AR Auto Service

Originally posted May 13, 2008

Due to a reading comprehension issue on my part I was 2 races short this weekend of getting my national license which also made me ineligible for the National race being held this weekend.

What does this mean? It means that for the first time this year I have competitors in my class, and also for the first time this year I am unable to compete.

Steve Zink, Kristina Etherington and Russ McHugh from down south came up to race this weekend and I am unable to compete. This is incredibly disheartening. On the upside I will be able to get an idea as to what calibre of driver and car will be competing at the Runoffs as both Steve and Kristina were at the 2007 Runoffs.

I also find later that Russ McHugh is actually registered for the regional race! I will have competition!! YEAH!!!

Qualifying starts around 11am on Saturday morning and I make a point to grid just slightly behind Russ to watch his overall pace.

My plan? Go out for 4-5 laps and warm up my tires. Pit in to confirm tire pressures and then run 2-3 qualifying laps and park the car.

The session starts and I park myself a few car lengths off of Russ’ bumpe and watch him drive. After watching 4 or 5 1:37.xx laps flash by I get bored and pit in. I confirm tire pressures and go out for my qualifying laps. I’m pushing pretty hard but the car is also pushing pretty hard today. I dont know what the problem is but I bust out 2-1:33.8x laps out back to back and figure “thats close enough”.

Was it actually close enough you ask? Yes. Russ Qualified at 1:35.5 or so. Nearly 2 seconds off my pace.

I wait paitiently until Sunday for the regional race hoping to crush Russ in my first and only race with competitors in my class. Instead, as I arrive at the track an hour before the race I see his Miata being loaded into the trailer. Apparently he is going home.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I finish the day as an uneventful solo race again and go home in first place. Again.

How’s that for an anti-climatic finish?

Originally posted May 7, 2008

This is the *second* race of the season and I have a trump card for this race!

Side note : John Hudak’s NSX went down before the weekend even started with some internal engine damage. Cause is still unknown but regardless of what it is it will be expensive. The Crazy widebody NSX will be out of commission for a while now.

First, let me tell you about the secret mods unknown to my competitors that have begun to take place in the dark of the night.

They are as follows:

1)Contact Lenses. Yes. I have been racing without being able to actually see the race track.

2)Ride height. Apparently the previous owner of the car had installed a new set of shocks without pre-loading the control arms. The car is sitting about 1″ higher than it should be.

3)Wheel bearings. In the last March race I almost lost a wheel off of my car at the end of the race due to a failed bearing. Being the crazy anal retentive guy that I am, I had all 4 bearings and hubs replaced.

Now, let me tell you about the Eddie driving style. There are several key points that make the Eddie driving style unique.

1)Brake late and brake hard. Ok. Let me rephrase that. Brake too late and brake too hard.

2)Chuck the car into the corner for all its worth. Tire wear be damned.

3)Use every inch of the track. And maybe a bit extra as well.

The above style was good for a 1:35.1 second lap time in the previous race but just wasnt working well due to the fact that the Integra has no brakes and the tires are really expensive.

The previous course record for SSB class at Portland International Raceway is a blistering 1:33.9. The track is in fact longer than before, but faster in some sections making the lap times difficult to compare. Some of the classes have broken the old course record but most of them are slower, making me think that the 1:35.1 second lap time is in the ballpark of where I should be.

Unfortunately, my huge elephant sized ego wont let me leave it at that. I must break the old course record regardless of whether the course is slower or not. The problem? The 1:35.1 lap time was set during qualifying and I was driving the old Eddie style for all it was worth.

So, for this weekends race I change gears a little bit and focus on braking less (since I dont have brakes) and attempting to use the throttle more (scratch Eddie driving characteristic #1). My tire manufacturer tells me that radial slicks develop grip when they are loaded gradually and can’t be chucked into the corner. (Scratch Eddie driving characteristic #2). My car tells me that running over the curbing is taking its toll on shocks and bushings and might end up very expensive. (scratch Eddie driving characteristic #3)

After re-inventing the driver (Eddie) and molding myself into something completely different than before, I whip out a course record demolishing 1:33.3 lap time. And, since there were no competitors in my class again I simultaneously take first place and last place.

