Tarheel Sports Car Club: 2010 Great Piece of Asphalt HPDE and Time Trial

Triangle Z--Tarheel Sports Car Club

Saturday Apr 3 - Sunday Apr 4
Virginia Int'l Raceway-North Course, Alton, VA

This event is a two day high performance driver's education event with an optional time trial for qualified drivers.  You can expect three 25 to 30 minute driving sessions each day with classroom discussions held between sessions.  Students will be grouped based on experience level into FOUR groups:

• GREEN for novice and beginner students (generally 0-3 events)
• YELLOW for novice/intermediate students (3-10 events)
• BLUE for upper intermediate/advanced students (10-40 events)
• RED for upper advanced/instructor overflow (30+ events with verifiable solo experience)
  
• WHITE - Instructor group

An instructor is included with Green, Yellow, and Blue run groups.  If you are signing up for our Red solo group, you will be asked for references (required if you have not run with us before.)

Student or Solo entry: $375

Instructors: Free

Optional Time Trial (one day/both days): $20/$30

Register Here 

Impact Racing Products Decertified by SFI

This is the statement directly from the SFI website.

March, 2010

March 26, 2010 - NOTICE OF DECERTIFICATION; NOTICE TO CEASE AND DESIST AND TERMINATION OF ALL CONTRACTS OF PARTICIPATION ISSUED TO IMPACT RACING

SFI Foundation, Inc., has issued a Notice of Decertification; Notice of Cease and Desist, and a notice terminating all Contracts of Participation to Impact Racing. Effective April 27, 2010, all products manufactured and/or distributed by Impact Racing pursuant to SFI Specification Programs 3.2A, 3.3, 16.1, and 16.5 are decertified. Evidence obtained by SFI shows that over a period of years Impact Racing has engaged in the production and use of counterfeit SFI conformance labels and patches, and affixed them to Impact products for use in motorsports. Under the Contracts of Participation between SFI and Impact, SFI conformance labels and patches may only be obtained from SFI and no other source. Evidence shows that Impact had counterfeit SFI labels and patches made in Asia and then affixed them to Impact products it distributed to members of the racing community. To SFI’s knowledge, Impact never advised its customers that its products contained phony SFI labels and patches. Impact never advised SFI of its systematic and longstanding practice of counterfeiting and distributing SFI patches and labeling.

Impact has been directed to cease and desist from this practice. SFI has directed Impact to immediately notify all affected customers to remove the counterfeit labeling and to offer the affected customers a full refund of the purchase price. SFI is requesting that all counterfeit conformance labels removed from Impact products be sent to SFI.

SFI has elected not to decertify these products immediately in order to minimize the potential hardships to members of the racing community that have been brought about by Impact’s counterfeiting activities.

SFI has also elected to terminate all Contracts of Participation with Impact Racing effective 90 days from March 24, 2010. Under the terms of the Contracts, either party may terminate the agreements without penalty upon 90 days notice. This means that Impact will no longer be able to participate in any SFI programs after this 90 day period.

SFI has taken these actions in the best interests of the safety and integrity of the racing community. This is in keeping with SFI’s mission and purpose.

For a downloadable .pdf of this notice, please click on the following link: Decertification Notice 03-26-10.

911 GT3 RS: Porsche Experience TV

DO WANT

Corvette C6R Pit Stop disaster in Sebring

Two Honda HSV-010 SuperGT cars crash in Season Opener

This makes me want to cry

Weekend Projects - The End

Well three days later and the project is finished...it really wasnt that long of a project but I got a bit over zealous with the whole gutting of the car. My project was to install a battery relocation kit into my trunk and also install a new 17lb battery. I started off Friday evening pulling the seats out and the center counsel. I had to move the car to another parking spot without cars next to it but the new battery is shorter then the OEM one so I had to prop it up on the Rome Season 2 DVD box to move the car...my OEM battery was dead.

I started late in the day Saturday with more destruction of the interior as i pulled my cage out, followed by the speaker paneling. That was supposed to be where i stopped with the plan...that was supposed to be the only parts of the interior I was going to take out...but alas i continued and dismantled the entire trunk. The light was starting to fade so I started to clean up and then started pondering where the hell I was going to mount the battery box. The location i had planned for before turned out to be the location of a fuel pump so obviously i wasnt drilling in that area. The box moved all over my trunk space from front center up on the ledge to down in the spare tire well centerline then to the right. I really had no idea where to mount it....so I went inside and called it a day.

I woke up the Sunday and it was like I had a revelation. If i mounted the box in the spare tire well, I would have to drill to the outside which means if I drove the car in the rain, water would probably come up into the trunk in little splashes. If I had sealant this wouldnt be a problem but i didnt. If i put it on the ledge center just behind the speakers, everything would stay internal. Whether it stays there or not is to be determined but at least I had a course of action. So I went outside with my 200ft extension cord and my drill and started drilling holes for mounting. Then I drilled the hole for running the positive cable through the fire wall. As a note for any Z drivers out there, where I drilled the hole is ok to drill but if you go much lower then where i drilled, you will drill into your ECU. Got everything mounted up and put together and re-installed the cage. Put the driver seat back in but left the passenger one out...not really sure why i did that...and left the center console out as well. Installed my radiator cooling panel as well which took 9mo to get. All in all a good weekend.

Weekend Projects

We all love the weekend project...not the hanging up of new light fixtures in the house or fixing the toilet but a good old project with the car...I of course have such a project this weekend...though I really didnt plan that too well because ill be working on it at the same time the 12hrs of Sebring will be going on.

Regardless of how big or large a project is, its always the happiest moment in your life. You probably have some music going and no one is really bothering you. Its just you and your car. Your buddies might swing by to help but its still your wrench in your hands cranking on your car. Its fantastic.

My project will spread out over the entire weekend...not because its a difficult job but because I have to work Saturday morning and I still want to watch some of Sebring. Ill post pics of the job when all is said and done. Basically I ran home from work and eagerly stared ripping things out like both seats, the carpet, paneling and ghetto rigged a temporary battery so i could move the car...had to boost it up on a few DVD cases to get the battery high enough to connect...ill get a picture of that for everyone's amusement.

Till the end of the project...JV signing off

CDC Autocross 2010 Season Opener

SATurday March 27th Autocross

Harry Grove Stadium, Frederick, MD is the location of the CDC 2010 season opening autocross on SATURDAY March 27th.  We will also have a Test and Tune SUNDAY March 28th.

Registration and tech inspection will be at 8:00 and will promptly close at 8:45 to try to accommodate the full field, while still giving 6 runs.  You must be DONE by 8:45.  So if you arrive at 8:00 you won't have a problem.  Don't arrive at the last minute.

The event fee for the Saturday autocross is $25 for members and $35 for non-members at this event.
 
SUNday March 28th Test and Tune Day

These Sunday Test and Tune Events will be held the day after the Saturday Harry Grove Stadium Autocrosses in Frederick , MD.   The Test and Tune event will be an informal autocross using the same/similar course as the day before.  The differences are the following:

Field is limited to 40 participants with about 5 organizers (for a total of 45 vehicles).
Times will be announced and recorded on the timesheet, but no results, no points, and no indexes will be posted –This is only for fun
No extra runs if we miss a time – This is only for fun
The format will be 2 heats with 5 morning and afternoon runs (number of runs in the afternoon will depend on time and weather conditions.  We hope to give 9 to 11 runs).
No food or drinks will be provided – We need to keep the amount of equipment to a minimum.  So plan on either bringing drinks and food or going out to lunch.
Event is open to members and their guests only, since the event is so limited in size.
The entry fee is $35 per member, $40 for non-members.



