Fun at The Glen with S2K Takeover - Setting a new PB

October at Watkins Glen can always be a bit of a dice roll. You know it's going to be gorgeous because upstate NY in the Fall is always a spectacular sight but the weather can either be amazing or completely terrible. Either way, I was determined not to miss the only trip up to The Glen with S2K Takeover. My original plan was to take Bumblestook but with recent issues including the leaky catch can drain line, I wasn't sure if I'd have time to fix so I started getting Kay ready. I ended up resolving all my issues with Bumblestook but I was now also curious how Kay was going to do. 

Watkins Glen International - 10-18-22
Photo by: Peter Levins

My last trip up was in the summer of 2020 which now seems like an eternity ago. Since then, I had replaced the MCS dampers with Bilstein B16 damptronic coilovers and had a GT3 brake master cylinder installed. I also fitted the DSC sport controller and 3-axis accelerometer to make the most use of the active dampers. And most recently, I had switched from 235/265 Advan A052 tires to 255/295 Bridgestone RE71RS. 

Watkins Glen International

The event was on a Monday and Tuesday so I got there on Sunday evening to get registered and inspected so it would be one less thing to take care of in the morning. The first day had a thread of rain in the forecast so it was largely overcast the whole day. It did drizzle a few minutes here and there but not enough to actual really wet the track or cause any issues. 

Watkins Glen International

I took it a bit gingerly the first two session since I had done so many changes I wasn't sure how she'd feel. I was pleasantly surprised by how awesome she felt. The dampers felt incredible in sport mode. It kept the body super controller, resisting diving under braking and soaking up curbing where I felt comfortable driving over as much of it as I wanted knowing it wouldn't upset the car at all. The brakes were predictable with incredible pedal feel and the tires were consistent lap after lap.

Watkins Glen International
Photo by: Dennis Um

Unfortunately I misconfigured my AIM SOLO2 DL data logger when I left so it wasn't reading my OBD2 port and wasn't triggering since I had configured it to only start recording after 25000rpm and a speed of greater than 15km/hr. Thankfully, Steve Jin let me borrow his laptop and I was able to reconfigure it to use the correct OBD2 setting. For reference, you need to set the ECU to OBD_II - ISO9141-2 for the 987.1 Cayman S. The other Porsche options are for later generations. Now I was able to see if I as improving my lap times but I was terribly disappointed. Despite the car feeling excellent, I was lapping a 2:23-2:24, a whole 3-4 seconds slower than my previous trip up. It didn't make sense, these were ideal conditions to set personal best times. We had cool temperatures and I had arguably a better setup this time, why was I slower?

Watkins Glen International - 10-18-22
Photo by: Peter Levins

Day two rolled in and the morning was exceptionally frigid at just 36F when we got to the track. I was extremely timid, worried that the cold was going to cause my tires to slide a lot. The Glen doesn't exactly have a ton of runoff area and I wanted to end the season on a high note, not on top of a flat bed. While it was a bit sketchy the first session, the cold turned out not to be an issue and the temperatures eventually started to rise anyway but the wind was incessant. 

Trying to get warm
Photo by: Ben Tiu

S2K Friends
Photo by: Ben Tiu

Was supposed to be the yellow S2K bay lol

I went even slower, putting down 2:25-2:206 lap times. To be fair, I had a lot on my mind with issues at work I was dealing with from my laptop track side but I still shouldn't be this slow. I went to lunch and when I came back, it had at least warmed up to the low 50s. I was having a lot of fun but I was determined to at least feel like I had put some effort in. I looked at some videos, discussed the track with friends and understood where I was losing all my time. I had a plan of action and went out for the first afternoon session and said if I didn't go faster I'd just pack up and go home. It's generally a bad idea to be on track while having your mind elsewhere so if I couldn't get my head out of my ass, I knew it was time to go before it would turn into an inevitable accident.

Watkins Glen International
Photo by: Peter Levins

I set my cold pressures to 29psi all around and took off. The two areas of focus would be turn 1, carrying more speed after the front straight, and slowing down less going into the bus stop and being more aggressive coming out of it. A few people had started to leave at this point so I had more clear track to just focus on my own driving and not worry too much about cars in front or behind me and I started to see the lap times drop. This gave me new energy and focus and ended the session finding 5 seconds from yesterday by getting into the 2:18 territory. 

