About a month ago, we conducted a head-to-head comparison between two popular chemical rust removers, with some very surprising results. Then the whole excitement happened around current events, and we kind of forgot about the samples. By the time we got around to cleaning up our workspace, our three rusty brackets had been soaking in their rust remover baths for an entire month. So we thought it would be a good opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade and use these neglected samples to test a claim touted by both manufacturers - That these rust converters won't damage clean metal. While it might seem like a minor point, it is actually something worth testing. After all, both of these solutions are more expensive than some very common rust removal products. For example, muriatic acid and media tumblers can also do a very good job of removing corrosion from ferrous metals at a fraction of the price. The problem is that they need to be watched carefully. Leave your corroded parts in too long and they might end up eroding away some of the precious good metal underneath. The value behind products like Deox-C and Evapo-Rust is that you can literally "set and forget" them. So let's test to see how true those claims are. How is this Even Possible? This does raise the question - What makes products like Evapo-Rust and Deox-C so special that they can even make such a bold claim? The secret to achieving this non-destructive rust removal is a chemical process called chelation. Chelation is a chemical process that involves using an agent which binds to a metallic agent and separates it from the surrounding materials, not unlike the way soap binds to grease and oils. It's the same principle behind how a household water softener works, and is the same technique used by hospitals to treat patients with heavy metal poisoning. There are a wide variety of chelating agents out there, and the art is picking the correct one for the application. Choose the wrong one, and it may end up disintegrating your work pieces instead of cleaning them. What this means is that this experiment is really a test of how whether these manufacturers did their homework in selecting their chelating agents, and how well they did in selecting the right chelating agents to do the job. Visual Inspection By the time we wrote this article, our three work pieces had been soaking in their rust remover baths for a full 30 days. In order to preserve the condition of the work pieces, we only gently wiped the brackets down with a dry paper towel and before bringing them to the workbench for a closer visual analysis. Evapo-Rust The work piece soaked in Evapo-Rust looks quite similar to when it had been in the rust remover bath for 24 hours. There is some noticeable pitting as well as some mild etching in the cleaned area, but the brackets do not seem to be any thinner or more brittle than they were when we filmed our comparison. Thanks to the effects of evaporation, all three samples have a band of de-rusted metal that ended up being exposed to the air for an extended period of time. This band of exposed metal is clean and nearly rust-free on the Evapo-Rust sample. It seems that Evapo-rust has an additive that prevents flash-rusting: A convenient feature for when you aren't able to seal and paint your work pieces right away. 5% Deox-C Solution The 5% Deox-C solution seems to have produced similar results to the Evapo-Rust, with some subtle differences. The pitting on the clean end of the bracket is less pronounced than with the Evapo-Rust solution, and the etching of the metal is very slightly less noticeable. However, the exposed band of metal near the untouched rusted portion had clearly flash rusted and is starting to corrode again. This is an indicator that you should immediately wash, prep, and seal your work pieces immediately after removing them from a Deox-C bath. If you are working on large work pieces, this is also an indicator that you should have enough extra liquid to keep your parts submerged, just in case some of it happens to evaporate out of the top of the container. 20% Deox-C Solution The higher concentration of Deox-C seemed to have zero pitting, in stark contrast to the other two samples. This is an indicator that some of the pitting had happened during the rust removal process, and the higher concentration rust remover had dissolved the larger chunks of rust before they could corrode the clean metal underneath. What is surprising was the extremely even etching on the freshly cleaned surfaces. We expected more pronounced surface etching on this sample compared to the others, as the Deox-C is very slightly acidic. As with the 5% Deox-C solution, the band of exposed metal on this sample also showed signs of surface rust, though not to the extent of the 5% solution. Measuring the Outcome Because none of the samples showed significant amounts of erosion, we broke out the digital calipers and measured the thickness of the brackets to see how material had been dissolved. We took multiple measurements of the freshly cleaned sections, the cleaned portion that was exposed to open air, and the original rusted section to see how the thicknesses of the brackets changed. In order to get the most accurate results possible, we took four different measurements of each section and averaged them together. Here are the results: Conclusions and Recommendations From these results, we can see that Evapo-Rust and Deox-C do live up to their claims of being safe for ferrous metals. While the process removed almost 1 mm of material from the original rusted brackets, we can see from the exposed sections of metal that the majority of this was rust and scale. The extended rust remover bath seems to have done little to affect the thickness or integrity of the clean metal within these rusty brackets. The biggest surprise of this test was the 20% Deox-C solution. We expected that the high concentration of powder would have eaten into the metals significantly more than the others. Our results showed that this was not the case. On top of this, the 20% Deox-C solution gave us the best results in the visual test, producing the least amount of metal pitting and the most even surface of our three samples. The added silver lining for us here is that it does seem to be possible to turn lemons into lemonade... Even if they have been abandoned in the garage for an entire month. ~R Disclosure Section: StudioVRM is not affiliated with Evapo-Rust or Bilt Hamber. All products were bought out of Roger's own pocket at full price so we could do these tests.

