It's no secret that the current generation of 200 treadwear "extreme performance" summer tyres are phenomenally grippy. Put a set of BF Goodrich Rival S's, Bridgestone Potenza RE-71Rs, or Hankook Ventus R-S4's on your track car and you can expect to hang with the guys who brought R-compounds on spare wheels. DOT-legal "R-compound" tyres have evolved too. The class leaders, the venerable Hoosier R7, BFG R1S, and Toyo RRs are capable of lap times that seemed unthinkable just a few short years ago. They've become so common at club racing events that it's easy to forget that they too are technically street legal tyres. So if the likes of the Hoosier R7, Toyo RR, and BFG R1S are technically street tyres, what does it feel like to drive on a no-holds-barred racing slick? Fortunately for us, it just so happens that the US Touring Car Championship mandates the use of one such tyre: the Hankook Ventus F200 radial slick. What is a Hankook Ventus F200? Unless you are a die-hard fan of European racing, you've probably never heard of the Hankook Ventus F200. You won't find it at most Hankook retailers, and even big-warehouse tyre shops like Tire Rack don't list it in their catalog. It's so obscure that it doesn't even appear on the main Hankook Tire North America website (you actually have to the totally separate Hankook Race Tire site to find it). Despite its relative obscurity in North America, the F200 is the spec tyre of choice in several European pro racing series. It's the spec tyre for the European F3, British F4, and the Deutsch Tourenwagen Masters, otherwise known as the DTM. True to its name the F200 slick is a radial construction race-only tyre that is completely devoid of any tread. Unusually, it only comes in only one compound - the C52 "Medium" compound. Because they don't need to comply with DOT regulations, the tyre's size is also written in a slightly different format from what you normally expect. Instead of having the numbers listed in the standard "205/50R15" format the Hankook catalog lists sizes like "200/580R15," where the middle number is the diameter of the tyre in milimeters. Because wheel diameter plays such a big part in how a racecar is geared, that number is important to have. The only catch was that their selection of 15" sizes are somewhat limited. The widest 15" size that they offer is a 200/580R15. Yes, you read that correctly. That's a 200mm section width - narrower than what you would find on a Spec Miata. I called the rep at Hankook Motorsport Americas just to make sure that this was the right size, and he assured me that this was the appropriate size for my 2500 lb, front wheel drive Honda. While I was skeptical that such a narrow tyre could hold up to the cornering forces generated by a relatively heavy racecar, I placed my order and a week later, a stack of not-so-street-legal race rubber arrived in front of my garage. First Impressions and Installation As soon as we rolled the Hankooks into the garage, I broke out the measuring tape and checked the dimensions of my newly purchased rubber. Some manufacturers are notorious for under-reporting the dimensions of their track tyres, so I thought that the unusually narrow 200mm section width was the result of a similar sort of under-estimation. It turned out to not be the case. The inside section of the Hankook F200s were exactly 200mm, with the tread being only marginally wider at 205mm. Compare that to my usual 225/45R15 R7s and their comparatively gargantuan 234 mm tread width when mounted on 15x8" Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 wheels. With my skepticism growing, I loaded my wheels onto my trusty Coats RC15 tyre changer to peel off the old R compounds and install the F200s. Straight away we ran into an issue. The sidewalls on the F200s were so thick and so stiff that they refused to fit over the rim of our race wheels. R compound tyres tend to have stiff sidewalls, but these slicks were on a totally different level. It took a combination of two tyre irons, a motorcycle bead depressor, and 158 lbs of body weight to flex the sidewall enough for the fresh rubber to fit on the metal wheel. It was at that point we ran into the second issue. No matter how much air pressure we used, the beads of the F200s refused to seat on the inside of the wheel rims. I tried all of the tricks in the book to get the bead to seat, from covering the wheel in soapy water to using dangerously high inflation pressures, to compressing the tyre with a ratchet strap. No matter what I did, it didn't seem to make any difference. The recalcitrant sidewalls refused to expand enough to fit into the wheels. After 30 minutes of struggling, I resigned myself to the fact that this wheel-tyre combination wasn't going to work. So we went to plan B - Go into the storage closet and pull out our 8 year old backup race wheels, a set of 15x7" Motegi Racing SP10s. Fortunately, the F200s much happier with the narrower wheels and the bead seated without issue - Half an hour later, we had a set of Hankook Ventus F200s mounted, balanced, and bolted to the StudioVRM Prelude. As expected, the narrow slicks looked comically undersized under the wide and long body of the Prelude. But with all four tyres now safely mounted and installed, we loaded up the car and towed it to NJ Motorsports Park for their first on-track outing. How do they feel on track? As they say, looks can be deceiving. Despite looking narrower than the skinny all-seasons on my old Toyota Yaris, the Hankooks proved more than a match for the wider R7s on the racetrack. Hoosier R7s are known for their crisp steering response and the high limits of adhesion that come from the bias ply-like construction. But as soon as they were up to temperature, the Hankook F200s demonstrated razor sharp turn-in that I had never experienced on any DOT-compliant tyre. Those stiff, rubbery sidewalls that gave us so much grief on the tyre machine proved their worth at the track. The F200s generate impressive levels of lateral grip through corners. The car felt so planted through high speed corners that it felt much lighter than its 2500 lb chassis weight would suggest. In fact they were producing so much grip that it was actually causing problems with the car's handling: Like most front wheel drive racecars, the StudioVRM Prelude is set up so that it oversteers under braking into slow corners. While this worked well with the DOT-legal Hoosiers, the Ventus slicks generated so much grip that the car would understeer into every turn. As a result, I found myself putting in an extra 20-40 degrees of steering lock through slower corners. I believe this caused us to lose a few tenths of a second per lap. With a more aggressive alignment and more rear brake bias, the car would turn in much more easily and would be significantly faster as well. If the cornering grip was impressive, the ability to handle hard braking was something else entirely. I have an unfortunate habit of flat spotting Hoosiers in the heat of the moment, so I was a bit wary of pushing hard. It took a few laps to realize that there was no need to hold back. The Hankooks generated more than enough longitudinal grip to withstand full braking forces from the relatively heavy Honda. Once I was comfortable, the Hankooks allowed me to brake 20-25 feet later into turn 1 at Thunderbolt. On one occasion I overstepped the bounds a tiny bit and the left front tyre emitted a puff of smoke. Although this resulted in a small flat spot, the resulting vibration only lasted the rest of the session. By the start of the next session, melted rubber had filled in the flat spot and the vibrations were barely noticeable. Few DOT-legal R compound tyres resist flat spots as well as these F200 slicks did. Simply amazing. How much faster are they? Once we ran a few sessions to get used to the super sticky nature of these slicks, we ran the Hankook F200 against the Hoosier R7 on the same day at the same track to get some head-to-head lap time data. Here's what the best lap of the day looked like on each tyre: For reference, in both cases I'm comparing tyres with 2-4 heat cycles on the same car, on the same day, with the same setup. So while neither tyre was brand new, both still had plenty of tread and plenty of life left in the compound. It's pretty easy to see that the full-on racing slick is consistently 1.2 seconds faster than one of the best DOT R compound tyres available. With a more aggressive alignment, I firmly believe that these tyres will be another 0.5 seconds quicker. Do they wear out more quickly? Yes and no. The rubber on the F200s does seem to wear faster than the Hoosier R7s. Three race weekends on took more rubber off of the F200s than four weekends on the R7s. However, unlike the R7s, the F200s don't seem to "cycle out." Hoosiers are well known for their tendency to get harder and less grippy after 8-10 heat cycles. Based on what we saw however, an 8 heat cycle F200 produced similar times to when it was brand new. According to Hankook, most racers run their slicks right down to the cords. Because of this, I would expect to get about the same number of race sessions from a set of F200 slicks compared to a similarly sized set of Hoosier R7s. How much do they cost? Retail pricing for the Hankook F200 slicks comes in slightly higher than that for a similarly sized Hoosier R7. For example, a brand new F200 in 200/580R15 retails for $275, while TireRack sells the R7 in 225/45R15 for $264. That said, Hankook offers a discount for racers in certain series, such as the DTM and USTCC. Hankook's confidentiality agreement prevents us from giving you exact pricing, but I can tell you that the discounts are significant - well over 20% off of retail. Conclusions and Closing Thoughts Despite the rapidly escalating speeds of DOT-legal extreme performance tyres and R-compounds, there is still a bit of a performance gap compared to the current generation of radial racing slicks. Even with a distinctly narrower tread, the Hankook F200s proved to be faster than the venerable R7s with higher levels of grip while offering a similar lifespan. And thanks to my USTCC series discount, they were actually cheaper as well. Because they are not DOT legal, they are not allowed in many common club racing classes. To me that seems like a bit of a shame. Aside from missing out on a few contingency dollars there doesn't seem to be any downside to running these radial slicks compared to the current generation of DOT R compounds. Maybe one day the rulemakers of various club racing series will start adjusting their books to allow non-DOT racing slicks in more of their classes. In the meantime, at least there's the USTCC. See you at the track. Disclaimer: All of the tyres used in this test were purchased out of Roger's own pocket. The F200 slicks were purchased at the same discounted prices offered to all competitors in the USTCC. StudioVRM is not sponsored or directly supported by Hoosier Racing Tire or Hankook Racing Tire. That said, we probably wouldn't turn down a sponsorship opportunity if it came along. Tyres aren't cheap and we go through a lot of them.

A few months ago I tried my hand at making in-car video look more exciting. It didn't work. But thanks to the help of a group of friendly racers and advice from my favorite racing communities, I now have a big pile of helpful onboard videography tips to make in-car video more interesting. In the spirit of giving back to the community, here are five Do's and Don'ts for filming good onboard video: And just to illustrate how effective these tips are, here's a sample video from this year's SCCA Jersey Road Racing Challenge: Hopefully some of these tips will help turn the footage from your track day into a video worthy of Best Motoring. See you at the track.

Much in the same way that cars in Formula 1, NASCAR, and pro touring car series have evolved over the years, club racing classes also evolve to stay current with popular trends in the automotive industry. In the past few years in particular, club racers have steadily migrated away from traditional racing classes that specified lists of makes, models, and modifications, towards one of two types of classes: Spec or Factory-prepared classes composed of a single make and model of car that are all modified to a pre-defined spec. Examples include: Spec Miata Spec E46 Spec Racer Ford 3 Performance-balanced classes which group cars into classes based on lap times or statistics such as power to weight ratio: AER / Champcar / WRL NASA Super Touring Bracket Sprint Racing The allure of these types of classes is that the promise of closer competition as the rules minimize the potential for someone to dominate their class with a "ringer" car. What does all this mean for the StudioVRM Prelude, a car that was originally built for the traditional and regional-centric Improved Touring and Honda Challenge classes? It was time to change with the times and find a new class to run in. So I employed the same method that I described in Part 1 of this series and chose two current and relevant classes: SCCA Super Touring Under and the US Touring Car Championship, sanctioned by NASA. What are SCCA Super Touring and USTCC? Interestingly, both SCCA Super Touring and the US Touring Car Championship were created to achieve the same goal: To give club racers a place to race previous-generation Pirelli World Challenge touring cars. For those of you who may not be familiar with the name, Pirelli World Challenge is a North American pro racing series based around production cars that anyone can buy new in the US and Canada. A huge list of manufacturers (Acura, BMW, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, Kia, Mazda, Porsche, Subaru, and Volkswagen just to name a few) have used it as a platform to showcase the performance potential of their street cars. When the manufacturers bring out the latest and greatest models, World Challenge teams often sell their old cars to club racers at a very reasonable price. Hence both Super Touring Under and USTCC were born. Super Touring Under Super Touring Under has since evolved into a highly-accessible class for modified cars under 3.2 liters. Unusually, the class uses a displacement to weight ratio to balance the performance of their cars, with modifiers for factors like drivetrain layout (FWD vs RWD vs AWD) and suspension layout (Macpherson strut vs Double A-Arm suspension). A 2 liter Subaru BRZ, for example, can compete at a feather weight 2200 lbs with its naturally aspirated FA20 motor. An E36 chassis BMW M3 meanwhile is handicapped at 3200 lbs to offset the power advantage of its 3.2 liter S50. This means that cars come in all shapes and sizes, mixing turbocharged, supercharged, and naturally aspirated cars, with and without aftermarket aero. The grid from last year's runoffs saw a brand-new Honda Civic Si line up on the grid alongside a Dodge SRT4 and a Subaru Impreza 2.5RS. Encouragingly for us, the winner of the 2017 SCCA Runoffs drove a K-swapped 4th gen Honda Prelude Si to the checkered flag. US Touring Car Championship USTCC meanwhile caters to drivers of current and late model touring cars who prefer the feeling of a pro racing environment. The series retains sponsor support from prominent names in the automotive industry, which equates to generous prizes and contingencies for participants. The rules are an interesting variant of the classic power to weight formula that takes gear ratio into account. The modification-friendly nature of the USTCC rulebook make it seem a bit daunting at first, but when you look at the cars that are competing, you quickly realize that they are similar to what you might see in NASA GTS or SCCA Touring. There four sub classes to accommodate everything from heavily modified tube-frame cars to older cars with fewer modifications. That said, even the entry-level Sportsman class cars are far from slow - All USTCC classes use Hankook F200 race slicks, allowing these cars to corner faster and harder than their DOT R Compound-shod brethren. Due to the similarities it's very easy to build a car that is legal and competitive in both series. So that's exactly what we are going to do. What are we Upgrading? As you can imagine, there's a lot to be done to bring the car up to spec for these mod-friendly classes: Engine Both classes allow for a moderate level of internal engine modifications, including upgraded cams, high compression pistons, and porting of the head. With this in mind, we've already taken the first step by having Racer Brown Camshafts grind a custom cam for us, which powertrain wizard Robert Oliver installed with Crower valve springs and AEM cam gears. The car is still tuned to a conservative 7000 rpm rev limiter, but initial dyno tuning shows gains of around 18 hp over our previous configuration with stock cams and valvetrain. The plan for the off season is to raise the rev limiter and fine tune this engine to see if we can get as close as possible to 200whp on a Dynojet. Aero Both classes allow for popular bolt-on aero modifications. For us, that means a splitter, air dam, side skirts, and a rear wing. Super Touring Under specifies a minimum ride height of 4 inches (except for the air dam and splitter, which can be low as 3 inches off the ground), while USTCC has no minimum ride height. Over the off season we plan to build a splitter to give us some front downforce, add a set of PCI side skirts to seal off the underbody, and balance it all with a rear wing. Chassis Last but not least, the rules allow for extensive weight reduction and roll cage construction which were previously not available to us under Improved Touring rules. The USTCC Sportsman rules give our < 200hp Prelude a minimum weight of just 2400 lbs, while in STU trim our 2.3 liter Honda is allowed a scant 2351 lb min weight. That's including driver and fuel. As it sits today, the StudioVRM Prelude weighs a stout 2590 lbs, including driver and a gallon of gas. A carbon fiber hood, lexan rear windows, and lighter gusseting for the roll cage will help us get closer to the minimum weight. The car will also receive 17" wheels to take advantage of the slightly wider slicks available for that diameter. Of course, it's a long list of items, so we're taking it one step at a time. In a few days we will be at NJ Motorsports Park, testing out some setup changes in preparation for these upgrades. Either way, it's going to be a fun winter. See you at the track.

