tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81626760701467833452011-11-28T09:20:01.740+09:00Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.comBlogger761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-45590097711053853562008-04-20T10:28:00.004+09:002008-04-20T10:48:13.348+09:00

Roxy served me very well for 4 years. The last year and a half I discovered the track and how much fun that could be. I joined a race team in steadily improved my lap times. What a great car! I learned so much along the way. I changed different parts and saw how they effected the performance and handling. Roxy opened up feelings that I hadn't felt since I was a teenager racing in cycling races in

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-89946324841277135952008-01-13T19:18:00.000+09:002008-01-13T19:22:41.883+09:00

This may bore you to tears :-) The visibility was quite bad as you can see. I spun my wheels too much at the start. If you only watch a bit, fast forward to 16:20 and watch my first pass along with one hell of a spin coming out of the last corner.

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-38377869965284545802008-01-12T23:14:00.000+09:002008-01-12T23:31:15.861+09:00

Arrived in Tsukuba TC2000 all dry. No rain. Whippee! Or at least not until about 8am anyway. We could do the preparation in the dry. That counts for a lot. I decided not to worry too much about car setup etc. for the race as it only adds tension. I expected to come last so nothing to worry about. I started with all tires at 230 thinking they would get hotter after a while. I left the suspension

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-27583009829149824652008-01-08T22:09:00.000+09:002008-01-08T22:45:29.351+09:00

2007 was a very special year. I tracked Roxy quite a lot, 26 times total. I became an RTE team member and I broke the 1'10 mark on Tsukuba. I also went from RE-040 tires to ADVAN Neovas to RE-01R so I clocked up some good experience there. I switched DSC fully off every circuit day this year even in the wet. I believe that has helped push me a lot as you must drive well. Even so I spun out

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-32366974280758042032008-01-08T00:13:00.001+09:002008-01-08T00:13:51.485+09:00

Attended my first FISCO license NS-4 session at Fuji this year. 6,300 yen for 30 minutes of track time. I did two 30 minute sessions. I really love the challenge of Fuji. Its such a demanding track to extract every bit of skill from you. Makes me feel like I have so much more to learn. Huge respect for the track. It maybe less great than Suzuka but it still ranks in my book. It certainly offers

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-32286375194782540992007-12-28T08:59:00.000+09:002007-12-28T09:04:58.416+09:00

No - not Roxy. Not yet anyway. But my good mate and fellow track addict John is selling his RX-8. If you know anyone who is interested, please let them know. Its basically a new car and has some nice modifications. RX-8 For Sale. I'll be sorry to see John let go of his car. He's provided me with lots of healthy competition over the last year and a bit.

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-11805816916636763652007-12-25T09:06:00.000+09:002007-12-25T09:07:46.022+09:00

I checked the weather in the morning for Tsukuba. Cloudy. Great - I thought. The weather is perfect for few fast laps. It started raining around 9am though. We had three sessions. I asked one of the RX-7 guys what he got after he came back from his laps. A 1'15. Damn. That's at least 10 seconds off his normal pace and he said it was slippy out there.First session arrived, Still raining. DSC all

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-56416836095242563062007-12-17T18:25:00.000+09:002007-12-17T19:00:27.711+09:00

I attended the A licence exam at Fuji Speedway this Sunday. Its a full day process. To get the A licence you have to first hold a B licence and must have competed in (and completed) one speed event (Rally, Gymkhana or circuit trial). My attendance in the Mazda Speed Cup Circuit Trial qualified for this. Next step is a racing license - the A licence.Its a full day course at Fuji run at certain

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-80482967841363843552007-12-11T08:53:00.000+09:002007-12-11T08:56:25.939+09:00

Some random footage from Fuji Speedway. My 1'14 lap is in there if you can find it :) Can't wait to get back on this circuit. Oh wait. - I'm taking my A licence there this weekend but I'm not sure what kind of driving is involved in that. Wish me luck!