Our last video spurred a few questions about what went into making our DIY rear wing. Between picking the right profile, choosing the right materials, and forming the required shapes accurately by hand, there's a lot of work involved in making your own wing. The skills and materials are often so specialized that it isn't possible for your average DIY mechanic to build his or her own rear wing. Fortunately for the budget-constrained of us, there is a big market for cheap, appearance-oriented aero add-ons. And some of those huge ricer wings can be made to work on your track or race car. Here's how: Find the Right Cheap Wing The first thing to do is to find the right wing to work off of. Not all cheap wings produce usable downforce. In fact, some cheap wings have so many problems that it isn't worth trying to modify them. Look for wings that are: Single element Have a simple profile (or bear a strong resemblance to the APR 3D wing profile) Have no holes in the endplates Are as wide as possible Include tall struts that bring your wing up to roof height (or higher) Here are some examples of wings that could be easily modified to produce downforce: Avoid wings that look like this. They have so many fundamental problems that they aren't worth fixing: Add Internal Reinforcement One common attribute among cheap wings is that they are more flexible than their more expensive counterparts. While it is ok for an automotive wing to be flexible, they do need to be rigid in a few key places. Those key places are the areas where the wing connects to the wing supports, and the trailing edge of the wing. Most of the cheaper plastic and aluminum wings out there have no internal ribbing to support these key points. So the first modification you will want to do is to add some reinforcement to these points. The "right" way to do this would be to cut the wing open, add in internal ribs, glue them into position, and glue the wing back together. But there is a much cheaper, much easier way to accomplish this. And that involves using our old friend, 2-part expanding urethane foam. Most of you who subscribed to car tuning magazines through the 90's and early 2000's will recognize this stuff. It's the same foam that enthusiasts used to pour into the side sills of cars to make their chassis stiffer. When mixed together in a 1:1 ratio, this two part foam quickly expands and hardens into a stiff, lightweight structure with properties similar to a light wood. We drilled a few extra holes near the mounting points of our plastic wing, and poured in a small amount of the 16 lb/cu ft density. We first poured in a bit of foam and stood the wing up on its trailing edge to make sure that it would fill the tall gurney flap on our plastic wing. After allowing it to set for 10-15 minutes, we laid the wing down poured a small amount of foam into the holes to reinforce the mounting points for the wing uprights. This will ensure that the wing wouldn't collapse when faced with a 100 mph headwind like you would see on a racetrack. Work slowly and pour the foam in small portions. You don't need much foam to fill the open cavities inside the wing. We used 1 oz shot glasses as measuring cups to make sure that we didn't overfill the wing. Sand off the excess and paint to match the rest of the wing. Why go through the trouble of doing all this? The picture below shows what can happen if you run a hollow wing without the appropriate reinforcements in place. A functional rear wing can generate hundreds of pounds of downforce at high speeds. These forces are easily high enough to crack the skin on these cheap wings. This wing had big cracks around their mounting holes from years of hard racing. If left alone, this could have resulted in the whole wing breaking off of the car mid-corner which, needless to say, would have been an extremely dangerous situation. Fortunately, this is easy to fix if you catch it early enough. If this happens, drill small holes at the ends of the cracks to prevent them from getting worse. Then fill the cracks with a structural epoxy to ensure that no new cracks appear. Choose Endplates that Don't Suck Most budget friendly wings tend to come with very sharp, angular endplates that are trimmed into thin teardrop shapes. While these designs do look good, they actually don't work very well. Why? It's because the main purpose of endplates are to keep the fast moving airflow from spilling over the edges of the wing. The most effective endplate designs tend to be simple squared-off designs that are large enough to cover the full chord of the wing. Very few cheap wings come with great endplates, but you can avoid the worst offenders by knowing what to look for. Try to find a wing that comes with large, flat endplates. The closer they are to a simple rectangle or square, the better they will work. Stay away from endplates with big slots or holes in them. These endplates are basically guaranteed to not do anything for performance: If you want to get the maximum benefit from your rear wing, you will need to make your own endplates. Fortunately this is quite simple. Drill a few holes into a piece of sheet metal or a 1/4" thick flat polycarbonate sheet and bolt them onto your wing in place of the endplates that came with your cheap wing. Bolster your Trunk Mounted Supports In an ideal situation, you would want your wing supports to bolt through your trunk and into your chassis. This ensures that all of the downforce generated by the wing is transmitted to the chassis and wheels. However, all of the cheap wings available on the market are designed to be mounted to the trunk or hatch panel, rather than the chassis. Fortunately, most car trunks and hatches are capable of handling the downforce produced by bolt on rear wings. The key is to spread the load as much as possible, and there are a few tricks you can use to do this. The first is to make sure that the wing is mounted as close to the rearward edge of the trunk (or hatch) as possible. The edges of the trunk panel are significantly stronger than the middle, and it will go a long way towards reducing unwanted flexing and bending. The second is to reinforce the underside of the trunk where the uprights bolt through the chassis. Most of the wing uprights that come with cheap wings tend to extend very far forward and are slanted rearwards at a fairly shallow angle. In most