Tag: National Speed

Eyesore Racing's Ghettocharged Miata for 24 Hours of LeMons.

Sure you got Supercharging and Turbocharging and hell, even Twincharging but what about Ghettocharging?

Alright, maybe it’s not a new form of forced induction, but damn is it Ghetto! I thought I’d seen it all with budget builds, but this is a TRUE budget build. Electrical conduit from Home Depot for Coolant Lines, Sheet metal from a Heater shed? Dear God.

This car was built by Eyesore Racing for the 2009 24 Hours of LeMons(A play on Lemans obviously) and the goal is to build a car for under $500 (including the cost of the car) and send them through a proverbial gauntlet with events such as “The Personal-Injury-Lawyer Anti-Slalom”, “The Marxist-Valet Parking Challenge” and the “Wide Open Throttle Rodthrowapalooza” and that’s BEFORE you get to the starting grid. Twelve hours into the race, the car voted People’s Choice is called in and awarded a cash prize, the car voted People’s Curse is called in and destroyed. At the end of the 24 hours, an awards ceremony showers the survivors with trophies, plaques, and a Four-figure winnings in bags filled full of nickels. It’s always sure to be fun, that’s for sure.

Anyhow, back to the car. Eyesore Racing bought this piece for $17.99 in God knows where and went to work. They found two more Miata wrecks plus enough worn-out engine parts to assemble a possibly serviceable powerplant, and a turbo from a MDM (Mexican Domestic Market) Dodge Stratus. With the remaining money they went to work and fabbed up this ridiculous conglomeration of pipes you see above. I guess you could call this a top-mount turbo manifold…considering it sticks about a foot out of the hood. On 4.5 pounds of boost it made 140whp, which is ~50hp over stock. Not bad for some ghetto fabbing.

I wish those guys over at Eyesore Racing good luck in the 24 hours of LeMons and major kudos to them for having the Gonads and ingenuity to fab up something like that!

Here’s a video of the “Beast” on track:

December 22, 2008
Running on Fumes: Grassroots.

This is to you true grassroots guys (and gals). This is to those of you who scrounge up every last dollar and cent just to go visit the racetrack every month. This is to the autocrossers, roadcoursers, drifters, dragracers and rallycrossers. To those who value ducttape and zipties more than anything. To those of you who take a car worth a tenth of the cars you destroy at the track.

Sure, there are enthusiasts of all types. There are Multi-million dollar factory backed raceteams, but I don’t personally think of them as “Enthusiasts”. Grassroots motorsports is all about having fun with what you got. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your backyard built driftcar or daily driver, it’s all about just going out. It’s understanding what makes a car not just an appliance. It’s about appreciation. Throwing your hoosiers in the backseat, filling the trunk with tools, driving across state lines for an event, kicking ass and driving back.

In my opinion, Grassroots drivers are the REAL enthusiasts.

This is to you.

To our readers, What’s YOUR grassroots discipline?

December 19, 2008
No Pistons, All Rotor: Brandon Wiggins FC RX7

Poise and Balance is something we forget about every now and again. When building a car, a lot of people overlook balance and attack everything with brute power. Brandon’s FC RX7 is the underpowered underdog nipping at the heels of cars with over twice the horsepower.

After having a mildly built ’67 Camaro, Brandon already had his fun in a straight line…but something was lacking, you can’t exactly attack corners in a steel bodied beast like the Camaro. While a performance minded RX7 without a TII motor sounds pretty crazy, this surely isn’t the fact with his FC. Trying to avoid the whole turbo rotary stigma of “Working 100% of the time, 60% of the time“, this rotard purchased the N/A FC with reliability in mind. (Haha…reliability..)

While not gleaming with parts in the engine compartment, it has the necessary mods such as a custom intake setup, and Borla exhaust. ALL the power that this twin rotor produced almost broke our dyno from sheer energy. It put down a whopping 136hp and 116ft/lbs. All of that earth shattering power is sent through a Stage 2 Competition Clutch paired up with a Fidanza aluminum flywheel and Short Shifter. This car was always meant for Autocross and Roadcourse, so the FC didn’t need a lot of power to do what it was intended to.

