Todd's new S2000

[Jayden95]

Wow photos came out great! Car looks that good man.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Toddxxx]

Wow photos came out great! Car looks that good man.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thanks

[Toddxxx]

Well here's another update for you guys.

After my last track day my brakes were shot. The rotors had a nice big lip on them and the HC+ pads were down to about 2mm of material left and squealing like crazy so it was definitely time to replace/upgrade before Honda nationals.

Going by this thread I installed the rotors and pads along with the braided lines and cooling kit in January 2015 so 1.5 years/10 track days of life out of rda blanks and HC+ pads is pretty great in my opinion.

After being quite happy with the performance of the HC+, this time around I decided to go for a more track orientated pad.
With the car not getting driven a lot on the street and the pursuit of faster lap times the top priority a full track pad made sense.
A track pad would get me more consistent braking, more initial bite and better pedal feel. These three things should definitely help at the track and get me lapping faster more consistent times.

Having used the HC+ and being happy with them, moving to the club racer was the obvious choice but I researched other brands as well and basically was down to deciding between the PMU club racer, endless ME20 and the winmax W5.

All three pads were around the same performance level with similar mu ratings, temp range and initial bite.
Pricing and availability were big factors and eventually decided my pad choice.

- The club racer were readily available in aus but was also the most expensive of the three.

- The endless were only attainable if I was to order through streeter and had a 6 week wait on them. Surprisingly they weren't as expensive as I was expecting and once the dollar recovers a bit I'll definitely pick up a set to test out.

- The W5 were readily available through race brakes Sydney (5 minutes from my house) and were also $80 cheaper than the other two.

Sounds like a good option right?

Well those familiar with the S2000 will surely know Andrew hakes build in the USA. He has some of the most detailed updates I've read and luckily for me he has actually tried and tested all three of these pads.
In his opinion the W5 had the best initial bite of the three as well as having a superior pedal feel. He did mention they were a bit harsh on the rotors but for the price they can't be beaten.

I was sold!
Upon speaking to Matt at race brakes we decided that with the s2000 braking set up (most of the braking done at the front) and it's light weight that a W5 front/W3 rear would be sufficient.

To finish off my brake upgrade I used my last set of RDA blanks I had laying around at home from eBay sales 2 years ago. Got to love $100 sets of rotors 
I also ordered some fresh RBF600 from autosphere.

As the car would be up on stands and I would be swapping out the brakes I decided it was the perfect time to do my major service as well and swap out the engine, gearbox and diff oils. I ordered them and from there it was just waiting for everything to turn up.

Parts list

RDA 300mm blank front rotors
RDA 282mm blank rear rotors
Winmax W5 front pads
Winmax W3 rear pads
Motul RBF600
Penrite 5W-40 engine oil
Hamp oil filter
Amsoil synchromesh trans oil
Amsoil severe gear 75W110 diff oil

I didn't take a picture of everything together this time but I did get a picture of the winmax pads. I have to say they were packaged very nicely and the pads themselves look great in that beautiful gold colour. We will see if it lasts as the teal colour of the PMU pads tends to burn off after one track day.



From here you know what happens. I swapped out the old worn parts and put in the fresh new parts so there's no real need to go into detail about all that.
I will note though that the spoon X brace i installed must be removed for oil changes as it gets in the way. This is quite annoying with how much I change oil so I'm deciding whether I should keep it or not.

Rear done



Front done





I should really give the calipers a spray with the high temp paint again as they're starting to look a bit tired. Also note that the hub cover has been sprayed as well. Looks so much nicer not having to see those rusted out discs through the wheel any more.

So now we get to the part that Alex will really like 

Since running my voltex front bumper I've basically just shoved the ducts through the bumper openings and left them there. According to Alex they looked like octopus tentacles flapping about. And while they have done a good job I'm sure cooling has not been optomised.

While doing the swap I decided it was a good time to sort this out.

After being inspired by Kams cooling brackets I decided I wanted to make some of my own.



I looked around for the brackets but couldn't find anything in my required size or style and when I did they were insanely expensive. I was giving up hope when a mate suggested I look at reducers used in plumbing. A quick trip to bunnings revealed exactly what I wanted.

I grabbed two PVC reducers that had 90mm openings and 75mm secondary steps (perfect for 3inch ducting) and I cut off the remaining material I didn't require.



After smoothing out the inside of the tubing and giving it a coat of black paint I mocked up my brackets out of alloy strip and mounted them to the headlight supports.