At this rate I will be the undefeated and undisputed Oregon Region SSB class champion.

Originally posted Apr 1, 2008

The story begins at 5am on Friday morning. The SCCA Novice school is a 1.5 day event that spans everything from ground school to mock starts and races on the track.

Sounds like fun you say? You would be absolutely right, if it wasnt snowing, hailing, raining, sleeting, foggy and cold!!

Eddie was a bit lazy so this is an excerpt from John Hudak’s post on NSXprime.com. Quick Summary: I won’t lie. It was a trying week. Driving in snow, hail, rain, sun, hail, sun, etc…. sticking out out like a sore thumb, sound issues, etc…. but everyone really stuck it out through the school, into the race weekend, and finally just gave it their all on Sunday afternoon. I kind of wish I could have been in the grand stands!

Race Results:

Eddie finished 1st in class! No need to go into all the details there- but clearly a national title is already in the mail. I qualified 9th with a 1:41 wet lap. I then finished 7/13 in class and 13th/30 cars overall with a 1:32 fast lap in traffic, completing 19/20 laps and earning my license!! Not bad for running some-what ill prepared with a road car on a set of street tires!!

I think I could have picked up two or three or maybe four more positions, but unfortunately I had to give up a few positions because my car began to trend in the direction of a minor over heat so I had to run a cool down lap in their before returning to race speed. I also entertained everyone when I stuck a wheel off at the exit of 6 and found myself facing the right direction!!

The fastest car of our group ran out of gas. I then crossed the finish line right behind an orange pro prepped Porsche that was otherwise kicking my ass all weekend with gobbles of hp and tire. Eddie crossed the finish line literally right before his rear wheel bearing finally gave in and seized.

Stiff competition against a lot of pro prepped cars… first time out I’m amazed how fast you can go when you are actually in a real hurry!!!

Here are some pictures from our week long ordeal that pretty much started on a PCA day on Tuesday, through the ground school later in the week, and finally ended with the race on Sunday…

PCA Instructor Retreat:

<move along, nothing to see here, another DE day.. wait, except for that sweet… Cayman S and Superleggera. >

SCCA Ground School Day1:

Ground School Day1 – Goal: try to stay dry and keep the spirits high. My goal: How many novices can I pick off after the green flag and before entering the chicane… while really not being able to see much of anything out of my front windshield but the faint glimmer of a tail light. First time anyone ever told me to not drive so aggressively during practice! LOL. Racing in wet snow and hail… fun stuff I could get used to this!!

More Rain and hail!! One side of the track is literally dry one minute with sun breaks, while the other side of the 1.945 mile course is getting pelted with hail so bad as we clear T9 it’s white so they had to bring us in.

SCCA Ground School Day 2:

Me getting ready for practice… thumbs up that I will be “hitting my marks” on video tape as everyone was watching us like a hawk. Staying “low key” so as to not stand out like “that guy” with all the “implied sponsorship”

Eddie looking at me like… I just really need tires, brakes, and more hp and everyone else just needs less car and more talent.

SCCA Regional – Saturday Practice Session

Ahh some dry time at last!!! My nemesis during practice… this beautiful well prepped C6 Z06 with 450 ponies. Duking it out I spent like six laps within a few feet of this bumper WOT before I finally took him coming out of T7. I was not about to let the NSX community down in the NSX vs. Corvette debate!!! (Ok, except for the green one in like WC trim with triple the hp, he can win)

Like an act of faith they then brought me in on a meatball for the sound violation… again.

Nice staff, let me at least finish that round out before bringing me in… tells me that the two of us must have been entertaining someone!!

Microsoft sponsorship on another level (past 59 anyways LOL), just really happy he is not in my run group…

SCCA Regional- Sunday Race!!

It dried out and the sun broke and everyone put on dries! We had a two plus lap start behind the pace car because everyone wanted some!!

What a shot!!

The Speedware sponsored 350Z… hmm, he must have also had one of those $625 alignments…

And where credit is certainly due….