On-line Reservation System
  
Member reservations (or participants that will join the club upon showing up) for any events can be made at any time.  Open reservations for non-members for this event begin Friday March 19th. 

New Members

We will be accepting new members at this event.  If you plan to join the club at this event, you may make a reservation at this time by doing the following:

1.  Use "0" as the member number (a permanent number will be assigned to you after you join and you will get a temporary number for this event)
2. TYPE "I will be joining the club at this event" in the NOTES section when making you reservation.

The annual membership is $30 and is good for 12 months from the date you join.

Bridgestone Potenza S001

The new hotness in high performance tires

Congrats to fellow friends

I would just like to say congrats to the fellow members of our crew that got their cars into S3 Magazine. Its not everyday you can say not one but TWO people you now got into the same magazine for the same month. We have all grown up looking at magazines and wishing on day we might by some chance make it into one and its a dream we have all had at one point in time whether we still have that dream or we have moved on from that dream.


Ill leave it to you to read the articles that will be featured in the spring issue of S3 but I will say from personal knowledge that these two machines are extremely unique and a lot of work has gone into their creations. The many hours, pains, and blood split for these cars is shown in the love and details that have gone into them to make them what they are.

For more information on S3, go to http://www.s3mag.com

Downforce: Airfoil 101 by APR

What is an airfoil, and how does it work:
An airfoil is a body (such as an airplane wing or helicopter blade) designed to provide a desired reaction force when in motion relative to the surrounding air.

There has been much discussion with regards to how and why airfoils really work. The popularly-known explanation (as seen in K-6 textbooks) involves mis-applying Bernoulli’s principle by stating that high-pressure, low-velocity air on the bottom-side of the airfoil and low-pressure, high-velocity air on the top-side, which recombines at the trailing edge of the airfoil at the same time, regardless of angle-of-attack, is the sole mechanism by which lift is generated.

Well, if this is the case, then we would have a really, really tough time trying to explain how airplanes fly upside down:

 The truth is, the top-side air travels significantly faster than the bottom-side air. They never recombine (the image below illustrates this fact).

(Velocity field around a wing, image from http://www.av8n.com)

Additionally, the image below illustrates, using pressure patterns, that the angle-of-attack indeed has profound effects on the lift that's generated.

(Pressure patterns at different angle-of-attacks (red shaded regions indicate positive pressure relative to atmosphere, blue shaded regions indicate negative pressure relative to atmosphere, image from http://www.av8n.com) 

Besides using Bernoulli’s principles (which accounts for conservation of energy), Newton’s principles (conservation of momentum), Euler’s equations (conservation of mass, momentum, and energy), and Navier-Stokes equations (all of the above plus viscosity) must also be dealt with in order to fully understand the generation of lift.
A good article that provides a good, brief introduction to these principles is available on NASA’s website here:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bernnew.html

For more detailed, technical explanations regarding lift, please visit the following websites:

“A Physical Description of Flight,” by David Anderson & Scott Eberhardt
http://home.comcast.net/~clipper-108/lift.htm

“Airfoil Lifting Force Misconception Widespread in K-6 Textbooks,” by William Beaty, 1997
http://amasci.com/wing/airfoil.html

“How do wings work?” by Holger Babinsky, 2003
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0031-9120/38/6/001

"Why aircraft fly,” by David Auerbach, 2000
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0143-0807/21/4/302

“The K-8 Aeronautics Internet Textbook” (this one isn’t so technical, but it represents what SHOULD have been written into many grade school textbooks)
http://wings.avkids.com/Book/Flight/instructor/lift.html

Why put airfoils on cars:
Airfoils, when properly mounted at the rear-end of a race car, can generate large amounts of downforce. This downforce offsets the aerodynamic lift inherent to the car, and in turn increases the amount of tire grip available. This increased tire grip allows the car to carry higher speeds through the corners and out of corner exits. Being able to carry the greatest corner exit speeds is critical to producing the lowest lap times, especially when there are many corners that lead to long straightaways.

What to consider when putting airfoils on cars:
In application (airfoil on a race car), the key point to understand is to know that the amount of lift an airfoil generates is dependent on many things, including (but not limited to):
  1. Angle-of-Attack (AOA).
  2. Shape.
  3. Size.
  4. Position in the air stream.

Considerations must be made for all of the above items when designing, installing, and using an airfoil on a race car.
3D airfoils:

 (APR Performance GTC series airfoil)

A 3D airfoil is an airfoil that has variable airfoil cross section across its span. Most modern aircraft airfoils are 3D airfoils. When a 3D airfoil is designed for use on a production-based race car, the outer sections will typically have much more AOA built-in than the center section. For example, if the center section is set to zero degrees (relative to the ground), then the outer sections may end up at 15 degrees angle (relative to the ground).
The APR Performance 3D airfoils have the following center section to outer section angle differences:

GTC-500: 10 degrees
Click here to see the CFD data

GTC-300: 15 degrees
Click here to see the CFD data & analysis. Additionial analysis write-ups, including advice on how to interpret this data and apply it to the real world is also included (for the GTC-300 only).

GTC-200: 12 degrees
Click here to see the CFD data
 
Why and when to use a 3D airfoil (rather than a 2D airfoil):

(Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) illustration of airflow around Aston Martin race car)

There is a popular notion that, in order for an airfoil to function on a race car, the airfoil needs to be in clean, free-air at or above the rear roofline of the car. This is only a partially-true statement. On cars with solid roofs and sloping rear windows, the air that flows from the rear center edge of the roof will travel downward at an angle toward the airfoil. The problem here is that only the center section of the 2D airfoil will see this downward "push" of air, while the outer section of the 2D airfoil will see much less of this (it will see straighter, freer air).


Decreasing the 2D airfoil's angle-of-attack to accommodate for the downward airflow causes the outer sections to produce relatively less downforce. Increasing the 2D airfoil's angle-of-attack causes the center section to produce relatively more downforce. The 2D airfoil ends up functioning inefficiently in this unbalanced state. This is a situation where the 3D airfoil has an advantage. The 3D airfoil's built-in angle-of-attack variations allow it to function more efficiently when it is mounted below the roofline. When the center section is mounted at 0 degrees angle-of-attack (relative to the ground), it acts as though it has a positive (typically 15 to 20 degrees in a sedan-type car) angle-of-attack relative to the airflow coming from the rear center edge of the roof. The outer sections, with the higher angle-of-attack built-in, are better-suited to take advantage of the cleaner, freer air stream. Therefore, the 3D airfoil, when used in a sedan-type car and mounted below the roofline, is able to function more efficiently (and in a more balanced state) than a 2D airfoil.

Which type of airfoil is better?

 (APR Performance GTC series airfoil for C6 Corvette application)

There is not going to be one simple answer to this question. In reality, a better question to ask may be, "which type of airfoil is better for my application?" In some cases, it may be better to use the 2D airfoil. In other cases, it may be better to use the 3D airfoil.
In order to find the answer, we must know our intended use and we must consider the following:
  1. Type of car (sedan, coupe, hatchback, open-wheel, etc.).
  2. Approval of the specific airfoil (type, size, supplier, etc.) for the race series.
  3. Mounting-height rules for the race series.


Typically, when there is a mounting-height restriction that requires the airfoil to be mounted below the roofline, it will likely be better to use a 3D airfoil. When there is no mounting-height restriction, either a 2D airfoil mounted above the roofline or a 3D airfoil mounted below the roofline may work.