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-78490012477771062192007-12-10T23:31:00.000+09:002007-12-10T23:47:55.616+09:00

Finally returned to Fuji Speedway. I hadn't had any time to re-learn the track on the playstation since I was last there but its a pretty memorable track so shouldn't be a problem. Out on the track for the first couple of laps, it really surprised me how tight some of its corners where. The first corner for example, it would be all to easy to misjudge your speed and head off on that one.There

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-15284875324415999662007-12-04T23:39:00.001+09:002007-12-04T23:39:53.981+09:00

Back at Tsukuba TC2000. I spun out twice again today trying my new cornering technique. Both spins were similar to the ones I had during the Mazda Speed Circuit Trial. The good thing is that I kept at it and I believe I know why I get that particular spin now. It happens due to over trail braking and then letting off the remaining brakes too quickly. Normally happens only when I'm carrying a

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-64242705767617732332007-11-29T00:14:00.000+09:002007-11-29T00:25:04.391+09:00

I'm currently using this gear oil "Motul Gear Competition MT Oil 75W-140". Was out in the car tonight meeting Richard in Autobacs in Odaiba and for the first part of the drive I had to really work at slotting the car slowly into gear. The first shift was surprisingly hard to do. I don't usually rev the engine until the oil comes up to temp so it also takes quite some time before the gear oil

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-24783387967516837512007-11-20T22:51:00.000+09:002007-11-20T22:58:16.626+09:00

I finally pulled my lap times out of my lap timer. No segment times unfortunately. Pretty happy with the times though. I got 5 x 1'09 times and 5 x 1'10 times with a mix of other laps in between. I'm pretty sure I should have got a 1'08 on the second lap in this video as I had to slow down going through Dunlop and just after it as another car was in my line. Oh well. that happens :-) Next time

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-51037646444876588792007-11-20T00:22:00.000+09:002007-11-20T00:25:59.976+09:00

This is footage from the 2nd session of the Mazda Speed Cup Circuit Trial at TC2000. I made a mistake by coming on the power too heavy too early into the first corner and ended up heading for the barrier. Lucky I stopped just in time and headed right back out into the action. If you don't spin - you're not trying!

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-31416572461425690742007-11-19T22:00:00.001+09:002007-12-03T21:01:41.141+09:00

Woke up at 3:35, showered, shoved 2 contacts into 2 sleepy eyes and hit the road at 4am. Arrived at Tsukuba at around 5:30 and began my preparations in the still darkness with a torch. By 6:20 I had eaten some breakfast and was ready to register. Got the numbers and official lap timer, stuck them on and headed to my parking allocation inside the track. Ran over to the control tower and got a

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-44057268534103437092007-11-13T19:44:00.000+09:002007-11-13T19:54:18.316+09:00

After all the gear problems today, I tried giving Kato-san at D-Technique a call to see what he thought the problem could be. He thought it sounded a lot like the wrong gear oil. As he was at the shop he asked if I wanted to drop in and change oil. Now that's service - D-Technique is closed on Tuesdays after all. Normally, I would have just dropped in the weekend but since I am back on the track

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-12508168631458603502007-11-13T18:54:00.000+09:002007-11-13T19:44:19.326+09:00

Today was my first time trying out my new RE-01R (225/45R18) tires along with the new alignment. Car started without problems this morning. I'd been a bit worried after it failed to start on Saturday. Problems seem resolved today on that front.The shuto expressway is a good test of a cars settings as its twisty enough and the speed is just right. Traveling up to Tsukuba the car felt a little

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-49061479369267295172007-11-10T19:16:00.000+09:002007-11-10T19:32:41.371+09:00

Called down to D-Technique today to pick up my car. Had the following done. - Alignment - plugs and plug leads. - clean the air filter.The previous alignment setting was complete gone. Where as previously I started with no toe in on the front, I now had toe out and where I had toe in on the back, that was gone. This is apparently quite an over-steer setting which does explain some of the trouble

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-4393014996215406422007-11-09T20:18:00.000+09:002007-11-09T20:21:18.414+09:00

My application to the "Mazda Speed Cup Trial" went through. I am in the "More" class and have taken the very attractive number "13"... Its amazing how negative that number is. I am actually surprised that they have that number at all. But I'm above all that! Lucky 13!!! I think its rather a cool number to get.

