PSG Evo

Tucson Course Layout - Day 2

2011-09-28T01:39:00.000-07:00

We left Day 1 with a list of items to follow-up:

Test and review the effect of water on course with cars doing multiple passes
Work out spacing of cars (how many cars can we have safely on course at the same time)
Look at where ruts are forming and find a solution
Measure the distance and time the course

Luck would have it that we actually had a good amount of rain roll in about 3 hours prior to us making it out to the location. By the time I got out there, Lee was already dragging the skid through the course and snipping off any and all remaining protruding obstacles on path. Apparently according to Lee, they had also brought a water truck earlier in the day to actually water the course. With a little digging, we found out that the water soaked in approximately 3 inches into the ground, but we weren't sure if that was enough to suppress the dirt from forming dust clouds and potentially get us in trouble with our friendly neighbors.

While Lee was finishing cleaning up the course with care, our designated photographer (Keola) and I discussed how best to capture action shots which would later be used for advertisement material. Here's a few sample of his talented work of art (I've not had the time to touch them up with PS and they already look really good).

After the media session, I had Lee take my car and Keola jump into his Red Evo X and do hot laps around the course, with the purpose to check out dust levels, spacing, and potential rutting locations. We did this for a total of 15 runs back to back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Day Report~~~~~~~~~~

Here's a summary of our discovery

Course Distance: approximately 0.6 ~0.7 miles
Course Lap Time: average of 1 minute 20 seconds
Dust Level: None to Low (typically settles in less than 20 seconds)
Intervals between cars: 30 seconds (3 cars can be on course at the same time)

We discovered at two specific locations the course was designed with turns that caused too much potential for rutting (at the middle of the course and at the transition from dirt to gravel at the last 1/3 of the course), and we have plans to fix it.

We also discovered and were quite pleased with how much the water helped with suppressing the dirt from kicking in the air. Lee and I both agreed that water trucking and skidding will be required a few times throughout the event, but we're not overly concerned.

Next on our plate is to gain the local chapter SCCA members favor, obtain and secure liability insurance and sanctioning rights, and work out finances.

Tucson Course Layout - Day 1

2011-09-26T23:57:00.000-07:00

2 years and 2000 miles away from the East Coast, who would have thought that I would find myself on dirt with the Evo again. This time I find myself in the Southwest at the "sunniest city" in North America: Tucson Arizona! Lots of dirt, lots of land, lots of motorheads make a great recipe for off-road venue potential.

