San Diego Tour

2012 San Diego Solo National Tour

Day 2 finish slalom



Hot Saturday temperatures were favorable for the Hankook tires and I thought I drove very well.  One second out of the lead with the Hondas possibly having a horsepower advantage on the long fast third gear uphill straight.  Clutch is slipping at the 1-2 shift.

Day two the marine layer keeps the sun away and temps are cool and as a result the tires never get hot and I struggle for grip and did not drive well.  Final results put me in seventh place.

Setup

As used at the 2012 SCCA San Diego Solo National Tour:

Koni Race (yellow) shocks front and rear; full stiff front, full soft rear
Custom PES spherical bearing top shock mounts
Front springs - 2.25" diameter x 6" length 750# Hyperco, Koni threaded perches
Rear springs - 2.5" diameter x 6" length 375# Eibach, Ground Control threaded perches
AWR adjustable rear upper control arms
Racing Beat 1.125" diameter, 3/16" wall, hollow front sway bar - no rear sway bar
15x8 +40 949 6UL wheels, 225/45-15 Hankook RS3; 25 psi rear, 27 psi front
Front brake pads OEM
Rear brake pads Hawk HPS
Mazda Competition sway bar end links
Mazda Competition motor mounts
Momo Start bottom-mount seat installed on OEM sliders
MiataRoadster short shifter kit, eBay delrin shift knob
Odyssey PC545 battery
K&N cold air intake
OBX 4-2-1 header
Goodwin Racing midpipe
Enthuza NB Speeder axle-back exhaust
DPTune ECU re-flash with 7500 rpm rev limiter
2168 lbs with 1/4 tank fuel, SCCA scales
Zero front toe, 3/16 total rear toe in, approx -3* camber F&R

Trust, Slip Angle, & One Inch

   The weekend of April 14-15 hosted the last El Toro championship autocross before the upcoming SCCA ProSolo event scheduled for the first weekend in May.  The weather was beautiful with sunny skies and mid 60* temperatures.  I bring my 225 Hankooks out to play and snag a co-driver to help heat them up.  STR runs first group and I have not driven the RS3 tires on this El Toro surface for a couple of years; 2010 SCCA ProSolo in my old 1995 STS car to be exact.

Co-driver warming the tires

 


   I take it easy on my first run but I do not fully trust the tires yet, especially under braking.  Lots of grip at this venue and the Hankooks are much sharper than the Toyos.  Without all the magic Toyo slip angle I am turning in too early and nipping apex cones with the back of the car.  Or it could be from the 1/2" wider wheels.  Or I am just not turning the steering wheel enough on this busy transitional course.

 












    Second run was relatively fast, but drifting the sweeper and getting behind at the finish did not help.  Neither did the three cones; two of which were at the start.  By my third run I was feeling really good about the tires and blown away by the grip and responsiveness, especially compared to the R1R, but I needed a clean run so I backed it down a little.  My 4th and final run was much faster mostly due to staying ahead of the course and from fully trusting the directness of the tires, but I am still a little tight to the cones as seen in the video and I knock down 4 cones (two again at the start).

    I can't complain about my times but I can complain about my driving as I am normally not that dirty.  First place finisher Max H. was on 300+ run Dunlops and I finished second in class.   RESULTS

 




  

Fail

   DP Tune has been a major fail as I have been waiting over 2 months for them to send me an LM2 rental to fine tune the ECU and also bump the limiter up to my requested 7700 rpm.  He keeps saying I am next on the list with a sympathetic email or phone call, but then nothing happens. Last email says it is in the mail and should be here today.  With 2 weeks to go until the San Diego Tour and El Toro ProSolo, I cannot rely on them to process the order fast enough and return it promptly so I will keep what I have and figure this stuff out later.  Besides, my coil pack went bad last weekend with symptoms being minor hesitation and surging under load.  Check engine light is on for low cat efficiency.  Not sure an LM2 tune would be beneficial at this time anyway with the current engine woes.  Coil and plug wires were ordered this morning from Mazdaspeed Motorsports.

  

   











   Some of the coil pack issues could stem from the previous weekend when I changed out the spark plugs and plug wires.  What was supposed to be a simple job turned into stress and frustration when two of the spark plugs threaded out hard the whole way and the number four plug wire ends were fused to the coil and plug. Leftover used NGK blue plug wires from my '95 STS Miata will serve as the replacments in the meantime.  The oil on plug three is from a bad cam cover gasket which will be replaced along with the coil pack.

Bell Engineering Group offers an ECU tuning service similar to what I have, but the cost is a little more and probably well worth it.  After the big California SCCA autocross events, I may seek a refund from DP Tune and explore the BEGI setup.