Honda Odyssey R: The Hardcore Minivan of Your Dreams

[00:11] consider the idea of [music] a high-performance minivan. The concept itself is counterintuitive, but during many of our comparison tests we did between Pacifica, Sienna, Odyssey, and Carnival,

[00:24] the Odyssey specifically, we always came away with the same result. It may not be the best in terms of fuel economy, most modern features, but it was the best driving. It had the best old-school engine. It drove more like a sedan. It

[00:36] always thought, well, what would it be like if we modified it, or if there was a high-performance version of the van? I mean, they already do it with SUVs, and so good, but nobody's ever attempted this with a minivan before.

[00:50] Team inside of Honda, the Honda engineers, put together a performance version of this van and raced it, really wheel-to-wheel raced it. So, we were one of the first, if not the first, to ever

[01:03] to set a lap time in it. We're going to drive this, and we're going to tell the Heart Racing engineers' story of how this car or van got put together.

[02:03] I've put you in and high horsepower rear-wheel drive cars? >> I'm in the sauna. >> Yeah. Yeah, it's it's how I like it. I'm going to sit here for 30 minutes until you you warm up. This is the Breed Max

[02:15] 9000 Jack. >> I'm ready.

[02:53] The carry-on automatic gearbox. How does it feel? It feels great. It feels just like the It feels great. It feels just like the stock one. It just has about

[03:10] engine ask questions. So, how does it feel? It feels like

[03:25] It feels like the stock Odyssey. This is why it's the best handling minivan. all this stuff, it's so nimble and taking out a thousand thousand pounds taking out a thousand thousand pounds really helps.

[03:51] Jesus Christ. >> Yeah. >> Tell me this is more fun than a Corvette.

[04:03] This is way more fun than a C8. Listen to that transmission. Here we go. Oh, yeah.

[04:16] >> How's the stability, Mark? >> Oh, you We have no stability control, no traction control. It's just me and the machine. My Odyssey is more stable than my third marriage.

[04:36] >> I know the brakes are amazing. Well, it also helps we got these RCs the Bridge tire. And they're Well, they're 305s, right? >> So, you just have unlimited grip. I can see it, you know,

[04:52] >> Oh, man. Like you see taking my family out in this thing? No AC, about 100° in here. >> Let's just say you wouldn't need to worry about a trip to family planning

[05:05] [laughter] I I sub I hit the brakes so hard my nuts OH, NO, GOING OFF. THAT WAS A BIT OF A TOUCH IT. I I hit the sub belt so hard earlier my nuts just popped. So,

[05:18] this is probably one of the most fun experiences that I've had driving. But, it really does go back to the fact that you can make family cars >> I just wish that more brands had the balls [music] to do this. I know this is

[05:31] an engineering exercise, right? Like, they wanted to do this for fun. And there's so much potential here that I hope it it opens the doors to more development on fun versions of like family haulers like this.

[05:44] >> No, I mean, this is a really unique experience and I can't imagine if I'm at like a GLTC race, I get passed by a minivan. >> They pass cars? >> Well, the HART guys were saying like

[05:56] when they race this thing, people get so bored of like all the people that have ton of money in like these amateur classes and then everybody's more interested to see how the minivan does. >> Yeah, well, it races against S2000s and

[06:09] C5s. >> Uh this would be a blast to race and could probably do to the regular Odyssey to make it more enjoyable to drive. >> exactly without gutting it and turning it into like a race car.

[06:23] a conversation which like I said earlier, it's ideal them. >> Oh, perfect. So, I'm going to roll down this window so I don't melt. >> No, no, no, no, no. I'm sure you know,

[06:36] there's no I'm locking the windows, pal. No. >> All right, Mark. >> Yeah, I already said I'll do it. >> Yeah, I already said. >> Show me.

[07:05] associates. Um right now we have over 230 um associates across um different plants. Anyone at Honda um can work there as long as they're full-time associates. We're passionate group of uh

[07:19] guys who volunteer our time to work on the cars and then we work on them and race. >> Yeah, I think 35 years ago is when the HART team actually started. It started in Ohio. Um it started with a a group of

[07:34] associates that were passionate about both their careers and racing. Um so, they took those two passions and put them together and uh started racing at a a grassroots grassroots level and now we have teams that race

[07:50] at that level at pro levels. We have teams that race motorcycles, go-karts, autocross, rally, rallycross, road racing, endurance racing. So we have teams that now cover the gamut of motorsports

[08:03] and we're just the the team in Alabama that that brought the minivan today. I'll I'll I'll back up just a little bit, but the primary focus of this car has been kind of showing what the fifth generation Odyssey can do.

