Private Tuning Hands v3.0

We're back at Candlestick Park and it was very slippery! There was a lot of gravel in the track. Though they did a good job in sweeping/blowing off the gravel to the side, the surface was still slick. My friend Raymund was able to come and ride along for this event. The course incorporates a sweeper that crosses itself, reducing distance slaloms and different distance/ offset gates. (which is pretty much a slalom)

On my 1st run, we were hot off the gates, slight slip angle along the big sweeper. It was a good run until we were red flagged near the finish. I don't know where in the course might be unsafe, but we got a re-run. Ray was frustrated because he felt that was a good run. Again in our re-run 1, everything went smoothly. we got a good time. On the second run, we had a bigger drift angle so that was slow. Plus we hit 2 cones so this was definitely my slowest time. On the 3rd run, I got my best time, beating my 1st run by more than a full second.

I'm feeling better and better in pushing my car close to limits in autocross. Funny thing is I didn't complain about the car being 'loose' just like I did in rd.6. For this round, I felt that the car was neutral. Tire pressure was at 37/35 psi. I dunno, it might be a couple of autocross events to make me more sensitive to the movements of the car dodging cones.

This was my best run yet! I am only less than 1 second form the top runners in ops class! I guess my past drifting experience helped me control the car in slick conditions. The car's rear end knows who's the boss. =) Round 7

I was stoked with the weight of my 86, I decided to take out the sound deadening material off my car. I used the dry ice method known for clean chunks with minimal tar residue. Bought my dry ice from my local Safeway for $30's worth. ($20 would do the job) It was cool. Drop the dry ice on the material, and you hear it cradle instantly. Wait for a few minutes, hit it with a hammer and plastic chisel, and big chunks will give way! I think I only removed about 95% only because I didn't remove the dash entirely. I didn't bust out a weigh scale, but I think I was able to remove about 25lbs give or take.

What and action packed weekend! This is the SCCA California Divisionals. The 3-part series from San Francisco to San Diego to see who's fastest in Cali! Its my 1st time to participate in a National type event. For starters, you have your own grid spot at the same place. And then there is an impound time. After your runs, you pop your hood and trunk so that other competitors can investigate your car. If something is not on the rule book, they can protest. (nothing to protest in my OSP class since this is really run-what-your-brung class)

On Saturday, I was able to use their racing scale weights just to see how heavy my 86 really is. Surprisingly, it weighed in at a skimpy 2140 pounds! I didn't really expect my car to be that light. I guess those stuff I removed plus the jdm bumpers are weight weenies. Front/rear distribution is 54%/46%. No use to calculate L/R and cross-weights since my swaybars aren't disconnected.

Anyways, the course on Saturday was pretty tight. Tight turns and offset slaloms, it was pretty technical. Well for me it is. Slow as usual but I am starting to "drive" my car. On Sunday, it was the reverse of the Sat. course. Now it was a fast flowing course. On my first run, I unintentionally drifted in one of the turns. It was a low angle drift, but it was enough to really slow my time. On my 2nd and 3rd runs, I started burying the gas pedal. Now I started to feel how the cars handles somewhat near the limit. I now only realized that my rear is on the loose side. I kept countering just to keep myself on the right line. On the left handed sweeper, I was have a small drift angle all the way to the first slalom! (pic on top) I realized that somehow, I want more grip/traction in the rear. Traction brackets, lower spring rates, different dampers, will see. Round 6

I went back it to Thunderdrift for this month. Weather was perfect for drifting. Saturday, there were a couple of cars but not a lot. I was still able to get a lot of seat time. The day before, I wasn't able to find myself some used tires. So I went to the event with the used tire on the car plus one more for a total of 2 pairs. I said to myself that the other pair had some good tread left. Turns out, I ran out of tires! I did brought my falken azenis but those are "go home" tires. I don't want to use them as they are my dedicated autox tires.

 Anyways, the car felt great I'm starting to know how to control my car and bring it to a position where I want it. I'm also getting the feel of the conditions of my tires. Once my rear tires start to chuck, the handling of the 86 starts to deteriorate. I can still swing it, but the precision I wanted from the car decreased. It its also jarring because I think the rear starts to 'hop' once the tires chucks.

 From the in-car video I took, (I'll post it here soon!) it also seems that I still have a slight understeer during switchbacks. Specifically, drifting left. I didn't feel it while I was drifting, but from the steering movements I could probably benefit from a minute stiff adjustment of the shock setting in the rear. Corner weighting would be great too! I have been using 3/8 setting in the rear; maybe next time I'll try out 4/8.

I also realized from this event that the smoothness of the switchbacks also depends on my right foot. I replied on a post on Club4ag about the smoothness of the switchback depends on bushings and swaybars. That could be part of the equation, but smooth throttle action is definitely part of it. I still don't know yet how to explain it fully, but for now I think unsmooth throttle inputs during switchbacks can cause that harsh, jarring effect.

