My Journal
 

I lurked this forum for a while before becoming a member. I started this thread before officially owning an 86 because I hadn't been this excited about purchasing a new car since 2007.

Here is a little bit of background information about me: I grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, not a haven for driving fun cars. My first car was a '93 Camry that I totaled while in High School, I fell asleep at the wheel with the cruise control set at about 75 mph after an all night video game session. Then I got a '95 Escort LX, my first manual transmission car, I blew the engine shortly after the oil filter fell off in about 2004 and got a '96 Outback. Some time after getting the Outback I decided I wanted to make the Escort a Stage Rally car. I stripped the interior and had it caged around 2004, but never got it log booked (bad idea). Then on May 25th 2007 I bought my first 100% brand spankin' new car, an '07 WRX and eventually sold the Outback.

In August of 2008 I took a trip 900+ miles one way to Oregon in the WRX to attend my first performance driving event, Paul Eklund's Primitive Rally School. After that I found that Colorado had a large and very active SCCA RallyCross group and went to their last event of the season in November of 2008. After doing the minimum number of events with the Colorado RallyCross group to score a season trophy in 2009 I knew I was hooked. I also decided I should used my caged Escort as my RallyX car. The Escort has progressed massively since then, but I have also RallyCrossed every car I've owned since 2007, and I've been privileged enough to be allowed, and sometimes asked, to compete using the cars of others. I've also instructed for the CO-RX group's driving schools for the past three years.

The Escort lost another engine near the end of the 2010 season and that got me motivated to do an engine swap up to the good 1.8L DOHC Mazda engine from the Escort GT (same engine as the 1.8L Miata) and a transmission swap (third gen Mazda box but sourced from a Kia Sephia) so that I could get a shorter final drive and put in a KaaZ lsd. Except for the welding of the roll cage and the precision machining of the engine every modification done to the Escort has been done by me, the only stock part of it is the body shell. After completing the swap in 2011 I decided to trade the WRX in for a '10 MazdaSpeed3. The big factors in deciding to trade were that I didn't like some of the group of people that were starting to gravitate towards the car, nor did I like the reputation the WRX was developing. I also wanted to have a backup to the Escort that could be used in the same competition class.

The MS3 was a decent performance car and I very nearly won the Prepared Front Wheel Drive 2012 RallyX National Championship with it, I coned away the win despite consistently turning in the fastest runs in my class on each of the three courses. While the car came stock with an lsd and huge turbo power potential, which I exploited with a COBB Accessport and a self tune, I didn't like the MS3's fan base either. Also the interior ergonomics of the second gen car were lousy and it had way too much power for it's own good. Once the car was tuned I could start it from a stop off of the two-step rev limiter in second gear, do burnouts in first, and even break the tires loose under power at the top of second gear. So I shopped a few cars, including the Sonic RS and BRZ, and in December 2012 I traded the MS3 in for a used 2013 Golf R with about 1,300 miles on it.

Being German the Golf R is a very refined car, especially the interior, but that Germanic nature also started to grate on me. Even after reprogramming the car's computer to give a second stage to the traction control defeat the car still tried to second guess my inputs at RallyX events. Also being a Haldex based system it was a bit of a grip hero. When traction levels dropped (mud/snow) the lack of a rear bias in the AWD system made it uncompetitive. I could have modified the Haldex but it would have put the car into a higher prep racing class that would also force me to swap to smaller front brakes in order to fit the necessary smaller diameter wheels that rally tires are built for. The full leather seats also didn't breathe very well, arriving at the destination after a few hours drive with a moist back/sticky shirt wasn't cool.

In my performance car life I've had cars painted in the colors: World Rally Blue, Liquid Silver and Tornado Red. I wanted a white car and liked the BRZ front end better so I started shopping them. I also got onto this site to do some research (hooray for the secret traction control off/testing mode). I found two certified used BRZ M/Ts and drove them both, I also drove an A/T Hot Lava FR-S just for kicks. In doing so I found that I preferred the Scion/Toyota gauge cluster. The Subaru version with red needles on red numerals seemed old and dated compared to the red on white in the Scion, which seemed to have more depth. Perhaps the 'factory upgrade' gauges in the MS3 and Golf R spoiled me. The Subaru dealers didn't seem interested in discussing pricing so I came on here and did some more investigating.

That is when I found out about the 10 Series FR-S. The HID headlights with the LED accents and (somewhat) black surrounds really improve the look of the front end for me. Having the keyless/push button system is a bonus because both my MS3 and Golf had that and I've gotten accustomed to it. I found a dealer about an hour away that still had an M/T Series 10 and visited them. I put down a deposit to hold the FR-S so I could rallycross the Golf R one more time, then finished the deal on Tuesday April 8th 2014. They had the car since October '13 and gave me an absolutely awesome deal, $24,100! The deal was so good that they had to pay the sales tax on the deal.

I expect to be on here often. This car has so many options, and the community seems really friendly.

Current State Of Build 10/3/16

Engine/Power Mods
GrimmSpeed Intake & Pulley Cover w/tool tray
Stage 2 OFT tune
custom DIY single exit axle back
Nameless Performance header, ceramic coated
Nameless overpipe/front pipe combo

Drivetrain Mods
ACT lightweight clutch/flywheel set

Handling/Driver Feel ModsGrimmSpeed Strut Tower Bar & Brake Master Brace
Turn In Concepts Steering Rack Bushings, HVT Adjustable Front Camber Plates
Cartboy Rear Transmission Mount Bushing Insert

Cometic Mods
Trunk lip spoiler
Painted headlights

RallyCross
Team Dynamics 15x6" Rally1 wheels in custom low offset (+25mm)
Gravel and Mud racing tires

Planned Future Mods:
upgrade to 17x8'' wheels and wider & stickier tires
install a custom switch to more easily & effectively disable the traction control/abs
better front brake pads, probably EBC
upgrade the front door speakers, and add a sub
might make my own custom tail lights from the hail damaged set

Link to my 'vs' thread...
 

I recently made my first modifications. With about 750 miles on the ODO I took out the stock strut braces and painted them with black bedliner and they were re-installed. To that I added Grimm Speed's Strut Tower Brace, Master Cylinder Brace and Pulley Cover.

I can definately feel a difference in the front of the suspension and the brake pedal. The front wheels/suspension seem to be more independant, ironically. Uneven road surface imperfections can now be felt seperately at each corner. Hitting a manhole cover only impacts the side of the car, and an angled seam/bump that confronts each tire at different time can be felt as a individual impacts rather than one more drawn out disturbance.

The brake pedal now has a more linear response to my inputs. Granted I haven't done a full on PANIC stop, but each twitch of my foot nets the same feedback. The 1st, 5th and 17th percent (etc.) of movement feels the same which seems like a good idea for the performance driving I like to do (auto-x, rally-x, backroads).

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...psc1ac9860.jpg

Crossed the 1000 mile break-in mark last night on the way home from prepping the Escort rally car for tomorrow's event. A quick mental calculation tells me that the about 50% of that first 1K was highway driving. Hopefully the car lives a more exciting life than 50% in cruise mode, but I have to travel an hour or more one way to have any car-related fun on my days off.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...psbbb4b0b1.jpg

I can't wait to really push my car a bit for the first time later today!

Any pics or vids?

Just took the FR-S out for a drive on the half of my favorite local driving road that has more curves and elevation changes. At dusk and in the rain no less.

This car just gets better all the time! I was able to find the point where I doubted the ability of both myself and the car execute my commands while staying safely in my lane. Then I pushed harder, while staying in my lane, and the car kept responding. I wasn't able to prompt it to slide or break traction, but wholly cow! The limits of this car are so high! I can't wait to get it out auto crossing in 11 days.

I also regret not taking the car to the rally cross in past weekend, that surface was soo smooth, with a lot of silt on top. It would have been a riot.

This thread: now with pictures. :)

Recent events and thoughts...
 

There was a tornado in the area last week. While it didn't reach Fort Collins, the edge of the storm did. And in that edge of the storm there was hail. I was dreading the first hail storm with this car because of my past experience with the 2007 WRX. I had to take that car in for hail damage repair each of the four years I owned it.:cry:

Gladly the FR-S's Silver Ignition paint hides minor surface dents very well, especially compared to World Rally Blue of my WRX. That said, the hood is the first place any other FR-S/BRZ owner should inspect for damage after a hail storm. Just like the WRX, our cars have aluminum hoods and they are susceptable to denting much more than the other steel body panels.

I have also decided that I need to put a decent amount of effort into buying a car (new or used) because it creates a deeper bond with the car I do actually take home. It could also have something to do with the cars being 100% new, but I feel better connected to my FR-S and my past WRX (both bought new and heavily researched before purchase) than either the MS3 or Golf R that I owned previously.

Don't lecture me
 

I was finally able to get the car to slide this morning. I took deep proding on my part. First I had the car in the 'secret test mode' that turns every traction & stability aid off. The road was still wet from last night's rain and the corner was cambered. I purposely went in too fast, in second gear and high revs. As soon as I passed the apex I floored the throttle, with the steering wheel still turned.

The car stepped out, and man it was smooth. It got me heart rate up, because it was way more yaw than I expected. But, it was so easy and smooth and precise. The car just did what physics dictate and once the angular momentum was gone it came back in line like nothing had happened.

:) Can't with for the Auto-X tomorrow. :D

First auto-x
 

It was a blast! Even though I stunk! My best run was 6 seconds off fast time in class, although that was another 86. The car was woefully underpreped for the class I chose to be in. I ran in STX with the only mod that put me there was the front strut tower bar. Some nice R-compound tires and a tune would probably have halved my deficit.

Anywho, I thought I saw somewhere that our cars like higher air pressures in the front tires than the rears... Now I didn't check my pressures before competition started, but I did between my third run and the last run (#4). I checked because I was getting mild understeer at turn in, then even more feint oversteer on throttle application. Turns out my front pressure, 36 psi, was 2 lbs higher than the rear, 34 psi. I dropped the fronts to match the rears, and subsequently ran my fastest time of the day by over 1.2 seconds.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...psf41183eb.jpg

Link to the 'official event photo alblum' https://flic.kr/p/nEzu7b

AND...even without turning the car off in grid between each of my four runs, about an hour total, the car averaged a calculated 34.9 mpg for that tank, 379.0 miles on 10.853 gallons.

Blue Tape!
 

I'm entered in the 2014 SCCA RallyCross Rocky Mountain National Challenge event this weekend, June 6th - 8th. I wanted to have some fun decorating my car and protecting the paint from cone marks at the same time. Here's how it turned out:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ps80f8678f.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ps772e20c8.jpg

I've always wanted to do the blue tape thing, and even though it isn't a cool thing anymore I'm glad I did it. I've gotten compliments from my neighbors and even some stares during my last minute supply run before heading out to the event.

This past weekend, June 6th - 8th, I took my FR-S to compete in the 2014 SCCA RallyCross Rocky Mountain National Challenge. There had been rain during many of the days leading up to the event, and it even rained enough to cancel practice on Friday the 6th. That made for sloppy, wet, muddy conditions Saturday morning, but we all powered through.

This event was the first time I piloted a rear wheel drive car in RallyCross competition, and it won't be my last. Even though I was the only car in the Prepared Rear Wheel Drive class I was able to directly compare my times to other RWD cars because I was in the same run group as the Modified RWD cars. I knew I wouldn't be able to beat all of them, but I tried my best.

My FR-S still has only minimal mods, strut tower brace, brake master cylinder brace, 16" wheels & tires, but it handled the conditions beautifully. The car did everything I asked of it, when I asked and I learned a great many things. The two biggest nuggets of new information regarded shifting and throttle control.

Shifting while accelerating and turning really effected the trajectory of the car. If I shifted while hard on the power and turning the slight decrease in thrust caused the car to push wide. I also found I needed to be much more delicate with the adjustments of my throttle application during change of direction maneuvers, especially the slaloms.

After 15 competitive runs of about 65 seconds each my cumulative time score was about 1082 seconds. To put that into perspective the first place finisher in the Mod RWD class (the 2012 National Champion in that class) had a total time of about 1020 seconds, and the second place MR class car finished at about 1096 seconds.

Here is one of the pictures I took with my cell phone during the event on Saturday afternoon waiting for competition to resume.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ps859771d4.jpg

My tape job held up well considering the weather, and it performed it's intended function of paint protection very well as I hit 8 cones while racing and tried to use the lip of the front bumper to shovel up some of the course. I also managed to make good use of the factory skid guard on Sunday. There were some pretty deep ruts that not only had me brushing the belly pan on the mud, but also bouncing a little bit.

My part of town was on the receiving end of a nasty hail storm the night of 6/24/14. I made a separate thread here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68851

On a side note the transmission seems to be much better lately. I don't know if its the weather, some magical break-in point has been crossed, or maybe my state of mind has changed since the hail damage occurred and I'm just being more forceful with my shifts because the car is no longer any where near show-room new now.:bellyroll:

Either way, small miracles etc.....

Sweet Auto-Xing! Not getting a ton of love on this thread. Dont worry. If you build it, they will come :respekt:

i love that grimmspeed engine cover,

i ordered one a few days ago!


looks good so far man!



my town got hit just the other day with hail, i heard a local town a few towns over got hit with hail, got nervous and parked it under a bank drive through and thankfully i did because i few minutes later we got his hard with hail

Thanks, I'm really liking the GrimmSpeed products so far.

We'd been getting severe storm warnings ever day for each of the three previous days and nothing came of them, so I didn't even think to check the weather the night the hail happened. I had just gone out to close the windows against what I thought was rain and to comfort our corgi. By the time I figured out it was hail it was already too late to do anything to save the car, so I just watched the destruction. :(

I had a great weekend spending the past three days with my car.

Friday I un-boxed my new Open Flash Tablet, hooked it up to the car and uploaded the stage one map. It was a painless process, but the flashing process did take longer than I had expected. Perhaps that was because I had the door open when I started the flash. Perhaps I was impatient because I had something else to do. Perhaps I was comparing to the AccessPort I used on my MS3 two years ago, and perhaps that memory was wrong. Anyway, I drove all over the place after that to give the ECU time to do its learning. Towards the end of the day I put up the live data display and scared myself a bit. I saw KC Learned going into the 3-5 range during shifts and thought I had a knock problem. Boo.

That night I did some research, and it turned out I didn't have enough of the proper values up on the live data screen. That was a relief because I was scheduled to RallyCross on Saturday and AutoCross on Sunday. I got the correct data streams up for the trip out to the event site Saturday morning and everything looked good.

This time I didn't bother with any painters tape, the hail damage has gotten me completely over the need to keep the car pretty. I also left the rally tires at home intentionally to make life easier and entered both of the competitions on the stock Michelins. Man was that a learning experience.

Story to be finished later...
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _______________________________
About that learning experience...

There has been a very high amount of rain out at the Rally-X site we use most frequently around here. Over the past year or so the site has been packing down, which also resulted in not having as much loose dirt/silt to deal with. Because of this year's rains the site has had to have been plowed with a box blade multiple times, much of the silt has come back. My first morning run this past Saturday the combination of the course conditions, the stock tires, and the car's new tune all conspired against me. Off the line the course was straight and most every car was topping first gear, then there was a rise, followed by down slope that immediately also turned 90 degrees left, with a little bit of off camber thrown in for good measure. I got the car slowed down and turned just fine, the problem came when I got back into the power. Over zealous is how I would describe my throttle application. The back stepped out, I put in a lot of counter steer, but kept my foot in it. The car started to spin. Being that my mission was to learn more about my new rwd toy I tried to make the spin go full the full 360 degrees. As I got about half way around my vision was directed out the passenger side window. I saw a novice corner worker slowly backing away from my rotating car, and I decided to shut it down for his safety. That made certain that I wasn't going to win the class for the day, but nobody got injured. The rest of the day went fairly smoothly and all 55 competitors got 7 total runs in, and we were packed up and on the road by 4pm.

Sunday I arrived early at the Auto-X site and got plenty of course walks in. I also got to work the first heat and watch the second heat before driving in the third. I spotted a fast veteran named Salil, in an FR-S modified close to the limit of the STX rules and was able to procure a ride with him before hopping in for my first run. His car had: good tires, camber plates, coil overs, a full header back Nameless exhaust (including the ceramic coating), the TRD intake and the required tune. I was however surprised that he didn't know about 'the pedal dance'. His car was surefooted and the engine made very good power. He botched the first 90 degree left and the last hard kink to the right before the finish, but ran a good time of about 47.7 seconds plus 2 cones. I had to hop right out of his car and into mine to make my first run. I drove way beyond the tires' limits, they were screaming at my every input and I was extremely sloppy in the long top of second gear slalom that was the back stretch of the course. I saw corner workers running as I pasted almost every feature. I finished with a time of 53.9 but somehow clean. My time wasn't class competitive but I knew that my tires were a HUGE part of it.

I toned things down for my second run and knocked of 1.2 seconds. Then on my third run I felt I was doing very well. I came out of the big slalom fast, made it through the chicane very well and entered the final right hand sweeper at a fast pace. I got the car set on a good slip angle, and then gave it just a bit more throttle to try to maintain the slip angle. It started to go around so I eased out of the gas, it stabilized so I gave it more and then I lost it. Both ends broke traction and the car slid diagonally backwards over my left shoulder towards the edge of the pavement. I put the clutch in to kill my momentum and when the car quit going diagonally and transitioned to just rolling backwards I put on the brakes. When I got the car stopped my first thought was, 'glad it didn't de-bead,' followed by, 'better get moving so as not to cause a red flag.' When I got back to grid I looked at the tires and saw I had scuff marks from the spin/slide about half way down each sidewall of both the left side tires.

By my fourth run could that were clearly dumping ran had started encroaching upon us. As I waited for my fifth go the wind had shifted the clouds away from us, but was also kicking up a huge wall of dust. The dust wall was so big the organizers held the start and watched the rising wave of dirt. I assume to see if it was going to start rotating and create a tornado. Thankfully it didn't. As I rolled up to the line for my fifth attempt the rain came up and was wind propelled horizontally enough that I rolled up my up wind door glass to keep from getting stung in the face. Then I got to watch the cones all go sliding across the pavement as the wind tried to take them into the next county. After the wind and rain had passed I was the first car to go out on the somewhat greasy course, and managed my best run of the day, a 51.9. I got Salil to ride with me on my final run but only managed a 52.5. He commented how surprised he was at how balanced my car was, and revealed he never raced his car on the stock tires.

*Here's the moral of this rambling story*
Though not very grippy, the stock tires are a great tool for learning. And for pete's sake, why didn't the car come from the factory setup the way it runs OFT stage 1? Its such a remarkable change it could almost be called a transformation. Though out the entire weekend I never once had to wait for the engine to respond to my requests. Whatever you have to pay for a tune/programmer, DO IT! It is money very well spent.

I performed my car's first oil change yesterday at 4,560 miles. My car has a build date of 7/13 so it is currently on pace to rack up less than 5k a year. However it sat on the dealer's lot from about 10/13 to 4/14 when I bought it with 20 miles. With that train of thought its getting about 900 miles a month, setting a pace of 10,800 miles a year. Although I've got a 1,000 mile round trip planned for the first weekend of October which will greatly alter those statistics.

While I was busy working I also took advantage of the opportunity to install the Turn in Concepts steering rack bushings and the Kartboy rear transmission mount insert I ordered. Here are my thoughts of the install processes individually and my after install impressions of both of them together.

The install of the transmission bushing piece was super easy. All that I had to do was remove the one center nut, put some upward pressure on the transmission and tap it in. It took maybe half an hour.

The other parts, the rack bushings, were much more difficult. Perhaps it was because my car has so few miles, or perhaps it was because of the harsh dusty conditions of RallyCross. Whatever the cause, it took me many hours to get the old bushings out of the rack. I've done other bushings but they were in control arms, trailing arms and lateral links where I could more easily remove the part from the car. I wound up having to detach the tie rod ends from the steering knuckles and decouple the rack from the steering joint. That allowed me enough room to put a deep 30mm socket on the back side of the rack and a large (8" perhaps) c-clamp over that to push the old bushing out an into. Lastly a friendly note to anyone else attempting the rack bushing install: push them out from the front towards the back, there's much more room that way.

Now for the review. Since I put both items in at the same time, I can't really evaluate them independently. I've also driven less than 100 miles since then. First off, the increase in NVH since that is most of compromise the stock parts were designed around. I won't lie, I can't be sure there is a difference. Mostly because of how long it took me to complete the swaps, and I did have to make a run to the parts store in a rather tired Prius with 151k on the odo. Sure the tone of the noises have changed, but they aren't louder. The steering wheel isn't any more fidgety and the car doesn't noticeably thwack over bumps. And the changes passed the girlfriend test, because she didn't notice them, even when I asked her to try. That said, she didn't notice the changes in NVH when I put an insert into the rear transmission mount bushing of my MS3 either.

There is a difference behind the wheel. The car does follow defects in the road a bit more, but when it does its more minor and less pronounced. The responses to steering input is a bit more immediate. I really like the shifter bushing insert. I've always had issues with the 1-2 shift from a cold start. That is improved, not completely eliminated, and the shifter does make a more positive noise as it moves through the syncros and there is a much more pronounced tactile thunk that I can feel through the shifter when the stick engages the gear. The tone of the exhaust has also changed a bit. Its a bit deeper/lower and is also a bit more consistent.

Overall I'm pleased with the cost/reward of the two parts I just put on. They might not make any difference to laps times, but they make the tactile experience of driving the car better. And that is what this car is all about.:thumbup:

Picture from the oil change
 

While I was under the car during the oil change I made sure to look for any damage from the RallyCross use. I wasn't sure how much clearance there was between the skid plate and the oil pan. Turns out there is a generous space between the oil pan and the skid plate, and to my eye it looked as if the factory header, or at least the heat shielding, sits lower than the oil pan. That just goes to show how much engineering and attention to detail was wrought on this car during design and testing.

As I went to put the skid plate back on after doing the steering rack and transmission bushing installs I found something interesting. There is an additional extension below the lower radiator support that the skid plate mounts to. And as the picture below shows, I've brushed that extra sub-frame against things enough to rub the paint off of it in quite a few places. It's not dented or anything, but I've obviously rubbed the paint and the primer away and made it down to the metal. Food for thought:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...psba7e52e0.jpg

RallyCross 9/20/14
 

In preparation for the National Championship event I finally got the other half of set of rally tires ordered and mounted up. While the two pairs are still not an exact match, a couple of them are two years old, its the best grip balance I've had on the car at an RX event yet. The car was run with 35 psi in all the tires and the new pair were on the back axle, that's high for rally tires, but I had a co-driver who is far more aggressive than I am, and he likes higher tire pressures. The tires weren't bouncy and we didn't encounter any dangers of de-beads.

The event was held at the same site as the FR-S' first RX event, but on a different course area so it was dry and dusty. The layout was one that I had never before experienced. After a start straight long enough to need to shift into second the course dropped about six feet of elevation and turned left at the same time, FUN! Then after a big 180 right there was another left, this time featuring heavy banking. Towards the end of the course there was a long straight away that went up hill and the down hill before a braking zone into a tight chicane maneuver. I let my co-driver go first because I wanted to learn from him, he is a previous RX National Champion in RWD, I even joked that I was using him as my own personal 'Stig'. From his first run we determined the course could be run entirely in second gear.

The extra grip from proper gravel rally tires made the car much better than previous outings, and I made a fun little discovery. As the car was setup, incomplete home made axle back and a tune, the difference in the power delivery made by the change from the OFT stage 1 shelf tune was made quite evident by the extra tire grip compared to previous events. How I found this out was on the long back stretch. Going up the hill we were a bit low in the rev range in second gear, mostly in the valley between the two torque peaks. Then after the hill crested and the descent started we got into the second torque peak and the horsepower peak. It was a bit slow going up the hill, but as we crested the car flat took off! That behavior caught my co-driver Will off guard at least once and caused him to blow his breaking point.

I was in full learning mode, not driving the car properly, and concluded the morning's four runs I got beat by about 15 seconds, penalties included. I did much better when we got to run the course in the opposite for the three runs in the afternoon. I had Will go first again, and on my first run I was only 0.9 seconds slower, plus I was able to drift the car non-stop from the start of the three cone slalom and all the way through a series of three small radius (but not hair pin) 180 degree turns that went left-right-left. Sadly after exiting the last 180 I got caught up in how well I was doing and killed a cone. At the end of the afternoon session I was only 4 seconds down to Will. I was pleased with my improvements.

Results link:
https://excel.office.live.com/x/Exce...b+edit%29.xlsx

However all was not perfect for the day. After Will and I had each had one run in the morning I discovered we had managed to push the right rear tire up into the back portion of the fender liner and munched it a bit. It must have been from the small 'yump' in the course, as after the first go-round had been completed the course was changed to slow us all down over said 'yump'. Nothing else remarkable happened until Will's 2nd run in the afternoon. A friend showed up and I gave up the co-driving seat so that Will's friend could ride along. I didn't see the impact occur, but near the end of the run the car emerged from a big cloud of dust with a huge portion of the bumper hanging off. I haven't seen a video of it, but I did see a picture and think Will lost control of the car in the same place I tagged my cone in PM run 1. There was a dirt berm that had been created by the road grater that had plowed in the course and I believe Will tagged it with the leading edge of the bumper just behind the wheel. I haven't found pictures of the damage yet, but it looked far worse than it really was. Monty Python voice 'Tis merely a flesh wound...' I don't know when it happened or who did it, but we also managed to remove the left front fender liner too.

All said and done, the bumper will have to be replaced because it ripped near bolted mounting point in the trunk area, but I'm not going to fuss about it until after the RX season is over. It'll just be added into the repairs from the hail damages. The front fender liner was salvageable and has been re-installed. When I first picked it up to put into the trunk for the drive home I was surprised by how soft and flexible the plastic is. As I was putting it back in I was surprised by how many of the retaining clips survived the removal, and how stout they are. It's nice to know that the clips can survive something like that and still be in like new condition. The only extra parts needed to put the liners back in were 9 zip ties, 6 for the front and 3 in back.

Reserved for pictures of the bumper damage.

Reserved for the home-made axle back. I went down to a single exit exhaust using a straight through MagnaFlow muffler with 2.5" inlet and outlet, and 22" long body that 4" in diameter. I won't be posting a DIY, but it only cost me about $115. Of that $90 was for the muffler itself, the rest was a short piece of tubing and a new spool of MIG welding wire.

2014 RallyCross National Championship
 

The event is over, and I didn't win my class but I had a shot, and ultimately beat myself. I had the fastest run in my class during both the Saturday AM and PM heats, but wasn't consistent enough to bring my day 1 lead of 0.040 seconds to fruition. It was an interesting event and I had fun, and learned more about what I need to improve on as a driver.

Pictures from the event courtesy of GotCone:

http://www.gotcone.com/photos/2014-r...hips/img_8089/

Event Results:

http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/...20results1.pdf

I have been following your posts with interest. You are doing much of what I bought my 2014 BRZ for. What wheels and tires are you using for rallycross? Thanks much.

I haven't been very good at updating my thread recently. But I finally got around to installing my new Grimmspeed intake that I got from their group buy. The install was pretty easy, even living in an apartment complex w/o a garage, and making multiple trips back inside to get more tools or re-check the instructions I completed the job. It took me about an hour and a half, which could easily be cut to under an hour with a proper garage and light source.

Impressions After driving around for a couple of weeks:
There is a lot more intake noise now. It is most noticeable accelerating away from a stop. I can hear it with the windows up, but it is much more pronounced with the windows down. Above about 2,500 rpm I can't really hear the intake noise, but that has got to be mostly due to the axle back exhaust. There are also more noticeable pops and snarls when engine breaking, mostly in first gear, but I get them occasionally in second too. Other than that I can't really feel a difference in acceleration, but I haven't re-tuned the car for it either.

Awesome car! The Silver Ignition paint is really unique.

One Year Mark
 

I've just passed the one year of ownership marker. I've enjoyed the car very much and plan to keep enjoying and making modifications. I have been using 'fuelly' to monitor the cars' fuel usage and thought this a good place to share. I even gased up on the anniversary date.

10,188 miles monitored
36 fill ups, average of 3 per month
average consumption of 27.3mpg
best single tank 35.4mpg
worst single tank 17.6mpg
average price $3.36/gal
average cost to fill $34.60
total spent on fuel $1,245.52


Also, I now have my camber plates on. I went with HVT because they were reasonably priced and kept the ride height stock with the stock springs. They were easy to install, and because I'm using the stock lower strut mount bolts there doesn't seem to be a need for an alignment check. Although I will have it on a rack and checked anyway. The car drives better. It feels better balanced grip wise, comparing front to back. All cars should come from the factory with negative front camber and increased caster. Its just better.

I haven't had much time to be on the forums in the past year or so, but I wanted to share a little something...

It took 4 months to get the wheels, and them about a month to get the tires, but hey, patience is a virtue right?

The car now uses a custom set of 15x6" wheels for RallyCross. I ordered a set of Team Dynamics Rally 1 wheel in an offset of +25mm. This goes against the conventional Subaru rally wheel tradition of stock offset, but the car needed it.

Yes, I also put on new tires, but I'd like to think I can tell the difference between how the new tires feel and the stability offered by the different wheel offset.

The car is so much more stable now that the track width has been extended by 1". It is still nimble due to the narrower tires (185 vs 205) but it is much easier to hold a slip angle now, and far less likely to just spin out.

Mission accomplished.

Also:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111289