cases, this puts the center of pressure of the wing behind the rear feet of the wing supports. When a wing like this produces downforce, it will actually try to pivot around the rear feet of the wing uprights, pushing the rear feet down while pulling the front feet upwards. If the trunk is not strong enough to resist this motion, the wing will tilt upwards at higher speeds, resulting in a loss of downforce as you go faster. Adding a few fender washers on the underside of the wing uprights will help reduce trunk flexing and will help transmit all of that hard earned downforce to the chassis. Do You Need an Expensive Wing at All? With a few careful modifications, an inexpensive wing will get you very close to the performance of a more expensive aftermarket wing. So why would you spend the extra money for an expensive purpose-built racing wing? There are a few good reasons: Higher efficiency from newer wing profiles The profiles of cheap aftermarket wings are either copies of a popular wing or are modeled after a common NACA airfoil profile. While these profiles do work, they are older designs and tend to generate more drag relative to the amount of downforce they produce. The current generation of aftermarket racing wings are extremely efficient, and even the simplest looking of aftermarket wings boast a much higher downforce to drag ratio than the most elaborate looking "3D" wing profiles of yesteryear. With a cheaper wing, you will always give up a bit of efficiency compared to a well-designed modern racing wing. Better variety in profile and width options Need a dual element wing for your powerful hillclimb car? How about an extra wide wing for your unlimited class time attack car? You'll need to shell out for a proper racing wing. Unfortunately there are almost no workable cheap wing kits that fit the bill for these niche applications. Slightly lower weight As you might expect, purpose-built racing wings do tend to be lighter than these DIY wings. While the wing elements themselves are only fractionally lighter than a foam filled DIY wing, the wing uprights tend to be much lighter than the heavy steel pieces that come with cheap kits. If weight is a big concern for your car, going with a dedicated racing wing can mean saving 5-8 lbs off of the rear end. Conclusion and Recommendations With a bit of time and a few small modifications, you can make an affordable, functional wing that actually produces downforce. It might be a little more draggy and weigh a bit more than a high-dollar carbon fiber racing wing, but it will make your car much more stable through high-speed corners. It's a worthwhile modification for many track cars, as well as on club racing cars in classes which allow add-on aero. If your aero budget is closer to $100 than the $500-$700 that many racing wing kits cost, give this option a serious look. You'll appreciate the added stability as well as the low impact it will have on your wallet. See you at the track.

Photos by Sam Draiss Media and Denise Conner Millville, NJ – New Jersey native Roger Maeda brought home the Championship Gold at his home track, clinching the fast lap of the race from his pro racing competitors while securing his team's first USTCC Championship Trophy. This year-long victory would only come after a gauntlet of three close races in which the StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude fended off challenges from racers in both the Sportsman and Super Touring classes. When the dust settled, it was the privateer Honda team that emerged on top, clocking the fastest lap out of any of the US Touring Car Championship cars that raced this weekend. Saturday Heat Race 1 Cold track conditions and blustery crosswinds tipped polesitter Brandon Lewis into a Lap 1 spin, turning Heat Race 1 into a straight shootout between Roger’s Honda Prelude and Andrew Conner’s E90 BMW 325i. The series champions-to-be traded places and ran within striking distance through the entire 10 lap Heat Race before Andrew unleashed the full 300hp from his BMW’s S54 engine and beat the green Honda to the line on the very last lap. Saturday Heat Race 2 More lap 1 excitement ensued when Martin Szwarc’s BRT Honda Civic Si turned completely sideways directly in front of the Studio Prelude on the Ski-Jump Turn 5 corner. Roger dodged the sliding Civic and brought the car home safely in preparation for the all-important Feature Race ahead. Sunday Feature Race Roger’s fervent pursuit of the SP class leader was cut short by the untimely intervention of the Safety Car. Undeterred, Roger switched his sights to Andrew Conner’s Super Touring class On Q Racing BMW 325i in a revenge match from the first Heat Race. In the process, the StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude clocked a fast lap of the race of 1:16.092 – Faster than the 300hp machines in the Super Touring class. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Feature Race: 2nd in Sportsman, 3rd overall in USTCC Fastest Lap: 1:16.092 “It’s a good day for us here at StudioVRM.Racing. All we can say is - Thank you. Thank you to our loyal crew who have sacrificed countless hours to keep our team running. Thank you to our amazing fans who came out to the track to support us all season. Thank you to our technical partner Bad Guys Worldwide and IT solutions partner Blue Leaf Technologies for lending us your tremendous skills while believing in us. Thank you to the members of the Honda Prelude Racing Group who provided technical advice, upgraded components, and the encouragement we needed through the good times and bad. Thank you to our competitors on both the East and West coasts of the US Touring Car Championship for giving us great battles and even better support. Thank you to all of you who follow us on StudioVRM.net and are subscribed to us on our YouTube channel for your kind words and never-ending support. Thank you to my exceptionally patient family – Especially my 7-year-old daughter, who I hope will one day join me on the podium as a pro driver in the USTCC. We would like to dedicate our championship victory to a fellow Prelude racer by the name of Gordon Forbes. Gordon was one of the first people to ever contact us through our tech tips website, StudioVRM.net. His unwavering support has often been the bright light that helped us get through our darkest days. Thank you, Gordon. This one’s for you.”