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-57823207023528096472007-11-06T23:48:00.000+09:002007-11-06T23:54:04.217+09:00

Finally paid up my membership fees tonight to join Racing Team Eightlien (RTE). RTE are a bunch of really good drivers so hopefully they will teach me more things and my driving will continue to improve. I'm looking forward to being part of the club and meeting them on regular occasions on and off the track. Hopefully I can teach them strange Irish/English in exchange :-)

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-10709618143466131372007-11-02T00:11:00.001+09:002007-11-02T00:11:45.629+09:00

I took delivery of my current tires, Neova AD07, early February this year which means they lasted me 19 track days! Their days are numbered now. The fronts still have about 2mm of thread on them but as they are also my road tires this is not so good on wet days. They gotta go.I'll write up a few thoughts on the differences in the 2 tires when I finally get to try the RE-01Rs out on the circuit.

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-13523618448619310632007-10-29T21:10:00.000+09:002007-10-29T21:22:52.302+09:00

This clip about 10 minutes into the 2nd session. I'm not driving very smoothly and the tires are suffering for it. I tend to always end up driving wildly like this on TC1000. Not sure why. It feels like a safe environment to do so in. Perhaps that is why. In the first session, I'd done a couple of 43 second laps but in this session I think I only managed one. Most of the others were 44 and some

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-60671651274462968562007-10-21T23:48:00.000+09:002007-10-22T00:09:21.731+09:00

Yoshida-san (Cayman s) and John joined me at Tsukuba TC1000 today. The lineup was 1 x 20 minute session followed by 4 x 15 minute sessions. Long day then... The first session I was actually quite amazed at my driving. I was silky smooth for the most part and really did some nice braking. Unfortunately I forgot to video that too. Hmmm, Maybe there is a connection there. I suddenly became able to

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-3311185024661853082007-10-19T23:23:00.000+09:002007-10-19T23:35:17.516+09:00

Right so, here are 5 laps of my 3rd session at Tsukuba. I tried pretty different lines than my usual particularly on the last corner. Things I noticed: Still steering too late. Still doing far too many steering inputs (although sometimes required). Way too slow on the 1st hairpin. Under-steering like a dog through Dunlop (although its worse in later laps). If I can clean some of these things up,

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-42313207570649278012007-10-18T20:23:00.001+09:002007-10-18T20:23:07.114+09:00

Only one 1'09. I guess that makes it very special! Today was cold in the morning but it was actually quite hot in the sun when I did this run near midday. Its great that its a little cooler again as its not so hard on the car. It was quite hard to get space on the track today. A lot of cars were fast on the straight but slowish on the corners so I just couldn't pass them. Even hanging back a

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-65285224077935424692007-10-08T20:23:00.000+09:002007-10-08T20:32:46.049+09:00

Drat and double drat! The rear left light is half full of water again! Can you believe it?! I'll order a new gasket from Mazda I think and see what that will do for me. Hopefully that will fix the problem.Was out driving yesterday around Hakkone with my mate in his NSX. Fantastic car. Sounds incredible - especially the super charger winding up. Another friend took his Cayman S out. He let drive

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-26192515719134847482007-10-05T00:13:00.000+09:002007-10-05T00:14:48.620+09:00

Today I picked up my B licence! Its official!

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-42632031174062719842007-09-25T22:43:00.001+09:002007-09-25T22:45:29.365+09:00

Gotta love those race queens. Took a while to upload so many photos from the Party Race but here they are! Click on the photo for more photos.This event was pretty special. It was the usual party race followed by a 4 hour endurance race for car related media companies. The cars were all identical and were provided by Mazda. Wow! Isn't that amazing. Kato-san, was driving on the Mazda team and

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-62434130301790649802007-09-25T22:12:00.001+09:002007-09-25T22:12:17.453+09:00

For the longest time now, my rear left light has been carrying around water. Not just a little bit either, its basically been 1/3 full of the stuff. This was also causing condensation resulting in a very dim and not very pretty rear light.Finally on Monday, I decided to get the tools at the car and take it out to see if I could get some of the water out of the light somehow. This was actually

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-56671532959917810342007-09-24T21:26:00.000+09:002007-09-24T21:35:38.730+09:00

