2004 Mazda RX8. "Don't call it a project!"

OOH!  I forgot to tell you guys!

See these pretty new shoes that Mrs. Hungary's car is wearing?

Well, it turns out that our tax return is going to be unexpectedly large this year

I have my eye set on these:

A set of those little guys right there will save me 4lbs a corner AND about $200 for every set of tires.  The plan is to run 275/40's, and I might need to roll the fender a bit.

Having the winter tires on my stock rims will also save us a bit of coin as we can change the tires ourselves

(if that sounds well practiced, it's because... well... it is!  How else do you get $1000+ rims approved when you're building a house?)

Good times

As long as nobody tells the approval committee that if you went to 245/255 instead of 275's you would drop another $200 a set....

duuuuuuuude!!!!

Well darn it anyways, the pendulum has been swinging too far in the "house direction" lately...  Here's where we're at:

There was that clay layer in the attic that I had to peal back for the beam inspection (we think was used as "insulation"), it was about 5cm thick but I got it all shoveled out of there and now it looks like this:

 

oh, man.  And there was some BEAUTIFUL wiring going on up in the attic too.  I forgot I had to go back up there and re-do all of that... 

And then in the middle of that, we had some trees (approx 8ea) that needed to come down!  We scheduled a guy to come out (there were some tricky drops, I wasn't comfortable with) and wouldn't you know?  All of this just happened to land on Earth day!

Before:






And after:

Happy Earth Day everyone (I promised the Earth, I'd make up for this on the back end...  promise!)

The trees coming down was the perfect opportunity to get myself a new toy.  Logic being, it's cheaper to buy an old Stihl than it would be to rent one for as long as we were going to need it (or at least, that's how I presented it)

That right there, my friends, is a 1997 Stihl 029 with an 18" bar and 55.6cc's of fury!  (fires right up too!)

I'm proud to report that I owned that chainsaw for 2 whole days without touching it.  But then my idiocracy got the better of my brain and I just HAD to hack up that exhaust:

Before:




After:

Kids, try this at home.  That little bit of crappy work with a drill bit woke this thing UP!

 

It took me a couple tries to get the tuning adjusted correctly, but man what a beast this thing is! 

Next up, we got our friends together for a work party and just set to task making small logs out of big logs

Everything was going great until I left my chainsaw unattended...  One of the guys hadn't operated one before and went to have a go at a shrub.  He didnt hurt himself but he ran my bar right into the dirt...  we're not talking just a "dip", no no.... he was goin at it for all it's worth trying to get through a stick no bigger than my thumb all the while digging a trench the width of a chainsaw blade.  Well, after that the chain was so dull the poor thing would just bog when trying to make even flour sized saw dust.

It could have been worse though.  Guys, don't leave your chainsaws unattended.

Anyhoo, since the work portion was good and ronnied, we decided to get to the "party" portion.  In that big pot is a HUGE batch of chili.  Pretty common in the states, but getting cumin out here (and mexican chili powder) is darn near impossible.  One of the guys at the party had worked some magic and somehow we got a huge container of each!

(Fun fact:  It turns out that most european languages dont differentiate between cumin and caraway seeds.  Both fall under the name "coriander" here)

Good times.

Come Monday, I stopped by the store and got a new 20" blade for my new beast.  This thing with a new chain, longer blade, and the exhaust work really chews through just about anything without much effort.  Call me MacDonalds, because I am LOVIN it.

mmmmmmm..... 2-smoke and pine.  The smell of my childhood

So enough "other stuff", what's been going on with the car?

Sadly, nothin...  Perhaps worse?  Our first trackday has been canceled as the company that hosts the events is in Austria, and we haven't quite opened back up completely since cresting our third wave.  Ah well...

Our tax return hit the bank account and I was COMPLETELY READY with spousal permission and everything to buy those super expensive, super light, wheels AND a set of racing beat swaybars, but I just couldn't do it  (I know... I'm weak, I'm sorry).  With the house sill in the very infancy of her construction, spending that much money on the car could really hamstring our timeline... 

