Philly SCCA Mini of the Mainline Event #1

Photo by Anthony DiGiovanni

Welcome back readers.  On Sunday, April 19th, Philly SCCA had their first event of the season for points-- Mini of the Mainline Event #1.

The week following this event was full of racing action.  I had a test and tune on the previous Sunday, I had a track day on Wednesday of that week, and those events all led up to the first autocross of the season.

With over 150 entries, the season opener is always full of people and there is a limited amount of runs.  This means that there were only four runs for each person and therefore less opportunities to tweak the car's settings.

My run occurred in heat three.  During heat two, I took the opportunity to prep my car for the first run.  In addition, my friends Edd and Shawn ran in heat two!

Edd's Car

At the test and tune, I noticed that I was getting a lot of sidewall scrub at what seemed like the optimal tire pressure for a compromise of grip and oversteer for my heavy, front-wheel drive car.  So, I decided to change my tire pressures from low to high.  Here is what the tire pressures were at before I ran:

• Front Driver: 34 PSI
• Front Pass.: 32 PSI
• Rear Driver: 32 PSI
• Rear Pass: 30 PSI

It looks like they had changed since my track day since my tire pressures were two PSI lower on my passenger side than my driver side.  Maybe I don't remember changing them after some hot laps?  NJMP's thunderbolt does have a lot of left turns after all.  The pressures for the first run were:

• Front Driver: 40 PSI
• Front Pass.: 40 PSI
• Rear Driver: 36 PSI
• Rear Pass.: 36 PSI

For the second run, I noticed a lot of understeer.  Despite this I went down to 36 PSI in the rear while the tires were hot.  Note that hot PSI are always higher than cold PSI.  Think ideal gas law if you've ever been in a high school chemistry class.  Run 2:

• Front: 40 PSI
• Rear: 36 PSI

Second run was my best run.  I understeered like crazy into a corner after the turnaround at Warminster, but the time I made up in the slalom on the first half of the course made a huge difference.  I don't know why I didn't just wait to see if my brakes would heat up to allow me to stop sooner or if the increased tire temps would increase my quickness, but I guess I was just antsy.

Photo by Anthony DiGiovanni

I think that's one of the challenges with autocross for a guy like me.  I'm so tempted to make changes to the car when it may not be necessary.  I may have just been able to leave the car at the same tire pressures since I did so well in the first half of the course and just adjust my driving style for the second half of the course.

Photo by Anthony DiGiovanni

I guess it all comes with experience.  Anyway, I adjusted my tire pressures for the third run despite all of this.  Run three was as follows:

• Front: 38 PSI
• Rear: Same as before

Photo by Anthony DiGiovanni

Run three was actually slower than I predicted.  I got some pretty nasty oversteer in the first slalom and that slid me into the Chicago box on the firs thalf of the course.  As a result I decided to lower the rear tire pressure for the fourth run:

• Front: 36 PSI
• Rear: 32 PSI

The fourth run went better in the first half of the course, but again my brakes didn't bite as I had expected in the second half of the course...so I ended up hitting a cone head-on with my car.  It kind of sucked!  At the end of the day my best time was a 42.9 and I got third in DSP thanks to my mishap on the fourth run!

Photo by Anthony DiGiovanni

Despite all of this nonsense though, as you can see in the above picture, my friend Alex finally got to autocross his winter build known as Touge Turbo!  Go look up the hash tag on Instagram to see more his build!  #TougeTurbo

The video of my runs is below!  I even included cockpit video with this one and as usual I included commentary on my driving technique and on the car setup.  Thanks for reading guys!

Track Day Bro!

Hey readers!

With racing season upon us I will have many opportunities to fill your plates with plentiful portions of technical jargon, racecars, and fun, fast, and safe driving!  On April 15th, I experienced my first track day ever thanks to SCCA and their new program called "Track Night in America."

Track Night in America is aimed at newcomers who wish to enter into track racing from essentially any avenue.  Whether you're a kart racer, autocrosser, or traffic jam bum, if you want to get to racing then you can do so with Track Night in America thanks to the SCCA.  It is a safe, controlled environment where you can push the limits of your car.  

As a matter of fact, everyone I was driving with either autocrossed before or was a regular autocrosser!

Image from SCCA

With a price tag of $150 before a one day only $25 discount, I could not resist the temptation.  Although the track day occurred from 3 to 9 PM, cutting into the work day, so-to-speak, this price is nearly half the cost of an average track day with HPDE or Hooked on Driving or any other camp.  However, with any event comes preparation that needs to take place.