The Japanese Super Formula series is a fast, hard-hitting series with cars that are about as close as you can get without driving in Formula 1. They also have the distinction of having wild looking 6-man pit stops. So I decided to do a breakdown of what's involved in a racing pit stop in the Super Formula Series. Enjoy:

A little PSA for all of you who tow a trailer to transport your track car or bike. Don't use the wire bundle that comes with those LED trailer light kits. Here's what happened to me this afternoon: I recently noticed a problem where the lights on my 18' car trailer were starting to go out, one by one. First it was the right front corner light that started flickering before going out. Then a few days later, the left rear brake light started to flicker before it too went dark. This all seemed a bit unusual, not in the least because I had just replaced the trailer wiring and lights just a few months ago. After removing and cleaning the grounds and swapping the lights again did nothing to fix the problem, I started cutting the 3 month old wiring off of the trailer. Imagine my surprise when I found this in the MIDDLE of a 7 foot length of electrical wire: That blueish white dust coming out of the plastic insulation is oxidized copper. Somehow moisture had gotten into the wire and corroded the conductive wire inside. But this wasn't your average case of wire corrosion. When I peeled back the insulation, I found that it was so bad there was literally no wire left: What made this unusual was that this was in the middle of an unbroken length of wire. The nearest connector (a heat shrunk water-resistant butt connector) was at least 3 feet away. How could this happen in just a few months, especially when the trailer spends most of its time sitting in a driveway? It turns out that the wire bundles that come with these trailer LED kits have a major manufacturing flaw. The colorful brown-green-and-yellow wire bundle that comes with these kits are made with a big air gap between the wire and the insulation: That means that if any water or moisture gets in through a broken connector or a cut in the insulation, it's free to travel up and down the entire length of the wire, destroying it from the inside out. You would never know that there was a problem until the lights on your trailer went out and some inattentive driver crashed into your rig. I thought it might have been a one-off problem with the brand that I bought, so I cut open three other leftover wire bundles that I had from previous trailer light replacement jobs. Every single one of them had the same problem despite being bought from three different stores and were made by three different manufacturers. Needless to say, I spent the next two hours crawling under the rig and replacing every bit of cheap wire I could find with Japanese-made automotive speaker wire. It was probably an unnecessarily expensive way of dealing with the problem, but I wasn't going to take any chances. I tow my car in the wee hours of the morning to get to the racetrack. I don't need anyone crashing into me on the way there. Tow safely. See you at the track.

Every good mechanic has that one tool that turns your hand black every time you pick it up. For some of us it's a greasy suspension tool like a ball joint separator or a C-clamp. Or the feeler gauges and engine assembly tools that are always covered in motor oil. Either way, there are a few ways to keep tools like that clean and corrosion-free without having to buy and set up your own tool wash station. Here it is: Products mentioned in order of decreasing rarity: Birchwood Casey Gun & Reel Silicone Cloth Boeshield T-9 Seafoam Deep Creep Spray Dawn Dish Soap See you at the track. ~R Disclosure Section: StudioVRM is not supported by any of the vendors whose products are mentioned in this How-To video. As usual, all of the items shown were purchased out of Roger's own pocket without any discounts or support. Roger buys and recommends all of these products. Especially the dish soap. As far as he's concerned, that stuff is magic.

Bleeding your car's hydraulic brake system is a fact of life for the mechanically inclined car enthusiast, especially for those of us who participate in track days, race, or enjoy a bit of spirited driving. Unfortunately, brake bleeding is a terribly boring task. It's so tedious that your closest friends and family will quickly learn to ignore your requests for help and you will inevitably be stuck doing this two-person operation by yourself. Believe me, I've been there. Here's what I have from years of collecting and using one-man brake bleeder tools on cars of many different shapes and sizes: Plastic Bottle Type Cost: $6 - $20 Where to buy: AMPRO T71658 One Man Brake Bleeder (or literally any auto parts store) Nicer version: Genesis One Person Bleeder Bottle First up is the ubiquitous narrow hose in a tiny plastic bottle type brake bleeder. You can find this type at pretty much any auto parts store. Just plug this onto the bleeder nipple of your brake caliper, crack open the brake bleeder screw, and slowly pump the brake pedal. As long as the hoses going into the bottle are full of fluid, you can keep pumping without letting air back into the brake pedal. The downside is that the bottles tend to be tiny (by design) so they fill up very quickly. If you are bleeding large brake calipers or are doing a flush of the brake system, you will be running back and forth to empty the bottle every 5 or so pumps of the brake pedal. The construction of the bottle also tends to be cheap, as are the rather hard plastic hoses which rarely do a great job of sealing against the bleeder nipple. If you use this type of brake bleeder bottle, expect to replace it once every few brake jobs. Pros: Cheap and universal Works well for quick brake bleeding jobs Available pretty much everywhere, so no worries if you forget yours at home Cons: Hard plastic hoses may not seal well against the bleeder nipple Small bottle means you have to stop and empty the brake bleeder bottle often Bottle is pretty fragile. Don't let this roll around in your toolbox or it will come out in pieces. Inline Check Valve Type Cost: $11 - $15 Where to buy: Motion Pro 08-0143 Hydraulic Brake Bleeder The cheap plastic brake bleeder bottles are ok for quick brake jobs, but running back and forth to empty the liliputian