Front-Engine, Rear-wheel-Drive Sport

or FR-S for short......I pulled the trigger a few days ago and put a deposit down on a 2013 Firestorm Red Scion FR-S with the 6-speed manual transmission. My new car just arrived in America and should be at the dealership in the next few days for me to pick up. It took me well over a month to find a 6MT FR-S in a color I wanted. Red was my top choice and I finally found one that happened to be allocated to Putnam Toyota in Altus, OK. I never thought I would be buying a car in Altus, OK but Kim at Putnam was great to work with and found me the car I wanted! Putnam Toyota is about 250mi from San Angelo so I will be making the trek after work one day with Ali to pick up the new whip....I can't wait.

Adios Miata....

I've been talking about selling my Miata for about a year and a half now....but I finally did it. I listed the Miata for sale last month and now it is on it's way home to an autocross in Virginia (go figure!). Corey lives in the Norfolk area and will be autocrossing with all of the Tidewater guys, so he will be racing against a bunch of folks I used to race against!

Here is the car right before he started the 1,500mi journey home:

I am going to miss this car - the great Miata chassis and steering coupled with the responsive Turbo engine was great fun. Now for the fun part though.....what to replace it with??

ESP Camaro Testing in College Station, TX

 Lane and I packed up and ready to test in College Station

Lane Borg and I did a two-day "Solo Nationals Prep" test in College Station, TX in his A-Stock Corvette and my ESP Camaro. The test days were hosted by the Texas A&M Sports Car Club (big thanks to these guys!) and we had the help of our friend and co-worker Josh Pu'u. Josh helped us swap parts on the cars, take tire temperatures and generally helped run the test. He was a huge help and neither of us would have gotten as much done without out him. Also in our posse for the weekend was our buddy Yama. He brought his rad Porsche Cayman R for some HQDA (high-quality dicking around) and drifting. He also took all of the photos you see below...except for the photos you see of him drifting his Cayman (wouldn't that be a neat trick). I took those photos with his camera.

Quick Spoiler Change

As for the testing, Lane and I both had very productive weekends. I tested 7 different combinations plus many control re-runs evaluating the new rear spoiler, UMI 2-pt. subframe connectors, twin-tube rear dampers, and monotube rear dampers. The spoiler was a significant lap time improvement on our test course - 0.2-0.3s consistently on a 33s lap. Obviously the time gain here is very course dependent, but that is what it showed on our test track that we set up to simulate the speeds of a National Tour SCCA course. The spoiler improved peak grip in high-speed corners and improved average slalom speed and made the car very progressive in transients. It did induce a bit a of understeer in high-speed offset slaloms, but it really allowed me to hammer it through standard slaloms. The subframe connectors improved average lap time by about 0.1s on our 33s test track with improved turn-in especially in slaloms. It made the front end more direct feeling and allowed me to carry a bit more speed on corner entry (less understeer). My damper tuning was less of a time gain and more of a learning experience - I learned which damper settings I liked and didn't like from a driving feel point of view. Lap times were similar but the monotube dampers made my lap times more consistent because the transient balance was more predictable and they produced less brake hop on corner entry of the hairpin corners. 

Yama's drifting sequence:

ESP Camaro Spoiler Project Update

Measure....measure twice

Cut 

 Check fitment

Make brackets and rivet to the Camaro

Spoiler mounted to Camaro minus support struts

Rear view of mounted spoiler

These are the Longacre spoiler supports that I will be using to support the top-side of the spoiler. As you can tell, the spoiler is way too tall. The blue line that can be seen drawn on the plastic is where I will be cutting the spoiler down to the 10" limit specified by the rules. This 10" maximum will be measured from the top of the trunk lid which will give me less usable height compared to some of my competitors due to my factory spoiler. Also, the spoiler looks weird because the plastic protecting film is still on the lexan. It will be nice and clear after I finish the project.

Thanks Josh and Lane for all the help!

Rear Spoiler Mock-Up for the ESP Camaro

My friends Lane and Josh helped me mock-up a rear spoiler for the ESP Camaro tonight. Lane and I will be testing his A-Stock Corvette and my ESP Camaro for two days in College Station, TX this weekend and aero testing will be part of my test plan. I am looking forward to see the result. I'm sure it will require some further suspension tuning to accommodate the rear downforce generated but it should a good "proof-of-concept" test for my car. I will post more pictures of the spoiler build as we finish it up this week. The final test spoiler will be made out of Lexan or Acrylic plastic.....not cardboard.

