The oddball wheel and pedal set for drivers who want to put real-life racing first People always seem surprised when they find out that many club and pro racers don't own high-end sim racing rigs. If you have ever raced on a mid to high-end sim racing rig, you probably already know why: Even the newest, most expensive prosumer / eSports-grade sim racing gear can't replicate the subtle sensations or the "seat-of-the-pants" feelings that drivers rely on to control a real racecar on an actual track. And while that is still very much the case in 2024, there is another, much simpler reason as to why many fast drivers drive on Logitech wheels and secondhand Fanatec gear: Racecar drivers have surprisingly little money and even less time. Racing is expensive, especially in ultra-competitive series where the difference between winning and finishing 10th comes down to how many dollars you can invest into developing the car and driver. Because of this, most competitive racecar drivers will put their hard-earned budget into development, consumables, and testing time in a physical car (or kart) before they even think about spending money on sim racing hardware. That said, sim racing can still be a valuable tool for keeping a racer's instincts sharp and staving off the off-track blues during the long gaps between race weekends. What all of this means is that there is a market for a simple, affordable, sim racing wheel and pedal set that is designed to mimic the feeling of driving a real car on a real track. Enter the GTR Simulator RS30 Ultra Force Feedback Wheel + v3 Pedals In 2021, sim cockpit maker GTR Simulator built just that — A budget-friendly force-feedback wheel and pedal set that comes pre-tuned to satisfy the needs of real-life racers and track enthusiasts. The RS30 Ultra Force Feedback Wheel was originally sold through an Indiegogo campaign, with the claim that it was "Expertly Designed by a Professional Racer". While the original campaign experienced delivery delays and issues with support (the hallmarks of any crowdfunded hardware project), it eventually did deliver. And to our surprise, it seems to have delivered on its original promise particularly well. The Wheel Base The RS30's wheel base and button setup is visually identical to the oft-forgotten MadCatz Pro Force Feedback wheel, which later became the base for the PXN v10 Force Feedback wheel. Inside the familiar plastic housing is a surprisingly powerful helical gear mechanism that gives a force feedback sensation that is both sharper and stronger than what you get from the Logitech G29 / G920 / G923 series of wheels. The hardware force feedback profile is reminiscent of that of the much-loved Logitech G27: Slightly muted, with movements that "knock" rather than "jerk" the wheel in response to the FFB from your sim of choice. Some competitive sim racers dislike this feeling, as it can potentially limit the amount of information that you get through the steering wheel. But ironically, this sensation is very similar to the feedback that you get in a real car on a racetrack. The wheel itself is a 280mm D-shaped wheel wrapped in Alcantara, an unusual choice for a budget-friendly wheel. Having used the RS30 for longer sessions, we can say that this results in a noticeably more comfortable (read: less sweaty) sim racing experience for those of us who prefer to drive with thinner (or no) gloves. Because the RS30 uses a gear-driven force feedback mechanism, it runs significantly cooler than most Direct Drive wheels. This means that you won't have to worry about heat-related force feedback fade or overheating problems that you get from some cheaper Direct Drive wheels. At the back of the wheel base, there is a toggle switch which allows you to lock the wheel at a max rotation of 270 degrees for Formula car games and older titles. We found this function to be unnecessary for most modern racing sims. The button layout is intuitive, with the D-pad and X / Y / A / B buttons placed towards the outside of the wheel center, so that most racers won't have to stretch their thumbs to reach them. However, the inputs for the two shoulder (bumper) buttons are missing. In their place are two trigger paddles placed directly under the shifter paddles, which are hardware-mapped to hand controls for the throttle and brake. Wait, Hand Controls? On an Entry-Level Sim Racing Wheel? Yes, you read that correctly. The GTR Simulator RS30 is the only sim racing wheel that comes with pre-configured hand controls for the throttle and brake. We aren't entirely sure why GTR Simulator chose to map these paddles to hand controls, but having tested them extensively, we can say that they are implemented quite well. The travel on the hand control paddles is just long enough to give the driver an accurate gauge of how much throttle or brake is being applied, and the springs provide just enough resistance to not cause fatigue over a 30 or 40 minute race. Although the brake paddle doesn't have the same feedback as the lever-based hand controls on a real car, it's definitely good enough for a sim racer to race competitively without the use of their legs. For those of us who are fortunate enough to have full use of both legs, these hand controls give a convenient means to keep the throttle held down so you can stretch your legs or itch your calves down a long straight. The downside is that there seems to be no way to remap these paddles to anything other than the throttle and brake pedals. We have reached out to GTR Simulator about this, as they advertise the lower paddles as being re-mappable. However, we have not yet received a response. We will update this article if we do receive instructions on how to map these to other controls, such as the XBox shoulder buttons, a hand clutch, or a handbrake. The Shifter Paddles The shifter paddles are wide, spring loaded aluminum units that have a solid feel reminiscent of the paddles on the Logitech G27. While these paddles lack the magnetic snap-back of real-life paddle shifters, they do feel natural and are easy to use. Although they use a different type of switch from the current line of entry level offerings from Logitech and Thrustmaster, the paddles on the RS30 do seem to be susceptible to the same annoying "double upshift" issue that causes your car to shift up two gears at the most inopportune of times. We were able to fix this very easily by disassembling the wheel, putting a generous dab of Nyogel 767a damping grease (or any sort of keyboard switch grease) on the end of the springs for the shifter paddles, and reassembling it. Disassembling the wheel was a surprisingly straightforward operation due to the fact that the RS30's wheel can be removed from the base using a tool-less quick release. The whole wheel rim and switch assembly can then be taken apart with a set of small Torx bits and a (+) head screwdriver. In its stock configuration, some of our testers felt that the shift paddles came too close to the wheel when fully pressed, resulting in a few drivers pinching their fingers on up and downshifts. The fix was simple - Carefully apply 40 to 50 lbs of force to the paddles, and they will bend. We bent our shifter and hand control paddles back almost 2 inches without issue. All of their paddles have since held their shape since then (despite some unnecessarily aggressive upshifts and downshifts). The v3 Pro Pedal Box GTR Simulator's v3 Pro Pedal Box is the highlight of this sim racing wheel bundle. This pedal base is adjustable for pedal position, pedal travel, and resistance. They come mounted on a heavy-duty steel platform that allows for pedal height and angle adjustment via the adjustment screws for its diamond-plate heelplate. This is the only pedal set in its price range that offers this level of adjustability, and it does so in a package so sturdy that it feels like it would survive a drop out of a 2nd story window. While the v3 pedal box uses a spring-and-position-sensor setup (like most entry level pedals), the springs behind the throttle and brake pedals are just the right stiffness to emulate the forces required to depress the throttle and brakes on a real car. At their maximum stiffness settings, it takes slightly over 22 lbs of force to fully depress the throttle pedal and just under 100 lbs of force to fully depress the brake pedal. This is significantly stiffer than what is offered by the entry level pedal sets from PXN and Moza and is much more realistic than the ultra-stiff rubber bump stops that come in the Logitech G29/G920/G923's pedal boxes. This is particularly important because many real-life racers use sim racing to help keep their left foot braking skills sharp. Most club and pro racers still drive three pedal manual transmission cars and rarely get the chance to practice left foot braking. Having a brake pedal that is stiff enough, yet not so stiff that it can be used as a crutch, is invaluable as a training tool. Although Yours Truly tends to prefer a stiffer brake pedal with shorter travel, we recognize that most newer cars achieve full braking force at 77 to 85 lbs of pedal force. The 92 lbs-f of pedal force that the v3 pedals offer is about as realistic as you can get without going to an expensive load cell or pneumatic pressure pedal set. The pedal covers themselves are also taller than those in other entry level kits, making them more similar to what you would find in a modern sports car. The throttle pedal comes with an adjustable lateral stop to keep your foot from slipping off the throttle while dancing on the accelerator to control a slide. These details put these GTR Simulator v3 pedals head and shoulders above the pedals that come with the sub-$500 racing wheels from the likes of Logitech and Thrustmaster. They also put the v3 pedals miles ahead of the soft, plasticky pedal boxes offered by PXN with their v10 racing wheel. *Although we reviewed the 2-pedal box, GTR Simulator also makes a 3-pedal version. The clutch pedal on the 3-pedal box takes a maximum of 22 lbs of force to fully depress, similar to what you would experience on a modern-day manual transmission Touring Car. Software & Compatibility We were surprised to find that there is no driver software to install with the GTR Simulator RS30 wheel. The only software that GTR Simulator provides are a firmware update to the latest version, a manual that shows you how to calibrate the wheel, and a pre-configured copy of Forza Emuwheel (a program specifically designed for playing Forza titles using less-popular wheels on Windows PCs). Since our wheel was already updated to the latest Firmware version and properly pre-calibrated (as it should be), we had no use for the first two pieces of software. This was admittedly a little jarring for Yours Truly, who has spent countless hours pre-configuring Logitech, Thrustmaster, and Fanatec wheels before using them. Because the RS30 is not a super-popular wheel, you will most likely need to map the controls and test the wheel and pedals within the settings the first time you play any PC game. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the RS30 "just worked" with many popular titles. Assetto Corsa, ACC, F1 23, Automobilista 2, iRacing, RaceRoom and even the vintage Project Cars 2 worked perfectly once the controls were mapped properly. F1 23 complained about a controller mapping issue at first, but we were able to fix that by changing some of the button mappings. It's quite impressive, especially considering how buggy and resource-intensive some manufacturers' drivers and support software tends to be (we're looking at you Logitech G Hub). Even Forza Motorsport 7 worked with the use of the provided presets for Forza Emuwheel — Though we should point out that the more powerful force feedback motors in the RS30 wheel made us painfully aware of how primitive FM7's force feedback code is compared to that in newer titles. As expected, some titles did give us issues. The Force Feedback did not seem to work at all in DiRT Rally 2.0, DiRT 4, and GRID (2019). We tried the workarounds listed on the PXN site and on GTR Simulator's original Indiegogo page, to no avail. We also tried connecting the RS30 to PXN's Bluetooth Mobile App (PXN's method for configuring their wheels), but this did not work either as the RS30 appears to be missing the Bluetooth transmitter in the PXN v10. From our experience, this chart on the PXN Gaming site seems to closely mirror our experience with the GTR RS30 wheel. We recommend reviewing this list to make sure your favorite titles are not highlighted in red or green before buying the RS30 Ultra Force Feedback Wheel. *Unfortunately, we did not have access to an Xbox available to test with. While GTR Simulator claims XBox compatibility, we suspect that players might miss the use of the bumper buttons (see above) in newer titles. How's the Gameplay? TL;DR: The GTR Simulator RS30 wheel drives like a much nicer Logitech G920. Although the internal design and construction of both wheels are technically similar, the RS30 is slightly better in every single way. The Alcantara wheel rim just feels more pleasant to hold and doesn't become sticky or slick during a long race. The buttons are placed just slightly far enough apart so you don't have to move your hand to press the D-pad. The gear mechanism feels significantly less "clicky" than a Logitech G-series wheel, and the occasional clacking of the helical gears is quieter due to the fact that the RS30 wheelbase uses thicker plastic walls to hold the gear mechanism in place. The v3 pedals are far superior to anything else you can get in a $500 wheel and pedal set. They feel great regardless of whether we wear SFI rated racing shoes, wear socks, or even drive barefoot (the author's preferred method for sim racing). Even with aftermarket modifications to the pedal and shifter, our old Logitech G920 wouldn't hold a candle to the feel of the GTR Simulator RS30 or its v3 pedals. We suspect that hardcore sim racers might be disappointed by the very slight notchiness of the RS30's gear-driven FFB, as well as the lack of a two-stage brake pedal that is becoming more and more common in newer sim racing pedals. But for the real-life track day enthusiast, weekend warrior, or racer without a sim racing sponsor? The GTR Simulator RS30 is the perfect fit for a budget-oriented real-life racer*. *On PC that is. Remember, we were not able to test the RS30 on an XBox. The Curious Conclusion So given all of that, would we, the budget-conscious club and pro racers at StudioVRM, recommend the GTR Simulator RS30 Ultra Force Feedback Wheel + v3 Pedal bundle? Some retailers (such as Micro Center and Kohl's) are selling the RS30 Ultra + 2 pedal bundle for $300 - $350 US. At this price, we would recommend it wholeheartedly. The incremental improvements over the gear-driven Logitech G series and the entry-level Thrustmaster wheels are both significant and relevant for racers of real-life cars. And more importantly, they are things that cannot be easily replicated with bolt-on mods, especially for this price. However, MSRP for the RS30 Ultra + v3 pedal bundle is closer to $500. This would have been a good deal in 2021 or 2022, but with the arrival of affordable Direct Drive setups from Moza, Fanatec / Corsair, and even Logitech themselves, this price tag becomes difficult to justify. With a more advanced wheel base, better software support, dedicated buttons for the XBox shoulder bumpers, and maybe some different spring and bump stop options for the v3 pedals, the GTR Simulator RS30 Ultra Force Feedback Wheel could still be very competitive in the $550 - $650 market. As it stands, however, it looks like the RS30 may unfortunately be left behind by the rapidly evolving offerings in the entry level wheel & pedal market. Of course, this doesn't spell doom or gloom for GTR Simulator as a company. Their bread and butter is in the sale of budget-friendly sim cockpits. They would do just fine selling sim cockpits for other companies' wheel and pedal setups. If we were in GTR Simulator's shoes, we would forego building a "RS40 Wheel Base" and instead start selling upgrade kits for Moza, PXN, and Logitech's latest offerings. The Alcantara wheel, the rock-solid pedal base, the tuning of the pedal springs, and the hand controls on the wheels are all features that would greatly enhance the driving experience on a Fanatec CSL DD, a Moza R5, or even PXN's latest v12 Lite DD wheel bundle. All that said, we plan to keep our GTR Simulator RS30 Ultra Force Feedback Wheel for a long time — At the very least, until we have the $1200 or so in spare cash for an upper midrange wheel and pedal setup. Summary The Good: Wheel and pedals feel like what you have in a real production car Outstanding hardware adjustability on both the wheel base and pedals Helical gear force feedback system beats Logitech's gear system in noise and feel Force Feedback Motor is deceptively powerful Hand controls are surprisingly useful No additional software needed on PC - Just plug in and go The Bad: Support and documentation are both lacking compared to competitors Can't remap hand controls, which limits the number of buttons you can use in some games Position-based pedal sensors won't satisfy hardcore sim racers Lack of aftermarket pedal springs and wheel rims limit customizability Disclosure Section: StudioVRM.Racing and Roger Maeda are not affiliated or sponsored by GTR Simulator. The RS30 Ultra Force Feedback Wheel and v3 pedals used in this review were purchased in a like-new Open Box state from a fellow US Touring Car Championship driver, for fair market value. The GTR Simulator GTS-T cockpit shown in the photos was provided as a prize from the 2024 USTCC Virtual Series competition, in which Roger Maeda placed 4th overall. Roger owns products from Logitech and Thrustmaster, and recommends products from Logitech, Thrustmaster, Moza, and Fanatec / Corsair based on firsthand experience with their products.

