Mike Kojima
Race Car Fabricators APD had a goal in mind when building their Acura TSX, to build a car that would be competitive in MotoIQ’s Pacific Coast Tuner Challenge in the TU class. Currently most of the cars competing in the series were built to be competitive under the rule sets for different classes such as NASA and SCCA. APD’s car is the first car built specifically for our series so we just had to take a closer look at it.
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| In the beginning a nice stock Acura TSX awaits a transformation. |
The build started as a clean sheet of paper with a lot of thought, product research, math and time going towards producing the first iteration of the car with specific performance goals within a limited time frame and budget. The car started life as a 99,000 mile 2004 Acura TSX, 6 speed MT. Of note: All TSXs are built in Sayama, Saitama, Japan.
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| First the rather portly TSX goes on a diet and loses the interior. |
The TSX model has had tremendous success over the years in Speed World Challenge and Grand AM at mildly to highly modified levels and starts out as an extremely well engineered platform from the factory. With that in mid, APD set a goal to build a competitive car under the MotoIQ Tuner Under rule-set, at the most economical cost possible, highlighting the Honda Racing Line parts and support program from Honda Performance Development Inc.
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| Now the interior awaits getting the sound deadener chipped out. |
