RSR Archives - Club4AG

Club4AG FR-S parts list for track day outing, guideline to fun.

Motohide Miwa — Sun, 03 May 2015 03:45:21 +0000

Club4AG FR-S parts list for track day outing, guideline to fun.

At Club4AG, I normally won't list parts for my FR-S if it's just for the sake of showing you a list of modifications.
I'll do it here for the following parts for the sake of showing you something I have used over the last 2 days at two different raceways running the FR-S hard on the racetrack.RT615K 225/40-18 on all four, while not the most aggressive size choice and may not have the top time rating for track-spec radials with sub 200’s DOT tire wear rating, I have found them to be very fun and capable for Sunday racers who want to learn to drive in a arena like open track days and lessons, as well as take part in time attack to compare your skills. The choice of a few sizes and selections offered, can make your FR-S faster, or more docile, simply by being judicious on which size and profile you choose for the FR-S.The tire is very communicative in terms of giving feedback through the steering wheel and chassis. At the same time, it does communicate clearly for heat and tire pressure differences so that you can compensate via driving style or for pit stop menu of changes to be made.Even with a modest tire size on our FR-S, it is capable of sub-1:30 laptime at Streets of Willow, at 1:28 posted by me, and potentially faster for users willing to take a more aggressive run, despite the modest 225/40-18 size I choose for the sake of retaining the FR-S/BRZ's dynamic character of fun.It’s a very durable and even wearing tire from the standpoint of abuse. The tread surface and construction is also really durable and that's a plus for novices that tend to lock up the brakes, plow on the front tires, and see occasional mishaps and off-pavement excursions in the process of learning to become an ace. The RT615K withstands such situations, and after a quick brush-off of accumulated dirt in the wheels, it's ready for another fun lap session.

The FR-S we have is tuned for street with RS-R Sports-I, with mild ride qualities and capabilities with the expensive mono-tube damper design, and took to the RT615K well in terms of being able to use the tires from home, to the track quite comfortably, and back after the event. So in a nutshell, if your car isn’t a dedicated race only car, and do use it every day, the RT615K is a perfect companion tire for those occasional Sunday races, to keep on hand as an alternative to your normal street radials, to be used on the same suspension setup of mild street sports focus like the RSR Sports-i.

Winmax W2, the highest rated sport pad that is still non-metallic, have proven to be very good as normal operation city traffic brakes with low dust, no-noise pads, that work from first crank of the morning commute. The W2 has an extended performance range for the track, and while I ran consistent 1:30 lap times all day long at Streets of Willow, and at Configuration 13 at Buttonwillow, both being very demanding with RT615K mounted and hard braking on each straight ends, the W2 was surprisingly capable for the duration of two days. No fade anywhere inside of the 20 minutes per stint run groups, and very consistent and positive braking feel over the course of the runs and day lapping. I would say these are also a very nice choice for non-dedicated race cars where dust and noise can be a problem for other track-specific brake pad selection, the W2 on the FRS simply gets the job done really well.

As a side note and optional things that can be considered:

We also have Bride Seats in the car, and it does wonders for not only the safety element, but to properly fit and hold you with the right hardness of padding in a close form fitted shape so that you can feel every bit of the car's motions, keep tabs on the tire contact patch, and giving you much more information about the road and the car. A driver harness in the form of 4 point buckled, like Takata harness belt can also add to the holding of the driver so less driver fatigue is generated over a fun filled day at the track.
A home-brew oil cooler kit using Mocal oil plate and advanced carbon wrapped hoses and cooler core from Setrab keeps the oil temperature in check for the demands of Southern California's warmer months.
There are a few Cusco braces in strategic locations keep the frame from stressing loose over the years of track day enjoyment. An accurate oil temperature gauge added can also help you determine if you are running the car too hard and should maybe come back and cool it down. Engine oil temp is a nice guideline to use for monitoring the rest of the car's state of abuse, as oil temps generally indicate similar abuse and high temps at the gears, differentials, and brakes too for that matter on the FR-S, as things tend to just stay balanced over the course of the duration you are out on the track.
While many of these braces won't make drastic changes in the car's character, it does do its part in keeping the frame nice and straight after years of abusive driving. namely however you may want to install the Power Brace - Rear Member Part Number 692 492 RM that goes across the rear cross-member bushing mounts. It can stabilize the sub-frame motions against the uni-body, under large loads created by such tires as the RT615K used today.

