curly

iTrader: (25)

Working fine for me. This is a day and a half later of course.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

Ya it got fixed.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

So first track day was Wednesday 3/18.

The Good:
engine ran great
car handled great for the 1-2 real dry laps I ran

The Bad:

goose poop + damp morning track + mold release RC1's = ahahahahahaha just stay on track and don't die

The Ugly:

gastrointestinal bugs **** your **** up.


Normally, I like to eat. Growing up as a competitive swimmer, food is your friend. I mean, NOBODY has bolemia on the swim team. You need that 5000 calories a day. In high school the average McDonalds run for me was: 3 Big Macs, 2 fries, 2 apple pies, 2 cokes. I was 6'2 165 lbs eating that much through college.

So Wednesday, I was having trouble finishing breakfast, and I thought that was weird. But whatever, TRACK DAY bro, let's go! The first warmup session was .... a joke for me. The weather was dry, so no reason to put the Hoosier H20's on, but the morning dew was on the track, and the goose poop was on the track. I did two laps and called it. It was like driving on ice.

Later that morning, I mentioned to Curly that I wasn't "feeling it." First track day, should be excited, new engine, new tires, lovely day - couldn't get it going.

After listlessly consuming lunch, we had the next session, when the track was finally completely dry. I did several laps following a Mini S, which finally pointed me by on the main straight, and then proceeded to drag race me all the way to the braking zone for T1. Quite irritated, I proceeded to cook T1, and did a lovely piroutte, safely off onto an apron out of the way of traffic.

As I sat there waiting for an opening, I realized that something Was Not Right with myself, beyond just getting irritated with the Mini driver. So I brought the car around and parked it for the day, skipping the last two sessions.

I drove the car home on the RC1's, about 10 miles, parked the car without unpacking it or the trailer, ate a bowl of chicken soup, fell asleep watching some NCAA scrub game, and went to bed at 7:00pm running a fever.

At which point the GI bug became fully active. My night was quite horrendous, with a perpetual "I've got pressure to burp, but can't burp, and every now and then I get a shot of stomach acid in the throat", along with unmentionable bowel disasters. I put on my fleece sweatpants, a longsleeve shirt, and my heat-reflective warm shirt underneath the comforter trying to stay warm in the grip of the fever. Finally about 4:30am I was able to actually go to sleep, and was able to sleep until about noon.

Thursday was spent in my pajamas, kicked back on the floor with the study pillow, watching NCAA round 1 madness, with the weakness from "hey, my body is weak from hunger, but I'm not hungry." As far as days to be laid up go, that's pretty much ideal.

But - it rained all day Thursday. And Friday. The car sat on the RC1's with the trailer unpacked in the driveway. The only real disadvantage to Cobalt brakepads is the brake dust - you don't want to let the wheels sit in the rain with the dust on them. What was easily washed off becomes a rust oxide crust that you have to scrape off with a plastic scrubby for an hour. So that's what I did Saturday.


Overall a pretty lack luster outing for my first track day of the season. But, I am proud of myself for stopping driving when I did. It was the right call.


I have footage, but there's nothing really worth watching other than my spin. I'll get it posted to the asshat driving thread at some point.


Edit: I measured my Rotrex inlet, it is 51mm, so I have a C30-74. Perhaps the dynojet used by English Racing is more conservative than that used in other measurements. Who knows.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

So where is the missing boost? Is this not the same blower that should readily take you to 300whp, particularly this close to sea level?

Sorry to hear about that bug. Wow. Sucks being in a funk, particularly for that first track day. I presume you're all better now?

EO2K

iTrader: (37)

Jeeze, that sounds like what I went through for Miatas @ MRLS. Glad you are recovered through. Also, I have to ask... goose poop?

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

Literally goose ****. Like geese poop all over the track. Also I thought that ER was a relatively high reading dyno. I still think you are missing boost.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

Yes, goose poop. As in, lots of geese, and they poop. On the track of course. If you look at the location of PIR on google maps, you will see we are very close to a wetlands area and we border a golf course. On Wednesday there was a flock of perhaps 2000(?) geese in the immediate vicinity.

Also I forgot something.

The Bad:
The Racing Beat NB test pipe. Holy ****, this ****** does not fit.

1. The resonator is too ******* big when you first install it, the rearmost underchassis brace cannot be bolted up. The resonator is too big. Disregard RB's application notes, they say the mid brace conflicts. They are smoking dope. The mid brace bolts up fine, but the rear brace will not. For those of you with NB's, the mid bar and the frontmost bar will both conflict with the resonator. Otherwise, it is fine for street driving.
   
   
   
2. The resonator is too ******* big for track driving. It hits the differential, and/or the left rear suspension pickup. I tried various methods of restraining it with hose clamps to no avail. Under track conditions, with G loading, and with accel / decel loads on the engine (with a RB header, stock hangers, and with new MazdaComp mounts) this midpipe hits things. I can minimize engine movement with different mounts, but I don't think there's any way I can minimize it enough to keep the RB midpipe from hitting things. Just swinging it side to side by hand I could make it hit things.

So, disappointing fail there. I am back to my stock catless midpipe. It will do for now.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

The missing boost - **** if I know. I can only assume at this point that English Racing's dyno reads comparitively lower than other dynos. Significant differences do exist between dynos. If I get a chance I'll dyno with the 80mm pulley at both PRE and English Racing, that will give a Dyno Dynamics to Dynojet comparison.

