New Press! Sports Car Magazine June 2017 Issue

Sports Car Magazine June 2017 issue featuring Jake

New Press! Grassroots Motorsports Magazine June 2017 Issue

Grassroots Motorsports Magazine June 2017 issue featuring Jake & the SCCA Solo National Championship SSM Mazda RX-7 

Video: Hamfist Garage RX7 Teaser

GARAGE Edit Lighting Test from carlosfoxworthy on Vimeo.

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Project SSM RX7 Update 2011 Season

By: Jake

After a successful run for a trophy finish at the 2010 SCCA Solo National Championship in Super Street Modified Class, the Hamfist Racing RX7 experienced a devastating blow to its progress and development. A combination of over-boosting, over-revving, maxing out fuel system capacity, and suspect octane levels, led to a not-so-unprecedented apex seal failure. The long trailer ride to Speed1Allentown was the start of a comprehensive, yet premature, powertrain overhaul that would bring the car into the pinnacle of Super Street Modified competition.

Speed1Allentown, aka KDR Performance, began the tear down and port polishiing – intake & exhaust – of the 13B rotary engine. Before the engine could be put back together, the entire rotating assembly, including a pair of new high compression Series 4 RX7 rotors and a lightweight RX8 eccentric shaft, were sent to Racing Beat in California. Racing Beat shaved material off the sides of the new rotors and balanced the entire assembly. The end product was a rotary engine that could scream effortlessly to 10,000rpm without losing balance or flow. To support the new mechanical limits of the engine both fuel and ignition systems were enhanced. KG Parts supplied the FPR, custom rail, lines and 1600cc secondary injectors while an HKS Twin Power ignition amplifier would spark the initial bang.

A blown motor has a funny way of taking things down with it. The upgraded HKS T04E turbo was one such bystander. Realizing this dangerously close to the first ProSolo of the season, I called fellow SSM competitor Andy McKee in desperation, hoping he was still selling his old turbo kit. Sure enough, it was sitting on his shelf, covered in cobwebs. Don't be fooled by the cobwebs, however, the turbo – a ball bearing Garret GT35R unit – had very light duty before Andy decide to try something else. An unmentionable shipping bill and Mr. McKee’s alacrity got the new turbo, tubular exhaust manifold, ceramic coated downpipe, and dual Tial wastegates to my door just in time for the New Jersey ProSolo. The setup was installed the next day and dyno tuned by Dave Barninger at Speed1. The car made nearly 400whp peak, but the biggest gains over the old setup were in the 3,000 to 5,000 rpm range. Here the ball bearing turbo shined, boosting both power and torque nearly 50 units. Thanks Andy!

With fresh Hoosier A6 rubber slapped on the 18x10 CCW wheels, the car made it's appearance at the SCCA New Jersey Prosolo, but not without further drama. A last minute, parking lot repair of a damaged pulley almost left the car without power steering. Thanks to the support of fellow SSM competitor Jason Becker (commonly known as the nicest guy around) and his Pop, the car was repaired in time. Elena would be the first to shake down the car in Ladies 2 class. Competition in L2 is based on indexed time, making it difficult to outrun cars like the Kugler’s featherweight EP Honda CRX. Next, I finally got to experience the benefit of all the time, sweat and tears since the motor failed. The car held together and took the win in SSM by the second largest margin of any class at the race, earning “top qualifier” prize money, two tires from Hoosier, and $200 from Mazdaspeed. Not too shabby, just don’t compare the prizes to the cost of getting the car ready.

The next weekend the RX7 was back in action at Dover International Speedway for the SCCA Solo Dover National Tour event. After some competitor shuffling, SSM became stacked with the top cars & drivers from the 2010 SCCA Solo National Championships, including the BSP national championship Mitsubishi Evolution, the ASP national championship Corvette, and the podium finishing SM Nissan 240SX. In addition to the stiff competition, the course in Dover was exceptionally long and the climate was very hot. After my first run, which was an impossibly fast time right out of the hole, I nearly fainted idling back toward grid. The competitive pressure and heat were overwhelming, but the car itself may have been to blame for the lightheaded feeling of euphoria and adrenaline. Under full boost the car pulls nearly as many G’s longitudinally as it does laterally. That is no small feat considering the RX7 is arguably the best handling chassis ever manufactured and this particular example is rolling on twelve inch wide contact patches of Hoosier’s top of the line DOT approved race rubber.

