TopGear8

iTrader: (3)

Video from today's 3rd and final run. Running DSP for the day.


The smoke started just after I pulled into the pits.

MikeTyson8MyKids

iTrader: (1)

Can't tell anything from that..lol.

Just let us know what you find on the plugs and/or coolant loss at the tank...pressure test would be good too. One at ambient, another at operating temp (as close as you can get anyway).

BRODA

iTrader: (7)

Congrats on the win in Mineral Wells, Mark

gatorbait

Congrats Mark, great driving today. I promise to do everything that I can to match your success against the east coast boys this coming weekend. Jeff H, you or me, No BRZ's!

Simmons-Racing

iTrader: (1)

Don't worry, we couldn't even beat Hurst on Saturday at Meadowlands.


Simmons

JeffH

It's either coolant or oil. Both have distinct smells. This past weekend at the end of run something similar happened to my car while I was in the passenger seat. It started sputtering pretty bad and blowing smoke at the end of a run. My first thought was ohh ****, blown motor but it was idling fine afterwards. Checked the plug wires and they were on solid so revved it up a few times and it blew a bunch of oil smoke out. A few more times and a launch and the car has been fine since. Thinking I overfilled the engine oil and there was build up somehow in the intake. Hoping so at least.

All_Day_Dre

iTrader: (2)

Gentlemen,

I have a question, I was wondering what would be a good suspension set-up for autox. i daily drive but also autox 8-10 times a year. I was wondering what combo provides good functionality on both the streets and the course. I was thinking either d-specs/s-tech (which are adjustable) or koni/s-tech, i would prefer to avoid coilovers, for now anyway. eventually i may go to a wider wheel but i worry about rubbing as well. ive searched around for suspension and while ive gotten loads of good info i was just looking for some opinions. thanks guys

TopGear8

iTrader: (3)

Ran the car today down with the ATL Region. 4 runs and no smoke. So far so good.

I also ran the BFG's for the first time and boy did they feel like ice the first few runs out. I started around 35psi all around and by run 4 was down to 32 front and 30 rear. They started to feel better but still felt very tail happy.

Jeff, how did you like them this weekend and what pressure did you find they liked?

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

Congrats and consolations to Jeff Hurst for a close 2nd place finish and hard fought battle to just be edged out of 1st in STX at the NJ Pro Solo. It could have gone that way for me at Mineral Wells so I can appreciate fighting it out down to the last turn and charge across the finish.

At least you put the slam dunk on that Simmons traitor

The Open Challenge results weren't posted so I'm not sure what went down for you guys there



.

gatorbait

The Jeff / Andrews battle yesterday was very fun to watch. I was staged behind Jeff and he was nailing the start and first slalom every run.

I learned that I am no good at reacting to the old incandescent tree. I could never get consistent or good reaction times. I realize just how important getting to as many Pro's as possible is to being competitive at them.

The car was good on course, but adapting to the grip and bumps at the Meadowlands was difficult. Having Dave there would have been a huge help as we could have compared notes. I hit most of the cones by turning in and not expecting the amount of initial bite, thus clipping with the inside rear. Its a great site and I wish it was closer to home. SO BIG and SO MUCH FUN.

Still too early to say if the Rivals are better than the RS3's from last year. I like them, but they do some strange things, especially under throttle for me.

All in all a great weekend of learning and watching some great competition.

JeffH

Thanks Mark. Didn't get a chance to congratulate you on your win. Great job. Wish I could've pulled it out like you did.

It was a great weekend with highs and lows. Fun competing with Jeff and the other STX/STR guys. Nothing like moving into first with an I don't know how I did it kind of run only to get knocked back down. The car went from slightly tail happy Saturday to super loose Sunday morning. Anything more than half throttle corner exit and it was sideways. Not much different from what happened to me at the Pro Finale. So need to figure out what's causing this to happen.

Not sold on the Rivals yet either. Ran many events last year using the RS3's on the surface. I would say so far the Rivals work better when cold and transition better but my butt dyno and data says peak lateral is slightly lower with longitudinal grip being similar. Having to yet test the ZII, my gut feeling is it's the better tire when the surface is rubbered in.

As for Simmons, I hear the car may available to the highest bidder.

Still processing information but I'm leaning to putting an RX-7 Torsen in before next weekend to test it out.

JeffH

After watching video from Sunday, the car was only loose on left hand turns. Front sway bar was set asymmetric with the softer setting on the right side. Maybe an asymmetric sway bar setting is not the best idea. Whiteline did testing showing higher forces at the side with the stiffer setting. Results in the link below:

http://www.whiteline.com.au/articles...metric_adj.pdf

Thoughts?

fossumja

iTrader: (4)

Assuming the bar is free to rotate in the bushings, there should be no difference in roll resistance left to right. However, there will be a subtle difference due to an assymetric jacking force that will be similar to a difference in roll center heights. I would be suprised if this is noticeable though.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

There could be any number of reasons for the issue. I use half swaybar settings regularly and haven't ever noticed a direct correlation.

The ZIIs are extremely heavy. A pair of those in 255/40-17 were 59 lbs while the same size pair of BFGs are are 50 lbs. Might not be the best choice for a low hp/tq vehicle.


.

JeffH

Makes sense. I'm not sure what would cause the results whilteline found. Friction from the bushings?

