Porsche Week on Cornerbalance

I don’t know where the onslaught of Porsche material came from recently, but I’m not one to complain.  Here is another sick 993.

Shaun’s Build … another Update from the Body Shop

Just a few updated pics from the body shop this weekend.  The Amuse pieces are primed and everything is blocked and just about ready to go.  Rich asked me to come up this weekend to make some misc choices for the car.  One of the most important decisions that I had to make was the color … and it’s going to be, drum roll please … BMW’s Alpine White.

I think Kwame and Adam have talked me into a small simple sound system, too.  You guys are a bad influence, lol.

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What could have been…

I was cleaning up some old pictures and found these.  They were supposed to be my street wheels after the Superleggera kit was on.  Sadly, they won’t fit without running a stretch tire/ lots of camber and a huge spacer … and, I didn’t want to have to completely align the car every time I swapped wheels for a track day.

I have only one thing to say … sadface

Breaking News

A new era is coming for Formula 1; the Formula One Teams Association have announced they will be leaving Formula One and starting a breakaway world championship. I’ve been following the fighting back and forth pretty closely over the past few weeks on sites like f1-live.com and grandprix.com and I can’t say that I’m surprised.

Hopefully the FOTA showing that they’re not opposed to breaking away will bring the FIA back to the table to negotiate a little more. I’m not sure what I think about a break away series yet, other that I think the FIA is being a bit ridiculous to ask some of the top teams to cut expenditures by as much as 90% from one year to the next. It’s reported that some of the top teams spend in excess of €450 million and the FIA wants to reduce this to €45 million by next year. The one thing I do know is that F1 is not the same without teams like Ferrari, McLaren, and Renault.

Quick edit. –  A few weeks ago, Flavio Briatore was quoted as saying “It is not correct that teams of GP2 race with us; it brings down our image and our technology.  We are devaluing Formula One, [w]e want a Formula One that is unique, with the best technology and the best teams and drivers.”  I have to agree with his statements.  F1 has been and should be the pinnacle of motor sports, imposing such a strict budget cap will severely limit the level of innovation that we see within the sport.

If we look at it this in terms of the 2009 season “[a]t a time when we are talking about bringing down budgets to £30 million a year, we have spent £15m on KERS and and other £10m on diffusers. So that leaves five more for travel and paying the employees!” It’s hard not to agree.

From F1-Live

In the dead of Thursday night in England, the eight Formula One Teams’ Association members issued a statement announcing that a breakaway world championship will be formed.

The announcement came on the eve of the FIA’s Friday deadline for making unconditional entries for the official Formula One series, and amid the sides’ deadlocked negotiations about income, governance and rules.

“The FIA and the commercial rights holder have campaigned to divide FOTA,” the statement read. “The wishes of the majority of the teams are ignored.

“Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars have been withheld from many teams by the commercial rights holder, going back as far as 2006.”

The statement was issued on behalf of BMW, Brawn, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota and the two Red Bull owned teams.

“These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners,” said FOTA.

The details of the new series, including a name, circuits and starting year, have not yet been announced. At present its grid would feature 16 cars, unless the eight involved teams each field three drivers.

“This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders,” the statement continued.

“The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series.”

The formation of the series will spark more political turmoil, especially given that Ferrari and the Red Bull teams were unconditionally included on the FIA’s entry list, due to disputed agreements with the F1 ruling bodies.

F1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone, whose Formula One Management is contracted to and aligned with the FIA and President Max Mosley, has already vowed to legally challenge the defection of teams, and any attempts to negotiate with his contracted promoters and TV broadcasters.

The inclusion on the breakaway series of loved venues including Monaco, Spa and Monza will therefore be contested, while FOTA’s plans do not involve the successful British team and expelled FOTA member Williams, which like Force India is committed to the FIA championship next year.

Shaun’s Amuse Superleggera Update

Many thanks to Kwame for stopping by the body shop to snap some pics and perform a little maintenance.  

All of the pieces are being test fitted onto the car … and if I do say so myself, this is going to be one awesome looking car. And for our readers that may not know, this is the real deal – none of that fake junk going on here.

After seeing all of the pictures that Kwame sent over, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need a new exhaust as the Greddy Evo TT does not look right with the rear bumper. I also need to find a set of wheels for the street. The Fikse’s that you see here will be my track wheels – that’s right ladies and gents this car is going to see heavy use at the track. This list of things to do never seems to come to an end.