I almost see that the combination of Winmax W2 and RSR Sports-i as well as choice of Falken FK453 for the street and RT615K for the track, as a really well matched set of pieces for upgrading the FR-S and BRZ to something like an extension of what the designers would have included in the car, if the price constraints of the vehicles were not at the mere $25,000. As these parts only increase the joys, comfort, and capability of the FRS platform beyond that of the showroom stock, and without tainting any of the great attributes of the car, to a more capable refined state to achieve traits of the car that cost twice or more as much.

That’s the design goal I have had since day 1, of my initial delivery of the car 18 months ago, and it’s coming closer to this through each step of the testing and trial phase using parts I select within reach, and also reach of the common users who adhere to driving pleasures in a mature form. Without the extremes, without the sacrifices, and without making the specific role into a race car, but an enjoyable sports car that you can own for a long, long time. And that is what we at Club4AG do, is not to get on the trend of buying and replacing our cars with the newest all the time, but to take a few select cars and enjoy driving, tweaking, and sharing over the course of our lives.

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RS*R USA's Scion FRS, ready to go racing in SCCA SOLO2 National Tour and Pro Solo

MotoP — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 09:46:04 +0000

RS*R USA's Scion FRS, ready to go racing in SCCA SOLO2 National Tour and Pro Solo

Wrapped for 2015 in the classic livery from the good ol days, the RS*R "Monkey Man," this year, Robert Stangarone's FR-S will carry the torch colors last lit in 2006 by Max Orido Supra and Ken Gushi tC.

This car will be competing in the SCCA Solo2 National Tour, and Pro Solo in 2015.

Thanks to our sponsors, engineers, and resourceful folks, this car is steadily upsizing the performance envelope, and at the same time Bob putting more tricks up his sleeve as a driver in autocross.

‪#‎RSRUSA‬, ‪#‎Winmaxusa‬ ‪#‎DeliciousTuning‬, ‪#‎CounterSpaceGarage‬,‪#‎FRS86‬, ‪#‎CuscoUSA‬, ‪#‎WestEndAlignment‬ ‪#‎BluemoonPerformance‬‪#‎Raceseng‬ ‪#‎EnkeiWheels‬ ‪#‎HoosierTires‬, ‪#‎ScionRacing‬ ‪#‎TRD‬ ‪#‎Club4AG‬‪#‎JPVizage‬ ‪#‎OEMAudioPlus‬ ‪#‎InfiniteMotion‬ ‪#‎Whiteline‬ ‪#‎BrideSeats‬‪#‎BeatSonicUSA‬

FRS 86 Club4AG 86 Dynamic Driving Academy RS-R USA Raceseng Infinite Motion, Delicious Tuning, Cusco USA Winmax USA CounterSpace Garage SoCal SD 86 Club SoCal Southbay 86, Bluemoon Performance, Inc., Hiros Auto Repair, West End Alignment, RS-R Japan, OEM Audio +, Jp Vizage ブリッド (BRIDE)Beat-Sonic, ビートソニック Robert Stangarone

— at Diamond Jamboree Center- Irvine, CA.

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Scion FR-S, Tour of Southwest, an 1177 mile Journey through Western USA's nicest roads!

MotoP — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 05:41:50 +0000

Scion FR-S, Tour of Southwest

November 15th~ 17th, 2014

1177 miles, from Los Angeles, to Phoenix, Sedona, to Flagstaff, a round trip tour of Scion FR-S through the Southwest's most scenic routes. The sky, the horizon and all the events and things in between. Our stops included Joshua Tree National Park, a day at the Earnhardt Toyota of Mesa, AZ for a wonderful welcome with 100 other cars in the AZ86Bash2 Celebration, a day in Sedona’s valley of monumental natural spectacles, and some of the best roads that California and Arizona had to offer.

