December 28, 2010

2010 Race Season Overview

Now that the autocross season has come to a close, I'd like to look over the whole year with my car and with these clubs and go over some things I've come across, as well as year end results. The year started off pretty mild for me, having a few co-drives with my buddy, Shane. I really always like co-drivers or co-driving because you can learn a lot as a team with someone. Ego's aside, when you look at it all objectively, the information that you both gather as drivers can sometime be very similar, or very different, and that can be a very useful advantage on the battlefield.

As the year began progressing, I kept running into these problems with the car. Power steering, getting my exhaust built and taking a lot longer than projected, things of that nature. Because of those problems, I definitely was more stressed this year than I was last year, and pumping more money into the car definitely was not the answer. I think I'll do a "what if" post, if I were to go back and do it all over again, as I've put together a fantasy build, based off all the things I've learned over the past few years with my car.The month I had my car back after getting my exhaust done, was really eye opening though, I will say that. It helped me prove my point that if done right, the RX-8 as a naturally aspirated car can be fast, and fun as hell. Many people frown upon it for not being a two-seater turbo car like the RX-7, yet I had a few RX-7 owners take out my car and swear they would never make fun of an RX-8 again. When done right, the RX-8 really can be a fun, competitive car, but everything is about balance, especially with this car.
After losing my car in the car crash though, at first I was pretty hurt and upset. A car that I had become very attached to, had put a lot of time, money, and research into building up, had just gone down the drain in the blink of an eye. Luckily after some time, I've come to see the positive side of it and am now ready to take my next step in the world of racing. I'm going to be putting together all my resources, getting a few, very select people, and open up my own shop. I've wanted to race professionally for a long time, and having your own shop is always a big plus when I plan to get to that level in racing. Many other details about it, but look forward to seeing a blog about it when I put it all together, as it won't be for a while.Now onto the results. For the end of the year in SCCA, I came in 2nd place. Truthfully, it was luck. The only skill involved in keeping 2nd place, was battling the other contenders in SM, aside from PJ and David. If they did not blow their engine at the beginning of the year, I wouldn't have gotten those 1st place trophies... Which is fine, as I was racing to prove to myself what I could and couldn't do, and what my car was capable of on street tires. I learned a lot both as a driver, and as a tuner, so I have no complaints with how anything turned out.

For Renegade, I came 3rd in "Other Mazdas", but if you exclude the instructors, I came 2nd place. Aiming for 1st was surprisingly difficult as I was always a tenth of a second away from 1st, as the RX-7 that came first place was in G-Stock, so his pax time was always what saved the day. Regardless that all of my runs were 6 seconds faster than him, the club focuses on PAX times for the "Non Mazdas" and "Other Mazdas" classes. I learned a lot here as well though, and it was fun times going out there and driving all the other Miatas and becoming a better driver. Granted, I would have rather spent more time in my car, but becoming a better driver overall is always a bigger win. For their year end results, check here.To wrap everything up, 2010 may have looked sour at first with all my car problems, not having my usual partner-in-crime as a co-driver, and then losing my car at the end..But it was a great adventure. I learned a lot, spent time with great people, and now I have a better focus on what I want both personally and professionally. I'd like to thank both clubs, and I look forward to seeing everyone next year. Until then, stay tuned.

Below, some of my favorite videos as a tribute to Mid Night, my favorite lady who was fun while I had her.





December 5, 2010

Day 10 - Reflection

The trip home. Some say when you go on trips seeking something that you only find it if you are ready to find it. I believe I found exactly what I was looking for and more, as I feel pretty enlightened overall. I am filled with knowledge that would have taken me a long time to fully grasp and understand and to be able to fully utilize.

Working with Ray on this exhaust project has also been a great experience. I got to see what is considered when making a high quality, mass produced product that has to have perfect fitment and be the epitome of plug-and-play. It's not just his ignition coils that receive this special treatment, it's his whole product line. Seeing and hearing his final version on his new midpipe was also noteworthy, as it again is a flagship symbol of their great products. Hopefully all the research and development that was put into this header will be worth it to everyone out there as it was to me.I can't thank Ray and his girlfriend, Jennifer, enough for their hospitality while I stayed there but what's more is that I can't thank Ray enough for everything he has shared with me. Thanks Ray, I'm looking forward to our future endeavors together.

December 4, 2010

Day 9 - Camelback Trail with a Side Of Cars

The early afternoon was spent hiking up Camelback Mountain (which is a landmark in the Phoenix area), enjoying the view of Arizona and all it had to offer once I hit the summit. For my first ever real hiking experience, it was really fun and quite peaceful once you got close to the top. After that, we went down to the 5&Diner for some dinner, followed by the Scottsdale Car Show; the longest running car show in America. It takes place every Saturday and is hosted by a McDonald's restaurant in that parking lot. It was nice to see a variety of different cars, all sorted out in different sections by types of cars, years, and car clubs. I didn't take too many pictures as I was already burnt out by then.My trip was coming to an end and it was really unfortunate. I did have an excellent time though, and I learned a lot more than I expected from Ray, and I can't thank him enough. The morning was the last of my informational sessions with him, learning whatever else I could from him that could help me with my future endeavors, as well as an overall direction to other aspects of my life. The feeling was unexplainable, to have someone understand your side and where you're coming from and what you want to accomplish in this world of cars and aftermarket performance. I am confident in myself and my abilities though, and I will just have to fight to stay that way.

