projectMS3
Member
Much has taken place since the race at Willow Springs and now the 3rd race for the west coast Street class(7th race on the calendar for RTA). The majority of it related to my own personal life, some to the car. It's been a god send in having the racing move to the east coast. Four rounds off at just the right moment.
For one, my marriage has ended and that massive amount of stress and strain would have taken a huge toll on my racing effort. While having that stress lifted of a dying relationship, it has unfortunately put me in a huge financial bind. One so difficult it really seemed as if competing in round 7 wouldn't happen. I had no funds to practice, test, or develop the car much further. The last round of improvements were for the Dsport magazine Test and Tune(Maybe you caught the car on their New Car Buyer's Guide DVD as well). Thanks to the help of Custom Performance Engineering and Robert Choo of Dsport, we finished installing the engine components. These were absent at Round 2(Willow Springs).
The list of components were: Front Mount Intercooler, Upgraded Fuel Pump, Standback ECU, and dyno tuning. The results were an additional 30 horses, about the same torque as last time (300lb ft) but a much broader power band and significantly more power up top.
There was a very substantial lift of additional changes to be made for the car, during the east coast events. The main items were corner balancing the car, a better LSD, and trying to get more negative camber up front. Some other wish list items included a front splitter, lighter battery, and additional weight reduction. Sadly those would not be the case as I spent most of the time between races just barely able to hold on to my house. Going as far as needing to sell most things I owned.
I was struggling to find any money to compete in round 7. Then things got really bad. I really needed seat time and on August 22nd I drove out to Buttonwillow Raceway for practice. I had not driven the car on track with the new power and really needed to get a feel for how it would perform. I scraped all the money I could and sold a few things and signed up for a track day.
Sadly, I get to the track. I run one session and notice engine temps are rather high. Second session out I am in my third lap and all of a sudden the temp gauge goes to hot and the check engine light comes on. Crap(well I used another four letter word)! I instantly back off, throw the heater to full blast and make a mental check of everything. I'm about a 1/4 mile from track exit, car just got hot, temps are 244.....I decide to not shut off the engine and limp in. Hoping the moving air will cool the car off. 244 shouldn't cripple the car, I couldn't understand why it wasn't cooling down as I coasted off the track.
I pop the hood and wham. Coolant everywhere. Literally everywhere. Reserve tank is empty and I can't for the life of me see where it escaped from. I check the oil and it's clear of coolant (thank god!) and seems healthy.
It's just too hot to try and poke around to see what happened. I walk away and call the tow truck and begin the two hour wait for it to arrive. After the car cooled I found the culprit. The silicone hose going from the engine to the radiator split open. WTF? Silicone hoses are supposed to be nearly indestructible.
I got towed home and took the car to Tri Point Engineering for inspection. My biggest concern was damaging the head gasket, and warping the head and block. They ran their tests and all seemed fine. I was massively relieved. As a safe measure we upgraded the radiator to a 2 row aluminum racing radiator. At the time we didnt know the cause of the hose bursting and I assumed it was due to the car over heating. Come to find out, the supplier of the silicon hose didnt cure the hose. This meant it wasnt as strong as it should be and when the pressure went up in the system, it burst.
None the less the bigger radiator was good insurance for racing in the Nevada heat just one month away. Unfortunately it also meant I spent money set aside for practice on the Saturday before the race on Sunday. Which is a problem. Ive never driven at Spring Mountain. I had no clue of track lay out, conditions, and its also an extremely technical track. No choice though. The plan was to drive to the track (couldnt trailer the car, no funds) and pray I finished in a decent position and the car held up so I could drive it home.
Saturday the 26th of October I wake up at 5am and drive out to Pahrump Nevada. Its a 6 hour drive through the dessert and theres a stretch with no mobile phone reception for 30 miles. 100 degrees outside and my dumb ass didnt have water in the car. I get to the track at 2pm. Go meet up with Robert Choo from Dsport who is racing an S2000 in Street RWD. Help him out that day and just pray I dont screw it all up. I luck out and at the end of the day I get a ride from an instructor for 2 laps to show me the line. Thank you Vincent! I go to my crappy motel and check in. Have dinner with Robert Choo, his wife Brook, Richard Fong from Dsport and various friends of theirs. Then I drive back to my room and sleep.
Race day, September 27th. I head out to the track. Unload all my gear and prepare the car for my two rounds of practice (roughly 18 laps total) before my first timed heat. At this point since I dont know the track I am unwilling to abuse the Yokohama AD08s Ive brought to race with. Instead I opt to use my street tires (narrower by 20mm, and also the older AD07 Yokohama) which are near worn out and have been heat cycled more times than I can count. I just need to learn the track lay out. Or thats what I tell myself. Problem is, I wont have a feel for grip, or steering or generally the handling characteristics of the car with the AD08 tires.