(Dark Horse Racing's 2007 SCCA ITO entry)

It is definitely not advisable to run a 3D airfoil above the roofline for any type of car. This is especially true with hatchback type cars, where there is no rear deck (or trunklid) to mount the airfoil to. The initial inclination may be to mount any airfoil on the roof, which would probably be a great idea for a 2D airfoil, but it would definitely be bad idea for a 3D airfoil (the 3D airfoil functions in an unbalanced state when it is in free air).

For more information: APR Tech Article

2011 C6 Z06 for weekend track junkies

2011 Corvette Z06 Carbon announced

For the truly hard-core Corvette fanatic who likes to spend weekends thrashing his or her car at the track, there is only one Corvette worthy of consideration: the Z06. However, thanks to the ZR1, the lightweight, normally aspirated 7.0-liter coupe is no longer the absolute quickest Vette, but it is felt to have the most responsive handling. What it doesn't have is the uber-cool carbon-ceramic brakes, carbon-fiber body panels and magnetic ride active damping system of its supercharged sibling. That can now be changed to past tense with the birth of the Z06 Carbon edition announced today by General Motors.

The Z06 Carbon was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first appearance of the Corvette at the 24 Hours of Le Mans when John Fitch and Briggs Cunningham won their class and finished eighth overall. The Carbon edition is essentially a Z06 with a ZR1 chassis and some of the carbon skin. When production starts this fall, only 500 examples will be made and they will only come in two colors, Inferno Orange and Supersonic Blue. All examples get black-painted wheels and a black interior upholstered in leather and suede. Follow the jump and we'll tell you more.

One element unique to the Z06 Carbon is its hood. The profile of the new carbon fiber hood is identical to that on the ZR1 but without a transparent window. That makes it the lightest hood ever on a Corvette and, according to chief engineer Tadge Juechter, it truly is a featherweight. ZR1 owners looking to swap out their hoods will be disappointed to learn that the Carbon hood will not fit their cars. Because of the absent window, the Z06 hood has different structure underneath that won't clear the ZR1 engine's intercooler.

The splitter, rocker extensions and roof of the Carbon are painted black instead of the super-expensive clear-coat used on the ZR1. The headlamp pockets and wheels are also painted a glossy black giving the Carbon a decidedly sinister appearance, particularly with the steel blue paint combination. 

 According to Juechter, the upgraded suspension and brakes give the Z06 a real boost on the track too. Even with the same powertrain, the Corvette circulates both Laguna Seca and the Milford Road Course three seconds a lap faster than a 2010 Z06. The addition of the magnetic ride damping system should also make the Z06 Carbon more livable on the road as well.

For those who don't manage to get one of the 500 Carbon editions, most of the good bits will be available as part of two option packages available for 2011 models. The Z07 package provides all the mechanical goodness of the Brembo brake system, wheels and tires and the MR suspension. The carbon fiber package includes the splitter, sill extensions and rear lip spoiler. Unfortunately, the hood is only available on the 500 limited edition cars. The Carbon and new option packages go on sale in late summer at prices that will be announced closer to launch date, so stay tuned.

For more information:  2011 Corvette Z06 Carbon

2010 Event Schedules

I have chosen to highlight a few more events that focus on getting people onto the tracks. Sure some are competitions and a few require competition licenses but the vast majority of these and the ones in other posts are just open track time with an instructor, if needed, so you can get out and just have fun.

***REDLINE TIME ATTACK EVENTS***

March 26-28 Buttonwillow Raceway Park, CA
April 10-11 New Jersey Motorsports Park, NJ
April 23-25 Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NV
May 29-30 Auto Club Speedway, CA
June 12-13 Autobahn Country Club, IL
July 2-4 Willow Springs Intl' Raceway, CA
September 18-19 Spring Mountain, NV
October 23-24 Infineon Raceway, CA
November 12-14 Auto Club Speedway, CA

***ROEBLING ROAD RACEWAY SEATTIME EVENTS***

April 2-3
May 21
July 16
August 28-29
October 15
November 12

***NASA MID ATLANTIC REGION EVENTS***

March 23-25, HPDE 1-4 and Time Trials at VIR (Full Course)
April 17-18, HPDE 1-4 and Time Trials at Summit Point (Main Course)
June 19-20, HYPERFEST 10, HPDE 1-4, Time Trials, Sprint Racing at Summit Point (Main Course)
July 23-25, HPDE 1-4, Time Trials, Sprint Racing, and much more at VIR (Full Course)
August 21-22, HPDE 1-4, Time Trials, and Sprint Racing at Summit Point (Main Course)
October 8-10, OKTOBERFEST, HPDE 1-4, Time Trials, Open Track, Sprint Racing, TnT at VIR (Full Course)
November 6-7, HPDE 1-4 and Time Trials at Summit Point (Main Course)

***WASHINGTON DC REGION SCCA***

March 19-21, Spring Drivers School Double at Summit Point
April 24-25, MARRS at Summit Point
May 1-2, PDX and Club Trials at Shenandoah
May 8-9, MARRS/SARRC at VIR
June 5-6, MARRS at Summit Point
June 26-27, MARRS/NJRRS at Summit Point
July 10-11, MARRS/NJRRS at New Jersey Motorsports Park
July 17-18, PDX and Club Trials at Shenandoah
August 7-8, MARRS at Summit Point
August 21-22, MARRS/NJRRS at New Jersey Motorsports Park
September 4-6, MARRS Labor Day Double at Summit Point
September 25-26, PDX and Club Trials at Summit Point (Main Course)
October 9-10, MARRS at Summit Point
October 23-24, PDX and Club Trials at Summit Point (Main Course)

***NEW ENGLAND REGION SCCA EVENTS***

April 10, National at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS)
April 30, Drivers School at NHMS
May 2, Regional at NHMS
June 5, Regional at NHMS
June 18, Drivers School at Lime Rock
June 19, Regional at Lime Rock
July 10, Regional at NHMS
August 21, Regional at NHMS
September 11, Regional at NHMS

***PENNSYLVANIA HILL CLIMB ASSOCIATION EVENTS***
www.pahillclimb.org

May 29-30, Jefferson Circuit, WV
June 12-13, Weatherly Hillclimb, PA
June 26-27, Pagoda Hillclimb, PA
July 10-11, Giants Despair Hillclimb, PA
July 24-25, Rose Valley, PA
August 7-8, Polish Mountain Hillclimb, PA
August 21-22, Duryea Hillclimb, PA
September 4-5, Jefferson Circuit, WV
September 18-19, Weatherly Hillclimb, PA

***BEAVERUN MOTORSPORTS PARK FLAT OUT DAYS***

April 3
April 24
May 7
May 29
June 15
July 2
July 25
August 13
August 27
September 19
October TBD

***NELSON LEDGES FUNDAYS AND SCHOOLS***

April 16, Fun Day
May 8-9, SCCA Driver School Double
May 21, Fun Day
June 4, Fun Day
June 18-20, PCA Driver School
June 25, TnT and Fun Day
July 16, Fun Day
August 6, Fun Day
September 10, Fun Day
September 17, Fun Day
October 1, Fun Day
October 29, TnT and Fun Day

Thats it for now...there are many more regions and many more groups for me to hunt down and post on.

Remember that planning your season starts with knowing what events you are going to...dont try to stack too much into your season. Make sure you leave just enough room for you to take care of your car in between weekends. Just from this list alone and the ones from other posts, you should be able to have a track event just about every weekend if you just willing to drive a little to get there. My rule is if it is 6 hours away, ill try to make it...ive driven as much as 10hrs for events.

