Well I thing it is time to check a few things in the car and change engine oil. I have found the source of the "wooo" noise at 3000 rpm. Click and look at the picture on the left. The metal wool on the header shield should really stick on the header hard but it is totally loose. So it vibrate and in the right frequency it will make the "noise".

Need repair but Nelson said it will need to take the header ie lots of time = large neighbour cost.

The engine mounts look ok though... they feel strong and the metal looks shiny with no cracks. 

The stock member brace totally bend. Prob I damaged it last time I transport the car with my 4WD. Have to phone Mazda tomorrow to see the cost of replacing one. I probably opt  not to repair it. Lucky it is not my Autoexe lower arm cross bar though

 

Now my Bride Seat

 It is a very tight seat. The Bride VIOS III low max seat with LF type rail you will get much more head room. The website said that for the RX-8 the new seat will be 80mm lower but I think it is not that much. It is very hard to measure but I am sure it still very significant. I am more lower in my view that I may need to lower my steering wheel to drive. My legs are VERY tight.

It is certainly worth the money. I feel so good that I want to drive aggressively already. At least I want to drive again now!

For those who wants to get rid of the airbag light. Get a 2ohm resister. I got one 1/4W 1R8 and it worked perfectly (so far)

I decided to tow the car for the last track day at Winton raceway. It require a slope, a trailer, my new four wheel drive, and a few strong tie downs. It is a good experience and it is certainly worth the trip. Relaxing way and keep the tyres fresh.

The car felt strong at the start and ran a respectable 42.9 in the first session. The pressure afterwards is 36 psi hot and certainly with the heat in the afternoon, I am on par to get my PB. However, my fortune ran out in the second session when the back of the seat broke. I had nothing to hold on to and it is not fun anymore.

Certainly the data gather from the racechrono shows.

The sharp corner suffers consistantly....

Well I need a new seat and race seat it is.

I also decided to change the tyre. I have enough of the Yoko. They are much like a girl. High maintance, lots of fun when driving it, but never a fast one....

I am at Macau this 2 weeks visiting relatives and luckily Macau GP is also on, so I went to experience it. Now I regret not going to the pit lane/paddock, but anyhow the grandstand is also good.

I manage to see a lot of crashes in the day. The course is road course and there is no run off whatsoever. Understeer and oversteer, the corner of the car will go to the wall. It is such an expensive weekend. If I were in the paddock, I will take lots of damaged parts, just to make me feel better after my off at P.I.

The cars

crashes stop the race:

Podium for formula 3:

Where are the girls you ask, few and far in between. I should have been in the paddock!

Some lucky bastard

Going home the cars

I will just ask

WHY?

RENESIS 16X

Mazda is developing a next generation RENESIS to improve both environmental and driving performance by means of:

• Changes in dimension including the trochoid rotor housing
• Introduction of direct injection for the higher performance and improved fuel ecomomy
• Lighter and more compact due to factors such as aluminum side housing

Direct injection and longer stroke delivers:

• Reduced fuel adhesion to the chamber wall
• Lowered temperature of the air-fuel mixture due to latent heat of fuel vaporixation
• More homogenous air-fuel mixture

Resulting in substantially improved thermal efficiency and increased fuel efficiency and power.

Reduction in cooling loss through the changed shape of the trochoid rotor housing and longer stroke

Increased displacement (800ccx2)

Result in highter torque at all engine speeds and improved high speed fuel economy.

Aluminum front, rear and intermediate housing will be used, so 16X will be lighter than the RENESIS 13B in spite of larger displacement.

Rumoured to be 20% more torque and power

    
   

What is happening here???????

There is some wear on the right side of the brake pedal. Can feel-toe do that?????.... Please do not let my wife see this. I promise not to put my car on the race track for a while.

Glad wrapped!

My theory is to keep the moisture in the tyre, preventing your tyre to dry out.

Place your theory!