In the past couple of months, I've been helping a group of rally enthusiasts with breaking new grounds at a potential new location for a rally racing venue in the South East side of town. Long and short of it is there was a lot of blood/sweat/tears poured into clearing up trees, fences, brushes, cactus's, etc, and with 90% of most obstacles cleared, it has now come time to actually lay down a course. With my background in organizing three years of my own rallycross events (many of you have most likely attended) and 7 years in being a stage commander with Rally New York, I went ahead and laid in a tentative course using aerial photos and a little photochop skillz.

~~~~~~~~End of the Day Report ~~~~~~~~

Today the planning went better than expected. Originally we were only planning to get half of the course laid out due to the lack of cones, shortage of day-light, but ended up laying out the entire course with plenty of time to take the Evo for a few spins to test the course for safety, speed, and the surface.

The first part of the course is more technical, with a switch-back and tight slaloms, I was only able to get the Evo up to about 30mph. We went back and adjusted it so that the switch-back wasn't so difficult; Evo was able to hit about 35 after adjustment. The second half of the course is much more opened up, and we realized we hit almost 45 mph on a straight section on the first time around. We had to make a few adjustments, and were able to slow the course down to about 35.

The crazy thing that confused both Lee and myself was the last section; gravel. We both thought the speeds would be much higher on the gravel surface but ended up causing the Evo to hang its tail out in a drift throughout almost every turn...quite frustrating as a driver, but as far as course design it works because the surface naturally forces the driver to slow down toward the finish.

The surface held up really well for the 6 runs we did, but visibly some areas started to loosen up. Contrary to what I'm used to (mud, grass), there was still plenty of traction in the loose dirt. Unfortunately we have to be careful about loose surface because it causes too much dirt to be kicked in the air (a big no-no for the land owner and its surrounding customers).

Next step: the land owner has gratefully offered to water our track couple times each week to see if that will cause the earth underneath to solidify. Worst case we will need to throw mulch down in areas prone to loosening up and dump water frequently in those areas so the moist can stay in the dirt longer. We will be running a few more times to check out logistics and finalize the course before officially opening up the venue for a registered and sanctioned motorsports event.

Project Evo Tuning (Let's add a sprinkle of Subaru)

2007-11-30T11:00:00.001-08:00

Dare I say this?

Many have asked, and YES I am bringing Subaru's into the Project Evo Tuning Series! There I said it. I figure why not?

For the longest time Evo's and STI's have been compared in every aspect from the AWD performance to their chick magnet rating, and it is now time for me to compare their OBD-II data!

I realize they're vastly different in engine design, and thus I'm expecting the data collected from these Factory Tuned vehicles to be very revealing about their performance advantages.

Predictions
Following my datalogging traditions, I will be carefully monitoring Airflow, Timing Advance, and Knock Sum.

The 6- Speed Gearbox that came on the STI and the MR are distinctly different . I'm not a transmission expert so I wouldn't know how to interpret it, but I know these ratios will affect the values I will be seeing. Look at how the STI is consistently lower-geared throughout.
2.5 versus 2.0 Liter: Displacement difference is going to contribute to the airflow values greatly. Would I see a higher spike in Airflow in the STI, with the MR catching up midway through the RPM?
Turbocharger Size: Need I say more?

Become Part of Gus' Tuning Story

Project Evo Tuning (EvoIXMR versus EvoIXRS)

2007-11-27T09:52:00.001-08:00

The Battle is ON. Head to Head, my MR against Rich's RS.

Both cars are Stock, Factory Tuned, and strangely the RS out performs any and all other Stock Evo's I know. It out ran Doug's IX MR and Henry's GSR. Is it just a well built EVO, or are the cars different from the factory? Let's dissect it.

The Meeting
The sky was raining, dark, and abnormally warm (50~60F). I heard a rumbling exhaust approaching from the distance; Rich arrived.

The Goal
We wanted to do enough pulls until we are completely satisfied that we have everything needed to find out the real differences between the MR and the RS. Since I've read that on the IX, the MR 6-speed advantage doesn't kick in until 4th gear, we had limited the agenda to 2nd and 3rd gear pulls from 2500rpm until redline. (We did do a 4th gear pull which I have eliminated from discussion)

The Prediction
I've been told that the IX RS and the MR should have no ECU or mechanical difference. I have not confirmed it, but I will in my next blog. Regardless, here's my original prediction cut and pasted:

Stock to stock comparison, I'm going to expect the RS's timing to be a little more aggressive, the AirFlow value to hike at a sooner RPM and to hold steadily higher AirFlow value all the way to redline.

The Test (2nd Gear Pull)

Initially as 100% throttle is applied, you can see the timing dips really low (MR to 3 and RS to 2) and climbs steadily upward until they both end up at 17 degrees. It is clear that after 5500 rpm, the RS starts to close in on the timing advance numbers but nevertheless reaches 17 deg later than the MR.

I was totally wrong about the Timing Advance Prediction! As you can tell, the MR wins most of the race, and with its more aggressive timing, it should be giving the engine a little more advantage.

Note: The MR showed knock count of 1 between 2700-2900rpm while the RS showed knock from 3000-4500rpm (between 1 and 2 counts). Bad gas? More Aggressive tune? I don't know.

The Airflow comparison is where the RS shined and walked away from the MR. From the very beginning, the RS has a slight advantage on the Airflow and around 3700-4250rpm, it really puts the beating on the MR. Strangely, at around 4300rpm both cars showed a decline of Airflow value! Air restriction, back pressure, resonance frequency, AFR, and critical speed of motor may all have something to do with it.

There after the RS wins the race entirely until the end the MR makes an attempt to catch up (never does).

In this case I was totally right about the prediction of Airflow values. Because the RS steadily flows more air through the intake, with a good tune, it would undoubtedly product more horsepower than the MR.

The Test (3rd Gear Pull)
More of the same, but this time in 3rd gear pull fashion. Ignoring the first portion where the timing advance dips very low, the MR out advances the RS by far (largest gap of 4 degrees at 4400rpm) and continues to hold a steady lead until redline; MR finishing at 17 deg while the RS finishes 1 deg lower at 16.

How much advantage does this help the MR in producing more horsepower than the RS? Since the MR didn't register any knock in its pull while the RS had between 1 and 2 degrees of knock between 4200-4800rpm, the MR presumably has more potential in timing advance tuning than the RS.

Airflow comparison: Again, the RS out performs the MR by light years. Regardless of its knock count and the less aggressive timing advance characteristics, after the turbo spooled completely, the RS pulled an instant 50 Hz advantage, grew the gap significantly between 4600-5700 rpm, and held on for a steady win.

Having a better airflow flow characteristics in both 2nd and 3rd gear pull, I'm not surprised to see Rich's RS pull away from cars like mine. With a lighter car and more horsepower potential due to higher volume intake of air at all rpms, I'm expecting his car to respond to mods better than mine. Who knows?

My Comments
The RS had consistent knock present right at the meat of the power band (3000-5000rpm) even though it has a lower overall timing advance values which is a terrible situation because if further timing needs to be pulled from the map in order to reduce knock, the RS may suffer more horsepower loss. Tuning the timing advance may be where the MR can gain some ground back.

As far as the airflow characteristics goes, did anyone notice that on both 2nd and 3rd gear pulls, the MR has a little bit of a jump right before 3300rpm? It seems like the MR had better response to throttle? Perhaps there's not enough data to make any solid statement or claim here.

Next Steps

ECU: To bust the myth about RS vs MR, I'm going to break into the ROM and compare chart to chart the differences between the AFR, Boost, and MIVEC maps. I'm not going to be surprised if I find them all to be the same, but at least I have satisfied the itch.
Boost Leak Test: To cover any mechanical difference the cars may have, I'm going to conduct a boost leak test on both cars to make sure the car is boosting healthily.

Stay Tuned...

Datalog Graph - Evo IX RS (Stock) 3rd Gear Pull (Timing Adv & NarrowBandO2)

2007-11-27T09:00:00.003-08:00

Datalog Graph - Evo IX RS (Stock) 3rd Gear Pull (Airflow & Load)

2007-11-27T09:00:00.001-08:00

Datalog Graph - Evo IX MR (Stock) 3rd Gear Pull (Timing Adv & NarrowBandO2)

2007-11-27T08:59:00.001-08:00

Datalog Graph - Evo IX MR (Stock) 3rd Gear Pull (Airflow & Load)

2007-11-27T08:56:00.000-08:00

Datalog Graph - Evo IX RS (Stock) 2nd Gear Pull (Timing Adv & NarrowBandO2)

2007-11-27T08:54:00.000-08:00

Datalog Graph - Evo IX RS (Stock) 2nd Gear Pull (Airflow & Load)

2007-11-27T08:53:00.000-08:00

Datalog Graph - Evo IX MR (Stock) 2nd Gear Pull (Timing Adv & NarrowBandO2)

2007-11-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

Datalog Graph - Evo IX MR (Stock) 2nd Gear Pull (Airflow & Load)

2007-11-27T08:50:00.000-08:00

Project Evo Tuning (WOT Comparison - '03 Evo8 GSR)

2007-11-24T16:49:00.000-08:00

Before I dive into playing around with the ECU, I wanted to do some comparisons of my stock MR against other stock Evo's out there. Out of the list of people I know, I've called up Jeff (Evo8 GSR - Stock with Muffler Delete) and Richard (Evo9RS - Stock) for the following reasons.