As mentioned in my previous article, one of the first things I tackled was the brake pad situation.  On the track, stopping and turning are much more important than going straight.  One of the first things mentioned on New Jersey Motorsports Park's tech form is that brake pads should have more than one half of their life left.  

Since I had been using my HP Plus pads for more than a season of autocross, I felt it was time to finally replace them.  Here's what the old pads looked like-- they definitely have some life left in them!

Next, I sent my car off to my good friend Alex who was supposed to align my car.  The desired settings were:

Front camber: -3.0 degrees

Rear camber: -2.0 degrees

Front and rear toe: Neutral

Caster: non-adjustable on the RSX

However, thanks to a seized rear eccentric bolt, rear toe was not adjustable.  Since Alex didn't want to do a half-good job of aligning my car, he stopped at rear camber and let me know that after four hours he was unable to do anything with the car.  Thanks anyway Alex!

In addition to my poor alignment, out of good will, while Alex was washing my car, my aero block-off plates came off!  I guess it's better it happened there than at the track!

So, not only was my alignment bad and my block-off plates had popped off, but there was a slew of other things I had to comb over before I brought the car on the track.  On the checklist I had:

• Fix front camber on driveway
• Fix front toe on driveway
• Make sure all bumper clips were securely fastened
• Tighten down the battery strap
• Install my new Hawks and bed them in
• And make sure all suspension components were in good order.

I started by jacking the car up and maxing out the camber, within reason, on my adjustable top hats.  The top hats are pictured below:

However once I did that, the car's toe was EXTREMELY out of whack.  The car tracked hard to the right, so I had to adjust the tie-rod ends with some guesswork.

After doing that I tightened down the battery strap, I tightened the lower locking collars on my coilovers, I checked all of the wheel bearings, I installed my pads, and I bedded them in.  Since I had done so much in just a couple of hours before I was due to leave, I took it easy on my way to New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP).

When I got there, I signed in at the gate, drove to Thunderbolt (one of two circuits at NJMP) and got set up at the paddock area.

I brought a couple of things with me to make sure I'd be able to lounge comfortably during the advanced and intermediate sessions, my friend's GoPro, and I also brought some tools with me to make sure the car would be in good hands.

This is, of course, in addition to my helmet, which you must have, my long-sleeve sweater, which you must have, my close-toe shoes, which you must have, and my long pants, which you also must have.

Here's a more detailed list of what I brought:

• A large tarp to cover my belongings
• A box of open-ended wrenches
• 10 mm through 14 mm deep sockets and a ratchet
• A small toolkit which was comprised of a small ratchet and multiple shallow sockets
• Allen wrenches
• A chair
• Dinner (PB&J)
• Lots of water
• GoPro
• GoPro charger
• Number plates-- in case we needed to be marked
• Painters tape-- to hold my magnetic number plates to the car
• A pen and some paper
• Sunscreen
• Helmet
• Sweater
• Jack stand

Note that I may have over-packed, but it was my first track day and I did not want to be unprepared.

Once set up, we held a driver's meeting.  During the driver's meeting we went over hand-signals to let people know that you want them to pass you, we went over passing zones, we went over flag signals, and we went over general tips to stay safe on the track.  The novice group had their own special leader who took the time to ensure we all had a fun, safe time on the track.  His name was Tom.  Thanks Tom!

After the driver's meeting, we filled out a self-tech form.  This form goes over everything from having your battery tied down, to discolored, cracked, or warped brake rotors, to no floor mats or loose items in the car.  We signed it to ensure that we were liable for any accidents and handed it over to the coordinators of the event.

Then, we headed out for paced laps to understand the corners on the track, including turn-in points, apex points, exit points, braking points, acceleration zones, and passing zones.  Here's the car that I was following-- an intermediate class STi!

After the paced laps, we sat and waited for the advanced driver (there was only one) to finish his run.  However, due to a stroke of bad luck, his drain plug came loose and he spilled some oil on the track.  According to my sources though, he was able to turn off the motor in time before damaging it!!  I'm happy to hear that.

As a result, there was a bunch of kitty litter put out on the track to make sure that no one slid on the oil.  This made for some tricky situations on its own, but it was definitely better than the greasy alternative, if you know what I mean.

After the mishap in the advanced group, we all waited for the intermediate group to get finished with their runs.  While we waited, I got some cool videos of the faster guys driving by!