-Many thanks to Paul K. for lending me his Taitec Lightweight exhaust so I could finally run a lap without having to leave 2-3 seconds on the table having to lift for the sound station (117db is apparently too high for these guys- hey, who would have known )

-Thanks to our National Spec Miata Champ K. Sutherland for showing me how T2 and T7 is really done right!!

– Thanks to Brian and the chief steward for keeping the pressure high and for helping me keep my nose clean!

-Thanks to Eddie, Brian, Pong, and the whole AR crew for their service and technical skills for keeping my ride running and the morale support.

– Thanks to John, Greg, Trevor, and crew for the awesome prep work keeping me safe enough.

– Finally, thanks to all the staff at SCCA for making my first race a memorable fun one I won’t soon forget!
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Below is an ever growing list of the people you may find randomly hanging out at the shop or out at the racetrack.

Matt Laverty Matt is a longtime car enthusiast who seems to understand the need for multiple cars that lack any utility capacity. He currently owns an S2000, a Miata and a Neon and we wear that only one of these cars runs at any given time. Matt’s claim to fame is the fact that his Miata has ITB’s, making it sound incredibly glorious despite its sub 150hp output. Fun Fact: Matt has recently survived both a head-on ATV collision with a tree, as well as an attack by a vicious man-eating hand grinder.

Scott Collins Scott is an ex-Ferrari owner. We make a point of including the “ex” portion of the Ferrari ownership because his “cool to hang out with” factor went down by 68% as soon as the car was gone. Despite the fact that he no longer owns the Ferrari he still expects to be swarmed by Hawaiian tropic-like models all of the time. Sadly, we recently found out that he wasn’t being swarmed by Hawaiian Tropic-like models even when he did have the Ferrari. Fun Fact: Scotty kicked everyone’s butt at the PIR grand opening track day posting a 1:23.xx lap time, thus cementing the fact that he does indeed suck at the chicane.

	John Hudak John is the crazy NSX owner with the crazy JGTC’esque wide-body kit, and picnic bench sized rear wing. Everything John does is in absolutely crazy excess. Car? Crazy excess NSX. Bodykit? Crazy Excess huge widebody. Paint Scheme? Crazy excess look-at-me yellow. John is so much into yellow and black that he has earned the nickname “Power Ranger”. We’re waiting for the day he paints his helmet Super-fly yellow and gets a black visor. It has to be said however, that we respect a man that can drive around town in a yellow widebody NSX with a 108 decibel exhaust!! Fun Fact: John’s daily driver is a yellow S2000 with lime green wheels, making him a shoe-in for Mello-Yello sponsorship.
	Paul Klas They say that he would rather change brake pads than eat. They say that he would rather clean his wheels of brake dust than breathe. They even say that he times his drive to work every morning with an XT Racing lap timer. One thing is for sure, with an NSX, STi, and a new Lotus Sport Elise he is the Official AR Auto “I have too many track cars” guy. While we all love and respect “The Paul”, we’ve had some troubling reports from his family alluding to the fact that he secretly prefers automatic transmissions. Say it ain’t so!! Fun Fact: Paul doesnt have fun facts yet. Dont let this fool you into thinking Paul isnt a fun guy. He is. Very.
	Pongydoo Pong Pongydoo Pong is our resident “guy who hangs out all of the time but doesnt actually work here” guy. Pong is also our resident “at every single track day driving like a madman” guy as well. With a current best time of 1:29.xx on the old PIR configuration he is one of the fastest stock S2000 drivers we know of. Pong is the founding member of Black Hawk Racing. Fun Fact: Pongydoo’s real name is Lapas Hasdin
	Mike Wann The Co-founder of the original Adrenaline Racing, Mike Wann is the quintessential worldwide adventurer. If there’s a place to go, food to eat or person to meet he’s done it. Everything from his wardrobe, to his vehicles are all done in style and it is said that nothing escapes the keen eye of Mike Wann. Mike recently moved to California and is still there today furthering his plans of world domination. Fun Fact: Mike once dated a Calvin Klein model. Yes one of the female ones. (Yes we know they are hard to tell apart)
	Tom Reynolds Tom is a former Adrenaline Racing sponsored Auto-x’er from the Rio Grand Region. He dominated his respective class (CSP) for many years and gained a reputation as a fearsome competitor. He recently switched from the Miata to a C5 Corvette Z-06. Since he was already wicked fast in his Miata it was hard for us to find a better superlative to describe his speed in the Corvette. Rest assured though, he’s still wickedly fast in the Corvette, just a faster wickedly fast than before. Fun fact: Tom is the only driver to beat Eddie’s lap times on equal terms that Eddie wasnt able to make a good excuse for. (Hallet 2005-margin of victory 0.15 seconds) Fun fact #2: Tom might look Mexican, but he’s actually half Japanese.