 As for tires, I'm considering just buying a new pair for the rear. I'm thinking if I buy a new set, I would last me a whole pad event plus more. That itself would cheaper that bringing 3 pairs of used tires and blowing it quick. Plus maybe new tires are less prone to chucking that used ones. And o yea, I love my zeix 912 upfront! They communicate well, losing its poise only one ore twice. And that because I screwed up my run!  

It was a good day to autocroos this Sunday. Sun was out, slight breeze, temperature was great. Of course it sucks to be running in the last group. But at least when the next round comes, I will be running the earlier group. Car is doing great. This time i set my tire pressure to 35psi both front and rear. Suspension and swaybar settings were the same from the last autox. I waited for a long time for my run group to try out the course. I think it was already 6pm when we started lining up the grid. While I was on the grid, I kept visualizing the course; complete with hand movements! To some extent, it did helped. I only got 'slightly' lost in the later part of the course and got it buy my 2nd and 3rd runs. Surprisingly, GGF have good grip this day. Maybe because the first 5 groups dusted the course for us. By my 3rd run, I had to turn on my headlights because it was already dark! That was some experience. I felt good with my driving. I'm still slow, but a slightly marked improvement from my first 2 rounds. If there was still daylight on my 3rd run. I could probably cut a faster time. Driving in the dark is hard! Round 3

Continuing into Sunday, the rain hasn't let up and the winds started to pick up. I was so tired from Thunderdrift yesterday, I decided to put on my Falken Azenis to go to Oakland. It's way too rainy and windy to swap tires on the track. I was in run group 5 and there are so much technical delays that my rund group didn't start until about 4pm! I believe there was a glitch in the timing. Anyways, on my first run, my front tires are rubbing like crazy! I lowered my front suspension from yesterday's drift event. Thinking that I would still be okay, man what a big mistake. I cannot concentrate on driving knowing that my fenders are chewing away my tires. I tried to stiffen the shock setting in the front to compensate for the tire rubbing but still it rubbed like crazy on my second run. On the third run, I said to myself that I will just going to drift the course. But then I said to myself that if I concentrated and entered the course cautiously, I could cut a better time. Sure enough my third run was my fastest run, about 5 seconds faster than my first run. It's still slow though. but I was glad I kept trying on my 3rd run. The course was very tough for me, lots of technical sections. I just hope that as the series progresses, I would eventually get faster times.

 Man, its been a year since I have drifted in an evet. The last one I went was Drift Battle at Altamont almost last year I belive. And I didn't like how I drove on that event. There was too much oversteer that I cannot continue my forward momentum as I drift. I just spun as I turn on the throttle even when I got my steering in check. I bought a pair of the new Falken Ziex 925 for the front tires. The rear ones was your regular used tire special. This is my forst time in Geoff's Thunderdrift event. I didn't realize that there is a new pad for drifting at TH. Last event I want with NCDA, we used the center paddock for drifting. The surface on this new pad is really nice. For the suspension setting, I didn't change anything from my autox settings, which is 3/4 and 1/4 front and rear swaybar settings. For shocks, I even softened the rear to 2/8 while the front's are 3/4. What a world of difference! I can drift my car and point it to where I want to go at will. Even when it started raining, The controllability of the drifts in the car is still there. What really surprised me is the smoothness of the car while it transitions from one drift to the next. With my old setup, this is usually accompnied with a harsh jolt. My tire psi setting is also not what I use to run; buck crazy high psi in the rear. I just used 34psi front, 36psi rear. This worked out real good. Motor's sounding healthy too, especially with my Buddy Club exhaust. =) I am happy with my car with this event. I guess just some few tweaks, and I got my car dialed in. On yeah, and the Zeix 925 worked pretty well. It's nice to have a good tire in the front. I didn't experience washouts on the event.

The btw, Thunderdrift was the bomb! I had so much track time, so much that on my truns, I finish my session becasue my arms are so tired! I'm definitly going to be on the next thunderdrift event.

 2008 Solo Championship series is finally here! Weather forecast shows possible rains this day. It was pouring as I was coming from home. Few run groups experienced rain. Fortunately, it held up when my run group was up. It's the first time I ran with my Buddy Club Spec 2 exhaust. When I finally left the gate for the first time, man the car sounded so sweet. Mark told me he can hear me even at the back part of the course! Overall impression of the exhaust is very good. Yes, I did felt I lost a little bit of low end, but mid-range all the way to redline, it just rev'ed faster. My suspension setup is the same from last time; 3/4 front shock, 3/8 rear shock, 36/34 f/r psi tire press.,  

One week before the SCCA Solo Championship! I have been prepping my car during this off-season. So far, I have replace rear wheel bearings, gutted most of the interior, got my JDM bumpers and lights. I have also removed my stereo system because I will be replacing my exhaust with Buddy Club Spec II. As you know, that exhaust system is angry loud. No sense to retain my stereo system. So I called my college senior buddy for some CF panels. He works at Aerospace Composites in Livermore. I got a 2mm dry carbon fiber panel for free! (Helps to work in the composites industry) End result? A nice CF panel to fill the void where the radio used to be. Plus I get to show my club4ag sticker!