Track the Daily: Make the DD Trackable (Alt Title: A Fool and His Money are Easily Parted)

I figured I'd start a build thread just for me, nothing particularly interesting has/is/will happen but I want to document stuff to see how far I've gone along.

It all started Friday, November 29th, 2019. Black Friday. I was on the cusp of graduating with a B.S. in CompEng, and I wanted to get a new ride to commemorate as well as replace my current aging vehicle. My past three vehicles were: 

2003 Toyota Corolla S (that means sporty!)

1994 Nissan 300ZX (crashed it in the mountains)

2002 Acura RSX Type S (the current ride at 290k+ miles)

I've been looking at a few cars. I wanted something practical yet trackable, and I wanted something with POWA. Particularly, a turbo engine or a torquey V6. I had my eyes set on a V6 Camaro with the 1LE package, or a WRX. I couldn't see out of the Camaro so WRX it is! 

So why is November 29th 2019 so important? My parents and I stopped by the Subaru dealership on the way back from Black Friday shopping to do a test drive and then 4 hours later I walked out with a WRX completely unintentionally. 

Well, I have a new car now. I've been an autocross boy for a while (mostly because it was cheap fun), so it's time to sign up right? PUMP THE BRAKES. Break in period sonny boy. So I drove it around for a bit, right up to 1000 miles. Alright, now it's time for autocross! Wait... Winter break... and then... final semester of college started up and I'm falling behind on my capstone project. OK I GUESS AUTOCROSS CAN WAIT. And then... the C-Word! 19 of them! 

After the mass hysteria died down from initial COVID, and vaccinations were available for essential workers (did I forget to mention I got a job as a govt contractor engineer before I even graduated?), I got my first COVID vaccine and signed up for Time Attack night at Adams Motorsports Park April 23rd, 2021. Time Attack night is a once/twice monthly event at Riverside's Adams Motorsports Park where you get to run your full size car on the teeny tiny gokart track. Think of it like an HPDE at autox speeds. The track doesn't provide much in the way of unique lines, the widest berth of the track is maybe 4 feet wider than your standard highway lane, but it's good cheap fun that doesn't require cone work. 

But first, prep! 

First, I installed a Schroth Rallye 4 I had laying around from my RSX Type S (do not give me grief about this angle, I called Schroth/HMS and they said it was cool.)

Then I had to get brake pads. I ran the Stoptech Sport pads in the 300ZX and it did well in autox, so I already had a decent baseline for "good autox brake pads". I also flushed the system with ATE Typ200.  Look how aluminum-y those calipers look... I'll never see them like that ever again. 

And the first time out with the WRX felt great!

That was... AWESOME. I'm hooked on phonics.

Next up was the Lone Pine Time Trials. The quick and dirty is a high speed (70+ MPH "slaloms") on an old WWII airstrip in the middle of one of the most beautiful natural areas in Southern California. https://nasaspeed.news/race-coverage/around-the-regions/eastern-sierra-shootout-the-lone-pine-time-trials-is-the-fastest-autocross-in-the-west/

Also, the first time I ran Falken RT660 tires. 

Did a few more time attacks at Adams and then I got a new job in Seattle. OOOOOOO FANCYYYYYY

So time to save the bones. 

I won't bore you with moving details. 

Of course I had to scope out what the scene was like up here, turns out the apartment I'm renting is 30-ish minutes away from Pacific Raceways. Remember this, this is important. 

WRX suffers from understeer. Bigger sway bar fixes understeer. Wait, where'd my driveway go? I don't have the luxury of living with my parents anymore. Enter Stew's Self Service Garage.

Ok cool, less understeer! Time to sign up for a track day. 

NOT SO FAST. Pacific Raceways primarily operates through Proformance Race School, and they have a very structured system to make sure you're safe + fast on track. No HPDE experience? You have to attend their school, so attend I did. $700 down the hatch. No pics of this other than how I packed. Enjoy this out of focus image of how I packed my tires. 

You thought that was it? SIKE. Second time back requires coaching. That's fine. I'm flying at 120 MPH into Turn 1. This is good. 

So my first two times at Pacific Raceways was a damn hoot. 

Unfortunately, it toasted my pads. The Stoptech Sports have given up the ghost. I've heard great things about GLOC pads. I also figured, if I'm swapping wheels at the track, another bolt to swap pads isn't that much more time. So, GLOC R6 for the street, GLOC R12/R10 for the track. 

It's the third time I'll be back at Pacific Raceways, this time, with improved brake pads, a new toolbox (not important but I migrated from a small Home Depot tote to a RIDGID modular toolbox, carries my jack and all of my trackside tools cleanly, you can ask me about them). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZggGgJDouw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6wy1FrF5s0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY8Rhx-X97U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZV1dgiZ52A

You could say I had a lot of fun. 

Things I learned: 

Brakes are way too hot, the slider pins vomited grease (don't worry, I brought Syl-Glide for the sliders and CRC brake disc quiet for the street pads), the wheel weights melted off (well the adhesive did), and the pads were depositing on the rotor. Oh, also, the dust boots on the pistons are baked and crumble like my nan's apple pie crust.

Oil temps got very high. 

Things I'm doing to mitigate: 

Ordered the WRX model specific Verus Brake Cooling kit.

Ordered the WRX model specific Mishimoto Oil Cooling kit. 

Bought a Verus diffuser second hand (doesn't fix anything but it was 50% the original price, how could I say no). 

I installed the diffuser in the apartment parking lot. 

I see my pictures aren't uploading. Oh well. 
 

installed the Verus brake cooling kit and the Mishimoto oil cooler this weekend. 
 

The OEM fog light bezels were $40/piece, and the Amazon special was $80 for the bezels and fog lights. I don't need the fog lights but I figure I could sell them to cut the cost of the bezel. 
 

I bought some window screen mesh at Home Depot to prevent FOD from entering my ducts. Then I took my dog out for a walk and someone was throwing out the exact same window screen. $9 wasted. 
 

Today's track day was accompanied by a massive car festival as well. Welcome to Avantsfest 2022! It was fun but the track day felt really disorganized, which is unlike what Don and Donna put on for normal Proformance days. I'll chalk it up to too many festivities in one day. Also they overbooked the event so there were too many cars on track. This was the last track day for the season for me anyways, shipping off to Texas for a few months for work. 

... and whether I liked it or not. Dust boots were cooked (even with the brake ducts) and RT660s delaminated!

Diffuser actually made me slower on the main straight, but car felt much more stable. Oil cooler worked great! 

got my BBK! But... paint chip... I'm gonna see if they can reimburse me or something.