Photos by Sam Draiss Media Summit Point, WV – The 2024 USTCC East Series opener proved to be a tough test for StudioVRM’s Roger Maeda, as electrical problems with the team’s 2024 spec Prelude touring car brought their Feature Race to an early end. Despite this, Maeda would find himself on the top step of the podium after the class leader was penalized for a shock post-race technical infringement. Qualifying The team managed the Saturday qualifying session well, finding enough space on track to set two fast laps in a busy 29-car Big Bore group. Unfortunately, an issue with the #22 car’s transponder meant that neither of those qualifying laps were recorded by Timing & Scoring. To add to the team’s problems, the PGM-FI fuse, a safety mechanism designed to protect the Prelude’s core engine control electronics, blew at the start of the Qualifying Race, sidelining Maeda before the session had even begun. The lack of a fast lap from these two sessions meant that the StudioVRM Honda Prelude would have to start Sunday’s Feature Race from the back of the grid. Sunday Feature Race With some quick fixes made to the wiring and a new PGM-FI fuse installed, the team sent the StudioVRM Prelude out to mount a fight back from the back row. An aggressive charge through the tail end of the field allowed Maeda to catch up to Braci Racing Team’s Martin Szwarc, who was now enjoying a strong run of pace after solving the brake issues that had hampered his Civic’s performance on Saturday. Knowing that Szwarc would only get faster as the race went on, Maeda opted to seize an opportunity to launch an inside attack through Summit Point’s fast uphill turn 9, leading to a 3-wide race for the apex for the high-speed turn 10 onto the main straight. The Prelude’s Bad Guys-enhanced H22 engine allowed Maeda to pull ahead of the BRT Civic by the Turn 10 bridge, and the 2024 spec aero package gave him the grip he needed to muscle past the #60 Ford Mustang in an inside attack through the fast sweeper. This high-risk maneuver paid off handsomely, as the team’s green Prelude made it to turn 1 first while setting off in pursuit of Andrew Conner’s fire-red On Q Racing BMW 325i. Sadly, the StudioVRM.Racing team’s efforts would be cut cruelly short when the electrical problem from before returned with a vengeance, this time in the form of a Throttle Position Sensor failure. Maeda pulled off into the escape road at Turn 1 a few laps later to wait out the remainder of the race in the safety of Summit Point’s trackside Skidpad. However, Round 1 of the US Touring Car Championship East Series had one last twist to store before its curtain call. Braci Racing Team’s Martin Szwarc had missed the mandatory call to post-race impound and was penalized with a loss of position in the final results. This elevated Maeda and the StudioVRM.Racing team to first in class in the Sportsman class, gifting them a win on technicality. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Feature Race: 1st* in Sportsman, 3rd overall in USTCC Fastest Lap: 1:24.791 “There is a big asterisk next to today’s result, as Martin Szwarc’s BRT Honda Civic actually finished ahead of us on the road. Our race pace was encouraging, and I think we showed that our 2024 spec aero and suspension package have a tremendous amount of potential. We need to eliminate the small reliability issues and preparatory mistakes so we can earn our next win on merit. Huge thanks to the team, especially guest mechanic Glenn Halfpap, who once again arrived at the perfect time to help tackle issues with our car as well as to brighten up the mood with a fresh batch of Mrs. Halfpap’s fantastic oatmeal raisin cookies. Thank you, Glenn. You were our team’s MVP this Sunday.” "Z" Jefferson – Race Engineer – StudioVRM.Racing “The first weekend of the season looked promising but gremlins were underfoot. They started with mild trouble in the form of a snapped hood pin before getting on track. A blown fuse before green in qualifying meant we absolutely needed to run the warmup before Sunday's race. After another blown fuse in warm up we were just hoping things would hold together for race distance. Even though full race distance wasn't in the cards this weekend we were able to get in over half race distance on the 2nd fuse replacement before succumbing to more trouble. Quickly catching up from the rear showed promise so we need to get the issues sorted before the next race."

