Ben Yip 's ZRE Facelift

[dorifto]

If you want better fitment/more track; get wheels with the 'correct' offset. To give you an idea, stock wheels on my car are +39 with a 5.5inch width and I've used 6.5inch +15, 7inch +25/+35. All sets of wheels have provide more track but more importantly; width. If you get serious with circuit racing, get some lower offset wheels and dial in some camber. The camber will increase your mid-corner grip and the wider wheel will give you the traction you need to maintain that speed.

[Hiro]

FYi, all spacers (hubcentric or not, bolt-on or slip-on) are illegal unless they came fitted from the factory.

[ben yip]

Another flying lap in Wakefield, 1:16.8 on my Re002 street tyres

1 second faster than last time because the cusco 16mm rear sway bar has been installed, and I have put on light weight wheels and also have the passenger seat removed, and good weather

http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?03/09/2011.WAKE.S3.Y

Below is my in car video of me chasing a stock Golf GTI and other cars, it is a very exciting video, that stock golf GTI does not have a rear sway bar.

Sorry for the quality, i get the video recorder from $125 in ebay, I pay for what I get

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WOvK_gyp28

Well, do you need a turbo car now?

Edited September 4, 2011 by ben yip

[clifton]

Wow nice time ben!

[jtron85]

Nice work around the turns.

[le.vinh.zr]

nice work mate!

[dutchie101]

Well done Ben!! Your reeling them in on the bendys!

[johnnieboi]

Good work Ben! Makes me miss Winton. After a few more goodies i should be prepped for next year to tackle Winton again. I dont wanna go on springs or stock brakes again. Its great driving the ZRE around track and catching other faster cars like the GTi's and Ford V8s, we eat them up on the sweepers and corners.

You also gotta take into account that the ZRE only makes around 80kw, has no LIFT or VTEC, no Turbo or supercharger, is FWD, drive-by-wire and weighs almost 1300kg. Respect yo. B)

Sometimes people gotta remember its not all about the mods and how powerful the car is, its about driver skill and racing line and just improving yourself but most of all its about having fun and enjoying yourself. :D

[ben yip]

Good work Ben! Makes me miss Winton. After a few more goodies i should be prepped for next year to tackle Winton again. I dont wanna go on springs or stock brakes again. Its great driving the ZRE around track and catching other faster cars like the GTi's and Ford V8s, we eat them up on the sweepers and corners.

You also gotta take into account that the ZRE only makes around 80kw, has no LIFT or VTEC, no Turbo or supercharger, is FWD, drive-by-wire and weighs almost 1300kg. Respect yo. B)

Sometimes people gotta remember its not all about the mods and how powerful the car is, its about driver skill and racing line and just improving yourself but most of all its about having fun and enjoying yourself. :D

Johnie, make sure you have a rear sway bar before going, Winton track is not good without it, putting a rear sway bar (the 16mm cusco ones) will make the car so much fun to drive, I do not recommend going over 16mm, otherwise bad oversteering will occur...I have to adjust my coilover at the back to the softest to fix the little oversteering even with 16mm in the 80km/h 90 degrees corner (the first corner of the track in my video, many cars doing drifting there)..The factory one at the front is 16mm..

I have also experimented the thickness of sway bar in my computer simulator for FF cars, they must be the same or bad oversteer will occur

This picture highlights the importance of sway bar, as you can see, his stock Golf GTI does not have rear sway bar, body roll especially at the back is huge, my car does not have much body roll, that corner in the picture is 85km/h

In Winton, with suitable amount of oversteer, our ZRE will beat many people, power is not a keypoint there, as you seen in my video, the Falcon and GTI pulls me on the straight, but I caught them up straight away in the blends, this highlights power is not a winner here, Winton has more blends than Wakefield, handling is the key to success

Please also change brake pad, the stock one is really bad

I have all my seats removed this time, combining with spare wheel and my new racing wheel, I save a total of 80kg, giving the ZRE kerb weight of 1260-80=1180kg

I can also give you some intersting facts about cornering speed of heavy and light cars. MOTOR magazine in Sydney has a speed trap for the whole track driven by the same V8 supercar driver with all sorts of cars, no matter what brand, the difference of the speed is about 5-8% in every corner... I even compare with the Porsche with a Polo GTI, the Polo GTI has a 5% advantage in the corner..

Edited September 5, 2011 by ben yip

[wanga]

definitely a great video there mate and the cusco rear sway bar, i have the exact same and can vouch how sharper your turns are.

[Kenneth.]

Nice driving there Ben. Hopefully I'll see you down at Wakefield sometime soon!

[johnnieboi]

Yeah i feel you Ben. I've had the cusco 16mm rear swaybar on for awhile now and have definitely felt the difference on track esp going at faster speeds around sweepers/corners. Definitely feels much more flat and controllable in the rear. But i dont have coils yet so your handling prowess is still way above mine. Its good because now i know how much i can push in my springs and i feel like i cant really go that much harder without coilovers for next time.

Definitely with each session on track you feel subtlely differences and how you can improve on your cornering, braking, powering out and your racing line. Maybe the rear seats will have to go out next track sesh, i still want to keep the passenger side in so if people want to ride shotgun they can.

But yeah, nice to have another ZRE hit the track too to share the experiences and learn from each other. :D

[dwee.]