Why Evo8?
I really wanted to know how much of a difference does the MIVEC and the larger turbo make on the Evo9 versus the Evo8. Sure you've heard that Evo9's are supposedly more responsive to mods, right?

Why Evo9RS?
That's because they are monsters! Stock to Stock comparison, I know Rich's car pulls away from any MR, any day. It is because of its light weight? Is it because it has a more aggressive ECU tune?

My Appointment with Jeff
Lucky for me, over the weekend I had a chance to meet up with Jeff, who drives a 2003 Evo8 GSR . The only mod that is installed is the Buschur muffler delete (which I thought would not skew the comparison by too much).

Having sat in and drove Jeff's car many times (including autocrosses), I've always thought his car felt about the same as mine power-wise. I didn't think MIVEC added any distinct adventages, nor can I really feel it more.

3rd Gear Pull Result - trouble
In Jeff's car, the Mitsulogger initialized successfully and created a new file to begin logging. Everything seemed just fine. I asked Jeff to put the car in third gear, and start a pull from 2500rpm. He hits the gas and mashed the pedal to the metal...we waited, and waited, and where's the boost? Looking down at the datalogging software, RPM reads 0, Knock Count reads 243, and AirFlow reads 0! Something is going on here.

There were two issues we were combating here. First, Jeff's car wasn't accelerating like it is suppose to, and the weird thing is neither of us could hear the turbo boosting. Could it be boost leak, stuck BOV, or the car being stuck in limp mode? Second, the datalogger wasn't recording the values correctly. Amongst multiple mis-readings, I noticed the following repeating errors:

RPM values goes to 0 as it goes beyond 4000 rpm
AirFlow values goes to 0 as it goes beyond 793 Hz
AirTemp is stuck on 360F (it's FREEZING out)

Graphs
Because we didn't have RPM's beyond 4000rpm, I couldn't accurately compare my data to Jeff's. In the end I salvaged what was available and rendered the following graphs. Keep in mind I used Log Unit instead of RPM to complete the x-axis of the graph.

Timing Advance Vs Knock Sum Vs Narrow Band O2 (1)
<2700rpm-redline in 3rd gear>
The first thing I wanted to know is, how does the muffler delete affect the Air Fuel (A/F) mixture? Because the modification reduces exhaust back pressure, the end result is air can enter the intake easier. Since Jeff's ECU has not been reflashed, under open loop conditions (WOT), the Narrow Band O2 sensor should read "leaner." In my opinion, it certainly does read a bit leaner, as you can see that it oscillates between 0.940V and 0.920V several times before settling on 0.940V.

Something else to note is, 2 counts of KnockSum value was immediately present occurring as soon as Jeff slammed on the gas at 2700rpm and dropped to 0 at 4000rpm.

Timing Advance on the Evo8 was very impressive indeed. If you compare his values to my MR, you will find that at redline the Evo8 held 25 while the MR only had 16 degrees. I suspect this has something to do with the MIVEC.

Timing Advance Vs Knock Sum Vs Narrow Band O2 (2)
<2700rpm-redline in 3rd gear>
At the point when we logged this 3rd gear pull, Jeff's car was already showing signs of sluggishness. You can see that there was something really weird about the Narrow Band O2 value at the beginning of the pull, dipping dangerously into 0.080V for a while before skipping to 0.760V and climbing to 0.940V at redline. You can also see that his Timing Advance value experienced a dip at approximately 5000-6000rpm range to 13 before climbing up to 23 at redline. KnockSum was recorded at 1 count at redline.

Summary
The whole experience was a tuner's nightmare. I wasn't able to read majority of the data and the car couldn't product repeatable results. Next step? I'm going to research on the aktivematrix forum to figure out why the dataloging program is mulfunctioning, and at the same time help Jeff troubleshoot the Evo8. Ultimately I want to be able to:

Compare AirFlow values to see which car pulls higher Hz across the rpm range;
Compare Load value to construct correlation amongst Load, Torque, and Boost;

Wish me better luck next time!

Clutch starting to go?

2007-11-21T06:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, the clutch is about to go bye bye and I know it. Although I've treated the clutch as nice as possible (rev matching, no hard shifting, no hard launches, etc), the car has 26,000+ miles with multiple events under its belt.

How do I know it's going? Well, the clutch catching point (engagement) is evidently much higher than when the car was new, and the grip seems to be weaker. I did do a few hard pulls while I was playing around with the Mitsulogger software and there was no sign of any slipping at all.

I'm hoping it will last me until the winter is over, as long as I don't do anything crazy, and I will began tackling the dismantling of the tranny and install.

So far I've considered two options, the ACT + Fidanza combo or the Exedy HD Twin Disc + Fidanza. Exedy being 3 times as much as ACT in cost is alarming, and decision would be dependent on what the Evo is going to become.