Photos by Sam Draiss Media Millville, NJ – A close quarters duel with BRT’s Martin Szwarc ended in disappointment as the StudioVRM Prelude’s H22 powerplant expired halfway into the Round 2 Feature Race at NJ Motorsports Park. Adding to the frustration was the fact that the East Series Championship contenders were enjoying their most competitive race weekends of the year and were gearing up for a fantastic fight before mechanical gremlins struck for the second time in two races. Qualifying Fast lap: 1:15.373 The team’s debugged 2024 aero package showed its strength in Qualifying as Maeda weaved through traffic to post a 1:15.569 on his first attack lap. As the track rubbered in and other cars pulled off early, Maeda continued to improve his lap times, ultimately recording a 1:15.373. This was fast enough to place the StudioVRM Prelude 11th overall and fastest of the USTCC SP class cars. Saturday Heat Race A strong start allowed Maeda to immediately overtake two cars and jump up to 9th overall, with Braci Racing Team’s Martin Szwarc following closely behind. This position would be short lived, however, as the battling duo would have to cede position to allow some of the higher-powered cars to race with cars in their own classes. By lap 5, Maeda and Szwarc found themselves locked in single combat while running behind the Corvette Z51 of Chuck Burns. As the straight-line speed of Burns’ Corvette made it difficult for the two Sportsman class Hondas to overtake cleanly, Maeda was forced to defend against attacks from the BRT Honda Civic while patiently waiting for an opportunity to get past the crimson V8 sports car ahead. Ultimately, the Saturday Heat Race ended in Maeda’s favor when Szwarc experienced a splitter support rod issue on his Civic and was forced to back off. Sunday Feature Race Sunday’s feature race saw the grid reshuffled slightly due to some of the competitors improving their lap times during the Saturday Heat Race. Maeda managed a strong start once again, lifting the StudioVRM Honda Prelude up to 12th overall by the end of the first lap, with BRT’s Martin Szwarc once again following inches behind. The two Sportsman Class runners navigated both faster and slower traffic, only for this time to catch up to the fight between brothers Jim and Robert Benson in their exotic high powered GT cars. Maeda once again found himself working to fend off Szwarc’s attacks while trying to keep his distance where the Prelude’s aerodynamic advantage made it faster than the cars ahead.While the USTCC SP class drivers dueled for top honors, trouble began brewing deep within the StudioVRM Prelude’s H22 powerplant. A problem in cylinder #3 of the car’s engine was allowing combustion gasses to get past the piston rings and blow engine oil into the catch can. That oil eventually overflowed the can, causing some of it to spill out onto the track, to the unfortunate peril of other cars behind. Faced with the possibility of creating an even more hazardous situation for other cars on track, Maeda decided to retire the car early and ceding the SP class lead to BRT’s Martin Szwarc. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Feature Race: 2nd in Sportsman, 4th overall in USTCC Qualifying Time: 1:15.373 Fastest Race Lap: 1:17.422 “It's been a tremendously frustrating weekend for us, and we have no one to blame but ourselves. The engine failure looks almost identical to the issue we experienced at Pittsburgh in 2022 and is one we would have been caught if we hadn’t compromised our race preparation to run the car at an exhibition event on the weekend prior to this one. Our apologies to the competitors who were behind us when the car’s catch can overflowed and laid down oil on track. We are down but we are not out. With the help of our technical partner Bad Guys Worldwide, we are building a new engine to the limit of the power rules allowed in USTCC’s Sportsman class. With that extra horsepower and some of the chassis upgrades we have in store, we should be able to bounce back with a competitive showing later in the summer.” Z. Jefferson – Race Engineer – StudioVRM.Racing “We were elated at the end of the first session where the Prelude managed all qualifying laps without incident and with a respectable time. There seemed to be a handful of adjustments to make for the following races but nothing major. After completing all laps of the first race, the Prelude came back with oil on the splitter and a full catch can, giving us flashbacks of prior gremlins and massive oil cleanups. After retiring early in the final race of the weekend we know this will take a bit of time to correct but are hopefully the majority of the setup is in good shape and we can return with a reliable fast car.”