Photo by Sam Draiss Photography A whole nine years have passed since we published the first installment of our Building a Honda Prelude Racecar series. And thanks to enthusiasts like you, these old articles still receive hundreds of views every week. While the advice and recommendations in these early articles are still relevant today, some of the products mentioned are no longer available or have been supplanted by better options. So, I thought it would help to put this quick list of updates and errata together for those of you who may be building a Honda Prelude Racecar in 2024: Classing The US race classing landscape has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. Most new club racing classes now rely on power to weight ratio or bracket racing style lap time-based classes for their race groups. This is a good thing for owners of 4th and 5th gen Preludes, who traditionally had to fit their cars into classes where they couldn't get their cars light enough to meet minimum weight or couldn't reach power targets with the stock H23A1 or H22 engines. We now recommend choosing a class which allow for cars to be competitive with a minimum weight of 2500 lbs or higher (with driver), and a target power output of 180 hp to 250 hp. Those figures should be attainable for the average club racer. Suspension While we at StudioVRM are still fans of Tein's tanky twin-tube suspension dampers, they are becoming harder to find. Ever since Tein's non-rebuildable "Z" dampers became the focus of their aftermarket coilover business, they have made fewer and fewer suspension dampers that are actually suitable for track use. Because of this reality, we now have to look elsewhere for budget-friendly coilover options. We now recommend looking at the following options when choosing budget-friendly race coilovers for your Prelude racecar: Redshift Suspension valved BC Racing Coilovers Shaftworks Motion Control Suspension (MCS) While slightly more expensive than the budget-friendly dampers on our Prelude, the budget options from these three vendors should perform similarly or better than what we use today. The silver lining is that the cost of durable, spherical bearing conversions for our Honda control arms have come down dramatically in the past few years. We now recommend skipping the polyurethane bushings kits and going straight to spherical bearings, even on street cars. We also recommend running higher spring rates than in the past. Part of this is because newer dampers do such a good job of managing low-speed movement in the shock that there are fewer penalties to running stiffer main springs. The other is due to another reason, which is mentioned further below. Brakes Thanks to the low cost of track-capable aftermarket calipers and rotors, most racing classes now allow the use of aftermarket brake calipers and rotors. This is great news for those of us with 4th and 5th gen Preludes which, due to the size and weight of their base chassis, will often end up running with a race weight north of 2500 lbs. Our budget recommendation for Preludes with larger (17" or 18") wheels is the FatFour Customs Acura RL brake kit - a sturdy big brake kit that combines the 4 piston aluminum calipers off of a 2005 Acura RL with redrilled rotors from a Nissan 350Z. While this kit is heavier than most of the Wilwood-based kits out there, we have found it to be a more rigid and fade-resistant setup. As far as brake pad compounds, we still recommend the Raybestos ST-43, ST-45, and ST-47 compounds for the front and ST-77s for the rear calipers. However, The ST-45 and ST-77 compounds are still on an extraordinarily long (6 to 12 month) backorder due to ongoing supply issues. If you need something on a more urgent basis, we would recommend looking in the Carbotech or G-Loc brakes catalog for a suitable substitute. As for cooling, we now recommend skipping the traditional metal hose brake ducts and using vents in the bumper to encourage more airflow to the wheel well to help keep the front brakes cool. This is partly because routing large diameter brake hose is so difficult within the Prelude's cluttered wheel wells, and partly because you can cool the brakes, axles, and shocks with much smaller openings in the front bumper. Engine Due to a lack of spare parts, we were forced to switch from the affordable Honda H23A1 non-VTEC engine to the more high-strung H22 VTEC platform in 2023. And while having access to a greater variety of off the shelf parts is a welcome change, it is hard to ignore the fact that H-series engine cores are no longer as cheap or as affordable as they used to be. Yes, Honda K series swaps are a popular and common option for street cars. However, the K swap mounts for the 4th and 5th gen chassis place the transmission in a position which puts the cv joints at an extreme angle. The load on those joints is so extreme that even top shelf racing axles (e.g. Raxles VIR axles ) will typically only last a handful of race weekends before breaking. At $800 per set, replacing these axles on a regular basis can get very expensive very quickly. While we do plan to continue with the H22 platform for the foreseeable future, we now plan to use race-prepared, sleeved blocks from our Technical Partner, Bad Guys Worldwide . The costs to build a sleeved block are still reasonable at the time of writing, and will greatly extend the life of the engines. This is especially important as many H22 engines are now so old that the FRM coated cylinder liners are starting to fail due to old age and wear. Differential and Transmission Limited slip differentials and aftermarket Final Drives have become so affordable and cheap that they are now among the first Powertrain modifications that we would make if we were building a new Prelude racecar. This is partly because most used manual transmissions tend to come with a fair bit of synchro and bearing wear, and should be inspected or rebuilt before putting into service in a race car. Fortunately, companies like MFactory / Synchrotech have made this very affordable for us Prelude owners, with several options available for rebuild kits, final drives, and limited slip differentials. As for what type of Limited Slip Differential to use, metal plate clutch pack LSDs have a decisive performance advantage over helical gear units, to the tune of about one second per lap on a 1 minute 30 second road course. However, even modern-day clutch pack diffs need to be serviced and rebuilt on a regular basis. For those of us who are not able to rebuild transaxles and differentials on a regular basis, we recommend a WaveTrac . WaveTrac diffs continue to offer an affordable, low-maintenance alternative to more expensive clutch pack differentials, and offer performance somewhere between a helical differential and a clutch pack differential. Aero Thanks to the increased flexibility offered by modern rulebooks, downforce-producing aero is both affordable and effective to the point of being almost mandatory. We recommend cutting your own splitter from 1/2" birch plywood and using quick release mounts and splitter rods from Professional Awesome Racing to mount it. PA's quick release mechanism and compression fit splitter rod design are clever, durable, affordable, and you can buy spare parts for them. The last bit is important as splitters and splitter mounting components tend to suffer a tremendous amount of wear and damage, especially as both car and driver become faster. As far as rear wings, we recommend looking at large-chord aluminum wings, similar to what is offered by Winglogic . Be warned that the Winglogic wings are not bolt-on aero pieces. You will need some fabrication skills and the ability to weld thin-gauge aluminum, and the ability to source your own uprights. However, as far as budget-friendly wings go, they currently offer the best balance between affordability and outright performance. One of their wing elements, a set of eBay-sourced wing upgrights, and a TIG welder to bring it all together will shave seconds off of your lap times for pennies on the dollar. Questions? Have a question about any of the info above? Feel free to reach out to us via our Contact Us form . Disclosure: The Bad Guys (AKA Bad Guys Worldwide) is a Technical Partner of StudioVRM.Racing , and have provided discounted engine rebuild services to us for our latest race engine build. StudioVRM and Roger Maeda are not affiliated with Tein, Redshift Suspension, Shaftworks, Motion Control Suspension, FatFour Customs, Carbotech, G-Loc, Raxles, MFactory / Synchromesh, WaveTrac, Professional Awesome Racing, Winglogic, or any of the other vendors mentioned here. Any of the parts purchased and reviewed for this article have been purchased at full price from our team's car development budget.

Header photo by John C Ernst Photography If you've watched or followed any racing series, you'll hear teams and commentators alike talking about "developing" their racecar as the season goes on. But what does that actually mean? Most racing games depict the process of developing a racecar using a modern-looking tech tree, where you can give virtual engineers a bunch of virtual currency so they can make your car accelerate harder, stop quicker, and corner better as the season progresses. It gives you the impression that you're investing R&D dollars into a team of researchers who are constantly inventing and building new parts that your mechanics will bolt onto the car. And while there is an element of truth to that for some well-resourced teams, it's far from reality for most racers. The Reality of the Matter The reality for most drivers and teams is that we don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest in new parts over the course of a season. For many of us, the parts that we have on the car at the beginning of the season are what we plan to finish the season on. And aside from a lucky few, most of us lack the tooling or the skills to fabricate new parts in the comfort of our own shops. And yet, budget-minded racers like us still find ways to make our cars faster over the course of the season, sometimes by a factor of seconds per lap. So how do we do it? In this series, we will take you behind the scenes as we develop the StudioVRM Honda Prelude through a competitive 2022 US Touring Car Championship season. In the process, we will you what actually goes on when we "develop" and "upgrade" the car, and hopefully give you some inspiration on how you could approach the development process for your own track or race car. Let's get started. Choosing your Tools The key to a successful development program is organization. All of your findings and data will come from your time on track, but most of your actual development work will happen away from it. That means you need a way to collect accurate data in a quick, efficient way, and have a way to keep it organized so you can review it later on. Our at-track data toolbox includes: Trello for Notetaking Since yours truly has a penchant for losing paper notes, our race engineer has mandated that all team notes are kept on Trello, a free-to-use cloud-based task management platform. Trello is an electronic Kanban board. It lets you track tasks in small, short notes called Cards, that you can quickly drag and drop between a series of Lists to indicate the status of the list. We have two Trello Boards in our Workspace, one that shows the list of upgrades and changes that we need to make to the car, and another that helps us keep track of observations and findings at each event. This second board also acts as our pre-event packing list, which helps make sure that we don't forget to pack something. Very handy. All of our team members have the Trello mobile app installed on our phones so we can collect, share, and review our notes before, at, and after each race weekend. On-Track Data Logging on a Budget Our team budget doesn't allow for expensive data loggers, so we do things the old-fashioned way - With cameras. Over the years, the team has amassed a small collection of second-hand Sony Action Cams, and we always try to install at least two of them whenever we go out on track: One forward-facing camera on the harness bar of the roll cage One rear-facing camera mounted to the rear windshield Our cameras may be several generations old, but they are still capable of producing clear 1080p60 footage. The video footage that we get from these little guys provide invaluable data that we can go back to see exactly what the car and driver are doing. As for lap timing, we use the RaceChrono Pro mobile app, installed on a used Android phone. We attach it to the roll cage on a RAM X-mount to use as an in-car lap timer and to collect speed / position data that we can review later on. If our car had an OBD II port, we would have also purchased a budget-friendly OBD data logger to collect data from our Honda's in-car systems. Unfortunately, our car lacks the sensors or the computer for these functions, so it isn't an option for us. Some Basic Instruments There are also some areas where you have no choice but to have dedicated tools. This is the one area where I would recommend spending a little extra money to get the best possible tools. At minimum, you will want to have the following on hand so you can collect valuable data about your car's tyres: A good, consistent tyre pressure gauge (preferably one made for racing) A probe-type tyre pyrometer We do bring a travel case of portable alignment tools to the track, but those tools are for checking and fixing our toe or camber in case of a handling problem. We rarely have a need to use it during a race weekend. Building a Baseline Now that we have our tools, it's time to set a baseline for the car so we know what we are working with. This means having a rough idea of the car's power, weight, alignment, tyres, and (if available) average lap times from past events that you can use as reference data. For us, that baseline data was: Max Engine Output: 190 hp @ 7000 RPM / 159 lb-ft of torque @ 5816 rpm (rev limited to 7500 rpm) Weight 2605 lbs with driver and no fuel Spring Rates Front - 14 kg-f/mmRear - 18 kg-f/mm Alignment Brakes Raybestos ST-45 Front / ST-77 Rear Stock Prelude Si VTEC calipers and rotors front and rear Wheels / Tyres 17x8 +35 offset 10mm spacers in front Used Hard compound slicks Aero Front splitter mounted to frame, extending 3" forward of the bumper as viewed from above VIS Racing hood, with vent grill removed and 3/4" tall gurney installed in front of vent 4" aluminum side skirts as measured from top of rocker Foam-reinforced composite rear wing Baseline Lap Times: NJ Motorsports Park Thunderbolt - ~1:35 NJ Motorsports Park Lighting - ~1:16 Summit Point Main Course - ???? Pittsburgh International Raceway - ???? Due to time and budget constraints and an over-supply of slicks, we decided to start the 2022 season on used hard compound racing slicks, then switch to new Hankook F200 medium compound slicks before the second round at NJMP. We knew that would affect some of our tyre and alignment related measurements and could hamper the development of our alignment and suspension setup. But that was ok. We had other things to worry about at the first race. Recognizing Your Weaknesses Understanding your baseline also means understanding your weaknesses. All of us head into a season with a few items left on the to-do list. So we made sure those were accounted for. In our case, there were still question marks around whether our engine was fully broken-in after its last rebuild. Despite being to the track seven times since its last rebuild, mechanical issues meant that this motor had less than 2 hours of total running time on it. We had performed some last-minute break-in before the event, but we weren't confident that the piston rings had fully seated just yet. In addition to the engine being slightly down on power, this also meant that we would need to keep a close eye on the oil catch cans attached to the Prelude's crankcase breathers. We were also concerned about the tracks that the series was going to this year. It has been years since we had raced at Summit Point or Pittsburgh International Raceway, both of which had been repaved and modified several times over the course of the past decade. Because we had no idea about the surface or the new kerbs, we would need to be conservative with settings like our ride height and spring rates. If our car was too stiff or too low, it would be difficult to fix at the track. That means running the car higher and running softer springs, and a compromise of speed vs drivability. Finally, there was the driver. While yours truly has a reputation of being a safe pair of hands behind the wheel, it has been a few seasons since I have been able to fully immerse myself in the heat of a lengthy dogfight. It would take an event or two to shake off the rust and get used to fighting again, and that means focusing on small, incremental changes while the driver re-learns how to race at the limit. Building a Plan With our baseline and weaknesses accounted for, it's time to build a plan. We like to categorize our development plans by area and set tasks and goals on a race-by-race basis. Our development plan for our first test & race weekend at Summit Point included the following items in each category: Powertrain Verify that the engine is fully broken in Verify that the new catch can setup has sufficient capacity to handle the blow-by from our engine If the engine is healthy, consider raising the rev limiter to 7700 rpm Suspension & Handling Test the compliance of the suspension by riding the taller kerbs at Summit Point Check whether the suspension is stiff enough to keep the aero working under hard braking and full acceleration Braking No changes Tyre and Wheel No changes Monitor treadwear, switch to backup dry set (white wheels) if tyres show damage Aero Monitor effectiveness of gurney flap installed on hood Monitor splitter height and check how often it contacts the ground Monitor side skirt height to see how far it is off the ground under cornering Driver Gain a better understanding of Summit Point Raceway Avoid unnecessary risks On to the First Race With plans in place and the rig loaded, we were ready to head to our first race weekend of the year at Summit Point Raceway. How did our plans fare against the track test that stood ahead of us in the rolling hills of West Virginia? Find out in Part 2 of How to Develop a Honda Prelude Racecar. In the meantime, I'll see you at the track.

