The Wing

Posted: 4th June 2012 by Jason in Aero, DIY, The Car
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We weren’t sure which direction we were headed when starting this project. Initially, we were planning on keeping the stock wing intact (primarily for rigidity) and that’s how it all started.

We put together 3-4 cardboard templates which were generated from tracing the stock wing and extending it 2″ to hit the rear hatch in the front and 2″ out in the rear. The material we used was 1/4″ thick foamed PVC, the same material most of the aero pieces were created from. Once the template was close enough we traced onto the plastic and cut with a jig saw and cleaned it up with the belt sander. The other pattern traced onto the plastic is our splitter. We figured it was good to have it drawn in case it ever explodes from one of Joseph’s many off roading experiences and we need to recreate it.

Initially, we were going to heat the material and form it around the sides of the stock wing. After staring at it and thinking about it, we just weren’t happy with how it was going to look from the rear sitting on top of the curved rear wing and it was looking too cool just the way it was.

We had a spare wing sitting up in the rafters of the garage, so we rolled the dice and hacked off the lip to clean up the view from the rear. The risk was the loss of rigidity from losing that lip on the wing. Time will tell if it was the right move or not.

Here it is mocked up and temporarily riveted into place. Needs a little more shaping on the sander. You can see the stock wing and stock struts below. Our wing has never been operable because we gutted so much of the electronics in the car. Its possible that it could be manually cranked down a couple of notches, but we have not tried it yet.

And here it is with the cut wing cleaned up and painted and everything riveted into place. We’ll see how it holds up on NJMP’s Lightning circuit in a couple of weeks. I think we’ll bring a spare stocker just in case 😉

Let us know what you think and if you have any suggestions. It definitely wasn’t a complicated project but really changes the look of the car.

A Few New Things to Share

Posted: 3rd June 2012 by 4amRacing in DIY, Miscellaneous, The Car
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The Booster

First and foremost, the brake booster replacement. We went with a remanufactured, 1987, VW Golf, nonABS booster replacement. The install went well, with none of the usual “it’s never easy” frustration moments when something else seems to brake while fixing what was already broken. Since we had to remove the brake lines from the master cylinder to gain access to the booster anyway, we figured now was a good time to go ahead and flush the entire system with new Motul RBF600, which is what we had on hand. We are anxious to try the NEO 610 fluid that we’ve heard good things about, but ended up using what we had on hand; maybe next time. Fingers crossed we are back in business.

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The Wing
This is one of those projects that we’ve tossed around for a while now. Not a project that is totally necessary, but we were interested to see what sort of effect it would have on the car’s performance. Fortunately for us, we had a spare OE wing laying around so when we were faced with the decision of hacking up the wing to make this project work, we didn’t have to stress over it too much. We’ll keep you posted.  For the complete write-up, check here

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The Studs
I’ll be honest and say we were budget shopping when we bought our original set of studs and nuts for this build and it’s been heavy on my mind ever since. Although we’ve never had an actual problem while out on track with our stud/nut setup, we have had a few of the nuts gum-up and become impossible to remove from the stud. Once we finally exhausted all the spares that we had on hand, it was time to order some new ones and figured now was the best time to upgrade. We found Track-Studs.com and picked up a set of 80mm “race series” studs and nuts. So far they are great. Time will only tell.

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Joseph’s Helmet
Full write-up to follow… someday.

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Data Overlay
Using the same LRP video we recently posted, we tried out a new data overlay video software.  Previously we were using RaceChronoAvi, but needed a bit more control so we opted to purchase RaceRender for a mere $25 USD – so far we dig it.  There are a few things we wish we had a bit more control over, but for now we’ll work with it and see what we can come up with.  Let us know what you think.

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A Couple Videos

Posted: 28th May 2012 by 4amRacing in Events, Lime Rock Park, Summit Point
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Lime Rock Park.  June, 2011.  This was the first session of the day and ultimately the only dry session.

Summit Point Shenandoah Circuit.  Also the first session of the day for me, and ultimately the last due to the brake booster failure.  First time at Summit Point, first time on the Shenandoah circuit.  Excuse the over-brightness of the exterior footage – we were off our game in a few respects this event.

