PFI Speed’s Jamie Lankford Cracks Into the 7-Second Field with an Xtreme Front Wheel Drive ’96 Honda Civic
A couple of well-known people in both the import and the drag-and-drive world, Jamie Lankford and Brent Leivestad crank out some insane builds at PFI Speed in Colorado.
But recently, Jamie got some attention as he pulled off a personal best time in his 1996 Honda Civic.
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The Civic is legal for the Xtreme Front Wheel Drive class, and after clocking an 8.21 last month at the World Cup Finals – Import versus Domestic, Jamie, Brent and crew rolled south in early December for the recent Sport Compact Finals at Orlando Speed World Dragway.
That event unfortunately ended with a rain out, but Jamie stayed behind to run a private test and tune event in the hopes of dropping the Civic into the 7-second range, while Brent returned to Colorado.
The first pass during the test session for Jamie was an 8.07 at 194 mph on a maximum reading of 72 pounds of boost on top of the 4-cylinder. He was pumped, but knew there was more on the table.
They revised the tune-up at got an 8.06 at 194, then an 8.02 at 196 mph, and finally another 8.02 at 192 mph as one of the last passes of the evening.
Check out the video of that test session here:
With no racing going on in Colorado, it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Jamie and Brent back in Florida less than two weeks later.
But this time, the red Civic rolled off the trailer at Bradenton Motorsports Park for another shot at the sevens, and with the density altitude hovering just a couple hundred feet above sea level, conditions were right for the task.
It was just after lunch time that magic goal was achieved: 7.98 at 188 mph!
Although scales were not up during the private test session, it is likely the car is still in legal XFWD trim, and moving PFI Speed into a good group of front-wheel-drive racers in the 7-second range.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Motion Raceworks, Jamie Lankford and Brent Leivestad.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com