JPR AutoSports

We had a VERY Nice day at Lime Rock on Saturday. The weather had threatened some serious rain earlier in the week. While the Evo is no slouch in the wet, some dry weather would have been nice to get the car sorted out with the suspension changes. Real hats off to EFI Logics again, as Pete performed some coordination magic to get the car the attention it needed from Jack and Joe. Again, while the damage from Lightning wasn’t too bad, we took the opportunity to improve the suspension setup. Corner balancing with new front coilovers with heavier springs and new heavier springs in the rear were set to improve turn in and get the back end around faster. The new Seibon fenders needed some adjustment to fit the Eagle RS racing tires. Jack, EFI’s head Tech, ground out the inner edges to help prevent rubbing under heavy compression. All in all the car came together very well and looks great. Seibon does beautiful work and the carbon fiber looks great against the matte black and grey Evo. It’s been posted before, by us and others, but if your Subaru or Mitsubishi is not getting modified for performance or prepped for the track at EFI Logics (based out of Bethel, CT) you are missing out.

The suspension changes were considerable, or at least their affect was, requiring some patience and experimentation to determine the new limits of the car and how it would respond on turn in, oversteer etc. Lime Rock was very wet in the morning, requiring the new Hankook RS3s. It had been said they would make a good intermediate rain tire but the jury is out as the grip was low until they got hot enough. This is tough in the wet as they will struggle to get warm enough when it is very damp. The combination of a new and different tire, wet track and a new suspension made foe some interesting driving. We won the session with a 1:02 but had some spectacular unintended slides coming through the turn 2, 3, and 4 transition. Getting into 2 was fine, a heavy sharp brake, then bend the car left, stay out and then a light throttle to help turn in to turn 3. The front would grip, a little more throttle to bring the back end around and wow, the back end was there way too fast with huge power oversteer. A big ugly slide as the tail of the car would come around too much, tires breaking loose quickly, requiring three Hail Marys and quick hands to bring the car back into control. After the excitement at Lightning, these early slides were less then comforting.

The sun broke through and the track dried quickly, requiring a switch to the venerable Goodyear Eagle RS tire. We run a medium compound in a 275/35 and the fat racing slick has good grip and smooth sliding characteristics when kept at about 40 psi hot. These are great tires and so it was something of a relief to get them mounted up for the rest of the day. The car was running great and the next three sessions were a great opportunity to experiment with the handling. Oversteer and very fast car rotation was still on order that day, and while the re was considerable grip from the big Goodyears, it will take some time to find the right balance and get the lap times down to our best. Jack mentioned some changes to the sway bar might be in order to manage the oversteer.

Getting settled in the car was going to take some time and the lap times showed that patience and planning would be important. We ran several :59s and 1:00, but was almost a full second off our best Lime Rock time of :58.5. The NASA NE TT series has some fast competitors and the :59s were only good for second place on Saturday. While a win is always preferred, a podium finish is great given all the changes to the cars setup. The car is back and better than ever and is a testament to its and EFI’s capabilities.

Next up, New Jersey on Halloween weekend.

What a great event! Seldom is the weather so impossibly pleasant and consistent at the same time. Clear and cool in the morning, sunny and breezy in the afternoon, perfect. Not surprisingly, the great weather, NASA NE, and Poconos Raceway is too good a combination for people to pass up. They didn’t and the turnout was impressive. We were able to secure a couple of garage spaces early and Joe from EFI Logics made short work of getting the car unloaded and set up quickly. Joe is one of EFI’s newer techs and is very knowledgeable. Working with Jack they had poured over the car to get it ready for a long three days of racing as the weekend wore on it was clear, from his handling of the Evo as well as the countless questions he answered on behalf of other drivers and onlookers, that Joe has accumulated significant skill for all his youth. Next time you get to EFI in Bethel, make a point of stopping in and saying hello to Joe – worth it.

Friday was interesting as it was my first time on the single infield -long course. While running the North course backwards is easy enough, the new concrete bump on the exit to the Nascar Tunnel turn is terrible, and a giveaway. Then a sprint to 155 on the straight to a hair raising Turn 2. Heavily banked, it still takes some getting used to. Physics play a big role but it’s hard to consider the math when trying to bend the car in at 130 to a sharp right. I don’t care how banked it is, it took me a while to get comfortable and keep my speeds up. The afternoon was spent getting used to this new track configuration. The new APR Performance wing made a clear and discernible difference. Very stable at all speeds, the down force was especially evident on turn entry and exit and the wing/ splitter combination helped maintain speed and grip. We’ll review the data for the new wing vs the old wing and report back.

Friday evening was an opportunity to run the normal North course for a Time Trial with MotorSports NE, affiliated with NASA NE. I like this shorter configuration and, apparently, so do others as 18 drivers turned up to compete, including a number of the wheel to wheel racers. The shorter straights and tight turns are good for the Evo X configuration. Joe and I had worked out the tire pressures earlier that day, the Goodyear Eagles were scrubbed up and sticky as hell and he had the car dialed in pretty tight and ready to go. After warming up for 20 minutes on the track we gridded up in groups of three.

