Ben Yip 's ZRE Facelift

[ben yip]

Just went to Track school (http://www.trackscho...om.au/about.htm) with John Boston and Dave Sieders in Wakefield Park. They are professional drivers in the racing industry, I am sure you guy know who John Boston is.

Have asked John and Dave drive my car for few sessions to give me professional coaching

Many Thanks John Boston and Dave Sieders for their professional coaching today. They both can push your car to madness. I highly recommend trackschool to anyone looking for beginner to professional techniques

Plenty of lap times due to not many people. At the end of the day, I can drive the track for 40 minutes without stop until my fuel light was on

For me, John Boston has taught me how to use trial braking (brake while turning). No wonder people call John a late braker. Mastering this technique is not easy at all on semis, especially on turn 2, and the fish hook. Too much and you will end up drifting, not enough and you will lost exit speed. At the fish hook, things become tricky for FF cars as you cannot put power untill you exit the corner. The brake must flip the rear of the car so that the car can accelerate straight away in the fishhook

The theory is braking will move the weight to the front, and the front got more traction to turn in, The earlier you get on the throttle, the more straight line speed you carry, especially for my low powered car

I have asked John about turn 3 and 4, should I brake or not, he said yes, because you can accelerate earlier. Although you loss a bit of speed during turn in, but the exit speed will carry out to the main straight, which can recover the loss in time during brake turn in.

At the end of the day, I have used this technique and my PB is 1.15.1, 0.7 faster than my previous PB, but my consistency of mastering this technique is a big concern. Especially at the same time, I am fighting with brake fading. My other lap times is around 1:15.8 to 1:16.1 mark

Unfortunately, half of my video is gone (cry), including the one that Dave drove my car. Do want to see what time they get out of my car

20mm rear sway bar is a good choice in order for me to flip the back of the car (front is 25mm factory)

This is my PB of the day, the video cannot capture the rear end "flipping", but please put your imgaination into the "flipping" action. I personally think I really push this lap into hell. Now I need to think of how to put this technique in Winton

Mistakes in my following PB after anaylsing John driving a K24 civic (Since I lost the video of one instructor (Dave) driving my car)

1. My brake turn in is still not good enough in turn 2, note how John put on the throttle so early, hit the right kerb and swing the back of the car back to the straight

2. Fish hook, pay attention to the plastic cone that John put on the track, I turn in left slightly too early, resulted from later throttle. I should turn in left exactly at the plastic cone position (just after the right footpath). If you have a look for how John turns it that corner, He turned in slightly later, get on the throttle right on the left kerb. The speed will carry on to the last corner, so this corner is highly important. Doing this right can gain few tenths. When he sat next to me, he told me I am braking and turn in too early. Now I know why. When Dave (one instructor drove my car), he told me my car got left wheelspin in that corner in 3rd gear. If I dun have wheelspin, I am not pushing hard enough

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

I am still learning how to do heel and toe, not easy to do it very smoothly, will need to focus on this area. My biggest problem is too much throttle turning from 3 to 2 in turn 10, because my 2 is located at the bottom left, and my third is at the top middle position. More time is required to change from 3 to 2, at the same time, I need to ease off the brake a bit (not fully ease off) and turn in.. turning, braking, shifting, heel and toeing all at the same exact time... quite difficult

AND 2 days ago before this track day

My brake pad was completely gone during practice in Wakefield Park 2 days before trackschool track day, Supercheap and Repcro have no stock about my car brake pad. Lucky I got it from another auto store. Brand is Bendix. Model is 4WD. Suprsingly, they are quite fade resistent. Although it is still suffered from fading, but not as much as I expect. This brake pad is designed for 4WD cars such as RAV4, so should be an easy job for this brake pad on my car because RAV4 is around 2 times heavier than my car. The result is quite well as you can see from the video. The braking distance is slighly longer than my A1RM brake pads, but that is accpetable

the A1RM brake pads give me suprise as I would expect it kill the rotors first, but the rotor has still a long way to go, and the brake pads are completely gone..

Lucky it is a corolla, or I will have problems in going home

Edited January 26, 2012 by ben yip

[ben yip]

Have changed to use Nulon 0W-40 for engine oil, price is $90. After changing it, engine is SIGNIFICANTLY more quiet. Few youtube has already shown an increase of little horsepower of this oil.

Worth the money given the low noise now (I am not a fan of exhaust noise, although my car has modified exhaust)

and my gearbox oil, due to my heavy track duties, I need a better transmission oil.