I go out and practice for both rounds and I get a best lap of 3 minutes 2 seconds and it stinks. Im slower than all the stock class FWD cars. The car wont turn. Its just understeer everywhere. The track is tight, lots of sweepers and decreasing radius turns. I am just dumbfounded. The car should be so much faster than this. Not much I can do.
I finish the second practice session and I switch to the 245/40 Yokohama AD08 tires mounted on 18x8.5 Volk CE28 wheels. This in contrast to the 225/40 AD07 on heavier 18x8 wheels. I let the car cool down, ice down the radiator and intercooler to help keep temps down and just wait. Keep in mind I barely know the track. Most of it is blind and its turn after turn after turn after turn. You get the idea.
Timed session 1. I go to the start grid. Im directly behind a stock class S2000. Normally I give myself plenty of room between the car in front and myself. This time when I was motioned to go I caught up to the S2000 as much as possible and used him to help me know the line. The first turn comes up and all of a sudden...the car turns, and it turns well and theres grip and Im not understeering like mad.
Thank god for newer tires. The AD08s are just a revelation and all of a sudden I get a boost of confidence in the car. So I start to pick up the pace and then Im actually gaining on the S2000 and could have passed it but I backed off to learn the car with this new found grip and handling. The AD08 is really an amazing tire. It just sticks like glue, its practically an R-compound. The HKS suspension is working well, power thanks to CP-E is strong despite the 100 degree heat and the car is doing well. It's just the NOOB driver that is the weak link.
I pit and wait for the times to come in. I ran a mid 2:51 lap. Almost 10 seconds better than on the super worn daily use tires. Wow! I couldnt believe it. That put me in third as of round 1. Theres one more round and Im sure I can shave some time off. Not much but I know its possible.
Second timed session. I go out and give myself some space from the car in front. I drive much better and the AD08 tires are just amazing. Im still unsure of certain corners so I take a safe slow in, fast out approach. It means I wont get the absolute best time but better to finish and get points than crash, DNF, and not be able to get home! I come in and sure enough I knock about .5 seconds off. Official time of 2:50:826 which was in the end good for 3rd in Street FWD.
Now on to round 8 and hopes of finding the money to enter it and compete. Thanks again to everyone whos helped out so far, Yokohama, CP-E, TriPoint, HKS, Recaro and Rays Engineering. Others Im sure Ive left out and GT Channel of course. Also Robert Choo and Dsport magazine.
If youre wondering why no track photos. I just cant afford them at the moment.
For one, my marriage has ended and that massive amount of stress and strain would have taken a huge toll on my racing effort. While having that stress lifted of a dying relationship, it has unfortunately put me in a huge financial bind. One so difficult it really seemed as if competing in round 7 wouldn't happen. I had no funds to practice, test, or develop the car much further. The last round of improvements were for the Dsport magazine Test and Tune(Maybe you caught the car on their New Car Buyer's Guide DVD as well). Thanks to the help of Custom Performance Engineering and Robert Choo of Dsport, we finished installing the engine components. These were absent at Round 2(Willow Springs).
The list of components were: Front Mount Intercooler, Upgraded Fuel Pump, Standback ECU, and dyno tuning. The results were an additional 30 horses, about the same torque as last time (300lb ft) but a much broader power band and significantly more power up top.
There was a very substantial lift of additional changes to be made for the car, during the east coast events. The main items were corner balancing the car, a better LSD, and trying to get more negative camber up front. Some other wish list items included a front splitter, lighter battery, and additional weight reduction. Sadly those would not be the case as I spent most of the time between races just barely able to hold on to my house. Going as far as needing to sell most things I owned.
I was struggling to find any money to compete in round 7. Then things got really bad. I really needed seat time and on August 22nd I drove out to Buttonwillow Raceway for practice. I had not driven the car on track with the new power and really needed to get a feel for how it would perform. I scraped all the money I could and sold a few things and signed up for a track day.
Sadly, I get to the track. I run one session and notice engine temps are rather high. Second session out I am in my third lap and all of a sudden the temp gauge goes to hot and the check engine light comes on. Crap(well I used another four letter word)! I instantly back off, throw the heater to full blast and make a mental check of everything. I'm about a 1/4 mile from track exit, car just got hot, temps are 244.....I decide to not shut off the engine and limp in. Hoping the moving air will cool the car off. 244 shouldn't cripple the car, I couldn't understand why it wasn't cooling down as I coasted off the track.
I pop the hood and wham. Coolant everywhere. Literally everywhere. Reserve tank is empty and I can't for the life of me see where it escaped from. I check the oil and it's clear of coolant (thank god!) and seems healthy.
