Over the winter, Powertrain Wizard Robert Oliver rebuilt our H23A1 with a host of reliability improvements in the block and a head that was built to the limit of the rules in the SCCA's Super Touring Under class. Now it was time to see what our new engine could do on the dyno at Evans Performance Academy. Return to the Dyno Our last dyno outing yielded some very stout numbers with a peak horsepower number around 180hp. With the more aggressively ported head, bored out intake manifold, and our new cams, we expected to see some further top end gains. What we didn't expect was the deafening roar that erupted from the back of the Prelude when tuner-owner Jeff Evans put the hammer down: That distinctly un-Honda like exhaust note is the product of the Powertrain Wizard's latest custom-built exhaust. As a side project, Robert had replaced the worn-out Burns stainless muffler and replaced it with a baffled unit designed for a much larger 6 cylinder motor. This was the first time that anyone had heard what it sounded like under full throttle. Jeff thought the exhaust made the car sound angry. He was right. Travel restrictions had kept the StudioVRM Prelude trapped in the garage like a caged animal. There's no doubt that it wanted to see the liberating expanse of the racetrack as much as its driver. And it seemed it would do so much faster than it ever had. With one last bellowing scream, our 2020-spec H23A1 recorded a peak figure of 194hp and 172 lbs-ft of torque on the Evans Performance Academy Dynapack. Critically, most of those gains registered above 5000 rpms. Our Prelude had previously struggled to keep up with its competition due to its lack of top-end power. This welcome gain would help even the odds down those longer straights. Of course, dyno figures don't win races. So it was back to the track to see what we could do with this newfound power. Track Testing, Truncated Coincidentally, our first full track outing of the year would take place at the very same event where we had our catastrophic engine failure - the SCCA Summer Thunder weekend at NJ Motorsports Park. Except this time, we would be taking part in all three days, including the Friday open test session. And boy were we glad we did. A myriad of technical glitches plagued the Friday morning sessions, with everything from random misfires to missing hood pins to an oil sump that was filled a full quart over full. Unfortunately, the last of those three issues fouled our wideband oxygen sensor, causing the ECU to dial back the engine tune to preserve the engine. To add insult to injury, the car started showing signs of a failing fuel pump in the late morning. Trackside repairs were attempted, but to no avail. We needed replacement parts that local auto parts stores simply didn't stock. Team StudioVRM packed up and headed home without being able to put a single fast lap on the new 2020 spec engine. Back to the Studio Not all track days are good days, and not all test days are successful days. Our first outing of 2020 was a painful reminder of these realities of racing. The one consolation is that we squashed a dozen other teething problems during this first outing and are a fuel pump and an oxygen sensor away from being ready for our next test outing. That day is not too far away. At the time of writing, the new parts have already arrived and are waiting to be installed. It won't be long before the StudioVRM Prelude takes to the track again.

Testing a racecar is one of those things that are simultaneously loved and hated by race teams. Engineers love it. It's their chance to check their work and gather data for their next big technical achievement. Even if the car breaks, it teaches them something new. Drivers hate testing. It's boring, repetitive, and it forces them to suppress the competitive instinct that makes them good racers. If the car breaks, you sit on the sidelines and wait around until something changes. The only part that everyone agrees on is that testing a necessary part of running a racecar. For a small team with a limited budget, track testing is both a necessity and a luxury. Because of this, StudioVRM.Racing does almost all of our driver training away from the track, opting for cheap rental karts and a routine of regular mental imagery exercises in lieu of expensive track outings. Like sim racing, it's a mediocre substitute for doing real laps in your own car. But it works. Unless you have to test out new hardware of course. So we ventured down to NJMP's Thunderbolt track one day early to run the official SSCA test day prior to the Summer Thunder race weekend. People say that social distancing takes the fun out of events, but I think it helps at these types of events. Contactless check-in and socially distanced tech made administrative chores a cakewalk and no one complained when we set up our paddock spot hundreds of feet from the next team. My oversized mask prevented me from picking up painful sunburns on my face while a lack of social commitments meant I could rest in the comfort of a pop-up tent kept cool by a Walmart box fan. Testing requires focus, and the conditions were perfect to do exactly