Torque Steer (chapter 9 up now on page 2 17/10/2008)

Ev0 4 drifter

Ev0 4 drifter

1,071
Well here's my attempt at a race report story type thing :P

CHAPTER 1: The back Story​

As the first beams of light shone through the crack in my curtains I became aware of a faint ringing. Damn, my alarm clock was going off. I reached over to hit the snooze button, as I did I saw how bad the bruising from that crash a few days ago really was. I followed my usual morning routine, noting in the mirror the bruises on my shoulders, they must have been caused by the race harness. On my front door step was a copy of the local newspaper, the image on the front is an unwelcome one, my red Caterham 7 Fireblade, the front right wheel at an extreme angle, the accompanying article telling how the nearby race track was shutdown after an accident the day before.
It all started with a normal days racing, overtaking larger heavier cars, powering past them in the tight corners they find so hard to negotiate. All the time a tinny buzz is heard over the Caterhams rasp. I looked back to find a silver RX7 FC trying to pass me along the straights, the twin rotor engine singing away, it looked like a serious racing car, covered in stickers with a massive racing wing perched on the bootlid. After a few laps I know my soft tyres have just about given out on me, even the fronts are giving way, so to avoid a penalty I allow the RX7 to pass with plenty of room, but he's having none of it, as he pulls back onto the racing line, eager to better his laps times, he catches the front of my nose with his wheel, sending me crashing into he armco. I take the best action i can, but spinning the car around, slamming the front right corner into the sidewall, decimating the whole right suspension, the impact is hard, I'm thrown across the cabin, saved only by the racing seat harness and roll cage. I steer whats left of the red pile of scrap out of the racing line. ThenI black out, unable to remember the next few days


I was brought out of my flashback by the faint flutter of the letterbox lid being opened, mail falling to the floor and then being shut again. Great, my insurance cheque for £30,000 had arrived,
'Brilliant' I thought to myself, at least I could set about buying a replacement for the crappy Prius I had been loaned. I quick glance through an autotrader I'd bought threw up plenty of bargains,
'1983 Toyota AE86 Levin, 40,000 miles, alloy wheels, £5400 ONO'
'1990 Honda CRX 1.6VTEC, 80k, E/W, PAS, Genuine reason for sale, £8000'

But one car in particular had cought my eye,
'1998 Toyota Supra RZ, Red, 27k, very rare model, all the toys, original car, needs TLC hence £27,000, a bargain for such a rare vehicle'
It was only about 10 minutes walk away from my house so I thought the worst I could do is look.
 
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That actually is true, kinda...a red Supra RZ is rare and hard-to-find. 👍

go on with the story....i'm reading.
 
cheers Parnelli! im thinking XD it took me an hour and a half of planning and rewriting this! lol ill write more tomorrow as im going to bed soon, it be 3.15am here and im a wee bit tired
 
Ev0 4 drifter
cheers Parnelli! im thinking XD it took me an hour and a half of planning and rewriting this! lol ill write more tomorrow as im going to bed soon, it be 3.15am here and im a wee bit tired
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yeah, they do take a while to write. I might be going to bed soon if someone doesn't guess that track soon! :indiff:`
 