Well, to make up for the loss I decided to order $20 worth of stickers and a bar of delrin (POM-C) from ebay.de and figured I'd continue to play with cheap stuff to keep me occupied.

The stickers haven't been applied yet, but  the delrin was bought so I could remove two baffles from my intake.  It wasn't going to do anything for power, or performance, or gas mileage, or reliability, or.... well... anything really.  I figured at best it was probably just going to make the intake a little noisier.  But what the heck, the point of all this is to play with things that make me giggle so I went forward.

Here's the two baffles in question:

Except you'll note that in that last picture my calipers clearly show the outer diameter (o.d.) to be 4.5cm...?  Yeah?

Well, the delrin I bought (not referencing my measurement) was 3cm o.d....  and I turned it down to 2cm in the middle because who needs to reference their measurements when they remember EXACTLY what they were?!?

Not me, that's who!

Ah, well.  It was fun to play on a lathe and now I get to play on it twice!  Plus, I'll always have spare delrin to use on a future project.

You know?  I might need to call Mazdeuce and see about getting one of those "measure twice, cut once" stickers...

Good times.

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

As far as the main pulley bolt, I was in a similar situation when trying to get the bolt loose on my IS300 so I could change the timing belt. After having no luck with all manner of breaker bars and leverage, I set the breaker bar against the floor, then got in the car and turned the key just enough to bump the starter a little. I'm not saying it's a good idea, but it cracked the bolt loose in an instant..

dannyp84 said:

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

As far as the main pulley bolt, I was in a similar situation when trying to get the bolt loose on my IS300 so I could change the timing belt. After having no luck with all manner of breaker bars and leverage, I set the breaker bar against the floor, then got in the car and turned the key just enough to bump the starter a little. I'm not saying it's a good idea, but it cracked the bolt loose in an instant..

You know, I've heard of people doing that before and I couldn't remember why I didn't try it...

Looking through my old photos though, it looks like this frame rail might have been in the way:

Next time I'm in there I might give it a try  (other ideas included jacking up one corner and letting the weight of the car fall on the wrench, pushing the bolt in the "loosen" direction)

good times

Oh, shoot!  I almost forgot!

Here's where we're at with the welding.  This is the last coupon I made from flat stock #1 (I still have two more bars to cut up):

The welder gets about as much attention as the car does.  That is to say "almost none".  I'm determined not to let this go, but what I need are a few kid-free days off (without house guilt) to play with the darn thing properly...

Good times.

Man, it's that time of year that's for sure.  The faster we move, the behinder we seem to get.  The yard at the new house is knee high (Mrs. Hungary spent the last two days mowing it), we didnt get a chance to pick the cherries from our tree (called in friends, who were more than willing), and now our berry bushes are ready to be picked.  The inside is a mess as well.  This is where we started on Saturday:

and this is where we finished:

The kids are going to take it over from there (I get it low enough a brick wont land on their head, and hand them hammers.  They love it).

In the car world, I haven't even washed the car since my last post (took care of that this morning) but I did finally manage to get the winter tires changed over today

And just in time too, by the looks of it.  Check out these sidewalls!

I figure that was one good "spirited drive" away from failing on me.

Good times.

Trackday!!!!

I mentioned in my 4-Runner thread that the owner of my favorite parts store in town has a Porsche GT3 he takes to the same track I go to.  Well today was a biggie because his GT3 club booked the evening session at the same event I booked ('cept I'm doing the whole day because I don't like my money or my tires).  I was super curious to see how a Mazda on R888r's would do against Stuttgart's finest

It was the first trackday of the season for me since everything was closed until June, and we were out of town then.  So nothing was fresh and everything was forgotten.  At registration, I realized I didnt have any tape for my transponder (you're supposed to tape it to your passenger side window), and I forgot to exchange some local cash for euro (you're supposed to have $15 euro for the transponder).  While slightly put out, the person handling such things was able to convert to the local currency and GRM me just zip tied the transponder to the passenger door handle (no pics, sorry).