In the first installment of our new series, we assembled the tools that we needed to develop the StudioVRM Honda Prelude, established a baseline for the car, and set up a development plan for our first race of the season. All that was left was to put that plan to the test at the first round of the USTCC East Series season at Summit Point Raceway. Getting to The Point Traveling to Summit Point Motorsports Park's Main course is like visiting an old friend. And not just because several of our old friends live nearby. It was the first track that yours truly ever spent 4+ hours driving to, back when we were working our way up the track day ladder in the mid-2000's. The circuit's 1/2 mile-long main straight and flowing high-speed corners were the site of some of the best wet weather races we had ever experienced. Turn 10 also happened to be the site of our first ever catastrophic engine failure*. It was the perfect place for the car's first true test of the season. Putting the Plan to the Test Because we had so many items to check, we opted to spend a few extra dollars and enter the pre-race test day on Friday. The five extra practice sessions would be a nice stress-free way of testing the car. The first order of business was to re-learn the track and prepare for the litany of items that we had on our initial plan. Yours truly prepared the car early, arrived at grid early, and sat patiently at the back half of the grid so we could be the last car on track. Having 15+ years of on-track experience doesn't make up for the fact that we hadn't driven this car on this track for several years. Humility and patience would be key to a successful first test. And so it proved, as we took our first tentative laps at a snail's pace, lapping 5 to 6 seconds a lap off our regular pace while cautiously feeling out the powertrain, suspension, and driver. The good news was that, despite being repaved twice since our last visit, the course was as familiar to us as ever. The bad news was that the car exhibited an unsettling tendency to suddenly kick its tail out through the faster right-hand turns on the track. Not a good thing on a track that is predominantly composed of fast right-hand turns. We approached the problem systematically: First, we checked the hot tyre pressures on the car to see both rear tyres showed the same pressures Next, we checked the rear suspension for any loose bolts or components Then, we looked at any broken components that could cause the alignment to shift Fourth, we checked for any binding in the rear suspension or any indication that the rear dampers were damaged or leaking Finally, we broke out the alignment kit and did a very quick check to make sure that the rear toe and camber hadn't shifted from its pre-season settings This thorough check revealed no problems. So we recorded the results on our trusty Trello board and went back out for the second session of the day. Again, the snap oversteer reared its ugly head through every right-hand turn. Knowing that we had plenty of time left, we chose to retrace our steps and go through the same five steps again. This time, our slow, methodical approach proved its worth. Our race engineer noticed that the right rear tyre pressure was still reading the same as it was after our first on-track session - An anomaly considering that the three other tyres were reading 2 psi hotter than before. A few attempts to add air to the right rear revealed the problem: The valve core on the right rear tyre was partially jammed. It was reading 25 psi regardless of how much air was actually in the tyre. A quick trip to the local Walmart later, we were back at the track with a fresh valve core and a valve core replacement tool. Replacing the jammed core revealed that we had less than 17 psi on the right rear tyre. No wonder the car's handling was so squirrelly. With that unexpected problem sorted out, we got back to our scheduled program and kept working through our development plan. Mid-Weekend Findings Our first test day was a productive one. By the end of Friday, we had recorded some productive results against our original plan: Powertrain Verify that the engine is fully broken in Day 1 Result: Power output indicates that engine is healthy Verify that the new catch can setup has sufficient capacity to handle the blow-by from our engine Day 1 Result: Verified that the catch can setup has enough capacity to last 10 laps at 7250 rpm. Will need additional testing to see if it can last longer If the engine is healthy, consider raising the rev limiter to 7700 rpm Day 1 Result: Defer decision until after day 1 of racing Suspension & Handling Test the compliance of the suspension by riding the taller kerbs at Summit Point Day 1 Result: Car has no issues absorbing any of the kerbs except for the gator cut kerbs on the outside of Turn 1 Check whether the suspension is stiff enough to keep the aero working under hard braking and full acceleration Day 1 Result: Front and rear aero working well enough to change feel of car. Splitter does not contact ground under full braking on flat ground. Braking No changes Tyre and Wheel Monitor treadwear, switch to backup dry set (white wheels) if tyres show damage Day 1 Results: Treadwear on hard compound slicks is significantly less than expected. Replaced right rear valve core due to sticky valve. Tyres seem to work best with a cold pressure of ~22 psi and a hot pressure just around 30 psi. Aero Monitor effectiveness of gurney flap installed on hood Day 1 Results: Needs testing. Continue monitoring. Monitor splitter height and check how often it contacts the ground Day 1 Results: Splitter skids contact the ground under hard braking and cornering into Turns 1, 5, 6, and 9. Consider raising splitter by 1 inch to avoid being a nuisance to corner workers. Monitor side skirt height to see how far it is off the ground under cornering Day 1 Results: Confirmed that side skirts were not contacting the track. Need photographs to see how far it is off ground. Driver Gain a better understanding of Summit Point Raceway Day 1 Results: Check. Avoid unnecessary risks Day 1 Results: So far, so good Turn it up to 10 Friday went well. Time to push the car a little. We found a nice gap in Qualifying, warmed the cold slicks as quickly as we could, and started on a few laps at 9/10ths pace. We weren't really testing anything in the braking system, so we kept our corner entries and braking zones conservative. Aside from that, it was race pace or better for the entire session. We needed to see if the oil catch cans would be able to hold enough blow-by from a full 15-minute session. And we still weren't sure if the side skirts would contact the ground. The car's pace was good. The used slicks were thoroughly heat-cycled-out at this point, and the reduced grip meant understeer through every low-speed corner. But otherwise, the car felt good. The front splitter skids were still contacting the ground when the front suspension was loaded up, slowly grinding down the stainless steel skids bolted into the underside of the splitter. And there was an occasional puff of smoke, indicating that the engine was sucking in a little bit of oil from the PCV. Something to note. The one thing we couldn't tell was how close the side skirts were coming to the ground. Ideally, the metal side skirts on our car should be as close to the ground as possible without touching. We knew that they weren't touching the ground, which means that we could extend them closer to the ground for better performance. But how much taller could we make them? There was no way to tell without looking at the car from the outside under hard cornering. So yours truly came up with an incredibly convoluted solution - Find a photographer on one of the corner stations, get their attention, drive aggressively enough for them to get a good photo, buy a high-res photo from them afterwards, and use Photoshop to measure the distance between the ground and the bottom of the side skirt. Corner workers and spectators looked on with furrowed brows as the driver of the #22 Honda Prelude started waving to the photographers under hard cornering in the middle of a qualifying session. This bizarre strategy worked. A few days after the race, we had this photo loaded up into Photoshop, where the ruler tool told us that we could extend the side skirts by another 4 inches before it would hit the ground. Brilliant. Less brilliant was what happened during the following heat race. The zip ties holding down the oil dipstick were apparently not tight enough. The crankcase pressure had popped the engine oil dipstick up and sprayed Penn Grade 1 5w30 all over the engine bay. There was so much oil that some of it dripped onto the left rear tyre and pitched the car into a wild slide during the second lap of the race. It was pretty clear what was happening. The crankcase pressure from our high-compression engine was so much that the stock crankcase ventilation system on our car could not relieve the pressure quickly enough. The excess pressure found the one weak seal in Honda's oiling system (the oil dipstick itself) and pushed it out. Based on some friendly advice from Savage Garage Racing's Coyote Black, we took a trip to the local Home Depot and fabricobbled a homemade vented oil cap. But the 1/2" rubber hose that we used was not built for venting hot vapors from an internal combustion engine. It softened under the heat of the engine and pinched shut after a few laps. The resulting crankcase pressure pushed engine oil out through the stock PCV vents, filling both catch cans and allowing the Honda's H23A powerplant to ingest engine oil. The result? A smokescreen so prominent that it would have made James Bond proud. Unfortunately, huge clouds of oily smoke are far better suited to action films than the racetrack. We pulled off and retired the car before we could cause any damage to our engine or any of our competitors' cars. Final Findings from Round 1 By the end of the weekend, the scorecard looked dramatically different from a few days ago: Powertrain Verify that the engine is fully broken in Result: Power output indicates that engine is healthy. However, crankcase pressure indicates that we may be losing compression on one or more cylinders Verify that the new catch can setup has sufficient capacity to handle the blow-by from our engine Result: Stock PCV and catch can setup has insufficient capacity to last a full 25 minute session at race speeds. A higher capacity catch can and better ventilation is needed. If the engine is healthy, consider raising the rev limiter to 7700 rpm Result: Defer decision to Race 2, pending resolution of crankcase ventilation issues. Suspension & Handling Test the compliance of the suspension by riding the taller kerbs at Summit Point Result: Car has no issues absorbing any of the kerbs except for the gator cut kerbs on the outside of Turn 1. Retain setup for Round 2. Check whether the suspension is stiff enough to keep the aero working under hard braking and full acceleration Result: Front and rear aero working well enough to change feel of car. Splitter does not contact ground under full braking on flat ground. Braking No changes Tyre and Wheel Monitor treadwear, switch to backup dry set (white wheels) if tyres show damage Result: Treadwear on hard compound slicks is significantly less than expected. Replaced right rear valve core due to sticky valve. Tyres seem to work best with a cold pressure of ~22 psi and a hot pressure just around 30 psi. Tyres have reached end of service life. Replace with new Hankook F200s before Round 2. Aero Monitor effectiveness of gurney flap installed on hood Result: Oil streaking from Saturday incident indicates better flow attachment and higher velocity of flow from hood vent. Retain setup for Round 2. Monitor splitter height and check how often it contacts the ground Result: Splitter skids contact the ground under hard braking and cornering into Turns 1, 5, 6, and 9. Raise splitter by 1 inch to avoid being a nuisance to corner workers. Monitor side skirt height to see how far it is off the ground under cornering Result: Confirmed that side skirts were not contacting the track. Extend splitter by 4 inches to improve effectiveness. Driver Gain a better understanding of Summit Point Raceway Result: Check. Avoid unnecessary risks Result: Mission accomplished. Fixes and Upgrades Priority one was to address the excessive blow-by being generated by the Prelude's H23A1 powerplant. A permanent solution might involve disassembling the engine and putting new piston rings in the engine. We completed another leakdown test on the engine to check its health, and were relieved to find that the leakdown numbers had improved to under 6% on cylinders 1 and 4, and under 1% on cylinders 2 and 3. Maybe a full engine rebuild could wait. Instead, we took the approach suggested by fellow USTCC driver, Coyote Black of Savage Garage Racing. We would completely revamp our engine oil vent system, eliminating the stock PCV system and replacing it with a vented oil cap plumbed to a vented catch can. We would then plumb a drain from the bottom of the catch can into our car's Moroso oil pan, which came from the factory with a port for an oil return line. We covered the stock vent to the air intake with a PCV filter, and used this attractive laser-etched plug from Laurel Highlands Laser to close the stock PCV vent hold on the H23A1 valve cover. In order to avoid a repeat of incident with the oil dipstick popping out, we procured an English Tune oil dipstick hold down. This spring-loaded handle was a much nicer alternative to the amalgamation of zip ties that kept the engine from pushing out the dipstick under load. We also took the opportunity to rework the splitter with shorter supports to keep the splitter blade from scraping across the ground as much as it had at Summit Point. The DiFTech splitter support rods that we used were discontinued, so we opted for these exceptionally overbuilt splitter quick support rods from FS Performance Engineering. These support rods have quick release clips similar to the old DiFTech rods and make it much easier to load the Prelude onto our open deck trailer. Mid-Season Retest There really is only one way to verify whether changes like these worked, and that is to run the car hard through a long session on a full-size racetrack. As luck would have it, we were already planning on taking a 3-day trip to VIRginia International Raceway for a relaxing weekend of track days with friends from the Honda Prelude racing community. We could use the extra track time to test out our changes in a low-pressure DE environment and maybe enjoy a beer or two with friends afterwards. With that, we loaded up the rig and prepared for a long tow down to the quiet town of Alton, Virginia. Did our crankcase ventilation upgrades and new splitter supports address our woes from our Summit Point race? Find out in Part 3 of How to Develop a Honda Prelude Racecar, out now. In the meantime, I'll see you at the track. *Special thanks to SSM racer Rob Myles, not only for bringing us back from Summit Point all those years ago, but for going back there to tow the stranded Prelude back to our home just one short week later. I still owe you Rob, and I'm still working on paying it forward.