All that was left was to trim the ducting down a bit as the whole length wasn't needed anymore and I was done.





The brackets hold the ducting just behind the bumper openings now and should provide much better cooling capabilities while also looking a whole lot better.

Im booked in to get an alignment on monday and then im ready for H Nats next weekend

[Toddxxx]

oh and i got some sweet new gear as birthday presents from my girlfriend and sister

[raseri]

I love it!
Every piece of it!

Good work, just good work!

Btw, since i'm a new AP1 owner, how hard was it to retrofit the dc2 shiftboot?

[Toddxxx]

I love it!
Every piece of it!

Good work, just good work!

Btw, since i'm a new AP1 owner, how hard was it to retrofit the dc2 shiftboot?

thanks man
what colour did you pick up?

retrofit was easy as.
remove the crews to pop the shift surround out
cut off just above the metal base on the dc2 shift boot
fold it over and mark where the pins will have to pop in then punch them out and trim off the excess
then just put back together

[raseri]

thanks man
what colour did you pick up?

retrofit was easy as.
remove the crews to pop the shift surround out
cut off just above the metal base on the dc2 shift boot
fold it over and mark where the pins will have to pop in then punch them out and trim off the excess
then just put back together

Awesome!
I got my hands on a black with black/red interior!

[Toddxxx]

31/07/16 HONDA NATIONALS WINTON

When this event was announced I knew I had to do it and I signed up straight away. After a few years of being absent H nats was finally back and I knew it would be an awesome event to get to and try out winton for the first time and see all of my Melbourne friends again.

Winton has always been described to me as a super fun track and very good for S2000s and With the resurface carried out earlier this year, friends had told me that the track had gotten quite faster so I was super keen to get down there and try it out.

With the points system I was placed in group 3 (6.01-9 points) with a total of 7.25 points. Interestingly minus my weight reduction points (1.1) I had a total of 6.15 points only just putting me into group 3. Goes to show that it still is quite a basic set up but it is achieving a lot.

Group 3 had some very quick cars (*cough* Peter *cough*) so I knew I had no chance of winning anything so I just wanted to focus on my own car.
Similarly modded S2000s down in Melbourne were getting sub 1:40s with track experience.
It was going to be a day of firsts as well. First time at winton, first time using my new brake pads, first time using racing boots. With this in mind i set myself a goal of 1:40-1:42 for the day as I didn't really know what to expect.

I made the decision to tow the car down on the off chance that something went wrong (2.5years of tracking and still no issues - touch wood) as I have access to a 4WD and car trailer. I organised everything on that end and loaded the car up on Friday afternoon so everything was ready to go Saturday morning.



The drive down was fairly uneventful. My dad and uncle came along for the weekend so driving was shared keeping everyone fresh and we made good time. Just outside of Wadoonga one of the tyres on the trailer blew around the entire sidewall (16yo tyres will do that :P) so we changed that and got to Wangaratta fine and unloaded the car.



Room with a view ��



That night everyone who had come down from Sydney and was staying in Wangaratta went out for dinner together. It was a friendly atmosphere and some good pub food was eaten.

Later on the rain hit and we woke up to a wet and dreary looking morning.
Driving to the track was no good either as it was still raining lightly and the road was soaked but upon arriving at the track the rain stopped and everyone was hoping it would hold off for the rest of the day so some racing could take place!

SESSION 1

First session out the track was soaked so everyone was taking it easy. Despite this there was still numerous spins and offs in all the sessions so the groups were moving very slowly.
I think I did 4 or 5 laps this session taking it very easy but still sliding around every corner and came back in with a time of 1:53.3 (racechrono).

The new W5 pads felt awesome once up to temperature but were a bit sketchy on the first lap trying to get some heat into them in the wet.

Tyre pressures were set at 30psi beforehand and they crept up to 34psi so I dropped them back down to 30.

SESSION 2

By the time the second session had come around the track was really starting to dry out and people were starting to put down some decent times.

I made the call that I wanted to drop 4 seconds off my previous time as I thought this would be quite a large margin.

I just went out there and concentrated on my lines and braking points and just tried to put together a clean lap. Watching car after car go off the track and have to be towed back in I also didn't want to cook it and go off so I played it safe and too my surprise I watched the lap times tumble.

1:50.9 1:44.5 1:44.2 1:42.5 1:40.9 1:40.5!

I was shocked! I had just taken 13 seconds off my previous lap with my first proper try at winton. Not only that but I had already achieved my goal for the day and had gone quicker than I thought I would.

