Front 3/4 view of HART's Honda Odyssey race van on a track - savagegeese/YouTubeThe Honda Odyssey is a capable, practical, unexciting way to haul the family around. Just ask Wade Wilson. That all changes when you take out the family and interior, then give it similar performance tweaks as you might make to an old Civic. The Honda of America Racing Team (HART) did exactly that, and the result was recently voted the "Coolest Thing Made in Alabama," reports Business Alabama.The contest, sponsored by Manufacture Alabama, featured numerous products across a wide variety of industries, all of which are made in the state. Competitors included everything from the Blue Origin BE-4 engine used in the New Glenn rocket to a ductile iron pipe used in water systems. The Odyssey, along with the Ridgeline, Passport, and Pilot, is built at Honda's factory in Lincoln, Alabama. However, it was Honda employees who volunteered their time off the clock with HART to take this particular 2017 model to the next level, turning it into a serious race van. This isn't some SEMA build made for looks. It competes in NASA events, as well as the Gridlife Touring Cup. The classes it competes in are based on power-to-weight ratios, so while the Odyssey runs close to stock horsepower, it benefits from the removal of 1,600 pounds of family hauler equipment from the interior. To be clear, it wasn't the Honda Odyssey in general that won the "Coolest Thing" award, but this Odyssey race van in particular.AdvertisementAdvertisementRead more: 5 Nearly Indestructible Transmissions (And The Cars That Use Them)From family hauler to hauling buttWhile we joke about how awesome a Chrysler Pacifica Hellcat would be, we also know that sort of thing requires an insane level of dedication, and a build of that magnitude would need a great deal of fabrication and custom work. HART's Honda Odyssey went in the opposite direction, using little more than the same tweaks you or I might make to our own cars for track use. HART Alabama's Karl Hertel explained the build to Business Alabama:"The van itself has a factory V-6 engine and a factory transmission. Really, the biggest changes to it are that it has a more track-focused suspension," Hertel says. "It has bigger brakes and bigger wheels and it's about 1,600 pounds lighter than a factory Odyssey. It's a vehicle designed to take eight people around in comfort on the highway, so once you take the people out and take all the stuff out (including seats and carpet) all of a sudden it really wakes up and becomes something much more sporty than you might think it would be."SavageGeese had the opportunity to take it for a romp around the Autobahn Country Club. The driving impressions portion of the video is a five minute giggle fest as they hustle it through turns, hop curbs, and get deafened by the V6 echoing throughout the van's bare interior. "My Odyssey is more stable than my third marriage," says Mark as he drives it. We don't know how stable that marriage was, but the van looks surprisingly composed and capable as it laps the track in a way your mom never drove the family minivan to school.The video concludes with Hertel's full best lap around the track. While 41st place doesn't compare to the leading C8 Corvette, it does beat some genuine enthusiast cars such as the Subaru BRZ tS, Subaru WRX, Mazda Miata, and even a Honda Civic Si. I also doubt any car on the list has gotten as many laughs along the way. The laughs are not because it's bad, but because it's so ridiculous and fun to drive, which is something I never thought I'd write about a minivan.AdvertisementAdvertisementWant more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and follow us or add us as a preferred search source on Google.Read the original article on Jalopnik.