Two short months after a productive and informative first race of the season, Team StudioVRM.Racing rolled into the paddock at NJ Motorsports Park, armed with our first round of reliability and aero upgrades. Hyper-Test at VIR We used our free time as productively as we could. In May, we took a road trip to VIRginia International Raceway a casual track outing with the friendly track enthusiasts of the Honda Prelude Racing Group (HPRG). In between sessions of casual banter sessions while hiding from the blazing sun, we put our new crankcase ventilation setup through a stress test in the HPDE groups. It was a good thing that we did. While the new crankcase ventilation setup did work better than our old one, it wasn't a complete fix. We discovered that some engine oil was still managing to get past the ventilation filters on the catch can and valve cover. We would need to make some more changes to keep the oil from escaping. But in the meantime, we borrowed some zip ties and wrapped the catch can vents and valve cover filter in some oil-absorbing pads. This bizarre looking band-aid worked brilliantly. The layers of oil mat provided just enough of a backup to keep the errant oil from leaving the engine bay. We also needed to trim a little bit of material from our new ground-hugging side skirt extensions so our racing jack would fit under the car. The few minutes of trackside modification were well worth the trouble - The 4 extra inches of Sprint Car Plastic that we added to our metal side skirts dramatically improved the car's stability over the fast uphill esses and the tricky Hogpen section leading to the main straight. Aside from these small hiccups, the car ran flawlessly. Upon returning to the Studio, we bled the brakes, swapped our old hard compound slicks for a fresh set of Medium compound Hankook F200s, and prepped the car for Round 2 of the 2022 USTCC East Series. Preparing for Lightning Round 2 of the USTCC East Series would be held on NJ Motorsports Park's Lightning track in the heat of mid-June sun. Given the forecast for 90+ F degree weather, we thought it would be prudent to invest in driver comfort. We ordered up a Coolshirt shirt to complete the second-hand driver cooling system that we had installed in the off-season. This simple system pumps cold water through a series of tubes sewn into the shirt to keep the driver's core temperature down through the duration of a race. This would be critical for the longer 25-lap feature race that we had on the schedule for Sunday. With that last minute upgrade in place, we were ready to face the heat of battle. Our Honda arrived at Round 2 with our first upgrade package of the season: Powertrain Oasis 1.2l vented catch can with -10AN ports Precision Works Vented oil cap 5/8" ID fuel and oil rated rubber lines for PCV and drain back to oil pan -10AN to 5/8" ID hose fittings from AeroQuip and Evil Energy Valve cover vent filter English Tune oil dipstick hold down Laurel Highlands Laser PCV Port Plug Aero Side skirt extensions made of Speedway sprint car plastic roll FS Performance Engineering Splitter Rods Increase splitter height by 5mm Tyre and Wheel Hankook F200 slicks in 235/620R17 Interior Coolshirt Evolution cool water shirt Braking it in Qualifying day started and ended with a bang. Just as we had at Summit Point, yours truly banged in a safe, but brisk lap in the final moments of the morning qualifying session. The resulting 1:16.705 was enough to put Team StudioVRM 2nd overall on the grid behind the Super Touring classed OnQ Racing BMW 325. More importantly, the car was working overall. Our oil system upgrades were keeping the engine oil inside the engine oil system. The aero upgrades and new Hankook slicks were keeping our Prelude glued to the ground through Lighting's fast, flowing corners. And the new Coolshirt, despite being one size too big for our medium-sized driver, eliminated the need to sweat while dancing the car through the track's slow corners. This was a great start to the weekend. The Saturday heat race was interrupted by a rapid clunking and an abrupt bang that almost threw our car off the road. The one-piece left rear brake rotor had suddenly become two pieces, with the rotor hat cleanly shearing itself off of the disc in a bizarre failure that took the rear wheel bearing out with it. We later found out that this was the consequence of waiting too long to swap rear brake rotors. Under normal circumstances, we change rear brake rotors and pads once a season. But due to the limited track time we had in the past two years, we thought it would be safe to extend the service intervals a bit. As it turns out, we were wrong. Lesson learned. Fortunately, we had the foresight to bring a full set of rear brakes as well as a spare rear hub. ProjectCRX lead driver Martin Szwarc jumped in and we had our spares bolted on within minutes. On to the main event - the 25-lap Sunday Feature Race. Success with Some Straight-Line Shortcomings Sunday. Race day. Time to shine. For the first time in over a year, Team StudioVRM.Racing enjoyed a successful feature race and tasted victory. We'll spare you the theatrics and leave you with the in-car video as well as a link to the Race Report. So how did the car do? Aero If you listen to the in-car video, you might notice the not-so-subtle scraping sound that crops up under hard cornering and braking. That is the sound of our splitter's rub bolts scraping along the pavement. Despite raising the splitter by 5mm (a little under 1/4"), it was still hitting the ground under hard braking and hard cornering. By the end of the weekend, the left-front rub bolt wore away completely and fell out of the splitter partway through this race. We will have to increase the height of the splitter by another 10mm or 15mm before the next race. Powertrain - PCV You might also notice around the 16:02 mark that there is a trail of bluish white smoke following our car. It turned out that some engine oil was splashing out through the PCV vent on top of the valve cover and trickling down the back of the engine onto the exhaust. We will have to make some more modifications there before the next race. Tyres and Wheels On the upside, the Hankook F200s were as grippy and forgiving as we remembered them from our previous experiment with them back in 2018. We realized afterwards that we could have pushed them much harder under braking and leaned on them much more through the fast left-right transitions in the first half of the Lightning layout. Lesson learned for next time - Push harder, earlier. Powertrain - Engine On the downside, we discovered that the car was slow in a straight line. Despite turning out 190hp on the dyno and having enough aero grip to make Lightning's high-speed Lightbulb turn a breeze, the car produced so much drag that an Improved Touring S-class RX7 could keep up with us at the end of every straight. The reason? Aero drag sapping precious top speed from our Prelude's engine. We had an inkling that this might be a problem from our VIR test, but it was glaringly obvious at NJMP when our closest competitors were breathing down our necks. We will need to find a way to cut the drag down substantially or extract more power from our H23A1 power unit. We will also look to remove some weight from the car to help it accelerate up to top speed as quickly as possible. Powertrain - Transmission We also discovered a problem where the rubber bushings holding the shifter cradle down had shrunk so much that the whole shifter assembly would rock left to right when shifting from 5th to 4th. This resulted in more than one missed upshift during qualifying. Fortunately for us, Savage Garage Racing's Coyote Black was nice enough to run out to the auto parts store to get some washers that we could use to compress the bushings and keep the cradle from moving. Thanks again Coyote. Interior Finally, despite being one size too big, our new Coolshirt performed flawlessly. The added cooling on our driver's core made it much easier for him to stay focused through the duration of the 25-lap feature race. The system worked so well that yours truly found himself plugging into the cool system while hanging out in the paddock as well. This made the whole rest of the weekend a significantly less sweaty experience. The only way to improve this piece would be to build a portable cooler that the driver could wear as he walks around the paddock. Planning the Next Round of Upgrades Our second race of the 2022 season was a success on all fronts. Not only did we earn our first USTCC race win, but we also learned where the next steps were on our racecar development roadmap: Aero Raise the splitter by 10mm to 15mm to keep it from contacting the ground under hard braking Cut a spare splitter blade from 1/2" birch using the existing splitter as a template Powertrain - PCV Plug the factory valve cover vent port closest to the intake to prevent oil leakage Look for addition optimizations and improvements to the crankcase ventilation system Powertrain - Engine Upgrade to a larger diameter intake tube, throttle body, and intake manifold upper to extract more power from the engine Powertrain - Transmission Replace or reinforce any rubber mounts in the transmission and shifter linkage Chassis Reduce weight by removing the heater core, dashboard reinforcement, and any unused metal brackets attached to the firewall and engine bay How much of a difference will these upgrades make at the next round at Pittsburgh International Race Complex? Part 4 of How to Develop a Honda Prelude Racecar will be out later this summer, after our August race. In the meantime, I'll see you at the track. Disclosure Section: As usual, all products mentioned above were purchased out of Roger's own pocket, at full price. That said, StudioVRM is now an Amazon Associate, which means that we get a tiny bit of income if you buy a product using any links to Amazon products above. We would appreciate it if you did exactly that.

When we left off at the end of Part 3, we had just finished celebrating our first race win in over a year. But this was no time to rest on our laurels. The next two rounds of the season would be at Pittsburgh International Race Complex (AKA PittRace), home track to our main competitor Coyote Black. If we were going to stand a chance of being competitive, we would need to start working on our next set of upgrades. The PittRace Upgrade Package PittRace is a long, fast track best known for its elevation changes and quick left-right transitions. Racers often say that you need to "hustle" or "throw" the car through most of the corners to get a fast time around the track. With that in mind, we prioritized the upgrades that would have the biggest impact while still giving us the long-term performance that we needed. Aero & Chassis PittRace is a track with a ton of fast-changing elevation changes. We knew that we would need to raise the Prelude's splitter a few extra millimeters to avoid the ground-scraping antics that we put on display at NJMP. With that in mind, we raised the splitter by 20mm by trimming the splitter mounts and bolted them higher up on the chassis. We also wanted to remove some weight from the car to help it handle the quick left-right transitions a little better. Fortunately for us, we knew exactly where to find it. The StudioVRM Prelude still had its heater core and dash pad reinforcement from the days when we were competing in the more rules-bound SCCA Improved Touring class. Since the USTCC allows for the removal of both of these components, we happily set to work. We used a Sawzall and cut notches into the dashboard to free it from behind the front legs of the cage, removed the heater core, unbolted any unused metal brackets, and hole sawed out as much hard plastic reinforcement out of the dashboard as we could. This work alone removed almost 45 lbs (20.4 kg) from the firewall of our Prelude. The surgery left the passenger side of the dashboard a little floppy, so we zip tied those pieces to the roll cage to keep them in place. Alignment for Rotation Quick transitions means that we would need more rear end rotation. At NJMP, we discovered that the tiny sliver of toe-out that we put on our rear wheels wasn't enough to get the car to dance through the turn 3-4 complex like we wanted. So for PittRace, we decided to dial in a little more, going from 0.1 deg toe out to 0.3 deg toe out (or approx. 1/8" total toe out on our Longacre toe arms). While this might sound a bit extreme for a road race car, it's not out of the question on a super sticky full slick like the Hankook F200. Additional PCV Updates While the PCV and blow-by issues had become much less of an issue at NJMP, we knew we could do better. With the help of Martin Szwarc's welding skills, we disassembled a spare H23A1 valve cover and welded in two AN-10 ports near the rear. Unlike the vented oil cap, these ports would be protected by a steel baffle that would keep any oil that was slung off the spinning camshafts from being sucked into the catch can. We then reinstalled the stock oil cap and routed the lines to the new ports. Upping the Stopping Power While reviewing the rear-view camera footage from NJMP Lightning, we noticed that our competition would get several car lengths closer every time we entered the hard braking zone into turn 7. We knew exactly why: We never pushed the brakes to 100% of their capacity. The reason? Heat. Between the super sticky race slicks and the tremendously effective aero, we were worried that the front brakes would overheat over through the course of a 25-lap race in the mid-summer heat. It was time to move up to a caliper and rotor that could handle the heat. After reviewing a few options and looking at the precious remaining funds in our team's budget, we decided to upgrade to an Acura RL-based big brake kit manufactured by FatFour Customs. This kit combines the beefy 4-piston fixed calipers off of a 2005 Acura RL with the 325mm front rotors from a 350Z, using a combination of redrilling and hubcentric spacers to adapt the enormous 5 lug rotors to the 4th gen Prelude's stock front spindles. This affordable OEM+ kit was perfect for us. It would give our overworked front brakes the heat capacity that they needed while working perfectly with our stock 1" Prelude Si 4WS Master Cylinder. At only $600 US for the set (including the cost of RL calipers but not including the cost of pads) and weighing only 14 lbs (6.35 kg) more than the stock Prelude VTEC brakes, it was well within the constraints of our budget. And best of all, they completely filled out our 17" race wheels, giving the car a show-stopping, aggressive look. Engine Upgrades - Deferred The one snag in our pre-Pittsburgh planning was that we couldn't get a dyno tuning session with Evans Tuning in time for the