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)