Sgt.Gator

ORP 818R Test We took the 818R to Oregon Raceway Park for it's season first testing after the extensive upgrades to the dry sump, ECU, datalogging, and display. First the good news: The new AIM display is fully readable in the sunshine in an open car. In the past this has been an issue but the screen brightness was fine. The new 4 stage dry sump with HTD drive worked better than expected. At cold startup idle the vacuum was -3.1 psi (about -6-7" vacuum) Before with the serp drive this was the when we had max vacuum, usually around -8 psi (-16" vacuum). That's a lot of vacuum at idle, so the new HTD drive has fixed that issue. Here's snapshot of the typical AIM data: At full tilt, 6K+RPM, 17psi boost, we still had -4.2 psi (about 9" vacuum) and 58 psi oil pressure. Out standing! The least our datalogger captured at high rpm was -3.5psi. Here's snapshot of the typical AIM data: This means we will certainly be swapping the STI over to the 4 stage and HTD drive shortly. <<>> The second session the engine called it quits. In the video you can see the moment it happened in the small video box from the camera facing backwards. It smoked so much for awhile I thought I might be on fire and was ready to pull the fire system. So did the corner workers who called out the fire brigade. But it was all internal, no oil spill, no chunks of aluminum engine block and pistons sprayed across the engine (yes, it's happened that way before). I have a new engine sitting on a stand, we'll pull this one out and swap over the accessories, and install. This engine was used from a 2015 STI and bore the brunt of the learning process about dry sumping and oil issues. We intentionally did it that way because we knew it might be expendable, and saved the new closed deck/forged pistons block to be installed once we had the formula correct. I'm re-evaluating my desire to hit all the ICSCC races this year. The tow costs have skyrocketed. I figure at least $500 in diesel for round trip to Spokane, plus $200 in gas at the track. I may only go to ORP Club and races at PIR. Let's Go Brandon!

When Arcflash first suggested I switch from an AIM MXm to the AIM PDM32 I was very hesitant. I was thinking it was just a fancy PDM. But now that I've spent some time with it I see why they wanted me to switch, it's very impressive. Calling it a PDM is not really accurate. It's a massive datalogger (4GB) with a ton of inputs that integrates with standalone ECUs, eliminates a great deal of wiring, has a a choice display Dashes (6" or 10") to rival any other, and GPS. Alarms, Shift Lights, even datalogging on the Voltages. It's not just for race cars, it has plenty of inputs to control wipers, lights, all the usual street car accessories. Next fall we will put one in the STI. If I were building a new race car I would certainly start my specs with this unit. If anyone wants a powerful and compact datalogger/display, my AIM MXm is up for sale. $1,000. I also have an AIM Lambda Controller as a separate item. It works with the MXm or any AIM dash, over CAN. But it does not include the Bosch Motorsport LSU4.9 wideband O2 sensor, you'll need one of those.

At the start I was able to move up to 4th where a great race ensued between me and Simon Asselin in his Spec E46 for 3rd. I tried to pass him on the straights but he would late brake me into the corners, sometimes on the inside, sometimes on the outside if I tried to block the inside. It was awesome racing because we were both giving each other just enough racing room to not make contact. I was finally able to pass him and make it stick, but now he's right on my bumper in every set of corners. I have to pick a line that blocks him just enough to discourage a late brake attempt. We are in 3rd & 4th but then the car in 2nd drops out for a DNF, now we're fighting for P2. It was great. Then 22 minutes into the 30 minute race my oil temp alarm is going off and smoke is coming from the front left hood area. I know exactly what it is. To stay in front of Simon I was forced to rev to 6500 – 7000 rpm. My current dry sump setup can't keep up with that much blow by for that long and went positive crankcase pressure, blowing oil out my engine bay catch can. I had to shift at 5K for several laps to cool things down. By then he was long gone and and I ended up in 7th in class. The fix should be a 4th scavenge stage and HTD drive. We have that work done on the 818R, so we'll have some data soon.

