Until I realized I popped the hood and kept the car on ACC to cool down after the third session while we went up and watched some action (probably not gremlin number three for me, as this was just me not paying attention)

No worries - we'll jump it with the flat six (note - battery's in the bin behind the passenger seat; I have a BMW jump box in the engine bay, but we weren't getting enough on it so we went straight to the source)

That didn't work... let's try a jump box

Nope - still not enough juice...


Pop start?



Still a no go...

Gigantic S4 battery...


That'll do - back in business! I missed the Advanced run group, so Tony and I jumped in the Intermediate run group with Tommy and had a good last session


With the day about done we started packing up



and called a tow truck to get the S2000 home :(



We said our good byes and headed out. Even with all the wet mogwais it was an awesome track day - a good send off before hibernation


The season just ended and I already can't wait for my next track day. If 2016 is half as good as 2015 was, it's going to be another great year!




Unfortunately Brian and Klay were missing from this picture, and Heidi was taking the shot - I'll have to superimpose them



Huge thank you to my wife and sister for coming out and supporting us (you might not realize it, but it really means a lot); huge thank you and much appreciation to Brian, Jared, Paddy, Tony, Tommy, Hugh, and Klay for their help trackside



Cheers!

Very cool.

Do you know how many track events you did this year? Any tips and things to think about for someone that about to get into track days?

Thanks Johnny :icon_tup:

I did five track days this year; no time trials, just driver schools


Please forgive me in advance. In re-reading this before posting it, I realize it reads pretty cheesy. I love every second of my track days and the passion may not fully translate in trying to give meaningful, useful insight

Feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll send you my phone number, and I'd be happy to talk it over with you on the phone - it might be a more insightful dialogue than the below 39,000' view



As for things to think about for getting your FD out on track:

Surround yourself with good people
I would start by looking into motorsport clubs in your area. NASA and SCCA are national clubs that run a lot of high performance driver events nationwide almost all year round. I would do some research on clubs you can join and see how they are for beginners. I had a lot of fun my first track day ever at Lime Rock Park, but I only received ten minutes of actual instruction with no classroom time. In the span of my ten minute instruction my instructor spun my car coming out of the Esses into No Name Straight on a lap walkthrough and had no idea what kind of car he almost totaled ("umm, is this car rear wheel drive?"). I was sent out on my own with no prior track seat time and had to pretty much figure it out on my own - not an ideal situation for a beginner.

A good club can make a huge difference, where you'll find a community of like-minded motorsport individuals who will be willing to help you improve or help you out if you run into any issues at the track. These things happen, but you will be surrounded by great people that want to help get you back out and keep you out on track. Your club might even have a good forum where you can bounce ideas off your peers or ask for help in the garage, car setup questions, or get rule clarification.

The cars are fun, but you'll find the people you meet and friends you'll make are the best part of motorsport


Walking before running?
As far as getting seat time, i would recommend getting to learn your car's characteristics at a slower pace before learning them on a race track where you can easily see fourth or fifth gear WOT pace at triple digits. I would say the safest way to do this would be autocrossing. Autocrossing is relatively cheap, but can be a lot of fun. One thing to keep in mind is that you get a lot less seat time than track days and you might have to work in the field picking up cones, but they usually have more events due to having a lot less overhead compared to track days. I primarily ran with SCCA which brings out some great competition, but you'll find you get less runs due to the popularity and number of participants. Do some research, you might be able to find local clubs where you could get more runs in.

I started autocrossing before jumping into track days, and although it is a lot slower, you will learn a lot about how your car handles and responds to throttle and brake inputs. You will also learn a good amount about your overall set up and balance in making tweaks here and there.

Go kart racing is also a great learning tool for preparing for track days. It's where most of the F1 greats got their start, from Senna to Raikkonen, and you'll learn a good deal that can translate to your FD on track. You might even get lucky and find that your wife likes it too - my wife has a lot of fun, and is actually more competitive about it than I am. One of the downfalls is that the best local go kart track to us costs significantly more than the local autocrosses; but it's always fun.


