Below Freezing, Above Questionable Decisions: Black Flag Racing Gets to work under the hood
This weekend, Black Flag Racing continued the noble, time-honored tradition of turning a perfectly reasonable 2007 Honda Accord into a 24-hour endurance race car—despite high winds, snow, and temperatures that hovered below 20°F like they were personally offended by our progress.
We started with the roll cage dry fit, because nothing says “responsible adults” like willingly climbing into a stripped sedan while your breath condenses on the roof. The good news: there was plenty of coffee, and the cage technically fits. The even better news: we learned it’s going to take significant fabrication, which is a polite way of saying the prefab roll cage is offering a learning experience for everyone involved. So, carefully, with tools, and probably a few new words the neighbors haven’t heard before, we decided to make a plan and to check off the other things on our build list as we prep for NOLA.
While part of the team wrestled with metal and cold reality, one of our members went full NASA and built out the car model in SolidWorks. That’s right: while some of us were outside getting sandblasted by wind-driven snow, someone else was indoors doing the kind of precise digital planning that makes the whole operation look suspiciously professional. It’s an important balance—like endurance racing itself: one person is calmly tracking fuel burn and lap times, while the rest of the team is outside in the cold “field-testing.”
On the wrenching side, we knocked out an impressive list:
The A/C delete is complete, and the replacement pulley is installed (goodbye comfort, hello horsepower)
Assembled the Kirkey Racing seat (which is awesome)
The HVAC system is mostly out—because “mostly” is how you describe anything that involves removing most of a dashboard
Radio & CD player is gooonnnneeee
The last of the sound-deadening was removed
We removed about half the airbag circuits, which is great because we’d prefer the car not to surprise-punch us during tech inspection or mid-race
We removed the old radiator and fan shroud.
Everything that matters was torqued and paint-marked, because we’re not just building a car—we’re building a paper trail for future us, who will absolutely forget what present us did.
Brakes got love too: we installed braided stainless lines, bled the system, and upgraded to DOT 4 fluid for the higher boiling point—because endurance racing is basically a sustained argument between heat and your will to finish.
Of course, the weekend wasn’t all clean victories. We cracked the windshield while removing the dash (an exciting reminder that glass is both fragile and expensive), and we broke the fuel injector air assist control solenoid valve while removing the upper radiator hose. The Accord remains committed to teaching us humility, one snapped component at a time.
Still: cage progress, systems deleted, brakes upgraded, thermostat installed, and a SolidWorks model to prove we’re not all animals makes for a pretty successful weekend. We may be cold, but the build is heating up—and we’re getting closer to a race car that’s safe, fast-ish, and only mildly out of its league.