All was good, but I also forgot I had a new phone and hadn't downloaded the GoPro app to it yet, so I couldn't control my camera or see what it was seeing (I don't have a display on my go-pro and depend on my phone for such things).  I tried to download a version of the app, but my phone said "for security, we wont let you open such files".  Probably for the better.

And if that wasn't enough, nature was giving me signs as well:

This is the third time I've driven with these guys and never once have they told me that they were from berkeley, Germany.  I'll admit to getting a small childish chuckle out of that one.

Anyhoo, kind of a weird morning for me while my brain struggled through track prep.

Throughout the day I managed to take exactly two other pictures:

I am never NOT amazed by the amount of money that shows up at these events.  If you look up from the Mini in the first picture you'll see a truck parked perpendicular to the normal parking arrangement.  That's a three car team (Porsche something, C7 Corvette, and a Lamborghini), and they had a stinking TIRE MACHINE in that thing!

The closest guy in the paddock to my budget was that 350/370Z you see in the front there.  Everyone else had trailers, crews, the whole works.  I think that's why I took that picture, but it doesn't really capture how outclassed I feel sitting on my roll around gorilla box with my brown bag lunch and split wood for chocks.

Mrs. Hungary took a couple pictures as well:

Goofballs.

Anyhoo, so how did it go?

Oh man, I am glad you ASKED!!!!!

It was wet off and on throughout the day.  It basically cycled between rain enough to get the track intermittently wet (drove my traction control nuts!) and HOT and DRY (and I mean HOT) for the first two sessions.  First session was a wash.  Warmup, and then spent two laps remembering where to turn and brake.  I'm overcooking or undercooking it everywhere.  I cycle between absolutely PUNISHING my tires or over braking and completely falling out of my cars power-band.

The second is MILES better, but there's an Opel that flat out refuses to get out of the way and I made a bit of a sloppy pass with the Z-car (who was in front of me) when he wouldn't move over (despite being blue flagged).  But the third session?  Oh man, the third session I am just ON it. 

We're out of the warmup lap and I know I left the paddock in third.  In front of me there is the Nissan Z (350 or 370) on slicks, and an orange Lotus on I don't know whats.  At the end of the first straight, I am hot on that Z's tail.  My goal here is to follow and learn but not make him think I want to pass (see: previous session's crappy driving for the reasoning on that one).  Into turn one and I can already tell I'm able to carry LOTS more speed through the corners than he is.  Corner two he spins to the inside.

I go around to the outside in a bit of shock at what just happened to a car I thought was just going to HAND it to me, and carry on (that Lotus is LOADs in front of me).  I feel kinda bummed about not getting the free driving lesson, but now that I think about it, I am kind of excited at the differences I realized between my car and a car I thought had a much superior setup (I mean, I was holding back.  And he spun!)  From here on I'm just driving as I think I should, and kind of arguing with my traction control.  I'm looking ahead and have an expected line, but when I start to push it, the traction control kicks in causing me to take a much tighter line.  I'm able to compensate for this by decreasing my steering angle, to adjust back to where I originally intended to go but it never makes me fully comfortable with REALLY pushing things.

I space on this for a while and am really focused on teaching myself how to behave (I tend to drive like I'm still 17 and in my first sports car), reminding myself to look ahead, all while adapting to that traction control that insists on arguing the time, when HOLY CRAP!  I've caught the Lotus!!! 

