Lunatic Racing's New FRS
 

I guess I should 1st introduce myself. My name is Steve and I live just south of Oregon Raceway Park in Central Oregon. I have been a hot rodder all my life and got interested in road course track days about 4 years ago when I got my 427 AC Cobra. (what a Brute)

My wife and I also collect classic Mini Coopers. My wife has a Genuine Classic John Cooper Works, one of only 250 made and one of only 3 believed to be in America.

My 1st Mini was a 79 classic I started out from a bare body, went whole hog, aluminum cross flow head and 5 speed straight cut gearbox with limited slip I got from England. Instead of Webers I went with throttle body's and fuel injection. At Mini Meet West at Lake Tahoe I timed the fastest lap for a A+ engine mini out of 138 cars.

When I spotted the Z-Cars Minibusa Kit in England I just had to have one. The thought of pulling a paddle at 11,000 rpm was just to much to bear. This car has a turbo charged Suzuki Hayabusa and dyno-ed at 242 hp at the wheels. It's capable of 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds and will pull close to 2 "G"s of cornering force. It's been fun, I have driven just about every west coast track except Sears Point. All my friends called me a "Lunatic" for building it so that's how I got my name.

Anyway, I have wanted a FRS ever since they came out. But was never quite able to talk myself into another car. The wife has developed auihuritus in her clutch knee so we decided to get a FRS with the automatic so she can continue doing track days.


PS the Minibusa is for sale.

So Here I am with my new FRS. 1st black one ever sold from Bend, Oregon and the 1st 2015 they got. I don't intend on ever making this a full blown track car, but do want to add some goodies for performance and appearance.

The 1st thing I did was add a cooler for the automatic Tranny, (see picture) I bypassed the little water cooled cooler and ran the lines to the new cooler and back. (Please correct me if this is not right)

I feel naked with out gauges so I am in the process of adding a tranny temp gauge, oil temp gauge, and boost gauge for a future supercharger.

I also will be changing rear end gears and have new wheels and tires on order. Suspension, brakes, and supercharger to come later.

Interior will remain stock.

Looks like you definitely know what you're doing :) Welcome

Cars in general yes, FRS, no, it's a new ball game to me.

Looks awesome so far buddy! Love the guages! What made you choose auto though? Isn't there more you can do with manual? No hate, just curious is all! :)

I just love pulling paddles, and my wife has arthritis in her clutch knee so an automatic is something she can drive.

Great collection of cars.

That Minibusa must be super fun to drive!

That's awesome of you to think about the wife when you made your decision buddy. I'm happy for ya, the frs is a sweet ride, you'll have tons of fun. Paddle shifters are pretty dope too! ;)

Lunatic,

Is there a company that sells that fiberglass mini body shell? Are they reasonable?

Yes, but in England. It was part of the kit I bought from Z-Cars which included the chassis and suspension. Contact

http://www.zcars.org.uk/projects.php

Ask them how much the "monty Carlo" body is. Tell them Steve from America sent you.

Or, I'll sell you my body and throw in the rest of the car with it.

Yes it is.

Bend?!

Haha! Lisa and I spent some time in Bend. It's beautiful there - amazing outdoor sports location. We're starting a non profit similar to the Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch, down here in Arizona.

Can't wait to see your build and catch up at Chuck or Firebird later this year.


Sent from a secret volcano base using trained sharks

Baseline Acceleration Tests
I am using the GTEC-PTO RR meter for my 0 to 60 acceleration tests.
http://www.gtechpro.com/rr_fanatic.html
On each test I went both directions to account for any wind or elevation change. Air conditioning off and all traction controls off.
The 1st conclusion I realized is the car will do lower 0 to 60 times in automatic shifting by it's self over manual mode with me shifting @ 7000 rpm. I couldn't believe it at 1st but after a dozen runs or so The proof was on the clock. Full automatic mode was consistently 1/4 second faster. Loading the converter to 2000 rpm gave me slightly better times than nailing the gas from idle.

After several base line runs the best I was able to do was a 8.28 0 to 60 time. This was consistent over several runs.

1st change, installed a stock replacement K&N air filter. Once again several runs in all modes netted me only a 8.27. Not worth the 50 bucks in my opinion. It's going back.

1st Track Day
Oregon Raceway Park, my home track. It took me most of the day to learn how to drive this thing correctly. As 1st I was driving it like my Minibusa which was a big mistake. Mower the grass and ate some dirt a couple of times Before I wised up. It took me quite a bit of time learning how to shift, both up (not hitting rev limiter) and down (not downshifting to soon). By the end of the day I was on a roll, making nice shifts and good laps. I had a ball.
Anyway, completely show room stock after 50 or 60 laps I finished the day doing a 2.16 lap.
Here's a video of some 2.22 laps taken early on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCdD...ature=youtu.be