William Au-Yeung of Vibrant Performance / PZtuning is bringing North America’s fastest FWD time attack car to take on Australia’s best, and you better believe he means business. A through and through time attack build, this Honda mates extensive carbon aero, well sorted suspension and chassis with 771whp and 705Nm courtesy of a fire breathing K24. Running out of Ontario, Canada based workshop Point Zero Auto Sound & Performance, this Civic is owner built and owner driven and has been taking over the Unlimited FWD Class.
From setting the Unlimited FWD record at Buttonwillow in 2016 to more recently topping Chris Rado’s long standing Road Atlanta lap record William has been knocking it out of the park of late. And now that he has achieved those goals, William has set his sights on Australia and is bringing the Vibrant Performance / PZtuning Honda to Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge Sydney.
WTAC: You have been on a bit of tear lately, resetting lap records all around the North American time attack scene! It must have felt pretty good to take Fastest FWD at Road Atlanta?
William Au-Yeung: Thanks, it’s definitely been an amazing time for us. Eclipsing Christian Rado’s Road Atlanta record has been a goal of ours since building the Vibrant Time Attack Civic, but we were surprised to beat it by almost 2.2 seconds! Combined with our SuperLap Battle FWD Record set back in November, we currently hold both of the Global Time Attack Pro Records, something that the team and I are extremely proud of!
WTAC: How did you first get interested in time attack racing?
William Au-Yeung: Well, I’ve been in the track scene since 1997, and was involved with competitive road racing back in 2003 in an EG Civic. After taking some time off, some of my (then) staff were involved with the local CSCS Time Attack Series. In 2012 we built a DC5 so I could get into the sport, and stepped up to the GTA series in 2014, resulting in wins and records in the Limited FWD class at both Pro East and West events, also earning the Global Time Attack Limited Class Series Championship to boot!
WTAC: Why did you choose the late-model Honda Civic platform over the more common EG or EK models?
William Au-Yeung: As a builder/fabricator, its always exciting taking on a new challenge, especially one that hasn’t been done before. Many of the parts for our car were designed and tested on our car. We’re very fortunate to have many amazing partners in our program. In fact we were the first to test out the Borg Warner EFR 9174 Turbocharger, and won the very first event in it’s debut! Also I need to thank Fortune Auto as they have been instrumental in getting our suspension system all sorted. And of course to Vibrant Performance and Competition Clutch for their world class products!
WTAC: The car is built out of your own workshop PZ Tuning. Tell us a bit about this and who else is involved?
William Au-Yeung: Yes almost every piece of the car is built in house including the roll cage, engine and all the composite work. We’re only a small shop located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, but have full belief that we have what it takes to compete at the highest of levels!
Our engine tuning is handled by Sasha Anis at OnPoint Dyno. One of Sasha’s greatest assets is his racing experience – most tuners don’t have a racing championship background and he can tune to maximize our ability depending on the venue we’ll be going to.
Also have to thanks the team at Vibrant Performance, designing a Vibrant Intercooler System to improve our performance!
WTAC: The car has undergone a fair bit of change over the last couple of years, tell us a little bit about your current set up.
William Au-Yeung: As with many time attackers, we’re non stop working on the car, developing every area possible. Over last winter our main goal was improving the structure of the car, and we made huge improvements in that area, as the car is much more stable and easier to drive since the changes! It’s hard working on this platform, not many people race them at this level, so there’s no text book on how to make them fast – in fact we pretty much write the book as we move along!
WTAC: Can you give us a bit of a walkthrough the motor you are running in the car?
William Au-Yeung: For sure, our setup is one of the foundation to our success. The engine starts off with a K24A2 block, featuring LA Sleeves Ductile Iron Sleeves, CP Pistons, Brian Crower Rods, Cams, Valvetrain, King Racing Bearings, Cometic Head Gasket with Speed Factory L19 Head Studs, Driven Racing Oils and of course our EFR 9174 turbo with a Turbosmart wastegate and BOV. Clutch is a Competition Clutch Twin Disc, and Transmission is a 5 spd Quaife Sequential. Of course Vibrant Performance is used throughout the car, from the Intercooler and HD Clamps, to the fuel lines and fittings, and pretty much everything in between.
For WTAC we’re building something special though, so be on the lookout for updates as we progress!
WTAC: There is a bit of competition between you and other fast FWD Hondas in North America, what’s the Honda time attack scene like over there?
William Au-Yeung: It definitely has been an Incredible FWD battle here in North America – our 3 way fight at GTA Super Lap Battle was one of the most intense battles in history. Taking our Vibrant Civic head to head against the Spoon Sports Civic, and Ktuned Integra was truly epic. In the end it made our win all the more special knowing we took down some of the most fiercest competitiors this side of the world!
WTAC: What are your impressions of the other quick Hondas at WTAC? Rob Nguyen’s Mighty Mouse looks like it might be a potential rival.
William Au-Yeung: There’s no doubt Rob has established Mighty Mouse as the FWD car to beat. The attention to detail in his build, and his experience at Sydney Motorsports Park definitely advantages he has, but we always look forward to competeting against the best in the world! We can’t wait till the World Time Attack Challenge this October and look forward to showing the world what we are made of!
Will 2017 be the year we see a Honda on the top step of the Motul Pro Am podium? One thing is for certain, come October we will be in for a hell of a showdown!
Sponsors:
Vibrant Performance / Competition Clutch / BorgWarner / King Bearings / Fortune Auto / Turbosmart / Ignite Racing Fuels / LASleeves / Brian Crower / Cometic / CP Carrillo / Driven Raing Oils / Hoosier / APR Performance / Radium Engineering / Project U / Rays Engineering / Niko Signs and Graphx / Eibach / OS Giken / OnPoint Dyno / Hybrid Racing / Hasport / Tractuff /
To check out the car in action, check out this video by Motor Trend:
For more info on William and his car, head to the PZ Tuning Facebook page or check out his instagram @pztuningwill