My turn was up with 20 seconds of open track. Starting on Nascar turn 3, I got to speed before timing started on the short straight after Turn 2. Despite the new bump on the Turn 1 entrance (the transition from the Nascar track to the North Course infield), we ran a 58.08 which was fastest for the day and won the event! This time was faster than our TTS course record from last year and, what’s more, the 2nd and 3rd spots were two of the fastest racers of the weekend. We were especially pleased to have the EFI Logics Evo perform so well.

Saturday and Sunday was back on to the Long course and we methodically worked the lap times down. The Evo is at a slight disadvantage on the long course as it is less aerodynamic than the big Corvettes and Ferrari Challenge cars. We saw sustained speeds of 156 and thus lap times were 1:32s. Traffic became an issue and so NASA NE did a great job of gridding up the TT drivers first and separately, which helped get us a couple of clean laps. Faster top speeds and turn entry ruled the day and while we won the TTS category, we spent the day chasing a big TTU Corvette. We had a great time and it couldn’t have been more fun as the Evo would gain ground on the infield only to give it back on the straights.

BBQ on Saturday night after the awards ceremony led into another exciting day on Sunday. We ran the track in the other direction which is, surprisingly, even faster than Saturday’s configuration. Sunday afternoon came too soon, though after winning our class twice and the TT on Friday we were feeling pretty good about the results. The Goodyear tires were spectacular and wore like iron. If you are still running Hoosiers it’s time to try something as sticky that lasts longer. EFI Logics did a great job with the car and it ran perfectly all weekend long, never a hiccup and having Joe there to keep everything in sync made all the difference. NJMP Lightening is next, are you ready?

We participated in CART TT event yesterday out at beautiful Lime Rock Park; it’s so close that it really has become a favorite, and the Evo is well suited to this track. Yesterday was no exception and the day started out great as it was cool and cloudy with a heavy threat of rain, but none yet. The first session was a warm up and so with some heavy traffic from other similarly prepped cars lap times were :59s – 1:00.5. Not too bad and there were some nice Subarus and Evos on the track. A very well prepared Porsche GT3 was making good time and I very much like looking at their cool led headlights in my rear view mirror…they look swank. Nice car and no match for the EFI Logics Evo X. The Goodyear Eagle RS are very fast and consistent and getting the pressure and temp right for the car was key as it has now become a very predictable and quick tire we can count on. I’m still pulling video but, preliminarily, it seems there were no clean (traffic free) laps in the early sessions. Last season we ran a :58.5 with Chris tuning the car to 407 whp (TTS class limit) and just two weeks ago we were in the :59s with NASA NE, so the car is getting pretty consistent at this track. Here’s a shot from the event yesterday:

The afternoon was a different story, as the heavens opened and the rains came. I swapped to my wets, which are a heavier set of wheels with a good quality rain/ street tire but it’s time to buck up and get a set of rains that are truly competitive. It was VERY wet and in the ensuing melee many cars were off the track, in the dirt and a couple into the wall. Not good at all and so the rest of us tiptoed through the standing water on the track and lap times slowed to the 1:10-1:12 range, and even THAT felt fast! Video will be posted but it is nuts as you can hardly see the track for the rain. We’ll get the video up soon.

The car ran extremely well in the morning but as the afternoon set in stumbled a bit at high rpm and didn’t pull quite as well. This slowed us some on the main straight and No name. Likely new spark plugs are in order or the MAF got wet (something EFI Logics venerable engine builder Rob suggested) and for which I should have watched for and will do so from now on. We had spares but no time to make a plug swap and so labored through the TT that afternoon in the downpour. Despite some high rpm stumbling (no excuses) we managed a 2nd fastest time of the day. Technically, I won the class as well but there were few entrants in that category. So, a good day, some good rain practice and a nice finish. CART did a nice job and we’ll be back for more in August and September!

The event went well, despite being pretty cold for the first two sessions. It’s a great track, fast with some interesting technical aspects. I took 2nd with a 1:31.07, which is an ok time for my first time to this track but a little disappointing overall. I’ pretty sure I can break 1:29 and maybe 1:28 with more seat time. They’ll be new opportunities at this track next year. More to come on the Goodyear vs Hankook comparison and I’ll post some video and the write up on the tires soon.

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

SCDA Test and Tune day – Sound limits are in effect and so we’ll swap to a new UR dual exhaust in hopes of meeting the 88 db limit. Straight pipes are out of the question and even the AMS single exit muffler is too loud, checking in at 91 db. This is a full day event and we’ll run with the HPDE 4/ Advanced group. Post us if you can get out ot the track and visit our tent in the pits.

Update turned a :58.5 and a :58.8 during the track day. My best time yet.

NASA NE Poconos North Course –

Day 1 – Won each of three sessions with the FTD of :59.1 in the TTS category
Day 2 – Won the first session and FTD and course record for TTS with a :58.3. Sessions 2-3 DNS due to a tire failure. Front right Hankook Z211 sidewall cracking

Step 2 Tune – 382 (Mustang) for NASA TTS rules
Hankook Z211 285/35 18
Hawk DTC 70
Motul 600
Mobil 1