I decided to skip all of the street racer tuners and go for a shop that works on race cars. Enter GST Motorsports in Hayward, CA. GST is associated with many NASA TT competitors, especially Mitsubishi and Subaru owners. But what they’re most famous for these days is their Impreza L beast.

GST Motorsports Impreza L

I went in with an almost empty tank of 91 octane, and 10 gallons of 100 octane hoping that with two separate maps I can have the option of using 100 octane during TTs if the 91 octane was too weak. In a normally aspirated engine a higher octane fuel simply allows you to advance the timing. However in a turbocharged engine, a higher octane is much more beneficial as it allows you to run a higher boost pressure and thereby increasing the density of the air-fuel mixture. This results in much higher horsepower gains.

In my current TTB legal setup, I’m restricted to use the factory boost hardware, which means no modifications to the boost solenoid, lines, pills, etc. That being the case, Mike quickly found the factory boost hardware to be the limiting factor. Switching to 100 octane would’ve only allowed us to advance the ignition timing which isn’t worth the extra cost of the fuel.

(I’ll post the dyno sheet once I scan it)

What impressed me the most was Mike’s careful attention to ensure the safety of the engine. He data logged the car multiple times while making adjustments to squeeze out more power, but also during warm-up to make sure everything looked healthy. That alone gave me a lot of confidence in his work and I know I won’t be worried about blowing the motor the next hot day I’m out on track banging out laps for 30 minutes straight. And to top it all off I wasn’t even charged the full price of a tune!

Great customer service. Very professional, courteous, and lots of attention to detail. GST Motorsports has my business for as long as they’re around.

I’ve been wanting to move to the west coast for years, so finally when I found a job in San Jose I didn’t waste any time packing my stuff and shipping out here. Why? No bitter cold winters, and two famous race tracks within a two hour drive: Infineon Raceway, formerly known as Sears Point, and everyone’s favorite, Laguna Seca.

Shortly after I moved out here in July and found a place to live, I figured I’d finally get the Ohlins rebuilt as they were desperately in need of some love. Performance Shock Inc is based right out of Infineon Raceway and is a qualified Ohlins rebuilder. While the struts were off we discovered that the springs on the front were 450lb/in. Adil believed that he had run the 550lb/in springs in the front and the 750lb/in springs in the rear. Not so my friend. So I had Thomas from PSI re-valve the front struts for the 550lb/in springs, and the rears for the 750/in springs. This should make them work much better. What sucked was that due to some parts being unavailable in the US, it was mid November before I finally had them back! That was a long time to wait without any action for the Evo. But that didn’t mean I was going to miss out.

In August I signed up for the Jim Russell Techniques of Karting school. I had been out in Ramon’s kart at NJMP a few times, and with him, Sash, and my brother all pushing me to try it I figured I’d give it a go. Our main instructor for the day was factory CRG driver. He was ranked #2 in the world at the time in his class. Assisting him was another factory CRG driver. Not a bad bunch of guys to learn from. They covered what you’d expect from an intro course; the kart, getting a feel for it, braking technique, braking points, acceleration, lines, etc. What I left that day with was a sore neck, arms, and ribs, but most importantly I was hooked on karting.

Shortly afterward I found a kart for sale locally. Turned out the current championship leader of the 2010 Norcal Rotax Serniors class was looking to sell his kart sans engine. Kris at Cameron Karting had a customer, the current championship leader of the 2010 Norcal Rotax Masters class, looking to sell a barely used engine. It was a perfect match. I dropped off the kart and engine at Cameron Karting to have everything sorted out, and within a week I was whipping around the Infineon Raceway kart track in my own CRG Blackstar.

2008 CRG Blackstar - Wild Child #2

My plan was to get lots of seat time in the kart over the winter, but between the holidays and rain I’ve only gotten out on four days! My goal for 2011 is to do at least three races at Infineon. The season opener at Dixon was canceled due to rain, and the next race is on 10 April; the kart isn’t ready, and I’m far from ready. I’m not going to rush this because I don’t want to get discouraged and abandon the sport, and I also need to spend time setting up the Evo and doing TTs.

With the Evo sitting on jack stands waiting for the Ohlins to be rebuilt, and the weather not agreeing with karting I was not a happy camper. My whole reason for getting out of the north east was to escape the boredom of the winter, and here I was in the same situation. There was only one thing to do; enter the third wild child!

From the day I was addicted to gasoline powered speed I had always had a seat behind me and four wheels below me. But imagine this. Your entire body being hurled backwards while holding on for dear life with just the two small fingers of your left hand, your right wrist whipping the throttle wide open and twitching just for a split second as you grab the clutch with your index and middle fingers and bang up through the gears with your left foot. If you thought your fast sports car or rally bred econobox was an adrenaline rush you are mistaken. Welcome to the world of bikes!

Suzuki DR-Z400SM - Wild Child #3

This thing is an absolute blast! The twisty mountain roads by my house are my playground for now, but dirt trails, SuperMoto school, and track days are definitely in the near future!

Back to the Evo, while PSI was putting the Ohlins under the knife, I took the chance to upgrade the bushings with an Energy Suspension master bushing kit. Getting the front control arms off was a piece of cake. Getting a local shop to press the bushings in cost some $$. But getting those suckers back on was a *#$@#%# bitch!

Front lower control arms. So shiny!

