How-to

There are several ways to determine if your suspension alignment is correct. One is certainly feel – are you getting the turn-in response you want? Is the amount of understeer or oversteer just right? Another is lap time; going faster is almost always a sign that whatever change you made is a step in the right […]”

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Having an eye in the sky can keep a driver focused on the matter at hand and not worrying about things that aren’t important at that moment.

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Whether it is over the winter or between events, Sylvain Tremblay always aims to bring a different car to the track than the last time. That doesn’t mean a new car, just an improved one.

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Add heart rate to all the other data you collect and you may be surprised by what you find. And, yes, it matters. Special to MazdaMotorsports.com by Larry Mason. Mason is an ACE-certified personal trainer and a brand ambassador for Polar. He has been training and racing with Polar heart rate monitors since 1994. He’s […]”

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Rebuilding a racecar after a massive wreck isn’t a task for the faint of heart, especially in the space of a few days at a racetrack. Derrick Ambrose saved his Runoffs week doing just that. The Runoffs hadn’t even officially started, and already Derrick Ambrose was facing a racer’s nightmare. “The first session, the car […]”

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Concentrating on a few key elements will help you be faster, says six-time champ Bartek Borowski. The key to a successful autocross run starts well before a driver pulls his car up to the starting line. Anybody who’s been to at least one autocross knows that the course walk is important. Because the course changes […]”

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As the various national championship events and then the off season approach, many people begin to consider just how they’re going to improve to either secure that title or prepare for next season. For many, the best opportunity to advance their racing ability may be to hire a coach. Tom Long, in addition to being […]”

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Jesse Prather explains what a good set of double-adjustable shocks can do for a racer and help him or her tune the car. Adjustable shock absorbers, or dampers if you prefer, are fairly commonplace at all levels of racing. Most are double adjustable for compression and rebound, some are adjustable for compression only, and the […]”

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While once automotive technicians turned to the trusty shop manual for information on how to fix a particular car, as cars have become more and more sophisticated, so has the information needed to repair them. Expensive and not updateable, the shop manual has become virtually extinct.

Fortunately for those needing that information while building or maintaining production-based racecars, Mazda Motorsports makes that information available through access to its Service Information Web site.

“The purpose of that Web site is to supply the aftermarket, so an aftermarket repair shop can buy a subscription, as little as 24 hours all the way up to a year unlimited, and they can access the same information as a dealer,” says Mike Allen, MAZDASPEED specialist. “All the online repair information, calibrations, service bulletins, recalls… everything service related.”

The site includes the same service information available to dealers, including the shop manuals, wiring diagrams and service bulletins. While Steve Sanders, MAZDASPEED Motorsport Development Manager for Mazda North American Operations, notes that many earlier models still have service manuals available, as of about five years ago, the company stopped publishing them, and the Service Information Web site is the only way to get the information.

Subscriptions start at $19.95 for 24-hour access. The site can be accessed at http://mazdaserviceinfo.com/Default.aspx.

Call 800.435.2508 for more information.

Andris Laivins, crew chief for CJ Wilson Racing and owner of Laivins Race Cars in Austin, Texas, has turned more than a few road cars into racing machines. There are obvious goals in such an undertaking, primarily speed and reliability. But there are some objectives to which car builders should pay attention that are often […]”

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Most Club Racers will experience traffic in every race. With multiple classes on the circuit at once, racers are going to be passed by or be passing other cars in different classes on a regular basis. A Spec Miata or STL driver might be on track with Performance Touring A or Touring 2 cars, meaning […]”

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Some people refer to their racecars as hot rods, no matter how far removed from the typical American V8 they may be. There’s no question that racecar owners drive their cars hard like anything built for performance should be. The question is, once off the track, do they baby it like a hot rod? Go […]”

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Every racer – amateur or pro – has a limited amount of track time that he or she must maximize. No matter how much time it looks like on the schedule, it’s never enough to try every line, test braking points and adjust car setup. So track time missed due to repairs or maintenance can be huge, and also the difference between a great race weekend and one a racer would rather forget. One of the keys to maximizing track time is organization.

“As a club racer, or if you’re going to track days and things like that, you’re spending a proportionally large amount of money for a limited time on track. Maximizing the time that you’re able to spend on track makes the weekend more fun,” says Andris Laivins, team manager for CJ Wilson Racing and owner of Laivins Race Cars in Austin. “When you get to the track and you’re late for a session because things aren’t ready or prepared, you end up not having a good time. If you’re organized, prepared and have a plan, you get to use all the time out on track that you’ve paid for.”

That organization begins before a racer leaves for the track. Having the trailer properly organized means less time hunting for parts and tools later.

“The typical club racer uses up all the time they have before a race weekend working on the car, and then when it’s time to leave, everything gets thrown into crates and stuffed into the trailer. The biggest thing is compartmentalizing. If you have a bunch of parts for transmissions, make sure they’re organized in one bin of transmission parts only. And don’t mix things together, so when you’re in a hurry and you need to find something, it’s all in one place.

“Same with tools and toolboxes,” he adds.“ We have sets of tools that only go the racetrack, so we don’t lose stuff in the shop and it’s missing when we get to the track. The tools that we take to the track just stay in the trailer. They’re always as organized as they can be. It’s very easy to leave stuff behind when you’re taking things in and out of the trailer.”

Laivins acknowledges that leaving a set of tools in the trailer may not be practical for many club racers due to both expense and security reasons. So keeping things in an organized, labeled toolbox that the racer can pick up and put on the trailer will go a long way to making sure things aren’t left behind.

Lists and spreadsheets can help in keeping track of things, but they aren’t as necessary as one might think. While the CJ Wilson team keeps an inventory of everything on the trailer, the list of things that actually gets checked before each outing is much smaller. Spare parts are replaced when they’re used; but the consumables are important to check each time the truck leaves the shop – oil, paper towels, food and drink…the things that make the weekend a little easier.

Being organized is just one more way to get the most out of any race weekend. Knowing what’s in your trailer – and where it is in the trailer – can prevent late night trips to the auto parts store and get a racer up and running again that much quicker.

 

 

The B-Spec class in SCCA Club Racing and the corollary Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car B Championship have been gaining momentum and popularity. One of the more popular weapons chosen for the racing class designed to be low-cost and great for beginning racers is the Mazda2. No team has used the Mazda2 to better effect […]

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