The ultimate goal for the Evo? Daily Driver/Weekend warrior? Race Only car? Show car?

As the mods began to pile up in the car, the driveability and resell value will be deeply impacted, and that's a decision I have to live with if I go that route.

Project Evo Tuning (Got Mitsulogger Working + 4th Gear Pull Data)

2007-11-20T17:37:00.000-08:00

I got Mitsulogger to work over the weekend. Awesome! It was a piece of cake and everything worked very well. The driver for the tactrix cable was already installed when I installed the OPENECU software, so the only thing I had to do was connect the cable from the car to the computer, start the program, and click "Start Logging."

The software had to make an "initialize" attempt to connect with the car CPU, and after a good 5 seconds, it creates a new log file and begun the logging of data.

I kept as many variable as I know "on" as I logged, but I've been told that the program will log slower with more values being tracked. I had the RPM, Speed, Load Value, AirFlow, Knock, and Timing Advance turned on. I might have left a few other things on just for kicks, and I went out for a drive.

Apparently in the MR, the advantage of the gear ratio really comes out in its 4th gear. Having heard that when comparing two similarly modified BPU Evo's (exhaust, intake pipes, boost controller, tune), a MR has been known to pull away from a GSR in 4th, I wanted to capture a 4th gear pull as my first significant log.

The night was around 40~50F and I did a 2500rpm to redline pull with 100% throttle committed. Here's the result from the pull:

Load Value vs. NarrowBand O2 Sensor
With the limited knowledge that I have, I have been told that the load value has a lot to do with the boost level of the car. Assuming that is correct, you can see that the full boost hits around a hair after 3000rpm and holds steadily, then starts to drop off as it approaches redline. It is important to understand load value because it will help you locate the "cell" that you will be modifying when you're changing the parameters of the engine maps. Seeing how full boost on a typically stock MR is set at 19psi and tapers to 16psi at redline, for now I will correlate the assumption as follows: 19psi~250Load :: 16psi~210Load. I'm sure there's something else about Load Value I need to know.

The NarrowBand O2, while not the recommended parameter to understand Air Fuel (A/F) ratio, nonetheless provides some insight. From the DSM tuning days, it is recommended for the car to hold a steady 0.940V at full throttle in 3rd gear (they only had 5 gears in the box). It is said that at that voltage, you have the best air to fuel ratio mixture for power. Apparently the stock EVO map is tuned similarly. As you can see, the A/F ratio climbed up as the rpm rose to provide a richer mixture (avoid detonation) to a final 0.940V. Just to note, no knock was detected throughout the pull.

AirFlow vs. Timing Advance
I know something about AirFlow since I have played around with an Apexi S-AFC before! Evo (like DSM) comes with a MAF sensor and will read in unit of Hz (hertz). More AirFlow means more hertz. Typically during a cruise, the AirFlow will read a range between 100-1000 Hz; the value is affected by throttle position, boost, oxygen density, engine efficiency, ect. Under heavy boosting, the Hz level will climb higher and higher all the way to redline.

As a reference, a typically modified DSM (16G with full supporting mods) will pull a 2000+Hz reading at over 21psi of boost. On a cold night the MAF may be overrun and the fuel cut will kick it (meaning the computer believes the car has reached its highest intake capacity with the factory equipped fuel system and shuts down the car before damage is done). The highest AirFlow value I logged was at 1503.31 Hz.

I don't know much about Timing Advance other than the fact that it is measured in the unit of degrees before TDC (top dead center), referring to the location where the spark ignites the fuel. The closer to TDC when the mixture is combusted, the more power is generated which makes sense since it is exploding from a "more" compressed state. More about that later.

AirFlow vs. Load Value
I wanted to compare AirFlow to Load Value because I wanted to see the correlation of how the boost characteristics of the turbocharger affect the two. As I can tell, the AirFlow continues to increase even though the boost (or what I am directly relating, the Load Value) decreases, which makes sense since air intake volume continues to increase as the rpm climbs higher. It does however look like the rate of change in the Load Value has a direct effect on the the slope of AirFlow, meaning more acceleration in "boost" equals steeper AirFlow slope. As the boost tapers, the AirFlow continues to increase but with a decreasing slope.

In Summary: Is the Evo well tuned from the factory?