Now I will lay my opinion of the Yokohama A048. There is no one in the internet writing about this tyres, when comparing this to another brand of S tyres (semi slicks). I have seen a few reports on the A048 when it compares with the new A050 on the circuit driving. Most of the review in Japanese and English, are the people who previously own road tyres. Not a true opinion.

I have met a lot of people who use the same brand of S tyres for years, until they stop production (for example, one person move from Bridgestone RE55S from 540S because they don't make 540S in his size anymore. People are actually scared of changing since there is a need of adjust to the driving line (even your racing lines), your set up, and tyre pressure for a new sets of tyres.

For the people who does not know I used to own a few sets of Bridgestone RE55s SR2 compound in 245/40 R18. I just want to see what other alternatives are there. These are Yokohama A048 M/H compound 235/40 R18.

Here is my comparisons between Bridgestone and Yokohama at Winton Raceway, Victoria:

• The ultimate grip is very similar. I will give Yokohama a slight edge there.
• Stopping grip is much much better in the Bridgestone.
• The cold tyre grip is great in the Yokohama, far consistent through out a 10 lap session too. 
• Yokohama is very sensitive with high tyre pressure. The difference between 33 psi warm and 37 psi warm is enormous in the Yokohama compare with Bridgestone. I think the best operating temperature is probably in the 31-32 psi warm. The heat disspiate quickly and when I got back to pits. The tyre pressure is in the high 50s, rather than 60s in the Bridgestones.
• The control is far more forgiving and feedback is great in the Yokohama. Bridgestone can snap anytime while you can easy driving 8/10th of the tyre grip in the Yokohama.
• Tyre wear is moderate on the Yokohama. It certainly are wearing nicely with my current set up. I may want a little more lean on the car (raise the car more) to get the wearing patch right in the middle of the tyre. It is about 3-5mm towards the inside at the moment.

I believe the Yoko A048 has its potential, once I work out the suspension/alignment set up and the correct tyre temp and pressure for these tyres. It is truely a learning experience so far.

It was not the perfect day for me. I had been struggling with my step up during the day. The event itself was perfect.

 We arrived at the Leisure park on Friday afternoon. There were plenty to do in Benalla (NOT)! So we went out to the race track very quicky and inspected the track. It looked good, although some open wheel Ford went out at the roll over corner.

After Phillip Island mishap, I was very cautious of what I was doing. I had to make sure everything in the car was right. So much so that I misplaced my phone, then my wallet, and had to chase around for it. I knew my mind was wrong.

Rain fell in the middle of Friday night but the weather was perfect for the track day. The air temperature is about 20 degree but the track temp is much lower. Wish the track was much colder since most people were struggling in the morning. I, however, had a much longer task getting the balance right. I will tell you what the problem is later on.

No mishap for today thank god, because I was driving well within myself. Still manage a 1:42.1. I got to be happy with that.

This track day will be my last for 2007. I have decided to have lots of rest and clear my mind for the track days in 2008. I will crack 1:40s in 2008 or I will stop tracking (maybe  )

More photos for the day
http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l230/taka_rx8/The%20Nats%202007/?start=all

 
This is the fastest lap of the meet. No you will not see the crash video - too painful to edit and cut! At the end of the year perhaps.

Car is fixed and the panels are done!

I finally took the delivery of the new wheel last Friday and now it has replaced the repaired wheel. The repaired wheel will become a spare wheel. What is the spare wheel for?  Well....

Now what is new.

I put this endlink on because I realise the stabilizer bar is tilted ever slightly above horizontal; the concept is simple: the more horizontal the stabilizer sits, the better it works.

By the way, I installed them myself at Craig's hoist . There are adjustments from 90mm to 104mm on the endlink, which correspond to 25mm lower on spring to stock height. By the way, this set of endlink can also be used in Mazda MPV (LY3P), Mazda CX-7 (ER3P), and Roaster/Miata/MX-5 (NCEC).