that. And boy did we need to focus. Just 1.5 laps into the day, course workers called the Prelude back to pit lane with the orange and black flag. The right front hood pin had parted from the body, allowing the carbon fiber hood to flap wildly at speed. Rush back to our paddock, install a spare pin, and trundle back to grid... only to be stopped at the entrance. It took a minute for me to be able to see why. On the other side of the pit wall, a Trans Am 2 Camaro sat stranded on the entry to pit lane. A team of panicked grid workers swarmed upon the stricken Chevrolet, manually pushing the massive car clear before another driver could come in and slam into it unsighted. A few short minutes later we were released back on track, right behind a pair of Spec Miatas. Perfect. Spec Miata racers tend to not waste time warming up, so they won't hold us up in the early sessions. All we have to do is to follow them through the corners for half a lap to get the tyres and brakes up to temperature. Then make an easy pass down the main straight... or not. Instead of unleashing the ~200fwhp promised by the dyno, the Prelude's new H23A1 rumbled like an old 3-valve tractor engine and refused to rev. It was an ugly sound, something between a spun bearing and a combustion chamber that was filled with gravel. Time to lift, coast, and crawl to the paddock. This truncated first session would set the tome for the rest of the day, a litany of passages from the book of trial and error: Park the car, lift the front end in the air, and discover that the motor was ingesting oil due to an overfilled oil system. Drain 1.25 quarts of engine oil, fire it up, notice an odd misfire. Find a loose injector clip, secure all of the injector clips with zip ties, go back out for the second session. Immediately come back in after hearing the splitter scraping under braking. Come back in, find that one of the splitter mounting bolts have fallen out. Scramble around, discover that we don't have any M12x1.75 bolts in the hardware kit, hack together a fix, go back out. Notice that the engine still had no power, come back in. By noontime we had completed just 8 laps and were no closer to finding the cause of our biggest problem. We repeatedly checked the usual culprits - spark plugs, TPS, MAP sensor, Main Relay, injectors, and ignition module, all to no avail. Aside from a few spots of white on the spark plugs, there was little to indicate that there were any issues. It took until the fourth session of the day to find a meaningful clue - The display on the AEM air fuel ratio gauge started going blank whenever we put load on the engine. Pulling the oxygen sensor revealed part of the problem - Some unburnt engine oil had made its way all the way through the engine and had fouled it. Calls to local auto parts stores revealed that none of them had the Bosch 17025 we needed (although they all seemed to have the similarly numbered but physically incompatible Bosch 17205). But a bad oxygen sensor didn't seem like the sole cause for this problem. Most ECUs are tuned to ignore the oxygen sensor under full throttle, and ours is no exception. Fortunately, several mechanically inclined friends* saw my vaguely disappointing Facebook updates and started troubleshooting our issue remotely. The conclusion? Our 27-year old OEM Honda fuel pump was on its last legs. With the day coming to an end and no spares on hand, we made the decision to withdraw from the race and head home early. Thus ended our first track outing of the year. The StudioVRM Prelude is back in the garage, waiting for the arrival of a Walbro 255LPH fuel pump and a replacement Bosch oxygen sensor. I'm watching the Indy 500 in the comfort of my home when I'm supposed to be sweating it out in the heat of an on-track battle. Yes, it's annoying, and yes I would have liked it to have spent the weekend differently. But at the end of the day, the team can seek solace in the fact that at least this didn't happen on race day. So yes, I'm ok with how this test went. On to the next one. *Thank You Thank you Chris Nickolite, Ross Shull, Chris DeShong, Greg Amy, Todd Reid, Robert Oliver, Charlie Greenhaus, and Don Stellhorn for your help in diagnosing the problems this weekend. Although Mechanical issues ended my weekend early, thanks to you it didn't end in disappointment.

An emergency seatbelt cutter isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think of racecar safety equipment. But close friend and fellow racer Chris "Cessna" Eng insisted that it would help him feel more comfortable behind the wheel of his Improved Touring S prepped Subaru Impreza. So what better way to test his idea than to get two of the most popular seatbelt cutters out there and try them on some brand new seatbelt material? Here's the full video of what we found: Products Featured: Resqme Keychain Car Escape Tool VicTsing Window Breaker Seatbelt Cutter (Not recommended) Disclosure Section: All products shown 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 the Amazon links above. All that said, I would strongly recommend against buying the VicTsing seatbelt cutter for the reasons shown above.