Laps 11 & 12 the track was wet but manageable, much like turns 10-12 in laps 5-10. But during my lap 12-13 the floodgates opened up in a very specific line right at the chicane turn and the track became a lake. That caught us all out. 5 seconds later and the Start / Finish stand had the yellow flags out and I would have slowed a lot more before hitting the wall of water. If you look at my G-Meter you see I go from acceleration to neutral to deceleration at the chicane. From there all the way to the wall it was like riding on a air hockey puck. Sunday was great racing in Group 1 SPM. A Spec E46 and I had a nose to tale battle swapping leads for 22 minutes, then my DS couldn't keep up with 6700 RPM shifts and the oil got too hot. I had to back off and concede the race to him. Despite both situations it was a blast! I really enjoyed the weekend a lot. Having my buddies at Retro Racing down from British Columbia again was great. I'm skipping Pacific in two weeks to get 3 good test days in the 818R with it's new 4 scavenge pump system. We are already converting the STI to the 4 scavenge too. Then on to the newly re-opened Spokane County Raceways, now called Qlispé Raceway Park. The Kalispel Tribe is committed to making it a first class facility and I can't wait to race there.

Saturday Enduro. The rain had stopped since the end of the SPM race 2 hours before. Weather apps showed 0% chance of rain. The entire field went out on slicks. I was using the Medium boost map. The first few laps were dry. Then Lap 5 it was raining only in turns 10-11-12. Everybody pretty much realized the problem at the end of the back straight with going too fast into turn 10. It wasn't too heavy, slicks could go thru at 50-60 mph. The front straight was dry. With no chicane the speeds really cranked and were able to brake almost normally for Turn 4 (Turn 1 in Non Chicane). Then it started to rain a bit harder, but the front straight and brake zone were still fine. My pit crew saw dark clouds coming and checked the weather apps. Major Rain coming! Lap 11-12 we decided to box for Full Wets but they had to run back to my trailer and get the tires and tools. One more lap and they'd be ready. It was one lap too far. I came down the front straight at 120 mph then saw a gray wall of rain in front of me. No flags <yet> at the Starter tower station. I lifted off and started braking at the chicane turn in. That's a long way from turn 4. The brakes went to full ABS. At Turn 4 I was able to slow to 60mph but there was zero traction. As I went off the track I noticed there were 4 other cars already off in front of me and I might hit at least one of them. For 7 long seconds I slid sideways across the grass, hitting the NASCAR wall at 12 mph. I hit almost entirely sideways on the driver side. Right in front of me only a few feet away were severely damaged C5 Corvette and Spec E46 that had T-Boned into him. I figured my race was over, but what the heck I restarted and backed out of the wall. The Subaru AWD was giving me grip to get going! I threaded my way past two Pro 3 cars stuck in the grass/mud and back on to the track. Hmm, everything feels pretty good. No weird sounds, no shake. Wow! I made my way around and into the hot pit. The crew looked over the car and said all 4 wheels seemed to be pointing in the right direction! On went the wet tires but the race did not restart. The NASCAR barrier was too damaged and would take too long to rebuild. That ended the race with me in 3rd in class. Back in the paddock, the damage was a bent front fender, bent rear fender, rear bumper cover folded, left rear taillight lens broken, and diffuser broken on the left side. A little pry tool work and gaffers tape and we are ready to race on Sunday. A Little Tape and Ready to Race!

Depends on if you believe their marketing. Here's the NASA Speednews on it. Bear in mind the Hawk is a major sponsor of NASA, so not exactly unbiased. https://nasaspeed.news/tech/brakes/how-hawk-performance-developed-the-er-1-endurance-brake-pad/ EBC is much more sure of themselves. They are claiming "Wear life is huge and tests have shown 3-5 times longer life than competitor semi-metallic pads." https://ebcbrakes.com/products/ebc-sintered-sr-series/

The 818R isn't ready for prime time. Plus the weather looks like very cool and rain on Saturday so I'm taking my all weather fighter, the STI. It's in the same config as the Cascade Enduro from October, except I'm testing the new Goodyear Eagle DOT Race tires. They are really wide! Wider than even a Hoosier R7 of the same "size" 275/35/18. At the Cascade I ran the low boost map since it was an 8 hour race. This weekend I'll be in 3 x Qualifying rounds, 2 x Sprint races in the SPM class, and 1 x 1Hour Mini Enduro. I'll be running the Medium Boost map for the races and possibly the High Boost map in qualifying. We'll see.....As usual I am praying for rain! Feel free to come out to the track, it's no cost for spectators. Hope to see some of ya'll there. BTW, the new Hawk ER-1 endurance pads were recalled for a materials problem, and the new EBC SR-11 & SR-21 endurance pads seem to be unavailable still.