StudioVRM.Racing is returning to the US Touring Car Championship for the 2022 season. The plan for is to run our Prelude in the SP class, with some potential one-off entries in the ProjectCRX Honda CRX and the Chasing Tarmac Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Look for us in the paddock at the following events this season: 2022 Season Schedule See you at the track.

StudioVRM.Racing is coming for the US Touring Car Championship, against faster and better prepared competition. Wish us luck, and look for us in the paddock at the following events this season: 2023 Season Schedule See you at the track.

Photos by Andy Yoon, Denise Conner, and Aziza Jefferson May 28, 2023 (Millville, N.J.) – An unusual set of circumstances forced StudioVRM.Racing driver Roger Maeda to start from the back of the Big Bore field at the 2nd round of the 2023 USTCC East Series. Undeterred by the setback, Roger fought his way through the field before a broken outer CV joint relegated Team StudioVRM.Racing to a distant 2nd place in Sportsman class. Sunday Feature Race A family emergency prevented Roger from arriving at NJ Motorsports Park’s Lightning Circuit until late Saturday, preventing him from taking part in Qualifying or the Heat Race. This meant that he would have to start from the back of the Big Bore field during the Sunday Feature Race. Our Prelude pilot made a flyer of a start, streaming past a classic GT1 Corvette and a Fox-body Mustang in fervent pursuit of the USTCC cars that had qualified further up the grid. By lap 2, Roger’s green Prelude managed to get within half a second of the Sportsman class leader, Martin Szwarc in his newly christened Braci Racing 8th gen Honda Civic Si Sedan. The silver Civic, equipped with high-lift cams from engine gurus Bad Guys Worldwide, used its prodigious straight-line speed to keep our StudioVRM Prelude behind. Roger neutralized the Civic’s power with the Prelude’s superior speed through the Lightning Circuit’s high-speed Lightbulb turn before making an assertive outside pass through Lightning’s Turn 1. Unfortunately, this victory would prove short-lived. The Prelude’s left outer CV joint boot had popped loose during this move, allowing the grease inside the joint to escape the joint. A huge plume of smoke erupted from the green Honda’s left front wheel well as Redline CV2 grease evaporated against the Prelude’s red hot brake rotors. Despite this, Roger did his best to get the car to the finish. But it wasn’t to be. On lap 12, the exposed CV joint failed entirely, forcing an early end to our race. Because Team StudioVRM.Racing had completed over half the racing laps of the 22-lap race, the team earned a 2nd place in Sportsman class. It was no doubt a disappointing result for the East Brunswick based team, but the team left the track with valuable points which would keep us in the title fight. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Qualifying: N/A Race: 2nd in Sportsman, 4th in USTCC, 22nd Overall Fastest Lap: 1:17.476 “An exploded outer CV joint ended our race before we could show our true pace. But we clocked enough laps to classify P2 in Sportsman and brought the car home in one piece. More importantly, a big congratulations to Martin Szwarc and the Braci Racing Team for a well-deserved debut win. I know the team was absolutely thrashing to get the car ready for this weekend and we couldn’t be happier to see their long nights of wrenching pay off in a big way.”

Whether in our garages, on our sim rigs, in our offices, or in our living rooms, there is a good chance that every one of us owns a flat screen TV or monitor of some sort. And if you have ever invited a small child into your home, that TV is guaranteed to have at least one big scratch on its screen. The TVs here at StudioVRM HQ are no exceptions to that rule, as every single screen and laptop in the Studio has been scratched or gouged at some point. And yet, the only way you can see the scratches on our TVs is to shine a bright light directly at the screen and look from a very specific angle. What's our secret? Here it is: This is a TurtleWax clear coat repair pen. You can find it at some auto parts stores for about $8, or as part of the TurtleWax T-234KT Scratch Repair Kit for about $13 US from Amazon. While the whole kit is admittedly pretty average for fixing scratches in car paint, the clearcoat pen that comes in it produces one of the most durable, optically clear finishes of any liquid clear coat repair kit. The method listed below was inspired by a YouTube creator by the name of Bob Does it All. Check out his original version of the fix here. What does this work on? This fix will permanently repair medium to deep scratches on TVs, computer screens, and laptop screens with a gloss-finish screen. It will also help reduce the visibility of scratches on matte-finish screens, but will not work as well as on a glossy screen. Based on our testing, this fix works better on plastic screens than glass screens. Unfortunately, this method will not fully repair scratches on tinted screens. How to Fix Scratches on Your TV or Monitor - The Step-By-Step Here's what you need: One TurtleWax scratch repair pen A brand-new razor blade A small roll of masking tape A Magic Eraser or similar Melamine cleaning sponge A handful of alcohol screen cleaning wipes, or a bottle of 70% isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free (preferably microfiber) cloth And here is the step-by-step guide, demonstrated on this scratched touch screen of a Lenovo X1: 1. Use the alcohol screen cleaning wipes to remove any dust and dirt from the entire screen. Focus on the area of the scratch, and if possible, try to get some of the alcohol inside the scratch to remove any plastic or glass dust that may be trapped inside. The better you can clean the scratches, the better the end result will be. 2. Shake up the Scratch Repair pen and wipe the tip of the pen with one of the alcohol pads. This will remove any "crust" on the tip of the pen so that you won't end up embedding any of it on your TV screen. 