SSCT Track Day At Tsukuba Circuit – with special guest world famous pro driver and racing team owner Masahiro Hasemi (“Mr.Skyline”)!!

Another hot September day, this time on the unforgettable date of September 11. However, this was to turn out to be a happy September 11 for me. (and apologies for not posting for a while... I have some mods and some upgrades that I will post on soon).

As my friend Alex, who had signed up and was ready to go, had a last minute mechanical issue which prevented his car from running, he found Terrance (white 97 R33) to come along with us. As it was Terrance’s first time, we got there early, and walked around to check out the track.

The GT-Rs started arriving around 1130, about 2 and half hours before we were set to run. That gave us plenty of time to prepare the cars, however. I was most concerned about my brakes, as I had just finished changing out the front pads for new ones (PFC Race) and done a complete flush of the system (I used Endless RF650). On the drive up, I noticed that the brakes felt mushy, nothing like the “instant-on, get face thrown into windshield” that I was used to with the PFC rotor and pad combination.

So I had Yamada-san, the Nissan race mechanic check it out – he did and said he felt nothing wrong with the brake pedal, suspecting (as I now did) that the pads simply hadn’t been bedded in properly. I had tried to do this quickly the day before, but it was obvious that I had not generated enough heat. So he advised me to take it easy during the first of my two 25 minute runs. The first will be a “throw-away run,” as he put it.

Here I am checking to make sure my wheels (note I ran on the standard 17 inch rims and the very good Dunlop Star Specs!) don’t fall off.


The cars were split into two groups – the “A” group and the “B” group. As you can see, the “B” group I was in had some interesting cars…not just the March (aka as a “Micra” overseas – this one with a manual transmission, a rare car!) but also a classic Nissan Bluebird, and also an R34 GT-R M-Spec, which was right in front of me during the warm up lap.

A Group:


B Group:


A Datsun?


Warm-up Lap Photos (taken by Alex in the passenger seat)

Leaving the Pit Lane:


After the First Corner:


Taking the First Hairpin:


Approaching Dunlop Corner:




Me driving coming out of the Second Hairpin onto the back straight:


Back Straight:


Front Straight in front of the tower and grandstands:


After the “A” group finished their first 25 minute run, I went out with the rest of “B” group, followed closely behind by Terrance. Alex and I had given him a good briefing earlier, and we were able to watch the action of some highly tuned BMW M3s from the grandstands at the first hairpin. I had told Terrance I would be taking it easy, maybe 60% on my run, but, after leaving the pit area, I felt the car REALLY respond. And as for the brakes, the more I used them, the better they got. So, I picked up the pace… and soon had no one in my rear view mirror. To Terrace’s credit, he did a great job, I did not lap him once. There was a V36 Skyline sedan(!) on the track that I lapped 3 times, as well as a purple BCNR33 that I also lapped twice. Obviously first time on the track for both of them?

So the fastest lap of the day was 1’04”, set by Goto-san in his insane R32 – he was in the “A” group. Basic specs on that car are – 18 inch TE37s, 355mm rotors up front (F50 Brembo), stock rear Brembo caliper with V36 Skyline coupe 350mm rear rotor, HKS VCAM, and HKS 2530 turbos, producing around 600ps. Fastest time in the “B” group was 1’09”, I suspect by one of the white R34s that I was following and swapping positions with. Alas, my best was a 1’11” – still 3 fastest of 21 cars… but I’m blaming this on the still very sticky but not s-tire level Dunlop street tires and the slow traffic I constantly had to weave in and out of. Oh well, next time I’ll request to be put into the faster group… although Koyama-san (of Nissan Prince Shinagawa) DID comment that my driving had noticeably improved, that I was consistent and very smooth – which, to be honest, was all that I was going for, being that the heat was driving up the engine temps and I wasn’t about to push myself or the car too much.

But the highlight of the day was when Mr. Skyline drove my car. Here is me giving the thumbs up:


And here is the video:

http://youtu.be/0LPIixEnN4M

Ignoring my idiotic comments – Hasemi-san had nothing but good things to say about my car.　He liked the balance, and said the engine ran well.