race. This was a bit unfortunate, as our new Technical Partner, The Bad Guys, had just sent a new Intake Manifold upper plenum that would let us replace our stock 60mm throttle body to a gargantuan 74mm unit. But given all of the other upgrades that we completed on the car, maybe this wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to us this season. We would just have to defer these upgrades until next time. A Sudden Stop to Festivities Given that it has been almost 10 years since our last trip to Pittsburgh International, the team made the decision to arrive at the track a day early and participate in the Friday track event, both to shake down the car and learn the track. Our driver pounced at the track from the very first session, familiarizing himself with the fast and twisty North Course and testing the effectiveness of the new parts, when suddenly, this happened: While powering out Pittsburgh International's slow Turn 11, the H23 engine in the StudioVRM Honda Prelude hesitated slightly before filling the cabin with ashen smoke. We limped the car back to the pits in 4th gear. We didn't have many engine troubleshooting tools in our travel toolkit, but thanks to the help of ProjectCRX's Martin Szwarc, Savage Garage Racing's Coyote Black, and one IndyCar, NASCAR, and IMSA Crew Chief Jim Locke, we managed to do some improvised at-track troubleshooting. The prognosis was not good. Cylinder #1 had spark and fuel, but zero compression. A closer look at the #1 spark plug revealed specks of metal covering the ceramic at the bottom of the plug. When Jim borrowed a leakdown tester and used his own lungs as an improvised air compressor, we saw air escaping from the PCV ports. Air was getting past the piston rings, into the oil pan, and right back up the valve cover. In Jim's words, the engine "was definitely injured." There would be no racing for us that weekend. A borescope analysis of the cylinder confirmed our worst fears - Two big chunks were missing from the piston on cylinder 1, and the piston top was pitted heavily from metal flying around inside the combustion chamber. The H23 race engine that had carried us to victory just two short months ago was now thoroughly broken. Making the Most of the Data Despite having an extremely truncated track schedule, we were still able to gather some valuable data on some of our latest upgrade package: Aero & Chassis Raising the height of the splitter dramatically reduced the amount of contact that our aero kit made with the ground. That said, it wasn't quite high enough to clear the ground at a handful of spots on track - The leading edge of our splitter blade still hit the tarmac at a few points, such as the turn-in for the slow uphill turn 10. We might consider raising the splitter another 5-10mm for next time just to make sure that we won't damage the splitter blade over the course of a race. Alignment Increasing the rear toe-out to -0.3 deg worked remarkably well. This change allowed us to swing the rear end of the car around through slower turns without causing the rear end to slide out through the faster turns. We will be keeping this setting change as part of our base alignment going forward. Brakes We were pleasantly surprised to find that the FatFour Customs RL brake kit worked exceptionally well. We were admittedly slightly worried about how the huge 4-piston calipers and oversized rotors would perform. But it turned out that this kit, combined with Raybestos ST-45 brake pads, was just what we needed to maximize the braking system of our racing slick-shod car. The brake pedal had noticeably less travel than when we were using the OEM Prelude VTEC brakes, due to the fact that the 350Z front brake rotors are a full 2mm thicker than the OEM Acura rotors that the RL calipers were designed for. As a result, we found it much easier to keep brake harder without locking them up completely. We will need to do some endurance testing to see how they hold up over the course of a longer race. Moving Onwards and Forwards What do you do when your entire program is suddenly knocked off track? Pick yourself up, assess your options, and figure out what it takes to get going. If you have any friends or contacts in the racing community, it's time to pick up the phone and start asking for help. Thanks to the support of our friends, technical partners, the USTCC, SCCA, and NASA racing community, as well as the generous outreach of fellow Honda Prelude racers, the StudioVRM Prelude won't be down for long. We even had a few particularly generous friends offering their spare blocks and heads just to see if we could get back on track. ProjectCRX's Martin Szwarc even offered to lend us the entire K-series powertrain out of his FD2 Civic Si. While that offer was slightly too generous for us to accept, we now had a myriad of directions in which we could go: Install a used H23 VTEC engine as our new base motor Build a new engine based on a Honda F23A block, with help from The Bad Guys Swap to a K24 and a TSX 6 speed transmission In the meantime, we reached an agreement with another Prelude racing team to acquire two complete H22 race engines. One of these engines will propel our USTCC Prelude into the coming 2023 season. The StudioVRM Prelude will be back soon, and our quest for speed will continue. In the meantime, we will see you at the track. Disclosure: The Bad Guys (AKA Bad Guys Worldwide) joined StudioVRM's racing arm, StudioVRM.Racing as  Technical Partner in August of 2022. The new intake manifold upper plenum mentioned above was received at a discount as part of our ongoing collaboration. All other parts were purchased at full price out of Roger's own pocket.

When we last left off with this series, we had just returned from Pittsburgh International Race Complex, having endured a catastrophic failure of our Prelude’s race-prepared H23A1 engine. During the 2023 pre-season, the team disassembled the engine to figure out exactly what had happened. What Happened Our at-track troubleshooting efforts at Pittsburgh had shown us that the #1 piston had crumbled due to a ring land failure. And a tell-tale white band on all four spark plugs hinted that all four cylinders had been running lean at some point. But we didn’t see the full extent of the damage until we had separated the head from the block. A completely obliterated piston #1 As expected, the ring lands on cylinder #1 had disintegrated and the cylinder walls on #1 were heavily scored. What we hadn’t expected was that there was similar damage on cylinder #2. These two cylinders were problem children from day one. Despite multiple break-in attempts, we were unable to get these two cylinders to show less than 5% leakdown, even after cylinders #3 and #4 were testing under 1%. Damage and heavy cylinder wall scoring on Cylinder #1 Similar scoring and piston chunking on Cylinder #2 The striped markings on the spark plugs were a red herring. The real cause was clear. The FRM cylinder liners on our engine were too badly scratched for the rings to fully seal. That allowed red-hot combustion gasses to blow past the rings, washing the oil off the cylinder walls in the process. Eventually, this allowed a hot spot to develop on the edge of the piston, which caused it to break apart, resulting in this catastrophic failure. Unfortunately, the chunks of loose piston bouncing around the combustion chambers had ripped up the head beyond reasonable repair. The resulting metal dust had also circulated throughout the bottom end of the engine, destroying the crank, bearings, and bottom end internals. Aside from the cams, gears, and a few external accessories, there was little we could save from our experimental race engine. The root cause of the issue was something that had happened long before our engine was even assembled. The previous owner of our block had sent it to a machine shop in preparation for a rebuild. That shop had scratched the cylinder walls of our H23A block in a botched attempt to polish out some cosmetic scratches. Powertrain Wizard Robert Oliver had attempted to repair this damage using a specialized FRM honing process used by Porsche mechanics. And while he had succeeded in repairing cylinders #3 and #4, the damage to #1 and #2 were very slightly beyond repair. The team knew that this would be a risk going into the build and accepted that this was the consequence of taking the risk. The real question was: What are we going to do? Parts Availability - The Perpetual Challenge The first thing we did was to look for a new H23A1 long block to replace our broken engine. Unfortunately, this is where we came up against one of the unfortunate realities of racing older cars: There is a finite number of hard parts out there. And that number is dwindling by the day. Between COVID related import restrictions and the immutable reality that the Honda H23A1 engine was never built in the same quantities as its VTEC-enabled siblings, it was impossible to get a new core at a reasonable price. And even if we had, the Powertrain Wizard wouldn’t be able to build it in time for the start of the 2023 USTCC Season. We would have to find another way. Allies, Friends, and Axis Powers to the Rescue It turns out we wouldn’t have to look far. We just needed to ask for help. As soon as news spread of our misfortune, CMP Racing’s Ross Shull reached out and offered the perfect solution. Having long since made the decision to retire his successful ChampCar-spec 4th gen Prelude Si VTEC, Ross offered to sell the entire powertrain from his car (at well below cost) to help keep us going. This was the same engine that had recorded a 194 fwhp on Shue Tuning’s ego-bruising SuperFlow dyno with multiple 8+ hour endurance racing wins to its name. Installing this engine would make us instantly competitive in the Sportsman class of the US Touring Car Championship. We happily accepted the kind gesture from a capable ally from years ago. In the first few weeks of the 2023 calendar year, trusted friend (and sometimes teammate) Martin Szwarc transported the new powertrain package back to the Studio on the back of his Silverado. When local shops couldn’t slot us into their busy schedules, ProjectCRX’s Andy Yoon drove 100 miles with his engine hoist and stand so that we, with Chris “Cessna” Eng’s help, could transplant the new powertrain to replace the StudioVRM Prelude’s broken heart. It took only two days of wrenching to install a new engine, transmission, wiring harness, and ECU into our Prelude. When we went to turn the key, the whole team was rewarded with the beautiful sound of silence. There was a problem. Something was keeping the Prelude’s new engine from firing up. With Ross’ help, the team proceeded to troubleshoot on and off for two whole weeks. To little avail. The ECU had power and the engine had fuel. But there was no spark. CMP Racing had converted their engine to Coil on Plug using a HondaRulez-based Burton Racing COP conversion kit. Yet there was something within this very kit that was keeping our Honda’s new VTEC powered heart from ticking. Burton Racing’s Support team thought that the problem must be with the car’s wiring. Helpful, but vague. So, we reached out to one of the best all-round Honda engine builders in the US – Our technical partner, Cole Mulvey at Bad Guys Worldwide. Unsurprisingly, the eccentric and experienced master machinist had seen us struggling through social media and provided us with a few key pieces of advice. And in the event that those didn’t yield any results, he had the contact information for Nomis Industries, the biggest distributor of HondaRulez coil on plug boards worldwide. As it turned out, all we needed were those few words of advice. We found the problem that night. It turned out that one of the wires in the Burton Racing COP harness had pulled out of its crimp connector under three layers of insulation. Replacing the crimp connector was all it took. The StudioVRM Prelude’s engine roared to life as we excitedly messaged everyone with the good news. We like to think that Cole let out a sly chuckle while sitting atop his throne made of Honda D-Series Engine blocks under the Bad Guys themed flag inspired by the old Imperial Japanese banner. And that Ross, Andy, Martin, and Cessna duly celebrated a job well done from the comfort of their own homes with their favorite alcoholic beverages. In reality, half the team was likely off at work while the other half were spending their evenings watching YouTube. Either way, we had done it. The StudioVRM Honda Prelude Si VTEC was now alive and ready to fight in the 2023 United States Touring Car Championship season. Completing the 2023 Car Because the new engine harness had no provisions for the factory gauges, we needed to build our own. Out came the factory gauge cluster, and in went a new custom gauge cluster that read from the car’s Hondata S300-equipped ECU. Our tachometer, speedometer, and warning lights would now be displayed by the SDash for USB Android app, displayed on a Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 that would be bolted to the dashboard frame with a RAM mounts tablet holder. As a backup measure, we installed an oversized Autometer water temperature gauge with its sender in line with the engine’s radiator inlet hose. The mechanical oil pressure gauge and AEM Air Fuel ratio gauge remained just as they had with our previous configuration. We also replaced our temperamental Braille lithium battery with a larger but higher quality powersport battery from Shorai. With all of these changes, a corner weighting session, and a race alignment, our Prelude was ready for battle with the following updated setup: Max Engine Output: 194 hp @ 7700 RPM (rev limited to 7900 rpm) Weight 2615 lbs with driver and no fuel Spring Rates Front - 14 kg-f/mmRear - 18 kg-f/mm Alignment Brakes Raybestos ST-45 Front / ST-77 Rear FatFour Customs Acura RL Big Brake Kit front Stock Prelude Si VTEC calipers and rotors rear Wheels / Tyres 17x8 +35 offset Hankook F200 C52 Medium Compound Slicks in 235/620R17 Aero Front splitter mounted to frame, extending 3" forward of the bumper as viewed from above VIS Racing hood, with vent grill removed and 3/4" tall gurney installed in front of vent 4" aluminum side skirts with 4" plastic extensions to seal sides to ground Foam-reinforced composite rear wing How will our new VTEC powered contender fare in a fight against a field of new challengers in the 2023 season? Find out soon in Part 6 of How to Develop a Honda Prelude Racecar, coming soon. Until then, we will see you at the track. Disclosure: The Bad Guys (AKA Bad Guys Worldwide) joined StudioVRM's racing arm, StudioVRM.Racing as Technical Partner in August of 2022. Neither StudioVRM nor Roger Maeda are affiliated with or sponsored by the other vendors and suppliers mentioned above.

