While I don’t care much for Consumer Reports and their rather odd priorities when they review and rank whatever it is that they rank, I think I can finally agree with them on something. Beaters are cheaper to own. How much cheaper? $31,000 cheaper, which is pretty cheap.

Their logic is that if you drive the same car for 15 years/225,000 miles, you save the price of buying a new car every 5 years. Apparently, this is the interval at which most car owners buy a new car. This completely boggles my mind. When I buy a car, I buy it because I like it and enjoy driving it. I don’t see how that could change in 5 years, unless it’s a POS and dies within that time.

Now the real question is, how much do you save by buying a beater for $1000, and then driving it for another 100,000 miles or more? If I’d save $31,000 by buying a new car, I think I’d strike it rich if I just bought a beater from the beginning.

An MX6.com forum user by the name of “copex” has welded additional blades onto his turbine wheel, claiming that it lowers spool-up:

I took off my old T3/T04e 57trim and welded 1/2 of the fins (not fully closed shut as you can see) on the hotside used to spool @ 3000rpm & get 5psi @4000rpm now only 2400rpm & get 5psi by 3500rpm.

way more torque(throttle response was amazing too) @ around 2000 rpm it feelz like my dads supercharged v8 now ^^…. weight increase by a total of 3.5grams (6 fins) + maybe 2-3 more grams from the stainless steel weld spots (pic was taken when finz had minimal weld spots). btw it has a bit of the whining sound when spooling … I like it alot but letz see how long it’ll last.

We’ll ignore his ricer internet lingo for a moment. As you might expect, the sensible and intelligent people on MX6 forums explained all of the failure and idiocy inherent in tack-welding fins onto a turbine wheel. Evidently copex has a history of what he calls “half-assed jobs”–and this is just one.

Here is the full thread. There is some risk of it getting deleted, but don’t worry. The Pansy Patrol is working to rehost the thread.

Last Sunday, after a weekend of preparations, class races, and qualifying runs, all remaining eligible competitors lined up for a 3-hour endurance race to close out the August SCCA regionals at NHIS. Spec Miatas, IT racers, a lone T1 Corvette–all were on track. Most cars had two drivers who switched at about the half-way point. The variety of cars made for great racing from the first rush into turn 3 to the checkered flag.

One of the better battles of the afternoon was between an ITE BMW and the T1 Corvette. Though not in the same class, they were neck and neck for a while, swapping positions and trying to hold each other off.

Meanwhile, the Miatas were flying. And there were so many Miatas it was easy to forget that there were actually other cars out there. Being so evenly matched there was a lot of close, nose-to-tail action up the hill at 3, in the bowl, and through the north chicane. Bumping was inevitable, as were a few dramatic spins.

While Noah and I were looking for photo positions out behind corner 9, I noticed that most of the cars were taking a very different line through the 9-10 sequence. When I approach that section I use a lot of brake-turning initially. Positioned mid-track for 9, I make a gradual turn-in so that I can straighten out alongside the wall coming down the hill. I’m on the throttle quite early, then I brake briefly before turning in for 10.

Most of the racers (and all the Miatas) were braking earlier for 9. Like me, they were mid-track before turn in. But they hugged the inner portion of 9 and reached the wall much later than I. Braking for 10–if there was braking–was late, and I could see some of the cars carrying their braking nearly to the blob of asphalt that marks the apex of 10.

Spec Miatas and IT cars have much less body roll than my ice-racer Protege, which explains the difference in the approaches. Whereas I need much more straight time against the wall to settle the car, the club racers can snap through that transition. However, their line covers less total distance than mine. The average speed might be lower with earlier braking and a tighter line through 9, but that shortens the corner. It also makes braking for 10 less necessary, which allows them to go smoothly in places where I am more unsettled. I’ll be trying their line the next time I’m out.

In the oddball category was this Oldsmobile, a car we liked because it was much faster than it looked. We didn’t get a chance to see it parked, but it was impressive in motion. Of all the cars we saw, it got the most rear wheel lift going through 3.

Towards the end of the race several cars had pulled out due to damage or mechanical failure and the pack had thinned considerably. We packed up to go home with a new-found respect for the strain and abuse of endurance racing.

On Sunday, before the 3-hour endurance race, I had a chance to talk roll cages with IT racer Matt Baldoni and roll cage designer Chris Howard, formerly of Precision Motorsports. I’ve decided to turn my Protege into an IT (Improved Touring) racer, which means a full SCCA-compliant cage. Being the DIY people that we are here, I wanted to get together with Chris and Tim and build our own. But Matt and Chris convinced me that, in this rare instance, it will be better to step aside and let people of experience do the work.

When I told Matt I was going to do my own cage, he said, jokingly, don’t. “The SCCA has so many small rules,” he said, “that if you haven’t done a bunch of cages you’re likely to miss something.” Even if you’re a great fabricator, it’s tough to get every little thing right, like the proper angles for the rear support bars and the total degree of bend in the main hoop. Plus, an experienced builder is going to be up-to-date on minor elements of roll cage design, such as techniques for tying-in the mounting points to as many spots as possible. He said he already sees aspects of the cage in his ITB VW Sirocco that could be improved.

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Who is this guy exactly, and what is his problem?

… …

It’s Noah, photographing the 3-hour endurance race at the SCCA Regionals in Loudon, New Hampshire yesterday. We’re over by the north grandstands, shooting the short straightaway that leads to turn 11.

The unfortunate state of his pants? Well, they’re mine. Earlier in the day, when he was getting ready to shoot from inside the fence at turn 3, the corner workers told him the shorts and sandals he had worn would not do. And so, for the sake of PansyPatrol, we traded pants and shoes. We aren’t exactly the same size, as you can probably guess (there will be no pictures of me in Noah’s sandals, for the record).