Good work Ben! Now you making me want to go Winton again!

What Johnnie says above is true; you'll get more confident and learn more about how she handles with each session. :)

For these smaller tracks, power is not everything. Driver skill, line, positioning and utilizing the most of your car is the key. Did you find any understeer issues? I found that reducing the tyre pressure and controlling the throttle during corners help a great deal.

When's your next track day? :)

[Kenshin X]

i just saw the video. excellent display of driving there mate, well done

can't wait til i hit winton again with coilovers. i'm dying to see how much of a difference a proper setup can make next time round!

gonna have to tackle wakefield track one day to see what its like! :D

[Pro86]

getting better man.. gonna get under 1.15 for sure if u got the semi slicks next time u hit the track

[KIRIUS]

almost 1k for a set of fogs.. Geez!!

[ben yip]

got the braided brake lines installed today, they are the same for ZZE corolla, i get it for $160 including delivery from ebay

(sorry for stealing your picture, kenshinX)

I cannot feel anything for the difference of the brakes on daily driving unless tracking on October labour day

have done a bit of research about this thing, no evidence has proven that it will increase the braking effeciency, but it will reduce the spongy feel of the pedal

The factory one, made of rubber plastic should last for 6 to 8 years and worn out

Also got this underbody brace installed to correct the minor twisting during corner

Also hope to get the unichip piggyback ECU sort out tomorrow depending on luck, if successful, will push my car to 92kw at the wheels

Edited September 14, 2011 by ben yip

[Son Gokou]

Nice driving!

For any factory parts, i always ordered them from Japan, even with shipping is still cheaper then getting from here.

Check out Amayama: http://www.amayama.com/

[johnnieboi]

got the braided brake lines installed today, they are the same for ZZE corolla, i get it for $160 including delivery from ebay

(sorry for stealing your picture, kenshinX)

I cannot feel anything for the difference of the brakes on daily driving unless tracking on October labour day

have done a bit of research about this thing, no evidence has proven that it will increase the braking effeciency, but it will reduce the spongy feel of the pedal

The factory one, made of rubber plastic should last for 6 to 8 years and worn out

Also got this underbody brace installed to correct the minor twisting during corner

Also hope to get the unichip piggyback ECU sort out tomorrow depending on luck, if successful, will push my car to 92kw at the wheels

Nice Ben. Let us know how you go. Good work on the brake lines. Duy was telling me to get them too.

I got the Cusco lower body brace bar too just havent installed it yet. Full exhaust upgrade is coming soon. B)

[ben yip]

1:16.5 PB in the video, 0.3 second better than last time, I am really really on the limit, no room to push

Features a 1974 celica at the beginning, I was not even born !!! That 1974 celica was a king in the 70s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKVQdn1KPC0

Got braking problem after changing to a cheap brake fluid ($10 Castrol Super Dot 4), at the end of the above video (the 4th lap), I keep overshooting that corner, Not enough hydralic pressure at the brakes. After I back off a bit, got brakes again. Will bring to my mechanic to check for brake wear and any leaking in my new Braided brake lines.

End up buying this for $40 per bottle including delivery

Desert storm at the track, zero visibility, driving blind

All the times here

http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?03/10/2011.WAKE.S3.Y

Some Photos here

and some photos here

http://redsprinter.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/my-long-weekend-3rd-october-circuit-clubs-track-day/

I have a ride on a MX5, I can understand what a cornering monster look like...at slow speed corners, FF cars just have to be patient because I don't know how to induce oversteer in a slow speed corner. However, FF car is easier to control.

For my set up of coilover, softest at the front and hardest at the back.. I gain half a second because of changing the setting of coilover to induce oversteer

Edited October 5, 2011 by ben yip

[Nap13]

wow..you have spirit driving...impressive..keep it up..

[ben yip]

Got unichipdone today for $1100, the wiring diagram for my Car is very different from US and Europe, so they have to hardwired my ECU.. I end up getting 6-7kw at the midrange and 3kw at the peak, which is very good for me.

However, they cannot give me the diagram due to legal issues

86.8kw now, the picture shows before and after the chip, I got LIFT when the AF ratio is in transition. The chip smooth out the curve

This car is all about mid range, peak figure is not impressive, but it is the mid range that gives most of the acceleration

You guys might think I am wasting money, but really depends how you see, some spend $$ on cosmetic and some spend on power

In terms of drivability, the car runs a lot less noise now in the exhaust, must be due to running lean with in original set up, you can see the AF ratio that they tune it to run more rich

here is where I tuned in Granville Auto Tech Engineering, sydney, this guy is very famous in tuning industry

http://www.youtube.com/user/autotechengineering?blend=7&ob=5

http://www.autotechengineering.com.au/ECU%20Tuning/unichip.htm

I am not selling my car for years, so I am not worried about the hard wiring

My next mods are Toyo R888 225/50 R16 semis, that will give me 2 seconds per lap

$250 per corner in http://www.talebtyres.com.au

and my next mod is front camber plate from peddars

Edited October 21, 2011 by ben yip

[clifton]

Wow, you're gonna be in the 1:14's soon ben!

[le.vinh.zr]

looking good Ben! :)

[johnnieboi]

Semis + negative camber ftw! Trackspec status achieved. B)