Chapter 2: The new motor​

As I walked to the sellers house it was still only 11am, the sun beating down, perfect conditions for finding faults. I round the corner, on the right hand side of the street is a house I must have driven past hundreds of times without giving it a second look. After greeting the owner of the residence he unlocked the garage door, it creaked into life, can't have been used much I thought. As the door raises I could gradually see little hints of what lies inside, first the 3 vents of the front bumper, then the unmistakable front lights, each bulb appearing to stare me in the face, as I walked around the sides I was left in no doubt as to the cars pedigree, from the sweeping lines of the front wings, along the doors and up to the substatial rear spoiler, sitting pround for the whole world to see. Dust hangs think in the air, covering every single surface of the glorious automobile.
'Can I hear her run?' I asked the owner
'Why certainly, she might need a bit of juice in the tank and the battery' he replied, in a northern accent.
We pushed her out into the sunlight, the gentle breeze blowing a vast amout of nausiatingly thick dust away. The guy returned with a can of fuel and a charger for the battery, after a little cranking over the engine coughed a little, then spluttered into life, evidence she hadn't been started for some time. Even though we had passed the first hurdle the engine wasn't happy, it sounded like it was one cylinder down on the original 6, and to rev it was as if I had to depress the throttle through a pillow, it was incredibly slow to react, as I searched around the interior for signs of misuse or botched repairs I ran my fingers through the cabin carpet, the much advertised hollow fibre threads felt good on my finger tips. Aside from the obvious engine troubles the only thing letting the car down was the paint, it appeared very nearly pink, but for such a clean example I was prepared to take the risk, I gave the owner £27,000 cash, which is much less than a silver auto in the town dealership forecourt.
I had myself a new car, one which had more potential than anyone could possibly guess. I drove it the short distance back to my house, using any opportunity I could to free up the wheezing, lethargic straight six, letting the black leather sports seat hold me in place as i took the tunnel corner a bit too fast, kicking the fat rear tyres out in an oversteer slide.

After having a slightly childish drive home I put the Supra in its new secure home and retired to bed, I could tell I had a busy few days ahead of me...
 
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So far so good. 👍

eating-popcorn-03.gif


Keep it coming....
 
Chapter 3: And so it begins...​

Lying awake, staring at the light fitting above my bed I kept thinking about my new car, the way it was crying out for some major service work, how I longed to give it a real work out, nevertheless sleep eventually passed over me, the thought of owning a Japanese sports coupe still fresh in my mind.

Sunday morning I was awoken by a thunderous crashing and banging,
'Dammit, those damned neighbours must be moving in today' I whispered to myself. Sure enough as I looked out of the front window I saw a massive black articulated lorry, 'Simon George Removals' emblazened on the sides of the trailer and cab. Along the path there was a large cardboard box that had obviously been dropped, the bottom badly dilapidated, the same one that had probably woken me.
'Never mind, at least I can make a start on the car early now' I said to myself with an audible hint of excitement. As usual I completed my morning routine, noticing the fact that my bruising was less pronounced than the day before.

Grabbing my overalls and gloves I rushed out into the yard, brandishing my padlock key, ready to begin the diagnosis and any relevant repairs. To say the place where I kept my cars and tools was a garage is like calling the Airbus A380 'a bit big'. It had a complete diagnostic computer, capable of emissions testing, fault code reading, decibel testing and any other functions you would need, there was a ramp, the blue support arms standing upright, the most useful piece of equipment was a rolling road, telling me how much power and tourque my car was making at what rpm. I backed the Supra onto the rolling road, facing the doorway, should the worse case scenario happen and the straps were to break it would shoot off toward the driveway, giving me enough time to react. As I engaged 1st gear and lifted my foot from the clutch I buried the throttle into the lightweight carpet, almost trying to push it into the engine bay, after a slight delay the engine reacted, bursting into life as if suddenly jabbed with a needle, causing the whole car to lurch forward amid the howl of the exhaust. Within a second or two I was at the redline, engine still pounding away, trying to destroy my eardrums, as I slammed 2nd home it seemed to relax before giving another lurch as the power was sent to the almost resistanceless rear wheels. At 6000rpm I completely let off the throttle, the exhaust burbling away as I did so. Reading the computer screen my heart sank, 237bhp @ 5600rpm, over 90bhp short of what it should have be capable of. As I checked the comprehensive service history the first thing to hit me was that the oil was last recorded being changed at 14500 miles, maybe this explained the lag and low power considering that it had now covered over 27000miles.

I got the car on the ramp and raised it so I could change the oil, being careful of the now slightly warmed engine. After unscrewing the sump bolt a very light trickle of oil came out, curious seeing as it was on the full mark of the dipstick not 40 minutes ago. Realising what the most likely scenario was I removed the sump from the engine block, still no oil was spilling out as expected, looking inside the sump to my horror was a miniscule amout of vital lubricant, the rest had congealed like jelly, I could actually scoop most of the oil out with my hand, no wonder it was underperforming. After cleaning the oil out and refitting the sump I refilled the engine with oil, waited for it to run down to the sump again and started the engine, it no longer wheezed and sounded lethargic, although it was still a cylinder down, so moving it back onto the dyno I took the power readings again.