Funny thing is searching through the user manaul, it never asks you to change tranny oil, done a bit of research, it is better to do it every 50000 km, just for a peace of mind

Have ordered brake pad from queensland GSL rally sport, due to my A1RM all gone within 15000km

The brand is called Remsa, it is a very famous brand for eurpoean cars, and it sitis above QFM HPX and below QFM A1RM.

Another member (Adamasy) in Toyota Aurion is already using this brand, Flipster is also using this in his corolla as well

http://www.inter-tea...a.php?p=news_a4

Have ordered RDA slotted for design pad. There is still plenty of rotor left in my car, but need to machine, so why not change to a new rotor then

Edited January 30, 2012 by ben yip

[flipsta24]

hey ben

the remsa pads are good but very very dusty in my opinion. they are my rear set now and they put a hell of alot more dust then the bendix 4wd fronts, i'll try and take a pic for you tomorrow.

but either than that, im happy with them

[ben yip]

hey ben

the remsa pads are good but very very dusty in my opinion. they are my rear set now and they put a hell of alot more dust then the bendix 4wd fronts, i'll try and take a pic for you tomorrow.

but either than that, im happy with them

Thanks, This is my first try at Remsa

If they are dusty, that probably means it won't last long as well..

I guess they only last for <30000 km... I am using Bendix 4WD fronts now, they are ok, and very few dust.... but fade too quickly on the track although not much !!

Please post your pictures !!

[Seby123]

hey ben,

just wondering...do those ground deflectors stick out from under the car? as in are they the lowest part of the car if i theoretically was sitting low i would scrape them on speed bumps? and also, how are they adjusted? or do they adjust themselves?

thanks.

[ben yip]

hey ben,

just wondering...do those ground deflectors stick out from under the car? as in are they the lowest part of the car if i theoretically was sitting low i would scrape them on speed bumps? and also, how are they adjusted? or do they adjust themselves?

thanks.

You cannot see from outside, they are now the lowest part of my car apart from the mud flaps, they will decrease 20mm from your car. They are non-adjustable.. My car is now 60mm above the ground.. it is just 1 cm more than the width of your credit card, so not high.

Most sydney speed hump is less than 50mm... so I am just marginally higher than the speed hump.. In fact, most scrape is coming from the mud flap !! For some hump not sure, I just get off the car to measure the height of the hump

I have not scraped so far

I am still not sure whether it is useful at all. Some say yes, some say no..

Edited February 2, 2012 by ben yip

[Buff Hamster]

Hey Ben, how quiet are the Remsa compared to the QFM?

[ben yip]

My Bendix 4WD finished within 1.5 track days, that was quite shocking. A friend of mine using Bendix Ultimate in his SR20 NX Couple also finished within 1.5 track days.

My old QFM A1RM last for 6 track days...the only drawback is it is chewing motors and $$ for the pad

but Bendix stuff is low dust, that is for sure..

For Remsa, I am happy with the performance so far.. It is not noisy at all... I don't mind about dust, because it is a performance pad..if it is not dusty, that means it is not performing...I have to see how many track days can it last for.

Remsa comes with noise reduction features where it cannot be found in QFM HPX or A1RM

Comparing to QFM regarding performance, I need some data, GSL said Remsa sat between HPX and A1RM. HPX and Bendix Ultimate have a maximum temperature of 550C, this one can go to 650C..

I guess the brake coefficient is around the same as HPX, which is 0.42 to 0.44.

I have done a lot of reasearch about brake pad recently..

All performance brake pad kills rotor, more noisy and more dusty, but they last longer because they have more metallic content, which means it is harder..

This article is quite good if you want to know more about brake pad..It clears many misconeption such as

People think wrapped rotors are caused by the rotor, in fact it is caused by overheat brake pad..

People think larger rotor will stop shorter, look at the following link in the table, it is just little bit shorter. Going from 295mm to 355mm only have you 7 feet advantage when stopping from 100mph to 0.. Dun forget you also got heavier brake now which will slow you down

http://www.zeckhausen.com/Testing_Brakes.htm#Summary (Please note that they are measured in MPH)

http://www.raceshopper.com/tech.shtml

Edited February 6, 2012 by ben yip

[ben yip]

Plan to buy the following items from ebay from Toyota UK, have confirmed they fit on 2010 Auris

In the process of negotiating the price

front skirt £151.51 postage £280.00,

spoiler £180.38 postage £100

and side skirts £121.79 poastage £170,

painting all three items is £350.00 pounds.