[08:19] So we have taken it and been very light I'll say lightly modified. When you see it on track, it doesn't look lightly modified, but there's no crazy fabrication, there's no, you know, all

[08:32] the pickup points for the suspension are the same, the the body is roughly the same well, it's the same as a road car and so we've taken that and we have found racing series that we can wheel-to-wheel race the car with

[08:46] and show the public what the the chassis is capable of. So we've raced it in GridLife Touring Cup which is come to Autobahn Country Club here. We've raced Autobahn Country Club here. We've raced it in NASA ST5 Super Touring 5, which is

[09:00] a power-to-weight class and we've also raced it in Honda Challenge which is another NASA class. So it's done it's it's podiumed at at events especially if we can catch a little rain. The car is fantastic in the wet. But it's just a

[09:16] showcase of what you know, what Honda has created and what what it's really capable of. >> We all played a part in it. For me, I'm more on the electrical side of it. So anything that needs to be done

[09:29] electrical with the car like the the e-stop >> Um wiring up different devices, uh radios, uh anything that that car needs or any of our cars need.

[09:42] of it. Um You got Mayor here. He's does a lot with the suspension. He's our alignment guy, so um we used the the fish tapes

[09:54] and rulers and levelers, but we do it the the old school way. Um even with cars, so brakes Anything that has to be done with the car itself or like putting a roll cage in, we pretty much take care of the

[10:09] >> I wrote it. >> Yeah, we're a pretty small team, so everybody pitches in and everybody learns a lot of aspects of how to take the car racing. So, some of us do have specialties, um and you know, that helps

[10:23] with teaching new people, especially, but we've all had a hand in doing a little bit of everything. And I will tell I mean, it's not a quick story, but I'll try to make it quick, uh of how we got the van. Uh so, this

[10:35] particular van is van number four. Uh so, it was a very early uh an early model or not model, but an early chassis that came off the assembly line. Uh the first time we got it, we actually took it to Road Atlanta, uh totally factory

[10:51] or totally stock. Um the idea was just to get it out cuz it get it out in front of the public and kind of show people uh what the car could maybe do on track. And then of course, us being a race

[11:04] team, uh the few weeks before the event, we're like, "Well, we've got a set of tires that'll fit. We've got some brakes that'll that'll go on the car. We could We could take the seats out and lighten it up. We could Let's fab up an exhaust

[11:16] on the car, you know, when we get there." So, we showed up at Road there." So, we showed up at Road Atlanta. We uh set a lap time on Friday Uh and then throughout the weekend, we slowly modified the car

[11:30] um with all those uh changes that I I mentioned earlier and even Sunday night or Saturday night, we uh we put a livery on the car. So, people are watching this thing change throughout the weekend. We had a whiteboard that kept all the mods

[11:46] uh so they could see what we were doing each session and by the end of the day Sunday, we tossed a set of flicks on it and we went from a 204 to a 146. So, huge change throughout the weekend and everybody was just like, "Well, what are

[12:00] think you're going to get down to?" The whole paddock was just buzzing over, you know, what we were doing with this minivan, ignoring all the the the hypercars and and the other stuff that was maybe a little faster, but our our

[12:13] story was more interesting. >> Yeah, so yeah, we have um a Brembo big brake kit on the front, uh six-piston calipers on the front. Uh we have MCS single adjustable coil overs um all around. Like sus- suspension-wise, the

[12:27] coil overs are the biggest thing. We haven't changed really any of the rear The >> It does have camber plates. >> That's the only thing up front. >> Yeah, and like rear suspension uh arms

[12:39] and everything is all totally stock. Um we have uh a diff in it, um but drivetrain and transmission-wise, it's basically completely stock as well. Um obviously, we got a spoiler on it. We got a little bit of arrow on there. Um

[12:54] but yeah, basically, it's other than safety, it's all completely stock. >> Yeah, it it does have an exhaust as well. Um so, yeah, so People give us lots of compliments on how it sounds and we agree, it does

[13:08] sound very, very good. So. >> And with the modifications that we've done, we also like have a short story from that, but one of my favorite memories with the Odyssey was actually going to um kind of like a JDM / exotic

[13:22] going to um kind of like a JDM / exotic car meet event in Atlanta and it was and it was insane cuz at this event you have modified BMWs, Ferraris, Porsches, NSXs. And by far the car that got the most attention was the Honda Odyssey.