I'm hot on his tail into the first brake after the long straight.  The whole time I'm expecting this guy to leave me in the dust, and he just DOESNT.  We're going through the slow twisties and in my excitement I'm making very small mistakes that let him increase his lead by another half a car length, but then we're into the two fast corners that take us out to the very back of the back field and I'm having to lift to keep him in front.  Back from the backfield there's a hairpin followed by another fast session and I've got a plan.  I'm going intentionally bodge the hairpin and give him a good lead.  The whole track is a 3rd gear track with the exception of this part and the long straight at the finish line.  This part takes me up through fourth past a left and a right that you can really get some speed if you take it as straight as possible, then it's DOWN into third then second as you take a right, then a sharp left around a tight sweeper.  It's there that I make my move.

I've closed half the lead I've given him, and if I time it just right I can close the other half in the next two turns.  Out of the second-gear-sweeper my foot is hard down and I'm letting the car push itself to the outside to grab the line I want.  Two right handers follow, the second of which is a double apex.  I'm going to use the first turn to set me up for the double apex.  I'm going to take the double apex as clean as possible to get on the gas as soon as possible and about one second before I hit that second apex, my foot is already flat to the floor.

I let the car drift again to the outside and holy crap it worked!  I'm hot on this guys tail and into fourth, foot flat to the floor down the long straight.  I pull out from behind him and immediately into a wall of air but now I'm passing him on the inside! 

I look up and the marshal is waving the BLUE FLAG!  I'm the "faster car"!!!! 

He hasn't lifted though, and I'm just INCHING by this guy.  I can see the brake markers coming up and I know I wont clear this guy before then (it's up to the passing car to ensure he can pass safely, I remind myself). My normal brake point for turn 1 is 150m.  But the tires are up to temp, I've got a good set of pads that I have the upmost confidence in, and I see his nose dip about 25meters before the 150-mark.  I give it another split second and HAMMER my slow pedal half-way between 150m and 100m.  Rolling into the turn I'm a little faster than I usually am and I'm slightly off the racing line (to ensure he had enough room, if he was in my blind spot and not behind me, like I suspected), but over-all it's not too much worse than I usually am through there, and by turn 2 I'm back into my groove.

In my rearview, I can see him try to keep up in the slowest of twisties, but by the fast section of the back field it's just not happening.  Next time I hit the long straight I've got a pretty decent lead on him.

The next lap was our last lap and by the time I get back to the long straight I can see him gaining on me in my rearview.  I move right, let of the gas, brake a bit, and let him pass before turn one.  I hang with him for the remainder of the lap but in my mind the day could end right there and then and I'd consider this the biggest win I could possibly have during a track day.  And that's what settled it for me:

Next time, in August, I'm entering in the time attack.  Our group offers spirited competition and I want to see where I stand.  I'm a terrible driver, my car is slow, my tires are about done for, but something happened today and that ol girl was a FIRE breather!  I want to see if this combination we got going on really is as good as it felt during that session.

Oh, and I mentioned my friend with the GT3?  Well I talked with him afterwards to compare lap times (hey, today was a miracle of a day.  I might have posted something similar to him).  My best was nearly 30-seconds slower than his best (on a 2-minute-ish track).

Nothing like a healthy dose of reality to smack you back into place

I'll try to post a video (as evidence of my terrible driving) later.

Good times
 

Here's my lap times in case anyone was interested.  Kind of muddied as it rained on and off during the first two sessions (end of first, beginning of second).  The third, of course, was the awesome session mentioned above.

Unfortunately the second half of the day didnt record.  I turned my DSC off (one press of the button, not completely off) and the car REALLY transformed.  Instead of spending my time fighting with traction control I could really make the car do what I was asking it to.  I was really hoping to get a comparison to see if it made me faster or more consistant.

Ah wells.  Next time.

BUT the cool thing about this is, my FTD there?  That's the cutoff for the "street car" group (Group-C).  I get any better/faster and I'll be in danger of being placed in Group-B ("Fast car").  These are the KTM Crossbows, fully caged cars, and the like.  I thought that was pretty heckin cool

And now that I'm thinking about it, I'm really questioning my GT3 friend's time (2:01).  That's a "Group-A" (Race only car) time for this organization.  I'm thinking he might be telling fibs a bit, especially with all the traffic on the course...  My buddy Marcus at Prototech wins trophies in the histo-cup with lap times of 2:15 here (1750cc Alfa GTV)

Anyhoo, none of that is important.  just like my welds, I'm really just looking for a consistent, quality finish, and then I'll be happy.  The sort where I could say "I'm going to try 'this' this time" and be able to see if I picked up a fraction.  Otherwise, I'm honestly not that worried about where I land in the field.