Not happy with the postage fee for front skirt which cost £280.00 (AUD410), it weights the lightest (0.7kg) and cost the most. The rear spolier 2.3kg and side skirt weight 2.8kg

If cannot work out the postage, I probably get the rear spolier and skirt only

part number:

PZ495-E0440-AB front spolier

PZ439-E9474 rear spolier

PZ439-E9481-AB side skirts

ebay link is http://stores.ebay.c...&_sid=169618416

Edited February 9, 2012 by ben yip

[juvenile]

Excellent Ben, the UK has the most expensive Postal system unfortunately...

[pezzie]

Looks like a nice set of goodies!

When I purchased the TTE spoiler and TTE lip. Postage was only 60 pounds for each item. Rather than being boxed, they were just bubble wraped.

[ben yip]

I have asked them to do the same with bubble wrap, they are very unwilling to do it for me, and they dun give me discount if I buy three of them together... I am not happy with them

I am not going to pay $$ for plastic foam. They told me the postage is by size, not by weight.. so 0.7kg of front skirt cost 280 postage, while 2.3kg of spolier cost only 100

Their selling altitude is poor.. If they use bubble wrap, it will save me huge for postage

Edited February 9, 2012 by ben yip

[flipsta24]

left front

right rear

sorry took so long ben

[ben yip]

got the following from overseas for 40 AUD

have done various measurement after normal driving

Air temperature: 19C

Ear temperature 35.8C

Cold air intake filter: 22C

Around battery area: 33C (11 higher than cold air intake filter)

top of engine without cover: 59C

Exhaust header: 200C

End of exhaust header: 159C

Gearbox: 59C

Inside the end of exhaust: 169C

exhaust midpipe: 110C

front brake disc: 55C

front disc pad: 59C

Edited March 6, 2012 by ben yip

[4ABHGE]

Thats cool and its gonna be real useful with setting up your car :)

And LOL! ear temperature? :P

[Kenshin X]

didnt he tell u he wanted to become an Otolaryngologist? :P

[Noodlez]

hey ben have you put your car on a weight scale yet?

[ben yip]

got a ODB2 reader, car has CEL sometimes especially after racing, the code is P0420 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1)

It is probably my high flow catalytic convertor is not doing its job (that's good, but the more it is doing its job, the slower my car is)

I am using metallic catalytic convertor, so it can withstand high temperature..and this code does not happen very often, so I can live with it

The OBD2 reader can also check the voltage of the battery, so it gives me signs when to change, currently reading at 12.1 V when the engine is off, not sure whether this is normal voltage..

Also some temperature reading after cool down lap

Front brake disc: 330C(626F), probably around 380C (716F) during racing, no brake fluid is able to withstand this temperature, the one I am using only supports up to 600F (315C)

Rear Brake disc: 99C (210F), so cold!!!

Front tyre outer: 55C

Front tyre inner: 59C

Rear tyre outer: 39C very cold!!!

Rear tyre inner 42C very cold!!!

Air Temperature is around 20C, track is 80% dry, 20% wet..

Tyre is Toyo R888 Semis

Wet Track is very tricky to drive, I have lost control few times... the sudden transition from dry to wet just unsettle the car too much and cause the rear end spun.. Semis is really slippery!!!

Once I lift off my throttle, the car spun at 100km/h straight away, this is due to the rear sway bar being too thick in the wet, but it is excellent for the dry because the lift off oversteer will help entering a corner. I have used VSC (stability control) to keep me in the track...

Some part is more wet than the others, some is dry, the sudden transition of different grip level is too dangerous, I remembered in street driving in Sydney, I am doing a 100km/h in Warringah Road near Chatswood in http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Chatswood+NSW,+Australia&hl=en&ll=-33.772405,151.204748&spn=0.02465,0.05918&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=47.483365,121.201172&oq=chats&t=m&hnear=Chatswood+New+South+Wales,+Australia&z=15&layer=c&cbll=-33.772553,151.204218&panoid=4mqaZ0iFcbEhpB5wm9VHIQ&cbp=12,27.89,,0,11.19, there is a pool of water on the left, my car went on top on it and my car "floated" to the right !!