bleeder bottle can get annoying if you have to flush out more fluid. While they do sell more expensive kits with larger bottles, there is a better solution. This motion pro kit is basically a metal check valve between two pieces of flexible plastic hose. The one-way valve keeps the air from getting sucked back in while springy hose clamps keep a tight seal around all connections. Because the ends are open, you can also bleed straight into a catch pan or a larger bottle. Despite its simplicity this design works well. Because the old fluid is retained in the hose, it's easy to step out and see the condition of the fluid as it leaves the brake caliper. The metal check valve shrugs off accidental drops and it doesn't seem to degrade over time like the plastic bottles. And if you do manage to lose or break it, it's still cheap to replace. Pros: Durable and portable Lets you bleed directly into a larger container instead of going back and forth to dispose of fluid Cons: Check valve doesn't work well for bleeding clutch systems Can't be used to bleed master cylinders Speed Bleeders Cost: $12 - $25 per pair Where to buy: Speed Bleeders at BestBrakes.com Another option is to put the check valve into the caliper itself. Speed Bleeders are bleeder screws with a spring-loaded ball valve built into the body. I've tried a few designs over the years (including some really crazy looking variants) and found that the original Russell Speed Bleeders tend to work the best and be the most durable. The concept is that you unscrew your existing brake bleeder screws and replace them with these screws. When you bleed the brakes, all you need to do is to put a length of hose on the bleeder nipple, open it a quarter turn, and start pumping out the old fluid. The biggest challenge is finding the right screw size for your calipers. If your car still has the OEM brake calipers, this shouldn't be an issue. But most aftermarket and rebuilt calipers come with larger brake bleeder screws than they had from the factory. In these cases, you need to measure your existing bleeder screws to make sure that you are ordering the right size. Still, this is a great option if you primarily work on one car. Pros: Set and forget - All you need is a length of plastic hose to bleed your brakes Easy to use once installed Cons: Not transferrable across cars Finding the right fitment can be a challenge with non-OEM calipers Metal tends to softer than the OEM bleeder screw. Be careful not to over-torque when tightening. Pull Type (Negative Pressure) Vacuum Bleeder Cost: $30 and up Where to buy: ARES 70923 Vacuum Brake Fluid Bleeder (Compressor Assisted Type) Mityvac MV800 Automotive Tune-up and Brake Bleeding Kit (Manual Pump Type) All of the tools that we've talked about so far do a good job of bleeding air and old fluid out of your brake calipers. But what if you let the fluid level drop too low and there's air in your master cylinder? Or if you need to change out the ancient fluid in your clutch hydraulic system? The tools we've talked about so far won't work in these cases. That's because they rely on force from the master cylinder to push out the old fluid. If the master cylinder can't produce enough pressure in the areas that need to be bled, you can't rely on them to effectively bleed the system. Enter the vacuum assisted brake bleeder. These bleeders rely on vacuum to suck the fluid out of the hydraulic system, using either a hand-operated pump or a Venturi valve connected to an air compressor. I connect mine to a 21 gallon Harbor Freight compressor using the quick connect port on the grip. I have also used the manual pump ones and can confirm that they work just as well. Because they are vacuum assisted, you can use this type of bleeder to bleed pretty much any hydraulic system including your clutch fluid or ABS module. You also have to do less work because you don't have to get into the car and push the pedal. Once the pump is attached and you are drawing a vacuum, all you need to do is sit patiently as all of the old fluid is sucked out of the hydraulic lines. The one drawback is that your car's hydraulic systems were not designed to contain a vacuum. Using a vacuum bleeder puts stress on the seals in the master cylinder as well as the rubber brake lines connected to your brake calipers. Generally this isn't a problem, but if your car has older brake lines or if your master cylinder is older, vacuum bleeders can cause leaks. I learned this the hard way on an old Nissan Quest that had seen better days. Because of this, I tend to use vacuum bleeders sparingly. Pros: Doesn't rely on pedal pressure, so you can bleed master cylinders from the caliper Can also bleed clutch hydraulic systems and some ABS circuits No need to get into the car to push the brake pedal and risk getting brake fluid all over your interior Cons: Can cause leaks in old master cylinders and worn rubber brake lines The manual pump models can be surprisingly expensive - more than the air compressor powered ones Push Type (Positive Pressure) Power Bleeder Cost: $50 and up Where to buy: Motive Power Bleeders Kits on Amazon For those of you who need to do a full brake system flush and/or are worried about the condition of their seals, we have the push type power bleeder. This one is a Motive, and at $50 + extra for adapters, it is the most expensive brake bleeding tool in my garage. Setting up the Power Bleeder is a bit more involved than with some of the others. First, you fill the power bleeder with fresh brake fluid. Then mount the bleeder to the master cylinder reservoir using either a model-specific adapter or a universal adapter like this. Then use the integrated pump to pressurize the master cylinder to 15 psi, attach a hose to the brake bleeder nipple, crack the valve, and wait. The bleeder will force new brake fluid through the system from the source and push all of the old brake fluid, along with any air, out of the bleeder. Because these power bleeders push fluid in the same direction as the brake pedal, they won't put undue stress on your seals or brake lines. Once you have it set up, it's very easy to do a full system flush of your car's brake or clutch system. The downside is that the adapters are model-specific, so if you plan to service a large number of cars, you need to have a few adapters on hand. Motive makes universal adapters, like