If you've read our first look / review of the B-G Racing String Alignment Kit, you'll know that it comes with some of the most confusing instruction manuals we have ever seen at StudioVRM. So to help out first-time buyers and users, we've written step-by-step guide on how to assemble the kit, get it set up, and how to do your first 4-wheel alignment with this kit. Here they are: You Will Need A B-G Racing String Alignment Kit A metal straightedge, at least 12 inches or 30cm long, where the markings start at the edge of the ruler Optional: A small bubble line level to attach to the straightedge to make sure you are holding it in a consistent way A bit of double-sided tape to keep the level from sliding off the straightedge How to Assemble Your Kit N.B.: Print out page 2 of the official B-G Racing User Manual. The letter codes used below are the same as what B-G uses in the official manual. 1. Take the short square bars (E), small rectangular junctions (K), plastic end caps (N) and set them aside for now. 2. Grab the four 3-way junctions (I) and lay them out so the yellow and black B-G Racing labels are facing. Make sure that all of the labels are right side up. Pair them up so that the wheel-shaped knobs face away from each other. 3. Grab one pair of the junctions and insert one of the long bars (C) through the horizontal channel with the labels. Take care to ensure that the metal shims do not fall out while inserting the bar. If they do, put them back in so that they are on the same side as the oval shaped knobs. Space the junctions so they are roughly the same distance from the ends of the bar. Tighten the oval shaped knobs to hold the horizontal bar in place. 4. Insert two of the long square bars (C) through the 3-way junction so they are perpendicular to the yellow and black labels. Make sure that the holes on the ends of the tube are facing outwards. Position them so they are roughly the same length on both sides and tighten the knobs on the junction to hold them in place. 5. Insert two of the medium length bars (D) through the remaining channel in the junction. This time, make sure that the holes on these tubes are facing the same direction (to your left). Position them so they are roughly the same length on both sides and tighten the knobs on the junction to hold them in place. 6. Stand the rack up so the labels are right side up. This is how you will hold it when you install it on your car. 7. Grab four of the soft foam bumpers (J). Slip two of them over the two vertical bars (C) from underneath the horizontal bar, then insert the remaining two over the two bars (D) coming out of the back of the rack. 8. Install hook (G) onto the bottom of one of the vertical bars, using the provided allen key (P) and allen screws (M). Make sure the hook points towards you during this step. 9. Install the alignment bar holder (F) onto the bottom of the other vertical bar, using the provided allen key (P) and allen screws (M). Make sure that the tube holder and adjuster knob are facing you. 10. Install two of the double-sided chassis hooks (H) on the two bars coming out of the back of the rack. Make sure that the hooks are pointed downward. 11. Grab two of the longer round bars (A), one of the round center sections (B), and two brown washers (O). Screw the longer round bars into the center section, with one washer in between each of the bars. 12. Insert the assembled alignment bar into the holder (F) so that it sits roughly in the middle of the rack. 13. Open the hood or trunk of your car, loosen the oval knobs on the horizontal part of the junctions, and slide them so that the rack hangs securely from your radiator support or trunk lip. Adjust the length of the medium length bars with the hooks (H) so that the vertical bars are perpendicular to the ground. If necessary, adjust the large round knobs to adjust the angle of the rack to get the vertical bars perpendicular to the ground. If necessary, adjust the vertical bars so that the round alignment bar is the same height as the centers of your wheels. 14. If any of the bars are so long that they get in the way, you may replace them with the next shortest bar from the kit (replace C with D, D with E as appropriate). If any of the bars are too short, use the small junctions (K) to attach additional lengths of square tubing (E). 15. Once you are happy with the length and positioning of the bars, tighten down all of the adjustment knobs. Install plastic end caps (N) onto the ends of the square bars. Repeat the instructions above to assemble the other rack. How to Set Up Your Alignment Rack 1. Park your car on a flat, level surface with the steering wheel set straight ahead. Engage your parking brake and put the car into gear (or in Park). Set all four tyres to the same pressure. Torque all lugnuts to the recommended torque value for your wheels. 