The motor wasn’t focused on as much as the most important aspect of this car, The Suspension. Lots of time and thought were put into the suspension setup and stance of the car before purchasing, naturally, Stance coilovers. Rota D2’s mounted on 235/17 Falken Ziex’s. All of this was put on the car at the same time and WOW did it make a difference. Many a highway onramp and offramp have been assaulted while tweaking the 32 way adjustable coilovers to Brandon’s exacting standards. Further suspension components include a Racing Beat front sway bar, Rear steer eliminator, and front and rear strut tower bars.

Another modification important to a low horsepower car is weight. While not weighing much to begin with, in order to extract every bit of available power, there was some things scrapped to reduce unnecessary load. First off all of the carpet was ripped up and all of the sound deadening tar was painstakingly removed (Believe me, it wasn’t fun) and all of the “undercarpet” as well. After all the now lightened carpet was thrown back in, the Spare tire, Jack and AC compressor were removed. While it doesn’t sound like much, you can tell a weight difference when you only have 136 Wheel Horsepower.

I can tell you first hand that this will warp your understanding of physics in a corner of any kind. The first time you go into a corner and Brandon smoothly heel-toes and throws you into a bend, it will surely send a shock to your system. Believe me when I say, This thing handles. My car only has ~230whp, but I can pull away from the FC hard. In the same familiar corner however, when following the FC in my car, I have to half throttle it while Brandon can absolutely keep it to the floor. It really is all about balance. This car is truly an enthusiasts vehicle and goes to show you don’t have to have massive power to keep up with the big boys. It’s far from done, and at the going rate will be a full time attack car before too long. Not only that, but rotaries always have a habit of blowing huge flames at the top of every gear. Below is Brandon’s ’67 Camaro.

That’s just badass…Silly Rotard.

December 18, 2008
Roadmice: Forget Surfing the Web, Drive it Instead.

It’s holiday season folks, I saw this and had to post about it! “RoadMice” is what it’s called, and I think it’d be a great stocking stuffer for whomever automotive inclined you decide to get it for. Basically it’s a mouse styled to look like a car. There’s no two ways around it.

It’s got your standard left and right click mouse features (Minus you Mac weirdos…kidding.) and a scroll wheel, but the way it portrays it is SO much cooler. Right and left click are on the appropriate side of the hood on each vehicle, and it’s styled to represent a cowl induction hood. (On the Camaros at least) The scroll wheel glows red and looks akin to a blower sticking out the hood. Another nice touch is fully functioning headlights (Which can be turned off).

Each car is Officially Licensed by the respective companies and they come in, but are not limited to, a wide range of GM, Dodge, Ford and Chevy flavors. No imports yet guys, sorry. Each mouse is wireless and uses a USB receiver to function and has an accurate 800dpi. Each Roadmouse comes with an Individual VIN and personalized Registration and Title.

A Roadmouse would be the perfect Holiday gift for the auto lover in your family. If a Roadmouse isn’t quite their style, they also offer USB Flash Drives and Mouse Pads which are emblazoned with whatever Domestic vehicle you choose. Prices for each car are $44.99. Give Roadmice a shot!

December 17, 2008
Ecoboost: The Next Aftermarket Wave

So by now I’m sure most of you know about this new Ecoboost motor that Ford is going to be throwing in half a million of their vehicles in the next 5 years.

Basically, the forever ingrained V8 motor that ford uses in everything is slowly going to be phased out. Know what this means: A V6 mustang. Holy shart, no V8? Blasphemy, you might say. I think otherwise. This isn’t to say that the V8 will go away completely, because of course you know that will never happen, but there is sure to be WAY less than there is now. The ecoboost family of 4 bangers and 6 cylinders features turbocharging and direct injection. Turbocharging? Oh yes.

