Alcantara Steering Wheel and Weight Reduction

Probably one of my favorite things with Bumblestook is the Alcantara Mugen steering wheel. It gives excellent feel and grip and just looks great but it's not legal in STR (well not easily made legal at least). What is legal though is replacing your steering wheel as long as the total weight is no lighter than stock. To get the best of both worlds, I went ahead and ordered an Alcantara wrap with red stitching for the S2000 OEM steering wheel from redlinegoods.com and used their professional installation option. Rather than sending my original wheel in, I opted to just buy a used steering wheel and send that instead so I can keep the original one unmolested.

Alcantara wrapped S2000 OEM steering wheel
with red stitching - 5/10/2017

Alcantara wrapped S2000 OEM steering wheel
with red stitching - 5/10/2017

The ordering process was very smooth. The wrap itself is made in Europe (Poland I believe) and sent to you via regular mail. If you choose to use their professional installation service, you then send the wrap along with the steering wheel to their professional installer in North Carolina where it gets put together and sent back to you. In addition to the Alcantara wrap I also added the option to thicken the steering wheel slightly. The material they use is nice and dense and feel incredible, not spongy at all.

Airbag disconnected, steering wheel ready to be removed
5/14/2017

To swap steering wheels, you disconnect the battery so the airbags don't go off. Remove the covers on each side of the steering wheel. Using a Torx T30 bit, remove the bolts holding the airbag in place and pull it away from the wheel and then disconnect the cables connecting the airbag and the cruise control switch. Using a 14mm socket, loosen the center bolt but don't remove it all the way. Tug on the wheel firmly towards you free the wheel from the hub then remove the bolt all the way. Reverse this process to install the new wheel.

Alcantara wrapped OEM steering wheel installed - 5/14/2017

Since I had to disconnect the battery to install the steering wheel, I figured now would also be a good time to replace the OEM sized battery with a lightweight one. I opted to get a Deka ext14 which is a 12lb battery. This is a solid 14lb reduction in weight from the OEM sized 26lb battery. In order to install it, I got 8" J-hooks since the battery is smaller and replaced the steel OEM battery tie down with an aluminum one for extra weight savings and a cleaner install. Also, since you have to install automotive battery terminals on the Deka in order to use it in a car, I hardwired the battery tender quick connect so it'll be much easier for me to hook Lupa up to the battery tender without using alligator clips.

Deka ext14 battery installed - 5/14/2017

Deka ext14 battery installed - 5/14/2017

Lupa is mostly done with her 2017 modifications. I'm just waiting on one more part that's currently on it's way from Japan :D

Less Pressure, More Winning

Last week I got the opportunity to codrive Rad's STR S2000 because I somehow misplaced my trailer lock keys and wasn't able to bring Bumblestook to the NNJR SCCA event. I always like to find the silver lining in bad situations and driving Rad's car woke me up. For starters, I had a lot of fun which is probably the most important thing but it also made me rethink Lupa's setup.

Philly SCCA Autocross - Warminster, PA
5/6/2017

I really liked the way Rad's car handled and put power down. On balance it was on par with Bumblestook but with less grip all around of course but the balance was comparable. Lupa's slightly down on power but I'm addressing that shortly with some parts from Japan. When we ran last week, Rad remembered that during the Test-n-Tune event on the BFG Rival S 1.5 they found running lower tire pressures to work best and only after we lowered it to that level did the car feel on point. I still run Bridgestone RE-71Rs but because I haven't really been running Lupa much, I hadn't been doing any tire pressure testing. I wanted to see what the sweet spot would be for Lupa. With the itch to try a few things, I made the trek out to Warminster today to do some testing. The day started out with some potential with the sun breaking through the clouds but before my heat started, it started raining making the surface really slick.

Of course it had to rain - 5/6/2017

On my first run, I started with my usual pressures of 29/27 but with the wet conditions, testing was really moot. I was sliding all over the place and even some throttle with the wheel cranked would cause the rear to kick out. By the third run, the rain had stopped and we were in drying conditions. I found by my fourth run that running 27/25 worked really well. Lupa was rotating really well and I was able to get on the power earlier. This would've been a good day to have a codriver as the cool temps made it hard to keep the heat in the tires but Warminster has always scared me a bit especially in bad weather conditions. I've definitely seen my fair share of unwanted excursions into the grass there so I opted to run solo for this event.

I got one run in the dry. It was my last run and Feinberg, who ran in the first heat, mostly in the dry, was in the lead. Looking at the data, I was able to identify corners where I suspected that in the now dry conditions, I'd be able to just lift instead of brake. This mostly worked except towards the finish where I overshot one of the corners making me late for the last set of offsets. Even with mistakes and some fairly conservative driving in areas by the grass, I was able to drop a good chunk of time to take the lead. There was definitely a lot more pace that could've been extracted under more stable conditions but overall, I'm just happy things are coming together nicely and the nut behind the wheel is starting to find some improvement again.

Philly SCCA- Warminster, PA - 5/6/2017

Mugen leather shift knob and Recaro belt guide

A few weeks ago I noticed King Motorsports listing up a new Mugen shift knob. They finally released a leather wrapped knob with red stitching which is exactly what I've been waiting for so I got on the order list and sure enough after making its trek across the ocean, it's finally here.