SUCCESS!!! It was now producing 240bhp @ 5600rpm, firing on 5 out of 6 cylinders! After a quick test on the fault code reader I came to the conclusion that cylinder 5 wasn't firing, so out came the plugs, the bases rusted and the electrodes as black as the ace of spades, so after a trip to the parts store a new set of plugs and leads were in and ready to go, this time the engine started straight away, no fuss, idling absolutely perfectly, gunning the throttle the engine leap into life immediately, a cacophony of gears turning and the turbines spooling up, before I even had time to really register how good the engine is I saw the gear lever was already in 4th, not difficult when you have next to no resistance from the air! Another look confirmed it the engine was up to a healthy 330bhp, this lead me to believe that it had no power limiter otherwise it would have only shown 276bhp. To reward me for a mornings hard work I took the Supra out to finally stretch its legs, hammering the throttle at the earliest point, kicking the tail out round corners, stopping when there was no trafic around to do a full bore launch, spinning the tyres, clouds of smoke pouring from the rear, the acrid smell of burnt rubber attack my nose like an angry hornet.



After a full day of running the engine in properly, I returned home the long way, as I cruised along the road I passed a layby and saw a silver flash, a large wing, but by the time I had turned round it had disappeared, a light dust cloud and two deep cuts in the ground told me whoever it was left in one heck of a hurry. I returned home, ensuring the garage was locked up I got in and fell asleep on the sofa.
 
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cheers you two :) Im trying to make it interesting yet descriptive lol ive got lots mor interesting stuff to add in the next few chapters :D think small, red, 217bhp and only 760ish kg ;) also i know chapter 3 is quite long lol but i intend to add more pics and a bit less writing from now on :)
 
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Chapter 4: Too hot to handle?​

With overcast weather on it's way I decided not to go race at the upcoming trackday, instead I watched from the bottom of the home straight, it gave me an opportunity to look up both sides of the track, see who was likely to finish well. The usual beginners where there, MX5's, Civic SiR's, FTO's, S13's and even a few Mitsubushi Mirage's. Then the slightly more advanced guys came up for their race, Evo's, Impreza's, a handful of Skyline GTS', the odd MR2 Turbo and an NSX, battling it out on the short skinny track, barely any room between them, the 4WD Evo's and Impreza's pulling away in the corners due to the immense levels of grip they could achieve, their rally bred engines screaming away, drowning out the other cars.

The last race of the day was probably the most interesting of all, because among a 350Z, an R33 GT-R, 2 R34 GT-R's and some Hyundai concept they were testing was a little tiny red '76 Golf GTi, which everyone guessed would lose due to it being FWD, but as the cars passed the start/finish line it shot off with more ferociousness than anybody could have guessed, screeching the wide wheels as more power was applied, coming round the first corner he's already taken the Hyudai, slightly oversteering, smoke pouring off the inside front tyre.


As they come around the kink in the back straight it overtakes the M Spec R34, clipping the curb and keeping a tight line. As they all hammer past me the Golf is catching the white R34, they race side by side, the Golf inching ever closer to overtaking.

The front 4 cars brake for the first corner of the lap, a tight right hander, the low weight of the GTi allowing it to brake later and turn in tighter than the lumbering Skyline, just the R33 and 350Z to go.

The R33 goes wide in the first part of the kink, cuts the second tight, then taking a central line for the third corner, blocking the GTi's first path, but the driver has gone the unconventional route of tight for the first corner, wide on the second and skips over the inside edge of the grass! He passes the R33 and catches up to the 350Z's rear bumper, keeping the inside line around the last, sweeping corner, forcing him out slightly, but its enough to get him into first, the 350Z has lost too much speed to catch him and crosses the line 0.7 seconds behind the miniature VW.



