Flashwing

This past weekend I began what I’m hoping to be one of many track days within the next year.  It’s been a while since I had my RX8 on the road course and it was great to hit the track with what was an awesome weekend.

I’ve done SCCA autocross for about 2 years now off and on.  I normally complete between 7 and 9 events a year depending on what’s going on elsewhere in my life.  Autocross was a great event to hone my skills, technique and do so in an environment that was not risky for the car.  Since I daily drive my RX8 due to it being my only vehicle I cannot put my car into seriously risky situations.  That being said, if racing wasn’t dangerous no one would do it!  As with all things there’s a balance that needs to be maintained.

I made my first showing at the road course last April when the local NASA chapter here in Arizona hosted their nighttime event at Firebird Raceway.  The event features a ton of racing including autocross, drifting, Time Trial, the Modified Magazine Time Attack, hyperdrive and a bunch of other stuff.  It’s NASA’s yearly blowout event.  It was a perfect time to form my first memories of their HPDE events.

If you’re not aware, HPDE is a High Performance Driving Event (sometimes called Education) which isn’t a race but more of a learning event.  It’s an event that teaches you how to drive your car on the track, handle traffic and learn techniques necessary to compete and also be safe.  There are 4 levels.  HPDE 1 is where you drive with an instructor while 2, 3 and 4 you drive alone.  All levels have different passing rules.  This past event I was driving in HPDE 2 and it was my first event doing so.

Since HPDE 2 was combined with HPDE 1 the first couple of sessions on Saturday were more parade laps because of the 1 drivers learning the track and getting familiar with their car.  I ended up having 4 sessions during the day for about 1 1/2 hours of track time total.  I ended up signing up for Sunday’s event as well so by the end of the weekend I was on the track for about 2 1/2 hours!  It was a great learning experience including driving on a wet track on Sunday morning.

Saturday was a bit nerve racking during the first session because it had been a year since I’ve been on the track.  Since then I made some big changes to my suspension and my overall driving experience had grown due to the autocross school in December.  So, I took it easy the first few laps but I started getting into the groove pretty quickly.  There were some good drivers in HPDE 2 and a couple BMW’s that I had to work pretty hard to keep up with.  The best point by of the day for me was given by a DE2 guy driving a Shelby GT500 SuperSnake.  This mustang was a Cobra on steroids!  I’m willing to say that the driver was probably taking it much easier because that’s not a car you want to bang up.

My second session got a little hairy with me spinning not once, but twice on the entrance to turn 7 on Firebird Main.  I carried too much speed through turn 6 and had to break much heavier in turn 7.  Since it caught me by surprise I didn’t break soon enough and the resulting turn while braking sent me into a spin.  When I went both feet in the car whipped around like a top.  No harm done as I righted myself and got back into the action!

Sunday’s event was also a lot of fun but the overnight rain made the first session interesting.  The slick track combined with 2 cars dumping motor oil about a mile down the straight the previous day meant the drag strip would be ultra slick in some spots.  We were restricted from driving on the right side and couldn’t pass until after the surface transitioned from concrete to asphalt.  I was driving at about 30% the first few laps but I pushed it a bit hard coming into the carousel in turn 1 and either over corrected or hit some water and slid off the track.   I just slid right off into some gravel so aside from making the passenger side ultra dirty there was no issue.

A warped front rotor or unevenly worn pad in the front made braking into turn one a bit unpredictable due to the shuddering so it looks like I’ll be ordering new rotors and pads this week.  I’m due for brakes and figured I would be finishing them up this weekend.

The car performed flawlessly this weekend which is more than I can say for myself.  No mechanical issues, no tune issues and even after the slide and spin the car didn’t complain and didn’t even die on the track.  2 1/2 hours of 9,000 rpm flogging and the girl loved every minute of it.  While sitting in on the DE1 class the instructor singled me out saying “Redline is NOT a shift point…unless you own a rotary in which case they love that stuff!”.