3. Lightly press the pen against the screen and squeeze the body to let out the scratch repair liquid. Use a generous amount, and don't worry if it drips or spills over the sides of the scratch. 4. Let the liquid dry for 3-4 hours. 5. Cut some small strips of masking tape and wrap the corners of your razor blade as seen below. This will keep the corners of the razor from putting any new scratches on your screen. 6. Scrape the razor blade at an angle to the scratch to remove any excess clear coat repair liquid. Try not to scrape perpendicular to the scratch, or you may end up removing some of the repair material from the scratch that you are trying to fill. 7. Soak the Magic Eraser in water and gently rub it against the area surrounding the scratch to remove any excess clear coat material. The excess clear should flake off easily. 8. Wipe the screen again and inspect the scratch. If it is still visible, repeat steps 3-7. In our experience, shallower scratches took only one pass, while deeper scratches took 2 to 3 applications to fix. And that's it. Even with the contrast turned up on our camera, the scratches on our laptop screen are much less noticeable than before. With the laptop turned on, these scratches are completely invisible: The results were even better when we used this method to fix the ballpoint pen gouges on our Sony Bravia TV. Even when we turned the contrast up and held a finger up to the screen to get the camera to focus on the scratch, we couldn't get the repaired scratches to show up on camera: We hope this trick serves you as well as it has us. See you at the track. Disclosure Section: All products shown here were purchased out of Roger's own pocket, at full price. StudioVRM is an Amazon Associate, which means that we get a small amount of referral income if you buy a product using any Amazon links above. StudioVRM and Roger Maeda are not affiliated with TurtleWax. While the USTCC series that we race in is sponsored by TurtleWax, the products in this review were purchased from retail sources at full price.

StudioVRM.Racing is defending its US Touring Car Championship East Series crown with a faster, more refined machine and team. Wish us luck, and look for us in the paddock at the following events this season: 2024 Race Schedule **The team anticipates that we will miss these events due to a major mechanical issue with our USTCC car. See you at the track.

Photo Credit: Denise Conner, On Q Racing September 17, 2023 (Watkins Glen, N.Y.) – Handicapped by 100 lbs of REWARDS weight from his early season wins and saddled with the lowest top speed of all cars in the USTCC East Series, touring car driver Roger Maeda expected an uphill battle for the team at the fast and flowing Watkins Glen International. And indeed, it would be a case of damage limitation for the team as they contended with the challenge of keeping faster cars behind them on a famously unforgiving track. Saturday Race – Long Course Despite being headquartered within a 4-hour drive from the Finger Lakes, this was the first time Roger Maeda or StudioVRM.Racing had ever put a wheel on Watkins Glen International’s historic 3.45-mile track. Fortunately, Roger had driven the track in the USTCC Winter Virtual Series and had an idea of what to expect as a result. Building on that experience, Roger quickly ramped up his pace and put the StudioVRM Prelude 22nd on the grid out of 34 cars during Saturday’s race. Crucially, this meant that he was now going to start ahead of all of the other USTCC cars that were racing this weekend. All he had to do was defend that position for 25 minutes on the fastest track on the USTCC East Series calendar. Roger executed a clean start to stay ahead of Andrew Conner’s On Q Racing E90 BMW 325i through The Glen’s steeply banked Turn 1. He then tucked in behind the huge rear wing of Patrick Fanning’s Factory Ford Mustang FR500S and waited patiently for an opportunity to improve his position over the next 15 minutes. That plan would be suddenly derailed with the unexpected appearance of double yellow flags. An engine failure for A Sedan Mustang driver Jared Licklider caused a two-car crash into the guard rails along the high-speed back straight. The safety car emerged soon after, collecting the entire field and bringing them back to pit lane for an early end to Saturday’s race. In the end, Roger would successfully defend his starting position, taking the checkered flag as the leading USTCC car in 21st overall. Sunday Race – NASCAR Short Course The USTCC ran Sunday’s Feature Race on the “boot-less” short course layout – a fast, flowing layout that rewards a bit of risk-taking by racers and teams. Thanks to the experience from the prior day, Roger managed to qualify ahead of