Taking shit apart

Front strut and hub assembly

Evo in pieces

Getting the rear lower control arms off was impossible with the tools I have, and having a shop do the work could easily cost me close to $500. A friend of mine in LA has volunteered his shop, hoist, and tools for me to use. Score! Driving for 5+ hours in a stripped out Evo and a race seat. Not score!

For the engine I had always stuck with Mobil1 synthetic; 10W30 during normal events, and 10W40 during extremely hot events where the oil seems temps in the 100C range. This year I decided to give Amsoil 10W30 a try. Although we probably wont see such high temps in the spring to see if Amsoil will make a difference, it’s probably best to give it a try at an event where temps won’t be too extreme.

For the transmission I had previously stuck with Mitsubishi’s Diaqueen 75W85, and Diaqueen LSD Gear Oil for the Transfer Case and rear differential. As I’m not producing much more than stock power levels, I didn’t have much concern about extreme stress on the drivetrain, but rather was more concerned about the longevity. The shift from 4th to 5th gear had also started to develop a hesitation, what some would describe as a “grind”. I contacted Andy (aka apagan01 on EvolutionM) who is an Amsoil dealer with my concerns and he recommended that we try Amsoil MTG GL4 75W90 Heavy Gear Lube for the transmission, and Amsoil 75W90 Severe Gear Oil for the transfer case and rear differential.

Evo on jack stands

Once the car was reasonably levelled on jack stands, draining the fluid was pretty simple. The engine oil had been changed rather recently, and with the limited miles seen over the cold days I was glad to find that the color was still a nice brown. The transmission and transfer case however had not been changed since last spring. A considerable amount of metal shavings attached to the drain plugs confirmed that an annual fluid change should be done on a track car.

Next the car was placed in the safe hands of Champion Auto in Long Island City, NY for a front swaybar swap. Two years ago I upgraded my front swaybar to a Whiteline 26mm bar in an attempt to make the car more competitive in SCCA AS for Solo II. However although the bar seemed to help keep the car flatter on some sweeping corners and fast transitions on the road course, it does make rotating the car a little harder. As I will be competing in the NASA Time Trial series for 2010, in order to remain legal for TTB classification I’m required to revert to my stock front swaybar. Hopefully this will also help rotate the car better on the track. I’ll be looking forward to the outcome this weekend.

My first run was not only an introduction to the S2000, but also a re-introduction to autox. I did three events last year, two in early spring, and one in the fall. I knew what I was supposed to do, but my muscle memory was a little lacking to say the least. I was a mess – and Dan didn’t spare any creative comments to make sure I knew that. “YOU FUCKING SUCK! YOU’RE NOT LOOKING AHEAD! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO AUTOCROSS?!?!” Thanks Dan. For those who don’t know, co-driving with Dan is like having that annoying voice inside your head, just that it’s now sitting next to you and constantly shouting at you, at the starter, at timing & scoring, at Perry, at the cone that just fell, and at anyone else who’s around. It only gets worse when he’s driving. There’s no surprise that the only noises you hear from the sealed microphone of the GoPro camera is Dan.

Anyway, back to the S2000 which I had never driven before until I lined up at the start:

• Power – the Evo is a torque monster compared to it, and I found myself naturally shifting up at 6500rpm instead of using the extra 2500rpm. Let the v-tech sing baby!
• Steering – yes the Evo had a quick rack, but this is crazy fast!
• Turn-in – because of the fatter swaybar I added for AStock the Evo needed a lifting of the gas or a tap of brake to induce turn-in. No effort needed in the Honda for turn-in. In fact, the AP1 was thought to be too tail happy, so Dan has added one of those nearly extinct Gendron front swaybars.
• Grip – this is where the S2000 was lacking. Shot Bridgestone RE-01Rs in the front, and shot Kumho ASXs in the rear. Fred Flintstone probably had better grip than we had in the rear.
• Brakes – to compensate for the lack of ABS in the Evo, Mitsubishi gave it a firm but communicative brake pedal. The S2000 on the other hand had a relatively squishy brake pedal and a trigger-happy ABS. In conjunction with the shitty tires, this led to a few moments where the ABS hit ice mode

Needless to say my first run was a throwaway. Dan jumps in and shows me how it’s done – or should I say how it’s spun! “THERE’S NO GRIP!” My 2nd run I start getting a feel for the car, or so I thought. I hit ice-mode on one of the braking zones and fly past an offset cone. Then after the turnaround I pin the gas and throw it into 2nd gear just as the tach sails past 8500rpm. I was expecting the tires to chirp and launch me into a surge of acceleration. Instead I found myself clouded in tire smoke and pointing the wrong direction. “YOU IDIOT THIS ISN’T ALL WHEEL DRIVE!”

On his 3rd run Dan puts it all together: sick launch, slick shifts, smooth on the gas, and snakes it through the slaloms for a blistering run of 75seconds. Just about 25seconds slower than his previous best. Thanks timing & scoring – there goes the money run!

After a few spins and much shouting from Dan I was getting the hang of the car and learning to push it. But my times weren’t improving. It seemed that every time I thought I had reigned it in the Joker would pull out another trick from up his sleeve. Dan was sitting on a clean 51.031 run, and I was constantly pulling 53s. But miraculously I managed to put it together on the last run of the day and pulled off a 52.497. 1.5seconds is a lifetime on an autox course, but for me that’s just 1.5 seconds away from figuring out how to drive a well balanced FR car. Win!