Finally decided to figure out what it takes to get a B Competition Licence. Turns out that since I'm Irish I need Motorsport Ireland to contact JAF and tell them that I do not hold an Irish competition licence. Once I have that I could apply for a Japanese B licence. As I've got 30 days to get the paperwork in, I decided to do the course this weekend. It took about 2.5 hours and was pretty easy

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-26025706427875916762007-09-16T23:08:00.000+09:002007-09-17T11:53:42.830+09:00

Busy weekend full of driving. Saturday attended the Party Race and 4 hour media race. That was superb fun. Kato-san as usual wrapped up the emblem prize and scored pole for the media run. Peter Lyons team managed 6th place which was fantastic. Well done to all.Today, I had an appointment at RE-Amemiya to have my oil cooler fittings checked. I arrived at 10am and it was supposed to take 3 hours.

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-15452175936370039622007-09-13T21:13:00.000+09:002007-09-13T21:18:44.823+09:00

Ok, I dug out this lap from the wet session. It was the only lap with a bit of excitement as I was taking it pretty easy. I believe this is a 1'19 lap and I had a little action on the second hairpin where I probably didn't match revs properly on my down-shift and locked the back wheels briefly.

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-63489766249639874122007-09-13T20:19:00.000+09:002007-09-13T21:00:03.409+09:00

The magic of TC3000 was coming straight from TC1000 over to TC2000 for the afternoon. What a feeling... We were up for 3 x 20 minute sessions from 3pm to 5pm. The rain was holding off so it was looking good to break under the 1'10 barrier. The first decision was what to do with my suspension. I usually use 3F/5R for TC2000 which is a harder setting than TC1000. After playing with the suspension

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-11743895720127096212007-09-12T23:45:00.000+09:002007-09-13T00:10:10.741+09:00

The day promised light rain. While I don't mind rain so much as you learn a lot, I'd been hoping for some dry runs to see if I could get my inner hairpin technique down. The threat of rain also meant that it was cooler which should be good for pulling out a fast lap or two. 43 seconds looked doable today I told myself.Session 1, I was having my usual over-steer entry problems on the fast first

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-75779293426971273662007-09-09T16:22:00.000+09:002007-09-09T16:27:52.028+09:00

Apparently there is some issue with the fittings on my RE-Amemiya oil cooler. I've made a booking on the 16th with RE-Amemiya to have it looked at. That will be a good excuse to go have a look at RE-Amemiya as I haven't been out there yet.Hmmm. Should I get the battery done too? I need a replacement. I guess if I break the 1'10 mark on Tuesday I'll see if I can change the appointment to also

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-55043627544227198582007-09-02T21:39:00.000+09:002008-12-13T13:26:15.853+09:00

Closure is a great thing. The poll closed 1 month ago. The R-Magic Ohlins suspension was tied on 4 points with the vague "Other". What was "Other" and was it worth looking into. We waited...Finally, John found a suitable "Other" to represent the 4 point tie breaker. The final choice he made is this. I'm really looking forward to a review and a drive. He also got an aggressive (but blessed) track

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-50342524838879592352007-08-30T23:37:00.000+09:002007-09-02T21:18:00.944+09:00

The laps on this video are mostly 1'11 or 1'10 around TC2000. I was trying to practice some of the things I'd learned at SSPark. Mostly I was practicing Dunlop without braking and the various hairpins carrying in brakes to help turn the car quicker. I think once I get this in my head and through experience I can pick up more speed and get faster at TC2000. Wish my videos were better quality but

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-5613121063665941732007-08-29T22:14:00.001+09:002007-09-01T14:43:00.888+09:00

Had to be at TC2000 at 6am so left the house at 4:45. Saurus as always had organized a 2 hour free run session. The weather started quite cloudy but it soon got hot. Our two hours on the track were from 8am until 10am so it was the best time.A month ago I had planned on using this 2 hour session to try different suspension settings and learn more about my car and what the different settings can

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-35054332353621274702007-08-29T21:12:00.001+09:002007-08-29T21:12:12.069+09:00

I didn't fancy the idea of driving 300km in the morning, driving all day at the track and then driving 300km back that night, so I had to drive to Fukushima the night before and pitch my tent somewhere. All the usual business hotels were full where I usually stay so I thought I'd chance a love hotel by myself.Pretty great value. My own covered car space, private room/shower, ultraviolet