Arcflash video of 818R work in progress:

I have a couple of big updates, first the dry sump: The STI was still having oil heating issues if we revved over 6K at the Cascade Enduro. So we decided to up the game on the dry sump scavenge, and since I'm keeping both the STI and the 818R as close as possible the same configuration the 818R got it first. These pics are the 818. If this works well the STI will get the same soon. We did away with the pump being driven by a serp belt off the crank damper at full crank speed. We switched to the normal HTD drive off an ATI damper (which means I have 2 x Fluidamper's for sale). We think this will finally cure the oil temp issue at high RPMs. Going with an HTD drive means moving the pump towards the firewall just enough to allow room for a 4th scavenge section to fit in front the intake manifold, so we did that too! Now we have 2 x scavenges to the pan, and 1 x scavenge to each valve cover. We also added a Spintric. So far on the dyno it's working great. We haven't been to a track test yet. Our first race of 2022 is coming up April 30th at Portland International. Retro Racing is *hopefully* going to be allowed across the border and they say they're bringing their 818R to the race, so I'm really looking forward to this. Even if they have 100+ more HP than mine! Pics:

I used to track a C6 Z06 at ORP. If you had told me 5 years ago that my Z06 could rollover and entirely crush in on the passenger side I would not have believed it. The Z06 has a factory oem roll hoop builtin that they claim exceeds the industry standard roll over protection by several times. Looking at this pic of a C7 Z06 you'd think he must have been going 120+ mph. Nope, it lost control a little over 70 mph, probably by the time it actually rolled it was probably about 65mph. There was a passenger in there, not an instructor, a friend. Luckily he was wearing the 3 point oem belt so he could bend over to the inside and avoid being crushed. His helmet took a a pretty good hit from the roof coming down on him, it's in the linked YouTube video. This is why I won't instruct in a car that has race seats, 4-5-or 6 pt harness, but no roll cage or at least a stout roll bar. Harness bars don't count. The dirt at ORP is very similar to Willow Springs. It's soft and if you go off track sideways the wheels dig in and flip you. And I won't instruct in a standard built 818C or S. I'm too tall. The Video:

Yep, both do.

bigBADbenny, I spent some time with the Fluidamper folks at PRI. I suggested they remake the Subaru EJ damper configured for a mandrel drive, and possibly as an overall undersized racing only damper. They make undersized racing dampers for the Toyota Their response was that the EJ damper is one of their oldest designs and they will consider it. Fluidamper makes a new 15% underdrive damper for the Toyota 2JZ. In the meantime I think it's better to order up a setup ready to go using a ATI damper. So we'll replace the dampers on the STI and 818R and sell them in my used racing parts eBay store. They don't wear out so i'm sure I can get a decent $ for them. In fact I have a new, unused, EJ Series Fluidamper up for sale there now.

PRI Post #4: Goodyear had their new DOT Radial Race Tire out front. A few cars at the recent SCCA Nationals were running them. I chatted with the tire compound engineer, he says the new tire is looking to be as fast as an A7 but the longevity of the R7. They have released several new sizes, including Wets.

The EBC pads are specifically flagged as race only, not for street driving. Since you drive to the track they won't work. But the Hawks should work for you. And since they cost the same as their DTC60 I think it would be worth the switch. I'm going to be trying both sets on the 818R and the STI, just haven't figured out what order. And Arcflash is certainly going to run the Hawks on their Lucky Dog BMW since Hawk is a LD sponsor and winners get free pads.

I'm at PRI enjoying all the goodies and classes. I'm endeavoring to knock out reports on what I see. 3 will be video interviews, the rest random thoughts. Here's the first two interviews up on my YouTube channel. The new EBC Endurance Racing Pads: The new Hawk Endurance racing Pads:

Our very own Shralp Produced, Directed, and Filmed this video. Thanks Shralp! And thanks to Kip for coming down to help!

Yeah, It's not a functioning engine. From: https://www.drysump.com/index.php/technical-info/pump-mounting-instructions BELT TENSION: The timing type drive belt, when all tightened down, should be "taught" not loose, but also not like a rubber band. There should be approximately 1/8" movement in up and down direction on the slack side of the belt. Some engine builders say the belt should be able to twist by hand, 90°. However, you choose to determine belt tension, keep in mind that at no time should be belt be allowed to "jump teeth." This will result in a worn out belt very quickly. While this drive method is virtually "bullet proof", a spare belt should always be carried with you. There's a bunch of sizes in HTD belts, then you shim the pump out to get it right. You can actually pull the belt off and re-install by hand. The crank has a guide to keep it on but at the pump pulley it slides on and off.