Well. It was too painful to write it. Even painful enough just to think, but after a few days of claiming down most of the stuff is resolved and parts are ordered. Yes, the ride is crashed. Well I now remembered (after reviewing the video) that I went really really wide in the southern loop that my rear right was touching the gravel and spun.

The result is this.

Here is the damage and what survived:

• Front bumper needs to be replaced.
• Left front fog light bracket is done but the light itself is working, even the light bulb survives!
• Oil cooler is squashed and need to be replaced (ouch!)
• The grills and everything else are ok.
• Rear right underguard (where the side skirt is) is dented.
• The right rear toe and caster arms were bent.
• The right rear wheel is off circle a little (will be repaired) and a spare has been purchased.
• All tyres are ok.
• All brakes and wheel needs to be cleaned.

On the upside I did a 1'59"86. Link here

The circuit is fast and grippy, way too fast and way too grippy in my opinion. It has created some false sense of security and a mad rush of adrenalin. You can take a bend with full throttle at 4gh gear is very addictive. It is so nerve wrecking (what a wrong word to use here ) that one of these fear or thrill will actual give you endorphin to your brain, creating such an euphoria.

I have the video, which I am not prepare to watch too many time and show someone yet. Fuck I should just DivX it and put the unedited version up.

048と比べた印象
１．蛇角を入れてもA048ほどフロントは引っ張らない。
２．ブレーキング時の安定感、縦のトラクション共にA048より上
３．冷えている時のグリップ感もA048より上
４．耐摩耗性もA048より上
５．フィーリングは・・・？慣れの問題か？

That means, the hairpin A048 pushes less, braking is more stable in A050, it works better in cool temp and last longer.

It is less sensitive to air pressure too.

More here

Very interesting article and some deeper meaning of just longitudinal and transverse grip comparison.

http://feed.carview.co.jp/tb.aspx?t=blog&i=5832160&h=5c7e9

This person driving EVO still prefer A048.

Well it is free. And I am going to have it "test run" next Saturday during my first Philip Island. It needs a bluetooth GPS receiver and the program is free to download. It is developed by a few track nuts and IT guru in Finland and I am sure they have done some great stuff.

 Here is the lap times from my around the lab run. Haha .

 This is the map around the block, with the start/finish line and S1 being set on the route (in the car). However, I found out later at home that I can set another trap when the session is finished. See the mark I set at S2. When the new trap S2 is set. I can even get a sector time from that. I can also delete any trap I previously set. So I think when I am out of the course for the first time. I can go back to the pits to set them out and match them with the official map

As you can see here. I set the cursor over in that. Press the ENTER button to go to this screen, and if I select the "Add trap to this" function. It will add me another trap.

Let me try this cf my AIMS unit on Saturday. fun!

I went to Melbourne Performance Centre again today to get the car on the scale! Well besides the fact that I need a diet (because I was also asked to sit in it), the suspension height is way off. There is a 10mm difference between the left and right rear suspension when Mr fat Taka is in-situ , and the weight for each corner is way off too.

This is the scale and wires ~

The plates goes under the car.

Adjustment is needed for all 4 corner but mainly the right rear. I helped too!~ but I had a slightly easier job.

Total weight of the car, with me (91kg) in it is 1430kg.

The corner of each car is like that and of course, with the driver in the right, the right side of the car is going to be heavier. The main thing they are trying to adjust is the right front to left rear ratio, or the cross ratio. This is aimed to be 50% when corner balancing. With me in it, the front is 52.1% and the right is 52.6%. So I am contributing to 2.1% and not quite 50:50. I need to lose weight, don't I. I also have the car in 3/4 tank of petrol to simulate what I have mostly on the track. I normally have a full tank to start off the day and reach to 1/2 by the end of it. So 3/4 of tank is the best.

Dean, who did the car up for me at MPC, said that if the balance is out before you will find the car will prefer to turn to one side under brakes, especially in my case where the rear is off. Actually in the last few track days, I found the car turned better to the right then to the left, which I struggle to set the final corner of Broadford.