2. Open your hood and trunk. Attach the racks to your car and adjust the pads so that the metal rack does not come in contact with the bodywork of your car. 3. Hook the round loop on the end of the yellow string reel to the outermost groove of the round alignment bar. Lift the lever on the back of the spool to unlock the reel and walk it to the alignment rack on the other end of the car. 4. Wrap the string around the other alignment bar twice, and lock the handle back into place. 5. Adjust the height of the two vertical bars so that the string is the same height as the centers of your wheels. 6. Get your straightedge and measure the distance between your string and the center of your wheel. You want this distance to be between 2 and 4 inches (50mm - 100mm). Move the string to a different groove if the string is sitting too far away from the wheels. 7. Loosen the adjustment knob holding the round alignment bars in place. Use your straightedge to measure the distance between the center of your front left wheel and the string. Compare it to the distance between the center of your front right wheel and the string. 8. Move the front alignment bar left or right until the string is the exact same distance away from the left and right front wheels. 9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 for the rear alignment bar. Note that the wheel center to string measurements may not be exactly the same for the front and rear axles. This is normal, since most production cars have a different track width across the front and rear wheels. 10. Re-check the distance between the wheel center and the string in the front. Adjust the front alignment bar again if necessary. If you make any adjustments, re-check the rear as well. 11. Once all four measurements are the same, carefully tighten down the knobs for the round alignment bars. 12. Your alignment rack is ready to use. How to Measure Toe using a String Alignment Kit 1. Go to any one of your wheels with your straightedge. If you have a small bubble level, attach it to your straightedge with double-sided tape. 2. Measure the distance between the wheel rim and the string on the rearmost part of the wheel. Hold the straightedge just below the height of the string, and keep the straightedge as level as possible (this is where the bubble level helps). Write this number down. 3. Measure the distance between the wheel and the string at the front. Write this number down. 4. Subtract the number in step 3 from the number in step 2. This is your toe measurement. If the number is greater than 0, you have toe in on that wheel. If the number is less than 0, you have toe out on that wheel. 5. You can convert your measurement to degrees by using the following formula in a scientific calculator. Remember to convert all measurements to Metric or Imperial, and to set your calculator to degrees (instead of radian): [Toe in degrees] = Arctan( [Toe measurement in mm or inches] / [Diameter of wheel in mm or inches]) For example, if you get 1mm toe-in on a 17" wheel, the calculation would be: Arctan(1 mm / 431.8 mm) = 0.133 degrees Toe in FYI - I recommend using an online arctangent calculator like this. Additional Tips and Tricks If you have a low-slung sports car, try using the medium-length bars (D) for the vertical sections instead of the long bars (C). On cars with retractable headlights or trunks that are set into the bodywork, use the long bars (C) when hooking the racks onto the chassis. Always adjust the soft foam bumpers (J) before resting the rack on the car. The corners of the square tubing WILL scratch your car's paint if you let them touch. Adjust ride height, corner weights, caster, and camber before attempting to do a 4-wheel toe alignment. Don't worry too much about getting the spacing of the 3-way junctions perfect. What matters is the distance between the strings and your car. Have any questions? Feel free to ask away using our contact form. We do a lot of alignments here at StudioVRM so we are pretty familiar with common issues. Cheers.

One of the advantages of double wishbone (double a-arm) suspension designs is that they gain a lot of negative camber when you compress them. It's a big advantage over the MacPherson strut and Chapman strut designs that are so common in new cars, and is one of the main reasons that 90's era Hondas and Mazdas handle so well. The harder you take corners, the more you compress the suspension system. The more the suspension compresses, the more negative camber you gain on your two outside wheels. The more negative camber you have, the better your chances of keeping the tread parallel to the ground, and the more grip you'll have. Sure, you can achieve a similar effect by large amounts of static camber, but there is a downside to running too much negative camber: It reduces the size of your contact patch when you are driving the car in a straight line. This can make the car difficult to control under hard braking and can significantly increase braking distances from high speeds. So yes, if you are the proud owner of a car with double wishbone suspension, you should be happy that you have this inherent