No one makes a Gilmer or HTD drive mandrel for Fluidamprs. The mandrel has to "register" in the hole in the front of the damper, but Fluidamprs are all unique sizes. Fluidampr sent me a technical drawing which I forwarded to one of the dry sump manufactures and they could make a custom one...but I think not. There's a reason 99% of race cars use ATI. They were designed from the ground up to support drive mandrels. So I'll probably just sell my Fluidamprs to folks who will never need a drive mandrel and switch to ATI. My current adaptor plate won't work to bring it forward but ARE's kit does. In fact I could probably add a 4th scavenge stage too. I'd have to remove the stock radiator fan on the driver side and use a low clearance Spal fan on the passenger side. The other choice is the RCM / Dailey style that drives off the timing belt. I've always thought that was very questionable. Thousands of race cars run all kinds of stuff off crank mandrels without a problem. Only on the Subaru does anyone drive a dry sump off the timing belt. I have immense respect for Roger Clark, but it seems sketchy to me. Here's how ARE does it:

Enduro Tech Recap. The air temps were foggy and a bit chilly in the morning, 55 degrees. They rose to 68 degrees in the afternoon. Full sun. A few things we learned in the Enduro: Pros: Coolant temps are not an issue at all. The oem gauge stayed under halfway the entire time. This was confirmed on our AP data. Oil Temps were almost too cold (more below). They stayed at 185 for a long time, eventually rising to 200-210 for the race. Even 6 hours in we were still at 205 or so. Cons: The rear diff has no cooler and needs one. It stayed at 240+ most of the race, hit a high of 250F. We'll be adding a pump and cooler over the winter. The CV axle failed in the outer front passenger joint. This is a classic Subaru issue because of the nearby up & down pipes. The heat also affects the hub life. We have done extensive exhaust heat wrap on those pipes but it's not enough for endurance racing, especially at tracks like PIR in non chicane configuration, the WOT is a long stretch that blasts heat out the pipes. We are going to figure out a way to add an additional air intake ducted to the CV/Hub area on both front axles. Hopefully more cool air blowing in the area will solve this problem. The DS scavenge is still not maintaining solid vacuum above 6,500 to 7,000 RPM. We have a one way valve on the crankcase vent that is normally closed under vacuum sending all the blow by to the DS tank to be vented. Again, due to the long straight, and shifting at 7K, the vacuum goes slightly positive, opening the valve and sending blow by gases to the catch can. If you keep doing this the catch can eventually overflows making a mess. However if we shift at 6K there is no problem at all. And we can occasionally shift at 7K if we are trying to pass a car and the brake zone for a corner is coming up. But routine shifting at 7K is the problem. This also causes the oil temp to skyrocket. In the practice session we overflowed the catch can and hit 260F oil temp. We think the scavenge pump is being overdriven and starts to cavitate at 7K. Unlike most traditional DS scavenge pumps that run at 1/2 crankspeed, ours runs at full crank speed+ off the A/C ring on the crank pulley. If that is the issue then adding more scavenge sections to the pump won't help. We'll do some testing this weekend at ORP to verify if this is what is happening. The long term solution is a DS system like the Dailey Engineering and RCM systems, or a drive mandrel off the front of the crank like the former Cosworth system, or a mandrel attached to an ATI damped crank pulley which is used in many V8 applications. Or find a damped underdrive crank pulley, but neither ATI or Fluidamper makes one for the Subaru EJ. There is an underdrive crank pulley on the market but its not damped and we want to avoid that in a endurance race engine. And we want to keep the STI and 818R as similar enginewise as possible. There's very little room between the front of the engine and the firewall due to the mid engine configuration. However it's not a huge deal in the real world of endurance racing. If you want your engine to survive for 8 hours, or 25 hours, shifting at 6K is a very good idea anyway! And our EJ257 has a ton of TQ at 4K-4.5K so it's really not a problem.

