qoncept's C Stock BRZ log

[qoncept]

After a long month of soul searching and trying to figure out what I really wanted in a car, I bought a WRB BRZ Limited to replace my 2004 WRX at the beginning of May. I bounced back and forth between a fun car, a comfortable sedan and selling my Sequoia for a new SUV. In the end I decided I had to have a car I could enjoy driving and a good autox car was the way to go.

I'm getting older and didn't want to invest all the time and money I spent working on my 400hp WRX making a car uncomfortable again. C Stock it is. I'm going to use this thread to log all of the maintenance, limited upgrades, autox, track days and anything else of interest.

I drive the car most days, but it will be stored in the garage through winter. After a month of 35mph in 6th gear she has 1700 miles @ 34mpg.

Current setup:
- Stock tires on EKM3s on the street / Hankook Z214 C51 on stock wheels autox
- Custom fabbed trailer hitch
- Perrin catback
- Whiteline 22mm front sway bar and endlinks
- aFe ProDry drop in air filter
- Motul 300 rear diff oil



The two together before selling the WRX


And one last detail for the WRX with her new owner

[qoncept]

Within a week I ordered new shoes. The stock tires went on Enkei EKM3s and Hankook Z214s went on the stock wheels for autox. Also got a clear bra before it was too late and 15% tint in the back.





The first autox was with the Des Moines Valley Region at Newton Speedway. Very few cars on sticky rubber there. After an embarassing DNF on my first run I ended up 25/75 both in raw time and PAX, and won my class by 6 seconds. Not bad for a mediocre driver and my first event in over 5 years. The GoPro didn't really play well with me but I did end up with one video, my slowest run. Turns out using YouTube's stabilization was a mistake.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5htDszs_28"]Iowa Region SCCA Autox - May 19 - Run 2 - YouTube[/ame]

[Lonewolf]

Nice job on the comeback. Did you see any other FRS/BRZ while auto-xing?

[qoncept]

Yeah, there were 3 or 4 FR-S's there, including the guys from FT-86 Speedfactory. It was a perfect day and met a lot of great people. I was planning on an Iowa Region event yesterday but spent the whole weekend babysitting my sump pump and watching flood levels. Next event is DMVR again this weekend or Great River Region on the 16th, depending on how motivated I feel.

[Go!]

What size did you get for the hankooks?

How long do these usually last?

[qoncept]

The Kooks are 245/40-17. I've never run them before. These are the C51 compound actually meant for track use, a little harder than C71.

On the WRX a set of Kumho V710s would last me maybe 8 events, but that was in stupid hot Alabama on a top heavy, unbalanced, more powerful AWD car that weighs 500lbs more and I overdrive a whole lot. If these don't get me through this season and at least part of next I'll be very surprised/disappointed.

[qoncept]

Fabbed up a trailer hitch over the weekend. The hitch is ready but I need to do some trimming on the bumper to make it a little easier to deal with and still need to get the wiring figured out. Parts should be here tomorrow.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38706





Also wrapped my silver dash pieces in DiNoc. Not crazy about fake carbon fiber but I hated the silver.



...but I missed the autox I was supposed to go to Sunday. I was too exhausted and recovering from the flu. And then it was supposed to rain, which I used as an excuse. There's another coming up this weekend, though, so I'll be ready to go.

[yberther]

Dude, I love the tire and trailer setup!

I want to do this for a dirtbike/street bike to take to the track!

Are you going to release drawings or something or try to sell these? I saw one of the vendeors was looking at doing something similar... I may be interested either way.

Still DD'ing it?

[qoncept]

The trailer hitch design was first done by kask2_6.0. See more here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30035 He's made some revisions and registered as a vendor and plans on selling them. I would definitely recommend. I was just in a rush and I'm a DIYer anyway.

I drive it most days but it'll be a garage queen over the winter. As of the drive to work this morning it's doubling the mileage of my Sequoia.

[qoncept]

Event: Great River Region SCCA 6/16/2013, Mt. Joy Iowa
Full results - PAX



Ran my second autox event today with the Great River Region SCCA. It was a hot day (85+) on concrete. Kind of a tricky course that was set up for 2 "laps," not enough pointers in some key places and a very fast finish with very little runoff. I guessed someone would probably hit the timing lights and sure enough, a Corvette did.

Fun course though, and even DNFing 3 of 6 times (I'll just keep blaming the course design ) I ended up with what I thought was a pretty respectable time. Results haven't been posted yet but I was 3rd of about 7 in CS and a little less than a second off from 1st, who I hear is the best driver in the region.