	John Hudak John is the crazy NSX owner with the crazy JGTC’esque wide-body kit, and picnic bench sized rear wing. Everything John does is in absolutely crazy excess. Car? Crazy excess NSX. Bodykit? Crazy Excess huge widebody. Paint Scheme? Crazy excess look-at-me yellow. John is so much into yellow and black that he has earned the nickname “Power Ranger”. We’re waiting for the day he paints his helmet Super-fly yellow and gets a black visor. It has to be said however, that we respect a man that can drive around town in a yellow widebody NSX with a 108 decibel exhaust!! Fun Fact: John’s daily driver is a yellow S2000 with lime green wheels, making him a shoe-in for Mello-Yello sponsorship.
	Matt Laverty Matt is a longtime car enthusiast who seems to understand the need for multiple cars that lack any utility capacity. He currently owns an S2000, a Miata and a Neon and we wear that only one of these cars runs at any given time. Matt’s claim to fame is the fact that his Miata has ITB’s, making it sound incredibly glorious despite its sub 150hp output. Fun Fact: Matt has recently survived both a head-on ATV collision with a tree, as well as an attack by a vicious man-eating hand grinder.
	Scott Collins Scott is an ex-Ferrari owner. We make a point of including the “ex” portion of the Ferrari ownership because his “cool to hang out with” factor went down by 68% as soon as the car was gone. Despite the fact that he no longer owns the Ferrari he still expects to be swarmed by Hawaiian tropic-like models all of the time. Sadly, we recently found out that he wasn’t being swarmed by Hawaiian Tropic-like models even when he did have the Ferrari. Fun Fact: Scotty kicked everyone’s butt at the PIR grand opening track day posting a 1:23.xx lap time, thus cementing the fact that he does indeed suck at the chicane.
	Paul Klas They say that he would rather change brake pads than eat. They say that he would rather clean his wheels of brake dust than breathe. They even say that he times his drive to work every morning with an XT Racing lap timer. One thing is for sure, with an NSX, STi, and a new Lotus Sport Elise he is the Official AR Auto “I have too many track cars” guy. While we all love and respect “The Paul”, we’ve had some troubling reports from his family alluding to the fact that he secretly prefers automatic transmissions. Say it ain’t so!! Fun Fact: Paul doesnt have fun facts yet. Dont let this fool you into thinking Paul isnt a fun guy. He is. Very.
	Pongydoo Pong is our resident “guy who hangs out all of the time but doesnt actually work here” guy. Pong is also our resident “at every single track day driving like a madman” guy as well. With a current best time of 1:29.xx on the old PIR configuration he is one of the fastest stock S2000 drivers we know of. Pong is the founding member of Black Hawk Racing. Fun Fact: Pongydoo’s real name is Lapas Hasdin
	Mike Wann The Co-founder of the original Adrenaline Racing, Mike Wann is the quintessential worldwide adventurer. If there’s a place to go, food to eat or person to meet he’s done it. Everything from his wardrobe, to his vehicles are all done in style and it is said that nothing escapes the keen eye of Mike Wann. Mike recently moved to California and is still there today furthering his plans of world domination. Fun Fact: Mike once dated a Calvin Klein model. Yes one of the female ones. (Yes we know they are hard to tell apart)
	Tom Reynolds Tom is a former Adrenaline Racing sponsored Auto-x’er from the Rio Grand Region. He dominated his respective class (CSP) for many years and gained a reputation as a fearsome competitor. He recently switched from the Miata to a C5 Corvette Z-06. Since he was already wicked fast in his Miata it was hard for us to find a better superlative to describe his speed in the Corvette. Rest assured though, he’s still wickedly fast in the Corvette, just a faster wickedly fast than before. Fun fact: Tom is the only driver to beat Eddie’s lap times on equal terms that Eddie wasnt able to make a good excuse for. (Hallet 2005-margin of victory 0.15 seconds) Fun fact #2: Tom might look Mexican, but he’s actually half Japanese.