By the end of the weekend, the car finished on the podium behind the Nissan and the Corvette in open class. In SSM Ladies class, Elena was competing against more bumped up machinery, two CSP Miatas to be precise. The goal was to show the little Miatas who’s the big daddy in the Mazda family. Elena, now more familiar with the SSM RX7, was able to pull away from the roadsters by a substantial margin, bringing home the big win for the weekend.

Within a period of nine days the car had seen twenty-four national level autocross runs. Sure enough, the abuse caused a new failure. A drivetrain brace – known as the powerplant frame (PPF), which joins the rear differential with the transmission – had cracked in various places. The car needed a replacement PPF and a fabricator who could reinforce the unit to withstand the 400whp, R-compound shroud, drag-race launches. Back at Speed1, Dave Barninger sourced a takeoff PPF from a bastardized V8 swapped RX7 and reinforced the unit with quarter inch thick steel plates days before hauling out to the Oscoda Prosolo in Michigan, where the car was to face off against the RX7 of multi-time ProSolo Champion, Carter Thompson.

After the Oscoda ProSolo it became clear the car needed further improvements. The car finished more than a few tenths back from Carter Thompson’s monster RX7. With months before Nationals I naively thought there was sufficient time to upgrade and retune the suspension. Countless hours of research led me to Penske race shock builder extraordinaire Angelo Zarra of ANZE Suspension, in Long Island. ANZE worked with Joe Stimola assisting top-tier race teams custom engineer racing suspensions.

With Angelo’s help we selected a hybrid Penske 8100/7300 precision engineered coilover suspension. The front 8100 series are external reservoir double-adjustable monotube shocks. The rears adjust rebound only and have no reservoirs to install. The shocks used a clevis compatible upper mount for dynamic articulation. To mount the reservoirs ANZE provided their proprietary canister sleeves and brackets ensuring heat insulation and convenient bolt-on nature. After wrestling with spring lengths, spring rates, and shock body sizes, the suspension was complete.

The Penskes instantly provided superior feedback over the old Konis. The adjustability range was also drastically improved. Turning the knobs made big differences in the car’s behavior at speed! It was exciting but also presented many new challenges. I'd never really tuned such an adjustable shock. Trial and error was a big part of the learning process. For anyone testing and tuning similar set ups I recommend making one big shock adjustment at a time and comparing the driving characteristics.

In addition to the shock and spring improvements, the RX7 also received an upgrade from the OEM rear torsen limited slip differential to the formidable OSGiken 1.5 way Super Lock clutch type LSD. The new differential made the car feel much more composed under breaking since it allows the rear wheels to spin completely independently. And when throttle is applied, the diff locks fully, allowing for minimal wheel slip. This is especially helpful at corner exit. Speed1Allentown installed the rear diff with all new Mazda bearings, along with a new Tweak-It rear differential brace which provides more rigidity to the housing under continuous ProSolo drag launches.

The last piece of the puzzle was to bump up the rubber size once again. While the car felt amazingly responsive with rocket-like gearing sitting on 285mm rear tires, jealously struck over the success of the extraordinarily super-wide-tire’d, top performers like Carter Thompson and Mike Johnson. CCW provided properly sized rear wheels and a borrowed fender roller made mounting the monstrous 315/30/18 Hoosier A6s feasible. Clearances were tight at the rear trailing arm, so we installed aftermarket arms and offset the mount at the sub-frame.

After all was said and done, what was created, in theory, was a car completely capable for the task at hand… a National Championship. However, at this point, months of our time cushion had elapsed and Nationals was only weeks away. Due to other commitments and very uncooperative weather, testing the new wheel/tire/spring setup before Nationals was not possible.

We loaded up and proceeded on the endless drive to corn country in a borrowed Chevy Suburban (Thanks Sandro!) with the Mazda traveling in luxury on a trailer – rather than the typical protocol of tires dangling out the back of the hatchback, held in by bungee cords. Anxiety ridden throughout the entire trip since I didn’t know what to expect of the new setup, I tried to calm my nerves with endless stops for coffee and Redbull.

Nationals Update to Follow…

2011 Tire Wars: Hoosier A6 vs. Goodyear Eagle RS

By: Jake

April is here, but signs of Spring have not surfaced yet. It's 40F outside and we have only had one autocross in the New York metropolitan area this year. The autocross season is here, but it's hard to take it seriously when Mother Nature doesn't cooperate. However, that doesn't stop many autocross nuts from casually browsing the internet researching the latest autocross happenings around the country.