Exposure and being a sponge
Check out an event before you register for a track day. Most clubs will let you gain access to just about everything but driving on the track as a spectator, including getting a ride along with an instructor (you might have to register as a member for this though). See how your local club operates, and don't be afraid to ask questions. I always have a clipboard with me and actually have notes that I still refer back to from years ago. There's a lot to take in at these events, but knowledge is power and you'll only get better with the more you learn. Mistakes will be inevitable with track days. I used to apologize to my instructors for missing apexes; it's when you keep making the same mistake that's the problem. Learn from them and don't get hung up on them out on track - quickly regroup, and discuss the mistakes with your instructor at the end of your session. Remember that your instructor will not care how fast you can go with your car - their number one concern aside from their own safety is that you are driving safely, showing proper track etiquette, working on your lines and braking and acceleration inputs (remember smooth is fast - you don't want to overdo some input and overshoot your turn or moneyshift), and that you are improving. Don't get hung up on your pace - the speed will come with time and more experience. Get some equipment to track your progress. I am only using in car footage for now, but am finding I can gleam a lot of information from watching it. A proper datalogger with lap timing and predictive timing will also help tremendously with improvement.

I'd also recommend buying book: "Speed Secrets: Professional Race Driving Techniques" by Ross Bentley. There is a lot in this book that is still over my experience level, but it is a great read. My local club, COMSCC, hosted an event where Ross came out and gave a full seminar - I'm still kicking myself for not being able to make it out.


Best laid plans and car preparation
Getting your car sorted and in good running order is probably the most straight forward part of a track day. It looks like you have a pretty good FD build coming along, and you've squared away most of the standard reliability shortfalls. Thats a great start. You might find, as myself and my friends often do with our events, that no matter how much prep time you put into it, things will inevitably go awry at some point. Get your car as well sorted as you can before your track day and hope for the best, but be prepared if the unexpected happens.

The most important part of preparation is safety. As far as safety gear, you will at the minimum need a helmet rated newer than Snell M2010 or SA2010. A head and neck restraint would also not be a bad investment in the "things you hope to never actually need" category. You have some beautifully re-wrapped seats, but you might find the stock seats won't hold you in as much as you might like. Properly mounted racing harnesses will make a huge difference, just go 5point or more to prevent submarining.

You have a pretty potent single turbo set up. Dial the power down to a conservative but quick spooling and efficient setting, and work the power up as you get comfortable.

As far as car setup with brake, tire, suspension, and aero components go, the sky's the limit. I'd be happy to let you know what has worked for me as a starting point, but you will find set up all comes down to personal preference in addition to individual component performance. Do your homework when upgrading components. Definitely make sure you have some good, fresh and bled brake fluid and brake pads before registering for your first event.

Here's a general overview from NASA for track day prep:


Be prepared
Do your homework before arriving to your first track day. I always watch videos of other peoples track days from the same track to try to get a feel for it. You might even be able to find good write ups on track layouts that could walk you through the track turn by turn, and break it down for how to approach it even with an FR car (remember our best line in our RX-7s could be completely different than an STis or an Exige). I also have different track print outs that I adhere to my steering wheel with turn numbers on them to help me memorize the track - it will be easier for you to refer to the track turn numbers when talking the track with your instructors and will help you actually memorize the layout so you always know where you are on track and where you need to be. I always bring more than I need at track days, and find that it is better to have things and not need them than to need them and not have them. As far as tools go though, don't go too crazy. You'll find that there are other participants that might be lucky enough to show up with beautiful trailers stocked full of tools - you will find they are always willing to help if you need a particular tool or some random hardware. They won't expect it, but just pay their kindness back the next time you see them or pass it on to the next guy.



I know there is a lot more to preparing for a track day, but I'd say sign up for one, see how it goes, and take it from there. Again feel free to give me a call if you want or shoot me a PM if you have any questions down the road

I hope that helped



Cheers!

awesome man, thanks for taking the time to explain all that. All good info and will have to check out that book.

I drifted a v8 s13 for a few years and trying to get into track days now. my wife loves doing track days so I figured I change the motorsport and do something we can do together.

I'll send you over my number ans maybe we can chat some, never get tired talking car stuff.