Remember to have fun this season and stay safe.

"Two concepts, one idea: Efficiency"

Porsche Intelligent Performance: Is this the new future for sports cars?



Awesome marketing video that you would usually expect from Porsche. What do you think?

2010 BeaveRun Drift Practice Schedule

Current Schedule

April 18th
April 25th
May 16th
May 23rd
June 6th
June 27th
July 4th
July 11th
July 25th
August 8th
August 15th
September 5th
September 12th
September 19th
October 3rd
October 10th
October 17th
October 24th

Drift cars welcome to practice at our Thursday Night Test n Tune on the VDA as well. (auto x setup, wide course)
Drift cars welcome and EXPECTED to be at Battle X! Battle X will be schedule on Saturdays throughout the season!

New classing/run groups for 2010 -

A. "Fully Prepped" (car with cage, driver not novice, been doing it, OG) (tandem ok!)
B. Non-prepped car, intermediate driver.
C. Non-prepped car, novice driver.
Classing is subjective - if you want to move up, show us you are ready. If you need help, just ask!
If you spin often, hit lots of cones or are new to the sport you will begin in Class C / novice group.

Run Groups will be arranged so everyone gets fair time to practice. This will also help on busier days with long lines.

Tech inspections every event. Nothing loose, nothing sharp, nothing leaking! We are going to try something new this year and keep a file on every driver. This will help speed up inspections, offer special events to qualified drivers, and generally make the practice run smoother which means more seat time. Your initial 2010 inspection and file app will take more time your first time out, but speed up any subsequent visits.


2010 Pricing, $40 to drive, $10 for general admission
10am registration / tech opens
11am - 7pm practice

Thanks for helping the sport grow and supporting Drift Practice at BeaveRun! Feedback always welcome!

Chris Huff
BeaveRun Motorsports Complex

Chief Instructor
Program Coordinator
BRA Series Director
724-535-1000

For more information: BeaveRun Motorsport Complex

NASA Northeast Region Events for 2010

So its the beginning of the season and like most of us the hunt starts for what events to attend. Over the next few days ill post up the regional events that will be going on to help all of you plan your summers and your next big race. Today we start with the NASA Northeast Region event list.

March 27 - Lime Rock Park - Full Day - HPDE
April 11 - Pocono East- OPEN TRACK/ TRAINING
April 16 - NJMP Lightning Course - HPDE / OPEN TRACK
April 17-18 - NJMP Lightning Course - HPDE / NASA RACE
April 30 - Lime Rock Park - Full Day - HPDE
May 3-4 - Watkins Glen - HPDE
May 14 - Monticello Motor Club - HPDE
May 28 - NJMP Lightning Course - HPDE / OPEN TRACK - Comp Sch.
May 29-30 - NJMP Lightning Course - HPDE / NASA RACE
June 25 - Monticello Motor Club - HPDE
July 16 - Pocono All Three Courses - HPDE
July 17 - Pocono Double Infield Course - HPDE / NASA RACE
July 18 - Pocono Single Infield Course - HPDE / NASA RACE
August 13-14 - Lime Rock Park 1/2 day - HPDE / NASA RACE
September 4-5 - Pocono North and East Course - HPDE / NASA RACE
September 16-19 - NASA National Championships
September 17 - Monticello Motor Club - HPDE
October 1 - Watkins Glen - HPDE / OPEN TRACK
October 2-3 - Watkins Glen - HPDE / NASA RACE
October 29 - NJMP Thunderbolt - HPDE / OPEN TRACK
October 30 - 31 - NJMP Thunderbolt - HPDE / NASA RACE
For information on registration for these events, visit http://www.nasane.com/index.php/events.html

EVO Magazine: Porsche GT3 RS Driven by François Delecour

Interviewed by Chris Harris

Apparently this car is banned in the famous Monte Carlo Rally because it's considered "too fast" by other French car manufacturers

Part 1


 Part 2

ASM S2000 Tsukuba Time Attack Special

Fastest N/A S2000 on Tsukuba

Daydreaming on Long Road Trips

The long road trip...we have all been there. Driving for hours, no one else in the car or your buddy or significant other asleep in the passenger seat. Your mind wanders in and out of reality as you try to soak up the endless drive on some interstate that is so straight that you could fall asleep for hours and still be in your lane. What does your mind wander off to?

Well if you are on this page I would likely bet that it wanders to cars and dreams of cars, and races, and dreams of things otherwise outside your reach. The endless road puts you into a hypnotic state and you just drift into the world of what if. I know I think about that stuff all the time. I just finished up a long road trip myself and I would say more then 80% of the time I was thinking about something to do with cars. The other 20 could be split between checking out the woman in the other car and contemplating ramming the jackass that just cut me off in the rear axle and spinning him out.

I think if I added up all the cars I have thought about and all the garages I have outfitted in my mind on long road trips, i would probably have close to 20,000 cars and about 150 garages. Why do we drift off to this never never land? By all means we should be watching the road, being good attentive drivers...but the road is sooooo straight and its the 4th time you have heard the same song from your ipod and it just keeps going and going and going......

Brake Rotors

Notice some black spots on your brake rotors after some hard braking at a track event? Don't be alarmed because that's completely normal. Black spots on rotors are caused from overheating the disk from hard braking, but over time you'll have to replace them because the brake rotors job is not only to stop your car, but also absorb all that extra kinetic energy. That excess heat will slowly break down your rotor and eventually crack if you don't replace them when you need to. How do you remove the black spots? The only way to remove them is to resurface them, but just remember that once you resurface its will be that much easier to warp them since you made them thinner.

                              You can see the carbon black spots on the outer surface of the rotor

Here are a couple of myths concerning brakes from S2Ki:

Myth # 1 – BRAKE JUDDER AND VIBRATION IS CAUSED BY DISCS THAT HAVE BEEN WARPED FROM EXESSIVE HEAT.

The term "warped brake disc" has been in common use in motor racing for decades. When a driver reports a vibration under hard braking, inexperienced crews, after checking for (and not finding) cracks often attribute the vibration to "warped discs". They then measure the disc thickness in various places, find significant variation and the diagnosis is cast in stone.

When disc brakes for high performance cars arrived on the scene we began to hear of "warped brake discs" on road going cars, with the same analyses and diagnoses. Typically, the discs are resurfaced to cure the problem and, equally typically, after a relatively short time the roughness or vibration comes back. Brake roughness has caused a significant number of cars to be bought back by their manufacturers under the "lemon laws". This has been going on for decades now - and, like most things that we have cast in stone, the diagnoses are wrong.

With one qualifier, presuming that the hub and wheel flange are flat and in good condition and that the wheel bolts or hat mounting hardware is in good condition, installed correctly and tightened uniformly and in the correct order to the recommended torque specification, in more than 40 years of professional racing, including the Shelby/Ford GT 40s – one of the most intense brake development program in history - I have never seen a warped brake disc. I have seen lots of cracked discs, (FIGURE 1) discs that had turned into shallow cones at operating temperature because they were mounted rigidly to their attachment bells or top hats, (FIGURE 2) a few where the friction surface had collapsed in the area between straight radial interior vanes, (FIGURE 3) and an untold number of discs with pad material unevenly deposited on the friction surfaces - sometimes visible and more often not. (FIGURE 4)

In fact every case of "warped brake disc" that I have investigated, whether on a racing car or a street car, has turned out to be friction pad material transferred unevenly to the surface of the disc. This uneven deposition results in thickness variation (TV) or run-out due to hot spotting that occurred at elevated temperatures.