What’s next? Deciding on the right shade of white for the car.

Why don’t we get cool cars?

I’ve been looking to either replace my daily driver, or add a 3rd/winter car to the stable for a possible upcoming relocation.  I was looking around unsuccessfully until found this beast, The Subaru Legacy STI  S402, unfortunately I’m still looking as it’s a JDM model only.  I’ve always been a big fan of the Legacy and this is a Legacy on steroids.  Big Brembo brakes, BBS wheels, wider fenders, upgraded suspension, more power, all of the usual STI treatments.

Moonface Racing Roll Center Adjuster

 

Moonface Racing just released a Roll Center Adjuster for the Z33, so I thought I would take the time to explain what a roll center adjuster does and plug a new product…

Three things happen when you lower your ride (other than it looking much better 🙂 ). You will:

• Lower the center of gravity.  
• Change the suspension geometry that countless Japanese engineers (who also happen to be much smarter than you) had created for the car when it leaves the factory.
• Lower the roll center that again, came preset by factory 

When you lower a car, the distance between the center of gravity and the roll center increases, causing the roll stiffness to decrease, and voila you ended up inducing something you thought you were correcting – body roll.  Sure you can mask this with stiffer springs and stiffer sway bars, but this is only a band-aid.  If this is on your street car, stiffer springs also means a harsher ride.

The Moonface Roll Center Adjuster will raise the roll center up (without affecting the ride height) and bring the suspension geometry back into factory spec.  This decreases the distance between the center of gravity and the roll center and as a result, drum roll please … less body roll.

Another byproduct of correcting the suspension geometry, is that you will increase turn-in speeds and reduce bumpsteer. Which if you don’t know … are good things.

Wow that sounds great, Shaun – where can I buy it? Good question reader, right here 

It Begins

It all started with the January 2008 issue of Option Magazine – one innocent little photo.  When I first saw the pictures of the Amuse 380RS Superleggera, I decided there and then that it was time to go in a new direction.  The order was placed for the new aero a week later as soon as the pricing was available, and after several months of patiently waiting … this is what shows up at my door.

This is the first post in a series to document the rebuild of my car.  Stay tuned for next installment, I promise that you won’t be disappointed 🙂

Track Dayz

I had an entirely different post written up for my first post, but it started getting a little too angry and a little too long, so I’ll save this post for later.

When you read any car related forum, you’re going to overwhelmed by the posts by people looking for best go-fast goodies for their cars; whether it be turbo kits, light weight/uber durable racing wheels, or big brakes kits with more pistons that I have fingers and toes.

The sad part is, only a small fraction of people are getting any real benefit from all of these go fast parts.  I can’t comprehend why anybody would spend all of that time and money to make their car faster, stop shorter, and handle better …. to drive around in stop and go traffic to and from work.  Why not take your car to the one place where you can take advantage of all of that time and money you spent … the race track. 

My first HPDE in a quite a long time was this past May at Homestead, and I forgot ALOT of shit.  So in preparation for my next event, I decided it would be a good idea to make a check list to go through before heading out.  Walking around the paddock area looking to bum tools and brake fluid is not fun.

This may not be everything you need, but I figured this would be a great starting place for the track day virgin looking to test out all of those go-fast parts for the first time.  Please leave comments if you think there are some important items I left off of my list.

Your basic track side needs: helmet, registration paperwork, tech inspection paperwork, a cooler filled with ice/snacks/water/gatorade, tire gauge, air pump, wrench/socket set, torque wrench, jack/jack stands, spare quart or two of oil, extra brake fluid, speed bleeder, glass cleaner, quick detailer (gotta keep the whip looking good for the track side photographers), race pads, spare set of rotors, track wheels/tires, extra set of lugs nuts, folding chair, portable fan, and finally zip ties and duct tape incase something breaks.

Here is a word file with these items.  It makes it easy to go down and check off what you’ve already packed TRACK CHECK LIST.

And just to jazz up the post a little – a picture of my track car as it sits now.  There are going to be some major changes coming up in the next few weeks that will be chronicled here – new aero, a full color change, a new dedicated set of track wheels, new brakes, a full roll cage, the list goes on.  I’m hoping for the car to make it’s new debut at Sebring in October.