advantage over your competition. You should also take every opportunity to maximize this advantage so you can beat them even harder. As it turns out, there is an easy way to enhance this effect to get even more dynamic camber from your double wishbone-equipped car. All you need is a handful of M18 stainless steel washers. They cost about $8 US from your average industrial supply store and are very easy to find: When you first get the washers, take them out of their packaging and lay them flat on a table for inspection. You want to do a visual check to make sure that none of them are significantly thicker or thinner than the others (more than 0.5mm thicker or thinner than the others). You can measure the washers using calipers or by comparing the thicknesses by eye. 0.5mm doesn't sound like very much, but it's enough of a difference that you can see it with the naked eye. Once you have a handful of washers that are of consistent thickness, jack up your car, remove the wheels, unbolt the inner pivots of your upper control arms from the chassis, and slip one or two washers on the upper control arm pivots. Then reinstall the control arms and torque down the top nuts according to the spec in the service manual. Depending on whether you have OEM or aftermarket upper control arm anchors, you may be able to fit more than one washer in this space. Just make sure you leave enough space so that there are at least one or two threads showing above the the top nut after you bolt the control arm back into the chassis. And that's it. By adding these washers, you lower the pivot point of the upper control arm by 3-6 mm, which increases the rate at which your suspension system gains negative camber as it's compressed. The amount of dynamic camber you gain will vary depending on your car's suspension geometry and ride height. On our Prelude, this simple modification gave us an additional 0.5 degrees of negative camber when the dampers are compressed 40mm (approx 1.5 inches). That might not sound like very much, but remember, alignment settings are measured in tenths of a degree. 0.5 degrees can easily be the difference between making full use of your tyres' contact patch (good) and riding on the outside edges of the tread (bad). The good news is that you can get all added benefit without affecting your car's performance under braking or acceleration. The fact that it only cost you a few dollars is just icing on the cake. See you at the track. Disclosure section: Neither StudioVRM nor Roger Maeda are affiliated with McMaster-Carr, or any industrial supply store for that matter. All hardware was purchased at full price from Roger's own pocket. It's a good thing it was cheap.

The common explanation for that odd aggressive weaving is that the driver is trying to warm up to operating temperature. But those of us who have studied tyre behavior know that isn't quite true. So here's an in-depth explanation as to why racecar drivers weave around, and why we club racers and track day drivers probably shouldn't copy them.

One aspect of owning an older car is that you end up having to restore of a lot of rusted and corroded parts, and that means breaking out the chemical rust dissolvers. While Evapo-Rust is very easy to get in most parts of the world, I couldn't help but notice that classic car restoration shops were using something I had never seen before on store shelves in the US. So through the magic of eBay and cheap international shipping, I bought a bottle and conducted a head-to-head comparison test between America's top rust remover and the favorite of Britain's best restoration specialists. Here are the results: Where to find: Evapo-Rust Deox-C Disclosure Section: StudioVRM is not affiliated with Evapo-Rust or Bilt Hamber. Which is good, because I don't think either of them would be terribly happy with me after watching this video.

Have you ever noticed how some high-dollar tools just feel better than some of their cheaper counterparts? They just seem to provide that tiny bit of extra resistance in their knobs, levers, and ratchets which makes it easier to make small, precise adjustments. It's a small, almost imperceptible difference, but it's enough to make you want to pick up your Snap-On ratchet over that cheap Sears Companion wrench every single time. As it turns out, that difference in feel doesn't come from the materials, the design, or even where it's made. The real reason for that difference comes from a sticky, little-known substance known as damping grease. And here's a quick video that explains what it is and how you can use it to give your cheap tools a big upgrade: Where to Buy: Nyogel 767A Damping Lubricant (high viscosity, very sticky) Rheolube 362HB Damping Lubricant (lower viscosity, smooth to the touch) Black Cotton Swabs Disclosure section: StudioVRM is now an Amazon Associate, which means that we get a tiny bit of income if you buy a product using the Amazon links above. We would be tremendously grateful if you did just that.

