You’ve probably seen our endless social media posts showing that we’ve recently purchased Dan Eaves 2005 BTCC Integra DC5 – if you’ve not seen it, then where have you been!? Not the expensive paperweight that you think it might be as we headed to Oulton Park to give the car it’s first shakedown whilst in our possession.

Shakedown

The weather looked touch and go in the morning. We did think we might see some rain making an appearance but fortunately it held off and the day was filled with blazing sunshine which meant we could put the car onto its slick tyres. Check out the size of that torque wrench!

Startup

The first challenge of the day was getting the car started. With this DC5 not being your average road going Integra, there’s a little bit more to it than simply turning a key. Firstly, we had to pre-heat the engine for around 30 minutes to get the car warm as the tolerances are so tight (naturally it was only right that we use a Honda generator). With the Neil Brown engine designed to last the length of a BTCC season, 5,000km it’s super important that we follow the correct procedures so that we don’t take anything off it’s precious lifespan.

Next, it’s into the cockpit as Dave from Motion Motorsport went through the startup sequence on the steering wheel. As much as I’d love to walk you through the procedure, it all looked a little complicated, but anyhow, he did his thing and the car fired into life. Make sure you check out our YouTube video below to hear some classic BTCC goodness!

Setting off

You can probably imagine that it drives nothing like it’s road-going counterpart either. I spoke to Luke about what it was like to drive and his first comment was that, “the flywheel is super light and the clutch is very sharp which provides all the ingredients to easily stall the car. The car revs up so fast on the throttle, it’s like a motorbike throttle.” No stranger to a race car, Luke quickly sussed the drive train off and out he went towards track.

Outlap

Straight away Luke noticed how strong the steering was, saying that it really pulled you round. The differential and slick tyres have so much grip that it’s intense on the arms as you’re going between the steering wheel and the sequential gear shifter.

Gears

As I previously mentioned Luke’s no stranger to out and out race cars, competing in his M4 GT4 and the NSX. However, this is the first time he’s driven a car with a proper sequential gearbox in anger. If you’re not familiar with a sequential box, you pull the shifter back to up a gear and push it forward to go down the gear – you only use the clutch pedal to put the car into first gear. “The X-Trac box is incredible as you shift up and down the gears it feels and sounds like a British Touring Car should.” Luke said.

Brakes

Stopping power in all four corners of the car are equipped with a set of BTCC spec AP Racing brakes. Inside the cockpit of the Integra sits a trick pedal box which Luke says feel very positive and once the tyres get up to temperature the car stops incredibly well.

Luke’s final comment on the DC5 was that, “It has so much more potential that I can extract from the car and it extrudes confidence from the driver as it feels very safe to drive. I was astonished by the grip levels that the car has to offer and how easy it was to get up to a decent pace. Everything about the car feels so positive and it does exactly what you tell it to.”

What’s next?

The day wasn’t without its hiccups though, as to be expected with a 15 year old race car that was once competing at the pinnacle of motorsport within the UK. A CV boot needed replacing in the middle of the day, which was a relatively straight forward fix. However, day came to a finish sooner than planned as there was an issue with the gear box. We’ll get to work diagnosing and rectifying the problem and then we hope to be back out on the track very soon!

Make sure you stay tuned to our YouTube channel too as we’ve got plenty of DC5 content coming your way very soon!

When I say there’s never a dull day at Tegiwa, I think that’s potentially the biggest understatement of the year – especially when our latest arrival to the Tegiwa Fast Fleet turned up.

Which brings us onto the subject in question. Touring cars. Race on a Sunday, sell on a Monday. Fire breathing, smash-and-grab action that’s been a fan favourite for a number of generations. So when we saw the opportunity to purchase Dan Eaves 2005 Honda Integra DC5, it was a no brainer for us being into our Honda’s and all.

The special thing about the British Touring Car Championship is that the cars are instantly recognisable to their road going counter parts – which is probably a major contributing factor to the popularity of the sport. However, when you look a little closer, there’s not much Integra left besides the iconic JDM silhouette.

Racing Career

Let’s talk a little bit about it’s racing career. Team Dynamics Motorsport faced a series of challenges ahead of the 2005 British Touring Car Championship, forcing them to continue its development of the car well into pre-season testing. Eventually they’d built four cars with three of them to race. This meant that Team Halfords went into the 2005 season with no clear idea of how competitive the car was going to be.

It needn’t have worried though because the results were staggering; Matt Neal, Dan Eaves and Gareth Howell shared a record breaking season. The team wrapped up the drivers, teams, independent teams and drivers championships, in a record-breaking sweep that was one of the most successful seasons of any team in modern BTCC history.

In fact, the only trophy that it didn’t win that year was the manufacturers, which was the only one the team weren’t eligible for as a privateer.

This is chassis TD-02, which makes it the second car out of the four produced for the team and is the only one remaining in the UK, a fact confirmed by no one other than BTCC legend, Matt Neal.

Dan Eaves became the first ever BTCC driver to win all three races in it at Thruxton in an epic year that saw the 29-year old win from the rear of the reverse grid in race three of the weekend. He also took the fastest lap that day too.

Dan drove the car to another five victories that season, achieving five of the fastest laps too. He eventually finished third in the championship, behind Matt Neal and Yvan Muller.

The car was then used by Motorbase Performance in the 2006 season, where it sported a black and pink livery before being sold privately. As you can see from the images, it’s now been re-liveried back to it’s glory days at Team Halfords and has had a full tip-to-toe refurbishment, including an engine and gearbox rebuild carried out in the hands of In2Racing. You’ll be glad to hear that the car still retains the period-correct K20 Neil Brown Engineering engine and it’s Xtrac sequential box.

Our Plans

Although we’re not 100% sure what our journey with this incredible car will be, we’re exploring the avenue of participating in some historic racing, potentially the HSCC Dunlop Saloon Car Cup, which we’re sure will be a sight to behold. In the meantime we’ll be giving the car a shakedown this Friday at Oulton Park, so if you’re free then don’t miss the chance to see it back in it’s home environment!

Finally, don’t forget to head to our YouTube channel, hit subscribe and turn notifications on as we’re planning on producing a whole range of content with this BTCC icon! You can check out our unloading video of it here: