Sodegaura Forest Visit 2.

Visited Sodegaura Forest raceway against this Sunday. Fantastic weather. Am really loving this track. In particular corners 3 and 4 are wonderful. Forth lap of the day I actually took 2 seconds off my previous time and ended up with a 1'21.72. After that I had some trouble with air in my brakes and I never could improve on the time as I lost some of the control over the braking - particularly on the inside of the course. Later when I bled the brakes I found some air in the front right. I guess I didn't do a proper job bleeding them the last time or something. Hopefully, I'll have no further brake issues next time out.
I'm still lost as a little puppy on corners 5 through 8 but am starting to get a rhythm elsewhere. It definitely felt a lot more familiar on my second visit though. I can only look forward to my 3rd.
Sodegaura is quite kind to the brake pads I've noticed. It's also quite kind to tires as there is a good mix of left and right handers. Hmmm. Perhaps that is why I'm so lost on the inside of the circuit. I probably do left hand corners a lot more naturally than right handers. They are hard/long corners though
No camera yet. Still have to sort that out. Perhaps santa will come?
My Fuji Speedway license expires on the 15th of this month. I'm thinking I'll let it run out at this stage and skip it for a year or so. I didn't go there at all last year so it was a bit of a waste.
Anyway - looking forward to my next day out again. No plans just yet.

Brake Overhaul

Decided that my brakes were long due an overhaul and decided that rather than hand it over to a shop to do it, I should take on the challenge myself. I just did the front brakes but I learned loads doing it. I'm going to do the rears another day. Hardest part was getting the piston out without an air compressor. That worked out to be a trip to the local gas station for each caliper. Most worrying thing was the continued leakage of fluid out of the open lines while I was doing it. I need to find a way to seal the lines for the next time I think. It would have made the thing a hell of a lot easier as I had to keep an eye on my master cylinder to ensure it didn't run dry. The kit cost about 6000 yen from Mazda for front and rears. Well worth it! Nice firm brakes again.

Sodegaura Forest Raceway.

I took the circuit license at Sodegaura Forest Raceway with some of my mates about 2 weeks ago. Fantastic day. I did two sessions. First session I drove well within the car as I drove around and tried to learn the lines etc. I think I got a 1'26.9 or something. 2nd session I drove faster each lap and ended up with a 1'23.7 but there is still loads more time there. The circuit is very interesting and has some fantastic corners.

Corner 1 is a rather brave corner. You come at it quite fast after a decent straight in 4th, brake and I think take it in 3rd. It's blind and always seems faster than you think but you don't really want to run out of space on the exit either. A good exit is very important though as the next part is uphill and its quite a while before you get on the brakes again.

Corner 2 is flat out. It's always a rush keeping full power down, nailing the apex and floating out towards the edge of the track on exit... Easy to turn it too early and muck it up as its blindish on the way up to it.

Corner 3 I'm unsure. It's super wide on the exit of corner 3 but corner 4 follows soon after and that's the next important one. I downshifted to 3rd but kept reapplied power on the way into and out of it. It seems fast enough and stabilizes the car for braking into 4.

Corner 4 is fantastic. At first it seems like a slow right hand hairpin and its easy to take it like one, but infact the exit is as wide as the entrance and its important not to slow too much and maintain momentum. I brake early way out, rotate the car early and I'm way on the power before the apex. It was really fun to feel the car rotate all the way through that corner as you balance braking, turning and power.

Corners 5, 6 & 7. My word. It's downhill into these. You can't see the apex at all as its way below you. Plus the corner itself is a combo all in one direction. It goes on forever! I found it impossible to take it anywhere near right. I noticed cars not really braking too much for it but my brakes started to go off mid my last session and I'd no precision left in them. This corner will be one of the challenges for the next time. Love it.

Corner 8 was another tough one. Very wide with a million lines around it. I noticed a lot of cars going in very early into this one and understeering all the way around it almost. I opted for going in deep, braking hard but short, early rotation and power down all the way, way before the apex. I think a mid line might be better though - going in and not braking as hard, rotating on throttle and then powering out.

Corner 9 was pretty easy. Just a hairpin which I can pretty much do easily enough since I've done so many laps of Tsukuba :-)

Corner 10 is quite crazy. The entrance is blind, there is a concrete pit wall on the right and not much run off on the left. It's right before a long straight so its vital to be quick through here for a good lap time also. I'm slowly working my way up on that one also. There is also a highish rumble strip on the inside of it which I haven't quite figured out if mounting is a good thing or not. Not a good place to have any kind of action in the car except a nice clean fast exit. Thrilling though :-)

I must figure out what to do about my video equipment as it's ruined :-( I think I might get a helmet mounted HD cam or something next and see how that works out. Going to go one more time in December.

I've another race this weekend at Ebisu circuit in the Prelude. Looking forward to that although it snowed there today so hopefully we will be able to race. We were 3rd in class the last race but we couldn't drive the last 1.5 hours as it was fogged out.

Lack of updates => lack of racing!

Well, it's been forever since my last update. I still intend to getting around to uploading the race video of the last race. Not sure why I just can't get around to it. Footage is downstairs on another machine so perhaps its just laziness.

In the mean time though, you must be wondering why there is no updates. Well. I missed the next race as I was out of the country and then the last race of the year, they changed the regulations to the new ENDLESS brake pads. As the pads change the behaviour of the car quite a lot, I missed the next race as I had no time to go out and practice. A new year brought new hope, but 2011 was a hard year in Japan and thus another year slipped by it seems. I haven't been to a circuit this year in my car yet.

The last typhoon that hit Tokyo also saw disaster hit as my roadster let in some water which pooled behind my passenger seat. Unfortunately, my TraqMate unit and Chasecam unit got fried as they were connected into the car battery and sitting in that little pool. Not pretty. So my camera functionality is gone now in the car. I guess I need to invest again :-(

I did one race in the Prelude this year though in August. It was the 12 hour endurance race with TGR. This ended badly too though as we suffered a failed drive shaft 2 hours into the race and I never got my time behind the wheel. What a year - huh!

And now for some good news... After many years of wanting one, I finally decided to break down and buy myself a new racing suit. My old AlpineStars suit was becoming too old and it tends to cook me alive in the summer. To replace it, I bought a Stand21 suit which I had built to custom measurements. This is fantastic as it fits like a glove now. Along with the suit, I got some new nomex underwear and gloves so I'll be a new man next time out.

Next time out is actually this weekend but not in Tweety. We're back at Ebisu circuit again but this time for a 6 hour race. Really looking forward to that. I am planning to get a circuit license for Sodegaura Circuit in November. I still have my Fuji license but I didn't get to run Fuji at all this year.

That's all for now. Hopefully more good news follows after our next race.

2010/07/25 Party Race Review

It's nearly been a week now. Sorry for the delay but I've been rather busy. I'm still seriously lacking photos of the event. Hopefully, some will come in.



About 10 minutes before hoping into the car for qualification, I had to run down to the toilet. Something I ate for breakfast wasn't sitting well and I was feeling rather like throwing up. After some deep breaths in the cubicle, I finally calmed down the urge and felt fine again. Weird that. Probably nerves I guess. I had to run back to the car though to get my helmet etc on as cars were already on their way out.

A good qualifying lap is vital at Tsukuba. Ideally you want nothing less than pole to make your race as simple as possible. The performance of the tires and the car go off after the first 2 laps on a hot day like it was on the 25th so you want to pull out off stops on your first lap and if you don't nail that, you nail the 2nd one. That's all you can do. By around the 4th lap, your time will be about half a second off its 1st lap potential, so nailing your performance and the cars to that early lap is the trick. The other trick is a clear track. Ideally, you don't want anyone directly behind you so you can concentrate on what's ahead and ideally you should give yourself lots of room on that outlap, so you can go all out without following someone elses mistakes. I managed to get great space for my first lap and then after that I had traffic. My first lap was my best. A 1'10.191. Unfortunately, this was only good enough for 3rd spot. Still it was my best qualifying lap ever at Tsukuba so I was pretty happy. The other two cars broke the previous Clubman lap record of 1'09.9 with the top guy getting a 1'09.5. Wow!

The other thing about qualifying was my brakes. They felt terrible. Something was wrong. When I was trail braking into the corners the peddle would move under my foot as I slowly released it which made it really hard to corner at speed. Luckily I had great support from D-Technique who bled my brakes after qualifying and got them back in the their normal condition again. Thanks!

The race was held at 11am. It was scorching hot. Probably 34 degrees. Lining up 3rd on the grid, I thought, I'd have a good chance to grab 2nd by the first corner. The 2nd grid spot isn't the best as the rollcage blocks the start lights slightly and you end up craning a little to see it. As for the pole sitter, I thought if I could put a little pressure on him without using up my tires I could get him towards the end of the race if I was lucky. For some reason, I didn't even think about those behind me.

I was amazingly comfortable at the start. I revved the engine and eye'd the start lights with my peripheral vision which leads to better reaction times than looking directly at the lights. The lights went out and the rear wheels chirped, I had a perfect start. Before I knew it I was along side the 1st placed car and ahead into turn 1. Wow. 15 laps to go and I had no desire to give up my spot.

The race was pretty easy. I was quite relaxed and had mentally decided that it was impossible for anyone to pass me if I got every corner apex and nailed every exit so that is what I concentrated on doing. I was a bit distracted by my tire noise though particularly around the last corner as I was under-steering around it mostly. I guess that comes from lack of practice. I was pretty happy though as I'd built up a little gap of probably about 1 to 1.5 sec.

Then after about 10 laps or so, the brakes went funny on me again. It was the same as qualifying. Trail braking properly was next to impossible and it was hard to gauge braking again. I started braking earlier and taking off more speed to try to continue to nail my exits and as such the guy behind got closer and closer. My tires were also struggling as I'd used them quite well to make my initial gap. The next 5 laps or so would be interesting and were the longest of my life.

I remember going through Dunlop and just wishing it was all over. I looked at my lap timer and saw I'd a bunch of laps left. I recall telling myself that this was my favourite part of the track and the bit I owned in terms of speed as I'd gain here a little every lap. I guess its all about being positive when things go wrong like my brakes did and concentrate on what is going right. I was a head and every lap I did was a lap closer to the end of the race.

On the very last lap, the brakes got the better of me into the first hairpin and I let them off too quickly leading into a pretty big sideways moment mid corner. I was really lucky though in that a) I've done that a lot and b) the guy behind me was so close that he copied me. As I got the car in line, I had a little smile on my face knowning that I'd have a gap now which would take the pressure off the first of the final lap. I crossed the line 0.7s ahead and a very relieved winner. This was probably the toughest win I've had so far. I was elated.

Party Race Victory!

More to come on this but here is a little photo of the takings at the Party Race II event earlier today.

Party Race - May 5th 2010

Sunday May 5th was the first Party Race of the year. This year, Mazda is not sponsoring it so, its now known as Party Race II. Some differences in the regulations also exist like the use of ENDLESS brake pads over MazdaSpeed pads and braided brake lines are now allowed. We have the option of running the MS pads until after the 2nd race, so that is what I ran as I didn't want to learn a new brake pad. Other than that, regulations are the same.

Another difference in this years race is the classes. There is now a separate class for NC2 cars as they are quite different to the NC1 car which I race. The NC1 class is broken into two classes; Clubman and Series. The Series is a continuation of Emblem I guess so that is what I choose to run.

Anyway, May 5th was a hot day at Tsukuba. When its like this you only really get 3 or 4 laps to make a fast time before tires and engine performance trail off. Unfortunately, I got my best lap on 6 of 8 with a 1'10.5 but it was enough for 15th on the grid of 23. Reviewing my first 6 laps on my TraqMate, they were all within 100ms of each other so not a great qualifying performance on my behalf. My best virtual lap time was a 1'10.0 so I could have been up there if all had gone right. I think there were 3 guys with 1'09s and mostly everyone else got a 1'10 so it was a very tight grid.

I got a decent start and collected about 2 cars on the inside on my way to the first corner. Unfortunately, I missed 3rd (story of my life) and in the little bit of time it took to re-slot it in, I lost my line into the first corner as a bunch of cars re-took me and I got squeezed on the
inside. I could do nothing but just follow cars around really.

Down into the first hair pin, I was overly cautious for some reason braked way too early and easily and one of my mates went around my outside as I went around the outside of another car. Being in the middle of 3 wide in the first hairpin is the most comfortable place to be, so I gave up the spot. Thoughts of getting hit in my last two races were not helping I guess. I wanted to finish this race without getting hit for once!

Dunlop was two abreast as well and I had the inside but I kept up my dismal performance and lost that place too until finally we arrived at the 2nd hairpin. I think this is where car 50 tucked in behind me and just drove passed me as if I was stopped on the back straight... That driver must have a heavy foot or something because I was not backing off.

Coming into the last corner, a guy spun in front of me. I braked to make sure I had options and then I was back in 19th spot for the rest of the race. Its amazing what 1 lap can do to rip your race apart. They say that races are not won on the first corner but I think at Tsukuba some can be as from there on, its near impossible to pass.

Anyway, the guys behind me soon disappeared and I was hanging on the back of the train trying to regain what I'd so easily given up. I drove a pretty close race, got faster lap times then most of the guys directly in-front of me but couldn't get up close enough in the braking zones to even give it a try.

The two guys in front of me were fighting though and on the 2nd hairpin, they out-broke each other and both of them went wide, I took some throttle off, added some steering and got up the inside of both of them. Unfortunately though, I'd lost some speed in doing that and by the last
corner, the first guy was passed and the second guy was side by side and he broke later than I did into the last corner and took his place back. Drat. These guys are aggressive! Note to self - its a race!

It was a fun race none-the-less. I think I actually drove the 2nd hairpin perfectly twice. I have to have a look at the video to see what I did but I went around it faster and easier than I've ever done before and it felt great. If I can figure that one out, maybe that is where I can gain those final millis that will get me a 1'09 even in the summer.

Anyway - I made it home in one piece. I'm still learning a lot and still having a lot of fun! Next race is in July. I'll see if I can stick up some of the race footage for your amusement.

Finally Suzuka!

Suzuka, Suzuka, Suzuka - how have you evaded me for so long?

I really wanted to try Suzuka last year but never got around to it. It's quite far down the road at 390km door-to-door and its not a cheap circuit to run. Finally on Feb 25th I took 2 days off work especially and headed down for 2 x 1 hour sessions.

The weather was perfect and myself and a good friend drove down, enjoyed eel on the way and stayed over at the track hotel. We talked about the next day over dinner and what would await us. It was doki-doki on drugs by the time the sun rose again and drove onto the track for the first time.

The first thing that struck me was the narrowness of the track and the closeness of the barriers. Every corner was new to me and even driving slowly in the first laps after a pace car, the car was easily upset under the unusual braking, side-to-side loading and off camber curves that it threw at you every step of the way.

The first time I took the 130R without the pace car, I took it at 120kmph and grinned at how much space I still had left on the circuit. Towards the end of session 2, I'd got that up to around 160kmph but it still scared the crap out of me and made me giddy driving towards it approaching 180kmph knowing it was coming.

My favourite part of the circuit was the S curves and the gyaku curve. I guess that was because the speed was more manageable through there in terms of what I was used to. The first corner and spoon were really difficult for me and I didn't really get them yet. The corner entry is so difficult, I over slowed every time.

Anyway, here is some footage from the last 3 laps. I managed a fastest lap of a 2'45.6 but there is definitely a lot more time in there once I slept on it.

Back at Fuji!

Delighted to return to the track and a glorious day at Fuji with some good mates. What better way to celebrate such a day! It had been ages since I'd been around Fuji so I was very rusty in the first session and under-steered off the track on a few of the harder corners like Corner 13, Netz and the last corner. I soon got back into my rhythm though and got some decent 2'13 times.

My previous best time around Fuji was a 2'13.0 so I'd been dying to beat that. I got a few 2'12s during the day the lowest being a 2'12.776 which was enough to satisfy me for the moment but I want more... I mean - why can't I get a 2'10?

The car felt excellent on its new tires. Alignment was perfect and the car handled very nicely. A couple of places in particular though, I can't seem to get right. Before I discuss, here is my fastest lap so far.



There are 3 corners I have trouble with (ignore the others for the moment):

The hairpin - I take this corner in second. I've tried many a time to take it in 3rd but nearly always I go sailing off the track on the exit with under-steer. The lower gear seems to afford me so much more car rotation prior to the corner that I can nail the exit but feel I'm wasting time with gears as a result. Hmmmm.

Corner 13 - This is another one like the hairpin where I just seem to fly off the track with understeer if I take it in third. I want to go faster here and can feel its possible but I don't know how to make the car turn in yet with more speed in 3rd.

Netz - This is an important one as in a low power car like mine you can lose quite a lot of time by over-slowing up the hill. I hate when I over cook this corner as the rumble strip is soo damn rough it feels it cool tear me apart. I've only got this corner right a few times and it feels magical when you do. Haven't done that lately!

The other corners I feel I'm not doing too badly though or rather I know I have to improve, but it seems like just a little extra effort would do it and it wouldn't be something new like the other corners seem they would be. Swallow a brave pill and concentrating hard should do the trick.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the video!

Photos of my bum

Ok... not my bum exactly but my cars bum. If you have read the previous post, you'll have noted that Tweety got hit in the back on the first corner of the first lap. I was actually watching it from the outside as I was the third driver for this particular endurance race. Anyway, its not major damage but the car is still being repaired. Here are some photos of the carnage after I got back to Tokyo.

Right hand rear corner. Bumper is pushed in. Looks like the tow-hook saved it from more damage.


Closer view over the exhaust. It's all cracked up.


Top view showing the indentation.

Party Race - 2009/11/15

Party Race 1 hour endurance race was held yesterday. Deki-san qualified in my car and did a 1'09.6 to take 6th on the grid. Kato-san got pole with a 1'09.1.

Driver order for the race was Deki - 21 laps, Fujitomo - 9 laps and Tom the remaining 18 laps. Race start was delayed nearly an hour so my stint was going to be rather dark. Not dark again!!! I was excited to try Tsukuba in the dark though as I knew it was mostly decently lit.

For the race start, the cars were lined up against the pit wall. Starting driver was in the car
and I had to run from the opposite side and touch right hands before he could lower his right hand to start the car and go. while thinking about this, I forgot to start TraqMate!!! Damn.

Deki got a good enough start but not good enough to pass another car. I watched as he went into the first corner and saw another car try to go up his inside. It didn't seem possible from where I was standing and I heard a bang. Deki didn't come around with the leaders as he had been hit from behind and spun out on the first corner.

He finally appeared quite a bit back from the group but he rounded the last corner at full speed so I knew the car was mostly ok. Another car pitted. It was a fellow DTR team mates and the right front was bent in.

Meanwhile Deki drove like a man inspired and lapped mostly doing 1'10s and had a best of a 1'09. What a driver! When he pitted we were about 6th but he did a long stint so our real position was further back as other teams had likely already stopped for their required 1 minute pit stop.

Fujitomo was quick into the car as Deki got out. Both needed cushions as my seat is setup quite low. As Fujitomo was belted in I remembered TraqMate and reached over to press it on. Meanwhile the 1 minute pit stop had only seconds remaining. I pushed select 3 times instead of 2 and that's all I could do as I got out of the way as she wheel spun down the pit lane and out onto the course. Unfortunately, We'd get no data again as TraqMate was now asking if we wanted a "new start/finish line" instead of recording data.

Fujitomo did a great job and was very fast considering it was her first time driving the car. Deki was on the phone giving her support for the full number of laps. I had complete confidence in her as she has done a lot of formulae driving and has also won a Clubman 1 party race a year before I did in a Mazda Press car. Watching from the outside she was very smooth both out of the last corner and braking into the first corner. She scored a few 1'11s to put me to shame :-) Well done Fujitomo!!! Great driving!

As she pitted, it was my turn. I hopped in fixed the harness and seat. Got TraqMate started and was off on time. I came out of the pits right in front of car number 8 in 6th position. Wow! Great job team! I was confident that we could hold onto 6th and I wasn't going to let anyone past.

I drove steady the first lap to check the car while keeping the car behind me. Brakes felt better than I expected, but the overall balance of the car was a little weird compared to normal. I put it down to strange tire pressures. It was more than manageable though.

Braking into the 2nd hairpin, something hard came flying into the footwell. I tried to kick it out of the way with my foot but for the rest of the race it would come play with my peddles and me under braking. Quite dangerous but not much I could do except keep going. I found out at the end of the race that it was the official time sensor. The pin holding it to its base where it was taped on the door had somehow worked its way loose and it had fallen down.

On the 2nd lap before Dunlop, I noticed the clutch slipping for the first time. It was the first time, I'd ever felt a clutch slip and I had no idea how best to handle it. After Dunlop and into the second hairpin it went again and such was my puzzlement that I got the car a little sideways on the exit onto the back straight and two cars got past. The clutch made it very hard to pass the cars back again as I would just lose them on the back straight.

Another car came out of the pits in front of me and stayed there for the rest of the race. One more car would get by on the back straight as I fought the clutch for more speed. I tried to up my lap times with more speed around the last corner but I wasn't entirely happy with the cars handling to push more. I was lapped by a very fast car 50 who went around the outside on the last corner with some fantastic late braking. He was unbelievable fast and amazing to watch as he also easily past the two cars infront of me like they were standing still. Maybe a slightly lighter car than ours considering our fuel load where we went a little over board. I managed to score mostly 1'11s which is not bad I think on a bad clutch and handling I wasn't entirely happy with.

We would finish 10th in the dark. I'm quite proud of our team "T3" for getting up as far as 10th considering the clutch and the accident at the start of the race. "What if?" does spring to mind though and leaves me wanting more next year!

After the race when the car was being checked, the officials noticed some oil around the diff. Driving home also felt very weird as the rear end of the car seemed to float around behind me. I wonder if the diff is gone or going too? Perhaps the last accident when my wheel was hit in the last race may have weakened the diff a little? There is definitely a smell of oil if I accelerate around a corner also. I will get that checked.

So! What an exciting weekend I had. Car got another battle scar. I got to race with 2 wonderful team mates. Thank you Deki and Fujitomo! Kato was also in action for DTR in car 27 and they managed to get 4th place. Congratulations guys! Congrats too to all of the other DTR members who finished their races. As for car 100 - I can't believe you had the nerve to hit Deki in the back! I hope the car is not too bad and doesn't cost so much to repair.

I'll try to post some photos later when I check my camera etc. I still haven't taken any photos of the damage of the rear nor seen it in day light. Maybe I'll get up early tomorrow morning to have a look at it.

Imobilizer woes

2 weeks ago, I climbed in after the car had been idle for about 3 days and the car wouldn't start. It was as if I wasn't pressing the clutch. Noticed the imobilizer light was flashing. Oh dear. Called JAF who poked around in the bonnet, checking fuses etc and as if by some magic, the car started albeit with an engine check lamp.

Off to Mazda who confirmed there HAD been an issue but all was looking ok now. They said the error was that the dash couldn't talk to the ABS sensor briefly. Hmmm. But they assured me all was well.

A week later, I was driving down road and the gauges shut down briefly. Speedo and revs just turned to zero but then came back on again almost instantly. Another check lamp. The next race was in a week so I was a little worried and drove down to D-Technique.

I was pretty sure it was the HKS speed limit remover wiring. I've had the device removed since May (because of the Party Race) but the wiring is basically joined using some plastic connectors that they provide. Traced the problem down to a loose wire on one of the connectors. Yikes. After checking all the others, we were back in one piece again and the engine started fine. Lets hope it keeps that way. That was a good find a week before the next race! I've been having issues like this on and off with the gauge and check lamps for about a year so it will be great it this resolves it. Would be cool if it improved performance too. lol.

Party Race 09/09/05 - Video

After much thought, I decided to put up a short video of the incident from the last race.

Quick updates

Just an update to say that I finally got the car back yesterday after quite an eventful end of September and beginning of October. I went to Australia for 10 days and also headed off to California to watch the season finale of the StarMazda series which my friend Deki-san over at D-Technique was racing in. Fantastic race. Fellow countryman Peter Dempsey unfortunately lost out with a very harsh DNF after some superb racing that weekend. It was awe inspiring. Laguna Seca was an amazing track to go and watch motorsport at. Fantastic stuff.

Anyway finally back in Japan and a week later I have my car back again. I ended up getting a new wheel and believe it or not the alignment was perfect so no changes required there. Perhaps it got banged back into place. lol. Anyway, all parts checked out fine and the body cleaned up nicely too. Will have to look at it more closely in daylight.

Had a great drive home from D-Tech with the top down. How I missed this little car.

Back racing this weekend with TGR. Have a look at our car prep over on our TGR blog. This time, we've a 6 hour endurance race at East Course Ebisu. TraqMate Japan have again very kindly provided a unit for the race for us. Thank you TraqMate!!!

Who ate my RAYS?

I guess a few photos are due of the damage.

Could have been a lot worse me thinks!

Still I guess a bang on the wheel like that will mean that I should check some other things like the wheel bearings perhaps? No noise as it is right now and the car drives perfectly, so will have to see what is under there.

Party Race 09/09/05 - First Contact

Yesterday was the 3rd Party Race of the year. As you may have noticed from the lack of blog entries I had not practiced at all for this race since my last effort in late July. I had of course driven in the 12 hour race in a FF Honda Prelude but that hardly counts as its a very different beast.

As always the most difficult 10 minutes are first. Qualification. How do you hop into the car after not driving it since July and pull off the lap of your life in an allotted 10 minute time frame. I guess in my you don't :-) I got close at a 1'10'4 but nowhere good enough. The qualification session actually saw quite a lot of action as different people went off the track. I ended up 11th out of 15 cars with 1 car failing to mark a time as he ended up off the track on the last corner on his out lap. This is the Emblem class right???

I was in for my own surprise in qualifying. Dunlop corner was not what I remembered it to be. The tires screamed more than usual and I under-steered off nearly every lap. I pondered over my tires and my turn in points etc and it basically pre-occupied my 10 minutes. Still, I did the best I could on the day. When I came in, I found out that it had been resurfaced and it was written in notices all over the toilet walls etc... Hmmm. Never noticed that. After studying the new surface map on the walls and again on the parade lap before the race, I felt I knew how to attack it.

On with the race. I got a bad start and let the revs slip up a little high and suffered too much wheel spin. Still, I had the inside line into the first corner and managed to only 2 spots. I got 1 back on the outside of the first hairpin but lost it again the next lap when I miss shifted after taking a tight line out of the first corner.

I found myself behind a car that was pretty unsettled in a lot of corners and I found that its very hard to not copy someone else's mistakes when you are so close behind them. The get the back and it happens to you too, so its impossible to pass where as it should be possible if you just do your own thing. It was copying one of those mistakes that I lost back a little too much out of the 1st hairpin and gave up one more spot. Drat!

Still. Nothing like a good fight with my team mate number 62 who was now in front of me. I noticed he was having a lot of trouble on Dunlop so I managed to get passed on around lap 10 when I went up the outside on the exit of dunlop, 2 abreast into the 2nd hairpin, 2 abreast up the back straight and 2 abreast into the last corner where I finally pulled ahead and into the first corner alone. I sure made work of that! One more lap to catch the guys ahead and then disaster!

Around Dunlop hot on the heels of the cars ahead. The 2 cars were in tight battle and one of them drove clean off the course around right hand side of the 80R. He was probably doing around 120kmph across the grass and not slowing. As I passed him, he was coming back off the grass and just when I thought I was clear, bang. I got on my rear right corner and it sent me into a half spin where I ended up on the green space that makes up the inside of the 2nd hairpin. I was pretty angry as the guy had obviously tried to accelerate off the grass so he wouldn't lose too many spots. You can't accelerate off grass onto the circuit... you spin... everyone knows that. Well one would thing they would anyway. Looking at my mates on-board camera you can see that he is coming off the grass straight when he just spins into me and we both go flying. Oh well. That's racing...

Anyway, I came off the grass mere seconds later and tried to chase down the pack but I'd lost around 10 seconds that lap due to spinning out so it wasn't to be. I got back safe but all I could think of was where had he hit me. The car seemed to handle fine so hopefully it sounded worse than it was.

As I parked all I could think of was the damage as I hoped out. Lucky me... no gaping holes in the bodywork but there were big chunks missing from my RAYS... I guess I'll need a new one of those. What a great wheel to take such a beating and still get me home safe!!! Rear wing and bumper has some minor scratches but its no where near as bad as it could have been. I got away from it all very lightly. Whew!

I did have words with the guy after. I basically told him what I thought of him coming back on the circuit like he did without taking off some speed. He argued that he was still out of control... Whatever. I guess he learned his lesson as his car is worse off than mine. I shook hands and walked away to cool down.

After it was all over, there was the 4 hour media race to enjoy. That turned out to be a great race. Oi-san and the Engine team did a great job to come home first and Kato-san did a fine job for the REVSpeed team who came home 3rd. What a great long day!

Next on the list is an alignment and a new wheel...

Facing your fears.

They say you should face your fears so it was very natural for me to suggest that I take a night time stint in this years 12 hour race at Ebisu to see how I would get on. I was feeling rather confident as the weather was perfect with zero rain or fog forecast.

Rod arrived in full of excitement and told me how great it was on the new tires and how he'd just set a new fastest time in the car. Obviously it was fantastic out there. Belted up and waiting for the last of the fuel to be added, I felt ready for the 45 minutes of darkness ahead to bring the car home. A knock on the car and wave and I was off, racing down the pit lane and out into the first corner.

Around the first, down the hill to the S-curve but I couldn't see where it started. I knew it was there somewhere so kept up some speed and turned in. Out the exit of the S-curve and top of 3rd down the hill into the right hander at the end of the hill. Damn - I couldn't see anything, the lights were on, but I could only see part of the road ahead. Not really far enough ahead that is to be hitting around 130kmph into the next bend. I could see the spot light ahead but not where it was shining on the apex. I braked way too late and just barely made it around the corner... Wow. it will take time for my eyes to adjust I thought. It can't really be this dark can it?

Up the hill into the inside hairpin which I also couldn't see, around that and down again through the right kink before the last corner. Darkness... Were my lights really on? Why couldn't I see anything? I expected a lot more light than this. The second lap, was just as bad. Top that with the onset of cars that seemed to be driving way too fast up behind me? How could they possibly see enough to go that fast?

Lap after lap, I had no clue where to brake, I tried counting seconds at full acceleration, looking for where someone had locked brakes on the road, following other cars as much as I could... All I could think of was how well I knew the circuit and yet how little I could see. It shocked me and brought up images of awe at those who race around the ring in the 24 races they have over there. How well can they possibly know the ring and how do they avoid those faster cars who must bully their way by, lights ablaze... Back to the immediate reality, how was anyone else able to drive fast at night like this?

Doubts crept in. I thought about coming in for a driver change, but then again the car behind us, was perhaps only 10 laps or so a-drift and coming in might mean losing a place if the next person wasn't dressed in his gear. The radio had stopped working after all, so I had no way to tell anyone to be ready. No - I guess I would just have to do this, even if I did it slowly... Just bring the car home.

As time went on, I tried to get better and better but I still couldn't drive anywhere near what I can do when I can actually see what is ahead. It was like going into a ghost house where they have dark rooms and all you can do is follow a rope or the wall until suddenly you find another wall and then feel around for the next path. I thought the HIDs would make it easier for me, but I guess I need even more light than they provide for me to function.

At 8:59 on the in-car clock I rounded the last corner and headed up the finish straight staring at the flag tower looking for the checkered flag. Nothing. Next lap too. Then another lap and another... Hard to believe but I guess the race didn't start on-time so they extended the finish to match for a perfect 12 hours.

I ended up doing about an hour that final stint. It was one of the most demanding hours I've ever done in a car. I can't say I learned how to drive in the dark but I did survive it so I am proud at least of that.

I'm rather disappointed in my lack of vision at night. I knew it was bad but am thinking that perhaps as a result of my LASIK operation earlier this year, it is worse than it used to be. It's good to know though.

Would I volunteer again for a night stint? Mad as I am, I'd probably answer yes as I'd like to see if my vision improves next year. Somehow though, I think I would be more effective during a day stint or even in the rain. It was another educational racing weekend!

Read more about our weekend over on our TGR blog.

Ebisu 12 hour Endurance Race

Leaving tomorrow morning to head up to Fukushima to take part in a 12 hour endurance race around Ebisu East course. To this effect, we bought and have since been preparing a car for the job. Have a look over at The TGR Blog for more details and perhaps some live updates on how we are doing. The race is being held this Saturday from 9am to 9pm! 12 hours sure does sound long when you lay it out time wise!

My good friends over at TraqMate Japan have also sponsored our effort and provided a Traqmate system along with video to go with it. Should be fun to look over the different drivers. Thank you Traqmate!

Party Race 2009/7/26

Bringing up the rear... paddy last... Arguably my worst result in a race so far. Result yes, but I'd argue that it was one of my better performances. It's really hard to pass at Tsukuba so a race really comes down to the following formula for the most part... Do well in the Qualification, get a good start, stay clear of first corner trouble while being aggressive enough to keep or grab places, same again on the 1st hairpin and it will all be sorted out by the last corner on the first lap. If you made it that far, don't miss a gear on the back straight, don't yield the inside line on any corner and you are practically home and dry baring other errors around Tsukuba.

My day went wrong at qualification. I qualified 14th out of 15 with a time of 1'11.7 where as pole was won with a 1'10.4. Looking at the video, its easy enough to blame by driving. I lose most of my time currently on the 1st hairpin. After the first 2 laps, I un-stabilize somehow on entry into this corner each time, and waste time and corner controlling over-steer on entry, only then to suffer under-steer mid-late corner and hold on too much steering to the end result of exit over-steer. Its all quite subtle but its slow and I have to figure it out to go faster. If you don't exit the first hairpin at the right speed, it effects entry into Dunlop which effects the exit and the missed acceleration all the way to the top of third before the 2nd hairpin. I lose time elsewhere too but that is the biggest section right now that I need to work on and it all goes back to how I take the last part of the S curve before the first hairpin perhaps.

In the race, I got a decent start but made the classic mistake of braking too early (in the usual spot but not going at usual speed) and ended up on the outside of 2 other cars on the first corner. I tried my best to keep my position but the other cars were coming out wide and I had to back off to save my paint. Into the first hairpin in last place, I noticed it was looking pretty slow on the inside so I went out and around only to see a car spinning out along the grass on the outside a tad close to my line but I kept on the gas anyway and made up 1 place plus the car that spun out. 13th then.



The back straight saw more excitement as the car in 11th missed 3rd gear and the car ahead of me got through on the last corner but I wasn't up for it. I got along the outside of him then in the first corner again but it nearly cost me my 13th place as the car behind got up my inside where he stayed until the 1st hairpin again where I had the best line and back he went again.



I tried up the outside of the 2nd hairpin, drafting on the back straight but I couldn't make it passed. As the laps went on, the tires got less and less grip and more gaps started to show as the cars in front missed their braking points under pressure. The car two cars ahead was particularly slow around the first hairpin and I was thinking about how to capitalize on it for a few laps. Lap 8, saw the leader of the race spin out on the last corner and I'd improved to 12th place.

Finally on lap 10, I decided to take a peek up the outside of the first hairpin just to see what the grip was like but my car just went from under me. I guess it was something to do with riding half on the bank and half off and going a little too fast without the aid of the bank to aid cornering. Anyway, I lost the back, countered and then countered more before sticking both feet as a lost cause and then sticking it in reverse as fast as possible to get out of the way of the back markers who would all be on the inside (and I was stopped mid-to-outside).

Once safe, I set off in pursuit and to try and set a faster lap and see if I could find out what the hell I was doing wrong. At least I think I managed to remember what I was doing on Dunlop and curb some of the entry over-steer into the first hairpin.

Coming off the circuit after 15 full on laps always feels amazing though. Juergen - my good mate - took some photos of me and remarked that I looked like a man who had just won the race by my smile and not someone who had come in bringing up the rear.



Its the car I think. It's just too much fun to drive. It challenges you everywhere to wring the most from it and squeeze out every last bit of performance from both you and the car. You can't do that in many cars these days. It's a super car :-)



So thanks to Mazda for giving us this great car, Brains for the race, D-Technique for all their help and being such a great team, Yoshida-san for his help and support on the day and Juergen for his fantastic photos. Congrats to all the winners, I am very jealous and I'll be back to claim my part of the glory again soon!

Next party race is September 5th!

SSPark Video

Had a great time at SSPark. I've been rather busy recently so its taken me a while again to create some footage to sum up the 2 days.

The first day we worked on 3 separate areas of the gymkhana area. We had a big open area with cones where we could do anything we wanted to practice like handbrake turns, small circle drifting, figure of 8s etc. Another area, we concentrated on faster turns and speed control and the last area we concentrated on a tight timed part of the course. We also combined the 2 last parts together and did one big timed attack at the end. It was wet for my session which was a lot of fun.

My brake problem happened again on the first day where the peddle would get hard after a lot of hard braking. Kato-san repeated it also so I know I am not mad. He said it also happened in his car and speaking to some others, it happens in their cars sometimes also, mostly after ABS is enguaged under hard braking. Hmmmm, so I guess, I just cannot use ABS in the roadster as a result in order to be sure of stopping when required. Not so good.

To get back to things, the second day we did all the same things as the first day but the weather was very sunny and it made the day very hard indeed! This time we spent all afternoon attacking the bigger course in 4 groups. I managed to get a 1'03.9 in the video run below (although the TraqMate data shows it as slightly slower due to me setting my own start/stop position on which it basis its timings.

The footage is just a combination of 2 last runs of the day. One is Kato-san and one is me. Also shown is a TraqMate generated GPS map showing both of our lines and progress around the gymkhana run. Its rather cool to see where and how we differed and what effected the speed and what didn't. I think you could probably look at this and go out again and do an even faster run.