As I walked around the pit lane I saw the mentalist red GTi, so walked over to speak to the owner.
'Sweet ride mate, looks a proper weapon'
'Cheers bud, she's got more poke than people think!' he replied in a destincly southern accent
'I saw, owned those Skylines, what she putting out?'
'She's been dyno'd at 217 brake, and yeh those skylines got more power but with it comes a load more weight, this weighs about half as much' he proclaimed, grinning
'You got a name then mate?'
'The names Mike but my friends call me Pedro, what about you?'
'My mates call me Billing, its an old thing from school' I replied, a curious smile on my face, this guy knows what hes on about and friendly too I was thinking to myself.
'Listen I been thinkin of starting a race team for a while now, but never seen anyone good enough to partner up with, you in?'
'Sounds like a plan bud, so yeah, I'm definately in. By the way, what car you got?' He exclaimed, grabbing my hand in a firm handshake.
'My ride? Red Supra RZ, just picked it up the other day'
 
Very cool. You sound like you've had some shop experience, too. 👍 Those pics are very dark, tho. A big hint when doing pics: you can make them nearly as lite as possible; somehwere in the translation from PS2 photomode to an actual computer, things look much darker here for whatever reason. I'm still learning this the hard way myself.
 
thatnks for the heads up :) ive had this problem before, my old screen was knackered so showed up nearly black, ill make sure the pics are made brighter in future 👍
 
Likeing it so far, and good choice in cars, Supra is a favorite of mine...

Strange pair, a Supra and Golf GTI lmao...

Good job keep up the good work...

Your pics are a little dark.. not to bad, but parnelli's right somehow pics on your TV are alot darker when on PC... I just fix them with gimp if I screw the lighting...
 
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thanks, i have got photoshop, but i reckon i can just improve in the next chapters, hopefully the next lot will be of a superior standard :) i sat up last night and wrote a quick plan all the way up to chapter 20! should be plenty happening :P
 
Chapter 5: A dirty move​

Cruising along the deserted motorway after the track day I kept thinking of how good it felt to have finally created a race team, the other thought that ran through my mind was how mentally quick that GTi was. The motorway was empty, every now and then I would encounter a car or two, usually a taxi, at which point I unleashed all 330bhp that the mighty 2JZ lump produced, powering past them in a flurry of noise and torque, but most of the way I cruised at 60mph, enough to get me home fairly quickly.

Then, as I was approaching a junction preceding my own I saw in my rear view mirror a set of lights, although far away there was no doubt they were catching me up very quickly. As the approached ever closer they began to blind me, the owner had not swapped to dipped beams. Almost at my turn-off the beams swung out to the right, passed my window where the car pulled level with me. Looking at the side I recognised the racing paintwork, the aggressive bodykit and spoiler, forcing the rear wheels into the tarmac, it was the RX7 FC that had clipped my Caterham at my last race day. The tinted glass obscured my view of the driver, so I was unable to identify them.


As I begin to accelerate away the RX7 lurches into life, keeping up with my 1.5 tonne beast, I was sure he was playing with me. We reach 100mph, 120, 125, I go for 5th, but, to my horror the revs shoot off the end of the rev counter, I've shifted into 3rd not 5th! The speedo needle plummets, steam now seeping through the edges of the bonnet, I know immediatly I've done some major damage to the engine, all these thoughts rushing through my head as the rear wheels lock up and the car spins 180 degrees, a horrible scraping and crashing noise coming from the rear end, leaving the Mazda to overtake and speed off into the night.





I called my breakdown assisstance who took my car back to my house, where I managed to push it inside my workshop, ready for a major overhaul. Absolutely gutted I rang a few of my closest friends who offered their help, which I accepted, I sat on my bed waiting for sleep to wash over me, luckily it did, that was until 7am when the new neighbours decided it would be a good idea to turn their stereo up as loud as it could go, attempting to burst my ear drums, already distressed I went out to the garage to begin the long process of dismantling the 2JZ engine, a task I was hoping to avoid for some time.
 