Summit Point – Shenandoah Circuit w/ TrackDaze

Posted: 24th May 2012 by 4amRacing in Events, News, Summit Point
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We wish we had better news and a lot more to say about our time on the Shenandoah circuit at Summit Point, but unfortunately our day in the sun was over just as fast as it started.  Having said that, the weekend started out great overall.  We managed to get an early start on Saturday tackling  our list of To-Do items prior to the event.  We opted to swap out the two front ball joints this season which was a suggestion by our good buddy, Olaf at Atomic Motorsports.  We also swapped in the new battery and did a second pre-track safety inspection which included, among other things, checking and re-tightening the rear wheel bearings.

After a day of packing and preparations we finally got on the road around 9pm Saturday night and made our way down to Summit Point in West Virginia to spend Sunday running with our new friends at TrackDaze.  We arrived at the track around 2am, popped the top on the van and grabbed some much needed sleep.

7am, we were up and ready to pull the car out of the trailer for tech.  We introduced ourselves to the guys at TrackDaze, put the car through tech, registered and were ready to tackle the day.  After the driver’s meeting and some last minute preparations, Jason was on deck and ready for his first session.  Since neither of us had ever been on this track before, Jason opted to do a lead-follow with one of the veteran instructors, Frank, and his badass, Dastsun 240Z.  To kills two birds with one stone, I got the oportunity to ride in Frank’s car at the same time he did the lead-follow with Jason, showing us both the racing line.  We are happy to report, both Jason and I made it out alive.

Thirty minutes later it was my turn.  Admittedly nervous, I buckled in, forgot my earbuds, fumbled with not having both of my gloves and ultimately getting out on track a few minutes late, I did manage to actually complete my entire session without serious incident.

At this point I’d like to take the time to say how much we enjoyed the guys at  TrackDaze, their professionalism and their schedule.  They pride themselves, among other things, by how much track time they provide and they sure did deliver.  Sadly for us, although the schedule looked great on paper, we broke after only one session each and didn’t get to take advantage of all that time on track.  Jason went out for his second session shortly after the lunch break and radioed in mid way through his warm-up lap that he had brake problems.   Fortunately for us, the power assist portion of the brakes failed at a relatively slow section of the track so he was able keep the car under control and nurse it back into the pits alleviating the need for a tow and subsequent yellow flag, which of course, would have potentially delayed the session for the rest of the drivers out on track.

After a quick diagnosis, we determined that the brake booster system had failed.  We had hoped it was the one-way vacuum line check-valve from the manifold to the booster, but feared it might be more.  We made a mad dash to the nearest Autozone 15 minutes away and determined to not be put out of commission by a $6 check-valve, we bought two just in case.  We made our way back to the track and upon installation of the new check-valve we realized that the brake booster itself had failed.  Our day was done.

There were a few good things that came out of our trek down to Summit Point.  We made some new friends, put a few faces to forum screen names/emails, introduced ourselves to a new track and kicked off our season earlier than we had in previous years.  With this hiccup out of the way we look forward to a strong rest of the season.

We’ve slightly altered our schedule again.  We are shooting for NJMP Lightning Circuit on Saturday & Sunday, June 23 & 24 with TrackDaze once again.  Our hope is to get down there Friday night between 7 & 10Pm, set up camp and enjoy the weekend!  Hopefully we’ll see some familiar faces.

As always, thanks to our good friends at TyrolSport for all of their support.  The rigidity of our car as a direct result of the cage they built was evident at such a technical track like the Shenandoah circuit at Summit Point.

Our 2012 Season…

Posted: 10th May 2012 by 4amRacing in Events, News
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… is kicking off, barring any unforeseen issues,Sunday, May 20th at Summit Point’s Shenandoah Circuit with TrackDaze.  This event will entail a trifecta of firsts for us; first event of the 2012 season, first event with TrackDaze and first time at Summit Point… wish us luck!

We’ve followed through and checked these items off our to-do list:

  • Changed the throw-out bearing
  • Replaced the transmission fluid with 2 quarts of Amsoil MTG (GL-4)
  • Changed the engine oil
  • Flushed and refilled the engine with destilled water and water-wetter
  • Swapped out the starter (which may or may not have been bad after all)
  • New battery (just added to the list)

As always, we’d like to send our thanks to Olaf at Atomic Motorsports and the crew over at TyrolSport.  We can’t speak highly enough about all these guys.

We’ll keep you posted!

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