We were all reminded that cars like these were are all about taking it for a spin, preferably a very, very long drive. Friends gathered with other friends of friends, making new ones along the way.

The Scion FR-S. It really is a neat car, in many more ways than just the surface, specs, and character, but for the world it brings to the owners in the form of friends all over the world.

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86 Dynamic Driving Academy 6

MotoP — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 23:18:41 +0000

86 Dynamic Driving Academy 6

Post by 86 Dynamic Driving Academy.

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86 Dynamic Driving Academy with FR-S/BRZ owners on the raceway.

Motohide Miwa — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 23:01:36 +0000

86 Dynamic Driving Academy with FR-S/BRZ

86 Dynamic Driving Academy is a way to learn about car control. It's not a race or competition, but a way for owners who are not so involved formally in motorsports, and getting familiar with car control, for the sake of understanding your car better, and to really become at one with a vehicle in a dynamic environment of sports driving. We host events at autocrosses, open-track events, and other custom tailored venues in a safe, sanctioned, and inexpensive ways, along with your peers and friends, and even making new friends. Join us, next time... And follow us for updates and calendars soon for 2014 at https://www.facebook.com/86DDA

Here's some ride along video footage from recent Buttonwillow Raceway Park event, and other photos from past events.

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Club4AG fans in Malaysia

Motohide Miwa — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 18:21:18 +0000

Club4AG fans in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia is a large city that thrives on petroleum exports. Unusual for a Asian nation in that way and economic base more like that of a Middle Eastern city. However with a import duty of of over 200% on cars, there are not a whole lot of choices of vehicles for the common folk. Still, I am very happy to report that despite the lack of chassis variety, the auto tuning enthusiasm is stronger than most cities I know.
All of these locally made Toyota Corolla which are exempt from these heavy taxes, at a first glance, look very mundane, but you pop open the bonnet of these cars and often times you find the moxt creative, advanced and dedicated engine swap installs. From 4A-GZE to 20V 4A-GE, 3S-GTE, 2JZ-GTE... You find them all in Kuala Lumpur!!

Thanks to all these guys how showed me what it takes to be a fanatic in KL, and expensing my friendship bases half way around the world!
It was a great experience and I would come visit again someday!!

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Team RS*R Kuala Lumpur! Formula D Asia in Malaysia!

Motohide Miwa — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 10:52:00 +0000

September 1st, 2013,

Formula D Asia Malaysia, the 2nd stop in the world Asia rounds of Formula D, Team RS*R and Fredrick Aasbo was there in force, as well as the current iron champion from the USA, Daigo Saito, with his sidekick Robbie Nishida, and Scion USA's star-studded Ken Gushi. Mixing and dicing with the Asian talents, the event was another profound step to make drifting a fully sanctioned motor sport in yet another country.

Challenged by occasional heavy rain, and monsoon-floods, high humidity, and other abnormal ways in which any car racing event is held in the home territories, the teams struggled to keep the drivers smiling, and machines working. But that didn't detract from the fun at all, as fans rushed in by the thousands to come see the spectacle on September 1, on the day before the Independence Day for Malaysia.

Pictures tell it all!

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July 13th, 2013 - 86 Dynamic Driving Academy 2 at Willow Springs Raceway, Balcony Vehicle Testing Facility.

MotoP — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 11:41:53 +0000

Dynamic Driving Academy 2

Event Date: July 13th 2013, 7:30am~4:00pm
Event Entry Price: $125 registered online (link below)
Location: Willow Springs Raceway (Balcony Testing Grounds)

Schedule Details:

Classroom Meets at various venues local to discuss and exchange ideas with instructors and gather necessary conceptual elements and basic understanding of physics in dynamic control of a car.

Balcony Area Testing Grounds provide actual driving dynamics practice, in a safe and controlled, sanctioned environment with instructors for improvement and satisfaction of ownership and learning how to control a car. The goal of the events will not be for the sake of racing, but to understand how cars are driven in a performance venue, with skills to maximize the use of the car at speeds and control the automobile proficiently.