My group leader had some great compliments as he got on track my last session on Sunday.  I was excited to hear he drives a Miata racing in Time Trial and that car is fast and hell!  I’ve never seen a Miata move that quickly.  No surprise since he set a new track record for his TT class!  I was just happy he got to see me in action to counteract all my off track vacationing!

March is shaping up to be at Phoenix Raceway and an event at Firebird’s west track.  PIR is iffy but I’ll be at the West track for sure!

Photo courtesy of Andrew Vicars

I realize there’s been a lot of back and fourth going on with oil decisions and plans for what I’m going to end up doing.  I believe I’ve settled on a compromise that gives me peace of mind regarding engine protection but won’t be so thick that there’s no lubrication occurring.  While I’m trying not to make this into rocket science I wanted to make sure I was focusing on testing oil that it worthwhile instead of just throwing whatever I wanted into my engine.

So, with that BHR has furnished me some Eneos 5w-40 full synthetic oil!  I also changed out the Eneos 75w-90 transmission fluid I’ve been testing as it had over 20,000 miles on it.  The last two editions were the Fumoto Valve formerly known as the Quick Oil Drain Valve and a new Purolator oil filter.  The fumoto will allow me to take samples without any mess as well as not having to ratchet a drain plug all the time.

So, the filter stuff.  Shortly after diving into all the motor oil research I also did some looking around about oil filters.  There has been a lot of buzz on the RX8club.com forums regarding filter pressure regulators and some misinformation about how they work.  The gist of it is the pressure relief in the filter works by a pressure differential across the filter element.  If the element becomes clogged it will cause a higher pressure in one area of the filter forcing the relief open and allowing oil to pass around the filter element.  It’s a fail-safe design so if your filter becomes clogged it doesn’t starve the engine of oil.  Unfiltered oil is better than no oil at all.

Up until now I’ve been using the oversized K&N HP1010 which is for the V6 Mazda MX-6.  Mazda uses the same diameter and thread pattern for all their filters.  The S1 RX8 variant is about 1/2 the size.  More filtering element in my opinion is a good thing to have if you can.  I ran across a couple filter tests that individuals conducted and I was surprised at how poor the performance of the K&N was compared to the $12.99 price I pay for it.  The Pure One or Purolator filters did the best in both of the tests.  I was surprised that the Purolator filter is $6.49 at my local Pep boys.  While price isn’t a concern I have with oil changes, $6 less per filter and a better product is a win.  I’m not paying more to get less just so I can have the 1 inch socket nut on top for removal.

Once the Purolator filter was installed I also reinstalled the Filtermag on the outside.  While the Filtermag won’t catch non-magnetic particles like Aluminum, heavier stuff like iron will be caught and in sizes as small as 2 microns.  Since your average oil film thickness is about 10 microns in size that means anything larger could cause bearing damage over the course of the life of the engine.  Is it a fix?  Maybe and maybe not.  Either way it’s inexpensive insurance and Filtermag’s website provided plenty of pictures, data and oil testing to convince me it was worth the cash.  Plus they are located here in Phoenix!

So, previously I mentioned how my piss poor sampling resulted in me dumping my entire engine load of oil out in the process.  I still think I’d m  The results were inconclusive in my opinion but it was good to know that the 0w-20 didn’t thin to the viscosity of water and still had enough additive left to go 4,000 to 5,000 miles total.

As you can see the bottles look like they are plated in gold.  Rightfully so as this isn’t exactly cheap oil!  I was bouncing between the 5w-30 and 5w-40 and decided on the 40w for the fact that Eneos seems to have different formulations for their viscosities.  I’m not surprised since oil viscosity choice is about application.  Econo-boxes or commuter cars will use different oils than high performance vehicles or sports cars.  The RX8 took about 5 1/2 quarts due to my GReddy oil pan having a larger capacity and the larger oil filter as well.