Let us see later what this do.

By the way, the A048 is quieter than RE55s Bridgestone but they are still noisy.

I have some driving impression... all things work in the car. The FM stations and all the audio setting has not changed. A/C is working. ABS and DSC does what it is suppose too (it has been tested ). Idling is fine although I experience some variation of the actual rev (from 800-1200) during traffic, but not rough at all.

Now power wise, I have to say the first 3000rpm is stil useless and difficult to pick up. The throttle response is as before. So much reliable assessment since I have been testing the car in full throttle mostly hehe . In mid range (4000-6000 rpm) the power is ok but I definitely can feel the "pull" from the engine at this range. I just check the torque curve now, and it shows the biggest gap before and after tune, so that can be explained.

Between 6000rpm and 8000rpm there is very minimal different in terms of feel. But after you go pass 8000 there is some extra activity that the graph does not show. Some extra boost of activity after 9000rpm, at which point I used to think that is just for show and very useless in terms of gaining extra speed. Now this is different. *My shift light spot has now been adjusted*

Experiment 1

What is like to have rocket fuel on board?

Love it and hate it. It does sounds more violent, the top end is more aggressive. It is a shame that I did not have a chance to put it under dyno. In fact, I went back to see Jason from the REVS rotary but I did not ask for another dyno run. Damn!

The lower torque is not as pronouced but it roars quickly to 9000rpm! Certainly a different car compare with normal V Power.

Stop making more driving impression. Get on the track** (my track guardian angel shouted).

This is the way to tune the car. Now I have it!

Here is my story and all the picture are taken from mobile phone (*sorry it is so bad :rolleyes: ).

From Knight Sports Website

そして実際の空燃比は、ノーマルの場合、２０００－９０００まで約１２－１３になっています。
Normal AFR is about 12-13.

ノックレベルをみながら思い切った燃調を試しましたが、結果的には１３－１３．５がベストパワーに
なります。  Considering without pinging, the best AFR is 13-13.5

結果的に点火が進み、空燃比がストックデータより約１ほど全域で薄い状態ですが、３０００ｒｐｍ
以上で、全域にわたり６-７馬力のアップ。排気効率の良いマフラーとの組み合わせで１１-１２馬力
アップします。特に中間域がきちんと上がっていますから、扱いやすいパワーカーブです。
Too technical for me for most of its parts: Essentially they talk about advancing the timing and if the AFR goes from low 12 to low 13s... one expects 6-7ps increase all the way from 3000rpm, with good flowing catback combination can achieve 11-12 ps. Mid range will increase mainly.

燃調と点火以外では、スピードリミット、レブリミット、電動ファンの作動温度設定、メタポンのマップ変更も
可能です。
Besides timing and ignition change. Speed cut, fan control.

弊社のデモカーでは、ファンの設定を８８度にしている為、常時９０度以内で水温が安定しています。
また、ＷＤＳによるチェックも行っていますが、異常は検出されませんし、アップデイトも問題ありません。 Fan is set at 88 degree. WDS can still check codes, update (?refresh) will be ok.

Now.

The morning started with me going there very early

The tuners arrived in a few several minutes ..... They come and inspect the dyno carefully My car gets on the dyno and do the initial run 119kW only

The guru... the gentleman on the right is the president of Knight Sports - a man with a few words. The tuner opens the ECU cover. Need some adjustment on the board to install the map

One is plugged to the harness and one to the other (bottom loop). Then he keys in the all the important data.

 Uplading ... 30%. When the upload is finished. Check with the dyno graph again.

Finish ... a sticker of approval!

Dyno chart

Power to Torque

Power to AFR

I have some driving impression... but I will conclude after cold start tomorrow.

The Yokohama has the A050 out since May this year, but it is only limited for the soft compound (Motorghana races) only. But now they have the circuit compound out start of August. I think it will take a few months before any overseas people can get their hands on them since the 245/40 18 will be used by 350Z, EVO, STi and many other cars.

Link here