In the meantime hope you keep this thread posted with progression over the winter. will be interesting to see how you prepare for next season.

Rick,

Your photoblog is great, we missed you at comscc's nhms3. cold air and a (slowly) warming track made for some quick times in all the turbo cars. Barry's car looks like a beast, it was at a sccnh autox this fall, it went from a white car to a white blur while between the start and finish

You still planning on crewing @ Devil in the Dark? Im planning on making the trek down to do some sight seeing and see how endurance events run as they have always interested me

Anyways, if you continue to do comscc events, at the very least ill see you in the spring

Jacob
#281 white subaru

Not a problem Johnny :icon_tup:

You know what - if you are ok with 100% committed opposite lock entry with drifting, grip racing is going to be a walk in the park! That V8 S13 must have been a lot of fun; do you have any pictures? I'd love to see it

That's great that your wife will be doing track days with you as well. I saw your rotary wedding cake - pretty awesome wife you've got there! Will she be taking out the RX-8 and you in the FD or dual driving one or the other?




Thanks Jacob - I hope all is going well with you and your family. Congratulations on a third place finish to end the season. Did you see Laura will be moving to T100 next season? I'd like to think this will help me once I start doing time trials in T90, but I'm still a little overclassed with the car and underperforming with the driver. It will be fun either way knowing that it won't just be a battle for second every weekend though.

It looked like NH was a lot of fun with some tight championship titles on the line and it being the last event of the season. I wanted to sign up for NH to chip away at getting licensed, but we all settled on Palmer. And sadly a NH chicane/chicane vs Whiskey Hill decision will probably always end WH going forward - such an awesome track! NH banked wall/chicane combo though... that's a tougher call. The FD ran really well with the cool crisp air (well, I mean when I was able to keep my intercooler piping in and getting full boost). I'd take fall events all day over mid-summer heat, it just doesn't last long enough for more than an event or two. I am planning on making it out to the COM awards banquet in January as well; that was up in Billerica last year if I recall if you're able to make it.

As for events with the McParland S2000, we will be heading back down to NJMP in April for The Devil in the Dark. Let me know if you are up for hunkering down for the weekend and we can get you there and back. We're also planning on running AER's double headers at Whiskey Hill in June and VIR's Halloween 13-hour enduro in October.

And you know, if you get into endurance races you will need more drivers to finish the race and to split the bill... I'm just saying I might have one in mind for you in a season or two after they get their (read "my") competition license. We're thinking of building a lemon first, get our feet wet with endurance racing at a cheaper entry than converting any of our cars outside of the S2000 to get into it. Let me know if you'd be interested - we might have an E30 "lemon" lined up for 2016

As for the FD, I am hoping to refresh it over the winter and am planning on running as many COM events as I can with day two time trials. Also hoping to make the trip to Watkins Glen a mini family vacation now that the boots repaved and the Glen is back on the calendar - I'm looking forward to checking this one off the bucket list

I see you are looking to get into SCCA and NASA - what do you have in mind? Let me know if you ever need a hand trackside once you get into it. You probably already know, but there are a lot of guys from COM that have gotten into endurance racing as well. We ran into Carl Fossum, Jeff Wasilko, Jeff Baker, and Kevin Foote down at VIR last year - a random meeting spot for a bunch of New Englanders

Good to hear from you!

Yes, I've been to Barry's old shop and have been to the track in Epping NH when he used to drag race his CYM. I think he had a T-78 or T-88 on his old car. He ran a haltec back then did did his own tuning while at the track. Seen him go to the finals against a single turbo supra during an import shootout about 12 or 13 years ago. Does he still have that yellow FD? It actually wasn't CYM but everyone referred to it as CYM cause it was yellow lol.

He had long hair at the time and he also rode a motorcycle at the track. Cool seeing him still in the scene.

I did hear she was moving up, so long as the Fontana's don't move up you and I could have a fighting chance . I cant wait to see how quick she becomes next year, between her, Bob C and the Fuchswanz's, we have vett's putting down times that 2 years ago we were seeing open wheel cars running.