The Fumoto valve installation was easy as cake.  You’ll need the extender piece because otherwise it rests right up against the oil pan.  I took the adapter off and replaced their paper gasket with a copper washer for better sealing on the pan itself.  I used a socket to ratchet it into position and then attached the valve itself and tightened it down with a wrench.

Finally, the transmission fluid was drained and replaced with 2 fresh quarts.  I did have some remaining Mobile1 GL5 in there from before so all of that should have been flushed out with this change.  The Transmission does feel a bit smoother with the new fluid.

Initial observation about the oil are a little thin (no pun intended) due to me going from a 0w-30 Mobile1 to the 5w-40 Eneos.  The car started with no problems and pressures looked good at idle.  I was between 25psi and 30psi at idle even with cold temperatures and up to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.   The car felt and sounded like it normally does after a fresh oil change.  There was still a fair amount (probably 3 quarts) of old oil in the system.  I’ll be doing another change at about 2,000 miles and then resuming the UOA testing.

I took some photos of pressure readings as well.  At about 170 degrees @ 3,000 RPMS I was seeing about 70psi of oil pressure.  This might fall some but I don’t see it dropping much more than 10psi even at 210+ degrees.  On the highway the oil was cooling much more than the 0w-30 was.  I saw about a 10 degree drop in temperature at some points compared to the Mobile1.

More fun on the horizon!  I’ll be doing HPDE in NASA’s upcoming February event on Firebird’s main course and then the Ultimate Dyno Event in March in Long Beach!

As always, point your browser to www.blackhaloracing.com for the latest RX8 news and all the awesome parts you can shake a stick at!

Wow it’s been a hell of a year hasn’t it?

Black Halo Racing has seen quite a lot of growth, opportunity and success this past year and we are looking forward to 2010 with a lot of excitement and eagerness to continue this trend.

One of the aspects we are most proud of has been how much Black Halo Racing’s reach within the RX8 community has grown.  As part of this team I am really glad that I am able to be part of an organization that puts our customers first.  While every other vendor or manufacturer will tell you the same thing I believe we have taken that statement to a whole new level.  Countless times I’ve watched the BHR team help out RX8 owners without any regard for profit or compensation for simply the purpose of helping other people enjoy their rotary car more.

We have also seen a lot of growth in product development and I’m excited about some changes that are in the wings which will allow Black Halo Racing to further expand our product line.  Whether we manufacture parts ourselves or work with the best of the best to create something the result is the same.  Uncompromising quality and attention to every detail.  However, none of that would be possible without our fantastic customers.  Without your support, encouragement and enthusiasm it’s hard to say where we would be today.

Looking towards the future I’m excited about Black Halo Racing’s growth within the rotary community and perhaps expanding to other platforms as well.  Regardless of our level of success or size we will continue our commitment to not take ourselves too seriously, keep our sense of humor and maintain a strong connection to the automotive community.  Above all, we will continue to bring our own sense of integrity, accountability and responsibility to every aspect of our business.

So, to all our customers and competitors:  You haven’t seen anything yet!

Another round of oil testing!  BlackStone Labs has returned my test results for the 2,800 miles that I ran the Eneos 0w-20 in my RX8.  This was the first time I’ve tested an oil sample on my motor so I don’t have any previous history to go by.  I would normally post this in the BHR tech section but due to the poor method of obtaining the sample I believe the results might be skewed.  The sample was dripped from the oil pan drain bolt which probably had excessive dirt.  The high iron content is something I’ll be looking into and keeping an eye on.

So, I’ll be posting this for consideration by all but I’m not going to have it as a final result for the Eneos oil regarding wear characteristics.  The main element I was looking for was how much the oil sheared or simply thinned in viscosity to determine what the final viscosity weight will be that I’ll run.  The test shows a 9.29 cSt at 100 degrees centigrade.  The advertised cSt for this oil is around 8.5  Now, that could be due to a couple factors.  First, when I added the Eneos I was running Royal Purple 5w-20 in the car.  Due to the differences in viscosity it’s possible that 1 to 2 quarts of the RP might have been left over even though I drained both coolers.  Second, Eneos might simply underrate their viscosity.  Either way, I believe the Eneos 5w-30 will be my final oil choice unless I’m running excessive oil temperatures.