In my latest browsing session, I found a bit of news that will certainly turn the autocross community on it's head. Goodyear shroud cars are dominating Super Street Modified AND - the very competitive - Super Stock classes at the 2011 SCCA San Diego National Tour event! Goodyear had been quietly testing its new D.O.T. compliant Eagle RS race tire in 2010 and the 2011 official release happened all too subtly. Just days before the event, SCCA announced the tire had met the requirements of Section 13.3 in the 2011 Solo Rules.

The event is only halfway complete, but autocrossers from around the country are taking note of the impressive preliminary standings of Andy Mckee (SSM), Gary Thomason (SS) and Jason Uyeda (SS), all competing on the new tire. Their registration information suggests these key players have been blessed with direct manufacturer sponsorships from Goodyear.

As a recent adopter of the Hoosier A6 for all my tarmac biting needs, I was shocked to learn there was a new game in town. I cannot remember a time when Stock and Street Prepared/Modified classes' tire choice was, well, a 'choice'. Granted I'm young and I've spent a lot of time perusing the Street Touring classes of SCCA autocross (140+ treadwear), but for as long as I've known the sport, the A6 was THE tire. Clearly, Goodyear has set out to change the status quo.

For the readers thinking how you wasted your hard earn bread on a fresh set of Hoosiers, remember this: When the wind picks up in that parking lot at the 2011 San Deigo National Tour, the drivers sporting Goodyears will also be sporting their SCCA National Championship jackets. In other words, these guys are some of the greatest autocrossers in the country and would very likely be winning their class on A6's or possibly all season tires - they're that good.

While the fresh Goodyears may be making a splash at their inaugural SCCA Tour event, don't think for a second that Hoosier fans will give up without a fight. Many sectors of motorsports experience tire battles, and given that autocross is one of the largest competitive motorsports in the world, expect your local arena parking lots to play battlefield to a great "Tire War".

Will Goodyear Eagle RS dominate the DOT compliant classes of SCCA and other racing organizations? The first bomb has been dropped and only time will tell who will be the victor in this "Tire War". What will be your weapon of choice?

NOTE: Early signs suggest Goodyear will NOT be offering contingency sponsorship to SCCA Solo Racing or NASA Time Trial Racing, and only to SCCA & NASA Club Racing.

New 2011 SCCA Solo Racing Contingency Program

The SCCA released the 2011 contingency sponsorship programs for Solo & ProSolo racing last week. The roster includes the usual suspects, including some of our personal favorites including Mazdaspeed, Hawk Performance, AST Suspension & Hoosier Tire. Hamfist Racing would like to thank each and every sponsor. You are all in good form and understand what it takes to successfully market and promote your products!

SCCA Official Release Statement Feb. 18th 2011:

"With the season-opening event for the 2011 Tire Rack SCCA National Solo season just a few weeks away, participants should register now to be eligible for the thousands of dollars in contingency payouts.






Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo National Series

As part of its across-the-board Platinum SCCA contingency program, Volkswagen offers both event and year-end prizes for drivers finishing in the top three in either class or Gumout Super Challenge competition. Drivers taking a class win in one of 16 eligible classes earn $400. Should they take the Gumout Super Challenge, they win $800. Year-end class winners can also garner another $1,000 for doing it in a Volkswagen, with the year-end Challenge winner grabbing a $5,000 prize.

Honda, also a Platinum contingency sponsor, will pay $500 for a Super or Ladies Challenge win in each event, and $150 for a class win. Year-end class and challenge champions could take home $500 from Honda.

Longtime SCCA supporter Hawk Performance offers up $100 in product credit to any class or Gumout Super Challenge winner displaying Hawk Performance decals.

Bridgestone will post $500 for a Challenge win, as well as cash for a top three finish in any Street Touring class. Win a season-long class or Challenge title, and take home another $1,000.

Toyo Tires matches Bridgestone’s posting for Tire Rack ProSolo Street Touring® participants with its Silver level Contingency program.

Hoosier, Kumho, Mazdaspeed and TRD each post Bronze level programs, meaning registration and redemption are handled through those companies directly.

