Marshall Hagen's 1997 Custom Acura Integra Type-R
Life is Good at 10,000 RPMs.
By: Che Chou
06.013.06 // 10:00
Although it may not be the very first aspect of the game to grip your senses, audio is a crucial part of Forza Motorsport 2's simulation equation. The audio characteristics of each car in the game remains a fine point of detail you pick up after hours, days, weeks spent on the edge of grip in the world of Forza Motorsport. For the development of Forza Motorsport 2, we go through pains to record hundreds of cars to get that aspect of the game just right. In an effort to share with you, our dedicated readers, some insight into how all of this game development voodoo works, we're pulling together a recurring series of features called the Turn 10 Dyno Spotlight that takes a look at a sampling of the most interesting cars we've gotten to record over the past year of Forza Motorsport 2 development.
In what's only our second Dyno Spotlight, we check in with local VTEC fanatic Marshall Hagen and his wolf-in-stock-Integra-Type-R clothing. He's got a sublime ride and what we think is a pretty interesting story to go with his track machine. At the end of the dyno session article, we've also included a little audio quiz for all you hardcore VTEC fanboys and gearheads — there are 4 WAV files featuring 4 different Hondas running on our dynamometer. Based on the list of mods in Marshall's car, can you pick out which power pull belongs to his 1997 Integra Type-R?
Way back in February, a few weeks before yours truly relocated to Turn 10 (aka, car heaven) from San Francisco, our audio coordinator, Mark Price, and audio engineer, Keith Sjoquist, met with a local Northwest racer named Marshall Hagen to dyno and record his 1997 Acura Integra Type-R. Although we'd already recorded and dyno'ed other Type-R's (and numerous VTEC engines), previously, we went after his particular Type-R primarily due to the significant amount of engine modifications Hagen had done to his Integra. In Forza Motorsport 2 terms, the sound of Hagen's Type-R would represent more along the lines of a stage 2 or 3 Integra loaded with some top of the spec engine mods.
I chose Hagen's Type-R for a couple of reasons; he's got the kind of tuner/racer story many of us can relate to — from his teenage beginnings with a GSR complete with body kits and engine swap to his eventual understanding of racing years later, Hagen's journey is one of discovery and maturation. Plus, being the owner of a '97 GSR myself, as well as a huge fan of the 3rd generation Integra platform, I've got a natural soft spot for one of Honda's finest automotive accomplishments. But since I wasn't actually there at the dyno session itself, I decided to hit up Turn 10's audio coordinator Mark Price for some post-game commentary on the dyno session itself.
"Normally keeping the car cool is the biggest challenge we face when recording a car on the dyno," Price explains. "Obviously, the car is designed to have at least 40mph wind moving through the radiator when an engine is under a load like this. Our fans of course do not blow anywhere near that kind of wind. We try to keep the recordings short so that we don’t build too much heat.
"When we record an engine that has been modified as heavily as Marshall’s ‘teg is, we usually find that the engine heats up even faster and takes longer to cool between runs. I was pleased to find that this car seemed to cool as well as any Honda we have recorded. I have to say that the Honda’s in general seem to cool better than any other car we have worked with. I had the feeling that even when we were up at 9000rpm with this motor, it was asking for more! You know, there is no sound in the world like when Honda’s VTEC rolls in, and with those Buddy Club cams dialed up, this car sounded incredible!"
// Next Page: Putting the Vroom Back into the TEC... //