this 3" metal adapter pictured here, but they can be fiddly because they are designed to be attached to the master cylinder with hooks and chains. Pro tip: Skip the chains and use pair of ratchet clamps to hold the adapter to the brake reservoir. Pros: Sure fire way to bleed all of the air and old fluid out of your car's brake or clutch system Continuously supplies fresh fluid to the system as you bleed Won't cause undue stress on rubber lines and master cylinder seals Cons: Some adapters can be fiddly (e.g. all of the ones that aren't the screw-on type) Not very portable Expensive, especially if you buy adapters for different cars Conclusion and Recommendations So which of these one-man brake bleeding tools is best? For the home mechanic or the track-day enthusiast, I recommend either the Inline Check Valve or Speed Bleeders. They are durable, cost effective, and are easy to use whether you are working at home or bleeding your brakes between track sessions. If you plan to work on a large number of cars or are planning to do major brake system work on your car, I recommend investing in a Push Type Power Bleeder. Yes, it's the most expensive tool but it's well worth it when you consider the amount of time and frustration it saves you during big jobs. Stay safe and keep those brakes in good shape. See you at the track. ~R Disclosure Section: StudioVRM is not sponsored or supported by any brake companies. All of the items here were paid for out of Roger's own pocket except the Motive Power Bleeder, which a friend and former roommate left behind when he moved out. I bought the universal adapter though so it wasn't really free either.

It's been four months since we started our long-term test of PTH Racing Oil, and we've been busy putting this new racing oil through its paces. As we use up the last few bottles in our first case of PTH 5w30, I thought I'd do a quick report on all of the work that we've been doing to see if PTH Racing Oil really is a top tier racing oil. The Testbed The testbed for this long-term test is the recently re-liveried #7 StudioVRM Prelude, a 1993 Honda Prelude Si prepared for SCCA Improved Touring S. The engine is a Honda H23A1 non-VTEC, a stout, undersquare engine that came from the factory producing 160hp and 156 lb-ft of torque at the crank. Rather fortuitously, this motor is ideal for this type of testing. Being fairly simple, the H23A1 is pretty representative of popular production engines of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000's. No variable cam lift, no direct injection, no electronic throttle, and no unusual behaviors that could help or hinder the performance of the engine's oil. The engine itself is close to stock as the Improved Touring rules prohibit significant modifications to engine internals. Even more so than usual in this case, as Robert Oliver, all-around powertrain wizard and my go-to engine builder, insisted that I use dealer-sourced OEM parts wherever possible. So that's what it has. The valvetrain, bearings, oiling system, electronics... even the water pump and timing belt are from American Honda. Although the rules allow for it, the car is not equipped with an oil cooler or an Accusump. For measurement purposes, I've added a fast-acting Autometer mechanical oil pressure gauge and a PCV catch can to prevent blow-by from being sucked into the intake. Aside from that, an AEM intake, Hytech header, custom exhaust, and a Hondata S300 ECU are the only other power adding mods on this car. If you are like one of the many people out there who track or race a stock or relatively unmodified production car engine, the results of this test should be pretty applicable to you. Preparing for Testing As the engine had run two race seasons since its last rebuild, Robert meticulously inspected the internals in the 2017 off-season. He confirmed that both the head and block were in good shape and installed a new timing belt, tensioner, and water pump for good measure. Aside from a bit of nominal bearing wear from hard racing use there was little to worry about with the motor itself. Second order of business was getting the old oil out and getting the crank case full of PTH Racing oil. So as part of pre-season prep, the Prelude's crankcase was completely drained of PennGrade1 and refilled with 4.5 quarts of PTH 5w30. The oil filter of choice is Denso's FTF, a reliable and affordable OE replacement filter. Of course, it's nearly impossible to get all of the old oil out of a production car engine in one oil change. So this first batch of new oil was only used to protect the motor while it was driven around the garage and between shops while the car was prepared, aligned, and set up for the 2018 race season. Once the car was in good mechanical order, I changed the oil again with another 4.5 quarts of PTH 5w30 and a new Denso oil filter. Wasteful? Yes. Call it a sacrifice in the name of science. Dyno Tuning Time The first test for the PTH 5w30 would be a dyno re-tuning session at Evans Tuning. The map on the car's Hondata S300 ECU had become corrupted over the winter, so Jeff Evans had to re-tune the car from some older code. Jeff ran the car on the dyno for a full hour, adjusting it, revving it, and performing a number of full-throttle runs on his DynaPack until the car was running to his liking. The motor accepted this rude awakening from its off-season slumber without a single issue. Oil pressure remained a healthy 40 to 80 psi with no increase in valvetrain noise. As expected, the catch can remained empty. The power numbers? A stout 157 hp and 162 lbs-ft of torque at the wheels. So with the H23 now idling happily and a successful first test completed, it was off to the racetrack. On-Track Testing - By Racing A few days after the dyno tuning session, we towed the Prelude to the Lightning circuit of NJ Motorsports Park for two days of on-track shakedown. Lightning is a fast, flowing 1.9 mile road course with long straights and a banked high-speed 180 degree turn affectionately known as "the Lightbulb", Lightning provides a good workout for engines while rewarding drivers who can conserve the most momentum at racing speeds. With this being the third season for the Prelude in its current trim, there was little to do in terms of mid-session adjustments. So we maximized our track time and ran every lap of every session. This meant