Kumho offers product credit for class and Challenge wins at events, including a $600 credit for a win in the Street Touring category. Hoosier offers two tires for a class win and one for a second-place finish. Event Gumout Super Challenge, year-end point Champions and Finale class winners each take four tires with a win.

Mazdaspeed will again pay out class, Challenge and year-end awards ranging from $200 for a class event win to $800 for a point championship. Likewise, TRD will pay class and year-end awards ranging from $200 to $1,000 for competitors in Toyota vehicles.








Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour

In Tire Rack Solo National Tour competition, Volkswagen will pay up to $500 for a class win and $300 for second place for VW drivers in any of 34 eligible classes.

Bridgestone, Toyo and Yokohama will each pay out top three finishes in the Street Touring Category, with $300 going to the winner.

AST Suspension continues as a contingency sponsor, offering the top-three finishers in eligible classes product certificates, with a $500 award going to class winners.

Like AST, Hoosier and Mazdaspeed also offer Bronze packages. Winners on Hoosier tires win a pair of tires, with a single tire going to second-place finishers. Mazda will pay a National Tour class winner $200 for a win and $100 for a second place finish.

Kumho Tires offers product credits to top-three in class finishers, rewarding the Street Touring Category with $600 in credit to champions, and $400 and $300 for second and third. All other classes receive $300, $200, and $150 in credit for a top three finish.

In addition to the National program contingencies, Bridgestone and Toyo Tires have also posted programs for the Tire Rack SCCA Divisional Solo Championships that matches their National Tour payouts.

For complete details on all of these contingency programs, visit www.scca.com/solo and click the “contingencies” link. A link for online registration is available there as well.

The 2011 Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour begins March 12, with the Dixie National Tour in Adel, Ga. The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo National Series begins with the Mineral Wells Pro Solo, March 26, in Mineral Wells, Texas."

2011 SCCA Solo contingency registration forms and additional info available HERE

1993 Mazda RX7 R1

Year: 1993
Make: Mazda
Model: RX-7 R1
Color: Vintage Red
Owner: Sandro
Sponsor: IRPerformance

Class Eligibility:
• SCCA SOLO - A Street Prepared
• SCCA Rallycross - She doesn't rally
• Redline Time Attack - Modified RWD
• NASA TT - TTS
• MotorsportsNE - Unlimited

Handling Modifications:
• 1" 1/4 ST Front Swaybar
• Mazdatrix adjustable Endlinks
• Widefoot front sway bar mounts
• Disconnected rear swaybar
• Tein SR Coilovers 14k Springs Front and Rear
• Mazdaspeed upgraded Suspension Bushings

Wheels & Tires:
• 15"x10" Diamond Racing
• 275/35/15 Hoosier A6

Braking Modifications:
• Hawk HP+ Pads
• Stainless Steel Brakelines

Power Modifications:
• Downpipe and Midpipe
• Apexi N1 dual exhaust
• Cheap Bastard Intake w/ Custom Insulation
• Custom I/C Fans
• Apexi PowerFC ECU
• Datalogit
• NKG Wideband O2 Sensor/meter
• RP Denso Fuel Pump
• Direct Power 12V Fuel Pump Wiring

Exterior Modifications:
• Baseball Bat Fender Roll
• Permanent Cone Marks

Interior Modifications:
• OMP Steering Wheel
• 4 Point Racing Harness
• Widefoot Pedal Extension
• Removed Radio and Speakers

Other Modifications & Maintenance:
• ATE Super Blue Racing Brakefluid
• Mazdaspeed Engine Mounts
• Mazdaspeed Aluminum Shifter Bushing
• Pettit Differential Bushings
• OS Giken LSD
• A/C Delete
• Air Pump Delete

PREPARATION-H.amfist

By: Jake

SCCA DC ProSolo is in less than two weeks and Finger Lakes National Tour is this week. For many, Team Hamfist included, preparation is in full swing – preparation of equipment and preparation of drivers. Aside from making sure we get seat time every chance we get, including this weekend's NNJR SCCA autocross on the Raceway Park road course and last weekends 2-day Holbert Memorial, we have all begun working on some minor tweaks to get the cars closer to the maximum performance potential of each of our classes.

I am not about to let those STU boys get the best of me. For me personally, that meant spending a little time wrenching and a little time running erands. Neither of which was uneventful.

