Another team found a new use for the #86 in Turn 7, the oil system took it personally, and we spent Sunday climbing back to ninth in class. Our first top ten, a pit that worked as planned, radios that talked all weekend, a duct-tape oil line we don't recommend, and a checkered flag for our newest driver.

Car #86 is ready for Summit Point with fresh internals, more squeeze, and a much better response to a firm right foot. Same block, same head, fresh everything inside, and the throttle pedal has noticed.

Bigger brakes, same pedal. Black Flag Racing fits Acura TSX front brakes to its 2007 Honda Accord, chasing longer pad life and fewer endurance race pit stops.

The #86 is on a lift in Manassas, in more pieces than it arrived in, getting a head gasket, new pistons, new rings, and a decked head. It comes home October 19. Summit Point goes green October 24. Here's what's on the lift, what's on the list for the five days in between, and why the car is calling all of this a spa week.

Sixty-one laps, one driver, four stops, and a thermometer that never dropped below 86°F. The third "by the Numbers" report puts the NCM shakedown on the stopwatch: a test day run in the first hour of the race, a driver who climbed toward the sim every stint, and a car that gained places every time it ran and lost them every time it stopped.

The #86 came out of a summer in storage to find out what it had forgotten, and it told us: an oil line, a fan switch, a thermostat housing, the radios, and finally a head gasket. Sixty-one laps, one driver, 97°F, and two brand-new crew members who ran the entire pit. Here's how it went, what it shook out, and what happens before Summit Point.

The #86 sat out the summer while we printed plastic, chased sponsors, and planned. NCM was the shake-out before Summit Point and Houston: new brakes, new wheels, a tuned ECU, a printed dash, a pit plan built for a heat advisory, and a Friday test day that became a transmission repair. This is everything that went into getting the Accord back on a race track.

One month from NCM, the preparation list is supposed to be getting shorter. Ours is getting longer. KTuner is finally talking to the RBB3, the steering column is apart for a quick-release wheel, the Baofeng radio is getting real mounts, and there is now a Raspberry Pi reading the CAN bus. Also: new crew, new opinions about the 10mm socket.

Project Zephyr Prime is moving from ambitious sketches to real aerodynamic parts—usually after several failed prints, one broken wire, and a humbling encounter with reality. This update follows our adventures with generative AI, Autodesk Fusion, ABS, PA6-CF, and the proposed turbo fan hub caps that may cool the brakes, manage airflow, and possibly create downforce.

Black Flag Racing’s new plastics department is officially alive. With CAD, generative AI, an Ender-5 Max, and enough stubbornness to qualify as a fabrication method, the team is turning rough ideas into real aero parts for the #86 Accord: brake ducts, hood louvers, wing pylon sections, and soon, pieces bound for NCM.

After 265 laps at Carolina Motorsports Park, Black Flag Racing finally dug into the data to see what actually happened: two drivers, eleven pit stops, a very committed pit crew, and front brakes that worked harder than anyone had any right to ask. The result is part race recap, part confession, and part roadmap for getting faster before the next race.

We finally reviewed the data from NOLA. Here is what 4ish hours of green laps, three drivers, one very doomed engine, and a surprisingly encouraging debut at NOLA.

Project Zephyr Prime has officially entered the manufacturing phase, which means Black Flag Racing is now 3D modeling, CNC cutting, and 3D printing aerodynamic parts for the #86 Accord. The wing ribs exist. The flap is becoming hardware. The pylons are taking shape. From controlled lift theory and Formula 1 envy to junkyard materials science and some extremely patient spouses, this is the moment imagination starts turning into geometry — and geometry starts getting bolted to a sedan that never asked for any of this, but is lucky enough to get it.

We’ve watched enough Formula 1 to be diagnosed with a problem. Now we are looking at a 2007 Honda Accord and thinking, if they can do it, why can’t we?

They have wind tunnels, aerodynamicists, and unlimited budgets. We have a junkyard, Lowe’s, the internet, too many books, and a family sedan with no remaining dignity.

Project Zephyr Prime is our plan to build an active splitter, underfloor, side skirts, active rear wing, yaw strake, and the dangerous belief that this might actually work.

This is not fantasy downforce. This is not garage art.

This is the next argument in the life of the #86 car.

Now the argument has moved into the air.

The mid-season slump has officially arrived at Black Flag Racing, which means the Number 86 car has survived long enough for us to discover entirely new and expensive problems. With aerodynamic upgrades, brake improvements, and a very real search for sponsors now underway, the team dives headfirst into the dangerous world of airflow theory, thermal management, and financial desperation. Equal parts technical reflection and garage-floor comedy, this is the story of what happens when a grassroots endurance racing team realizes surviving races is only the beginning.

Black Flag Racing brought the #86 car home at CMP, finishing 33rd overall and 11th in class in our first race. It took grit, teamwork, pit crew excellence, hardware-store engineering, and a few very useful parts from Lowe’s, JEGS, Canton Racing, and Advance Auto Parts to get us across the finish line.

With CMP approaching fast, Black Flag Racing is once again racing the clock to get the #86 car ready. From installing the RBB3, Accusump, and oil cooler to fabricating mounts, building custom baffles, modifying the power steering line, and somehow fixing a solenoid with fuel line, a spare cap, and JB Weld, this is race prep the only way we know how: chaotic, stubborn, funny, and just functional enough to inspire confidence.

Halfway through the K24 RBB3 swap and—suspiciously—everything is going according to plan. With key components retained for simplicity and reliability, and critical upgrades already in place, Black Flag Racing is setting the stage for a strong finish. Next up: tuning, cooling, and making sure it all survives South Carolina.

The backup plan is dead, and honestly, good riddance. Instead of settling for a K24A8, Black Flag Racing scored a proper K24 RBB TSX engine from JDM in Springfield, Virginia. Now the mission shifts to making the crossover smart, simple, and fast: retain the Accord-side hardware, sort the ECU tuning, and get ready to drop in a stronger, higher-ceiling K-series this weekend.

We went to pick up our dream K24A2 and left with a profound sense that the universe had conspired against us instead. With the clock ticking to our next race, we’re pivoting to a low-mile K24A8 arriving Monday—less glory, more reliability. It’s not the engine we wanted, but it might be the one that survives.