Now, time to pause and think a little bit. I've been behind stock Evo's and smelled the nasty rich mixture that it spews out from the tailpipe. I've seen many rear bumpers (including mine) coated with filthy layer of black carbon sut, evidence of a poor A/F tune. On the contrary, it does hit a solid 0.940v A/F ratio toward the top RPM range. It should have the perfect fuel mixture right now, which means it is producing the max power with the given air and fuel. Can we squeeze more out of the Evo, Stock?

Next Step
I think there are two questions I will be seeking answers to next. Does the Evo have a poor factory tune afterall? Maybe it is not evident during the "open loop" state under WOT (wide open throttle). It could be possible that it occurs during partial throttle/partial boost conditions. I want to know.

The second question is, is there much to be gained out of a stock Evo without mods? With its existing near "perfect" A/F ratio at WOT, I shouldn't mess with it right? Well, that is true if and only if the air intake volume cannot be changed. How do we change air volume without messing around with bolt-ons? Right off the top of my head, I can think of two: Timing Advance and Boost, both of which can be altered using the OpenECU program.

For now, I'm going to continue to understand the car as much as possible using the Mitsulogger software before I jump into the horsepower game.

Project Evo Tuning (first attempt with ECUFlash + a little snag)

2007-11-17T13:57:00.000-08:00

Wow, believe it or not, installing ECUFlash and making it work takes A LOT of effort. In fact if you search around in the OpenECU forum (where you will find most of your answers), you will find that majority of the posts are written by people who are having issues with the computer communicating with the car ECU.

One thing I discovered is the OBD2 cable that I have requires a driver to be installed before use. The good thing is ECUFlash software has the driver built into the program, so as long as you install the ECUFlash program correctly, the cable should work. Here's the steps that I took which worked for me:

1) Download OpenECU
2) Plug the OBD2 Cable to the car (both the OBD2 port and the flash port)
3) Plug the OBD2 Cable to the computer
At this point, it's going to prompt you to choose a driver. I ignored the prompt
4) Run the OpenECU exe file to begin install
5) Go through the steps, and when it's about 90% complete with install, it's going to open another window which will install the cable driver for you.
6) Finish install
You should be all done now.

I was successful in pulling the data from the ECU on the initial try! YES! The first thing I did was read the immobilization code and write it down somewhere safe. Since all cars have different immobilization code, you can imagine the horror stories of how people cannot start their car after using a map from another car. Remember, once you lose the code, you will never get it back. Time to flat bed your car to the dealership where they will void your warranty for messing around with the ECU!

One problem I did run into occured when I tried to save the ROM. Somehow I kept getting the error message below:I found out that it has to do with my OS so I'm going to reimage my computer and try again.

To be continued...

Project Evo Tuning (needed software)

2007-11-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

So I began looking around online for software, and for my purpose I need two things right now:

1) Datalogging Software and,
2) ECU reflashing software

The good news is, there are free software out there that is readily available for downloading. There are also ones you can pay. Since I'm doing this for fun, I'm going to test out the free software first.

For Datalogging, I went with the Mitsulogger which can be downloaded from http://www.aktivematrix.com/ Malibu Jack who's the owner of the forum founded this software and provides regular updates to his software. Go to the download section and get it. The version I went for was V 1.5 Alpha.

For ECU reflashing, I went with ECUFlash that can be downloaded from http://www.openecu.org I downloaded the latest version 13.4 .

Now onward to playing around with it and making it work.

Project Evo Tuning (The Beginning)

2007-11-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

Cars now-a-day comes with such technologically advanced engine management system, it is amazing how much you can do with it. Fuel trim, timing, boost, and much much more can be adjusted at a click of a button.

The allure of tweeking the ecu to gain horsepower is becomming so popular, and it seems like anybody with a laptop can become a tuning guru. It is now my turn to get good at it.

I want to start off my project by testing out the myth that by leaning out the rich factory a/f settings and adjusting the active intake valve timing (MIVEC system on the Evo 9), one can gain around 30 hp at the crank. Just to put that in perspective, a stock Evolution 9 MR usually dyno's at 230hp on a roller dyno. My target is 260hp.

I already have the OBD2 cable in possession which I purchased from (http://www.tactrix.com/) and it is now time to find out what else I need.

The GTR Revealed

2007-11-14T16:26:00.000-08:00