I’m figuring their 5w-30 might be higher on the viscosity scale for a 30w which is fine by me.  I’m also working to block off one of my oil coolers for the winter months since I’m not often seeing temps higher than 160 degrees.

Other elements with this report show <0.5 for fuel dilution which should be <0.2.  This is due to the temps not getting high enough to burn off the excess fuel as well as my idling habits.  I normally idle the car 5 to 10 minutes a day for warming up.

So, I’ll be ordering a case of 5w-30 for testing purposes!  I’ll be switching filters and also running the filter mag for the first time as well as the quick drain valve for getting samples without all the mess!

If you have not had a moment to breeze over to the Black Halo Racing tech section you might be interested to know that Blackstone Labs has processed our latest sample of Eneos 75w-90 transmission fluid at 17,000 miles!

You can review the current and previous used oil analysis here.

While the document linked above contains the summary of the testing process I wanted to take a moment to comment on the testing we have been doing and the importance both from an owner and a customer standpoint.  The testing process began when BHR discovered that the Eneos transmission fluid performed very well in the RX8 transmission.  All of us on the team have used products from very respectable oil suppliers including Redline, Royal Purple, Mobile1 and many others.  These companies have awesome product lineups and should not be discounted but we found the Eneos to be the best shifting stuff we’d ever used.

However, through the chain of research we quickly discovered a fear that GL-5 transmission fluids could cause damage to a manual transmission and should only be used in a differential.  Not being satisfied with letting this great product go, I decided to use my own RX8 as a test bed for this fluid and have the results tested.  The UOA (used oil analysis) for 8,000 miles was very promising.  The only abnormal part was the high aluminum content.  Without going into detail I will admit that the high aluminum is due to my own stupidity and not anything to do with this fluid.

I have subjected this transmission fluid to various high load, high RPM situations.  It’s also been used during the hot Arizona summer which can be taxing to any lubricant.  It’s been daily driven, on the race track and in various situations between.  I was expecting the fluid would be shot around 15,000 miles being an exotic oil.  Instead, Blackstone has suggested I maintain this fluid for another 8,000 miles before sending in another test.

So, this product continues to perform above our expectations which is good news for all of you RX8 owners out there!  Our hope is to continue to bring you real data showing that these lubricants do perform well which helps you make better decisions about the products you buy.  The point being that we’re about making sure you have the best stuff and not about simply shoving product into your hand.

I should have results from my Eneos 0w-20 oil sample and then I’ll be moving onto another viscosity to test.  Which one I’m honestly not sure but I’ll have more information for everyone when I get that hammered out.

With Hot Import Nights canceling their show, a local Phoenix shop Intense Power decided to hold their own charity car show on December 12th!  Black Halo Racing was there showing our awesome products and our own show stopping Rotary Cars.  Erick brought his newly acquired Turbo FC RX7, BHR customer Scott Matthews brought his turbocharged RX8 and I was there with my nitrous RX8 as well!  The show was fantastic with over 100 cars in attendance.

It was every import car owners dream with Silvia’s, Mark IV Supra’s, an R35 Skyline as well as various VQ powered 350z’s and G35’s.  Black Halo Racing joined the Arizona Mazda Club and the Rotary Car Club of Arizona in the event with some great Mazda’s!

Tim from RCCAZ took home 1st place in the Mazda category, Scott Matthews took home second and I was amazingly awarded 3rd place!  It was a lot of fun showing off the various Black Halo Racing products and installs that we’ve done!

The show featured some great music and of course I found Erick socializing with the ladies that were walking around taking pictures around the cars!

In all there were over 10 Mazdas that were at the event!  Everyone at Black Halo Racing wants to say thanks to Intense Power for inviting us out to the show and we’re really looking forward to their future spring events!