In the debriefing after the run, he told the club that, despite having driven about a dozen GT-Rs, there were only 3 he truly thought were good cars. One was mine! As you can hear in the video, he says the balance of my car is very good, with absolutely no understeer, making the car very fun to drive, and fast too.


For those of you who don’t know who Mr. Hasemi is, he is truly one of THE LEGENDS in the Skyline world. He started as a factory Nissan driver, and perhaps the most famous car he drove was the R30 Skyline Silhouette, like this:

Credit for this photo from this very interesting article from Speedhunters.
http://speedhunters.com/archive/2008/11/27/retrospective-gt-gt-nissan-super-silhouette-racers.aspx

He also drove Group A R32 GT-Rs like these:




During the debrief he had some interesting stories – apparently the aerodynamics of the R32s were not good, resulting in an increase in understeer. The Group A rules though meant the car had to be pretty much as it left the factory – so no huge wings (which, he commented usually don’t work well anyway – in fact the R32 is fastest without the rear wing), and the racing teams tried various ways to minimize the drag the rear standard wing caused, like adjusting the trunk hinges so the front of the trunk lifted up a bit, etc.

He also drove the only Skyline to race in the 24 Hours of LeMans, the R33-based NISMO Skyline GT-R LM (#23 car):



http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/392/Nissan-Skyline-R33-GT-R-LM.htmlhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
(Not to be confused with the commemorative limited edition R33 GT-R LeMans edition that came in a blue color and was sold only during 1996.)

Currently he is now owner of Hasemi Motorsports, a race team that is still active.
http://www.hasemi-ms.com/photos/index.php

So anyway, that was my brush with greatness - I guess it’s like having Mario Andretti or Richard Petty (for Americans) or Alain Prost or Nigel Mansell (for F1 fans) drive your car… and come away impressed with it!

Obligatory photo of me getting his autograph:


And me with Hasemi-san:


Arigato-gozaimashita!

LED Back Up Light

In conjunction with having the rear windows tinted, my friend Russ suggested that I install one of those "super bright" LED bulbs for the back up lamp, so I could see what I was backing into.

Sounded like a great idea!

So I found this interesting looking bulb on Rakuten, the seller claiming it was one of the brightest out there!


And here are the before and after pictures. You'll note that the Series 3 R33 GT-R only has ONE back up lamp...(the other being used as a rear foglight)

Before (with regular but bright incandescent bulb) - note that my iPhone automatically used the flash.


After install of the LED - note that the iPhone did NOT use the flash.


And so I manually activated the flash so we could directly compare with the before shot.


One issue I noticed was, the plastic casing where the bulb is inserted, has no reflective cone that can be used to further direct the intensity of the bulb. So, I think a lot of light gets diffused to the sides. Since the bulb is easy to install, one continuing project will be to try to find a silver plastic cone or use alum foil or something in a cone shape, to see if I can't get the rear back up bulb even brighter. Stay tuned!

Window Tinting

Amazingly, this is one mod that I wasn't too keen on. In actuality my wife wanted me to do this, as there was too much sun coming into the rear seats where my daughter rides in her baby seat.

So the search was on for a place in Japan that 1) does a good job, and 2) for reasonable money. I thought briefly about doing this myself, but given dad duties my weekends aren't as free as they used to be, so in this case, if the price was right...

A quick internet search showed that some places charge nearly 80,000 yen! This covers the rear three glass windows, and some UV cutting clear film for the front side windows. I then stumbled upon RAPT, a detailing shop about 10 minutes drive from where I live!

http://www.rapt.cc/rapt-main.html

And, their pricing was the best that I found, under 36,000 yen for what others were charging 80,000 yen. Still not as cheap as I remember window tinting in the US, (like $200?) but for location, speed, and quality, I wasn't going to complain. Plus, as they are mainly a detailer, I figured I could pick up a few tricks... maybe...

Anyway, here are photos of the finished result.


I chose the sides to be as dark as legally possible - so the side rear windows are 5% (ie they only let 5% of light through).


The rear window is 15% - can you tell the difference?