Although the 4th generation Honda Prelude is a few years shy of celebrating its 30th birthday, we are learning new things about the car every time it goes out on track. The StudioVRM Racing Team is spending this winter making some major setup changes based on some of the things we learned these past two seasons. So we thought we would share some of what we learned while the Prelude spends the cold winter months receiving upgrades in the shop. Extracting More Power from the H23A1 As many of you know, we are in the small minority of racers powered by the the non-VTEC H23A1. When we had our engine failure this summer, we contemplated switching to the higher revving H22 or following the majority of Honda club racers with a K24 swap. But after a number of discussions with our resident powertrain wizard, we decided to stick with the H23A1. Both of us felt that there was unfinished business, particularly around the head and intake, neither of which had been heavily modified since the car's transition to the SCCA Super Touring Under class. Plus, since we will be able to re-use any undamaged parts, the costs to rebuild the H23 would be around 40% less than what it would to build a new H22 to a similar spec. More Top-End Flow We learned early on that there is a lot of power to be unlocked in the H23A1's non-VTEC head. When the Prelude was racing in the Improved Touring class, powertrain wizard Robert Oliver was able to glean a solid 12hp across the entire powerband just by cleaning and gasket matching the port openings. Now that we are racing under the much more permissive Super Touring ruleset, we will be doing more extensive modifications than ever before. Robert is reshaping the intake and exhaust ports substantially and making some tweaks to the valve seats of our new head. In order to help get an even flow of fast-moving air into the ports, Bad Guys Worldwide is also working over our stock intake manifold on their high-tech CNC mill. Preliminary reports from our two engine experts revealed struggles with this unique challenge. Cole at Bad Guys Worldwide had to abandon his usual approach for porting H series manifolds due to the unique shape of the H23A1 manifold. Meanwhile, Robert found himself removing a surprising amount of material to get the port shapes that he wanted from the spare head. Thankfully, Cole and Robert are among the best in their respective trades. We remain confident that they will be able to overcome these challenges and the team will be able to reward them with a strong showing at the track. Better Bottom-End Oiling As it turns out, even the non-VTEC H23A1 isn't immune to oil starvation. We aren't about to let that happen again, so the focus this time will be on keeping the bottom end well oiled. This motor will be built on a gently used H23 block, which was cleaned and decked by a local machine shop prior to us acquiring it. The powertrain wizard will give the FRM bores a very light hone to ensure that the new OEM Honda rings seat evenly against the cylinder walls. We will be installing a Kaizenspeed balance shaft removal kit on a new OEM Honda oil pump to ensure consistent oil pressures through the engine's powerband. A baffled Moroso road race pan will raise the oil capacity to 5.5 quarts and provide some much needed protection from oil slosh from high-G cornering. And last but not least, all of this will be backed up by an Accusump in the event of a sudden loss of oil pressure. Worthwhile Transmission Work During the 2018 off-season, we replaced the OEM 4.266:1 final drive with an affordable 4.64:1 unit from MFactory. The difference was dramatic. Despite moving up to a larger diameter 17" wheel, the car felt more willing to accelerate out of every corner and down every straight. Closing up the gear ratios also eliminated those corners where we felt like we should be somewhere between 3rd and 4th gears. When we were building the car for Improved Touring S, we had assumed that the torquey 2.3L motor would have enough low-end grunt that it would eliminate the need for a taller final drive. Looking back, we now realize that it should have been the first modifications we made when we were getting into the drivetrain. Suspension and Alignment While our race-valved Tein dampers and Swift springs continue to provide a good compromise of response and compliance, we did make a few tweaks during the 2018 and 2019 seasons to help our cornering performance. One of these tweaks was to raise the front spring rate from 12kg-f/mm to 14kg-f/mm in order to get faster transient response through fast S-turns and sudden left-right transitions. This seemed to help through the back sections of NJ Motorsports Park and Summit Point Raceway, albeit at the expense of the razor-sharp corner entries that we had enjoyed in past years. To compensate for this, we changed our approach to the alignment as well. Our 2019 alignment eliminated the front