EO2K

iTrader: (37)

Sweet jesus, I thought "goose poop" was some sort of clever colloquialism. Also, WTF Racing Beat midpipe? Mine fits like a glove. Of course, I have an NB1

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

Have you tracked or autocrossed with it yet? Mine seemed fine as well on the street.

curly

iTrader: (25)

So after you measured the Brotrex size, are we still thinking we're missing boost? Or is it a brotrex and not a Brotrex?

18psi

iTrader: (76)

isn't ER dyno a dynojet? in which case it can't really be "low reading".

I mean the bottom line is the car is solid, and I'm sure its plenty quick, so I'm sure you're not loosing sleep over it.

The whole goose poop and stomach bug thing though, ouch.

EO2K

iTrader: (37)

Yep, I beat on it pretty good at Miatas@MRLS this last year. No banging, no fuckery.

I was on all RB components from the block to the rear bumper and all my hangers are the ancient OEM ones that came with the stock exhaust. The one on the midpipe was reinforced with a hose clamp and a pair of zip ties, but no modifications other than that.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

Autocrossed Saturday and Sunday. Car ran great, felt great. RC1's for autocross are ... ok. Beginning of each run was a bit of a skatefest but towards the end of the run they would start to grip. I am running the front sway on the stiffer setting which is keeping the car noticeably flatter.

Need moar Hoosier A7's in my life

Ended up 9th overall, 3rd in class. Most vehicles ahead of me were on Hoosiers, except for Oregonmon's NA. He was on RS3's - 225 on 9, same as my RC1s.

I would be very interested in a test day where he and I could swap wheels/tires. My gut feeling is that they are very similar compounds. I would not be surprised if the RS3's actually have more grip when cold.

I have data from Saturday, but didn't get it right somehow for Sunday.

Sex shot before videos (click it)




Saturday Run 1


Saturday Run 2


Saturday Run 3


Saturday Run 4. Maximum Attack!



All six of Sundays' runs. Each is better than the last.



Sunday I tried leaving the top up to help airflow to the wing. I don't think it worked, soft top is too not-smooth, and I think the weight being higher outweighed (see what I did there) any benefit of additional airflow to the wing.

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

I watched your first run on Sunday. Full on tokyo drift halfway through the slalom

Car sounds epic. I think it should stay that loud.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

You've got them switched. the first 4 videos are Saturday runs, and the last video is all Sunday's runs together.

Was fun to watch the car on Sunday. Thing's loud.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

It's even louder atm, burning through an exhaust gasket. Will all be fixed soon.

It will still be loud but shouldn't sound like a giant mutant angry bumbebee.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

I fixed the Saturday/Sunday error.

After the autocross, after some deliberation, I switched back to my stock COT endplates.

Stock COT endplates: 19.2 oz, both add a total of +2" to wing

Singular COT endplates: 48 oz

COT Wing without endplates: 105 oz.

My reasoning is this - for autocross, with lower speeds and correspondingly lower efficiency gains, that extra 2 lbs up high is hurting me more than the incremental downforce benefit I get for the larger endplate.

For track usage with a splitter, I would keep them on. Unfortunately my splitter has yet again not made it high enough on the project heap to actually reach physical existence, so for now I can't run enough angle on the wing on track to justify the Singular endplates either. They will store nicely in the garage during my NZ adventure.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

So some of you are aware there have been plans percolating in my life for an expatriate year in New Zealand.

Those plans all crystalized this past week, and we are moving July 1st. So I have a ******* assload of house packing and house projects to complete. June will be entirely moving-project time.

I do plan to run events that I'm currently signed up for through May, and possibly a June 4th trackday as a final farewell. That gives me 5 track days and 2 more autocrosses, pretty decent total. Need to make lots of smoke with the RC1's.

The current plans:

The house

Put furniture into a Pod. Use one room in the basement for local storage - my stereo stuff, the beer fridge, wings/hoods/seats, etc. Rent the house as unfurnished.

The Garage

Partition it in half. Cram all my tools & **** into the back locked half. Let the renters have the front half for bikes & strollers and ****.

The Dog.

Initial plan was to take Dog to New Zealand. Further cost analysis ... holy ****. I mean, holy ****. Goddam. Dog will stay with friends. Sorry dog. Sorry me.

The Man-van.

The Odyssey will stay either with the same friends that get the dog, or with another set of friends.

The 2000 Forester.

We will either sell this to friends who have expressed interest, or Craigslist it if we fear it may collapse and die once we sell it to them. Trooper. Runs gud.

The Miata.

Going to stay with a trusted bro. Yes, thank you for your interest, it is noted. I appreciate your offer. Nobody that frequents this board qualifies except for Curly. Him I would trust, but he's got like 3 miatas at once in various stages of reconstruction at any given time, and I fear his Home Owners Association would choose MY CAR to be the one they tow in protest, because of course they would.

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

You know if you run out of storage space I would take really great care of you RC-1's and wheels

Take them out for weekly smoke breaks. Really wear them down so they would be nice and rested when you came home.

For real though a year in NZ sounds amazing. I had a friend growing up that got to do it and he said it was one of the best experiences he'd ever had.