And finally it was time for the beginner group to run.  Here's a map of Thunderbolt and the layout we ran for future reference:

Initially I took it slow.  I wanted to get a feel for the track and ramp up my corner speeds and get later and later in my braking zones to push the car.

Eventually I got comfortable on the track and really learned where I could push the car.  The turns that were covered in kitty litter initially tripped me up really bad.  And after the long front straight that leads into Turn 1 at NJMP, I learned that it was difficult to heel-toe due to the sheer magnitude of braking that needed to be done.

This area proved difficult to heel-toe downshift in

I wasn't passed once and after the first run everyone was asking who was driving the red Honda!

However, whenever you drive your car hard, it is to be expected that there may be some sort of mechanical issue.  When I popped the hood I noticed oil on one side of my valve cover and freaked out!  I quickly took off my intake manifold cover and while doing so I noticed that a bolt holding my valve cover on had come off.  The area is shown below:

So, I simply took a bolt from somewhere else in the engine bay and replaced the one that fell off with it.  Notice how there's no washer on the middle, front valve cover bolt as well.  That's because I took that washer and used it on the corner valve cover bolt.

After that, for the second run I took things easy at first.  I watched my temperature gauge and looked in my rear view for smoke.  I also kept my senses keen to make sure that no funny smells were coming from my engine bay.  With all things in check, I began to push the car a little harder and I still did not get passed once.

Finally, before I started the last lap, I asked the novice instructor, Tom, about one corner in particular that I did not know how to handle.  It was unlike some of the kinks that took place at high speeds because for those I could just let off the throttle, oversteer, and hit the gas.  It was also unlike the low-speed technical corners where I could slam the brakes, oversteer, and hit the gas.  

He ended up telling me to keep the car in forth gear, brake gradually, and let off gradually.  Doing so induced corner entry oversteer and allowed me to power out of the corner.  Here's the corner I'm talking about:

If you want to take a look at my driving, check out this video!  It has a lot of comments to help you guys see what I was thinking and what I was doing to be slower or faster through given sections and corners!  Maybe if you want to get into track racing this will help you!

At the end of the day I ended up meeting a bunch of people and having an amazing time.  Everyone agreed that I was the fastest of the day and I learned so much and had a blast driving with the other novices.  People kept asking if my car was turbocharged and how much displacement I had.  When one driver heard I had an N/A 2.0 liter motor he was shocked!

When I was leaving, some instructors even stopped by and asked who was driving the "red Honda" as everyone called it.  They said, yeah, "you're definitely ready for intermediate group!"

It felt so good finally being fast-- as compared to autocross where all of the lighter cars with better tires destroy me.  I guess we'll see how I do next time!  But for now, I'm gonna sign off.  Hope you had fun reading!

Spaz's Type-S: Car Bro Bonding and Memory Building in the Midwest

A Man and His Masterpiece

Hello readers and welcome back to Lexi.Laron where I give you some of the best modified car content on the web.

In this addition I'm going to talk about my last weekend here in Wisconsin and what I did on one splendid Saturday with my friend, Zack.

For those of you who don't know, Zack or "Spaz," he is a huge contributor to the modified Honda community.  

He etched a name for himself after becoming recognized by Honda Tuning for his large amount of DIY's on ClubRSX and to this day he continues to make waves.  For example, he has already secured multiple sponsorship deals from such reputable companies as Hybrid Racing and has recently gotten Top1 Motors' support.

Type-Spaz's Satin Silver Metallic RSX Type-S on the Cover of Honda Tuning Magazine

It all started after a long night of playing Gran Turismo 6.  I woke up at 12:00 PM, tired as hell, picked up my phone, read through some Facebook, checked out some Instagram, and got the message from Zack to come over for one last time before I go home.  What better way to spend my last weekend here than in a garage, am I right?  (Car people will understand)

I packed up a box of free engine parts that I needed to get rid of before moving back to PA:

Got in my whip:

And I rolled up in the crib to see some ceramic coated hot-side turbo piping and a slew of other tools:

This is Zack's engine bay:

When your engine bay looks this good, it's not too hard to understand why Spaz is such a well-known name in the RSX and Honda community.  And with the K24A2 Acura TSX engine adorned in Hybrid Racing goodies with slews of custom-fabbed parts all placed beautifully into a meticulously well-kept shaved and tucked engine bay, it's hard to imagine how this setup can get any better, right?

