Jackson Racing CR-Z Review

TOV has now published our own review impressions of the Jackson Racing CR-Z. Our reviewer Shawn Church who wrote the review in fact knows Oscar Jackson quite well, a fact he clearly disclosed right at the start of the review. 

Highlights from Shawn's reviews of the Jackson Racing CR-Z are a power increase of 40% or 50hp - 189hp up from the base of 138hp as measured on a Dynopak dynamometer which measures power at the wheel hubs. Being a car tuner in profession, Shawn also covered the build quality of the kit plus details about the fit and finish. 

Shawn obtained a 0-60mph acceleration time of 6.9 seconds (using a Racelogic Driftbox GPS based meter) with a full charge and an average of 7.2seconds when the charge was around 6 or 7 bars only. 

For the full TOV review, go to http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-article?article_id=1087352&page_number=4.

Jackson Racing supercharged CR-Z - TOV early impressions

News of the Jackson Racing CR-Z is now hot news in the Honda scene. TOV engine expert Shawn Church currently has a unit for testing. We hope to be publishing his impressions on the car in a few days time after he has finished testing it. 

According to Shawn, the Jackson racing kit uses a Rotrex supercharger. Other than the Jackson kit and a Hondata reflash however, everything else on the car he has is stock. In the U.S., the car is also CARB legal which is a very important factor. Very early driving impressions suggests that Jackson's claim that the fuel economy of the car wasn't affected by the modification is quite accurate because he got 37.5 mpg (US) which is around 15.9 km/l during an initial drive comprising 20 miles (32km) of stop and go and 100 miles (160km) at an average of 73 mph through mildly hilly terrain, with A/C on the whole time. 

The kit will be available either as standalone (buyer to source for engine management) or kit with a Hondata reflash or kit with a full Hondata Flashpro engine management system. The favoured and recommended engine management is Hondata. Shawn estimates around 8 hours for a full install without tuning time. Note however that these info are specific to the U.S. only as Hondata doesn't yet support the ECU used in ASEAN CR-Z's.

Also, another well connected TOV'er who has already driven the car much earlier reported "It's FUN.... that early torque and it doesn't drop off until around 4700 rpm.... surprised a few at the stop light(the car didn't have stickers on it). But just getting very happy with the top end power and you have to shift".

More details to come soon.

Effect of RON rating on Hybrids

At the launch of the Jazz Hybrid by Honda Malaysia yesterday, I had the chance to chat with its LPL Mr. Shingo Nagamine. One of the topics I raised concerns the petrol grade requirement for the Jazz Hybrid. This relates to the issue of having the choice of either RON95 or RON97 petrol in Malaysia. 

Firstly is the question of the petrol grade the Jazz Hybrid has been set-up to use. For this, Nagamine-san says that models like this Jazz Hybrid are imported into Malaysia directly from Japan but they are not completely identical to the JDM units. There are some work done to ensure the car optimizes into the local environment and that includes the quality of petrol available here. In this case, Nagamine-san says that Honda tuned the Jazz Hybrid to work best with the RON95 petrol that we get at our fuel pumps.

Early Impressions : Millers Oils ECOMAX

Of all the Millers Oils products Cosmic Elite passed to me for testing, the ECOMAX is the easiest to use. It is actually a petrol/fuel additive and so is to be added to the fuel tank during top-ups. As I had just top-up for a full tank prior to the meeting, I added Ecomax to my fuel tank immediately upon receiving it.

Millers Oils comes to Asia

Cosmic Elite, an advertiser and supporter of TOVA since it first started as a TORCO distributor for Malaysia 2 years ago is now also representing Millers Oils, this time for both Malaysia and Singapore. I met up with Tony, Cosmic Elite's proprietor last month to get my quarterly stock of TORCO engine oils for my Integra and Jazz, during which he gave a brief introduction to Millers Oils. Tony also passed me a boxful of Millers Oils products for my testing and review.