Good times.

This is the 5th session (With the traction control off).

Oh, and when I get to talking E36 M3 at the end, that was when the red flags came out (end of session).  I was totally just talking out my butt because I thought the external mic was recording the exhaust, you can make fun of me

 

yup.  18 minutes of me turning my money and tires into smoke.  I really gotta find a good camera angle.  It's harder than you think! (especially when you dont have the app, and have no idea what you're recording )

Tips and criticisms always welcome

Good times

Bill, great couple of write ups!

IDK where your camera was mounted but here is a vid of my car in a canyon. My GoPro 5 Black is mounted upside down right next to the rearview on the pass side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbklHycW5mI&t=94s

This is such a pleasant and entertaining thread to read.  Awesome write up on your track day.  Please carry on, etc.  

preach (fs) said:

Bill, great couple of write ups!

IDK where your camera was mounted but here is a vid of my car in a canyon. My GoPro 5 Black is mounted upside down right next to the rearview on the pass side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbklHycW5mI&t=94s

That looks perfect!  Does it get in the way of visibility at all?
 

11GTCS said:

This is such a pleasant and entertaining thread to read.  Awesome write up on your track day.  Please carry on, etc.  

ha, thank you!  And will do.

I cant promise much work between now and then, but I have another track day on the 18th of August.  Hopefully I'll get better video this next time

Well it's been a month, and admittedly the Toyota and the house get the  99.9999999% of my attention, but now IT'S AUGUST!!!!!  and you know what that means!  Another track day!!!!!



As of yet, I haven't uploaded the video (or even looked at it) but I spent the whole day having go-pro problems so I hope the half session I think I got recorded is good, because my day sure was.  (Quick shoutout to Preach.  I mounted the camera right near the rearview and selected "wide view".  The previews of what I could see looked promising.)

So right out of the gate I turned the DSC off.  My first of 8 runs that day was SLOPPY!!!!  I'm all over the place.  Too hard on the brakes, trying to turn too much, going too fast, braking too late...  it's awful and it's exactly what I think my first session should be.   Between runs I walk the paddock, and I'm still floored by the amount of money that shows up out here...

There's modified Lamborghinis, Ferraris, you name it.

Meanwhile I'm over here using my car's jack as a chock because I forgot my chunk of wood I normally use

The second run, and I cue up right behind a caged/turbo Mini (of modern variety).  This guy is on it, and I'm tagging right along like his little trailer because he is making short work of all the traffic ahead of us.  I decided early on I was going to use this guy as a track-day instructor, the same way I wanted to use the Z-car guy back in July, and he's making me work for it (and I love every second of it).  In the straights he's got more "oomph" than I do and he can slowly pull away, but with 9000rpms to play with I can see that I've got much much longer legs.  While this is 90% a 3rd gear track for me, I can see him rowing through the gears like it's going out of style.  And every time he shifts, I get > < that much closer

That is, until the last turn (T23 on the map)...  I've really been trying to work on my "look ahead to go faster" but there's no escaping what I'm seeing in my peripherals.  I'm going to be VERY close to the edge of the track.  And then it happens.  My eyes dart from where I WANT to be, to where I think I'm going to lose it (for just a split second) and the car follows....  In a spin, both feet in...

I end up coming to a rest on the side of pit lane, so once I verify that the flags are out, and no one is coming, I limp it back to the paddock.  Nothing hurt on the car of myself, so it's just the usual lug torquing and I'm ready for the next session.