In order to understand what is happening here, we will briefly investigate the nature of the stopping power of the disc brake system.

THE NATURE OF BRAKING FRICTION
Friction is the mechanism that converts dynamic energy into heat. Just as there are two sorts of friction between the tire and the road surface (mechanical gripping of road surface irregularities by the elastic tire compound and transient molecular adhesion between the rubber and the road in which rubber is transferred to the road surface), so there are two very different sorts of braking friction - abrasive friction and adherent friction. Abrasive friction involves the breaking of the crystalline bonds of both the pad material and the cast iron of the disc. The breaking of these bonds generates the heat of friction. In abrasive friction, the bonds between crystals of the pad material (and, to a lesser extent, the disc material) are permanently broken. The harder material wears the softer away (hopefully the disc wears the pad). Pads that function primarily by abrasion have a high wear rate and tend to fade at high temperatures. When these pads reach their effective temperature limit, they will transfer pad material onto the disc face in a random and uneven pattern. It is this "pick up" on the disc face that both causes the thickness variation measured by the technicians and the roughness or vibration under the brakes reported by the drivers.

With adherent friction, some of the pad material diffuses across the interface between the pad and the disc and forms a very thin, uniform layer of pad material on the surface of the disc. As the friction surfaces of both disc and pad then comprise basically the same material, material can now cross the interface in both directions and the bonds break and reform. In fact, with adherent friction between pad and disc, the bonds between pad material and the deposits on the disc are transient in nature - they are continually being broken and some of them are continually reforming.

There is no such thing as pure abrasive or pure adherent friction in braking. With many contemporary pad formulas, the pad material must be abrasive enough to keep the disc surface smooth and clean. As the material can cross the interface, the layer on the disc is constantly renewed and kept uniform - again until the temperature limit of the pad has been exceeded or if the pad and the disc have not been bedded-in completely or properly. In the latter case, if a uniform layer of pad material transferred onto the disc face has not been established during bedding or break-in, spot or uncontrolled transfer of the material can occur when operating at high temperatures. The organic and semi-metallic pads of the past were more abrasive than adherent and were severely temperature limited. All of the current generation of "metallic carbon", racing pads utilize mainly adherent technology as do many of the high end street car pads and they are temperature stable over a much higher range. Unfortunately, there is no free lunch and the ultra high temperature racing pads are ineffective at the low temperatures typically experienced in street use.

Therefore - there is no such thing as an ideal "all around" brake pad. The friction material that is quiet and functions well at relatively low temperatures around town will not stop the car that is driven hard. If you attempt to drive many cars hard with the OEM pads, you will experience pad fade, friction material transfer and fluid boiling - end of discussion. The true racing pad, used under normal conditions will be noisy and will not work well at low temperatures around town.

Ideally, in order to avoid either putting up with squealing brakes that will not stop the car well around town or with pad fade on the track or coming down the mountain at speed, we should change pads before indulging in vigorous automotive exercise. No one does. The question remains, what pads should be used in high performance street cars - relatively low temperature street pads or high temperature race pads? Strangely enough, in my opinion, the answer is a high performance street pad with good low temperature characteristics. The reason is simple: If we are driving really hard and begin to run into trouble, either with pad fade or boiling fluid (or both), the condition(s) comes on gradually enough to allow us to simply modify our driving style to compensate. On the other hand, should an emergency occur when the brakes are

cold, the high temperature pad is simply not going to stop the car. As an example, during the mid 1960s, those of us at Shelby American did not drive GT 350 or GT 500 Mustangs as company cars simply because they were equipped with Raybestos M-19 racing pads and none of our wives could push on the brake pedal hard enough to stop the car in normal driving.

Regardless of pad composition, if both disc and pad are not properly broken in, material transfer between the two materials can take place in a random fashion - resulting is uneven deposits and vibration under braking. Similarly, even if the brakes are properly broken, if, when they are very hot or following a single long stop from high speed, the brakes are kept applied after the vehicle comes to a complete stop it is possible to leave a telltale deposit behind that looks like the outline of a pad. This kind of deposit is called pad imprinting and looks like the pad was inked for printing like a stamp and then set on the disc face. It is possible to see the perfect outline of the pad on the disc. (FIGURE 5)

It gets worse. Cast iron is an alloy of iron and silicon in solution interspersed with particles of carbon. At elevated temperatures, inclusions of carbides begin to form in the matrix. In the case of the brake disk, any uneven deposits - standing proud of the disc surface - become hotter than the surrounding metal. Every time that the leading edge of one of the deposits rotates into contact with the pad, the local temperature increases. When this local temperature reaches around 1200 or 1300 degrees F. the cast iron under the deposit begins to transform into cementite (an iron carbide in which three atoms of iron combine with one atom of carbon). Cementite is very hard, very abrasive and is a poor heat sink. If severe use continues the system will enter a self-defeating spiral - the amount and depth of the cementite increases with increasing temperature and so does the brake roughness. Drat!

PREVENTION
There is only one way to prevent this sort of thing - following proper break in procedures for both pad and disc and use the correct pad for your driving style and conditions. All high performance after market discs and pads should come with both installation and break in instructions. The procedures are very similar between manufacturers. With respect to the pads, the bonding resins must be burned off relatively slowly to avoid both fade and uneven deposits. The procedure is several stops of increasing severity with a brief cooling period between them. After the last stop, the system should be allowed to cool to ambient temperature. Typically, a series of ten increasingly hard stops from 60mph to 5 mph with normal acceleration in between should get the job done for a high performance street pad. During pad or disc break-in, do not come to a complete stop, so plan where and when you do this procedure with care and concern for yourself and the safety of others. If you come to a complete stop before the break-in process is completed there is the chance for non-uniform pad material transfer or pad imprinting to take place and the results will be what the whole process is trying to avoid. Game over.

In terms of stop severity, an ABS active stop would typically be around 0.9 G’s and above, depending on the vehicle. What you want to do is stop at a rate around 0.7

to 0.9 G's. That is a deceleration rate near but below lock up or ABS intervention. You should begin to smell pads at the 5th to 7th stop and the smell should diminish before the last stop. A powdery gray area will become visible on the edge of the pad (actually the edge of the friction material in contact with the disc - not the backing plate) where the paint and resins of the pad are burning off. When the gray area on the edges of the pads are about 1/8" deep, the pad is bedded.

For a race pad, typically four 80mph to 5 and two 100mph to 5, depending on the pad, will also be necessary to raise the system temperatures during break-in to the range that the pad material was designed to operate at. Hence, the higher temperature material can establish its layer completely and uniformly on the disc surface.

Fortunately the procedure is also good for the discs and will relieve any residual thermal stresses left over from the casting process (all discs should be thermally stress relieved as one of the last manufacturing processes) and will transfer the smooth layer of pad material onto the disc. If possible, new discs should be bedded with used pads of the same compound that will be used going forward. Again, heat should be put into the system gradually - increasingly hard stops with cool off time in between. Part of the idea is to avoid prolonged contact between pad and disc. With abrasive pads (which should not be used on high performance cars) the disc can be considered bedded when the friction surfaces have attained an even blue color. With the carbon metallic type pads, bedding is complete when the friction surfaces of the disc are a consistent gray or black. In any case, the discoloration of a completely broken in disc will be complete and uniform.