Also found this info:

Dynamic Load Transfer

"It's interesting to think about an asymetrical sway bar set up - shorter lever on one side, longer on the other. Weight transfer will be the same as for non-asymetrical set up. But wheel rate will increase on the short lever side (less movement in bump), and decrease on the long lever side (more movement in rebound)."

Bumps were in play at the Pro. Pitch was another concern mentioned by others. There were hard braking zones as well where I was turning in that the car would step out as well in the same direction.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

sure you really want to do that?

JeffH

Leaning towards, hell no.

Also think the stock diff is causing a bunch of my headaches with anything off camber, the outside wheel being too fast to let loose.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

Good luck in Dover this weekend

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

looks like Jeff managed to keep the back end under him for his last run and leap frogged Mike for a sizable STX lead in Dover at the NE Championship Tour event. Pretty big gap back from Mike to 3rd so this is likely to be an RX8/BFG 1-2 finish tomorrow



.

TopGear8

iTrader: (3)

The car is running good for me right now, still trying to decide what pressures I like for the BFG's. and I'm turning my shocks..probably in the wrong direction!

It was fun battling with Jeff, looking forward to tomorrow!

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

Mike was a little faster today, but couldn't make up his deficit to Jeff from Saturday. Congrats to you both.



2013 Atlantic Championship Tour
April 27-28, 2013

**** UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (INFORMATIONAL ONLY) ****

PRONTO TIMING SYSTEM

Class standings for STX [11 Cars] (4/28/2013 12:45:36 PM)

---------------------------------------------------------
T 1 91 Jeff Hurst 2004 Mazda Rx-8 Black BFGoodr
46.195 46.319 45.268 92.013
47.137 47.014 46.745
---------------------------------------------------------
T 2 96 Michael Kuhn 2004 Mazda RX8 Black BFGoodr
45.966 45.990 45.904 92.594
46.986 46.703 46.690 (0.581)
---------------------------------------------------------
T 3 89 Peter Appell 0 BMW 325is White Dunlop*
48.670 49.203 47.749 95.710
47.961 48.233 48.082 (3.116)
---------------------------------------------------------
T 4 9 Paul Fink 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX Dunlop*
47.681 49.422(1) 53.056(1) 95.730
49.018 48.229 48.049 (0.020)
---------------------------------------------------------
5 68 Mike Kline 1993 BMW 325is White Dunlop*
51.356(1) 48.864 48.114 96.526
48.412 48.903 49.281 (0.796)
---------------------------------------------------------
6 168 Pat Griffith 1993 BMW 325IS White Dunlop*
48.756 48.618 48.122 97.046
49.258 60.478(1) 48.924 (0.520)
---------------------------------------------------------
7 144 Keith Kasmire 1997 BMW 328is Blue BFGoodr
48.171 48.580 49.052 97.188
49.017 52.793(2) 49.605 (0.142)
---------------------------------------------------------
8 86 Michael Ferrucci 2013 Scion FR-S White Dunlop*
56.377 48.853 48.453 97.278
49.592 50.672(1) 48.825 (0.090)
---------------------------------------------------------
9 44 Jonathan Duprey- 1997 BMW 328is Blue BFGoodr
49.558 49.218 49.211 98.497
53.041(1) 50.446 49.286 (1.219)
---------------------------------------------------------
10 32 Andre Downey 2002 Subaru wrx red Hankook
51.311 50.940 50.216 99.984
50.650 49.796 49.768 (1.487)
---------------------------------------------------------
11 6 Christopher Posa 2006 BMW 325xi Wagon Si BFGoodr
52.802 51.869 51.528 103.655
52.127 54.553(1) 52.582 (3.671)

randallprince

Anyone know anything about Paul Fink's WRX?

As a note, I drove Pete's 325is last year at the Match Tour. Almost no power mods and needed work on setup / camber, so 3 seconds back is about right for that car.

Great fight for Mike and Jeff!!

Hey Mike, any thoughts on Day 1 deficit?

JeffH

Thanks Mark! Got the rear settled by going softer all around and needed every bit of it.

It was both a fun and challenging weekend. The challenging part made possible by Mike Kuhn's great driving both days. Day 1, feeling like I had put together pretty good runs, I was still behind. Thanks to SoloStorm and staying focused I was able to execute a pretty solid run dropping about .8. Going in day 2 it felt I needed all it with Mike eclipsing my times each run and continuing to go faster. 3rd run with no other way to soften the car I dropped the pressure out of the tires. With the car feeling better I drove a tighter and more conservative line. A last minute decision to try a downshift into 1st cost me a few tenths but there wasn't much left out there. For those who haven't been to Dover, the surface on one side of the lot is very bumpy and gravels up pretty bad. Running 4th heat, or probably any other, there was no line other than the one everyone else was driving. I think we both did the best we could, Mike better than I.

After a back to back weekends with great competition, can't wait until Toledo.

gatorbait

Great battle Mike and Jeff. Sounds like it was a fun weekend in STX. Bummed I bailed, but we have some work to do making the car quieter for events up here.

To anyone interested, I promised Simmons fresh lobster rolls for the Match Tour at Devens. If you can make it up I'll make more to feed the STX crew!

Jeff A

TopGear8

iTrader: (3)

Here's a video from my runs this weekend. Great running against Jeff at a sub par site/course