Team Colonel Red Racing pulled out a win at the 8 Hour Cascade Festival of Endurance! We were entered in the 2 Hour, 4 Hour, and the 8 Hour. We knew the 2 Hour would be next to impossible with other top level cars in our class including a Superlite SL-C. But some of those cars would be moving up to the EU class for the 4 & 8 hour. Our only shot would be if it rained, hard. We were doing the Subaru pray for rain dance all week but alas, it was dry and 68 degrees. Perfect for the supercars. Not so for us to be racing them. But in endurance racing it's not who smokes the fastest laps for 4 hours, it's who does the most laps at the end of 8. Sometimes the tortoise really does beat the hare! First to drop out was our friends at Dragonfly, their Factory Five 818R broke a CV axle. We look forward to pitting our 818R against them next year. And good luck at the Thill25, we'll be cheering for you! For the 4 & 8 hour the superfast car was a SVT Mustang with ginormous HP. In the curves we could easily stay with him because every time he slightly touched the accelerator the back end would go all over the place. But once the track straightened out he was gone! Then shortly after the 4 hour race his engine went bye-bye. We continued to soldier on, eventually passing their lead and going into first place. Unfortunately at 6 hours we noticed some strange vibrations. We changed the front tires out. A little better but still there. We changed the rear tires out. That didn't help. At 6.5 hours our right front CV Axle called it quits. I was able to limp around back to the pits where it took a little bit to figure out the outer CV joint had broken completely inside the CV boot. However by then we were cemented in 1st place so rather than trying to swap in a new axle we called it a race. Huge thanks to our Premier Sponsor, Subaru of Bend. Your support has been key to get us to this point. Thank You! Also thanks to our tuner/fabricator and friends at Arcflash. And thanks to our LGT forum crew member, pik1111 you did great job and are welcome to crew anytime! Video next week courtesy of Frontside Productions.

Brad Briscoe has entered their DP-01 Sports Racer, looking for an overall win. The drivers will be Dominic Dobson (former IndyCar driver), Andrew Evans (winner in class at the 12 Hours of Sebring), and Jim Froula (who owns RaceCraft preparing vintage cars), and John Hill (class winner at the 25 hours of ThunderHill, multiple time Conference Formula Ford Champion, and SCCA National Champion). We're not competing with the Sports Racer class, but we have to be very aware that closing - overtaking speeds in the dry will be crazy fast. However if it rains hard and long anything can happen. Our team will be doing the Subaru Rain Dance!

Our last race of the season is coming up October 16th at Portland International Raceway, the 46th Annual Cascade Festival of Endurance. It includes 2 hour, 4 hour, and 8 hour races all at the same time. We are entered in all three. We think this is the last LeMans style start in North America. In prep for the event we spent last weekend at ORP with final testing of the STI and getting wheel time for the drivers. This year we are partnering with 541 Racing to put two cars on the grid and share crews/drivers. We overlook the fact that they are bringing a BMW... It is expected to be chilly and wet with showers forecast. Perfect Subie weather! LGT Forum members from the NW have stepped up and are volunteering to crew. Boxkita is Crew Chief. Shralp is fuel, tires and action videographer. I'm still hoping pik1111 can make it too. Thanks to all of you! And anyone else who cares to join us. If you are interested in joining our crew please shoot me a PM. There's no cost for spectators to attend. The LeMans start is at 12 Noon. We run into the darkness to race end at 8 PM. If you come out please drop by our paddock and say hello.

We made one last mod to the dry sump system, an A.R.E. Spintric. It separates the entrained air from the oil before the oil goes thru the cooler, sending the air to the top of the DS tank. To test the new mod I went to ORP for a full day of stress testing the STI for the upcoming Cascade Festival of Endurance on Oct 16. After long periods on the track I would check the DS tank, no signs of air in the oil. And coolant temps were remarkably low, looking at my AP datalogs showed the highest coolant temp was 203 degrees for three seconds, 201 degrees for 35 seconds, and at all other times under 200! The trans temp stayed under 200. And to show how hard it was being tested the only problem that came up was the rear diff temp hit 275 degrees during the last session! ORP is especially demanding on the diffs because of all the turns and lack of long straights for a cool down. I don't expect the diff temp to be an issue in October at PIR, but we will be adding a pump and cooler to the rear diff over the winter. Next up is dyno time for final race tunes, then one more trip to ORP for testing. Good work Arcflash!

One of my friends has done a video narration of a race at Pacific in the SCCA T4 class. Three cars are 86 platform FRS's (but you can imagine they are BRZs.). I raced against these same three guys years ago in Honda Challenge, now they are trying to convince me to switch to the BRZ. The driver is a multi year class champion so it's worth listening to his narration of what he is thinking, and what he thinks his competitors are thinking, thru the race. I learned a couple of good tips on the track. Hope you enjoy it.