The last COMSCC event didnt fail to entertain, T30 was very much in the air as El-Bayeh got a little to close to the T11 bump, bent 2 wheels, cracked a winshild and set off air bags and ended up doing the TT on some borrowed wheels and tires and only lost by a whopping .3

I think my wife and I are comming out, were just waiting to make sure nothing holiday related is going to interfere

Thank you for the ride offer to njmp, if I find im able to go I will take you up on that. And endurance races are the direction i want to head. Granted i haven't done w2w racing yet, but i see no reason why I wont like them. I plan on a scca club racing experience day or two next year assuming my car has the necessarily safety equip to get my feet wet and see if its really what i think it is. And most diffidently keep me in mind if you build a lemon/chump car, ive casually been looking this whole season or a team or the very least a seat to rent.


You will really enjoy day 2, two morning sessions, the adrenaline of do or die for the TT, then if it all goes well, open track! NHMS-3 had something like 35min+ of open track. WGI does not disappoint, the facility is amazing, track is amazing, and you will not run out of spots to take photo's. My wife came out for comscc's 2014 wgi event and we stayed at the harbor side right in town on the water, i highly recommend it. Im not sure if Comscc is going to do wgi next year, they were talking about a return trip to mosport, and im skeptical they will do two 'away' events. Eithe way they said the schedule would be at least roughed in by the banquet.


As far as the scca and nasa i just want to try club racing to see how i like it and if i want to work towards endurance events. The subaru is legal for Scca ITE in new england and Nasa's Super touring 3 where i could actually add a bit more power or loose a bunch more weight and still be legal.

Im also refreshing my car over the winter, after putting it up for the winter i realized just how bad it is. Both ball joints, inner and outer tierods on both sides, control arm bushings are so bad it took approx 40lbs of weight to get the passenger side to move, not good. I haven't bothered to look at the rear yet but its probably just as bad.

-Jacob

Happy Veteran's Day to the club's active and retired veterans!

Thank you for your service Rich, Mike, Brent, Carlos and all :patriot:



Hey Mike - not sure about Barry's yellow RX-7

It's been a while since I've heard the word Epping - I used to naively think that was all there was for track days. It was a lot of fun while it lasted though




Hey Jacob - I came across this picture looking for the Epping shot above; is that you next to me (the white and black shirt towards the right) at the Kancamagus Rotary Run circa 2009?

Yea, Nick Fontana will be an animal no matter what class he's in, scoring multiple FTDs this season. I am anxious to see what Laura has in store for next season. I have never really been too upset about her T90 dominance, not running day two time trials and knowing I wouldn't be a true competitor if I did. Don and his GTR will give her some good competition in T100 though; his lap times are almost non-comprehensible when I try to compare them to where I am at. Especially thinking that some minor tweaks here and there with my build could easily put me in his class... I need to step cautiously with what I do next, knowing that I want to come out and play for the full weekend, and have no interest in just being an "also put in a lap" competitor. I'm looking forward to day twos though, should be fun hunkering down for the weekends

Mikhael and I were in the UMass Motorsports Club together in college years ago before we randomly ran into eachother last year at Thompson. I was really pulling for him for the T30 win all season and saw he had some bad luck at the last event of the year. I mean, he turned a track day from Massachusetts to Mosport into a one day trip - that's dedication and true underdog heart that you just can't root against! I am going to make it a point to try to be at all COM events next season whether or not I'm running - they're just too good to miss and the motorsport community is truly second to none

I think I might have talked my wife into coming out for the COM banquet as well - hopefully we'll see you and your wife there

I'll keep you posted on The Devil in the Dark as we get closer. PM me your phone number please

I'm looking forward to seeing the STi transformation to sprint and endurance car. Good luck getting into it over the winter!