The Premium motor (3.5 Liter TT V6) will produce somewhere in the neighborhood of 340 horsepower and 340ft/lbs of torque. Did I get your attention yet? Another added benefit of this new ecoboost shenanigans is that it will deliver up to 20 percent better fuel economy. Of course, this is depending on the way you drive. If you are a stranger to boost, it is very very addicting…

The 2.0 liter four banger is no slouch either, producing an impressive 275 Horsepower and 280ft/lbs. These numbers, while impressive, aren’t what I’m excited about. What I am excited about is POTENTIAL. Factory turbocharged cars have always been instant hits with tuners and any sort of aftermarket.

Hold on a second while I put on my flamesuit…Okay.

This may be a bold statement to some, but I think the new twin turbo V6 Mustangs are going to be the birth of the American Supra. Think about it: RWD, twin turbo V6. As long as Ford isn’t cutting corners in the motor/tranny compartment, I think that this thing will take off. Throw in some larger injectors, larger turbos (pr convert to single) and crank up the boost and see what happens.

My question however is: Is America ready for a V6 Mustang?

December 16, 2008
Killer Robot Speedbumps – Speeders Beware.

What would you think about Speed Sensitive Speedbumps? Kind of an interesting concept, I think.

I’m not too sure about the technology behind it, but apparently if you drive the speed limit, the bumps do not raise. From what I understand, by using a small damper inside to flatten out when a car drives over it at low speed, the higher force applied by a faster car would prevent the bump from lowering, thus causing god knows what. I just read it, and I still don’t understand it but it’s alright. It slows people down, that’s what matters.

Designers Jae-yun Kim and Jong-Su Lee had going green in mind when coming up with this sleeping speedbump. The designers say their goal was to reduce the amount of exhaust pollution, wear on brakes and the amount of starts and stops made by encouraging drivers to maintain a constant slow speed. To reduce the shock value, LEDs have been placed all over the thing so hopefully you’ll see it before you bend a rim.

Let’s just hope that this doesn’t happen.

Personally, I absolutely hate speedbumps of any kind, seeing as I have to drive over them completely sideways. I say as long as you’re driving the speedlimit, you have nothing to worry about. Make sense? No word on when these killer robot speedbumps are supposed to drop onto streets, but watch out for them once they do!

December 15, 2008
Running on Fumes: Improper sizing of…Everything.

One thing that I’ve noticed: a lot of people can’t size equipment right.

What I mean by this is the guys that are throwing a 70 trim journal bearing turbo on a small displacement motor and wondering why they don’t spool until 1k before redline. They always ask why their powerband is so bad, or nonexistent. LAWL. This is what I mean folks. It’s all about sizing. In the case of turbos, bigger isn’t always better. If anything, if you’re running such a large turbo on a small displacement motor, when it finally DOES spool it’ll probably just blow your tires off anyhow. More often than not, you’d be way better off getting a smaller ball bearing turbo and actually having a powerband while still having some response.

Having an aftermarket stall on a automatic is great also, but just like everything else, it’s got to be properly sized. Let’s say you have a 4400rpm stall on your daily driven car. Does this make sense to you? I guess most people tend to forget that if you have such a large stall, your car will barely move in traffic unless you are applying a gratuitous amount of throttle. Finding a proper sized torque converter is key if you plan on driving on the street without sloppy and jerky acceleration.

Let’s see. How about cams? I’ve seen guys with stock GSRs, stock valvetrain, with stock compression and Toda Vtec Killers. Hmm, why does my car produce 1ft/lb of torque at low RPM and stutter until I get to 6,000 RPM? Fail. There is no reason to get the largest lift/duration cams there ever was, because in that case, it just doesn’t work. Sure, you’ll have top end power for days but you’ll have to rev to 50,000k (exaggeration, obviously) to get the use out of them.

Of course, this is just a few minor niggles than bother me, but I’m sure I’m not the only one. Before you buy anything. Please for the sake of yourself and anyone else around you. Please either do research, or talk to someone that knows what they are talking about.

Thanks,

Greg

December 12, 2008
What is a Two-step? – Basic Launch Control

Two-step, and Three-step. It has one purpose in mind, making lots of noise and propelling you forward as fast as possible. Not dancing.