[13:38] And I think people love it when you tell them what's done to it because especially an event like that, it attracts so many people of the younger generation and it's no secret that it's pretty expensive to get into cars. So I

[13:53] think it's incredibly relatable when they understand how little, I guess how little was done with it or how reasonable it is to modify car to have that much performance so they can have some sort of inspiration that they can,

[14:06] it truly extraordinary or make it their own and still enjoy the level of motorsport that they'd like to get into. >> Our team has competed in SRO and some higher tier racing series as well. Of

[14:21] course, we'd like to see the Odyssey kind of get up to some of those same levels and I think if we can get more people and interest in the chassis, we'd love to

[14:34] see where else we could take it. It could certainly be optimized more for the classes that we race in and you know, there's other events that we could sign up for if we could put a little investment into it. So

[14:46] yeah, there's still lots of options. Of course, we work at the Alabama auto plant and the Odyssey is one of the vehicles that we manufacture there. So because we work at that plant and we are the the team that's run out of it, it's

[14:59] always important for us to showcase one of the the chassis that we make there. you know, we we make several different vehicles there but the Odyssey is the the coolest one to put out on track. And of course, you know, we get the same

[15:14] like, oh, I'd love to see a production version like this and you know, of course we would do but we'll see. >> But, in all reality, we do appreciate the the opportunity. We appreciate you guys inviting us down and, you know,

[15:28] allowing us to to come up and showcase the Odyssey for you guys. So, >> Yeah, video of video of lap coming up. video of lap coming up. >> [music]

[18:03] need a performance minivan? Well, probably not, but you could say the same thing about all the big SUVs, trucks, and sedans that were turned into that There's a need in this market for something different. Nobody, no brand

[18:16] has been able to turn the minivan into something like this. And it's a lost opportunity. Even in the luxury segment, you could do so much with this form factor. And I get Honda is very conservative.

[18:28] formula, make it affordable, and their their regular cars are amazing. But unfortunately, they don't have a lot of sports car activity or specialty engineers engaged. You know, you know, the Type R's are one-offs, or the

[18:43] Integra Type S is just kind of a one-off thing. So, these engineers really took something that shouldn't have been as good as it is, and and they did it. And transmission, which is amazing. And they didn't even change the calibration of

[18:56] the stock engine and transmission. They added some coolers for the auto gearbox, me think if they had the development money to kind of push this farther and the support from the Japanese to allow a different gearbox change or just even

[19:10] basic calibration of the transmission and engine, I think it would really be I think the development money going into this to build not just a race car thing, but something that people could really be engaged to drive

[19:24] generation and older grew up with minivans as family vehicles, and a lot of people are phobic of them. They They look at them in a sour way. But, this is generation growing up with millions of SUVs. They see families having it, their

[19:38] these things now, and they're just boring. They're kind of played out. And the van has that unique ability to do everything better than an SUV. In the one of the best driving vans on the market. So, the business case, yeah, I

[19:53] big risk. Whether it happens or not, I out, and Lynn Seeley for bringing them out from Honda PR. They've traveled all the way from Alabama to Illinois to show us all the work they did, all the work

[20:05] they did on the back end. And this is like This is real people doing real jobs, and then having fun on the side. They They were so excited by this, and I think we were too. It's contagious. And it's just a fun thing. There's no douche

[20:17] >> [laughter] >> So, everybody to watch for watching this. And of course, if you're in the Midwest, don't want to get in trouble on the street, take it to Autobahn Country

[20:30] Club, become a member, and just get exposed to some of the driving programs that they have there, so you can have fun with whatever car you decide to drive. Thanks for watching. See you next video.