Constantly honing his skills through racing his Civic Si, Marysville Auto Plant associate Eric Kutil of the Powertrain Group discusses his true love of automobiles.
To say cars are a big part of MAP associate’s life would be an understatement.
At the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP), Kutil spends his days in the Powertrain Group, performing New Model emissions testing. Yet cars continue to dominate his thoughts when he leaves Honda. As an avid racer, Kutil spends many of his evenings and weekends modifying his 1992 Civic Si.
“It takes a lot of time,” he said. “There are different types of work I do on my car. I’m constantly trying to make it go faster, so a lot of time is spent improving the car. However, most of my time is just spent maintaining it.”
With six years of experience in competitive wheel club racing, he is currently racing in the Grid Life Touring Cup series, where he took the championship title last year.
“I’m typically doing over 200 hard miles on the racetrack at each event, so once I get the car back in the garage, I have to inspect it completely and make sure nothing is broken,” he said. “In between events it’s almost like a full-time job. I put in hours every day to make sure the car is ready to go.
“In the end, it’s a 30-year-old car that was never designed for this kind of extreme abuse on track, so maintenance is crucial for reliability,” he added.
The school of hard knocks
Kutil had to rebuild a transmission this fall—something he’s never done before. He’s learned many things in car maintenance by diving in headfirst .
Growing up in New York City, his obsession with cars started at the most basic level.
“I always loved playing racing games and modifying the cars. The addiction started with Hot Wheels when I was a kid, and I still collect them today, mainly just Hondas,” he said, adding that his family had Hondas and Acuras, and close family friends raced Honda Touring Cars.
In college, Kutil’s passion took root after he got an Acura Integra GS-R (Grand Sport Racing). He enjoyed tinkering with it and found other students happy to share their auto knowledge and wrenches with him.
“I started autocross in college when I found out we had events on campus,” he said. “This motorsport was new to me, and as a broke college student, it was affordable and very accessible—a no brainer. I got into autocross with that Integra, started modifying it, went to more competitive events as my skills improved, and quickly snowballed after that.”
Racing to (and for) Honda
Along with a love of Honda and Acura products, the chance to become part of the Honda of America Race Team (HART) drove Kutil to join Honda after graduation.
“I’ve been on HART since I joined Honda (in 2015). It’s one of the reasons I enjoy working here so much,” he said. “I love that you can work at Honda and volunteer to be part of a race team that competes in a professional series with purpose-built Honda racecars like the NSX GT3 and Civic TCR.”
At HART, Kutil learned even more about modifying and racing cars from experienced members, and he’s been happy to share that knowledge with other team members and even some of the people he races against on the track.
“I’ve had a lot of friends that have taught me, but in certain situations you can’t rely on other people and have to figure it out yourself,” Kutil said, adding that Honda and Acura manuals have offered great guidance. “I’ve built the entire car with my two hands. I’ve picked up a bunch of skills: welding, transmission/engine rebuilding, fabrication, setup and alignment, bodywork, etc.
“Working on a car is usually very peaceful,” he continued. “It’s just you and the machine and it’s very rewarding when you accomplish a big project, especially when you learn new skills. I just love building and engineering the car to be the best it can be, as well as improving myself both in the garage and on the track.”
Work and life wins
The skills Kutil has picked up racing and modifying his own cars have helped him at work.
“Just working on cars and knowing how they work inside and out makes my job super easy,” he said. “I have to work on and disassemble cars quite often, so I’m very comfortable doing that. It’s also helped improve my processes and skills.
“I’m always trying to optimize my work or come up with better solutions for problems and processes. A large portion of my job is to calibrate and make sure complex emission equipment is running smoothly, so having a good foundation of continuous improvement and maintenance skills is key. My hobby and work really go hand in hand and feed off each other.”
For Kutil, modifying his car and racing are also a perfect fit. “I love building the car just as much as racing,” he said.
And Kutil has seen success in racing. He learned through simulators, HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) track days, and a novice school with SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) to eventually get a club racing license.
“It’s a huge adrenaline rush when you’re in the competitive racing environment,” Kutil said. “You can continuously challenge yourself and really push beyond what you think you’re capable of. Being in the car and doing your best lap after lap while competing against other amazing drivers really forces you to push yourself to find those new limits and that’s what racing is all about.
“There’s really nothing else like it. You work to not only improve your car but yourself as well.”
Continuous improvement isn’t the only value Kutil shares with Honda. Along with a challenging spirit, Kutil has a true passion for racing and cars.
“I always enjoyed building with LEGOs as a kid and working with my hands; it’s what led me down a path towards engineering” he said. “I love that I can design and build something in my garage, take it to the track to compete against talented racers with the same passion and determination as me and have all my hard work give me that slight advantage; it is a truly a rewarding feeling.”
“But it is nice just being in the garage working on things,” he added. “Sometimes it’s stressful especially with deadlines, but it’s a really good way to mentally reset. Some of the best nights are hanging out with good friends and family while wrenching. It’s a great hobby– and really almost an addiction.”
Whether you call it addiction or passion, Kutil has plenty of it when it comes to getting behind the wheel or underneath the hood of a car. And that’s what makes him successful on the track and at Honda.