So, because I suck at autocross I decided to enroll in the AZsolo annual autocross school this weekend!  I’ve been autocrossing on and off for about the past 2 years and I’m still in need of some serious instruction.  The school today was really awesome, gave me some great ideas and best of all it really increased my confidence in my car and myself as a driver.

As I’ve previously posted, my suspension setup has been a tale that could only be written as a saga.  I’ve spent countless hours with my car on jack stands and taking wheels on and off making height adjustments, spring perch adjustments and dampening changes to try and find that secret setup which would make me a faster driver.  I suppose I was chasing something that didn’t exist because, after all, the car does what I tell it to even if it’s the wrong thing.  I knew I needed seat time so this was a perfect opportunity.

To review, my suspension setup consists of Ksport Kontrol Coilovers, Whiteline front and rear sway-bars and Evo-R endlinks.  For brakes I’m running stock rotors, stainless lines, ATE Blue fluid and HAWK HPS pads.  My wheels are 5zigen FN01R-C 18×8.5 wrapped with Nitto Invo’s in a 255×40x18 size.  In all, a pretty complete setup if I do say so myself.

However, like with women, I never seem to know if I’m the problem or the car is the problem.

I’ve had such a broad range of experiences with my RX8’s handling that I had no idea if the car was simply setup totally wrong or if I just suck at driving and need to learn to drive the car.  My previous drive up Mingus Mountain with UMS Tuning a couple weekends back was a blast and my RX8 handled on rails going up the mountain.

The course was fairly simple but had some curve balls in it.  It was a loop design with 2 stages.  The start had a slalom and the end was preceded by a Chicago box.

The whole morning I swore my RX8 had a plow attached at the front as it was understeering all over the place.  It was really bad.  I was losing several seconds by having to slow down and let the front tires regain grip.  My brakes also were suffering because of the cold (nearly 40 degrees) weather during my run group.  Approaching the upper loop on run #1 I went into ABS right away and nearly drove straight off the course.  The brakes clearly were cold.

While my brakes improved quickly as they and the tires warmed up I was still plowing through turns like a school bus in the snow.  The field was showing times from about 46 seconds to down to 35 seconds during the morning.  I couldn’t break 40 seconds to save my life…even came as close as 40.1xx on my time slip.

Then lunch time came!  Funny how a couple hot dogs, Pepsi and some classic lays chips can get your brain working.

I consulted Jeff Abrams and a local Miata guy for some advice.  I was thinking about unhooking my rear swaybar but Jeff advised the problem was front grip and not rear suspension travel.  I concurred and checked myself.

Come to fine out, I was running stupid high pressures up front and low pressures in the rear.  Combine that with stiff dampening on my front struts and you had excessive grip in the rear with none in the front.  Yep I need a new tire pressure gauge.

So, the fronts were lowered to 36 PSI, the rears set to 40psi and the dampening backed down to 4/6.  It was like a whole new car!  Suddenly I was getting the back end rotation I needed.

Best of all, my afternoon instructor was fantastic!  We talked earlier and the man has about 40 years of driving experience and gave me a gut reaction to my setup.  He stated the car handled very well and he really enjoyed driving it.  Best yet was he put down a 38.6xx time on his first run!  Clearly I need to grow into this car.

After a few suggestions and a couple more runs I put down a 38.8xx with no cones.  I had been hitting cones left and right and murdering them in the slalom and Chicago box.  I almost got numb to THUNK! on the side of the car.  My first run I hit 2 cones in the slalom.  I remember saying to my instructor as he shook his head  ”Well at least we got that shit out of the way!”

So, my instructor bailed out of the car with 2 runs to go.  I then put down a 39.4xx and a 39.1xx time to end the day.

Overall the event was a huge success and I met all my goals for the day.  I’m looking forward to starting back in HPDE next February and continuing with autocross hopefully getting better!

