Stephen Papadakis 2001 Civic Coupe

Some call him Steph
others call him
Big PaPa or PaPa Doc .
But ask his competitors and they will
call him the Front Wheel Drive World Champion .

       Stephan Papadakis takes time to give Street Tuners the tour of his
AEM  /  HONDA  sponsored racer .

Stephan campaigning his previous racer
the Civic Hatch set the current
Front Wheel Drive world record at
8.57 seconds at 174.35 mph .

The Civic Hatch had seen allot of tuning thru the years and had not been designed for
this type of speed or E.T.s !
The new Civic Coupe is a purpose -built racer with unlimited capabilities !

Stephan and his crew used all their experiences thru the years campaigning the Civic Hatch to build the ultimate
Front Wheel Drive Racer.
Rob Miller put the chassis together and crewmates Shaun Carlson , Jay Caldwell , John Mihovetz ,
Harold Hanneman, John Concialdi , Greg Nakano , Dan Beeson , Derek Teklak , Robert Wilson
all hand their hands on this Honda creation !
The Street Tuners crew can testify of the superior craftsmanship and attention
to detail that is evident in Stephan's latest racer !
Not only is this a brute of a 1/4 mile vehicle but it also is of
show quality in everyway .

Many unique engineering and design aspects were used in the Civic Coupe .
Most notably is the Engine configuration !

       

One look is all you need to see that the H23A1 prelude engine is placed Longitudinally !
Rather unique for a front wheel drive layout .
Stephan tells us that this configuration helps in many different areas .
First it places the engine weight further forward , and also it enables a much better designed front suspension allowing the use of much larger slicks as well
as reducing the frontal area as it relates to wind drag .
However the surprise can hardly be noticed to the untrained eye .
What about the transmission ?