Depending upon the friction compound, easy use of the brakes for an extended period may lead to the removal of the transfer layer on the discs by the abrasive action of the pads. When we are going to exercise a car that has seen easy brake use for a while, a partial re-bedding process will prevent uneven pick up.

The driver can feel a 0.0004" deposit or TV on the disc. 0.001" is annoying. More than that becomes a real pain. When deposit are present, by having isolated regions that are proud of the surface and running much hotter than their neighbors, cementite inevitably forms and the local wear characteristics change which results in ever increasing TV and roughness.

Other than proper break in, as mentioned above, never leave your foot on the brake pedal after you have used the brakes hard. This is not usually a problem on public roads simply because, under normal conditions, the brakes have time to cool before you bring the car to a stop (unless, like me, you live at the bottom of a long steep hill). In any kind of racing, including autocross and "driving days" it is crucial. Regardless of friction material, clamping the pads to a hot stationary disc will result in material transfer and discernible "brake roughness". What is worse, the pad will leave the telltale imprint or outline on the disc and your sin will be visible to all and sundry.

The obvious question now is "is there a "cure" for discs with uneven friction material deposits?" The answer is a conditional yes. If the vibration has just started, the chances are that the temperature has never reached the point where cementite begins to form. In this case, simply fitting a set of good "semi-metallic" pads and using them hard (after bedding) may well remove the deposits and restore the system to normal operation but with upgraded pads. If only a small amount of material has been transferred i.e. if the vibration is just starting, vigorous scrubbing with garnet paper may remove the deposit. As many deposits are not visible, scrub the entire friction surfaces thoroughly. Do not use regular sand paper or emery cloth as the aluminum oxide abrasive material will permeate the cast iron surface and make the condition worse. Do not bead blast or sand blast the discs for the same reason.

The only fix for extensive uneven deposits involves dismounting the discs and having them Blanchard ground - not expensive, but inconvenient at best. A newly ground disc will require the same sort of bedding in process as a new disc. The trouble with this procedure is that if the grinding does not remove all of the cementite inclusions, as the disc wears the hard cementite will stand proud of the relatively soft disc and the thermal spiral starts over again. Unfortunately, the cementite is invisible to the naked eye.

Taking time to properly bed your braking system pays big dividends but, as with most sins, a repeat of the behavior that caused the trouble will bring it right back.

More info here: S2Ki

Carbotech Performance Brake Pads

When you want the control and modulation to take your track-bred car deep into the turns, you need unsurpassed Carbotech brake technology. Going deep before you brake allows you to stay on the accelerator longer going into the corner and even faster coming out.
If you're a professional racer, or if you're taking your street car to the track for club events, Carbotech has the best braking solution. That's why we are becoming the #1 manufacturer of performance brake pads around the world with professional and club racers--everyone who demands the best. At Carbotech, we've been heavily involved in club and professional racing for more than 17 years. We know what you need to win.

Smarter construction.

Only Carbotech uses a proprietary Ceramic and Metallic brake construction, not the carbon and iron used in conventional brake systems. Since carbon and iron combine to form carbide, which is used in cutting tools, you can imagine what those brakes are doing to your rotors.
Carbotech Performance Brakes utilize true race compounds that are "rotor friendly," eliminating the grabbing and locking up that keep so many drivers and race cars from performing at their peak. You want to go deep to gain those precious fractions of a second before you need to brake, and only Carbotech brakes let you do just that. In every turn, all race long.

Custom solutions.

Designed by racers for racers, Carbotech brakes can be specified to meet the needs of your car and driving style. Just give us a call and we can recommend the compounds that will be perfect for your front and rear pads and shoes, assuring that they perform together with optimum effectiveness.

Carbotech has a wide range of different race application brake pads so the track junkie will have no problem choosing the right brake pad for them. Whether it's for autocross, highspeed track or corner-happy tracks, Carbotech is an excellent choice. Another good thing is that Carbotech Brake Pads are rotor and wheel friendly, not like other racing pads where brake dust would permanently cake onto your wheels like Hawk or Performance Friction Brakes.

Brake Compounds

Carbotech™ Bobcat 1521™

The Carbotech Bobcat 1521™ is our high performance street compound that is our most successful compound. The Bobcat compound is known for its awesome release and modulation, along with unmatched rotor friendliness. Like our AX™ & XP™ line of compounds, Bobcat 1521™ is a Ceramic based friction material offering minimal rotor damage and non corrosive dust. Bobcat 1521™ offers outstanding performance, even when cold, low dusting and low noise with an excellent initial bite. This compound’s virtually perfect linear torque production provides incredible braking force without ABS intervention. Bobcat 1521™ operating range starts out at ambient and goes up to 900°F. Bobcat 1521™ is suitable for ALL street cars, perfect for your tow vehicle, police cruiser, and has won multiple SCCA Solo 2 and Prosolo National Championships. The Bobcat 1521™ compound has been found to last two-three times longer than OE pads you can purchase at a dealership or national retailer. Bobcat 1521™ compound has also been found to extend the life of your rotors 2-3 times. That’s one of the beauties of Carbotech Ceramic brake compounds. Bobcat 1521™ is NOT recommended for any track use.

Carbotech™ AX6™ (1106™)

The AX6™ takes the place of the Panther Plus™ compound that was so successful. AX6™ was specifically engineered for Autocross applications. A high torque brake compound delivering reliable and consistent performance over a very wide operating temperature range (50°F to 1150°F +). Advanced compound matrix provides an excellent initial “bite”, high coefficient of friction, and very progressive brake modulation and release characteristics. AX6™ offers high fade resistance, rotor friendliness at all temperatures, excellent cold stopping power, and non corrosive dust. As a result, AX6™ is an excellent choice for Autocross & AX6™ has gained tremendous popularity with SCCA Prosolo/Solo2 competitors for its fantastic bite, release & modulation. Many drivers use the AX6™ for street driving as well, even though Carbotech doesn’t recommend street driving with AX6™ due to possible elevated levels of dust and noise. AX6™ is NOT a race compound, and should not be used as such. AX6™ shouldn’t be used by any intermediate or advanced track day drivers, and should not be used with “R” compound tires (racing tires).

Carbotech XP8™ (1108™)

A high torque brake compound with a wide operating temperature range (200°F-1350°F+). Carbotech XP8™ is the first of our racing compounds. Outstanding initial bite at race temperatures, high coefficient of friction, excellent modulation and release characteristics. Extremely high fade resistance, very rotor friendly with 100% non-corrosive dust. Excellent as a front brake pad for lighter ITA, ITB, ITC, SRF, H4, H5, and other cars that weigh less than 2,400lbs. Perfect for novice, intermediate and advanced track day (HPDE) use with any tire, and can still be driven safely to and from the track. There are several vehicles that use XP8™ on the street, autocross, and at track day (HPDE) events. Carbotech does NOT recommended XP8™ as a daily driven street pad due to elevated levels of dust and noise. XP8™ is also a great rear brake pad for almost any race car (Spec Miata-T1/T2/CMC). XP8™ is a great compound on the front & rear of most open wheel and sports racers.

