Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Written up by Nissan Prince Tokyo!



Discovered this at the Minkara blog for Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports Division.
It's quite an honor - being one of their first customers to be featured.

Here is a link to the post:
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/455796/blog/11419570/

Friday, December 12, 2008

Daikoku Futo gathering

Wednesday night, last gathering of the year. Here's a photo, courtesy of my friend Thomas:


In addition, my friend came out in his S15 Silvia. As Thomas was complaining about some weird handling issues, we had my friend the suspension expert drive his car, and then mine.

I'm still working on the translation, but here is my friend's report:

You can find the original blog entry here:
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/242248/blog/11343246/

************
Today, I was able to drive and compare 2 BCNR33s. That is, was entrusted with two beloved cars (by their owners).

“A” car (Midnight Purple)
This was car was fundamentally “normal” (not tuned).
A recently purchased used car.

Tires were front/rear standard size 245/45/17
Fr. Yokohama DNA GP, Rears: Bridgestone RE711

The suspension on the car is an Ohlins unit, probably from around 10 years ago, but the attenuation (damping) adjustment dial is on located on the front tower part (the upper suspension mounts)
This seems upside down?

The springs also are not the standard specification part, but something close to the standard configuration, at the very least not the Eibach models available then.

Straight line performance:
The acceleration upon stepping on the throttle was very good.
The engine felt good.
The ETS works well, easily and quickly controlling wheel spin, and so driving is fun.

Brakes:
The braking performance is completely lacking.
Have to step on the brake pedal hard to get deceleration, and it takes time to decelerate.
Made me think - Hmm? Is that brake fade?
But it’s too early for that (fade).
I think the brake pads should be immediately changed to a name branded street pad
I recommend Nismo’s S-tune (pads)
If we will be using on the track as well then the R-tune is good.

Although I think this wobble problem may have something to do with how the Yokohama tires has a less rigid and softer casing, overall, I strongly feel that the front suspension rigidity is lacking.
Upper mount rigidity (pillow ball, maybe?)

Even though the shock absorbers's damping is sluggish (even though it's expensive the springs don't suppress.
The low level of the tire's casing rigidity is strikingly felt.

And, I think that there must be a difference between left and right here.
Although we won't be able to tell unless the tire pressures are well managed, I think the reason for the left/right different lies in the front suspension.

as a temporary solution, as the tires have lots of tread left, may want to try switching the highly rigid Bridgestones to the front, and put the Yokohamas on the rear.

The attenuation is high but,
Why doesn't the spring resonance stop?
I may not be feeling bounce, it could be pitching.

Corners:
Because there wasn't a wide area (to test) in terms of cornering, and so I wasn't able to generate lots of side-ways acceleration, the front yaw was sharp, and so for a moment the direction of the car changes but, the attenuation in the shock absorber area is high, and the duration of the rolling is long.
Was not able to experience the one-ness feeling of a roll beginning and ending.

Feels like “ro~ll~ing~”

As the front is Yokohama, and the rears are Bridgestone, I sense excessive cornering power. It may be a good idea on this point, to change the front/rear tire brands.

This is one car I'm looking forward to as it's upgraded.


“B” car (silver). This car runs well on the circuit. It's akasakaBCNR33's car.
Is equipped magnificently.

Engine is Mine’s Complete Engine Stage 1(rev), over 500ps.
Suspension links are Nismo
The dampers are Nismo S-tune
Tires are BS’ RE01R
Brake pads are PFC
Rotors are PFC
Clutch is Nismo’s Super Coppermix Twin

Straight line
A bit slow going at low revs, but above 4000rpm the engine sound suddenly changes.
Feel tremendous power.
As the ETS firmly stops wheel spin, can step on the gas with reassurance.

Brakes:
The response and the actual deceleration G is wonderful, can brake with reassurance.
Even though there is initial bite, there is high controllability.
Even though it’s different in character to the R-tune, it’s an interesting characteristic.
However, the rear brakes feel weak, think that it is necessary to upgrade to larger diameter rotors later.
The sinking down time is short and the feeling of attenuation is low and so it’s easy to use.

Dampers:
Because they are S-tunes, in the beginning I thought they would be like the standard ones, but it was sportier than I thought.
The compliance of the Roll associated with steering in is fast, making it easy to drive.

Ride Quality
It looked like it would be good in the corners, thought the ride quality might be harsh, but surprise, it’s very good, quickly soaking up bounces.
The cornering ability and ride quality is balanced.

The difference with the “A” car is especially here.
It’s quick to soak up the impact harshness.
However, the roll rate in corners is fast.
I thought that, it’s a pretty good feeling suspension.

Although I would like to have a bit more spring rate…


In conclusion:
The Skyline GT-R is definitely a heavy car.
It’s heavy, but you won’t be disappointed because it’s “heavy.”
Different than the Silvia, the roll quality is very good, and one can plunge into corners with reassurance.
That’s the kind of car it is.

Both of you, thank you very much for letting me drive your precious cars.

You can find the original blog entry here:
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/242248/blog/11343246/

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Lightning Strikes Twice?

Last week going to the Nismo Festival, my car developed an oil leak from one oil lines going to/from the turbos. Turned out to be the front one this time, last year going to the Nismo Festival, the car developed an oil leak from the oil feed line for the rear turbo. Nissan Shinagawa Motorsports called me yesterday to tell me the bad news - that this would necessitate removal of the rear turbo to access the front side tubes. And thus more money and time.

Ok, so here's my rant - as you all know I had a new engine put in by Mine's last year. Why didn't they bother to switch out those lines then? They don't cost much, the engine was out of the car, and these oil lines are considered to be consumables. Instead, they re-used the old ones - which are 10 years old... it's common sense that this kind of thing would happen.

I have other rants about Mine's as well, including their spectacularly bad (even by US or European standards, I think) customer service, but I'll save those for another date. The car won't be ready until next Wednesday - I'm hoping to be able to drive myself to Daikoku for the last gathering of the year, but we'll see.

PS - this is my first post on Blogger - I'm going to try to transfer all of my entries from my old account to this blogspace. This may take awhile, so in the meanwhile see http://akasakabcnr33.livejournal.com/