First off let’s start with the basics. Two-step is also known as a stutterbox and is a form of launch control. Essentially two-step works as a secondary rev limiter. Two-step works off of your speed sensor so it knows when you’re moving and when you’re not. When you’re not moving and the clutch is depressed, the motor will be able to rev and hold at a lower set value. This puts load on the engine and if you’re running a turbo setup will also build a few pounds of boost. Three-step just adds another step (no kidding) and comes into play after you’re already moving. Three step is a third rev limiter essentially and allows you to No Lift Shift. NLS also allows you to hold boost between shifts.

So basically if you’re at the dragstrip and you roll up and stage, you will be able to slot the car into gear, put your foot to the floor and it will hold to whatever RPM you set the two-step for. All you have to do now is slip the clutch on the third yellow and proceed to launch like ‘eff. This is where three-step comes into play, after you blow through first you can keep the pedal to the floor and safely powershift into 2nd, 3rd and so on. By using two and three-step, you would build boost not only at the staging line, but between shifts as well.

MSD Ford 2-Step in action, New Best

The best way to start 2 stepping is to get an AEM EMS or MSD 2-step module. A 2 or 3 step is a very good way to build boost off the line and be able to hold boost between shifts. It will definitely cut down your 1/4 times and give you a better launch guaranteed.

December 11, 2008
Full Steam Ahead: British Steam-Powered Car Test Run

Those crazy Brits are at it again! Seeking to get their names in the record books for something besides bad teeth and crazy lingo* — “Balderdash!” “Bloody hell!” — the British Steam Team (hehehehe) have set upon breaking the land speed record for steam powered cars.

The steam powered “steamster” (patent pending) recently fired up its 360 HP turbine engine for a test run. This is all leading up to the official record breaking run which will take place at the Edwards Air Force Base in the near future.

The original steam-powered record stands at 127.66 mph which was set in 1906. Currently the British Steam Team (hehehehe) has their sights set on breaking that record with a whopping 170 mph. Hat tip to Jalopnik for the info (and for resisting the urge to use as many bad “steam” jokes as I did).

*The author apologizes for using stereotypes for the purposes of humor. It’s a slow news day.

December 11, 2008
What is VIP? – Bippu Styling

VIP or Bippu, is a somewhat new style of tuning that is slowly taking over the scene. Companies like Junction Produce, Auto Couture and Fabulous are starting to creep into US Car shows.

What is VIP you ask?

VIP cars are Japanese luxury cars such as the Nissan President, Toyota Celsior and Toyota Aristo. These aren’t the only models eligible for VIP status, however. The car makes the style, and it’s very specific. If you don’t have one of these models, your car is not eligible for being VIP. From Toyota you have the Century (JDM only), Celsior (Lexus LS), Aristo(Lexus GS), and Crown (very similar to Lexus LS). From Nissan you have the President (JDM only), Cima (Infiniti Q45) and the Cedric (Infinity M45). These are the only “True” VIP platforms.

It is rumored that VIP started off as a way for Yakuza to roll around incognito. By riding around in a big black 4 door sedan, you became way more inconspicuous than if you were in a high-profile European sedan such as a BMW M-series or Mercedes S-class. Osaka street racers, after suffering numerous police crackdowns in the early 1990’s, turned to large sedans after police started targeting sport compacts.

Most VIP cars carry the same characteristics: large diameter wheels (big lips are a plus) with low offsets that are flush, a lip kit or body kit(only to accentuate existing lines), and lowered ride height. More often than not, the vehicle is black as well. Low, dark, and slow is how they roll. Interior is where these cars really shine. Everything is available from Leather Tissue boxes, Curtains and even Tables crafted out of exotic woods. Most importantly (IMO) is the Fusa Knot.

This isn’t to say that the VIP Style cannot be applied to other platforms, as there are many Kei cars, Sport coupes, and even vans applying it. This is called Auto-luxury. Auto-luxury cars, even though not considered true “VIP”, can be pulled off very well, as evidenced by a friend of mine’s Anh-tuans SC300 as seen above. I see this style growing and more people immersing themselves into the VIP culture. My prediction: before too long you will see quite a few VIP themed rides rolling around on the street.

December 10, 2008