Starting at $69,850, this may be the best bang for the buck out of the box race car. 3.8L Twin Turbo producing 480 hp and 430 ft-lbs of torque, 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. That's tapping into the super car territory.

Song Currently in my Head - What I've Done

2007-10-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

This makes a really good song for a car/cruising music video.

Linkin Park has never failed to give me good driving music!

PSG Rallycross a Success

2007-09-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

YES, we did it again, and I'm so totally exhausted. For the third year in the row we pulled a great organization team together and again hosted a very successful rallycross event up at our popular playground in Argyl, New York.

The best part of being an event host is to see the smiles on people's faces as I watch them launch from the starting line in anticipation for some awesome off-roadness.

At the end of the day it's all worth it because I know we've made many people's day.

Many people ask me why I give t-shirts and trophies away; my answer is if you give people reason to remember you by, they will...remember you!

Can't wait for the next PSG rallycross event.

A new rivalry, in the same family

2007-08-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

I looked outside my office window one sunny afternoon and spotted a shiny yellow "something" in the distance. No it couldn't be, a yellow car with a carbon fiber wing, big fender flares, YES it is, it's an 2003 Evo 8.

At that exact moment, I was ecstatic that we have another EVO in the family. Should I go downstairs and leave a note on the guy's door to join us on weekend autocross adventures, come cruise with us on Fridays, or just simply grab lunch with the rest of the crew. Little did I know, as those thoughts are going through my head, I see this tall, well built man, short hair, walking with a sway in his footsteps, fumbles the key in his hand and struggle for a second to figure out how the keyless entry worked, and pulled open the driver side door of the yellow Evo.

Who could that be?

Well, that man is no other than the driver of the PSG SS, Jeff, who had ended up trading his beloved American V8 Muscle Car for a tiny four cylinder turbocharged AWD Sedan. So how is he doing? HE's LOVING IT.

I have not met a Evo owner more passionate than he is, and even though I've owned the car 4 times longer than he has, it almost puts me to shame how much more he CARES and wants to LEARN about everything the EVO's gots to offer.

The PSG Evo and Jeff's Yellow Evo8 have never gone head to head before at an autocross, but the day for that to happen is none other than the EVO vs STI shootout in Englishtown, New Jersey. Battling amongst a wide assortment of modified Evo's and Sti's, both of our Evo's will look for top honors in the stock category class.

While the Yellow Evo8 lacks a front limited slip, Active Center Diff, 6 Speed, and Bilsteins, the Driver Jeff will make up for most of it with the fresh pairs of V710's and a good driver behind the wheels.

I look forward to seeing our results this weekend.

My Secret Affair with the Fairlady

2007-07-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, I confess for I have done something really wrong. I have been caught red handed having an intimate relationship with a beautiful Silver 350Z for the past days while I left my clueless White Evo at home sitting innocently in the garage.

As most of you already know, I have an infatuation with the VQ35 motor and since the last time I test drove the G35 (coupe and sedan), I'm totally hooked on needing that feeling again. This time, however, I went for the prettier one in the family, the Fairlady Z.

Since the company I currently work for has a corporate discount on Nissan automobile, I contemplated the idea of trading in (no I didn't say that did I???) the Evo for the 2007 350Z to see where I will be financially after the dust settles. There are three things that I demanded I need on the Z, and I can live without the other things: 1) HID 2) 6-Speed 3) LSD.

Since I had been back to this dealership so many times to inquire about the Z, I've became very good friends with this one salesperson. He was very helpful in everything and did not have the typical "hurry the hell up and buy the car" attitude like most conventional salesperson.

Probably the 3rd time I came back to visit, the dealership just obtained a used 350Z that had a good amount of mileage on it. I asked for a test drive where I can take it on the freeway and open it up, and the dealer said sure take the used car. WOW!

Of course I had to sign some paperwork to release liability and temporarily insure the car under my own insurance (almost like the car rental), and off I went onto the freeway.

As I slipped into the car, immediately I loved how the seating position felt and approve the locations of where they placed all the functional buttons. Instantly I started playing around with the computer gadget output on the center console dash which displayed tire pressure, fuel mileage, velocity, amongst other stuff. One thing that really had my favor was the intelligent redline light that driver can set when it will turn on.