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-40428831257187750172007-08-29T20:51:00.001+09:002007-08-29T20:51:33.387+09:00

While chatting to Doi-san at R-Magic on Saturday, he'd mentioned that he'd seen John and I in the new copy of REVSpeed. I'd done a mini interview in Japanese at the Eightlien event on 8/5 and posed for a photo so was half expecting it. Flipping through REVSpeed, I came across page 61 and there we were - myself and John at Roxy's wheel with a photo of my new Recaro seat along with helmet, gloves

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-28009219093506620752007-08-25T16:04:00.000+09:002008-12-13T13:26:16.122+09:00

The heel on my right driving shoe finally decided to remove itself from the shoe during the last 2 circuit days in Fukushima. Must have been from all the toe'n'heeling I've been doing of late. This flappy heel made driving a bit more difficult as it kept flapping about. So I decided it was time to invest in some booties. I remembered that Super Autobacs had a big selection so decided to head

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-45951561034580428042007-08-23T23:04:00.000+09:002007-08-24T23:26:36.863+09:00

August is proving hot. The heat must be getting to me because I'm having crazy thoughts...I had booked into RE-Amemiya to get the battery kit and stabilizers fitted this Sunday but I canceled that. Instead I'm going on another driving course concentrating on high speed turn in on Sunday in SSPark in Fukushima again. That's madness in itself considering that with TC2000 on the 28th, that will make

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-79829408791977979962007-08-20T00:24:00.000+09:002007-08-20T21:23:51.499+09:00

I've been admiring the RE-Amemiya 3 setting adjustable stabilizers for a long time. At the Eightlien day on 8/5 I got a 40% of discount coupon. They are primed to be mine! I also need a new battery. RE-Amemiya has a battery relocation kit that looks sweet and is in use in quite a lot of cars. It replaces the 17kg stock battery back to where the wiper fluid is and exchanges it for 9kg battery.

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-4432626154893918222007-08-19T23:21:00.000+09:002007-08-21T00:04:24.811+09:00

Before arriving at Link circuit I'd heard that it was pretty safe. I hadn't really looked at the layout so when I arrived I was quite surprised to find it was based on the side of a hill with several tight looking hairpins and narrow straights. Yikes. I was in B group again so by the time it came my turn to go out and explore on the free run, I was unusually nervous. That pretty much disappeared

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-67232422825598076322007-08-19T11:29:00.000+09:002007-08-19T14:09:23.967+09:00

Touchn was kind enough to tell me about a 2 day driving class with Kuragon-san. Day 1 was on Friday at SSPark where I'd been once before on another 2 day course. It was a very different experience.There were 16 cars in the class, 2 other RX-8s and a bunch of other stuff including a GT-R. In the morning it had been pissing down but the rain had thankfully let up and soon dried out. It made for a

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-78725602117426827202007-08-15T11:52:00.000+09:002007-08-15T12:09:17.238+09:00

It's hot. Damn hot here in Tokyo. Fukushima is not much better and I've two days coming up. Must be mad! At TC1000 the other day the water temp was mostly around 110 but rose to about 115 on the long runs. The second 15 minute run was hardest on Roxy and me for that matter!With this in mind, I'm going to flush my radiator of its winter coolant and am going to try out a mix of water and Redline's

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-71036671235189181892007-08-10T21:25:00.001+09:002007-08-10T21:25:20.677+09:00

I don't really understand alignment so much. I know the basics like what toe/camber/caster etc stand for but I don't know so much about how it effects the handling of the car (apart from stuff like tire wear).In April I decided to get my first ever 4 wheel alignment as my suspension had been on/off the car a few times up to then and I'd no clue where the wheels were pointing. On the shop guys

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-62134638899347807302007-08-08T23:00:00.000+09:002007-08-08T23:35:16.037+09:00

I have weird memories of Sunday at TC1000. It was hot. I remember climbing out of the car after the second session and thinking - no more today. It was too hot to be driving in long sleeves/jeans/helmet and no aircon. Still - not a lot of places as much fun nor many I'd have swapped in its place. I hid inside the control tower for about half an hour soaking up aircon while draining about a liter