December 3, 2010

Day 8 - Touge Run

Early morning breakfast at Denny's with Ray and Erick before we drove up toward a place called "Tortilla Flat", which is anything BUT flat. The pictures I got of the area are nothing in comparison to how beautiful it is in person. The roads were narrow and very twisty, reminding me of some Japanese touge racing. Hearing the exhaust note as we went around the twisties was music to my ears, reminding me of the times with my own RX-8. Ray was confident with his driving abilities, so our little mountain run was safe, but by no means boring.On our way back from the mountain, we stopped at the exhaust shop so they could check out fitment and take pictures. A lot of comments were made about a few bends in the runners that didn't need to be there, some of the welds, etc. With that being said, it will be interesting to see what they come up with as a final product. Expect to hear more about it on the RX8 Club forums in the near future, but for now, the header is in the final stages of development. Here's a sneak peak at what is to come.Oh yeah, did I mention how awesome some of the restaurants are in the West Coast? In-And-Out Burger was quite the treat!

December 2, 2010

Day 7 - Getting Down To My Business

I spent the morning going over a lot of my plans for my future shop. If there are two things Ray is, he is an amazing teacher, and a great business man. He has the innate ability to show me all things from a 3rd person perspective, ensure that goals are met and intertwine together with each other and current projects, and more. I suppose it's one of those experiences you can't really explain unless you were there. I will just say this though; I learned more than I expected to learn, and I can't thank him enough. He really ensured I had a good understanding of what to look out for, to keep in mind, and helped me made some minor adjustments to my planning for both my business and personal finances.During lunch time we loaded up Jeff's rental Smart Car with a new Renesis 13B (yes, it fit, and it brought the rear of the car down quite a bit!). Hopefully he'll have better luck with this engine than his last one! Shortly after loading that in, we went on over to the shop to install the full exhaust system onto Ray's RX-8 so we could test fitment, sound, etc. I'm not always a huge fan of wrenching, but wrenching with Ray in a shop was definitely something I wouldn't mind doing again. With some good ole rock and roll, we got the install done in a few hours, with the header being the longest part due to install fitment issues.After all the hard work, we got to meet up with Jennifer and went to a Japanese restaurant called Kabuki. Nothing like some Japanese beer and fresh sushi to top off a long night of wrenching!

December 1, 2010

Day 6 - Exhaust Work

Ray introduced me to the exhaust shop that does all of the production builds for Black Halo Racing. There, I got to see what building and mass-producing a full exhaust components is all about, starting from the large machines needed, to how jigs (a template) are made, and more. From there, we got to discuss what we would like to see for the final version of the RX-8 header that Black Halo will be producing.

My old prototype had some areas in which it could use some improvement, so we got to iron those out with the exhaust guy. To ensure fitment, measurements, and clearance issues are noted, they had asked if we could install the exhaust on an RX-8 for them. Looks like tomorrow's task is going to be that! After some time there, we went back to the shop to hang out for awhile, see what everyone was up to and maybe grab some lunch with Jeff.

For lunch, some nice Greek salads and gyros at a little place down the street from the shop, with the two legends of Black Halo Racing (and RX-8 Club in my opinion). I guess now that I look back, I would say I feel pretty important to have gotten to hang with these two talk shop. At the time I was really just focused on all our discussions of product planning, the upcoming exhaust header and learning from both of them as much as I could.

Since we were on the topic of the header and potential power gains, I showed Jeff my data logs from just before the accident, as I wanted to hear his thought on how my RX-8 ran and if he could guesstimate how much power I was putting out. Judging by the numbers, Jeff felt I was putting down only 205-210 RWHP, without a final tune! It certainly felt like more but I guess that’s where lightening the car gave that illusion, matched with my final drive. Unfortunately, we will never really know since I did not get to dyno my car before the accident.