Carbotech™ XP10™ (1110™)

When Carbotech unleashed the XP10™ to the general public, and it was an instant success, gathering multiple regional, divisional, and national championships. The XP10™ is a very high initial bite friction material, with a coefficient of friction and rotor friendliness unmatched in the industry. Fade resistance is in excess of 1650°F. Due to the high level of friction and bite, this material is recommended for cars weighing around 2,000lbs or more, not including formula cars and cars with brake bias bars weighing less than 2,000lbs. This is the preferred compound for the front of Spec Miata racers, SSC,SSB, T3, SRF, ITS, ITE, H1,H2, H3, H4, 944 Cup, ST, GS, Factory Five Cobra’s and many more Grand-Am/ALMS/SCCA/NASA classes. XP10™ is also ideal for advanced/instructor level HPDE drivers. XP10™ still maintains the highly praised release and excellent modulation, rotor friendliness, and 100% non-corrosive dust that have made all Carbotech compounds so successful. XP10™ is not recommended as a daily-driven street pad due to possible elevated levels of dust and noise.

Carbotech™ XP12™ (1112™)

The latest iteration of the highly successful XP™ series of compounds with an extremely high initial bite, torque and fade resistance than compound XP10™. XP12™ is a world leading friction compound that is unmatched as a Ceramic racing compound, with a temperature range of 250°F to 2000°F+. The XP12™ still has that excellent Carbotech release and modulation that has made all other Carbotech compounds so successful. The XP12™ is the most rotor aggressive compound Carbotech offers, but compared to the competition the XP12™ is still very rotor friendly and contains 100% non-corrosive dust. XP12™ is recommended only for expert/very advanced drivers. XP12™ is found to be most affective on race cars weighing 2,400lbs or more using R-Compound tires; or street cars weighing 3,200lbs or more for track use only. Ideal for LMP1, LMP2, DP, T1, T2, T3, H1, H2, GT1, GT2, GT3, TC, GT, ST, GS, MX-5 Cup, etc… XP12™ is NOT recommended for use as a daily driven street pad due to possible elevated levels of dust and noise.

Carbotech™ XP16™ (1601™)

The second compound to be released this year from Carbotech. It is a step up from the highly successful XP12 compound. The XP16™ leads the highly touted XP™ series line of compounds from Carbotech. With an extremely, and we mean extremely high initial bite, torque and fade resistance than compound XP12™. XP16™ is a world leading friction compound that is unmatched as a Ceramic racing compound, with a temperature range of 250°F to 2000°F+. Carbotech XP16™ still has outstanding release and modulation that has made all other Carbotech compounds so successful. The XP16™ is the most rotor aggressive compound Carbotech makes, but compared to it's competition the XP16™ is still very rotor friendly and contains 100% non-corrosive dust. XP16™ is recommended only for expert/very advanced drivers. XP16™ is found to be most affective on race cars weighing 3,000lbs or more using R-Compound tires only. Ideal for sprint use only in classes such as T1, T2, H1, GT1, GT2, GT3, GT, GS, DP, P1, P2, etc… Not recommended for use as a daily driven street pad due to possible elevated levels of dust and noise.

Carbotech™ 912 Kelated Metallic™

An advance organic-metallic compound specially formulated for drum shoe applications in lighter weight race cars and/or high performance street vehicles. High friction coefficient of 0.46 to 0.48, providing excellent braking without any risk of lock-up. Very good brake modulation throughout the entire brake pedal travel range, with excellent wear characteristics, providing an outstanding value. With a price-point significantly below other compounds offering similar performance, 912 ™ is an excellent choice for the budget-minded racer or high-performance driver. Optimal recommended operating temperature range is from ambient to 650°F.

Carbotech™ 913 Kelated Metallic™

A D.O.T.-approved high-performance compound for brake shoes on high performance street vehicles and race cars. Carbotech Kelated Metallic (CKM) achieves a very high coefficient of friction (approx. 0.48 to 0.50) by taking advantage of a chemical reaction within the friction mass, which creates a tri-alloy metallic film at the liner/drum interface when subjected to heat and pressure. Designed to overcome the shortcomings of other liner materials, CKM is a very versatile and provides excellent braking performance in a wide variety of applications. Excellent wear characteristics and a very high resistance to lock-up under hard braking. Optimal recommended operating temperature range is from ambient to 750°F.

I current have a set of Carbotech AX6 on my S2000 and they were excellent on a highspeed track like VIR, but I'm thinking of upgrading to XP10 up front and XP8 in the rear for just the right amount of front and rear brake bias.

More info here: Carbotech

949 Racing - 6ULR Wheels

Emilio at 949 Racing is currently taking pre-orders for their new 17 inch ultra lightweight wheels for the following sizes: 17x9 +63, 17x9 +48, 17x10 +72, 17x10 +52 for bolt patterns in 5x114.3 and 5x100.

Tire Sizes (17x9): 225/45, 225/50, 235/40, 235/45, 245/40, 245/4, 255/40, 275/35, 275/40 tires. 
Tire Sizes (17x10): 255/40, 275/35, 275/40 tires.

• 17.0 lbs / 18.0 lbs
  
• Low pressure cast - Flow Formed outer rim - Monoblock construction
• T6 heat treated
• Brake clearance for Wilwood 12.9" Dynapro/Dynalite
  
• 72.1mm center bore
• Double valve design
• JWL approved
• Charcoal black, durable matte clear coated finish
• Cap included

You have the choice between three colors: Charcoal, Nickel, Tungsten, Bronze

For more info: 949 Racing

DO WANT: APR GTC-300 Active Aero Wing

One of the coolest and functional wings ever




The wing will automatically adjust itself dependent  on vehicle speed, wheel spin, yaw angle, lat/long/vert g's, track position, and a user trim based on GPS location on the track.

Good bye rev-matching?

US may require accelerator override in new cars

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is considering requiring all cars and trucks sold in the U.S. to have brakes that can override gas pedals to prevent sudden acceleration problems like those that led to reports of deaths and the recall of millions of Toyotas, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Congress on Tuesday.

"We're looking at it," LaHood told the Senate Commerce Committee. "We think it is a good safety device."

The panel's chairman suggested "strong legislative action" was needed, including brake overrides, which would require a relatively inexpensive software upgrade.

The comments came as the government raised to 52 the number of reported deaths linked to runaway Toyota vehicles and as Toyota executives returned to Capitol Hill for the third time in a week to try to persuade lawmakers they are urgently fixing any problems.
The executives said the automaker will start making available to U.S. safety regulators sophisticated electronic readers capable of deciphering "black box" data on Toyotas involved in sudden acceleration episodes.

Yoshimi Inaba, the president of Toyota Motor North America, said the company would be delivering three data readers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Wednesday and hoped to make the data more accessible to other systems by the middle of 2011.

A reliable override system could be important to U.S. motorists, relieving anxieties created by the Toyota acceleration reports. The "black box" information could help investigators make their own judgments about what has been going wrong.

Multiple recalls have damaged Toyota's reputation and set the stage for large numbers of death and injury lawsuits amid a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in New York, a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission and more scrutiny from the Transportation Department. Since September, Toyota has recalled 8.5 million vehicles — about 6 million in the U.S.

There was a fresh indication Tuesday of how the broad recalls and safety questions have affected Toyota's business. The company's U.S. sales fell 9 percent in February while rivals General Motors and Ford posted healthy gains. As part of its effort to rebuild customer loyalty, the company said it will offer repeat buyers two years of free maintenance.

The giant Japanese automaker has said all new models sold in the United States will have the override system by 2011 and that many recalled vehicles will be refitted with it.
The system automatically deactivates the accelerator when the brake pedal is pressed, allowing the driver to stop safely even if the car's throttle is stuck open.

LaHood told the committee, "We are looking at the possibility of recommending the brake override system in all, newly manufactured automobiles." He was responding to a questions by Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., on whether the U.S. should mandate such a system on all cars sold in the U.S.