Watkins Glen International
Photo by: Peter Levins

She was feeling fantastic and things finally clicked in my head. I knew the car had plenty of grip. The Cayman is such a perfectly balanced sports car, able to rotate so effortlessly at speed while being extremely stable and having the weight in the right spot to have plenty of traction when you get on the throttle. I decided to push harder on my final session. I had lap after lap of pure open track and I was able to set a fast time, and do a cool down, then do another fast lap to optimize my tire temperature. The times kept dropping and I finally ended the day with new my PB of 2:15. 

Watkins Glen - PB - 2:15

I was super happy. I had significantly improved on my previous time by 5 seconds and the car was in great shape with zero incidents. I'm confident the car had at least another 5 seconds in it. Reviewing my data, I was able to sustain almost 1.5Gs on the new tires setup and there were plenty of spots where I could've been more aggressive. That's fine though, I love having room to improve. This isn't a race for me. I go to these events to improve my own driving and to build my confidence so as long as I'm going in the right direction with each event, that keeps me excited to do more. It's too easy to go from a great day to a terrible day at The Glen so I'm satisfied making incremental improvements. As always, I had a terrific time with friends and I'm looking forward to coming back again next year. Big thanks to S2K Takeover, NorthEast Track Club and Metro Track Addicts for making this event possible. 

Final Autocross of 2022 - RE71RS Testing

This has been an interesting year for autocross for me as it marks the year where I've attended the fewest autocrosses since I started autocrossing 17 years ago. I went to a total of just 5 autocrosses this year, a far cry from many years ago where I'd see myself do 20 or more events by going to every event I could within a 3 hour driving radius. The drastic reduction in my event attendance certainly hasn't been due to my lack of love for the sport but times change and I've found myself wanting to diversify how I experience my cars. 

NNJR SCCA Autocross - 9-24-2022
Photo By: Perry Aidelbaum (autox4u)

So I find myself at the beginning of Fall, attending the last NNJR SCCA event for the season, to coincide with my own final autocross for the season. My lack of practice has really taken a toll on my speed. I was never a particularly very fast driver but over the years I did tackle a lot of things that held me back. Now I find myself back to making fairly simple mistakes that cost time on course. Things like suboptimal car placement, hesitancy on the throttle, and excessive steering inputs have crept their way back into my driving style. Funny thing is that I'm smiling and enjoying myself every run even though I know that I'm not putting down the best times the car can and I'm enjoying autocrossing more than I ever have in years. 

Bridgestone RE-71RS 265 front, 295 Rear

The course was fun, flowing, everything that's the trademark of an NNJR SCCA autocross nowadays. The temperature started off very cool but soon warmed up nicely. These were perfect conditions to test out my new RE-71RS tires. I switched to them from the Yokohama A052 because of my tire size choices. I went from a 235/265 A052 to 255/35R-18 and 295/30R-18 RE-71RS. I used to love the old RE-71 and the new version didn't disappoint. On my first run, I immediately felt how responsive they were, how good the feedback in the steering was and the grip they added to the car. I was able to place the car where I wanted, hitting the lines I wanted (even though they were probably the wrong lines). The key here is that I felt like I was in control again. Frankly the 235 front tire just wasn't enough for a car like the Cayman so the extra 20mm up front on each corner really help the front work better. They worked consistently with each run though I did notice a bit more sliding in my final run. I'm curious how these will do in hotter conditions. They definitely seem like a tire that'll need spraying and don't like overheating. 

NNJR SCCA Autocross - 9-24-2022

I had asked Jonathan Lugod about advice on tire pressures. He said to run them at around the same pressures as the A052 or maybe even higher. I started a bit higher but found myself liking them best at 27psi all around, the exact same pressures I used to run my A052. With this setup and the front sway bar softened one hole, the car was largely neutral with a bit of oversteer with aggressive throttle and the typical Porsche front end push if you come in too hot. It was all very confidence inspiring and predictable. Of course, the real reason for my testing these tires was to ensure that I'd have a balanced setup for when I take her to Watkins Glen next month with S2K Takeover. It's been a while since I took her to the track and The Glen is the perfect place to let her legs stretch a little. 

Final autocross fun for 2022

 

New Battery Already?