Side by Side: Our new H22A to our old H23A1 Engine Despite producing similar peak power figures, our new H22 engine and our previous H23A1 race engine are quite different internally. If we were to compare some of the key specs of the two powerplants side-by-side, here's how they would stack up: There are also some notable differences between the externally similar transmissions on the two engines: More than VTEC vs non-VTEC As you might expect, these small differences added up to something much more substantial in the car. And we felt this in a big way through the first two rounds of the 2023 USTCC East Series Season. In terms of pure seat-of-the-pants feel, the new H22A and its matching M2F4 transmission felt significantly more powerful in the upper reaches of the powerband. Above 6000 rpm, our new H22 VTEC engine would scream to redline, making full power right up to the fuel cut at 7900 rpm. Even on stock cams and a stock head with lightly deburred ports, our new motor was more eager to rev than our H23A1 ever was. The higher rev limit also let us hold gears for longer through corners like Turn 10 at Summit Point, where our car always felt like it should be between 4th and 5th gear. And of course, that top end power would be accompanied by the dry high-end roar that Honda enthusiasts know and love. At the same time, the new engine felt like it packed less mid-range punch compared to our old H23A1. We could no longer hang the car out at the bottom of 4th gear through medium speed corners and expect the engine's torque to pull us out at corner exit. In general, the power delivery of the H22 felt more peaky, more akin to a VTEC B-series engine than the torquey H23A1 that we had become so accustomed to. In order to extract the maximum from this new engine, we would need to be more precise with gear selection when going through medium-speed corners or when dogfighting other cars. This also means shifting a few extra times every lap, something that would be an adjustment for sure. Is the New Engine Faster? Characteristics and quirks aside, one thing was clear - Our new engine made our car faster. Even at a conservative race pace, we were on average a second per lap faster on Summit Point's Main course and 4-5 mph faster at the end of the main straight at NJ Motorsports Park's Lightning track. Between the slightly shorter gearing and the ability to continue building peak power at high RPM, our new engine proved that the tradeoff of low-end torque for top-end power was one worth making on the tracks we race at. Our AIM Solo II estimated that we could have achieved a 1:22.9 during our first race at Summit Point - over 2 seconds faster than we had previously managed on the West Virginian track. Based on the feedback that the car was giving us, we think that we could have beaten that time over a single push lap. Admittedly, this gap was likely exaggerated by the oiling and leakdown issues that we experienced with our 2020-spec engine in the 2022 season. Still, considering the fact that our new engine is still saddled with stock cams, this boost in performance bodes well for our future. Driveshaft Disruptions More power leads to more problems, as they say. And our car proved this to be true in the first two races of the season. In our case, these problems manifested in the outer CV joints of our previously reliable driveshafts. The outer CV joint of our Insane Shafts-built left front axle failed spectacularly at Summit Point. We replaced this unit with an aftermarket unit that we repacked with Redline CV2 grease, only to have that one fail at NJ Motorsports Park when the CV joint boot popped off due to insufficient venting in the outer boot. This would have been a major disappointment for us, if we hadn't discovered that the outer CV joint of the right front axle had also developed a worrying amount of play. In all likelihood, it was also going to fail in the very near future. There is no doubt that the higher speeds contributed to the sudden failures of these axles. At the same time, our driver noted that he was hitting kerbs harder and cutting apexes more aggressively to keep the engine revs from dropping out of the powerband. These two changes combined would easily be enough to shatter our already stressed Honda axles. Fortunately, CMP Racing's Ross Shull had provided us with a brand new set of Raxles-built "VIR-spec" race axles, and Prelude racer turned prototype racecar designer Billy Howell offered several sets of unopened axles for us to use as cores. The Raxles race axles use OEM Honda shafts as cores, rebuild them with a high-temp grease, and use metal vent tubes on the boots to prevent hot air from building up inside the CV joints. These race-proven axles should give us the reliability we need to keep the Prelude's newfound power from breaking our car. Closing the Gap Drivability is just as important as reliability. In order to make our new h22 engine an effective dogfighter, we would need to give it some of the bottom end torque that gave our H23A1 its mid-range punch. Our first steps to addressing this are to install the throttle body, upper intake manifold, and intake manifold spacer that our technical partner Bad Guys Worldwide had previously built for us. The increase in intake manifold plenum volume should change the characteristics of the engine to better suit our needs, while the enormous 74mm Skunk2 throttle body and the precision-machined taper bore adapter will ensure that our engine will get all of the airflow it needs to perform at its best. In a few short days, Jeff Evans of Evans Performance Academy will adjust our tune to get the most out of our new hardware. How will these new improvements change the characteristics of our new powertrain? Find out in Part 7 of How to Develop a Honda Prelude Racecar. Disclosure Section: The Bad Guys (AKA Bad Guys Worldwide) is a Technical Partner of StudioVRM.Racing. Roger Maeda and StudioVRM are not affiliated with Evans Performance Academy or CMP Racing. The H22 powertrain mentioned above was purchased from CMP Racing at an agreed upon fair market value. All other products mentioned above were purchased at full price out of Roger's own pocket.

Moment of Truth - Dyno Day When we last left off with this series, we had just installed our new "Spec B" engine upgrades from Bad Guys Worldwide. This upgrade package consisted of a new intake manifold upper, a 74mm throttle body, and a taper bore adapter to connect the two with sub-millimeter precision. It is worth noting that the switch to the larger throttle body did involve a few extra steps in the installation process: First, we had to convert from the throttle body-mounted MAP sensor back to the firewall-mounted sensor that came with our 93 Prelude Si. This was by far the easiest change - All we had to do was to reconnect the intake manifold vacuum hoses to the sensor, which we had never fully removed. Easy. The second step was slightly more involved. Because the taper bore spacer added an extra inch to the length of the upper intake manifold assembly, we needed to move the throttle cable closer to the throttle body so the cable would have enough slack. This involved removing the throttle body cable bracket, drilling new holes about 1/2" from the original location, and adjusting the tension on the throttle cable. Not too bad a modification - Well within the means of an average automotive enthusiast, for sure. The third step took the most work. Because the Skunk2 throttle body has such a wide mouth, the walls of the throttle body bore come within millimeters of the mounting holes to the intake manifold. The clearances are so tight that standard metric hex bolts wouldn't even fit. Even socket head cap screws and allen bolts are too wide to fit into the limited space provided by the throttle body. Skunk2 solved this problem by taking some metric socket head cap screws and turning the heads down on the lathe so they were about 1.5mm smaller in diameter. They then recessed the holes for the bolts into the flange portion of the throttle body so they wouldn't interfere with the coupler for the intake tube. The screws that Skunk2 provided were too short to work with the taper bore adapter in place. But ProjectCRX co-driver turned USTCC competitor Martin Szwarc was able to take some longer cap screws and turn the heads on his mini-lathe down to the same diameter as the ones that came with the throttle body. All we had to do was to remove the OEM studs from the intake manifold and secure the throttle body with these modified screws. Once we bolted everything together, we gave all the moving parts of the throttle body a spritz of Steel Camel spray to keep them lubricated and prevent corrosion. With our new Spec B engine package firmly in place, we trailered the car to Evans Performance Academy, where Jeff Evans tuned our Hondata S300 ECU on his brand-new Mainline ProHub Dyno. The results were shocking. In less than half an hour, Jeff extracted 218.8 whp and 162 lbs-ft of torque from our internally stock H22 engine. This was just 1.2hp under the maximum horsepower number that we declared to the USTCC when we registered for the 2023 season. He also raised the redline of the engine to 8200 rpm so we could safely take advantage of our new peak power output. Jeff commented that these numbers were unusually high for an internally stock H22, while assuaging our fears that the extra-large throttle body would affect drivability. He did recommend that we adjust the throttle stop screw to raise the idle another 200 rpm so the ECU would be less inclined to hunt for a stable idle. We thanked him for his time, brought the car back to the studio, and adjusted the screw accordingly to raise the base idle to 1000 rpm. Accompanying Aero Tweaks While the added power was a welcome change, we knew that top speed wasn't our top priority. The other cars in our USTCC Sportsman class had declared much higher maximum power figures, which means that they would always have the edge on us at the end of long straights. We would have to take a slightly different approach from the competition. Like most 4th gen (and 5th gen) Honda Preludes, the StudioVRM Prelude is strongest through high-speed corners. The sporty coupe's long, low-slung body and large body overhangs all help increase the effectiveness of add-on aero pieces like wings and full-length front splitters. Our best bet would be to increase the total downforce of the car so we could carry more speed through the corners and use our improved corner exit speed to close the gap down the longer straights. And thanks to the flexibility of the USTCC rulebook, this would be possible without blowing our development budget. Our aero had been built to the limit of SCCA's Super Touring Under rules. And while STU rules are fairly aero friendly by SCCA standards, they feel almost limiting when compared to the US Touring Car Championship's very permissive aero rules. Under USTCC rules, rear wings can extend up to 6" rearward from the center of the rear bumper. Front splitters can also extend 5" forward from the front bumper as viewed from above. Compared to the STU rulebook's requirement of keeping the rear wing within the confines of the stock body shape and a maximum of 3" extension from the front bumper, this was like having a blank cheque to develop the car however we wanted. There wasn't enough time to cut and mount a new front splitter before Round 3 at Summit Point, but we could change the mounting location of the rear wing. A quick trip to eBay Motors and $65 later, we had a pair of budget friendly wing uprights that placed our existing wing higher and further back - right at the limit of the USTCC rulebook. We knew that moving the rear wing rearward by such a large amount would result in a significant increase in rear downforce. So, we lowered the leading edge of the front splitter to increase front downforce and counteract the aero gains in the rear. Drivability and Impressions Just one short week after we had installed our new engine and aero package, we were back on track at Summit Point. As expected, the Spec B engine upgrade worked brilliantly. Between the increased power, higher rev limiter, and increase in mid-range torque, the car proved much easier to drive than it had been at Round 1. To our surprise, the 74mm throttle body had no impact on the car's response under partial throttle. It seemed that the 2.2L H22 engine had no problem taking in the air from a throttle body that had a 52% larger bore than the stock 60mm unit. What we hadn't expected was the speed of some of the Big Bore cars through the corners - or rather, their lack thereof. Due to a freak overheating issue on Saturday, we failed to set a qualifying time and were forced to start the Feature Race from the back of the grid. This meant that we would have to work our way through the back of the big bore field - No easy feat when most of the cars in the group had over 300hp to the rear wheels and were 5 to 10 mph slower through the faster corners. As a result, we would struggle to put down any fast laps while being constantly balked by bigger, more powerful machinery. To make matters worse, the new rear wing uprights had completely thrown off the aero balance of the car. The wing was now producing so much rear downforce that it overpowered the 1000 lb-f/in rear springs, causing the back end of our car to squat down so much that the front splitter would point skywards. The result was constant corner entry understeer that would hurt our lap times through low and high speed corners. The unbalanced handling made it nearly impossible to overtake the more powerful cars in the group. Our car spent the entirety of the Feature Race stuck behind a colorful mix of muscle cars: Reviewing the Data The constant traffic and resulting lack of clean laps made it difficult to extract useful data from the weekend. But we were able to salvage a couple of noteworthy items. The first was that our cornering speeds through the two slowest corners on the track, turn 1 and the turn 6 carousel, were consistently faster with the new setup. A review of the in-car video revealed that this was down to the driver more than the setup. Because of the pronounced corner entry understeer, our driver had gotten into the habit of applying extra steering lock through mid to high speed corners. This habit seemed to have carried over to the slow speed sections as well, resulting in more aggressive turn-ins and higher mid-corner speeds. Typically, this is something you would want to avoid in a FWD car, as it puts extra stress on the front tyres. Considering that the tyres felt fine after 28 minutes of racing in hot weather, this may not have been the worst thing for outright performance. We will test out this technique again when we return to Summit Point Raceway. The second was that, while the new setup didn't increase our top speed, it did help us recover speed after a slow corner exit. Even when our turn 10 exit speeds were 2-3 mph slower than usual, the engine's smooth power delivery and higher redline helped cover that deficit and get us to our usual 124mph top speed by the end of the main straight. This was confirmation of both the effectiveness of the Spec B engine upgrades as well as the fact that moving the rear wing higher into the airflow increased the aerodynamic drag of the car. If we can find a way to reduce the drag from the rear wing, we should be able to unlock even more speed. Next Steps The results from Round 3 were clear: The Spec B upgrade package has tremendous potential that would only be unlocked with the right refinements. The next step will be to restore the front-to-rear aero balance of the car so we can make the most of our Prelude's high-speed dogfighting ability. We are planning to test several different adjustments in pursuit of this new goal: Reduce wing angle Because the wing is producing so much more downforce, we can afford to reduce its angle to reduce the amount of drag that it generates. We plan to reduce the angle by 1 degree, as measured from the flat section on the underside of the wing. Increase front splitter size Regardless of what we do with the rear wing, we need more front downforce. We can make incremental improvements by decreasing the height of the splitter, but the real answer is to extend the length of the splitter to the limit of the USTCC rules. We plan to enlist the help of Braci Racing's fabricators to cut new splitter blades that extend 4 inches and 5 inches from the leading edge of the bumper. Stiffer Springs & Revised Damping Our setup philosophy for this car prioritizes the ability to bang kerbs and drive through bumps and dips without hesitation. This meant running on lower spring rates and using twin tube dampers to help soak up the bumps and ruts that would upset a more stiffly sprung racecar. However, we are now seeing that the aero is completely overpowering the soft suspension springs and causing undesirable changes to the car's aero balance under pitch and roll. We need to switch to stiffer springs to combat this behavior. Thanks to fellow Honda Prelude Racing Group member Josh Grome, we were able to secure a spare set of Tein Super Street dampers. These spares would be the perfect platform to build a new spring-damper setup to complement our improved aero. At the time of writing, these dampers are being revalved to our exact specifications at Tein's Downey, CA facility. This new suspension setup should be ready by the final round at NJMP Thunderbolt. Adjust Alignment Changes to aero, springs, and damping will affect the car's alignment at speed. We plan to adjust our alignment to match the aero upgrades on the car. We plan to apply these changes as they arrive in preparation for the upcoming USTCC East Series rounds at Watkins Glen and NJ Motorsports Park. Which of these tweaks will be the key to unlocking the potential of our Spec B upgrade? Watch this space. Disclosure Section: The Bad Guys (AKA Bad Guys Worldwide) is a Technical Partner of StudioVRM.Racing, and provided the Spec B engine upgrades for free in exchange for testing its effectiveness. Roger Maeda and StudioVRM are not affiliated with Jeff Evans or Evans Performance Academy.