It's just too hot to try and poke around to see what happened. I walk away and call the tow truck and begin the two hour wait for it to arrive. After the car cooled I found the culprit. The silicone hose going from the engine to the radiator split open. WTF? Silicone hoses are supposed to be nearly indestructible.
I got towed home and took the car to Tri Point Engineering for inspection. My biggest concern was damaging the head gasket, and warping the head and block. They ran their tests and all seemed fine. I was massively relieved. As a safe measure we upgraded the radiator to a 2 row aluminum racing radiator. At the time we didnt know the cause of the hose bursting and I assumed it was due to the car over heating. Come to find out, the supplier of the silicon hose didnt cure the hose. This meant it wasnt as strong as it should be and when the pressure went up in the system, it burst.
None the less the bigger radiator was good insurance for racing in the Nevada heat just one month away. Unfortunately it also meant I spent money set aside for practice on the Saturday before the race on Sunday. Which is a problem. Ive never driven at Spring Mountain. I had no clue of track lay out, conditions, and its also an extremely technical track. No choice though. The plan was to drive to the track (couldnt trailer the car, no funds) and pray I finished in a decent position and the car held up so I could drive it home.
Saturday the 26th of October I wake up at 5am and drive out to Pahrump Nevada. Its a 6 hour drive through the dessert and theres a stretch with no mobile phone reception for 30 miles. 100 degrees outside and my dumb ass didnt have water in the car. I get to the track at 2pm. Go meet up with Robert Choo from Dsport who is racing an S2000 in Street RWD. Help him out that day and just pray I dont screw it all up. I luck out and at the end of the day I get a ride from an instructor for 2 laps to show me the line. Thank you Vincent! I go to my crappy motel and check in. Have dinner with Robert Choo, his wife Brook, Richard Fong from Dsport and various friends of theirs. Then I drive back to my room and sleep.
Race day, September 27th. I head out to the track. Unload all my gear and prepare the car for my two rounds of practice (roughly 18 laps total) before my first timed heat. At this point since I dont know the track I am unwilling to abuse the Yokohama AD08s Ive brought to race with. Instead I opt to use my street tires (narrower by 20mm, and also the older AD07 Yokohama) which are near worn out and have been heat cycled more times than I can count. I just need to learn the track lay out. Or thats what I tell myself. Problem is, I wont have a feel for grip, or steering or generally the handling characteristics of the car with the AD08 tires.
I go out and practice for both rounds and I get a best lap of 3 minutes 2 seconds and it stinks. Im slower than all the stock class FWD cars. The car wont turn. Its just understeer everywhere. The track is tight, lots of sweepers and decreasing radius turns. I am just dumbfounded. The car should be so much faster than this. Not much I can do.
I finish the second practice session and I switch to the 245/40 Yokohama AD08 tires mounted on 18x8.5 Volk CE28 wheels. This in contrast to the 225/40 AD07 on heavier 18x8 wheels. I let the car cool down, ice down the radiator and intercooler to help keep temps down and just wait. Keep in mind I barely know the track. Most of it is blind and its turn after turn after turn after turn. You get the idea.
Timed session 1. I go to the start grid. Im directly behind a stock class S2000. Normally I give myself plenty of room between the car in front and myself. This time when I was motioned to go I caught up to the S2000 as much as possible and used him to help me know the line. The first turn comes up and all of a sudden...the car turns, and it turns well and theres grip and Im not understeering like mad.
Thank god for newer tires. The AD08s are just a revelation and all of a sudden I get a boost of confidence in the car. So I start to pick up the pace and then Im actually gaining on the S2000 and could have passed it but I backed off to learn the car with this new found grip and handling. The AD08 is really an amazing tire. It just sticks like glue, its practically an R-compound. The HKS suspension is working well, power thanks to CP-E is strong despite the 100 degree heat and the car is doing well. It's just the NOOB driver that is the weak link.
I pit and wait for the times to come in. I ran a mid 2:51 lap. Almost 10 seconds better than on the super worn daily use tires. Wow! I couldnt believe it. That put me in third as of round 1. Theres one more round and Im sure I can shave some time off. Not much but I know its possible.
Second timed session. I go out and give myself some space from the car in front. I drive much better and the AD08 tires are just amazing. Im still unsure of certain corners so I take a safe slow in, fast out approach. It means I wont get the absolute best time but better to finish and get points than crash, DNF, and not be able to get home! I come in and sure enough I knock about .5 seconds off. Official time of 2:50:826 which was in the end good for 3rd in Street FWD.
Now on to round 8 and hopes of finding the money to enter it and compete. Thanks again to everyone whos helped out so far, Yokohama, CP-E, TriPoint, HKS, Recaro and Rays Engineering. Others Im sure Ive left out and GT Channel of course. Also Robert Choo and Dsport magazine.
If youre wondering why no track photos. I just cant afford them at the moment.