You’ll also notice the very professional photographer’s helmet, required when shooting inside the fence. Most of the corner workers wear bicycle helmets. Safety is an excellent thing, and the track is certainly a dangerous place. But if an car loses control braking for turn 3 and flies over the wall, I want a little more than this protecting me.

We got some great shots of the action. They’re coming.

The Carbotech Panther Plus is Carbotech’s street/track pad. It is probably more track than street. With a MOT (maximum operating temperature) of 1250 and an operating range of 150-1250, it is one of the most versatile pads available. Carbotech changed the name from Panther Plus to AX6 recently; as far as I know, there were no changes in the pad itself.

I have been using the Panther Plus on both my VR-4 and my Protege (the Protege has been seeing some summer track use this year). They are my only pads and see regular and aggressive street driving as well as track miles. In my VR4, which is still fairly heaving despite my hacking, the Pather Plus have performed admirably, with no signs of fade. At Watkins Glen, where most of my decelerations were from the 115-60 range and peaked at 145-70, the Panther Plus did not fade at all.

These pads have been equally good in the Protege. The Protege has only been to NHIS, a much slower track, but the Protege also has much smaller brakes and, by extension, a much weaker ability to dissipate heat than the VR4’s Stoptechs. Even when braking so aggressively that it borders on recklessness (at times), the Panther Plus have held up well. I got a bit of fluid fade, but absolutely no pad fade.

The only complaint I have seen regarding the Panther Plus is that the modulation is worse than competitors’ equivalents. However, in my experience the modulation is very good. Any sacrifices in modulation are offset by the pad’s wide operating temperature range.

You may find, though, that the Panther Plus leaves uneven pad deposits after prolonged street driving (if the idea of pad deposits are foreign to you, see my recommended reading list from Stoptech’s webpage). It is because the Panther Plus is still a high-temp pad. At lower temperatures, abrasive friction wears down the pad layer a bit. You can avoid this by making a point of braking aggressively a few times each time you drive the car.

If you’re not a 3/S, Miata, or Protege driver and are worried that Carbotech doesn’t make pads for your car, visit their available product page. Click on your manufacturer to see a complete listing. At the very worst, you’ll have to wait a few weeks while Carbotech makes the pads.

Finally, you may get a better price by asking your favorite tuner to put the order in for you (if it’s an uncommon pad).

We’ve preached the technique-over-power mantra here repeatedly. You know that we like low-powered cars that handle and stop well. You know that we aren’t overly impressed with cars that fly down straights only to creep through turns. Yet I thought I’d relay some comments made by the classroom instructor at the track day I went to last Thursday:

“If you’re buying a track car, don’t buy anything over 200hp. With a big-power car you can just step on the gas to hide your mistakes. With a low powered car, you remember that mistake because it costs you, lap after lap after lap.”

He told us the story of a guy who had been tracking his 911. He was improving–slowly–but was frustrated at how long it was taking him to make progress. After being urged by many people, he bought a Miata and shelved the 911. The rate at which he learned increased dramatically.

I’ve read enough driving theory to make class more or less unnecessary, but I still go. Usually I pick up one or two ideas from the other people in the class about how to approach the track I’m driving. Still, it was nice to hear the instructor, a BMWCCA veteran with lots of experience in different kinds of cars, preach the same thing that I (and the rest of us here) have been saying for a while: Whatever you’re driving, it’s probably fast enough.

If you’re prepping your VR4 for a track day, put your money in brakes, tires, and suspension. 300 or 320hp is more than enough to get you by.

…or how to break a normal rotor in two, that is:

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Most people know that driving a car with no tires is a bad idea, but in this day and age it’s important for us, being in a position of power and influence, to inform you our readers of the advantages and pitfalls of doing so anyway. Right now, you’re probably wondering, “Why would any idiot drive around with wheels, but no tires? And if he’s going to do that, why wouldn’t he just drive around with no wheels?” The answer lies in a complex combination of apathy, sadism, amusement, indifference, anger, happiness, and insufficiency.

I have been running one of my cars with no tires for a while now. I had some guesses as to what it would be like. But, as you all know from frequenting car forums like 3SI.org, it’s important to discuss even the most obvious questions in painstaking detail.

So how do bare wheels perform on the street? They make a lot of noise. They cut grooves into the pavement that remain for weeks. You see, wheels are designed to have tires mounted on them. And tires, unlike wheels, have the ability to stick to the road and provide decent traction. Plus, if you inflate them with air you can even get rid of that annoying flubbing sound and vague steering feel. When you’re just on wheels, you have two 1/4-inch steel or aluminum strips on each wheel providing your only traction. Sportive driving is a challenge, and the limits are generally low.

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Most people should know that snow tires give better traction in the snow, but few are aware of how snow tires perform during the summer. You’re probably ask, “Why would anyone ever run on snow tires in the summer?” It is a good question, and typical answers include apathy, amusement, ignorance, and disdain.

I have been running my beater, a base 1993 Nissan Sentra, on snow tires since I put my summer rims on this past spring. Actually, I am running on 2 snow tires, mounted in the front, and then 2 different all-season tires mounted in the rear. My reasons for doing so are a healthy mixture of amusement at how ridiculous the setup is, disdain for my car (being a beater, and all), and, above all else, an insurmountable sense of apathy that permeates me to the core. More pointedly, I purchased used alloy rims for my Sentra as summer rims (so that I’m not running around all summer on my Blizzaks), and the previous owner had the aforementioned tires mounted on them which I haven’t bothered to replace.

So how do snow tires perform in the dog days of summer? In a word, poorly. Read the rest of this entry »