I'll also keep you posted on if we pull the trigger on the lemon. Not sure how many people we'll have on board, but it's a 24-hour race, so the more good drivers we can get on board the better

Seems every fall comes with another Japanese Car & Motorcycle Day at Larz Anderson to officially close out the season

This year was no different with another early morning departure from Providence in the E92 to head up to the garage to grab the FD to head up to Brookline (or "Boston" for you non-Massholes). The only initial difference this year was that it was too damn close to freezing! I can't remember a fall day that has been this cold



An R32 in New England would have been a random sighting any other day - but on Larz Anderson day, I had a feeling I was heading in the right direction


I had parked my car and began unpacking my gear, and ran into Jared from Beastcoast, Lui from Wankel Works, and Jeremy who I met at Whiskey Hill, when we saw a clean VR FD pulling up... with my rotary ADD kicking in, I started walking over to check it out

Then the line continued with a handful of FD's and FCs behind the first VR... including Steve Gomes in his beautiful VR FD



This was rare for me as I usually only see other FD's one day a year (Larz Anderson), and it's usually only a few - awesome sighting and run in for sure


Steve's FD puts down 713whp - let that number sink in for a bit...

Jared and I moved our cars over to the RX-7 section



Race car aero is fun and all, but it's hard to beat a good looking '99-spec FD when it's clean and well executed



Even without RX-7 alley, it was a great turnout for rotary powered vehicles



Best Mazda - super clean REPU



Lui's Wankel Works RX-8



Jeremy's beautiful FC with some new aero and a fresh paintjob - looks great

I met up with some friends


and we checked out the rest of the beauties Japanese Car Day brings out



I've seen many panda Truenos before, but this was the cleanest



Not sure how track days with this NA2 compare to flying a F-16 Fighting Falcon, but something tells me the monstrous brakes, lightweight wheels on some sticky tires, JRZ reservoired coilovers, and supercharger doesn't disappoint!



We packed up and headed out to Chestnut Hill for lunch before parting ways


Not a bad event - Larz Anderson never disappoints for eye candy

Knowing the white stuff was going to be falling soon, I wanted to give the car a good bath before putting her away for hibernation. Most people would have washed it before a car show, but I preferred sleeping in and bringing it dirty, while hoping it warmed up for a car wash after

Well, the temperature didn't warm up, so I pushed through it and cleaned her up



Bucking the HP+ compound covered / post track day fashion trend of the season, the TE37s actually look a lot better cleaned up - who knew?


The AD08Rs, however, are beginning to look a little tired - could be a good enough excuse for some A048s in the spring



All tucked in (at least for now - a new garage bay for the RX-7 may be in the works for December...)




Cheers!

A lot of nice cars at that meet.

I remember they yellow car, i worked at the dragway from 03-07 and use to hang out on some street nights and most import nights, barrys car either trapped 140+, or broke at the line, it was damn quick when it worked


It sure is, I came along with BlueTII who is on the other side of me and Templeton in the red on the opposite side infront of one of the many cars he still has. I dug though my (poorly taken) photos and i dont have any of your car, you did manage to get in one of my shots however
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1447587110


Not only the dedication, but he won T30 that day, that's unreal


Everyone really is friendly, anyone who's not involved in motorsports has no idea how small and friendly the group is. I hope to do most of the season, I have a feeling ill have to skip some events however as I really want to work on getting a comp license.

As of last night we are going to the banquet. Ill pm my contact info after this post. Thanks for the support on the car, once your licensed im guessing you will be in group 1 with me and the silly vets. The group is very quick, and everyone gives point bys right away if you come up on them. Your never stuck in traffic. And yes let me know on the lemon.

-Jacob

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...fde6d098b9.jpg

Where did you get red bins from? Is this a US option? Never seen them here in the UK.

Great build by the way.

In 93 cars with Red interior got red door panels, red bins and red leather seats and possibly some of the other plastics except the dash, steering wheel and console plastics were always black unlike how Porsche color bombs their interiors.
In 94 and 95 most of the plastics including door panels were black on red interior cars. Can't recall if the bins stayed red thru all years on red interior cars or not. May have been a 1993 only like the door cards.

Mike

Anyone know if this is Barry primus racing old rx 7...Attachment 616119


In the front bumper it has a bpr wolf pack sticker car is a t88 34 car greDdy everything..need info on the car please

That is indeed Barrys old car, i vividly remember that cut in his front bumper. it has a Greddy T88 turbo, i believe it ran high 10's in the quarter. i think the original color was red, could be wrong though. Last time i saw this car was about15 years ago, it was at his shop BPR. he was rebuilding my motor.