The pads were awesome, the boots made heel toeing so much easier and I was able to control both pedals with ease.

I checked tyre pressures again and they had crept back up to 34 so I again dropped them to 30 and that was it.

SESSION 3

I took my uncle out this session for some passenger laps. He's raced all sorts of cars for years most notably old rx3s in touring races and sprint cars. He enjoyed it and said the car felt good but this session a vibration started to occur when I got on the brakes.
Still managed a cruisy 1:42.1.

SESSION 4

By this stage I was hungry for a 1:39 so I went out this session with the intent on getting it. My driving was sharper and I was accelerating more and braking later at turns.
Still not knowing the track perfectly I seemed to mess up somewhere different each lap. This sucked as I'd put together a good lap then cook it on the last turn or something.
Still I managed to take another second off my previous time and got my 1:39!

1:41.7 1:39.8 1:39.5 1:40.3

One thing that had happened this session was that that little vibration had turned into a fairly big vibration when I got on the brakes. Driving normally it'd be fine but as soon as I began to brake the car would vibrate so I think the new W5 pads are just too aggressive for my el cheapo rda blanks and they've warped. I noticed after this session that all the nice gold paint on the pad backing had begun to bubble and wear off. Definitely more noticeable in the rear than in the front so I have to address this me thinks.

I came in and was almost going to drive the car onto the trailer and pack up but I decided to do the final session as I didn't know when I'd get back to winton again and didn't want to go home with 'what ifs?'

SESSION 5

Now that I had my 1:39 I wanted a 1:38 haha
I just wanted to go out and clean up areas of my previous lap where I knew I could make time.
Again I made little mistakes here and there but nothing too major this time round and again my times improved!

1:42.1 1:40.7 1:39.7 1:40.2 1:39.1

The 1:39.1 would end up being my PB for the day and that lap was far from perfect. Slow sweeper speeds, massive understeer on the last turn and a few areas where i couldve been faster but all in all for my first time at winton im happy. Definitely know what i have to improve on for next time.
Here the data analysis for the PB lap. Lots of red there so still lots of time to be made up.
My optimum for the day was 1:37.88 (Note that racechrono recorded a 1:39.3 but natsoft was !:39.1)



PROS:
- Winton is awesome! Definitely coming back!
- Car felt awesome!
- Awesome time for my first go at Winton.
- New pads are great.
- Racing boots are great. Definitely a good investment.
- Another track day completed with no real issue to the car.

CONS:
- Rotors are dead.
- My sweeper entry speed is really slow so lots of time to make up there.
- Could be quicker through the S so again more time to make up there.
- PB lap included understeer through a couple of corners. More camber needed.



video

Pictures from the day

[eskimo_firefighter]

Awesome time for first time out there Todd. Also you desperately need a 5hz-10hz external GPS receiver as your racechrono data looks pretty dodgy, hahah. Even though the internal phone GPS it can time it right sometimes, the speeds and optimal time can be thrown off dramatically from experience.

[chaumeh]

Great write up. Sounded like a nice, relaxed and fun journey

[Toddxxx]

Awesome time for first time out there Todd. Also you desperately need a 5hz-10hz external GPS receiver as your racechrono data looks pretty dodgy, hahah. Even though the internal phone GPS it can time it right sometimes, the speeds and optimal time can be thrown off dramatically from experience.

Thanks Pete. Was good seeing you!
And yeah I know. First time using racechrono. So much better than harrys! I need to ditch my iPhone for an android!
What receiver are you using out of curiosity?

Great write up. Sounded like a nice, relaxed and fun journey

Yeah was an awesome weekend away. I Wish it was on again this weekend haha

[eskimo_firefighter]

Racechrono is awesome, it has helped me heaps with improving on my driving. Definitely great to catch up with the NSW crew. I'll hopefully catch up with you all again at WTAC or Wakefield .

The GPS receiver I use is the Qstarz 10hz external Bluetooth GPS receiver. You should be able to find one for less than $80 or so on EBAY.

[Toddxxx]

Can't use qstarz with iOS. Can't use racechrono with iOS.
GPS receiver and app needed for iPhone are double the cost of android equivalents.

Wtb: android

[iwearmoccos]

Pretty sure every Dad who owns a trailer has these hub caps on it.

[Toddxxx]

Pretty sure every Dad who owns a trailer has these hub caps on it.

Can confirm this as true