Three years ago when we did a Stage 2 on the GTi, I had a new battery installed just for peace of mind. Well, last week the car started to fail to start but fired up right away when hooked up to a booster. Granted, I don't drive it that much and never really put it on at ender so I think over the years it didn't really get a chance to charge fully and I'm sure that contributed to the battery's early demise. I put the car on a tender and had it full charge and it worked for a while but sure enough yesterday, the same thing happened. I also noticed that on my P3 gauge, when the car is running, the voltage was showing around 13.6-13.8V. Normally I see this at a constant 14V with the alternator running so clearly the battery wasn't happy. Ended up changing it out to a new Duralast Platinum battery. Normally the GTi takes an H6 battery but I guess what I had in there before was an H5 so I went with another H5 since both work just fine. 

New Duralast Platinum Battery for the GTi - 9-9-2022

When change the battery on this thing you get all kinds of lights going off on the dash complaining about ESC and TPMS. A quick drive reset everything and the car is back to being error free. I think I'll stick the car on the tender every few weeks when I don't drive it as much to make sure the battery stays healthy this time around. 

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 76,761

- New H5 Duralast Platinum AGM battery (Date code 6/22)

Fixing Oil Leaks, Idle Issues and Brake Ducts

After coming back from my last track day, Bumblestook wasn't sounding too happy. I was having strange idle issues that sounded like misfires or farting from the engine bay. I continued to have a leak coming from the catch can drain hose going to the oil pan and my brake ducts had become so brittle they were falling apart. Needless to say, I wasn't going leave this be so she's been on the quickjack the past few weeks while I've been sourcing parts and fixing her a little bit at a time. First off, I took off the old catch can drain hose which isn't that easy because it was a bit too short and routed in between the engine mount and the alternator making it hard to get a wrench where I needed it.

Making a new custom length drain hose

Upon further inspection it seems it was leaking around the check valve fitting. I hate doing things half-assed so I decided I'd not only get all new fittings but also make a new longer hose so that I could route it better making it easier to service and inspect in the future.

New fittings

Old hose (shorter) next to new hose (longer)

New Hose Installed - 9-5-2022

Longer house routed behind the engine mount

Fittings and check valve going to the oil pan
now easily accessible

My brake duct hoses had also started to disintegrate. Some new 2" ID high temp silicone hoses cut to length fixed that problem with ease.

Old brake duct hoses falling apart

Fresh hoses in

Finally, I had this crazy idle issue after coming home from NYST. The car was struggling with idle and was burbling like it was perhaps misfiring but the engine was not throwing any codes. When the engine settled down the noise would go away. I figured it was something loose but could find anything.

After taking the intake off and inspecting the intake manifold and throttle body more, I noticed this would happen if the engine was vibrating more after going above 1000rpms. Looking at the IACV, it seemed fine but the connector going to it had actually just backed off just enough that it was getting intermittent connections. Pushing it back in fixed the problem and to avoid having this issue again going forward, I decided to zip tie it into place for that authentic JDM experience.

Culprit of the unstable idle

That authentic Honda JDM fix

She's now fully sorted again and back on the ground. Just need to put OEM ECU back in and get the NYS emissions inspection done.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 62,223

- 5.5 quarts Amsoil 10W-30

- 1 new Honda oil filter (15400-PCX-306)

Moar Wide Tires and Track Prep for Kay

The three year old Advan A052 tires I've been running on Kay are getting a bit tired but I've been holding off getting new tires until I could find the tire and size I wanted. When the Bridgestone RE-71RS tire was announced, I knew I wanted to give it a try since I liked the old RE-71R before. Unfortunately they didn't offer the sizes I wanted up until a few weeks ago when I was surprised to see a lot more 18 inch options so I had to jump on them. 

Fatty Rear - RE-71RS

I knew I wanted to run a wider front tire than the 235s I'd been running until now. The 255/35R18 seemed to be perfect for the 18x8.5 wheels I have up front. At 25" in diameter, these are about 0.4" shorter than the 235/40R18 I was running before but 20mm wider. For the rear I decided to jump from a 265/35R18 A052 to a 295/30/R18 RE71RS which is probably the limit of what I'd attempt to mount onto to 10" wide wheel. These are also 25" in diameter and also 0.4" shorter than the 265/35R18 I was running before which will help with the gearing and when mounted on a tire is about a full inch wider. 

265/35R18 A052 (left) vs 295/30R18 RE-71RS (right)

The front was a bit of a pinch on a 8.5" wheel making them pretty hard to mount. Steve ended up using almost 100psi and some muscle to get them to bead right. 