The office chair graphics on the spoiler are pretty hot.....

Hachi-Roku

My new obsession:

Here is my favorite video review of the car so far.....dorifuto (correct spelling according to authentic Japanese drift-master).

This is a car built for enthusiasts, racers, drifters, etc. and I choose to support Toyota/Scion/Subaru in their effort in hopes that "my vote" shows car companies that this is the type of car people want. Here's to hoping more RWD affordable sports cars will come from competitors in response!

June 23rd WTKA Club Race # 4 Report

First off, this is a first for Yaw Moment Racing....I am typing this race report from 30,000ft aboard a Delta flight to Virginia for a UVa buddy's wedding. Back to the racing - Joe, Stuart, and I raced our 125cc Shifter Karts with the West Texas Karting Association on June 23rd at Rimrock Raceway. It was blazing hot in Midland, TX last Saturday but our faithful crew member/pit bunny Ali made the trek with us. Given the 100deg temperature at 5pm when we arrived at the track, I decided to run one quick practice session on old tires as a shakedown. I was able to click off some consecutive 34.9s lap times which I was happy with given how worn my tires were (race tires from the SWRC last year).

At 8pm, the heat races (grid decided by pill pick) began and I raced on my MG Yellow tires from the May WTKA race that I won. Joe and Stuart ran a test day before this race while I was in Lincoln racing the Camaro and thrashed their May race tires so they bolted up some fresh sneakers. This would prove to be an advantage later in the evening. I drew Pole position for Heat 1 in our field of 5 shifter karts. After losing the lead after bogging at the start, I was able to slot back into P1 on Lap 1. Soon after, Stuart began to breathe down my neck on Lap 2. He gave me a little "love-tap" coming into the final hairpin which loosened me up and allowed him to sneak up beside me and take the lead into Turn 1. He checked out and went on the victory while I finished in a P3 after being passed by Joe on the final lap.

For Heat 2, I started in the 3rd position and was able to grab 2nd from Stuart at the start. I stayed there until the finish. My P2 and P3 finished put me in the P3 for the feature. The 12-lap feature was a fairly straightforward lead-follow race. Stuart started in P2 and we had a bit of a scrap on Lap 1 as I tried to pass him in several corners. I was not able to complete the pass and lost momentum which allowed him to build up a gap that he would not relinquish. Joe cruised to a comfortable victory with Stuart in P2 and me in the final podium spot.

I won't be able to race my shifter kart at Rimrock again until their September night race due to travel and SCCA racing conflicts. Hopefully, the San Angelo shifter kart racers can rack up some more victories later this year!


WTKA Website - Come out and race with us!

2012 Blytheville National Tour Race Report

Event: 2012 SCCA Blytheville Solo National Tour 

Date: June 10^th-11th, 2012
Car: 2001 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Class: E Street Prepared
Tire: Goodyear Eagle RS (AC) 315/35ZR17
Driver (s): Dave Ogburn III, David Ogburn Jr. (my Father) co-driver

Combined Day 1&2 Results
Total Competitors:  203
Class Competitors:  6
Class Finish Overall: P2 (trophy position)
Delta to 1st Overall:  0.775s
PAX Index Finish Overall:  14

Day 1 Results
Class Finish Day 1:  P2
Delta to 1st Day 1: 0.792s
PAX Index Finish Day 1:  35

Day 2 Results
Class Finish Day 2: P1
Winning Margin: 0.017s
PAX Index Finish Day 2: 8^th (top production-based racecar)

Results Links
Overall Results: http://www.scca.com/solo/content.cfm?cid=51045

PAX Results: http://www.sccaforums.com/forums/forumid/9/threadid/430558/scope/posts

Satellite Photos of the concrete runway track at the Arkansas Aeroplex

Ali and I arrived in Blytheville on Saturday June 9^th after picking up the ESP Camaro from LG Motorsports in Dallas, TX. LG Motorsports performed a dyno tune on the Camaro and found issues with the previous tune. This alone inhibited my pace in Lincoln because I was significantly down on power, but I also wanted to improve the handling balance and reduce the vehicle weight before Blytheville. Before I ran any test n’ tune runs, I changed to a softer rear ARB, removed the 2-pt. subframe connectors, and installed a lightweight battery in the right rear corner of the trunk (20lb weight savings).

