With the rust (see also: lack of talent) shaken off, and a couple events under my belt for this season I’m looking ahead to a planned track-day on May 27th at Autobahn Country Club. Huzzah! I wanted to also start exploring more types of events like road rallies, lapping days, winter AX, etc. I’m a little nervous as this car is my daily driver, but I will do all I can like track-day insurance to provide myself some peace of mind. Which is an excellent segue into my next point. Not sure how many noticed, but I didn’t include my usual Event Receipt with my last post. Since I feel that there was a good amount of coverage on “The Cost to Autocross” last season I didn’t feel every post this season/moving forward necessitates a receipt. I will do it for the posts where I try something new, and I plan on doing another year end tally, but I don’t plan on having one for every post – forewarning. That being said, if you want to know what I spent, just ask.
Stop Fast:
As the title indicates I’ve been doing some upgrades. For starters I actually put in a real exhaust gasket — all by myself too (haha). If you knew me you would know how mechanically inept I am and realize that is a feat no matter how small a task. Beyond that, my friend Evan at Rally Sport Direct was kind enough to help me source some better brake pads and fluid; Stoptech Streets and ATE Typ200 to be precise. Though my pads only have ~15k miles on them I wanted something with a little more bite and I also wanted to swap the fluid. The universal rule of racecar building: Stop Fast, Turn Fast, Go Fast. I have never experienced brake fade and I don’t want to. I enlisted the help of my friend Ryan from 10 Karat Racing with the brake job as he said he would be happy to show me how it’s done. While watching I realized the job is rather easy; especially with such a new car and subsequently fresh hardware. Stop Fast – Check.
Turn Fast:
The car already has a tendency to do that, but I was running the OEM alignment (0 camber 0 toe). After running all last year this way, and the 2 events + TnT this way I knew I needed to make a change. If you’re new to alignment, there is a great video with Chris Forsberg and Jason Fenske talking about suspension dynamics for a drift car but the same laws apply. Basically the end game is to add some Negative Camber so that when I go into a turn I am actually rolling onto my traction patch as opposed to losing it. Here is a link directly to the bit about Camber – Jason explains it (and all things) rather well. I went with 0 Toe as I want my car to be neutral and feel out if I want to change it. Plus, if you set your car to 0 Toe while getting an alignment you can mark your tie-rods so that if you end up adjusting it on your own you always know where 0 is. I got my alignment doe at TF Works, and other than the fact it took almost 3 hours for reasons unbeknownst to me, I’m happy with how the car feels on the street. Turn Fast – Check.
Go Fast:
The next Chicago Region SCCA event is this weekend so I’ll be able to put all the upgrades to the test.
What’s the going rate at TF for an alignment?
Well, the base rate is $120, but I would recommend against going there from the small experience I had.
Not only was I there for an extended time, but the tech who was ringing me out couldn’t figure out how to apply tax, so I informed him 1.0825 * cost of item, but then I also had to remind him there is no tax on services. Not a big deal, he also said he wasn’t going to charge me for the camber bolt install, but I’m pretty sure part of the alignment is adjusting removing those bolts anyways so yea — I don’t know?
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