The STU Competition

A week or so ago myself and a couple other Hamfists decided to pull the trigger on new rubber. Between all of us we ended up buying twelve new tires; including, 4 Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs, 4 Toyo R888s, and 4 Hoosier A6s… drool. The Hoosier A6’s are 275/35/15 and are set to be run on the La Rosa’s 1993 Mazda RX7 R1 – an ex-Super-Stock car now nicely prepared for ASP competition.

Awaiting fresh stickies (Top Right: La Rosa Rx-7; Top Left: Jake Rx-7; Bottom: Jake STi)

The R888 rubber, while sticky and technically and R compound tire, is more of a compromise between street and race. This rubber has been mounted to an A-Stock 2008 Honda S2000 Club Racing Edition owned by Hamfist co-founder, Dave Corsaro. (There will be much more on both of these autox beasts-drivers and cars-in future posts here so be sure to check back.)

Holbert Memorial Autox (Top Left: Jake STi; Top Right: Corsaro S2000)

Co-founder Dave performing the official Hamfist salute

The Dunlop’s are for the Subaru STi. Dunlop Direzzas are one of the fastest tires available for ST* competition in SCCA solo racing. Despite the Bridgestone RE11R being the tire of choice for most of my divisional and regional competition I decided to stick with a tried and true tire. This decision unfortunately eliminates me from contingency sponsor prize eligibility with Bridgestone, obviously. However, the upfront cost was a couple hundred dollars less buying the Dunlops than buying the Bridgestones.

Our Hamfist fieldtrip to Wal-Mart for a low buck race tire mount ($3.50/tire) yielded some funny pictures. One of which is the Bronco full of wheels and tires, sixteen to be exact.

And a business was born... Acme Tire Transport Co.

I guess that old hunk of steel serves a purpose after all. The other interesting thing to note was the car-nage that occurred right before our eyes upon pulling into the Wal-Mart parking lot. A Honda Accord came barreling out if its parking spot over a mulch median and plowed into the side of a shiny Civic parked 30 feet away. I thought that the throttle might have gotten stuck on the Accord, that was until the Accord backed up 10 feet and threw the car back in drive for another crunch session. Repeat. This guy was obviously nuts!

Wal-Mart carnage aftermath

We hamfisted the Bronco out of there in fear of being the next target on this guy’s rampage. Once the heat died down we check back with the scene of the crime and snapped pictures of some of the aftermath. Apparently the driver had a stroke and was clueless as to the carnage he was causing. He ended up in a telephone poll separating the parking lot from the major road. Lucky he didn’t cross over.

Back at Wal-Mart the tire mounting grease monkey decided to hook me up with a custom "polished lip" on one of my Rota DPT bronze wheels. What do you expect for $3.50 per tire? Team Hamfist is sitting on fresh rubber, now.

(Picture soon to come)

After the Holbert weekend and NNJR autox passed I started looking around at some parts I have accumulated over many months that I have yet to install due to a severe case of procrastination.

More Holbert Memorial Photo's by Perry @ Autox4u.com (2nd Place in class trophy: Bottom; Running: Top)

These parts include NGK iridium spark plugs, COBB shifter bushing, and a COBB post-MAF intake hose, and a custom Meineke axle-back-delete dump pipe.

Custom Meineke Dump Pipe

Additionally I have been piecing together some stock parts that have broken or fallen off, possibly as a result of rallyx, including a turbo heat shield bracket and a front passenger side fender liner. Most of this gear went in without a problem. However, while swapping the spark plugs I needed to remove the airbox; at which time I discovered that my K&N panel air filter was 95% caked in rally mud. When I say caked I mean CAKED. It looked like I baked a cake out of mud on the dirty side of the filter.

Source of the mud pie - Poughkeepsie Sports Car Club Rallycross '08 (Photo By: Robert Plafta)

They only part of the filter that looked to be allowing air to pass through must have been no bigger than a Ritz cracker. I have been autoxing like this all season! I proceeded to wack the panel against the ground ten or so times and it was all clean... relatively speaking. In my last effort to shave every tenth off my time and every ounce off my car I removed my rally armor mudflaps and rear aero-skirts. Not only does all this cosmetic hardware weight critical ounces but I imagine that they protruded off the car sufficient enough to clip unnecessary cones.

Next on the agenda is a stop at Sunoco for 5 gallons of my favorite automotive beverage, GT100 octane, and then I am off to Finger Lakes. Team Hamfist, I'll see you there. In the meantime don't forgot the secret Hamfist mantra... "Balls To The Wall."