Photos by Sam Draiss Media and Denise Conner. Cover photo by Sam Draiss Media Setting Up for High-Speed Tracks The penultimate race of the 2023 season would be held at Watkins Glen, one of the fastest and most famous high-speed tracks on the East Coast. This weekend would be the toughest one yet for our Honda touring car. Watkins Glen's Long Course layout is a full 3.45 miles, all paved with an exceptionally grippy blend of tarmac over heavily banked corners. High horsepower, low weight, and wide tyres rule the roost at The Glen. Due to the ruleset of the USTCC SP class, however, none of these things are available to us. Instead, we made setup changes to help our existing car work as well as it could through the Glenn's banked turns and high-speed hills. In an effort to reduce rolling resistance as much as possible, we reset the front toe to 0 degrees and set the rear to 0.2 degrees of toe out. Front toe tends to have a greater impact on rolling resistance than rear toe on FWD cars, so this would net us a few extra mph down the long straights at the Glen. We took a full 1.5 degrees of angle out of our rear wing to make the flat center section level with the ground. And we lowered the front splitter slightly so it sat about 3 inches off the ground at rest, with driver and fuel. In order to maximize our cornering speeds through the banked turns, we increased the amount of negative camber on the front wheels to the upper limit of what Hankook recommends for its F200s: 4 degrees negative camber on the Left Front and 3.8 degrees of negative camber on the Right Front. These changes allowed our Prelude to reach a top speed of 126 mph on the entry to the Inner Loop, the bus stop chicane at the end of the back straight. It isn't quite enough to hold off the 400+hp American Sedan and 650hp Trans AM TA2 cars, but it would be enough for us to not become a rolling chicane for the higher horsepower cars in our Big Bore group. The Price of Success - REWARDS weight Our team had something else to contend with at this race - handicap weight. The USTCC's long-standing REWARDS weight system had been vastly simplified for the 2023 season - After two class wins, the team would receive a 100 lb weight penalty. Thanks to our class wins at Summit Point and NJMP, this meant that our minimum weight was now 2685 lbs instead of the 2585 lbs that we started the season with. The higher minimum weight would do our 218 hp Prelude no favors. With modern racing slicks, increasing the chassis weight affects acceleration and braking performance more than cornering performance. The weight penalty would hurt our straight line speed more than anything else. The silver lining is that the USTCC rules give us the flexibility to ballast the cars however we like. So we used the extra weight to balance out our front-heavy, left heavy 90s Honda. The featherweight Shorai Lithium Ion battery came out, and in went a 26 lb Optima Yellow Top battery in a sturdy Artec Industries mounting box. We filled the reservoir for the Cool shirt with water bottles to load up the right side and brimmed the fuel tank with 93 octane Sunoco fuel to move as much weight as we could rearwards. The resulting changes moved the left and rear weights of our cars a percentage or two closer to the ideal 50% mark, which should help the car through the Glen's tricky compound corners. An Explosive End to the Glen Weekend To the team's delight, the setup changes worked. Despite the weight handicap, our green Prelude managed to stay firmly with the pack through the Saturday race. By the time we reached the checkered flag, we had managed to finish ahead of the leader in the more powerful USTCC Super Touring class. So far so good. Sunday's Feature race on the NASCAR Short Course was a different story. A sudden mechanical issue (as well as a tap from behind) for Monza GT driver Robert Benson resulted in a chaotic Turn 1 kerfuffle that sent multiple cars diving for the runoff on the outside of Turn 1. The StudioVRM Prelude emerged unharmed, but only after giving up a handful of positions. A promising fightback ensued, only for it to be cut short when a big cloud of oil smoke escaped from the back of our Honda and the clutch gave up shortly after. At first, we thought the failure might have been due to a rear main seal failure that coated the clutch disc in engine oil. But we soon found out that it was something much more serious. One of the metal fingers in the clutch pressure plate had broken off and had punched a huge hole in the transmission casing. The big cloud of oil smoke wasn't engine oil. It was all 2 liters of oil escaping from our racing gearbox. Thanks to some timely help from GFAB's talented Grant Labay, we were able to replace our damaged transmission with the M2S4 gearbox from our H23 powertrain swapped in. The slightly longer gearing in this transmission would have a negative impact on our acceleration. But our old gearbox also had newer synchros which should allow for faster and more precise shifting. At minimum, it would carry us through the last round at NJ Motorsports Park. Staggering for Rotation We wanted to try something different for the NJMP finale, so we pulled out one last trick out of the back of our shop - Staggered wheels and tyres. We had previously experimented with pairing our 8 inch wide front wheels with 7.5 inch rears but had yet to run them in a USTCC race. What better opportunity to try them at than at our home track? We mounted a set of fresh Hankook F200 racing slicks on our spare wheels, opting for the narrower (and slightly cheaper) 215/615R17 size for the rear wheels. We then bolted them onto the Prelude and immediately realized that there was a problem. The spokes on our KeiOffice KS-CE wheels were so flat that they would hit the Acura RL calipers on our FFC front brakes. We would need a set of spacers to ensure that they would clear. Because our old H&R hubcentric spacers wouldn't fit over the centering rings for the FFC brake kit, we decided to make our own. We ordered a set of forged aluminum wheel spacers and combined them with some Circuit Performance centering rings to give our wheels, spacers, and hubs a perfectly centered fit. The budget-friendly wheel spacers worked perfectly. The extra corner-entry rotation offered by the new wheel, tyre, and spacer setup helped us get the Hankooks up to temperature through the cold autumn temperatures that awaited us at NJMP. The new gearbox, however, posed some unique challenges at our home track. The longer 4th gear ratio meant that the 4th-5th upshift was no longer necessary on Lightning circuit's shorter main straight. It also meant that the engine would fall below the minimum RPM required for VTEC engagement through the twisty Turn 2 - Turn 5 complex. The latter necessitated an awkward downshift under cornering, which we only became comfortable with on Sunday afternoon. Even though the awkward shift points and frigid track temperatures kept us from setting any track records, we still managed to run the fastest lap of all of the USTCC cars all weekend - a 1:16.092. In the process, Team StudioVRM.Racing became SP Class champions of the 2023 USTCC East Series. The Winning Combination Despite retaining a similar exterior, the StudioVRM.Racing Prelude has come a long way in two seasons of racing. Compare these specs now to those from when we started at the beginning of last year: Max Engine Output: 218 hp @ 7811 rpm / 162 lb-ft of torque @ 6467 rpm (rev limited to 8200 rpm) Weight 2625 lbs with driver Spring Rates Front - 14 kg-f/mmRear - 18 kg-f/mm Alignment Brakes Raybestos ST-45 Front / ST-77 Rear FatFour Customs Acura RL Big Brake Kit Front Stock Prelude Si VTEC calipers and rotors Rear Wheels / Tyres 17x8 +35 offset Front, 17x7.5 +35 offset Rear 6mm spacers in front Hankook F200: 235/620R17 Front 215/615R17 Rear Aero Front splitter mounted to frame, extending 3" forward of the bumper as viewed from above VIS Racing hood, with vent grill removed and 3/4" tall gurney installed in front of vent 4" aluminum side skirts as measured from top of rocker 4" flexible side skirt extensions Foam-reinforced composite rear wing Baseline Lap Times: NJ Motorsports Park Lighting - 1:16.094 Summit Point Main Course - 1:24.534 Watkins Glen Long Course - 2:18.357 Watkins Glen NASCAR Course - 1:29.839 Of course, there is more speed yet to come. We plan to return to the US Touring Car Championship next season with the new suspension and aero kit we had planned for late 2023. It will be a long winter of upgrades and development work for us at StudioVRM. After that, we'll see you at the track.

A few months ago, we started a long-term test of Steel Camel Thread N Post, a unique anti-seize that claimed to protect fasteners and electrical terminals from corrosion in the harshest of environments. Today we'd like to check in and show you how the tests are going, and our observations so far, starting with Test 2 - The Water Resistance & Wash Test: Wait, Where's Test 1? Good catch. The answer is that the test pieces haven't corroded enough for us to do a meaningful test. While we saw visible changes and (sometimes heavy) corrosion in all our other tests, the brake rotors only showed signs of light surface rust. So we decided to put the test pieces back into the ground for a few more weeks before we un-torqued them with the torque meter. Test 2 Mid-Term - Water Resistance & Wash Test The water resistance test was our way of measuring how well Thread N Post protected an exposed metal surface to rain, humidity, and the elements. We ground the paint off the hitch mounting pad of a steel trailer, separated it into quarters, and painted three of the corners with anti-seize. Before Testing As a reminder, here's what the test plate looked like three months ago, at the start of this test. The top left corner is exposed steel, the bottom left was coated with Permatex Aluminum anti-seize, the bottom right with 3M Copper anti-seize, and the top right with Steel Camel Thread N Post. After 2 Months of Sun, Rain, and Humidity You can already see there is some light corrosion on the untreated control pad on the top left corner of the hitch plate. There is also some rust forming under the aluminum anti-seize. Upon closer inspection, we found that the heavy spring rain had washed away the grease in the aluminum anti-seize compound leaving just a crusty layer of aluminum powder to protect the metal beneath it. The Steel Camel Thread N Post had lost its bright magenta color due to sun exposure, but it seemed to have retained both its texture and its water resistance. There was no rust under the translucent surface, and it was still slick to the touch. The 3M Copper anti-seize also seemed to be doing well, although a few large water droplets had clearly penetrated the surface. We fully expected this these spots to rust over time. After 3 Months of Sun, Rain, and Humidity Once a piece of metal starts rusting, you can expect it to spread very quickly. That's what happened here. After three long months of open exposure to the atmosphere, the unprotected quadrant of the test panel was thoroughly pitted and covered by rust. The aluminum anti-seize panel had rust spots under the aluminum powder, while the small spots of rust started forming in the copper anti-seize where raindrops had penetrated the greasy surface. The only rust-free panel in our test was the top left one coated with the thin layer of Steel Camel Thread N Post. Despite being a lower viscosity and less tacky than the more common anti-seize compounds, it protected the mild steel plate perfectly when the others failed. So even though this was meant to be an interim report, we are comfortable declaring Steel Camel Thread N Post the clear winner in water resistance. (Early) Conclusion: Clear Winner Test 3 Mid-Term - Road Grime Resistance Test When we first set up these tests, we put a layer of Steel Camel Thread N Post and Copper anti-seize on the forward-facing skid plate of our team's tow vehicle, the StudioVRM FJ Cruiser. Then we drove it day in, day out for a full 90 days to see how much dirt and grime the Thread N Post picked up compared to regular Copper Anti-Seize. Before Testing As a reminder, here's how the skid plate looked when we started the test: After 3 Months of Commuting And here's what it looked like after 90 days: The good news is that neither the Thread N Post nor the copper anti-seize degraded into black tar regular automotive grease. While both test plates picked up some small rocks, the rain and debris from our local highways failed to penetrate the protective layer of either of the two anti-seize compounds. A visual inspection showed no rust in the areas where the anti-seize was applied. The one difference we saw in this test was that the grease in the 3M Copper Anti-Seize had dried up, due to being exposed to a constant 30-60mph breeze from our roadgoing trips. Anti-seize compounds lose their effectiveness when they dry up like this, so over time we expect this will result in some rust re-forming under the copper-coated plate. The Thread N Post had no such issues. We will continue to test these samples through our daily trips over the coming weeks. For now though, it looks Thread N Post has a very slight edge over the 3M Copper anti-seize in this area. Results (so far): Slight Advantage to Steel Camel Thread N Post Test 4 Mid-Term - Extreme Heat Test Cars generate a lot of heat. It's part of the reason that cars end up with so many stuck bolts in the engine bay and near the brakes. Initially, we had planned to test the Thread N Post on the ends of the CV joints, where the anti-seize would be exposed to 700+ degree F temperatures generated by our racecar's brakes. But curiosity got the better of us, and we ended up plastering it in all sorts of places, including on the exhaust header bolts, brake hardware, and the ball joints that were closest to the brake system. Before Testing After Exposure to 700+ degree F temperatures (instantaneous) Before Testing After Exposure to 500+ degree F temperatures (constant) If you're struggling to spot the differences in these photos, well, you aren't alone. As far as we could tell, the only thing the heat did was change the color of the Thread N Post. There was almost no change in the texture or viscosity of the anti-seize. The Thread N Post even retained its slick, low-tack texture despite being exposed to punishing levels of heat. Normal aluminum anti-seize would clump up and turn to dust when exposed to similar temperatures. We left the test samples on the car and have plans to continue testing over the rest of the summer months. But based on our results so far, Thread N Post is proving to be at least as temperature resistant to Copper or Nickel anti-seize the negative side-effects of either of the other two compounds. Results (so far): Tie with Copper and Nickel Anti-Seize Test 5 Mid-Term - Battery Oxidation Test So you may be reading the results so far and thinking that Steel Camel Thread N Post might be a good all-round anti-seize to have on the shelf in your garage. While our interim results do appear to support this conclusion, this isn't the only thing that this unique rust-busting compound can do. Steel Camel claims that Thread N Post will also stop battery post oxidation like no other product out there. And as it turns out, this is Thread N Post's party piece. A few months ago, we lightly brushed the powdery white oxidation off the terminals of our FJ Cruiser's aging batter, applied a thin layer of Thread N Post, reassembled it all, and drove the car as usual. Before Testing - Positive Terminal After 3 Months - Positive Terminal Before Testing - Negative Terminal After 3 Months - Negative Terminal True to its claim, Thread N Post successfully prevented new oxidation from forming on the battery terminals. But the big surprise was what it did to the positive terminal of our battery. See those spots of shiny copper under the peeling layer of oxidation? That layer of oxidation was rock-hard when we started this test. That bit of peeling oxidation crumbled away when I touched it. As it turns out, Thread N Post isn't just a protectant. It also destroys oxidation. There is something in this magic magenta compound that reacts with the white corrosion that forms on electronics and separates it from the conductive metal underneath. Just to make sure this wasn't a fluke, we tried the same experiment with the corroded 7-pin plug on our car trailer. Trailer plugs also tend to form the same white powdery oxidation, which causes the trailer brakes and lights to eventually stop working. We didn't bother cleaning our trailer plug for this experiment. We just applied a thin layer of Thread N Post on the metal contacts, plugged in the connector on the car to spread it into the plug, removed it, and left it outside. A few days later, came back to find that most of the oxidation had disappeared. It was exactly the same thing that we saw on the battery terminals. The Steel Camel Thread N Post had dissolved almost all of the circuit-killing corrosion: We asked Steel Camel's Dan Jenkins about this unexpected result. While he wasn't about to give away his secret sauce, he did mention that Thread N Post was not designed to be a detergent, but that it does have some cleaning properties. These results mean that Thread N Post is the first electronics protectant that we have ever used that actively removes corrosion and oxidation from electrical connections. We have no idea which of Thread N Post's active ingredients does this. All we can say is that it's a game changer for car enthusiasts, especially those of us with aftermarket audio systems or older cars that suffer from corroded ground terminals. Results: In a Class of Its Own Preliminary Conclusion and What's Next Steel Camel Thread N Post has performed remarkably well in our testing so far. Our preliminary results show that Thread N Post shares some of the best qualities of the popular Nickel and Copper anti-seize products without the negative side effects (e.g. skin irritation from touching nickel anti-seize or metal compatibility issues with copper anti-seize). Our testing is far from complete though, and we wanted to see what else Thread N Post could do. So, keeping in the spirit of experimentation, we applied this unique compound to a variety of other areas on our street and race cars to see how it would behave in various conditions. These areas include: Grounding points in our cars' engine bays Suspension pivot bolts Ball joints Tie rods Spark plugs Exhaust joint bolts CV joint ends Brake calipers and hardware Some of these applications would technically be considered off-label use of Steel Camel Thread N Post. But the label on our sample bottle has so little text on it to begin with, we thought it would be ok to venture outside of the manufacturer's recommendations. Who knows? Maybe we will find a cool new application for that Steel Camel themselves haven't thought of. It wouldn't be the first time that Thread N Post surprised us in a real-life test. We'll be back with our final test results in a few weeks. Until then, we'll see you at the track. Update: The Final Results of our Long-Term Test is now Available. Read Part 3 Here > Disclosure section: For the first time in the history of StudioVRM, we received this bottle of Thread N Post from Dan Jenkins at Steel Camel specifically for this test. That said, neither StudioVRM nor Roger Maeda are affiliated with or sponsored by Steel Camel. These tests were created and are being conducted independently and without input from the manufacturer or any of its dealers.