toe-out in favor of a small amount of rear toe-out, and increases the amount of camber on the car. In 2019, the StudioVRM Prelude raced with the following alignment settings: Toe Front: 0 degrees Rear: 0.2 degrees total toe out Camber Front Left: -3.1 degrees Front Right: -3.2 degrees Rear Left: -2.0 degrees Rear Right: -2.2 degrees We also realized that adding a spacer between the upper control arms and the chassis would give us an additional 0.25 to 0.5 degrees of negative camber when the rear suspension was compressed. So we ordered a set of M18 fender washers from McMaster-Carr and installed them on the rear control arm anchors to gain some much-needed dynamic camber in the rear. The result is a car that would take left-right transitions much more quickly than in the past, so we were no longer losing dogfights in the tighter infield at NJMP. While the car doesn't feel as willing to steer into the apex as it had in previous seasons, it still rotates willingly thanks to the small amount of rear toe-out. Despite these improvements, we do see room for improvement. During our last race, the car felt suspiciously like it was riding on the outside edges of the rear tyres through slow corners. This suspicion was later confirmed by some alarmingly uneven tread temperatures from the tyre pyrometer. We plan to address this by replacing the rear camber adjusters with these Moog adjustable ball joints so we can the rear camber to -3 degrees on both rear wheels. This should give the Prelude better tread utilization while retaining the crisp, forgiving handling that we have enjoyed in these past few seasons. Big Wheels and Wide Tyres It didn't take long for the Prelude's newfound power and agility to completely overwhelm its 225mm wide Hoosier R7s. It was time to move up to 245mm front tyres, and as a consequence, time to move up to 17" wheels. As expected, the 1" increase in tyre diameter did hurt acceleration a bit compared to our old 15" setup. But the benefits far outweighed that little drawback. Thanks to the stigma of running large wheels on an older 4x114.3 Hondas, 17" wheels are readily available and for cheap. We acquired a set of brand new 17x8 race wheels for half the cost of our custom-drilled 15" Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2s. We also noticed that our brakes were consistently running 30 degrees cooler than they had been previously. It seems that increasing the clearance between the brake rotor and wheel rim made a measurable difference in brake temperature. After experimenting with sizes and compounds (and receiving some much-appreciated advice from our friends at Maximum Attack Motorsports) we decided to run Hoosier R7s in 245/40R17 at the front and 225/45R17 at the rear. The narrow rear tyres work surprisingly well, warming quickly and staying grippy through the duration of a 40 minute sprint race. Although this does mean that we now have to carry two different sizes of tyre to each race, the difference in lap times convinced us that this was the right way to go. What's Next? The long winter has just begun for us. In all likelihood, the snow will have started to melt before the 2020 model StudioVRM Prelude is ready for its track debut. If all goes well, our bright green machine will be out testing by early April and will have its race debut shortly after. Schedules and details to come within the coming weeks and months. All we know is that we can't wait for spring to come. See you at the track.

I love watching people race as much as I love racing myself. And in all my hours of watching top level racers do what they do best, I've noticed something interesting. It seems that there are some things that club level racing does better than its top flight pro counterparts. Yes, it sounds a bit crazy. But take a look and tell me if I'm wrong: In any case, I'll see you at the track.

A few weeks ago, the StudioVRM Racing Team outfitted its Prelude Si racecar with a garage-built aero kit and raced it at the SCCA's 2019 Summer Thunder at NJMP event. So we took the opportunity to show everyone exactly how fast these add-on aero bits made the car by comparing the data from this race to testing data from earlier this year. TL;DR: Yes, aftermarket aero does make a big difference, especially through high speed corners. It also has some serious drawbacks. Be prepared to lose some straight line speed and make sure your car's engine oil system can handle the extra cornering G's. Where to find these parts: 57" Universal ABS Rear Wing US Composites Two-part Polyurethane Foam Honda Prelude Splitters by BEM Colored Plastic Air Dam Material Air Dam Support / Landscape Edging Quick Release Splitter Brackets See you at the track. Disclosure section: StudioVRM is now an Amazon Associate, which means that we get a tiny bit of income if you buy a product using the Amazon links above. We would be tremendously grateful if you did just that.