Mugen leather wrapped shift knob with red stitching - 4/29/2017

It's lighter than the metal 6-speed one I had before but it's still got a good weight. It's a bit bigger than the CR shift knob and has a great tactile feel (like you're holding a baseball but not that big). I really like it and after driving with it for a few hours today I'm definitely keeping this.

The other thing that's been annoying me lately is the fact that my seat belt keeps getting lost behind the seat because there's nothing to keep it where it's supposed to be. I found someone on S2ki selling some Recaro seats that had these Jade Recaro leather with red stitching seat belt guides and realized that Evasive Motorsports was selling them so I picked that up too. It's a small detail but makes quite a difference.

Jade Recaro leather with red stitching seat belt guide - 4/29/2017

Jade Recaro leather with red stitching seat belt guide - 4/29/2017

First event of 2017

After a fairly mild winter, we finally got to have our first autocross today. With the recent cold spell, I didn't really want to bring out Bumblestook so to get my feet wet for the 2017 season I decided to bring Lupa out instead and have Rad codrive with me since his car isn't ready yet.

NNJR SCCA Autocross - Metlife Stadium - 3/25/2017

I woke up extra early probably because I was excited and got to the site around sunrise. There was some forecasted rain later in the day and we all wanted to get our runs in before the skies opened up. It was the first time for me to run the Solostorm setup I picked up over the winter for datalogging. Hopefully it'll be useful to learn where I can improve this year. At the very least it adds some eye candy to the autocross videos.

NNJR SCCA- 3/25/2017

Overall I think we ran decent times but not fast enough. We were clearly rusty and it was tough getting used to street tires again. While there are certainly improvements that can be made to Lupa's setup, I think a lot of time was lost in our own mistakes. She's a great learning tool though and I'm hoping to do another event next week to see if I can learn some more.

End of Year Maintenance

Lupa did pretty well this year putting down some miles. Despite not really racing her past early this season, she did go to Lincoln and we drove up to Vermont and New Hampshire to catch some Fall foliage a few weeks ago.

Driving up Route-100 in Vermont - 10/2/2016

Before tucking her away for the end of the season I wanted to make sure she gets a good once over. I took her over to SJF Performance where we change the engine oil and diff fluid. Glad to report the diff fluid still shows up as nice and clean. I then got her aligned because I wasn't sure if the alignment shifted after competition miles on concrete.

Alignment - SJF Performance - 10/15/2016

The alignment slipped a little bit but overall still in good shape. The rear camber bolts were starting to get a bit hard to adjust so we replaced the rear driver side bolt, nut and washer and will do the same passenger side next time. I also somehow gained camber in the rear despite the ride height not changing. Not sure what's causing that other than me having fresh tires but we couldn't get it less than -2.3 so the final alignment settings were:

Front:
-3.3 camber
5.6 caster
0 toe

Rear:
-2.3 camber
0.06 per side toe in (1/8" total)

I also installed the Science of Speed hood dampers, new PIAA wiper blades (18" driver, 20" passenger) and removed the Valentine One radar detector wiring since frankly I never use it. I also replaced the USB cable going from the head unit to my phone with a flat one so I could route it better and replaced the phone holder with a RAM mount X-Grip version.

Science of Speed Hood Struts - 10/14/2016

Advans

Before we left for Nationals, the Hyperblack Advan RSII 17x9 +63 wheels I had ordered for Lupa finally arrived. Since Clyde would be making a long trip, I didn't put the wheels on until we got back. I ordered a fresh set of 255/40/17 Bridgestone RE-01Rs that I had SJF Performance mount on these wheels upon our arrival. I think it's really put the finishing touches on Lupa. I think Lupa can still look low key with these wheels on and with a weight of only 15.6lbs, they are also highly functional.

New Shoes - 9/18/2016

New Shoes - 9/18/2016

SCCA Solo Nationals 2016

Clyde drove Lupa to Lincoln from NJ and arrived on Labor Day. We had some Test and Tune time scheduled the following day and I also invited James to codrive with Clyde for Nationals. James would fly in with his dad on Tuesday. It was the first ever trip to Nationals for all three.

Clyde and James at the Practice Course
Lincoln, NE - 9/6/2016

We went straight to work tweaking the car for concrete. From my experience doing the practice course and what I felt during the ProSolo, the car would have to be set up with some slight push in order to work effectively on the competition surface. They did 3 hours of testing on Tuesday and on Wednesday, it started off with quite a bit of rain that ended up in drying conditions so they were able to get a feel for the car in all conditions. They did 2 more hours on of practice on Wednesday for a total of 5 hours.

More practice - 9/7/2016

Next day was day 1 of competition. STR would be competing on the West course. James coned his first run but was subsequently able to find more time on his next two runs. Clyde coned his first run, set a time on his second but lost it on his 3rd run for a DNF.

SCCA Solo Nationals
Photo by: Perry Bennett

On day 2 they ran on the East course where James put out the same performance as the day before with a cone on his first run and finding more time with each subsequent run finishing up in mid-pack in the very large and competitive STR class. Clyde went for broke, spun his first run getting a DNF, coned twice on his second run and then finally setting a clean run on his last run. Luckily for STR, they all managed to get their runs in before the intense rain that would wreak all kinds of havoc with Nationals this year.

Overall, we really didn't have any expectations for Nats. Both Clyde and James were new to the car and she hadn't undergone nearly the same kind of development as the rest of STR. That being said, Lupa finishing mid-pack out of 64 drivers was beyond what I could've asked for. More importantly the guys had fun at their first nationals and I expect both will be back again next year.