With today's event I think I've decided the C51 compound Hankooks were not the right choice. Probably pretty obvious but, you know. The hotter it got today the better they felt. If I stay in CS after these tires are done I'll try the C71s.

Finally, this was the first time I pulled the trailer other than a short test earlier this week. 90 miles each way to and from the event. The trailer and hitch did great, but I have a few minor loading quirks to work out. Lost a ratchet strap holding the tires down in the first 10 miles somehow. No idea how but it was dragging when I pulled in to the gas station. There is a bolt head for the leaf spring mount that gouged a sidewall on my tires a bit. And the tires rest right on the edge of the plywood deck, leaving a probably-only-superficial line I'd rather not see, so I'll probably hit it with the router.

Videos are uploading now. This was my 2nd run. I slowed down in the section I (correctly) thought I DNF'd my first run so it was a 61.xxx, about 3 seconds off my best. I used the GoPro with an external mic actually dropped in the air box which didn't give me the sound I was hoping for.
[ame]http://youtu.be/i_6aD0LOL9g[/ame]


And here is my third run. Actually drove this one out and ran a 59.336.
[ame]http://youtu.be/LgzBD-YoTk4[/ame]


The last video I kept was my 6th and final run. 4 and 5 were both DNFs so I tossed them. This run was my best at 58.3xx.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxE5shBBEd4"]Great River Region SCCA Autox - June 16 - Run 6 - YouTube[/ame]


Edit: Ugh. Youtube is still processing some of the videos and edits. YMMV.

[qoncept]

Event: Iowa Region SCCA 6/23/2013, Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids Iowa
Full results - PAX - Raw



My uncle got a ride today. Found the missing number border stuck on top of another D:

I installed a Perrin catback and Whiteline 22mm front sway bar yesterday. One of them is clunking and after 8 hours of trying to track it down I put everything back together and gave up. The catback is nice, but much quieter than I expected.

Pending the clunk, I do love the sway bar. Much crisper turn in and I felt a lot faster at today's event. Popular opinion says the 22mm bar is too much but I'm happy with it and after the work I put in to it yesterday I'm not going to replace it any time soon.

Today's event was with the Iowa Region at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids. First time in probably 50 events I've ever driven less than an hour, but rain made the event run till 5pm anyway. The course was on a half mile asphalt oval and the infield and they wouldn't let us run in the rain because of the walls.

I think there was only one other person in CS, Hans, and he is on street tires so I don't really have anyone to make comparison to. I was about a second slower than a BS Evo. I finally hit my first 2 cones today (one on my fastest run, a 56.9xx), but I think the other ended up standing back up in the box. Which left my best time at 57.9xx. Hopefully the results will be posted soon. Last weeks GRR results still haven't been posted. :\ The GoPro was mounted on the tow hook again, this time with the remote mic in the engine compartment near the exhaust. Much better than the intake mounted mic last week.

And... tires. The Z214s are inflated to 36psi all around, which I think is too much, but I didn't mess with it as I'm just concentrating on driving right now. It rained in the morning and the tires couldn't get any heat and I definitely suffered for it. We ran in 2 heats (2 runs in the first, 3 in the second) and the first run in each they didn't stick at all. Each run they got faster. I'll probably go for the softer C71 compound next time.

1st run, 60.455. Just getting a feel for the course. Asphalt was cold from the rain and the tires were cold from sitting. Complete with 50' burnout at the beginning. Oops.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGEVfVv_HBY"]Iowa Region SCCA Autox - June 23 - Run 1 - YouTube[/ame]


3rd run, 57.954
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpahsU4-Xro"]Iowa Region SCCA Autox - June 23 - Run 3 - YouTube[/ame]


4th run, 57.982. I was pretty happy with this run. It honestly felt faster than my last (dead battery) of 56.945 (+1 cone). I thought I hit my first cone on the run but at 51sec you can see there were 2 already down. Wish I had noticed.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUy3oOz4Is4"]Iowa Region SCCA Autox - June 23 - Run 4 - YouTube[/ame]

[qoncept]

After a total investment of about 16 hours of adjusting, test driving, inspecting and readjusting, I finally solved the horrible clunk. I replaced the stock rubber exhaust hangers with poly, but it turns it it was the sway bar (endlinks) afterall. http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...9&postcount=17

[supramkivtt2jz]

I was under the assumption that brake lines were against Stock rules. Am I wrong on this?

[qoncept]

Nope. Brake lines, pads and fluid are open. Basically anything that's a wear item.

http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/...ated%205-1.pdf Page 77