Photos courtesy of Erick

Yeah yeah this is supposed to be an automotive blog but that’s no excuse to avoid bringing some personal stuff into it right?  It all has meaning so humor me a little bit ok?

I’ll admit I’m really not a huge holiday person.  I don’t need days of the year to remember the aspects of my life that I’m thankful for but they still serve their purpose.  Holidays bring friends and family together when we take time out of our lives to let people know how important they are to us.  I’m no exception to that.

One of the conversations that I’ve had with many people revolves around Black Halo Racing as a business and of course that business is only as good as the people who make up it’s core.  Namely all of us here on the team.  One of the things I am most thankful for is getting involved in the rotary community and the Mazda community since I came here to Arizona.  That passion is something that has been a part of me and translates into everything I do.  The question of “Why would you do business anywhere else?” is something that the team talks about a lot.

My interest in joining Black Halo Racing stems from the want to share my buying experiences with other people but also to improve a system which, in my opinion, is in serious need of help.  One of the best experiences I had was with a local guy here in Phoenix who I bought parts through.  I tell about that experience all the time as it helped me shape how I approach my work here at BHR.  Chris, who I called “my parts guy” all the time, made me feel like I was his only customer.  Chris dealt with vendors when my order was screwed up and he never made me pay until he actually delivered my stuff.  A few times he even installed it on my car for free!

Ok, so what does this have to do with thanksgiving?  I’m always amazed at how much influence owning an RX8 has had on my life.  Since the first day I attended an event with the Arizona Mazda Club I was totally hooked on this car and I’ve never regretted my buying decision.  I’ve had plenty of times when I put myself into hard spots buying car parts, attending events, doing drives or any number of other Mazda things.  I’ve put my heart and soul into this car, into this community and it’s as much a part of me as I am of it.  I don’t regret any of it.  I’ve often thought about what other car I would buy or people ask what is “your dream car”.  I have ideas but I honestly don’t want another car.

I’m also thankful that there are companies like Black Halo Racing out there who focus on the customer, the driver, the owner of RX8’s and put everything else secondary.  Even if for some reason I wasn’t part of the team here I still wouldn’t go anywhere else for my RX8 parts.

Just a little insight into me and what makes me tick.  Happy Turkey Day!

It was another awesome day at UMS Tuning in Tempe today!  We had a smaller showing but it ended up being a fun event.  In all I believe we had 10 or so cars in our group that hit the dyno including Erick’s new Turbo II RX7.  While the car needs some TLC, I jokingly told Erick that now at least he fits the company color scheme!

Since doing the post Sevenstock dyno event at SR Motorcars I have been wanting to know how much power I was picking up from the nitrous.  I also wanted to get my first 200+ whp dyno plot.  While I believe that in most cases a dyno is simply an extension of a person’s ego, I have been chasing a 200+ whp power number since I bought my RX8.  It was a foolish chase but one that I finally won.

The end results were 170whp N/A and then 205 whp with the nitrous.  In all, an approx 35whp increase with the spray.  I have changed my jetting sizes but for the time being I’ll keep those sizes to myself.  I’m still working out the bugs to see if my choices are actually valid or of it’s because my tune needs a little work.  I met my goals for the day but the 170whp figure is a bit troubling.  I have nearly 100,000 miles on my motor and I’m figuring it’s going to need a rebuild to extract it’s full capability.

So, that means at some point there will be another BHR motor build here in Phoenix.

Tomorrow Jeff and myself will be joining AZ All-Wheel-Drive for a “cruise” around the upper parts of the state.  In all it’s looking to be a 350 mile drive.  It’s been a while since I did anything quite that epic so I’m looking forward to it.  I’ll post my dyno sheet as soon as I get an electronic copy!

UPDATED!  Dyno’s below!

I happened to be going over some old video I shot a couple years ago and came across a short video I made for the Arizona Mazda Club.  This is by far my favorite video I’ve made thus far.  I did it in mind that it could be used as a promotional piece or commercial for the club.  Check it out!

AZMC Video