I have to say it turned out better than I thought. Although the detail obsessed in me will probably require the rears to be changed to 5% in the very near future...

PS check out the RAPT demo car, one of the most spectacular FDs I've ever seen...
http://www.rapt.cc/demo.html

New Front Diffuser!

OK, let's get away from Guest Posts for awhile...thanks to Thomas and Sami for their contributions. Anyone else?

Readers of my blog might remember this post, way back.
http://akasakabcnr33.blogspot.com/2008/06/more-parts.html

I had somehow broken the HKS Kansai carbon front diffuser shortly before I repaired it in that post. My recollection is that it was either at Fuji Speedway, or on the way home. Regardless, I had patched it up with my rudimentary fiberglass skills, but never really felt good about the repair. I had also wondered how the Kansai piece worked. It has the scoop in the middle, which apparently forms turbulance and creates a sucking effect. I mean, I never felt like the car was floating, and it DID feel better than with just the standard piece... and who am I to say that HKS Kansai got it wrong?

But then a few months ago, my friend Russ (yes of RE-xtreme fame - http://re-xtreme.blogspot.com/ and http://rextremeiii.blogspot.com/) lent me a video which explained race car aerodynamics. Not one car they had featured there had the Kansai scoop. In fact, they all were seeking to have as flat a floor as possible. So I decided to see what other manufacturers had, and stumbled on a model by Silk Road. http://www.silkroad-jp.com/

Given the trouble I had with the large, single piece Kansai diffuser, I was not averse to the three piece setup. I also like the fact that the airflow looked very similar to what Nissan had designed for the R34 (figured that it can't be bad). I wanted to go with the least expensive FRP, but the only ones available were the "silver cloth" Carbon Fiber model...so this is what I got.

Here it is, you can see the color and the three piece construction.


Anyway, with the car up, and me getting ready to install these piece, me being OCD I decided to clean up as much as possible. Break out the Simple Green!


Then, while inspecting the bottom, I ran across this weird thing - anyone have any idea what this is? Does it serve to cool the power steering fluid?


Compared to installing the HKS Kansai product, which requires two brackets to be inserted INTO a cross member, and relies on bolts that can rattle loose, I found the installation of the SilkRoad product to be much more straightforward. Except for one problem. The Nismo Performance Dampers are secured between two brackets. But these brackets also block the installation of two hangars which are bolted into pre-existing holes. Hence, I had to go out and buy two pieces of aluminum, which I then bent to go AROUND the Damper brackets. You can see the standard hangar bolt on the left, and my contraption on the right (hope it holds...)


But once this makeshift bracket was on, it was simply a matter of installing both side pieces...


and then following with the center piece. The hangar bolts do the majority of the stress work, but the pieces also use the holes in the standard lip spoiler (Series 3 only) for further security. And here is how it looks when all done!



Another point - the access hole for oil changes is actually covered, unlike the HKS Kansai one which was 1) too small (car at wrong angle and oil ends up flowing INTO the diffuser), and 2) not covered. I haven't done a high speed test yet at Fuji, but on the expressways I have not noticed anything odd, or insecure feeling. Stay tuned for a further report!

Guest Post: Sami R. - Headlight Conversion, Part 9

Hi, Aki.

Guess what?

I get them done today.  When I´m going to put them on their place,I don´t know yet. Hopefully very soon, but first I have to get all wiring done. And today I get those other connectors for these lights.

Well, everything seem to go well so far and I get the housings back together easy too.  Just have to put some new glue stuff, when I first get them in to their place, just for testing. But I have to take the bumper out for that.

I think that they look quite original, VW light is little smaller than Nissan one, but that´s just fine, it leave more adjustment space inside the light.

My original plan, was to use N16 pulsar/almera lights, but then I change the plan, because I hope that someone can do the same conversion. And I think that VW lights are available everywhere, but N16 Nissan lights with projectors, might be quite hard to find in US.

Here are the pics:

First are the lights and then there is pics of the connectors.
Las pic is my head light wires, lots of tape and some extra wires. I have to get rid of those and make them perfect (almost)


-Sami