Front tires mounted - 255/35R18

The sidewalls are much stiffer than the A052. This, combined with the lower profile sidewalls offer greater responsiveness. I'm also finally glad to have the little lip on the tire for rim protection. Not that I really need it since I don't generally park it next to a curb but I've never really liked how the A052 looked mounted onto nice wheels. 

These bad boys are crazy sticky new. I did a little test run and for starters, they fit perfectly, no rubbing or other fitment related issues. So far I'm liking how they feel. There's a hair more road noise with the lower profile but nothing that was bothersome. The steering response definitely feels better. I can't wait to really try these in a performance situation. 

Looking real good with the new setup

I'm heading out to my favorite track on the east coast, Watkins Glen, next month and while I had originally planned to take Bumblestook, I think I might take Kay for this instead. I made some major changes since my last track day with the Cayman including GT3 brake master cylinder, now new wider tires and of course the Bilstein B16 Damptronic with DSC sport controller. I'm curious how they handle on track but before I head out there, I definitely want some fresh brake fluid and gear oil. 

Fresh gear oil and brake fluid

I realized the last time I changed the gear oil was before I want to SCCA Solo Nationals, now almost 3 years ago and the diff has started to whine a bit more than usual so it was clear it needed a change. The gear oil actually came out fairly clean which was a nice surprise. Yes, that's blue in color because that's how Motul 75W140 comes. If you're only reading my blog post for the first time and wondering why I'm using this kind of gear oil and not the factory Porsche oil it's because I've got an OSGiken diff in there and this is one of the recommended fluids to ensure that it operates properly. 

Bye old fluid

It's also been two years since I last changed the brake fluid and considering I boiled my brakes the last time I went to The Glen, I didn't want to chance it this time around. We went through about 2.5 500ml bottles to make sure we'd thoroughly gotten the old fluid out.

Fresh Motul RBF660 brake fluid

Finally, since I'm adding an extra 10mm tire width in the rear, I decided to soften up the front sway bar one hole to maintain the balance of the car (was previously set to full stiff).

Front sway bar set to 1 hole softer than full stiff

Big thanks to Steve and Jenna for spending Saturday afternoon on Labor Day weekend to get Kay sorted. 

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 47,602

- 3 quarts Motul 75W140 Gear Oil

- 1.25L Motul RBF660 Brake fluid

- 4 new tires (265/295 Bridgestone RE-71RS)

Maintenance Update: Oil Change on Chopper

Chopper was due for an oil change so got that quickly taken care of. Note that the drain bolt uses a 1/2" wrench/socket, not a 13mm. Ended up rounding the bolt a little so decided to replace it with a brand new one to avoid future issues.

Oil Change - 8-26-2022

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 73,027

- New mopar oil filter
- 6qt Castrol Edge 5W-20
- New OEM drain bolt 

Autocross with NNJR SCCA - 8/20/2022

After a 3-month hiatus I finally got back to doing an autocross. I ordered some new Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RS tires so this is also the last event I'll be running the Yokohama Advan A052s. While I suspect the Yoks will still have the edge in terms of overall peak grip for any given tire size, the REs come in more tire sizes so I'll be trying some wider tires to see if I can get better traction overall. 

NNJR SCCA Autocross - 8-20-2022
Photo by: Perry Aidelbaum

It was was a fun, fast course but with the temperature as high as it was I was struggling to keep the tires cool (I'm too lazy to bring a tire sprayer nowadays). Still though, I had a blast and my itch to do more events has returned. 

NNJR SCCA Autocross - 8-20-2022

GTi Maintenance - Oil Change

 Just jotting down some maintenance for the GTi

Oil Change

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 76,440

- New Mann oil filter and drain plug

- 6 quarts Liqui Moly 5W-40 Molygen

NYST Open Track with S2K Takevover

I've been itching for a track day to relax so when the opportunity for an open track day with S2K Takeover came up at NYST, I had to go. We only had 20 something cars so we had so much room to play around and try different things. 

NYST - 8-8-2022

I was expect tons of laps so I started off taking it a bit easy but knowing that the afternoon temperatures were going to skyrocket, I wanted to make the most of the morning.