When the cars from my group returned from their session, the mini-driver and I had a pretty good laugh about the "off" and we talked a bit about his car.  It's nothing but a shell of a Mini really, and at this point I'm hoping for another chance to follow along.

The guy also had a Lotus-7 replica of some sort that I've seen on the track (It's a dead even match for my Mazda, and another that I use for free trackday instruction). He tells me that what he does is buys two admissions.  One to group-B (slow race cars), and one to group-C (street cars) and that way he gets more seat time.  He just comes off the track in whatever car he's in and grids up for the next heat without leaving his seat.

Anyhoo, the third outing was pretty uneventful but at this point I'm really feeling like the car is way slicker than it should be and I cant figure out what's going on.  Each session I'm dropping 1psi in all four tires and so far it hasn't made much of a difference at all.  After 2-laps, the rear end keeps trying to come around under hard braking.  It's not anything I cant manage, but it's really got me wondering....

I'm definitely running somewhere in the front half of the pack as the fast guys leave me (4 or 5 people), and the slow guys never catch me (unknown # of people) but I really want to sort this out.  So after the session, I do two things:

1) fill up the tank with gas.  I was down to 1/3 tank.

2) get out my trusty GRM Trackday Companion.

This should be easy as nothing on my car is adjustable except the driver and tires.  The GRM manual says I'm either braking too hard and too late (driver issues), OR it's tire pressure (I'm betting it's the first).

4th session was uneventful and after that we got an hour to take lunch.  While I was out, Mrs Hungary and the boys arrived with one of the eldest's friends in tow.  The kid was absolutely FLOORED to be at the track  (his parents told us he couldn't sleep the night before) so we spent lunch walking around the track taking his picture with his phone

I don't think a single car out there escaped him posing in front of it.  The Lamborghini and a 1960's Mustang (painted sorta like Eleanore) were his favorites.  The Mustang picture is now his new background for his phone

By 2:40, the 5th session is going and I'm out and at it again.  This time with the kids as my audience! 

Aaaaaaaaand I spin again...  Right there at T8 on the map.  It was a couple laps in, but again I'm letting the car slide to the outside while I look ahead and just for a SECOND I look at what I don't want to hit and the car follows.  This time, though I'm carrying a LOT more speed.  This is a section of the track that I usually keep the car pinned at 9krpms for a good while.  Really it would probably benefit me to shift up into 4th, but the car gets REAL floaty if I do, and I've got some serious braking to to before some uncomfortably tight turns.  Anyhoo, the outside tires go off the track and the car spins round and heads to the inside of the turn.  Both feet are in, the car is facing the wrong direction, and sliding sideways UP a hill towards a fence...  of course I safely come to a stop before I hit anything, but still...  Not fun.

The track organizers allow us to return to the track after an off if our car is 100%, and since dust and grass clippings on the windshield were the extent of my damage, I decided it was safe to do so.  I verified there was no traffic, got back on tarmac, and headed at a decent pace for that pit lane.  Again, no issues noted in the paddock so I torqued the lugs, cleaned my windscreen, and got ready for the next session.

But now this is REALLY bothering me.  Why the hell does my car feel so damn SLICK???  I can seriously slide this thing, tires wailing, from the beginning of the corner to the complete outside limits of any available real estate.  When they say "use the whole track..." well, my car is sliding across the WHOLE TRACK and now I've gone off twice...

So I spend some time going over old notes (copied from the pages of the trackday companion) and I'm comparing tire temps, tire pressures, and tarmac temps to my previous outings, and nothing is coming across as a red flag...  Nothing.

Maybe I've heat cycled the hell out of my R888r's and this is just what they do?

And then I look at my lap times...

The organizers issue transponders for your car, and at the half-way point in the day they post your times to your account on their website.