What races are these? Family Cups? I'm trying to figure out where an old GTi would show up.
 
The race that involved the GTi was indeed a family cup, held at beginner course, I was hoping somebody would ask which race would qualify both the GTi and skylines :)
 
Chapter 6: The beast revived​

Even sat in my garage I could hear the neighbours stereo, thumping away, threatening to vibrate the house down, even making my sockets rumble in their tray slightly. It had been a week since the unfortunate mis-shift in the Supra, I had pulled the cylinder head off to discover every single valve had been bent, but luckily not enough to cut into the alloy head, but enough to punch dents into the tops of 2 of the 6 cylinders, requiring an entire engine rebuild. After recieving some forged pistons and conrods I sent then away along with the carnkshaft to be balanced, thereby increasing the efficiency of my engine. While I had the engine apart I had polished the inlet manifold ports to a mirror finish, ensuring the incoming fuel and air encountered as little resistance as possible, freeing up even more power and torque, not much but it made the throttle much more responsive. The exhaust was heavily rusted where it met the manifold, meaning it wouldnt have been worth repairing, so I purchased an HKS full de-cat system, racing air filter and a new cold air feed, allowing the engine to breath much more easily, increasing the power output substantially.
That morning the packages had arrived, prompting me to go out and finish putting the engine back together. I had already put the crankshaft, pistons and con rods back, but had lost interest in the project knowing i couldnt finish it until the new parts arrived. After 5 hours of reassembling the engine it was back in it's usual home, it was just a matter of making sure all the vital fluids were present, oil, check, water, check, just need to turn the engine over to draw some petrol up from the tank with the pump, after less than a minute of cranking the engine over it fired into life, a thunderous roar emminating from the new exhaust, and it hadn't even bedded in yet! Just a week of normal road use or one day at the tracks would do it. With the new found power I once again backed it onto the dyno machine, ready to raise the revs as far as I dared (around 6000rpm which HKS said shouldn't be exceeded) The dyno read 373bhp @ 5500rpm and 589NM of torque at 3600rpm, I couldnt wait for the engine to run itself in, having replaced half of the engine it needed some time to settle the new parts in.
A week of careful driving saw the engine run in properly, the exhaust have a deep throaty roar when poked with the 'loud pedal' spinning the new O.Z alloy wheels and bringing the horizion ever closer. Once again the neighbours were playing their stereo as lound as it would go, I was surprised they hadn't blown a speaker or amp up yet. I was tired of them playing it early in the morning or late at night, making the walls shake all hours of the night. I had had enough of their constant racket, so in the dead of night I backed the Supra up the driveway, which was surrounded by walls on each side and floored the throttle, sending the noise reverbarating off each wall, making it sound like Thor himself was gargling hammers outside my house, as I let of momentarily I heard the wastegate venting like an angered snake, a short sharp hiss. Lights soon appeared on the lawn next door, a ghostly pale yellow, the front door opening wide like a great chasm had opened in the wall, the neighbours just stood there, dazed as if they had been struck in the head. As I sat there revving the engine and letting it die I engaged 1st gear, dropped the clutch, the rear tyres scrabbling for traction, smoke pouring off them, just as if they had been made of liquid nitrogen, as the tyres finally gained some grip on the rubber they had left on the tarmac the car shot forward like a bullet, screaming as it went, just as I approached the road surface I swung the wheel to the right, then back to the left, hanging the rear end out like a drift car, straightening up I planted my foot firmly in the carpet and blasted of into the night.
 
Post in the GT5 section where there's more people? ;) Naw, just kidding.

It's slow around here. Just keep writing; that's what i do.