Rockefeller said the Toyota recalls required "strong legislative action." He suggested mandating brake override systems, upgrades to a 2000 auto safety law enacted after the Firestone tire recalls and requiring all automakers to share black-box hardware with dealers.

"The U.S. government has to do a much better job of keeping the American people safe," he said.

As to Toyota, Rockefeller told the executives, "Every single Toyota owner deserves a full accounting of what happened and what went wrong."

The new number of 52 reported deaths — up from 34 previously — came from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, part of the Department of Transportation. Federal officials haven't formally confirmed the links between deaths and Toyota defects but have received a spike in complaints since Toyota began a series of big recalls in October.

Toyota executives told the panel the company will give the United States up to 100 "black box" readers and dispatch its engineers to train U.S. technicians on how to use them.
The recording devices, similar to the ones that have long been on aircraft, are common safety features on modern automobiles. But the ones on Toyotas can be read only by Toyota technicians with specialized readers.

As they had told congressional panels last week, Toyota executives maintained that sudden unintended acceleration episodes were due to mechanical problems — shifting floor mats or sticking gas pedals — and not by anything in the electronic throttle control systems of Toyota vehicles.

Still, the company "will continue to search for any event in which such a failure could occur," the lawmakers were told by Takeshi Uchiyamada, an executive vice president at Toyota considered the father of the Prius hybrid.

Safety experts and many lawmakers have said the electronic systems of Toyotas could be to blame and should not be ruled out.

The Toyota executives said the company was setting up an outside panel to advise the company's North American affiliates on quality and safety issues, to be led by Rodney Slater, a U.S. transportation secretary during the Clinton administration.

While most members criticized Toyota, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said other automakers have been subject to millions of recalls, too.For instance, in 2002, he noted, quoting NHTSA figures, 15.2 million cars were recalled. General Motors recalls totaled 4.6 million, Ford 2.3 million, Chrysler 6.4 million and Toyota just 496,000
"If it is an industry problem, we should hear from the industry, instead of just Toyota," Inouye said.

Adding to Toyota's woes, the automaker said Tuesday it is repairing more than 1.6 million vehicles around the world, including the U.S. and Japan, for potentially leaky oil hoses. NHTSA also continues to look into steering complaints from drivers of Corollas.

The committee released a January 2008 document in which Chris Tinto, a Toyota vice president for technical and regulatory affairs, raised questions about the company's safety image. "Although we rigorously defend our products through good negotiation and analysis, we have a less defensible product," Tinto said.
___

Associated Press Writer Ken Thomas contributed to this story.

Yahoo! News Link

20 Days to 200mph

From the guys at Vivid Racing:

This is a follow up from out earlier post on our 997Turbo - you can find that HERE: http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=734798&st=0

Crossing the line at 195.7mph in Oct 2009 was not good enough. As our first time competing at the famous Texas Mile, we were happy, but not satisfied. With the next event on March 26, this is our story of how in 20 days we will prep our car to break 200 mph. This brief intro has what some of our changes will be and starting March 6th, we will chronicle our updates with pictures, video, and more including live coverage of the event. Make sure to follow our Twitter Account too for updates we will only post there.



So the Story Starts...
With about 800hp to the crank, we were sure we could be 200mph and would be coming home superstars. We fell short of that mark by 4mph due to a couple of reasons that we will remedy shortly. The first major change will be aerodynamics. There is an obvious reason Porsche spends millions on designing their cars the way they do. Just cause it looks cool, does not mean it is functional. For most of us, that does not matter as we almost never get over 100mph or at most 150mph for fun. But when you are chugging down the strip trying to break records, aerodynamics means everything. Although the Vorsteiner carbon fiber front and rear bumpers are aethetically pleasing, they are not doing the trick. The front bumper has large side radiator pockets that catch air slowing it down. When running these blocked off, improvements were seen, but cooling abilities lessen. As well, the rear bumper with the straight pipes acted like a parachute catching air. The rear bumper could be modified, but for the sake of our goals, we are going back to stock. The front bumper will have the Agency Power OEM like front lip spoiler on it and the rear bumper will get a complete custom aluminum rear diffuser from the plastic undertray back. This will help eliminate any air flow issues we might have had before. Like our previous attempts, we will remove the carbon wing blade and leave trunk lid with GT2 style inlets to help force air into the engine bay for cooling.



Once the car is 90% back to aerodynamic spec (less decklid and side skirts), we will then make a couple of changes to the suspension, ride height, and alignment. We feel that obviously the lower the car, the less lift it will produce and the more stability it will obtain. Not only change the ride height, we will change the alignment to be at a 0 degree camber to reduce any tire drag/scrubbing caused from an aggressive street alignment. We will lower the car about another 1/4inch and swap the coilovers out to the KW Variant 3 system. The KW V3 will give us the ability to adjust compression and rebound seperately to help the ride at higher speeds. The ability to fine tune the adjustments over 1 single dampening setup can really affect how the car comes off the line as well. The KW shock absorber will also perform much better with our height adjustment because of how the shock is valved. Both Agency Power sway bars will be set to the stiffest position to reduce any "floating" affect which can happen with wide tire cars tracking.



A couple of the biggest changes to the car will be tuning and power related. After filming our Greddy EBC, we noticed that it would spike to 1.5bar and trim down holding constant at around 1.33bar. This was completely because of user error with the warning feature. From recent posts, it seems that the stock engine on full race gas can handle 1.6-1.7 bar of boost. This is putting some strain on the stock motor and head gasket most likely. But with the addition of the AEM water/meth system, this will reduce detonation. We will spend a good solid couple of days datalogging the car on our Mustang Dyno to see the affects of these boost levels with and without the AEM and NX NTercooler sprayer. When we ran in Oct 2009, the car had a mix of 100 and 109 because of fuel availability. This time around, pure VP MS109!



Another function of our testing will be with the NTercooler spray kit from NX. Its current setup was manual activation with a switch by the foot rest to spray and cool the intercoolers before launch. Obviously as the car is put to the test down the straight, the temps will climb. We will be rigging up the system with a Hobbs Switch to continually spray everytime the car hits a set boost level. Focusing on lower temps and efficiency, we will also be ceramic coating the headers which reach very high EGTs under these conditions.



With the power and stance setup and surely to push us those extra mph's, we are going to go the extra step and reduce the rotational mass further from our Brembo rotor upgrade with a set of 19x8.5 and 19x11 HRE C93. The HRE Competition series wheel features titanium hardware, honed out spokes, and a 3pc design. This particular thin spoke style will have a step lip and weigh about 18lbs on the front and 20lbs on the rear saving us 20% of rotational weight over the HRE monoblock or ADV1 wheels. We opted for a more aggressive offset and deeper rear lip for that flush look.



Once again we will be switching out the interior to lighten it up by removing the passenger seat and replacing the driver seat with a Recaro. We will also be removing the BOSE subwoofer and then working with our new friends at DCT Motorsports by adding a new custom made steering wheel. As pictured below, the steering wheel will feature a red 12 0'clock stripe, alcantara upper and lower with a flat bottom, perforated leather, and a carbon fiber trim piece under the airbag. This is all for style points smile.gif





Before the car goes on the dyno for testing, we will also be updating the rear driveshafts because of the play in them from the horsepower. We will be using the DriftShaft Shop 800HP axles to deliver the power to the wheels.

Stay tuned for pics, video, and updates here at http://www.vividracing.com/forums/project-997tt

Thanks for reading!!!

Jon