Well, not exactly.  Throw in a Precision 6262 journal bearing turbo, Full Race sidewinder turbo kit, ceramic coated hot side piping and a hot-side turbo housing, and a custom-painted cold-side turbo housing, and you've got yourself a serious beauty on your hands.  Zack mocked it up to show me the new look he was going for.  Can't wait until she's running again Spaz!!!

After gawking at his setup for like two minutes like I always do when I see Zack's car, it was time to get down to business.  And so we put a list together of stuff that needed to be finished on the car and got to work.

First up on the list was a pesky oil leak.  Exhibit A:

This Christmas Tree of janky fittings is Zack's way of sending pressure signals from the AEM sensor and the OEM sensor and for feeding the turbo via the turbo feed line.

If you take a look at the next picture, you'll see where the leak was found:

Since the engineer is always the gerbil, wriggling away to quickly and efficiently work on extremely detailed tasks which carry questionable significance, I decided it would be a good idea to volunteer to fix this thing.

And for all fairness, I helped make this monstrosity in the first place, so I figured I'd try to fix it and make amends with my ghetto ways.  So first I laid out all of the brass fittings:

And while I did that, Zack got to work trimming his new throttle cable to further tuck his bay:

I then grabbed me some thread sealant and clamped the first tee down into a vice:

I wanted to recreate the old setup, just this time I didn't want it to leak.  So what that meant in my head was that I could put a tight layer of thread sealant on the threads of each fitting, tighten the fittings as much as reasonably possible, since they're cheap, and then tighten the sensors to a reasonable extent since they're more expensive than fittings.

After assembling the little piece shown above I placed the elbow on top of the tee and double checked all of my threads before I wrapped them with tape.  And then I tightened the elbow down as much as possible using the vice:

Then I put a NIPPLE on the ELBOW using the vice....NIPPLE

Then I put this crap together:

And found out that the AEM sensor wouldn't fit, so I would have to grind down the back side of the tee:

Here's the AEM unit screwing in:

And here's my little Christmas Tree:

Zack went and bought a sandwich plate shortly after.  HAHAH.  I can't blame him.  

Here he is being a stud:

Yet the wild Spaz can be found often in his natural habitat looking apparently idle, yet his looks are deceiving.  At all moments, he is pondering, thinking of the next thing to modify on his car.  Like a wild beast when he finds a problem or when he gets an itch on his face, he RUNS to action, fixing whatever needs to be fixed, building whatever needs to be built, modifying it all!  MODIFY ALL THE THINGS!

And since we now know the wild Spaz's true nature, we shouldn't be surprised that the wild Spaz was not just sitting idle, but was fixing a leak for his catch can!  And in the process he even managed to make his car look better by tucking the line under his Hybrid Racing Edition Innovate Motor Mounts!  STUDLY if you ask me ;)

When I first met Zack he took me for a ride in his RSX...a very torque-steery, smile-producing, skin-tingling, muscle-car-whooping ride.  It was at that moment that Zack first explained to me that his downpipe would not fit past his swaybar...and so he had to remove it.  So we had to fix that, now didn't we?

And after getting the dump tube mocked up, Zack and I clamped it onto the exhaust:

Then we tried to fit in the O2 sensors.

However, we had to cut off a pesky exhaust hanger to make the primary sensor fit.  So, we broke out the cutoff wheel:

Cool picture of cut off exhaust hanger:

Now, let's shift focus to my car, shall we?  When I bought my Type-S it came with a trailer hitch on the back of it..You may be able to see it here:

It was so ugly and useless that Zack let me pull my car in his garage to cut that thing off!

With the two RSX's in the garage I got to work-- propping Arcie up in the air.

Then I strapped on some goggles, gave the double Spaz-Approved and hopped under the car!

Voila!!!  It's off!

________________________________________________________________________

This experience has meant so much to me.  Not just working on our cars in the garage this one time, but being in Wisconsin with great people like Zack.

And not just Zack, but all of the amazing people whom I first met up with when I came out here.  People like Mike of Secret Society and people like Zack are extremely important in the car community.  However people like this aren't just important as car enthusiasts, they're important as friends.  And guys, don't think I'll ever forget how hospitable and graceful you all were.

Until then, hopefully I can be back out to the Midwest to chill with my Midwest friends.  I plan on coming back out for some of the great tracks out here and maybe even for Import Atlanta.  Whatever I come back out here for, I'm sure that there will always be good friends to meet me.  And that's all that matters.