a little under two and a half hours spent between 4200 and 7000 rpm, mostly under full throttle conditions in 3rd, 4th, and 5th gear. It's fairly hard work for a production based motor. As expected, there were no unusual noises and no oil consumption throughout the whole weekend. Oil pressure never dropped below 40 psi, even as the engine temperatures climbed throughout each session. What was unexpected was that the PCV catch can remained empty through the weekend. We usually expect to see 1/4 of a quart of engine oil in the catch can after every hour of running on Lightning. This time there was no oil at all. It was a welcome surprise - with no Accusump and only the stock baffles in the OEM Honda oil pan, we can't afford to lose any oil from the crankcase. A badly flat spotted tyre cut the second day of the weekend short. Still, the car and the oil clocked up the track miles as if it was just another day in the office. With plenty of time logged on the Hobbs meter, we loaded up the car and headed home. At this point, we would normally call time on the engine oil and change it along with other worn-out fluids and consumables. But this wasn't a normal race weekend. It's a stress test. So against better judgement, we kept the same oil and the same filter and ran it in the SCCA Lightning Challenge races a month later. One decent qualifying, one strong qualifying race, and one race-cancelling downpour later, we came away happy with an award for 1st in class and 4.5 quarts of well-used PTH Racing Oil sloshing around in the heart of the Prelude's H23A1. Now to see what sort of damage that all that hard use had done. Used Oil Analysis The next day I pulled the oil drain plug and relieved the Prelude of its heavily abused motor oil. While it was draining, I took a small sample and sent it off to Blackstone Labs for a Used Oil Analysis. Here's what they sent back: For comparison purposes, here's the virgin oil analysis that Blackstone did on a sample from the same batch. Blackstone didn't have much data on road raced H23A1s, so I consulted my engine builder as well as a few Honda racers for their opinion on the metal content that appeared in the report. The general consensus was that this level of bearing wear would be expected from a regular oil change in a track driven H series motor. However SCCA racers change their oil after every race weekend (usually 2 hours or less for a sprint race weekend), while this oil was thrashed on for nearly 3 times as long. While I won't say that the oil protects the engine 3 times as well, it does indicate that PTH 5w30 is doing an above-average job of protecting the engine's internals. Surprisingly, the on-track abuse and extra-long oil change interval didn't have much an effect on the oil itself. SUS Viscosity and cSt viscosity remained well within the acceptable range, and the Flash point remained a very high 415 degrees. The PTH 5w30 remained chock full of anti-wear additives with the Phosphorus and Zinc numbers barely changing from the new oil analysis. A still-high Total Base Number of 5.7 indicated that there was still lots of life left in the oil. Although Blackstone recommended that I go back to more sensible oil change intervals, the numbers indicate that I could have run the car even longer on the same oil. That is pretty impressive, to say the least. Results so Far Shortly after the Used Oil Analysis, we towed the car back to Robert's garage. Once there, he removed the camshafts and I did a visual inspection of the heads. As expected, there was no additional wear on the cams, the rockers, or the caps. All mating surfaces looked shiny and unblemished, with no scratches or bluing from heat. So far so good. Between the results of the Used Oil Analysis and the condition of the valvetrain, it looks like PTH 5w30 is doing a very good job of protecting the fast-moving metal parts within the motor. From the driver's seat, it's very difficult to tell if the PTH Racing Oil is extracting more power from the engine compared to other high performance oils. I did notice that the car didn't seem to lose as much power over the course of a race weekend compared to when it was on semi-synthetic PennGrade1. Normally after 2 hours of hard racing, the motor would start to feel slightly sluggish - The revs would be a little slower to rise, and when blipping the throttle under downshifts you could tell that the engine just didn't seem to want to turn as freely. Not so in this case. Even after 5+ hours of time, the motor responded to quick jabs of the throttle just like it did the day after the oil change. As I understand it, this is the difference between a semi-synthetic base stock and a "pure" synthetic Group IV or Group V base stock. Many petroleum based "dino" oils become more viscous with heat and shear. So over time the engine internals have to fight more and more against internal friction caused by the "thicker" fluid and has a hard time spinning as freely as they could. Most Group IV and Group V synthetic motor oils don't exhibit this property, with many of them becoming thinner over time. Of course, you could change the oil more often. But I do like the idea that I could potentially run my engine oil through a 6, 12, or even 24 hour endurance race and not have to worry about protection or power loss. Based on my experience so far, PTH 5w30 seems to be an oil that could do just that. Coming Up Now that we've seen what PTH Racing Oil can do in a well-maintained stock motor, it's time to find out what it will do for a more modified engine. In preparation for this test, Robert is working with Racer Brown Camshafts to have a set of custom racing cams ground for the StudioVRM Prelude. The hope is that it will be ready and installed prior to the Summer Thunder weekend in early August. How will this promising new oil stand up to the stresses and strains from aggressive high-lift cams, faster moving valvetrain, and a higher redline? The answers are coming in just a few short weeks. In the meantime, I'll see you at the track. Disclosure section: StudioVRM is not sponsored or supported by any oil companies including PTH. Or by any dyno tuning companies including Evans Tuning. Or by any oil analysis companies like Blackstone Labs. Basically everything mentioned here was paid for out of Roger's own pocket. Except that oil drain pan. I nicked that from a friend.