It's funny, as i read this, i was thinking about the '94 Lexus ES300 i worked on this week. Had to replace the entire exhaust from the cat-converter back...i know all about rust dude! :lol: The customer was lucky that his cat was still okay because just to replace the muffler, center exhaust peice, and 2 gaskets it cost nearly $600! And it woulda been more if he had the dealer do it.
 
ouch! at work someone backed over a toolbox, mk1 citroen berlingo van 1.8 petrol, for the centre section and rear silencer it was £270 (roughly $540) and its supposed to be a cheap van! anyways, chapter 7 will be up tonight 👍
 
Chapter 7: A day at the races​

As I flicked through the usual stack of junk letters and bills I noticed a letter from a local tuner garage, the words 'Jimmy's Autos' surrounded by flames emblazened on the bottom right hand corner of the envelope. Opening it I read the letter, which was accompanied by a pair of tickets to the local drag racing tournament. It read;

Billing,
As you may be well aware there is a team 1/4 mile drag racing tournament at the test track this weekend, we would be willing to sponsor your team with discounts from our extensive aftermarket parts range if you allow us to use your cars as mobile adverts for the business. We will be expecting a podium finish from both of your cars in return for this exclusive offer, please find enclosed a pair of entry tickets to the event, all you have to do is drop down to our workshop for some stickers, if you require anything else while you are there please don't hesitate to ask me.
Thanks bud,
Jimmy

The races were due the next day, so I shot up to Jimmy's place with Pedro, where we were kitted out with Jimmy's Autos stickers on our rear side windows. All set with sponsor stickers we had the cars checked over and kitted out with fresh rubber, we were going to need all the help we could get in these races.

The day began with a few heats to decide who was the fastest in each class, only 4 RWD cars beat the sub 13 second benchmark, 2 FWD cars and 2 Estates made it through sub 15 seconds. The only car there that was just racing for fun was a '97 MR2 GT-S, which set a blistering 10.991sec!
Lining up for the final run of the day I was up against a Niassan Stagea 260RS, the one that is basically a rebodied Skyline R33 GT-R, so I didn't for one second assume it was going to be an easy race. As we lined up I revved my engine, waiting for the starting lights to change to green, red, then through the yellow section, finally the moment I'd been waiting for, I lifted off the clutch, sending a tonne and a half of Toyota hurtling towards the finish line, as I glanced sideways I saw the Stagea had pulled ahead at the launch due to it's 4WD, but I was slowly edging ahead. As we were passing the 300m mark i heard the Nissans engine rev up then down, the driver hadn't engaged his gear! I blasted away and passed the line in 11.859sec, the botched change causing the Nissan to come across the line in the third fastest time that day, 12.228sec. Pedro finished 7th fastest out of 9, but this was enough to earn a top class finish.

Toyota MR2 - 10.991
Supra RZ (me) 11.859
Nissan Stagea - 12.228
Monaro CV8 - 12.385
Nissan 300ZX - 12.408
Isuzu Bellett 1600 (race tuned) - 12.566
MK1 Golf GTi (Pedro) - 13.184
Volvo 240 GLT Estate - 13.849
Honda CR-X SiR - 14.191

After the race I thought I'd take the opportunity to take some photos of the car while it was in the lobby of the winners hall, the light enhancing the lines of the car.



On the way home I saw an old black S14 parked in a field, the wheels removed and replaced with bricks, I pulled over and enquired at the nearby house, the owner wasn't in so I was to return the next day. As I walked in my front door I nearly missed the large wooden box sat next to it, on the front was pinned a note;

Here's a reward for coming top of your class, should speed you up a bit more. Jimmy

I put the box in the kitchen where I could keep it safe until morning, I was too tired to start opening things this late at night.








(these pics are old ones so aren't adjusted for brightness like I have been advised)
 
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unfortunately i have to go back to my dads house tonight, he doesnt have a computer, but i intend to buy a laptop so i can get on :) until then chapters might be added at weekends or when i have time free at college 👍
 
Ev0 4 drifter
unfortunately i have to go back to my dads house tonight, he doesnt have a computer, but i intend to buy a laptop so i can get on :) until then chapters might be added at weekends or when i have time free at college 👍
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Cool. We'll still be here.
 
I have actually written the next two chapters, in full, on paper. unfortunately i dont have them on me right this instant but i will post them up in the next 2 days 👍
 

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