My FTD for the session back in July was 2:30 and I was STOKED that I hit that.  It's the upper limit of what they consider a "street car"!  I looked at my times that were CONSISTENTLY 3-4 seconds under that for the morning session and I almost fainted

I know they say you shouldn't look at your lap times during track days, but I'm changing that.  I think you should.  This whole time I thought my car was having issues, and I was 100% wrong.  The car's sliding because she's got nothing more to give!  This is it!  I'm 5-seconds beyond the limit for what they consider a "street car" and now I'm solidly into what they consider a "race car".  All in a car who's trackday prep involves removing the child seats!

Anyhoo, the boys were about done at this point and so was Mrs. Hungary so they all headed home.  I aired down another .5psi in each tire and by the 6th run she was SPOT ON.  The sliding was reigned in, no more back end coming around...  So spot on, in fact, that I didn't even run in the 7th run.  Why not you ask?  Because the 8th run was the "Time Attack" and I wanted her just the way she was (if I had run the 7th, I would have needed to get gas again as I was nearly down to 1/3 tank again) and I was afraid that'd upset the balance I had going on.

Anyhoo, come that 8th run (Time Attack) we were off like a shot.  When all was said and done, I posted a new personal FTD of 2.25 and came in 58th out of the 73 vehicles in attendance that day, and placed 10th out of the 28 vehicles entered in the "Street Car" category.

That guy in the raced out Mini?  Yeah, he took the trophy for our group...

but the boys' friend (Adam) made me this out of some paper and bamboo:

And I'll take that over some plastic track-day trophy any day of the week

In fact, first thing I did when I got home was hang it on the wall in my garage.

Damn good times.

But this Camaro though, check this guy out:

I had my eye on this Camaro the entire day, and it 100% has to do with that Histo-Cup sticker he's got on it.

Like my car, he's got nearly nothing inside that would tell you he was racing aside from a race harness he's got installed on the drivers side.  Other than that, it's full interior and stock looking brakes.

This guy had 100% of my attention after that.  I would LOVE to get into a cup series out here and now it seems like the Histo-Cup is really calling to me.  My RX-8 would JUST qualify for the "Youngtimer" category, and I have no idea what group this guy is racing in, but I bet it's the same...

Man, if I could do that for a season and NOT need to install a cage in my street car... I think I would LOVE it.

Anyhoo, I never did talk to him and now it's the Time Attack and he's parked RIGHT in front of me in the grid.  Let's see what she's got.

We're 'round turn one and I'm keeping up.  I don't want to get too excited but we go 'round turns 2, 3, and 4, and this guy isn't pulling away.  In fact, I'm lifting to keep him in front.

I cant remember where it was, but opportunity presented itself and I took it to pass for the lead.  And for the next lap and a half it's his turn to be on my tail.  He's keeping up, but he's RIGHT at that point where it'd be my decision to keep him back there or to let him pass (a good car-length and maybe a half).  I choose the former and once we get to the long straight I pull off the line, give the brakes the slightest of touches, and let him go by.

Now we're right back where we started, on his six and playing "follow the leader".  I lift sometimes, and he gets a few inches on me sometimes, but for the most part we're pound-for-pound equals out here.

And then on the long straight, he lets me pass....  and I never see him again.

I couldnt help it now, I had to talk to this guy.  Was his car alright?  why did he let me by?

I caught him after everyone was packed up for the day.  he doesnt speak much English (he's Austrian) but we had a lot to say about each other's cars.  I loved his and told him I hoped to do the same in the Histo-Cup.  He told me his car was a handful to drive.  6-speed automatic that was squirley as heck in the turns.  He said my car was nuts as well and couldn't believe the Mazda did what it did.  We swap personal bests for the day:

Me: 2.25
Him: 2.27

There's another guy with him driving a black C3 corvette thats running 2:17 but that looks more like a dedicated race car than what I was looking for.

Anyhoo, they'll be at the next trackday so maybe I'll bring them some home-brew.  The Histo-Cup is looking more and more like it's going to be a part of what we do out here, so it'd be great to have more friends in the paddock when we do

For now, goodnight race track.

Good times

And then I saw this on the way home...