Overall the car had amazing amount of torque in the low RPM range; even in 6th gear the local residential area speed limit wasn't a problem. The gears had comfortable ratios and the shifting felt solid. One thing that I loved more and more was the attention you get, not only from driving a beautiful looking car, but from the nice exhaust tone it generates at all ranges of the RPM.

Now the performance: Unfortunate to say it lacks the fun factor when the pedal goes down into the metal. Yes, off the line the rear tires could spin easily if not careful with the clutch, but higher gears did not put a grin on my face. The suspension response, one would think, should be superior due to all of the strut ties and structural reinforcements. Unfortunately that's also a disappointment. The agility of the vehicle is a far cry from what the driver can do with one finger navigating the Evo. I felt like I set in a luxurious boat that rocks back and forth when I change lanes.

Yes, the attractive features of the two seater and the hatch sloped back really seduces the car enthusiasts crowd. When the Fairlady drives by on the street, it's almost like a girl walking by in a mini-skirt; all eyes must stare! But when the fantasy is over, and I finally wake up and realized that in order to get the Z I have to trade in my Brembo's, BBS Rims, Momo, Recaro's, ACD/AWD, backseats, trunk space, and worst of all Turbocharger!!! I say to myself...why have I been cheating on the Evo?

Time to go home and apologize...

V710 Mid-Season Review on my performance

2007-07-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

If my memory was as good as 10 years ago, I would be able to tell you how many autocrosses I have ran on these V710, but unfortunately my memory is shot. I would say that these tires probably had a good 6 events on them (I'm counting all of the trophies I have sitting in front of my right now)

No they have not corded, and the surprising thing is I don't have severe camber wear across the thread either. The rubber is a bit beat-up and the wear indicators are starting to disappear though, but it's still got plenty to go until the end of the season!

I've been warned that the V710's are good for the first half of the season, and as the top layer of the material is being worn away, the gripping capability dramatically decreases and it gets greasy easily. In my opinion, cornering on these tires still feels like the car rides on rails, but the turn-in is not as crisp.

I want to share some of the lessons I've learned on my first season racing on R-Compounds!

First, I've been told that the best way to drive the Evo is to pretend that I'm driving a FWD car. In a way it does make sense because the car tends to understeer under hard turn-ins and if the line isn't setup right it will plow the entire turn even with the ACD set at Tarmac! Naturally, the only thing I can play with on the car is tire pressure (the rest of the car is stock) so to dial out understeering I would start the Front at 34psi and Rear at 36psi. At the end of the day I usually end with Front at 33psi and Rear at 37psi. As the season progressed, I realized that this is all wrong.

Although the added oversteering capability helped the turn-in and allowed me to exercise better throttle oversteering on the "out," the ill effects are I had a horrible time keeping the tail in check going through slaloms, on long sweeps I would get unexpected oversteer on the lightest tapping on the brakes (shifting weights to the front), and on trail-braking the car gets skirmish. Worst of all, the tires promoted a driving style that wasted a lot of valuable rubber due to sliding. Many of you know, sliding may look cool but it certainly doesn't give you the fastest time around the track. Plus, R-Compounds are MAD$$$ If they get corded I don't think I have the funds to buy another set this season.

So! There's a lesson learned here. For the past couple of events I started the tire pressure 35psi across the board and kept the pressures around that point. Many experienced racers will agree that the sweet spot for the V710's is at 35psi! One tip you should also remember is on hot days the front tires (due to its double duty of driving and steering) heats up more than the rear. I would lower the front to 33psi and the rear to 34psi. At the end of the run, I will get a pretty even 36F-36R psi distribution.

By doing so, the car became very neutral in handling and had none of the tail snapping action. You would ask, "how about the understeering problem it has?" Yes it still has that problem, and I have learned a few tricks to eliminate it as much as possible. Try these:
1) Do all the braking in straight line, and don't enter the turn too aggressively
2) Late Apex and get on the gas early (you can basically get on the gas as soon as you see the next gate)
3) Experienced drivers would use left foot braking. I have so far no success at it yet...

So, expect more insight to come! Let's hope these tires are good until the end of the season!