Originally posted Apr 1, 2008

Engine oil is the only thing lubricating your engine and keeping it from wearing down prematurely. Despite many newer cars having extended oil change intervals it is NOT recommended that you wait until the light comes on to do an oil change!! Oil technology has not changed substantially in the last 25 years and changing your oil every 3000-5000 miles is still optimum for your engine life. Having your oil changed regularly will do more for your engine and car life than any other single maintenance item! We offer both conventional and synthetic oil changes.

Originally posted Apr 2, 2008

There are two types of transmission fluid depending on whether you have a manual transmission or an automatic transmission. Manual transmissions and Automatic transmissions both can benefit from regular fluid changes. Manual transmissions can get notchy when the fluid gets dirty and automatic transmissions can start to shift hard over time. Both can cause unnecessary wear and tear on your transmission. Regular fluid changes using a high quality synthetic fluid will prolong transmission life. We recommend this service once a year for most vehicles.

We offer both conventional fluid flushes as well as Redline Synthetic Fluid flushes.

Originally posted Apr 2, 2008

Coolant/Antifreeze:  This fluid is what keeps your car from overheating. It is also the same fluid that keeps your engine from freezing. There are however several issues with the coolant/antifreeze system. First, water is more efficient at removing heat than antifreeze. If there I too much antifreeze in the system and not enough water, the car can overheat. On the other hand, if there isn’t enough antifreeze in the car when the weather drops below freezing the water in your engine will expand and crack the engine block causing costly repairs. We recommend a 50/50 mix for all but the coldest area’s. This maintenance should be done every 1-2 years to keep the car at optimum operating temperature.

Originally posted Apr 2, 2008

Brake Fluid is the medium through which your brake pedal action is transmitted to the brakes themselves. Brakes generate a very substantial amount of heat during regular driving as well as stop and go driving, and the brake fluid is constantly absorbing the heat from the brakes. Typical brake fluid boiling temperature is around 350F. If the brake fluid exceeds 350F the fluid will boil and create air bubbles in the braking system causing your brake system to lose efficiency. Catastrophic brake failure can follow shortly thereafter. The main problem with brake fluid is that it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere over time lowering the boiling temperature to as low as 220F. This creates a very unsafe margin of error when doing sudden high heat brake applications such as panic stops, or prolonged brake applications like going downhill. Maintaining fresh fluid will prevent loss of efficiency and brake failure. Brake fluid should be flushed every two years or ever year if the car is used heavily.

We offer Brake Fluid flushes with the following fluids:

DOT 3 HD Brake Fluid (included)

DOT 4 ATE Typ-200/Superblue ($12.99/Liter)

DOT 4 Motul RBF600 ($16.99/pint)

DOT 5.1 Castrol SRF ($79.99/Liter)

Originally posted Oct. 9, 2006

click on event for more details

Key: Eddie Brian Ian Dave

March 13th – Mt Hood Miata Club monthly dinner

March 25th – PIR Instructor Candidate School

March 28th/29th – PIR SCCA Regional Race and School

April 9th – PIR Porsche Club of America Driver Education

April 19th/20th – PIR SCCA Regional Race

April 21st – PIR Lotus of Portland/Motocorsa driver education

April 28th – PIR BMWACA Driver Education

May 2/3/4 PIR SCCA Regional Race

 

Don’t forget!! AR Auto Service “special” track day is Friday June 27th!!!

This event is open only to advanced drivers by approval only!! Limited to 30 drivers! Contact us for details!

Incomplete Website: http://www.adrenalineracing.com/artrackday.html