While the Rich Energy saga rages on like a dumpster fire outside your local comedy club, yours truly was busy looking for an expert to taste test their elusive drink instead of installing some much-need upgrades on his racecar. Fortunately, this was one of those rare cases where procrastination paid off. We found a professional flavor chemist certified by the Society of Flavor Chemists, and convinced him to use his trained senses to answer two all-important questions: What does Rich Energy really taste like? And how is it as a mixer with alcohol? Who is The Drunk Chemist? Our expert today is what is known as a Flavor Chemist, or Flavorist in the food and fragrances industry. He spends most of his day analyzing, engineering, and formulating all of the natural and artificial flavors that make your favorite food products taste as good as they do. After years of study, nearly a decade of apprenticeship, and passing the Society of Flavor Chemists' stringent tests, our expert managed to work his way up to his current role, designing flavors for one of the top names in the Flavor and Fragrance business. If you bought a packaged product off the shelf at a supermarket in the last 5 years, there is a very good chance that you have tasted one of the flavors he helped create. Because of this, he has asked that we not identify him or his employer, and simply refer to him as "a Drunk Chemist." What we can tell you about the Drunk Chemist is that he is an avid athlete and an enthusiast of extreme sports. He is therefore no stranger to energy drinks in his personal or professional life. Taste Testing & Analysis The test procedure was simple. Deliver several cans of Rich Energy to our expert chemist with instructions to analyze its flavors, first as a chilled drink and then as a mixer with a shot of vodka. Then wait until he had become sufficiently familiar with the taste, and ask him for his findings. Here's what he had to say: It's got an oxidized lemon, slightly pineapple, tropical sulfurous, slightly guava acidity, very guarana forward, and finishes slightly fusel / gaseous like. It tastes like Rockstar energy drink with more tropical forward. Mixed with vodka, it tastes like jet fuel in the tropics. Like I'm on a raging island full of fist pumping Jersey Shore guidos. That's quite a lot of information condensed into a few short sentences. Let's break this down line by line and talk about what this actually means. Breaking Down the Results First, let's talk about the main components of the drink's flavor: It's got an oxidized lemon, slightly pineapple, tropical sulfurous, slightly guava acidity, very guarana forward, and finishes slightly fusel / gaseous like. The Drunk Chemist identified the main fruit flavors as: A dull sourness similar to a lemon that has been cut and left out in open air A hint of the sweet and tart of pineapple A pungent odor of tropical fruits (e.g. passion fruit, mango, coconut) An acidic component that tasted primarily like guava He also described the taste that you get when you first start taking a sip as guarana, and the taste that it leaves when you finish drinking as fusel alcohol. Here is our best shot at explaining them in layman's terms: Guarana is a plant native to the Amazon basin in South America. Its seeds are often crushed and mixed into a drink, purported to have health benefits. Despite the sweet flavor of most of these drinks, guarana itself has a bitter, woody, and earthy taste. Try to imagine what root beer would taste like without the sweetness. That's kind of what guarana tastes like. The Drunk Chemist reports that he tasted a powerful guarana flavor at the beginning of each sip. Fusel alcohols are a blend of alcohols that are produced when sugars ferment into alcohol. Fusel alcohols are associated with a strong taste and a very distinctive mouthfeel when you finish sipping it. The Drunk Chemist felt that the carbonation evaporating on his tongue gave a similar sensation to when you exhale after a sip of something alcoholic. All in all, it's an incredibly detailed description, far exceeding anything I've ever seen anywhere. It's also a much better way of breaking down the flavors than the lazy generalization that I gave ("it tastes like jackfruit"). It tastes like Rockstar energy drink with more tropical forward. While many people (including myself) have described Rich Energy Drink as being "similar to Red Bull," the Drunk Chemist said that he would describe it as a Rockstar energy drink with a stronger tropical fruit flavor that hits your tongue at the beginning of your sip. I tried this myself by taking a teaspoon of pineapple-orange juice before taking a swig of Rockstar. While it isn't exactly the same due to the differences in carbonation and the syrupy aftertaste of Rockstar, the flavors are uncannily close to that of Rich Energy. Mixed with vodka, it tastes like jet fuel in the tropics. Like I'm on a raging island full of fist pumping Jersey Shore guidos. As for the Chemist's description of Rich Energy mixed with vodka, you'll have to use your imagination. All I'm going to say is that I suspect he had a few Rich Energy Vodkas before he wrote that bit. Conclusion Afterwards, we tested the accuracy of the Drunk Chemist's descriptions. I grabbed an unsuspecting third party, had him read the Chemist's description of Rich Energy drink, then had him check the taste for himself. Our unsuspecting volunteer confirmed the accuracy of this description, saying "yep, that's exactly what I expected." For those of us here at StudioVRM, this exercise gave us a tremendous appreciation for the analytical ability of an experienced flavor chemist. It's amazing to see how someone can break down something as subjective as taste into a set of adjectives that almost everyone can understand and agree on. We would like to thank the Drunk Chemist for donating his time and skills to this very important cause, especially as we still hear that it is almost impossible to get Rich Energy Drink in some regions. Hopefully his findings will give people an idea of what they might be missing. Until next time. We'll see you at the track. Disclosure Section: Neither StudioVRM, Roger Maeda, nor the Drunk Chemist are affiliated with Rich Energy or any of its suppliers. The Rich Energy Drink used in this test was purchased at full price from Walmart.com in regular retail packaging. To say thanks for taking the time to do this test, Roger spent a few hours of his weekend helping the Drunk Chemist move into his new home.