Mechanics have a love-hate relationship with anti-seize compound. On one hand, we know that anti-seize a fantastic preventative measure that has saved many from hours of extracting broken exhaust manifold bolts and rusted suspension bolts. On the other hand, we rue the reality that anti-seize is a goopy, unwieldly mess that attracts dirt, traps moisture, and gives you an unpleasant version of the Midas touch that turns everything a grimy silver. So when a small Tampa-based company called Steel Camel asked if we wanted to test out a very different kind of anti-seize compound, we couldn't say no. After all, every anti-seize compound out there is basically the same thing: Metallic powder suspended in grease. How different could it possibly be? We would find out soon enough. A few short days later, we received an innocuous metal bottle of Steel Camel Thread N Post, and it was time to start another of our long-term product tests. Who is Steel Camel? Well, when we say that Steel Camel is "new" we really mean that they are "new to most car enthusiasts." It turns out that they've been around for quite some time, making industrial-grade corrosion preventative products for the agricultural, construction, and large-scale machine industries. Their flagship product is a heavy-duty corrosion preventative that keeps rust from forming on bulldozers, cranes, and snow removal equipment. They also manufacture a desiccant powder that is so potent that it can remove water from gas, diesel, or oil - even after it's been mixed in. We played with samples of this stuff on our test bench and can tell you that it's pretty amazing stuff. Promotional before and after shot from Steel Camel's online catalog. We'll do a similar test sometime in the future. As enthusiasts of older cars residing in the rust-friendly Northeast, we at StudioVRM can think of more than a few applications some of their heavier duty anti-corrosion products. But first things first. Let's take a closer look at their anti-seize and see just how different it is. First Impressions: Not Your Typical Anti-Seize When we asked Steel Camel founder Dan Jenkins about Thread N Post, all he said was that it was "not your typical anti-seize or corrosion inhibitor." Turns out he was right. Steel Camel Thread N Post looks like no other anti-seize or anti-corrosion product out there. Thread N Post has a translucent magenta hue that looks almost like a high-quality synthetic grease. Unlike most automotive greases, it has a smooth, low-tack consistency that feels silky rather than tacky to the touch. It's also much thinner than most greases - Thread N Post has a viscosity that is somewhere between brake lube and petroleum jelly. As far as automotive greases go, this stuff looks pretty unique. Even more unique is the smell, or the relative lack thereof. Where your average Permatex or 3M aluminum anti-seize compound lets off a distinct smell when uncapped, Thread N Post doesn't have a particularly strong or unpleasant smell. It has a subtle scent that vaguely resembles a slightly metallic version of Vaseline, and you really need to stick your nose in the bottle* to get a whiff of it. As subtle as they are, these qualities alone make Thread N Post worth a closer look. The biggest downside with automotive greases (and anti-seize compounds, for that matter) is that they are prone to attracting dirt. This is bad news for the nuts and bolts that hold your car together. Dirt in bolt threads will not only make them harder to remove, but it will also damage the threads and, in the long term will end up causing them to rust from the inside out. The fact that Steel Camel's compound is low tack and low viscosity makes this much less of an issue, which in turn means that you can use it in the dirtier parts of your suspension and engine bay without having to worry about dirt contamination. And the fact that it doesn't let off noxious metallic fumes means that you can use it on the inside of your car without to worry about the smell. *Our editor has advised that, despite the fact that the MSDS says Thread N Post does not emit toxic vapors, it is still not a good idea to stick your nose in the bottle to smell petroleum-based products. So don't do this. Non-Acidic Protector of Lead-Acid Batteries In addition to its anti-seize properties, Steel Camel also markets Thread N Post as a corrosion preventative for electronics, and in particular, battery terminals. Most battery terminal cleaners and protectors tend to contain either a strong acid or a strong base, which means that they also tend to react with automotive plastics and metals. To make sure that Thread N Post wouldn't react with any of the soft plastics or metals in our cars, we broke out some pH testing strips to see where it lands on the scale. To our surprise, the Thread N Post barely changed the colored testing pads on our pH testing strips, indicating that it was almost Neutral. Even with some light staining from the magenta coloring of the compound, the quick test clearly showed that it was between 6 and 7 on the pH scale. While this is very good news for us, it also left us with no idea as to how Thread N Post prevents oxidation on batteries. At the end of the day though, how an anti-seize compound works isn't as important as how well it works. So we brought out three of the most common anti-seize compounds out there and put together a series of long-term tests to see just how Thread N Post compares to its well-established competition. The Challenger and the Competition We brought out the three most popular anti-seize compounds used by mechanics and DIY car enthusiasts to test against the Steel Camel Thread N Post: Permatex 80078 Aluminum Anti-Seize Cost: $8 - $12 US per 8 oz bottle Specs & Safety Data Sheet The ubiquitous metallic grease in a silver can, both adored and hated by automotive enthusiasts everywhere. Designed for general-use applications in environments with moderate temperatures and dirt. 3M 08945 Copper Anti-Seize Brake Lube Cost: $18- $20 US per 9 oz bottle Specs & Safety Data Sheet A high-temperature, copper-based anti-seize designed specifically for brake systems, wheel hubs, and steel suspension components. The copper content can react with stainless steel and with other soft metals, so be careful what you use it on. Permatex 77124 Nickel Anti-Seize Lube Cost: $18 - $25 US per 8 oz bottle Specs & Safety Data Sheet A high-temperature alternative to copper anti-seize that won't react to aluminum or stainless steel. Harder to find. Most people have allergic skin reactions to nickel anti-seize, so wear gloves. And of course, our challenger: Steel Camel Thread N Post (aka Thread Defend) Cost: $21 US per 8 oz bottle Specs & Safety Data Sheet An anti-seize and anti-corrosion compound specifically designed to protect against fuel vapors, salt, acids, and other hostile environments. With our contenders lined up and ready to go, we put together a battery of real-life tests to see how each of them would fare in the harshest conditions an average car enthusiast might put them through. Test 1 - Torque Test with a Dirty Twist Most off-the-shelf anti-seize compounds do a decent job of protecting nuts and bolts in a clean environment. But what happens when anti-seize treated nuts and bolts are covered in dirt and left outside to rust? In order to find out, we applied each of our four anti-seize products to some Class 8.8 M12x1.75 mild steel bolts, attached them to some old brake rotors, torqued them down to 80 lbs-ft of torque, and buried them in a bucket full of dirt. We then put the bucket outside in an uncovered area so the rain, wind, and humidity could do their worst to the freshly entombed work pieces. We plan to leave these work pieces buried underground until we start to see heavy corrosion forming on the bolts and rotor faces. We will then pull them out and use a torque adapter to measure the amount of torque needed to loosen each of the bolts. Test 2 - Water Resistance & Wash Test A good anti-seize compound needs to protect metal surfaces from all kinds of moisture and water intrusion. So to see how well our anti-seize compounds do at keeping moisture out, we built a wash resistance bench by grinding the paint off of the winch mounting plate on our open car trailer and marking off a 2x2 grid on it using tape. We applied then applied the aluminum, copper, and Steel Camel anti-seize compounds to three of the squares, leaving the fourth one bare metal as a control. Then we left the trailer outside during the rainiest season of the year. We will check the plate every few weeks to see how much of each compound gets washed off by the rain, and to check for any corrosion that might be forming underneath the layer of anti-seize. *Due to the fact that nickel is a very common allergen, we chose to not include it in this test. We didn't want to leave a large plate of nickel anti-seize on a big flat surface where an unsuspecting passerby could accidentally stick their hand in it. Test 3 - Road Grime Resistance Test Road grime is an unfortunate fact of life for the underside of your car. The rocks, dirt, and dust that gets kicked up as you drive slowly wears away at the protective coatings on your car's chassis and suspension. Then, the next time you drive over a puddle, moisture splashes on the exposed metal and your car starts rusting from the inside out. Realistically, you wouldn't want to use any anti-seize compound as an undercarriage sealant. But it would be nice if you could use it on your tie rod ends and suspension bolts to keep them from seizing up. We wanted to see if Steel Camel Thread N Post was up to the task. For this test, we ground the paint off of the forward-facing skid plate of the StudioVRM FJ Cruiser, covered half of the exposed metal with Thread N Post, and covered the other half with copper anti-seize. We specifically chose copper anti-seize as our baseline for this test because it is what most shops use on suspension and brake components. Our plan is to drive our FJ Cruiser on its usual 15 to 50 miles per day and see how much dirt and road grime accumulates on the anti-seize. At the end of the test, we will take a close look at the bare metal underneath and see how much corrosion formed under the layer of protective anti-seize. Test 4 - Extreme Heat Test Modern cars generate a tremendous amount of heat. In order for an anti-seize compound to be of any real use to a car enthusiast, it needs to be effective at well over 400 deg F (204 deg C). We wanted to see just how hot Thread N Post could get before it solidifies and loses its anti-seize properties. So we looked towards the hottest part of any modern car - the brake system. The front brake rotors on the StudioVRM Prelude race car have seen temperatures above 1000 deg F (537 deg C) under race conditions, so this would be the perfect place to put this heavy-duty anti-seize to the test. We wanted to conduct this test in a realistic and safe manner, so in lieu of greasing up the brake rotors, we applied a generous coating of Thread N Post to the threads of the CV joints as well as the axle nuts. CV joints don't get quite as hot as the brake rotors, but they still get above 300 deg F on a regular basis. Our plan is to run the StudioVRM Prelude through a weekend or two of hard driving on the track, and see how the temperature affects the Thread N Post. Test 5 - Battery Oxidation Test We would be remiss if we didn't test the manufacturer's claims that Thread N Post protects car batteries from forming nasty, battery-breaking oxidation. After all, the "Post" in "Thread N Post" comes from the battery posts on modern batteries. Rather fortuitously, the car battery in the StudioVRM FJ Cruiser happens to be over four years old and has become prone to forming a fair bit of oxidation in its old age. This made it the perfect testbed to try Thread N Post for what it was actually designed for. We unbolted the terminals from our Toyota's well-worn battery, used a soft bristled brush to remove the powdery white corrosion from the posts, applied a thin layer of Steel Camel Thread N Post, and bolted the assembly back together. We purposely left some of the harder chunks of corrosion on the outside of the terminals to see how the Thread N Post would react with existing oxidation. Our plan is to check in on these terminals over the course of the following weeks and months to see if the oxidation reforms on this old car battery. And Now We Wait With all five tests set up and in place, it was now time for the most difficult part of the test: Waiting for the results. For better or for worse, the reality is that corrosion doesn't happen overnight. While we could artificially accelerate the rusting process by spraying hydrogen peroxide and vinegar on the work pieces, that didn't seem appropriate for a real-life stress test. I mean, when was the last time you've used hydrogen peroxide or vinegar on your car? So, we're just going to have to wait. Sorry. The good news is that we set these tests up a little over a month ago, so we should start to see some tangible results soon. Check back soon for interim reports on how Thread N Post is stacking up against the best off the shelf anti-seize products. In the meantime, we'll see you at the track. Update: Part 2 of our Long-Term Test is Here > Disclosure section For the first time in the history of StudioVRM, we received this bottle of Thread N Post from Dan Jenkins at Steel Camel specifically for this test. That said, neither StudioVRM nor Roger Maeda are affiliated with or sponsored by Steel Camel. These tests were created and are being conducted independently and without input from the manufacturer or any of its dealers. In fact, they don't even know that this article is being published here. So Dan, if you're reading this, well... surprise!