I watched the American Le Mans Series at Sebring on the Speed channel today and once again, Audi has triumphed the competition with their new prototype and on top of that, the car wasn’t tuned to it’s full potential due to bad testing weather in Europe! Nothing short of amazing. There was a lot of focus on the P1 class as it contained the marvelous competition between Audi, Peugot, and the debut of the P1 Acura prototype. Unfortunately though, the two P1 Acuras suffered multiple mechanical issues during the race and could not contribute to the fierce competition in the P1 class. However, it’s only the beginning of the Le Mans season and so hopefully we’ll see a strong comeback. Yet again, I cannot get enough of the Audi Teams. Their pit strategy, precision, efficiency, and focus are revered in the racing industry. It’s not only the drivers that win the race but the synergy of the team managers and engineers/mechanics that creates a winning team. And Team Audi’s you can be sure is top notch. Since I didn’t watch the race until it was nearly over, I missed the new GT2 BMW M3 entrant. Apparently, it only did 27 laps. Eek! According to PitNotes, the car seemed to have suffered some kind of oil leak that couldn’t be fixed.
Archive for the 'Automotive' Category
American Le Mans Series
Just watch and enjoy.
Look forward for year 2012
News about Toyota and Subaru collaboration for lightweight RWD sportscar has been released, stating that it’ll resume R&D and production guesstimated to be in Early-mid 2012. And Mazda is coming out with a new RX sportscar, the RX-9. 2-door turbocharged rotary goodness and with better fuel economy! Cross your fingers! Thank you 7tune.com for the good news!
Hyundai Genesis Coupe
I’ve been soo busy at school that I haven’t been able to find anything to blog about so here’s some filler in the meantime. Since Korea has already received theirs since last year, they’ve been cosmetically tuning it and I must say, it looks really good! So enjoy!
They’ll come in two flavors in the USDM: 2.0T 4-cyl with 223hp 217 ft-lb and 3.8 v-6 with 312hp 266 ft-lb along with different trim levels for each. The sportiest being the R-Spec trim. It’ll feature upgraded brakes, sport-tuned suspension, lsd, and become lighter by removing luxury items such as bluetooth, power seats, xenon headlights, up-rated stereo system.
I’ve heard that the 2.0T is the same as the EVO X’s 4b11 engine. However, that doesn’t mean they’ll be exactly identical i.e. same block but different heads, manifold, turbocharger, etc.
And here’s a vid to showoff the V6’s nice exhaust growl.
GH8
There has been a lot of negative reviews of the new Impreza models. The un-invigorating design, sloppy handling and average power were its main weak points according to car magazines and enthusiasts. Subaru heard they’re cries–or was it competition from Mitsu’s new Lancer Ralliart?–and updated the lack-luster WRX model with more power, stiffer springs, beefier swaybars, and threw away the chrome accents (Thank YOU!). Now, they’ve created a car that’s almost faster than the the outgoing STi model! Unbelievable! But that’s just straight-line comparisons.
Pictured above is a yellow 2.5i Impreza, duh. It looks subtle yet menacing at the same time. With the eye catching yellow paint, contrasting black mirrors, front lip spoiler, and rims that fill the fender gaps, this car means business. A prelude to the STi Spec-C that debuted at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon. Yellow is hot but I don’t think I could rock it.
FEEL’S FD2 & FG tuning
First off, I’d like to congratulate FEEL’s amazing 1:00.516 set by their Time Attack FD2 Civic Type R at Tsukuba Circuit. This is the fastest lap time I’ve ever seen done by a FF machine, turbo or NA–this FD2 is naturally aspirated btw. SO HUGE Kudos! Secondly, US 06 Civic SI coupe owners should be super excited as the company is also doing extensive testing on the USDM Civic, their goal…make it faster than their Type R!!! Show great respect for this company for they’re not only showing interest in the US market but also giving you Honda hot heads a helping hand for the lack of Type R DNA in our American-car genome. Click for the review of FEEL’s street tuned FD2 and FG presented by Honda Style: Part 1 and Part 2
And as I always like to say, posts are usually worthless without pics ^^
OMG, LOOK HOW FAST IT IS COMPARED TO OTHER CARS IN THAT TIME RANGE…すごいですね。
The Time Attack Beast…Pure N/A, Purely Honda
Start saving and knock-offs are weak, support the good cause dammit.
doesn't it look sweet?!
Brought to you by Watanabe service, this center differential will eliminate the front diff and send 100% of the power to your rear wheels! Better than welding your rear diffs? I don’t really know, but i usually don’t like welding stuff together that was meant to be spinning… Anywhoo, you can order them online on RHDjapan.com. However, I’m not sure how different the gearboxes are from the USDM counterparts =( . They also include a front axle “Drive shaft canceler,” which allows you to remove your front driveshafts and cover that gaping hole you left over with a shiny cover. Watanabe Service Check out link for pictures of the drift center diffs. The photos of the impreza below are courtesy of GP Sports, its FR conversion specs are still a mystery to me.
Ikeya Formula Paddle Shift
Some of you may know that Ikeya Formula produced and sold to the masses a sequential shifter for manual cars. Although it wasn’t the prettiest item in the cockpit it served its purpose…quicker, accurate shifting. BUT NOW, they’ve come up with another ingenuis idea…Paddle shifters which they are calling Motion feedback paddle shifters, oooo, aaaaahhhh. Here’s a teaser.
Town Mode
Circuit Mode
Obvious advantages would be quicker gear changes and ZERO chance of mis-shifting. But reading more of their description, the ease of the use the motion feedback system would improve fuel economy albeit slightly, less clutch wear–no clutch interaction by driver, AND you won’t get worn out from shifting a billion times in a traffic jam–just ‘click’ and go! This is an amazing aftermarket manual-matic product. And let me tell you, this is one of the few companies that actually post data collected from their products, from bump steer angle corrections to shock dynographs, this company is legit!
I was browsing Bulletproof Automotive’s website–an awesome site for JDM parts– and came upon this stunning carbon rear diffuser made by Varis and sold under the name VRS, a BMW-focused aero line. Makes the car look more aggressive and menacing from behind.
Impressive Impreza
A well-rounded car that’s now popping up in D1 Street Legal events as well as other sanctioned drift events around Japan. Ever since Watanabe Service invented the FR center differential for most subaru impreza models as well as some lancer evo models, more and more AWD vehicles are being turned into FR cars to compete in drifting events. Which is awesome cuz all you see are corollas and all the s-chassis nissans, as well as the JZ chassis Toyotas, which some aren’t offered here in the US. Makes me sooooo envious of Japan. Although I should count my blessings because I’ve heard owning a car in Japan is uber expensive!! Anyway, back the subject, which is me wanting to own an old-chassis impreza and turning it into a drift and rally car. As selfish as I am, I dream of owning both a sedan and coupe. One for drift, one for rally, and both for daily driving! Sounds Awesome huh? Here are some pictures of a notable FR impreza tuner who regularly compete in drift competitions. The name’s Garage Hirota; they were even featured in a Hot Version volume and in Best Motoring International! Although Keiichi and Kazama criticized the suspension set-up, it still drifted!