Conner’s fire-red BMW and even start several places higher than he had on Saturday. Unfortunately, it would all come undone at Turn 1. A freak mechanical issue pitched the B.R.A. Chevrolet Monza GT into a spin just two cars in front of the StudioVRM Prelude. Roger managed to weave his way through the turn 1 turmoil, but lost six places in the process – dropping him to dead last of the remaining cars in the leading pack. An aggressive fightback ensued as we managed to retake 17th overall from a Mustang GT500 in pursuit of the other USTCC cars further up the field. We had just managed to get within sight of the On Q Racing BMW when the Prelude’s clutch started slipping out of nowhere. We originally suspected that our H22's rear main seal had failed. But when GFAB's Grant Labay assessed the damage afterwards, he discovered that the clutch pressure plate had exploded and punctured the transmission casing. This wildly random failure would bring about an early end to our Sunday race. Roger brought the Prelude back to pit lane a few laps early with a small cloud of oil following in our green Honda’s wake. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Saturday Race: 1st in Sportsman, 21st OverallFastest Lap: 2:18.357 Sunday Race: 1st in Sportsman, 22nd OverallFastest Lap: 1:29.839 “Our car has the lowest top speed of all USTCC East Series teams, so we knew this Watkins Glen round was going to be the toughest race weekend on the 2023 USTCC East calendar. Thanks to our high-downforce aero setup, rock solid FFC / Raybestos brakes, and our well-tuned suspension setup, we were able to defend our position by aggressively attacking the kerbs. The big surprise this weekend was learning just how much we liked this track. I personally love how the high-grip surface, swooping banked turns, and rollercoaster elevation changes all add up to a track that encourages skilled risk-taking. The scenery is beautiful and even the people here are exceptionally nice. Watkins Glen International may have become my new favorite track. Z (our race engineer) and I analyzed the data, and we already found a few places where we can  shave huge chunks off our lap time on both the long and short courses. Long story short, we can’t wait to come back.”

We at StudioVRM.Racing are excited to announce that Blue Leaf Technologies has signed on to become our team's official Enterprise IT Solutions Partner. Blue Leaf Technologies is one of the best-kept secrets in American Enterprise IT Management. Over the last 20 years, this New Jersey-based consulting firm developed a reputation for solving complex technology problems and performing fast-paced, enterprise-grade tech rollouts for big name corporations including global law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, fashion giants Capri Holdings Limited (a.k.a. Michael Kors Limited), and reigning NBA Southwest Division champions Memphis Grizzlies. Blue Leaf's expertise in modern workspace, enterprise cloud, remote access, desktop support, and infrastructure systems has earned them a place in many CIOs' address books, while their ingenuity and speed have helped them succeed where big-name IT consulting conglomerates struggle. Intricate technical knowledge of Microsoft, VMWare, Citrix, Oracle, and Ivanti platforms has helped them become one of the most prominent woman-owned technology implementers in the New York Metro area. Through this new partnership, our teams will combine forces to push the limits of car, personnel, and modern enterprise technology on the gritty, fast-paced world of Professional Touring Car Racing. Roger Maeda, Driver-Owner, StudioVRM.Racing says: "It always surprises people when we tell them that the technology needs of a modern racing team rivals that of a medium-size enterprise. But it's 100% true. Developing and running a modern-day racecar involves an astronomical volume of computer simulations and data analysis. The processing power and storage volume required to handle this data is so intense that we simply cannot do it without the help of enterprise-grade cloud computing technologies. Without these capabilities, independent teams like us would never be able to compete with the larger factory-backed efforts that we race with. I have worked with several top-tier technology consulting companies in the past 10 years, and Blue Leaf Technologies has consistently been the fastest and the most efficient at solving complex technology problems. The creative direction of their Chief Architect Uday Patel has helped us address some of the most challenging performance problems and made our internal IT magnitudes simpler for our team. The implementation team at Blue Leaf has also helped us achieve this quickly, which, for a budget-conscious organization like ours, is priceless. We would like to thank Blue Leaf Technologies CEO Rinku Patel for dedicating her team's expertise towards our pursuit of cutting-edge performance. We look forward to sharing the limelight on the top step of the USTCC podium." To commemorate the start of our team's official partnership, Blue Leaf Technologies' digital designers have outfitted our race team with high-tech apparel: Look for our drivers and mechanics, who will be sporting this fresh look at our next US Touring Car Championship race! To learn more about Blue Leaf Technologies and their services, visit: W: Blue Leaf Technologies LI: Blue Leaf Technologies | LinkedIn