After some initial sighting laps on the test n’ tune course, it was apparent that the engine was much stronger than in Lincoln and that the handling was improved – better front/rear balance, improved peak grip, and much better power-on oversteer characteristics. I started with 30psi front and 28psi rear. Unfortunately, the test n’ tune course had limited hours so I was only able to run 3 shakedown laps and was not able to perform any tire pressure studies.

There were 6 competitors in ESP class at Blytheville including 7-time National Champion Mark Madarash. I started off the year at the Texas National Tour approximately 1s behind Mark on outright pace on a 60-70s course. My relative pace dropped in Lincoln due to the car issues so I was looking to improve my pace relative to Mark in Blytheville. He provides an excellent benchmark because he is consistently fast at each event and is the fastest ESP car/driver (by a large margin) in the country. Overall, Day 1 went well. I solidly positioned myself into P2 in class and finished 0.7s back from Mark in 1st. The ESP Camaro felt great and was well-suited to the fast and flowing Blytheville courses. I was having some trouble (especially on Day 1) with some mid-corner understeer especially in long, sustained corners. 

It rained over night which made for a green track Monday morning. Also, track temps were cooler which shifted my car's balance more towards oversteer. Power-on oversteer was still excellent but I was able to rotate the car more on entry and exit and modulate the car’s attitude with the throttle.  With this balance change, I was able to more accurately place the car on track and carry more speed through linked transient elements like off-set gates leading into a slalom. For the first time this year, I set top time for the day in ESP. My 49.913s 3rd run put me 0.017s ahead of the field. With increased tire temperature and adapting to the car/tire’s balance, I was able to improve my pace relative to the top ESP cars which I was very pleased with. Also, I was several tenths quicker than the fastest Super Stock (C6 Z06) drivers which is something I have not done at previous National Events. Another encouraging note is that my fast run from Day 2 was the 18^th 60+ second run on that set of tires which shows good wear potential for the Goodyears and that I may have been even quicker with new tires.

Overall, this was my best event of the year in the ESP Camaro. The improvements I made to my Camaro suited the Goodyear tires well. There is still pace to be unlocked from the Camaro through weight reduction and suspension tuning, so I will be working hard this summer to find a few more tenths for Lincoln in September. 

Onboard video from Day 2 fast run: 

Here are photos taken by Ali from my Heat:

Day 1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yaw_moment_racing/sets/72157630170621596/ 

Day 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yaw_moment_racing/sets/72157630174872866/

Photo credit: Ali Ogburn

ESP Camaro Update - Engine Power is Back!

On the Road to Blytheville, AR This Morning

After my disappointing results at the Lincoln National Tour two weeks ago, I dropped the car off at LG Motorsports in Dallas for a dyno tune. I picked up the car yesterday on the way to Bytheville, Arkansas for the National Tour race this weekend, and am pleased (well this is good and bad, I guess) that we were actually down on power on Lincoln....not just going crazy and making excuses. We were giving up 25 peak HP at the wheels and lots of "area under the curve" especially at high RPM which is exactly how it felt on track. The silver lining is that I was still able to manage a 5th place finish with the poor setup and low power so there is much room for improvement.

Ali and I met my parents at the Arkansas Aeroplex today and I had some setup and car development plans for the car before we hit the test n' tune track. Based on my read on the car balance/performance the past two events, I decided to take a step back and "reset" the car's base setup and make an effort to reduce weight. My basic philosophy was the If I increased power from the dyno tune, reduced weight and improved the power-on  oversteer, I would improve my pace. Sounds logical, right? I started off by installing an 11.5lb Braille batter in the rear of the car. This is a 19lb improvement over the stock battery which I had mounted in the factory position. I then removed the subframe connectors and went to a softer rear ARB. I got to take a few runs on the test n' tune car afterwards and the car felt great with 28psi in the Goodyear Eagle RS tires. Transient balance was good and the car would rotate under the brake progressively and it was a monster power-on. Hopefully this translates into improved pace for the National Tour which starts tomorrow. We are running 2nd heat so wish us luck!

You can follow live timing and scoring here: http://sololive.scca.com/

We should be running around 10:30 tomorrow morning.

Pickup, Clag, Marbles, etc........

I brought some of Licoln Airpark's infamous tire pickup (I hate the term OPR and will never use it) with me back to San Angelo. I cleaned my race tires up last night to prep for the Blytheville National Tour and after about an hour with my heat gun, I had this pile to show for my efforts:

Solid couple of pounds off my race tires. Even if it doesn't affect grip, at least I cut some weight......