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-12464922848277776212007-08-06T23:35:00.001+09:002007-08-06T23:37:32.996+09:00

Its not as much bragging rights as Kanapee's Party Race win, but its a start in the right direction! Roxy was running really hot all day so it was good to grab this. I guess everyone had similar trouble. I gotta invest in less heat!I believe this prize is for the time 0'44.46 which I set in my first set in the morning. I got close to it a couple of times during the day. I actually beat the time

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-45907534811112247792007-08-06T22:02:00.000+09:002007-08-10T20:38:56.077+09:00

As part of the Eightlien meeting at TC1000, I took part in 3 x 15 minute session, 2 x 5 minute qualifying session and finally a 5 lap mini race. It was a hot, hot day. Very humid and did I say hot! I guess 34/35 degrees. The 15 minute sessions were very hard on Roxy. Oil was 130 at one stage and water was 110 or just over. My tires were very slippy towards the end of each session and I felt grip

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-30228293250064361132007-08-02T00:18:00.000+09:002007-08-02T00:26:06.318+09:00

Ok boys and girls. sit back and have a look at this. There are two laps. The first is my 2'15.06 lap and the second is a very slow lap which includes NOT one but TWO rather big slides. I remember seeing the 2'15 come up on the lap timer as I passed the finish line and thinking to myself that a bit more late braking could get me another second or two. You gotta be much smoother coming off the

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-78112511089156987492007-07-31T23:48:00.001+09:002007-07-31T23:55:40.382+09:00

I spent a little bit of time on Saturday playing GT4 and trying out Fuji Speedway. Considering I've got the 180 kmph limiter, I figured that I'd be happy with a 2'20 time on the real thing.Fuji turned out to be a little more different to the game than Tsukuba had been. If nothing else, it seemed narrower in places. Braking in real life is a lot easier than in the game though as you don't have

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-62762763763028213372007-07-28T19:14:00.000+09:002007-07-28T22:05:04.221+09:00

Fuji Speedway is tomorrow. Today I picked up a torque wrench at Super Autobacs while John Dyno'd his car. Then popped over to D-Technique to pick up Roxy. Tested the seat position and had it tilted a little more forward as the peddle/arm ratio was off a little. The harness is pretty hard core. Its surprisingly snug and really adds to the atmosphere. Its a little harder to get in than I'd thought

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-13890351973146831402007-07-26T00:20:00.000+09:002007-07-26T00:30:11.833+09:00

More than a few people have commented recently about my ride height at the rear. I was dropping the car off at D-Technique tonight and decided to measure the drop again. According to Autoexe documentation, from center to top of wheel arch should measure 355mm at the front and 350mm at the rear. This is for a drop of 20mm all around.This was what it measured when R-Magic fixed it for me last time

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-10180460491238027732007-07-22T23:34:00.001+09:002007-07-23T07:49:11.206+09:00

The photo isn't me but is another yellow from the Mazda Speed Cup Trial event earlier today Not sure who but check out the flames coming out the back!What a great day. I knew so many people competing today that it would have been impossible not to have had a good time. Click on the photo to check out more photos from the day. I always get way to distracted by the action and forget to take more

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-45180366682861925322007-07-15T23:43:00.000+09:002007-07-17T21:45:11.054+09:00

John has been wondering what to do with his suspension. The stock suspension on the 8 is pretty good by all accounts. Nothing is perfect though and there are many choices out there. He used to have the Mazdaspeed dampers and springs on his old 8. They were the non-tunable type. He is currently using the Mazdaspeed anti-roll bars on his new 8 but still has the stock dampers and springs.I'm using

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-10734411810294779962007-07-14T17:06:00.000+09:002008-12-13T13:26:16.486+09:00

Honestly, I don't know where all the money is going but its hard to stop the flow. Might as well let the trickle continue. After about 2 hours of hopping between the Recaro TS-G and RS-GS seats at D-Technique earlier today, I finally made up my mind and decided to get myself the TS-GS model. I also ordered a black Willans Club S4 harness to go with it.Also coming is some spare Project Mu HC+

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-43293969679898288642007-07-12T23:45:00.001+09:002007-07-12T23:49:55.285+09:00