November 30, 2010

Day 5 - The Shops

I spent most of the day at the new Black Halo Racing shop, as well as their new partner's shop, Arizona Rotary Rockets. Glenn, the owner of Arizona Rotary Rockets, does some amazing porting work on rotary engines, as seen in the pictures below. That gorgeous, 600+RWHP red FD3S RX-7 is his own car that he built himself, and let me just add that the pictures do not do it any justice. I'm a huge fan of the Japanese specification front bumper from the Spirit R model, and the offset on those Volk CE28N wheels made me crave a set just to have and look at when I got bored.Black Halo's new shop features one full suite that has a large garage section to it that will have all their tools, equipment, lifts etc., to work on customer cars. Next to the work area they have an office space that will have a nice customer waiting room with plenty of product to display, Ray's office, and a dedicated engine building room. Then next to that whole suite is a dedicated garage type suite that Black Halo Racing and Arizona Rotary Rockets will be sharing to store customer cars and various shared tools and equipment.While at the shop, I finally got to meet Jeff (MazdaManiac) and see his RX-8. His engine unfortunately blew during a track event over the weekend. Erick (Easy E1) came by as well, and I basically spent the rest of the day talking shop with the crew. I'll be honest, talking with the crew and meeting everyone in person is a lot different than talking with them in the forums; in a positive way though. They're all good people who know their stuff and have a serious passion for this car and finding ways to produce better, reliable parts for the RX-8 (and more platforms soon to come).Ray truly does inspire me to continue forth with my own goals though. Seeing the amount of work he puts in for the company and his customers, matched with the fact that he's having fun the whole way, leaves something for me to really aim for when I open my own shop.

November 29, 2010

Day 4 - Back To Work

After doing some errands around town, we sat down together and did some old fashioned manufacturing of some ignition coils. I got to see first hand what it is like to put these kits together, and it is NO joke. A lot of time and effort is put into the ignition system kits, ensuring the quality and build is above top notch. I've seen some people on the forums selling their own DIY system, but after building these myself, I know exactly why I bought my kit from them; simplicity with the best product backing.
Considering a DIY ignition system upgrade is cumbersome and will essentially cost the same in the end, but the fitment will be terrible probably, I'd rather just pay for the high quality plug and play system. With some Dave Chappelle playing on the TV with stereo sound in the garage, we built a lot of kits throughout the night with some good laughs and tech-head geekiness woven throughout.

November 28, 2010

Day 3 - Relaxing Again

Today was probably the laziest of all days, but I'm in no way complaining, as my last vacation was almost two years ago. I did get to meet Todd ("Flashwing" on the RX8Club website) from the Black Halo team however, as he stopped by for dinner and to catch some of the Hot Version movies I subjected Ray to. Nothing like some good Japanese racing movies and a warm dinner.

November 27, 2010

Day 2 - Fuel Pump Install

Most of the morning was spent lounging around the house, nothing too fancy there. I think I hit vacation mode pretty hard given how calm and collected Ray always is. Come that afternoon, Ray, his girlfriend Jennifer, and I headed on down Tucson, which was about a 2-hour drive. We were heading there to install a fuel pump on a customer's RX-8 at that customer's house (talk about service!). It was fun to wrench on a customer car and help Ray out with the install, as it gave me a nice view into what it would be like if I were in his shoes. Even though I don't work for BHR, I still made sure I behaved as professional as possible (not uptight though!)
Once we were done, we headed back home the long way to enjoy some nice scenery of the city from the mountain side. It was rather breathtaking to see the city lights in Tucson from high above the city while also looking up and seeing the brilliance of the stars at the same time. Something pictures would never capture.

November 26, 2010

Day 1 - Touch Down

I arrived in Arizona at 12pm, getting picked up by Ray himself and brought over to his place. I spent most of the day relaxing, unpacking, and just enjoying some peace and quiet with Ray and his girlfriend. I have to say that when I saw him, I was already anxious to get right down to business and start talking. Almost like having a movie star at your disposal, ya know? He ensured me that there would be plenty of time during my stay to go over everything I needed to though and, for now, to enjoy my stay and the vacation aspect of this trip. I wasn't going to say "no" to that!

November 2, 2010

2010 SCCA National Solo Video

Just wanted to share with my viewers this awesome YouTube video I came across. It's a video montage put together by Speedway Motors and covers the 2010 SCCA Nationals event. I really enjoyed the shots they put in, good music, and the overall quality is excellent. Check it out and put the volume up, definitely gets you in the mood to pick up the helmet and go race!

October 23, 2010

Last Event!

Today was the last event for Renegade Miata. When doing the initial course walk it seemed awkward, but after driving it, the course it was actually really fun and a nice change from the usual elements. I couldn't find anyone to co-drive with that had a car I was interested in trying out, so I spent my last event co-driving Bruce's NC Miata again. With his front A arm fixed, it was a much better experience than my last time in it. Thanks Bruce!My fastest time was a 1'19 , so that wasn't too bad, but there is still plenty of time left within that car. Bruce's best time of the day was 1'20, which is a huge improvement for him this year. The final results are located here on the club website.
Check out my fastest time in the video below, along with a fun run video in Wayne's new Mazdaspeed RX-8. His car had 19's from Volk Racing, and a staggered setup! It was interesting to feel how much a staggered setup can change the handling characteristics of the car. Check out here for some great pictures that were taken at the event as well!