NYST - 8-8-2022

Unfortunately, one of the cars had their drain bolt back out and spilled a ton of oil on most of the track so we had about 2.5 hour delay between morning and afternoon. The heat made it pretty much impossible to put in quick lap times but I was very happy with how the Continental Force tires were consistent lap after lap even after 12 laps in one of my sessions. They're no the fastest thing out there but at least they're predictable and that counts for a lot. 

NYST - 8-8-2022

I ended up putting in a meager 1:44.3 which is quite a bit off my personal best but I had such a blast. The heat did eventually get to me and I had to call it quits after I started to feel the onset of heat exhaustion and I didn't want to risk not being 100% mentally present on track. 

NYST - 8-8-2022

NYST - 8-8-2022

NYST - 8-8-2022

S2K Metro NY Bear Mountain Cruise 2022

It's been a few years since S2K Metro NY set up a bear mountain cruise but thankfully we were back in full force. The plan was to meet up at the Croton Gorge Park and start our drive there. A few different groups met up at various spots before heading to main meet up spot. I drove up with some of the Northern NJ crew that met up at the last rest stop on the GSP at the crack of dawn.

Part of North NJ Crew - Croton Gorge Park - 7-31-2022

James Gandolfini Service Area

We drove up to Croton Gorge Park only to find that it was closed. It was 7am and the park didn't open until 8am. Some NYS parks are open ahead of time even though the attendant isn't there but they barricaded the entrance so we couldn't get in until opening time. We got in touch with the organizers and set off to our alternate meet up spot instead. We had a terrific turnout of about 55 cars.

Secondary Meet Up Spot

Once all the various crews arrived, we had a quick drivers meeting to discuss safety and logistics then drove to the usual Wendy's to regroup and reorganize before the start of the main drive.

Regrouping + coffee + bathroom break

A friendly officer came by who happened to also be a fellow S2000 owner. He offered to help get everyone get onto our main route once we were on our way which he did. Unfortunately, a bunch of us got stuck behind some traffic and by the time we hit the intersection where we were supposed to turn he had already left causing a number of cars to go straight and miss the rest of the crew. Thankfully I had driven this route many times before and quickly realized the error and made a u-turn to get back on track but most of the people behind me got lost by going straight following the rest of the cars that had missed the turn. 

Group photo at Brother BBQ

Most of us made it though to the final spot at Brother BBQ. It was a great drive, albeit quite a bit hot by the time it hit noon. It was great seeing some friends I hadn't seen in a several years due to the pandemic and also making new S2K friends. I think the vast majority of people that made it through the entire drive really enjoyed the event and are looking forward to doing this again. This is now 11 years since we first started doing this and while some cars have come and gone and there are both new and old faces, I'm glad the tradition continues and we're all able to share in the same passion we have for these cars.

S2Ks taking over Brothers BBQ

Fixing the oil catch can drain

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a few drops of oil on the ground after parking Bumblestook. Looking underneath, I saw that the AN coupling going from the hose that comes from the oil catch can to the bung on the oil pan was a bit wet. I decided to drain the oil to inspect the fitting as I had the same issue last year from a cracked coupling. The coupling looked intact but the leak was for sure coming from it so my conclusion was simply that it wasn't sealing properly.

New coupling (blue) and Early's conical seals (169110ERL) - 7-17-2022

To fix this problem, I ordered a new AN10 coupling that seems a bit beefier and also was a bit longer so that I could give the hose a little more slack. After reading up online about AN coupling seals, it seems that a lot of people recommended Earl's conical seals made of soft aluminum which is supposed to work great on potentially damaged mating surfaces. I figured they basically act like conical crush washers and aren't overly expensive so they were at least worth at try.

Early's 10AN conical seals (169110ERL)

Conical seals fitted to the male end

Finally, it was just a matter of putting the coupler back on and tightening it all back up. Last time I did this I didn't have a good way of holding on the hose end so I bought an adjustable AN wrench and this time I felt I really got it properly snug before hooking up the other end to the bung going to the oil pan. 

Coupler installed

I poured some oil into the catch can to let it flow down the hose just to check for any leaks and so far so good. I won't know for sure until I give her a proper run. We've got a big track day in a 3 weeks so I'll be able to really test it out.

Filling the oil back up - Amsoil 10W-30

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 61,606

- 5.5 quarts Amsoil 10W-30

- Didn't change the oil filter this time as I had just replaced it 1000 miles and 3 months ago.