You may remember a couple of posts back that I dropped the car off at D-Technique so that they could install the RE-Amemiya oil cooler. I also asked them to fabricate some custom grills to cover both coolers to protect from the odd flying stones and/or insects.The main reason for getting the extra oil cooler was the oil temperature on the track. At Honjyo circuit it was running over 140 degrees

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-77270773197030701432007-07-08T13:34:00.001+09:002007-07-08T13:34:09.524+09:00

I ran down to Super Autobacs in Yokohama in early June to run Roxy on the chassis dyno. I'd been there with John in his previous RX-8 in April so I wanted to see how the cars compared. If the truth be known a red RX-8 was supposed to come and dyno with me but a late night out the night before meant the driver needed his beauty sleep :-O!!!Getting the dyno is pretty easy if they are not busy.

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-65953826602549322302007-07-04T20:39:00.000+09:002007-07-04T21:53:05.852+09:00

Couldn't believe I was off to Tsukuba on Tuesday. I mean, I'd just driven 300km up to Fukushima at the weekend. Had 2 full days of Gymkhana madness. Drove back to Tokyo. Worked 1 day. Now 1 day later again, TC1000 awaited! How mad is that?!This was another D-Technique day with the deadly duo Deki-sensei and Kato-sensei. Those guys have amazing energy. I wish my Japanese was better so I could soak

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-14362034333720582952007-07-02T21:17:00.000+09:002007-07-03T22:51:38.029+09:00

Great weekend practicing different things at SSPark Gymkhana with D-Technique. With 2 days you really learn a lot and get to practice a lot. I managed to get a 56.3 out of the little course which I'm quite pleased with. Probably could have got another second at least out of it, perhaps more, but this time was bascially a second faster than my previous best anyway so that's pretty huge. You can't

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-78972869786263712802007-06-17T23:22:00.000+09:002007-06-17T23:27:01.691+09:00

Ok so its not really bye-bye, but rather see you in a week. She's going under the knife down at D-Technique to get that oil cooler installed. I figured track time was more important and signed up for a full weekend of driving on 6/30 so that left me with only one weekend to get the cooler installed. If it rained I'd be screwed so decided safest way was to get it done in the shop. They are also

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-91383204396359759752007-05-31T00:30:00.001+09:002007-05-31T00:32:27.697+09:00

Honjyo was a great little circuit. Really good fun. Tight as hell, looming barriers to stop you being really naughty and some really difficult corners. Main aim was to practice trail braking which I managed to do with some success on the day. It was a great little circuit to practice on as the speeds were relatively low through the corners.Honjyo was also very special because John was back in

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-41704876664741271612007-05-30T22:49:00.001+09:002007-05-30T22:59:41.726+09:00

The oil cooler kit from RE-Amemiya arrived. I decided to order it anyway as they couldn't fit it for me immediately. Fitting was going to cost 32,000 yen so I decided to invest that money in some good tools instead and learn a bit more about the car by installing it with the help of Richard. Just opened the kit and it looks pretty sweet. Cooler it self is about the size of an A4 page.So its

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-35921951975323904152007-05-16T23:06:00.000+09:002008-12-13T13:26:16.845+09:00

I recently installed the Racing Beat gauges for Oil Temp/Pressure and Water temp. Its been interesting watching at random intervals while driving around. First thing I noticed that water temp comes up way before oil temp comes up to temperature. I used to think I could just hammer it once the stock water temp gauge got to its usual position but it turns out that that is way too early. Oil takes

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-75836107912575258802007-05-09T23:06:00.000+09:002007-05-31T00:34:51.633+09:00

Richard and I hit TC1000 on 5/4. 5 fantastic sessions of 15 glorious track minutes each. There were 4 groups. I was in group A which was supposedly the ~45 second group. My fastest time thus far on the track was 53 seconds so I was wondering what I was doing in group A... The last time I was at this track it was bucketing down. It was also the first day I'd turned off DSC fully. So I was hoping

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-32313475462684364582007-04-30T21:37:00.000+09:002007-04-30T22:22:36.929+09:00