This gives me a hint of how to do the long sweeping in Winton, my car should be set up not to spin in that corner when my foot is left off the gas

Edited March 19, 2012 by ben yip

[4ABHGE]

This gives me a hint of how to do the long sweeping in Winton, my car should be set up not to spin in that corner when my foot is left off the gas

If you can use your left foot to brake through there you can carry alot more speed and have better balance as you keep the front pulling you around the corner but the brakes stop you from gaining any speed, hence eliminating understeer or oversteer. It works for me :) but with that said, my mate has an RX7, formula Vee and a Westfield and he says in all 3 of those cars its a completely different corner. Its a tricky one thats for sure!

Good job on all this data gathering! :)

Edited March 19, 2012 by Toyota_kid

[Danoid]

Hey Ben, nice to see you still working hard on your car and your driving skills ;-) i can see you are fuelling your addiction quite well...

[ben yip]

New PB posted 1:14.8 after John Boston coaching. This PB just made myself unbelivable

On the way to go there is very foggy, temperature is 7, however 25 in the noon, what a big difference

Also met this company http://www.sportscar...k-days?Itemid3= , $800 for a LP550 Lamborghini for 7 laps !!

WIll go to Winton with EXE Crew on May 20..

After spending countless hours in Wakefield, it is time to put what I learn into Winton..

The biggest and useful thing I learn in Wakefield park is Brake to turn. Use your brake to turn. However, the corners in Winton are very "circular", meaning that you have to be patient with throttle during the corner exit... Trail braking (brake and turn) is also very tricky. Also exploring the option of left foot braking, which is quite useful in the long sweeper

The follow video is very useful for me to pick up the above technique. The commentary also illustrated the difficulty in controlling the throttle (well of coze a V8).

Pay attention to

• 0:11 the first 90 right hander.. the amount of trial braking and throttle, the brake is the key here
  
• 0:40 full throttle, then tap the brakes little bit and turn.This is very tricky for me in terms of gear change as well, Pay attention to this V8 gear change as well, he did not change any gear before turning in, and the RPM is not enough during corner exit. He only got 3000rpm in corner exit. In fact, I am suffering the same problem. My maximum speed of 2nd gear is 85km/h. The speed from the long sweeper to the right hander is from 120 to 65, the car starts to turn at 85..if I change from 3 to 2 before turning, I wll blow my engine. If I don't change gear before turning, I will lost speed in corner exit...
  
• 0:53 The commentary said it all
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuWGGAcqes8

Got this from bunnings today to change tyre, my lug nuts are full of scratches anyway, so I don't mind using this, it saved me from back pain

Edited April 11, 2012 by ben yip

[4ABHGE]

Remember that is a RWD, so his throttle and braking techniques are very different to what you should be doing so i wouldnt try to copy their footwork or their lines. ;)

LFB is amazing especially with an open diff FWD!!

May 20 is a sunday right? Ill try and come up for the day, ill share with you my lines if you give me a ride :P

Edited April 1, 2012 by 4ABHGE

[ben yip]

Remember that is a RWD, so his throttle and braking techniques are very different to what you should be doing so i wouldnt try to copy their footwork or their lines. ;)

LFB is amazing especially with an open diff FWD!!

May 20 is a sunday right? Ill try and come up for the day, ill share with you my lines if you give me a ride :P

I have asked the pro (John Boston) same question. He said it will be the same (for Wakefield Park). The other pro that I asked also mentioned the same thing. Let me know if you come because I will take the front seat out normally

Edited April 1, 2012 by ben yip

[4ABHGE]

Well ill be buying a gps data logger in the next few days and will be going to winton on the 13th, so i will show you the data when i go. Ill let you know about may 20 in the next couple of weeks ;)

[ben yip]

Went to Winton along with other members here. Winton is not my home track, so I am sort of challenging someone else land...

This is my second time in Winton. Did a lot of low 1:48, I don't think I have too much room to improve..

Expecting the sportivo can do 1:45, I am not bad at all !!!!!!!!!!!

Trial braking is really a key here to good lap times. Suspension balance as well..

Heel and toe must be used with trial braking, otherwise, the car will be unsettled

Car suspension is so good, no lift off oversteering at all in the long sweeper

Only thing is the rev limiter, if you watch the video, before the long sweeper, the rev limiter is at its limit of 3rd gear, however, not useful to change to 4th gear, I also experience 2nd rev limiter problem in the hairpins.... If I could change the gear ratio, that would be good

all the time here

http://www.natsoft.c.../05/2012.WIN.S2

I am going to Eastern creek in few days time, John Boston will be there

Edited May 23, 2012 by ben yip