Hey Amazing build thread. is your 1700mm voltex wing wider than the stock body? The only reason i ask is because im heading over the the nurburgring nordscheliefe later this year and they have this rule there where all wings wider than the body of the car are banned. I was going to buy the 1650mm wing to be safe but just wondering if you could let me know as your rear arches look oem.

Many Thanks,
Pat

I apologize, I have been neglecting my thread for too long. Well, I really haven't had much going on over the winter anyway, sooo...


Great find Jacob. That was a good cruise; I rode up with Dennis in his BB RX-8

I am probably taking some time away from racing this year, but will be back at it shortly. I am really looking forward to running in COM's licensed class; i ran a lot smoother without an instructor at the NTD event. I'd say I'm a few more events away from getting licensed based on my logbook feedback, I'm hoping this short hiatus doesn't set me back once I get back out there

I'll still be at a few COM events here and there this year, so I'm sure we'll run into eachother. Best of luck getting everything sorted for the season



Mike's response was spot on for the red interior - I hope that helped (thanks Mike)

Also, thanks for the compliment



I am not familiar with Barry's RX-7 - I hope Junkie81's feedback was helpful (thanks for responding to that)



Thanks for the compliment

My rear fenders have been pulled, but I don't believe my wing would have been wider than the body had the arches remained OEM. I would recommend measuring out 1700mm and lining it up just to be 100% spot on so you don't waste your money and time (don't be surprised when the wing takes a while to come in, but believe me when I say it's worth the wait)


Sorry I couldn't give you a more definitive answer

Have fun at the Nordsheliefe - get some video and post it up, I'd love to see it



As for the build, there has been really nothing new with the FD (other than the yellow top taken out sitting on a trickle charger), but I have had my hands busy with a new, somehow more expensive project:


The best part is that my FD is now right outside my front door. No more having to drive 70 minutes one way to get work done. And with all that newfound proximity, I have done nothing but put the car on jack stands, pull the wheels, and throw the car cover on

It's a bit of a mess now, but it'll come together as the house gets a little more sorted and the garage becomes less of a staging area



I also bought some much needed tools to begin my bavarian mechanical endeavors out in the garage properly. Nothing needed now, but it is German...



and my wife surprised me with some Race Ramps (56" long, 8" lift, 10.8* angle) for Christmas



So far, I'm impressed. Good clearance for ride height, lightweight, and easy to store

I have also been giving Paddy and Pete a hand with their harness for their new S2000 Motec C185 logger. I had never thought much about it before this, but yup, there's a lot of work to making your own harness the right way

Schematics and diagrams


spreadsheets and directions


sore fingers and backs


some braiding (and occasionally some taking apart and re-braiding)


shrink wrap, kapton tape, and thread


some heat


some labeling


some good effort, and it came out looking very nice



Next up is getting it in the S2000, terminating the lines and adding the connectors, and then getting the car ready for The Devil in the Dark



In other news, I am sure some of you noticed and were just as excited as us, but the 24 hours of Daytona was this past weekend. We had another great set up this time at Paddy's with the race and live timing going on. Huge thank you to Natalie for your hospitality, Mary for the great shepherds pie, and Heidi for the cookies


It was a great race with an awesome finish. I am loving the new GT3 cars across GTLM and GTD (especially the 488 GTLM and revised C7.R, and OMG the new Ford GT), and am pretty excited with the (spoiler alert) P2 win in prototype with the new regulations to come next season

Plenty of more action to come - already can't wait 'til the next one

We're planning on heading to LRP for the July race (GTLM/GTD/PC) if anyone else is up for what should be a pretty good weekend


Almost three months and unfortunately that's all I have to show for it

More to come soon


Have a fun and safe 2016 friends


Cheers!

Just went through the whole thread, great read! Congrats on the new home, too!

awesome thanks for the response.

according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_RX-7 the stock width of the rx7 fd is 1,760 mm (69 in) so im hoping a 1700mm wing is not wider than the oem body but in the pics it looks about the right size. what mm are your wing stands?

Not going to lie, i belted out 'noooo' when i read this. Congratulations on the house, its a whole new level of project that again is never done