It was one year ago on this very day that I first felt the draw of Tsukuba as I rounded its corners for the first time.The circuit always daunted me. People talked about it ripping up your tires in a couple of minutes. They said that its crash barriers stole your paint, your body panels and sometimes swallowed whole cars. I was always jealous of John though when he'd take off every 6 months to

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-87267573138548222882007-04-28T15:52:00.000+09:002007-05-30T23:00:28.758+09:00

I go a bit carried away during this lap. My exit out of the last corner wasn't so good, understeering almost off the road and then having to flip the wheel instead of keeping things smooth. Guaranteed to slow you down! As such, I felt the need to brake that bit later into the last corner before hitting third gear and this sent the rear out of line. It was really good fun though to catch it. The

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-84793082073251223382007-04-28T13:39:00.001+09:002007-05-31T00:34:51.633+09:00

A red flag is never good as it means your fun is over for a while and you have to clear off the cicuit. It's less fun of course for the person who owns the red flag. In this case, that happened to be my good friend and RX-8 head John.John was on his fastest ever lap of TC2000 when rounding the last corner, he came across an S2000 who had just spun on to his exit line. It was too early for yellow

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-3010106442767955922007-04-22T20:54:00.001+09:002007-05-31T00:34:51.633+09:00

Got a surprise in the post today. Due to a hiccup with times on the day of the 3/31 event my time got skipped over. However, the organizers were good enough to recognize my gallant efforts and sent me this cute little trophy in the post. When I was younger I won quite a lot of cycling prizes but computers got in the way of sport after college. Its nice to win something again and claim first

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-38979958143420728222007-04-22T10:21:00.000+09:002007-05-31T00:34:51.634+09:00

Was just going through my records and decided to count how many times I'd been at the track and pull out the best lap times. Here's what I found. It all starts in 2006...06/04/30 TC2000 1'15.888 RX7 Meeting. First ever track day! Yeah!06/08/22 TC2000 1'16.522 Saurus Meeting06/10/17 TC2000 1'12.723 Saurus Meeting06/11/16 TC2000 1'12.439 With-Me Meeting (crashed)06/12/09 TC1000 0'53.xxx RX7 Meeting

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-91097668747599534532007-04-22T09:48:00.000+09:002007-05-30T23:00:01.325+09:00

Back in the car last night for first time since getting the new clutch and fly. The clutch didn't seem that heavy at all while driving. Blipping downshifts is a little different now too. I have get my muscle memory to relearn the movement to get it back smooth again. First toe'n'heel down shift on the track should be interesting.I'm still being followed around by the smell of clutch also. I

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-13923063404318146202007-04-19T23:10:00.000+09:002007-04-19T23:57:51.940+09:00

Picked up Roxy from Mazda tonight. Got the following:Racing Beat flywheel installedMazdaspeed clutchMazdaspeed clutch lineNew clutch oil (5.1 castrol brake fluid)New Gear oilThe flywheel is 29% lighter weight-wise and reduces inertia by 55% compared with stock. I didn't know what to expect getting in. Would I stall? Getting into 1st gear was the first hurdle... Man this clutch sure is heavy. The

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-43344956229006938632007-04-17T23:43:00.000+09:002007-04-17T23:56:37.660+09:00

Nice video showing the 8 on the Leguna Seca race track.

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-46334522791419884452007-04-17T23:13:00.000+09:002007-04-17T23:42:10.480+09:00

Roxy is currently at the dealers having a new flywheel and clutch fitted. Nothing wrong with the old bits but the new bits add performance. The flywheel is from Racing Beat. The clutch is from Mazdaspeed. I'm also getting the Mazdaspeed clutch hose installed which should make engagement nice and crispy. I'm curious how heavy the clutch will become. Rumour has it that it's a bit of a stiffy. I

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162676070146783345.post-22576589403017228782007-04-17T22:13:00.000+09:002008-12-13T13:26:17.320+09:00

I'm thinking its time that Roxy had a voice. Roxy is my RX-8. We live in Tokyo together. She is "lightening yellow" and loves to stretch her legs about once a month at a racing track. I started driving Roxy at the track for the first time last year and was immediately hooked.I hope to use this blog in order to keep track of things we do together. Hopefully, there will be lots of happy posts about

Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03982000132277245155noreply@blogger.com