JPR AutoSports

Update – Not really a big impact that I could discern on the track (NJMP) though may have tightened things up a little on shifts and going from brake to throttle. Noticed a thunk of sorts when coming out of third gear which I suspect is the fact that there is no longer rubber in place to accept the torque shock when letting out the clutch (hard) and on the gas. Pretty inexpensive and I’m a fan of losing rubber bushings on race cars so, it’s a yes, but just a small one until I have more perspective.

Installed these over the weekend. Not too tough and supposed to help. Here’s what their website says:

Torque Solution Drive Shaft Center Support Bushings will replace the OEM Rubber mounts with billet aluminum pieces. Doing so will allow for reduced wheel hop, improved acceleration and better E.T’s. The mounts keep the propeller shaft from moving under hard acceleration, stopping and turning giving you optimal performance 100% of the time out of your EVO.

Nice machining and they went in easily enough. I’ll report back as to whether I can feel a difference.

As I said before, WJP in Danbury did a beautiful job of modifying a UR dual exhaust with down pointing tips and a resonator for use at Lime Rock. You can see the video of the LRP event but the sound difference doesn’t really come through. The UR exhaust is a bit more restrictive and about twice as heravy as the AMS muffler and so I was worried that the car’s performance would be negatively impacted. I also noticed that, at idle, the car was still pretty loud and so I worried that we hadn’t done enough.

Good news though, that the resonator and mufflers really took hold and reduced the output when at speed. Somewhat surprisingly, on the straight at wot, I could for the first time, hear the motor and car and not just the exhaust note. Comments from SCDA staff were that the car is MUCH quieter. I’m not sure if track staff were checking but consensus was that my car was by far no longer the loudest. Very nice, and hats off to Wayne for fabbing up a great solution. I can now race at LRP.

The exhaust is heavier but I didn’t notice. Not sure of the performance impact but I turned a few sub :59 laps with my best being :58.47. This was my fastest by almost 1.5 seconds and so speaks to the EFI’s tune and the performance of the car and of course, the exhaust. Good stuff.

Mine is not quite this polished, and the tips point down. I’ll update with a better pic that reflects some very nice welding.

Quite a bit going on over here. First off, and importantly, I’m going to be conducting a little tire comparison with the Goodyear’s road racing tire (Eagle RS) vs the Hankook Z214 at Thunderbolt NJMP this weekend. I really like the Hankooks, and they have proven very competitive on the Evo. The Goodyear’s look a little like the Hoosier R6, have a very stiff sidewall and are supposed to be as fast as the Hoosiers. It should be interesting. I’ll be taking tire temps during the sessions and match them for tire pressure (cold) and then see how they do for lap times. Presuming the weather is amenable it should be a great opportuntiy to assess the two tires. I’ll post up the results and data here and around (and provide it to the tire company).

I’m running out of events here in the NE, and while I didn’t plan on another competition this season, I’ll be heading to Thunderbolt with the NASA Finale running in the TTS category. A new track for me, so I don’t expect to much in the way of lap times. I’ll head down on Friday, see if I can drop the car off and, if I am vey lucky, run a few laps to bed some pads and scrub the Goodyear’s once, and then do the full day on Sat. If you want to come down please let me know, that would be great as I need some pit help with tire temps and such.

I’ll be running a new pad too, the Raybestos 47s, which are said to have the bite of the Hawk DTC 70s but run a little cooler. We’ll see.

Goodyear Eagle RS

Hankook Z214

Designed to help increase down force, especially while braking, a splitter can really help at the track.  APR and a few others make some nice splitters out of carbon fiber, which are great but are a little pricey when used at the track as these things can get banged and scratched up.  Here’s their blurb that I have quoted directly- (continue reading…)

Wayne’s casual, unassuming demeanor immediately puts me at ease.  After I had jacked the threads on my o2 sensor, broken off the extension and worried that I only have a limited number of days to get ready for Lime Rock,  I was stressed  and a little frustrated. All this guy does is show up, smile, listen to my tale of woes and, simply through his manner, puts my mind at ease.  He indicates that cleaning up my mess and solving the exhaust issues are, for him, a piece of cake.  Nothings been complete yet, of course, so things can certainly derail, but as of this morning, I’m feeling the the car is well situated to get the exhaust mounted up and functioning before Thursday.

(continue reading…)

Here’s the link to the NASA Results for Watkins Glen but you can use it for any event.

http://www.nasa-tt.com/Northeast_Regional_Results/p2041_articleid/16

Heading to LRP next week and have struggled to meet their sound limits with teh straight pipe (of course) or AMS exhaust.  So have bought a used UR dual exhaust.  I’ll head over to Wayne’s Performance Exhaust shop in Danbury for a resonator and some tips (pointed down).  I’m sure hoping that will get me to 88 without giving up too much performance…