How much rain does it take to shut down an SCCA Regional? Based on my experience from two weeks ago, the answer is this much: Thank you again to the workers and volunteers of the North Jersey and South Jersey Regions of the SCCA who organized the event, did everything in their power to let us race, and ultimately made the tough call to shut the track down instead of risking a dangerous situation. No worries. We'll live to race another day.

About 10 years ago, a well-respected suspension guru taught me a little trick to stop polyurethane bushings from squeaking and binding for a very long period of time. It's so bizarre and effective that I had to make mention of it. Here it is, in all its simple glory: Parts List: 811-5 1/2" x 520 Teflon Thread Seal Tape (5pcs/box) - $6 on Amazon 10 x Super Lube 82340 Multi Purpose Synthetic Grease USDA Dielectric PTFE 1 ml - $7 on Amazon (in case you don't have any grease left) So who is this mystery suspension guru? It's actually none other than Mike Kojima of MotoIQ.com. He actually taught this to me when we were both active members in the Nissan community. Those days are long past, but I use this method to this day. All I can say is that you should check out his site. And to extend my gratitude to the man who stopped that annoying noise coming from my wheel wells - Thanks Mike! See you at the track.

It's difficult to get away from the fact that in-car video is inherently boring. There's something about the sturdy fixed camera mount and the static framing that sucks all of the energy out of an otherwise exciting moment. So I took a little bit of footage from the 2018 March Lion Test Weekend and made an attempt to squeeze some drama out of some otherwise dull lump of video footage. Boy, what a mistake that was. See you at the track.

As part of my long-term experiment with PTH racing oil, I took a small sample of 5w30 from one of the bottles I had bought and sent it out to Blackstone Labs for an oil analysis. For those of you who aren't familiar with the name, Blackstone Labs is one of a few independent laboratories in the US with the equipment to break down and analyze the components and characteristics of engine oil for automotive, aeronautic, and industrial equipment. They offer an inexpensive service where you can send in used motor oil out of your street car, and based on the properties of the oil, tell you about the condition of your engine internals and give you an early warning about any potential problems. They can also perform a similar analysis on fresh oil (aka virgin oil) and give you detailed breakdown of the types and amounts of common metals and additives. I wanted to verify PTH's claims about the properties of their oil. So I ordered one of their free sample kits, filled it up with PTH 5w30, sealed it up, and mailed it back to their lab in Indiana. Here's what came back today: The Report The Analysis The first thing you'll notice is that I neglected to put the letters "PTH" on the analysis request form. Rest assured, this is PTH Racing Oil 5w30, straight out of the bottle I bought a few weeks ago. Not some unlabeled mystery oil that I found on the back shelf of the Studio. The second thing you'll notice is that the properties are consistent with what PTH Racing Oil advertises on their site. In fact, the Zinc and Phosphorus numbers are actually about 10% higher than what PTH advertises. This is really impressive, because the Zinc and Phosphorus content that they advertise is already amongst the highest in their class of high performance oils. The viscosity @100C is basically exactly what they advertise (all racing 5w30 oils have a viscosity that's on the high side of the range), and the flash point is where it needs to be for an oil like this. It's encouraging to see the comments from Blackstone. They've seen hundreds of thousands of oil samples and generally aren't prone to saying nice things about random oil that they haven't seen before. I also commend whomever did the comments writeup. People usually tell them what oil brand and make their sample came from so they can reference it against their massive database of motor oil data. By leaving three very important letters out of the request sheet, I gave them almost no reference data with which they could draw any conclusions. Yet they still did a nice job. $28 well spent, I'd say. The Conclusion As I mentioned in the first look post, oil analysis is a lab test in pristine conditions. The inside of a high-revving, high-strung racing engine is a slightly different environment. That said, there are two conclusions I can draw at this point. The first is that PTH's claims about their oil are accurate. In fact, the Zinc and Phosphorus numbers exceed their claims by almost 10%. Truth be told, this was not the result I was expecting. Additive content, flash point, and viscosity numbers usually come in lower than what the manufacturers claim, sometimes by a fairly significant margin. To have the anti-wear additives come in higher, the viscosity numbers to be spot on, and flash point to exceed their specs is a very nice surprise. The second is that the guys at PTH were being honest when they told me that they were a bunch of experts out to make a quality product. In an industry full of superficially impressive presentations backed by hollow shell companies, these guys are a breath of fresh air. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually excited to test the limits of PTH Racing Oil on track. Maybe I really did stumble across a diamond in the rough. See you at the track. Disclosure section: StudioVRM is not sponsored or supported by any oil companies including PTH. The oil mentioned in this post was purchased at full price out of Roger's own pocket, as was the oil analysis. At least it didn't cost very much.