< PSA >

I'm not above hooning on the streets when I should be old enough and mature enough to know better.  but going off the track twice today and having my car look nothing like what we see here makes me feel obligated to say:  "I know we're all 'responsible adults, so remember to tell your kids to do their racing on the track.  But also tell them that they need to tell their dumbass friends to knock it off sometimes too because it might not always be them that gets themselves in an accident like this."

< / PSA >

So it's the day after now, and all the chores I didn't do because I was at the track yesterday are piled up on me tenfold now...

It's been a rather aggravating recurring theme lately.  I'm not sure how it started, but Mrs. Hungary and I don't exactly lead super exciting lives...  Yet somehow we never seem to stop moving but we feel like we're just barely keeping our heads above water.

Last week I took the week of from work as "vacation".  We get gobs of vacation every year, and local laws require you take it (or the company gets fined) so I figured burning a week of vacation time to get things done around the house would be a good idea.  Except nothing really got done...

When I was under a car, I'd get a call saying I needed to get over to the new place for such and such.

When I was at the new place getting caught up over there, something would happen and I would need to go take care of it somewhere else.

Heck.  Even at the track day yesterday... There I was sitting out the 7th session, near turn 14 (T14, on the map 3 posts prior) and sure enough my phone rings.  It's work saying they've got something broke and can I get to my laptop.

Sorry guys:  "Day off"

Anyhoo, the Mazda is due for an oil change and I figured I could sneak an afternoon and get under there to get it done.  I told myself the responsible thing to do was to only do what was "needed" so I can get it back on the ground and mobile again.  Except that word "need" was really starting to bother me, and that's when I decided it was high time I did something stupid that I "wanted" to do.  And I "want" to check that ECU to see if it'll work in my car.  And I "want" to install those cooler thermostats.  And I "want" to fix that exhaust leak that's been bugging me...  So that's exactly what I set out to do.

First up, the ECU: 

Notice anything different about that new ECU I got there?  Yeah... it's WAY smaller than the unit installed in the car!

A bit of googleing told me that what I had in my hand was the airbag ecu?  Well, I guess that's what I get for irresponsible ebaying

Swing and a miss.  Strike 1

Next up was the coolant thermostat.  The stock unit opens at 82deg C, the mishimoto unit I bought opens at 76c.

Woo hoo!

Except that darn thermostat housing is located in the depths of heck...

Can you see my finger pointing to it there from behind that wire harness?

Yeah, by this point I already had to cut off a coolant hose, and I had to remove that electric air pump that pushes air into your exhaust during cold starts....

This is the second time I've had to remove this thing for access to something else, and I can already tell there's going to be more that one more occasion where I'll have to remove it again, so I decided that this time it was going to be removed and put in the bin with the rest of the spares...

Since I don't have a blank off plate (yet) I figured I'd cap the cold side (for now) by inserting a plug in the hose assembly:

ta-da!

Anyhoo, back to this thermostat housing...  To get access to it, I had to remove the alternator belt and water pump pulley...

and still had to remove the valve assembly from that air injection system.  All for naught though as the bracket that held the air injection system valve was attached to a hardline that was holding the t-stat housing down, and absolutely would not move!

At that point I had just about enough, so I put the cutting blade on the danger wheel and made short work of an otherwise long project...

Ta-da!

After that, assembly was the opposite of removal and Robert's your father's brother!

Easy money

Next up were those oil cooler thermostats.  Stock ones open at 100c, these little guys open closer to 65c.  2-oil coolers total, and all I had to do was remove the under-tray bits.

out and in with 2-wrenches and a screwdriver.

Unfortunately, that's how she's sitting for now.  I ran out of time this morning before work to finish the oil change...

And you know what that means:

good times.

While poking around the engine and whatnot today, I was getting a chuckle from all the places I was finding melted tire after yesterday's shenanigans. 

This one was my favorite:

see that little guy up there?  One in a million shot, doc! 

Related: