VTEC Audio Challenge Results Answers Revealed, Tons of Excellent VTEC Knowledge, and 1 Special Prize Awarded.
06.16.06 // 15:40
By: Che Chou
Earlier this week we posed our first audio challenge to gearheads on the 'net at large. Based on our Dyno Spotlight of Marshall Hagen's impressive Integra Type-R, we threw together 4 different VTEC sound bytes and asked you guys to not only pick out Marshall's customized engine, but the other 3 Honda models too. Thanks to the passionate VTEC community out there, we got a flurry of responses (more than 60 really good answers from folks all over the Honda forums out there) rationalizing why they chose what they did.
Now it's time to reveal not just the answers, but also our favorite responses from the community. The best response also wins a free Forza Motorsport 2 development jacket (by Dickies). Remember, each time we do a Turn 10 Dyno Spotlight feature, you have a chance to win a FM2 jacket if you can figure out the correct engine sound byte and send us our favorite response. The next car we throw on the dyno will be a Lamborghini. Which one? Well you'll just have to wait to find out.
Here are the answers to the VTEC audio challenge, with commentary from Turn 10's auto research guru, Roger Jackman:
- VTEC 1 Audio Clip: 1994 Honda Civic Del Sol with a K&N “drop-in” filter in stock airbox, Edelbrock header and stock exhaust catback. No engine mods.
"This is a B16A with 160hp stock, but since it breathes better with filter and exhaust it revs more quickly than stock. It has probably gained 5-10 more horsepower with the mods, but what is most noticeable difference is the throaty growl of the intake. You can tell the flywheel is stock, as the revs do not drop very quickly while shifting. This makes the car smoother when driving in on the street, but leaves a lot to be desired when finely modulating the throttle while driving at the limit."
- VTEC 2 Audio Clip: 2000 Honda Civic Si with a 5zingen exhaust and an AEM intake. More or less the same basic engine as the Integra Type-R.
"This is a B18C with about 195hp stock. Available in the Integra Type-R, this engine is literally hand-built and refined by the engineers at Honda. It is considered by some to be the ultimate Honda 4-cylinder swap as it combines the perfect balance of light weight and power...and of course it will spin harder than almost any other stock engine offered by other manufacturers. The open intake and exhaust produce a healthy note and you can really hear the VTEC bang hard in first gear.
- VTEC 3 Audio Clip: 1997 Acura Integra Type-R -- Marshall Hagen's custom edition. If you picked #3, you were correct!
"This is a heavily modified B18C producing around 260hp. You can almost feel your head being snapped back just by listening to the VTEC hit! The engine has a much more aggressive tone as the open intake and exhaust system combined with aggressive cams and big compression snap and pop at over 9500rpm. You can also hear the engine management crack and stumble as it seems to be as anxious as the engine to find 10grand on the tach. The rapid rise of the revs is fantastic due to the lightweight internals and flywheel, but it is also more pronounced on the dyno due to the short gear ratio’s willingness to put the power to the ground."
"This is the same B18C as in the 2000 Civic, only with fewer mods. You can tell that the Honda engineers, or should I call them maestros, had a single purpose in mind when building this engine…performance. It sounds like a race engine out of the box, and the VTEC helps keep the engine in the power band for ultimate acceleration. Again, there were no internal modifications on this engine, but the power is so great that you can tell the clutch is slow to hang on for the ride. The factory exhaust is definitely performance oriented and is only accentuated by the open element air filter."
The Winner of the Turn 10 VTEC Audio Challenge is Geoven Snaer. Congratulations! You are the winner of an official Forza Motorsport 2 dev jacket. Here's what Geoven had this to say about his pick:
"About Hagen's Integra Type-R, you can totally tell that his car is the 3rd audio file. The 1st one sounds exactly like my 95 GSR, maybe a bit faster through the gears. The car, once it gets to vtec in 1st gear, never gets out of it. plus the engine sounds stock, aside from a few minor modifications to the exhaust. the 2nd and 4th cars both sound like other honda motors (civics?).
the reason i think is b/c of how both engines dont have enough power in some gears (3rd for the 2nd car and 2nd for the 4th car) to keep the engine in vtec. either both cars dont have enough power, or the redline for both of them are low (gsrs and type-r redlines are high enough to stay in vtec). the 3rd car just sounds freaking bad-ass. i love how the car gets through 1st, into vtec, out of first and into 2nd, into 3rd, etc. so fast that you can practically feel the car pushing so fast from the audio alone. you can really hear that 2 liter 260hp engine work.
plus, in the other 3 audio files, it sounds like the drivers either didnt know how to shift, or their trannies were almost shot. thats why im thinking of doing a type-r enigne swap once my gsr motor blows. of course, im no pro at this, and im most likely wrong about 50% of the stuff :) thanks for letting me know how an integra motor is SUPPOSED to sound like."
Meanwhile, the rest of you had the following gems and correct guesses.
(Note that Matt Wilimzig below gets big props and respect for basically nailing the quiz on all 4 counts.)
"#3 is Marshall's based on the resonance and the short gearing and the much more responsive sound due to the increased displacement and compression. #4 is the other ITR based on the gearing and sound like it has slightly more displacement than the b16. #1 is a b16a based on the sound and the difficulty in keeping in the sweet spot where vtec is engaged. #2 is also a b16a or possibly a b17a very similar sound to the b16."
— Matt Wilimzig
"For the last clip (dyno2quiz-2 0:25) I'm going to guess it's a 1999/2000 Civic Si with an exhaust and intake because it doesn't pull with as much urgency and doesn't have the dual stage intake resonance. The lower redline can sometimes cause it to fall out of VTEC between shifts as well despite having the same gearing as a stock USDM Integra-R."
— P.CM. Seto
"Its number three sound clip!! I can tell by the way the power band sounds. All others you can hear the dips in power. Number three has a constant and beautiful note!"
— Jim Walker
"Clip 4 - Stock Integra Type-R - Accelerates very slowly up the gears which suggests a stock Integra.. also has a similar engine note to Clip 3."
— Adam Plumb
"I think its wave file number 3 becuase this car reaches redline very quickly and sounds like it redlining at about 9 to 10000 thousand rpms. Also the vtec cracks loud and clean just like most integras, the thing that gave it away to me( thats ofcourse if im right) is that the car never drops below vtec range in between shifts, becuase the redline is high. THis would be imposible if the rotating assembly wasnt balanced, the motor would come apart."
— Sergey Kokoulin
Thanks for everyone's responses and look for the next Turn 10 Dyno Spotlight in a week and a half or so!
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