Features:

Autocross, Gymkhana, Pylon cone lesson areas, games, and class sessions with Q&A.

Required:
A qualifying automobile in good maintenance
A SA or MA 2000 or newer Helment or an FIA rated helmet.
A good set of tires, and spare pair or set if you can bring some.
A basic set of tools to safely change tires
An assistant is optional and useful
A will to learn, behave, and make friends.
A driver's license from any state or province of USA
A driver who is 18 years old or older.
Shoes, not sandals, slippers, or boots.
A good attitude
A friendly demeanor
A respect for another person and property

What is NOT required:
Animosity to a particular car
Evil intents
Huge ego
Any significant modifications to car or person
Children or pets that needs supervision full time (unless you bring someone over 18 that can supervise them full time)
Alcohol is prohibited as are any controlled substance in the State of CA
Entourage of people who want to cheer you on, and get in your way.
THis is a classroom, and a school... So don't bring anything or anyone you don't want in school...

IN addition your car needs to be:

Not leaking oils and fluids
Not catching fires
Free of issues of electrical, fuel, or other critical areas mechanically.
Tires more than 1/8" tread usable tread.
Parking brakes and main brakes functional
All lamps functional
Seatbelts, and seats, that are DOT approved or FIA approved. (factory belts are DOT approved)
Wheel nuts and studs with more than 5 turns to secure.
Hubs and steering system in good condition
We reserve the right to refuse any participants for partial or full refund if we deem your car or equipment not fit for the event with minimal requirements.
Event Location Willow Springs Raceway (BALCONY Section)
Street Address 3500 75th St W, Rosamond, CA 93560
Country USA
Maximum Entries 30
Online Registration Opens 02-Jul-2013 1:00 AM EST
Online Registration Closes 13-Jul-2013 1:00 AM EST

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RS*R Sports-i Coilover - Club4AG Moto-Spec Edition...

MotoP — Sun, 05 May 2013 09:01:05 +0000

RS*R Sports-i Coilover - Club4AG Moto-Spec Edition

Today, following last Friday's Cusco parts install, my FRS went into the facility of RS*R USA to fit my other purchase, the Sports-i suspension system.

This unit is a variant of the not so well-known RS*R i-Shock, specifically designed for the FRS/BRZ/86.

After a few days of hard, all out track, autocross, and casual canyon drive, as well as driving through downtown Las Vegas last month in the Pre-Production Final Product spec, and also through 8 days of various city traffic and highways in my own 9 day old FRS. I have had plenty of time in the original setup, born of Mr.Tada and his team, of the original suspension.

While I am pretty fond of the FRS's OEM suspension, I asked RSR, my long-time source for the nicest Japanese made custom made suspension firm, to see if they had something I can purchase. A bit of waiting, the president of RS*R, Mr.K.Terai, brought over personally from Japan, a set of customized FRS set.

For those who don't know much about RS-R's i-Shock line, the suspension system can be ordered with custom valving, spring sets, piston lengths, and from a database they have of vehicle specific applications. Their standard product is tailored to your needs, if specified, and if not, they come in RS*R's own well-tested setup. It's a bit more expensive than most of your generic coil-over systems, but it features the patented monotube design with billet alloy parts, along with RSR's patented internal valve. This all translated to increased piston travel over the more common twin tube internals, and adjust-ability range that is quite useful on many street cars, that see track use often.

Because of the mono-tube RSR design, the dampers' initial rate of compression is quick, yet very even through further loads. And what this translates to is the ability to have lower overall damper setting, without sacrificing effectiveness of the full motion damping rate. The damping rate is very uniform, and therefore stiffer springs can be combined but still allow for very compliant ride due to shocks not needing to be very high on compression damping or rebound valving.

One of the constraints for the FRS's original suspension is the costs prohibiting such exotic and expensive damper units. Though the FRS exhibits fine driving attitudes on both road and track, and much more refined than any previous Toyota perhaps, it isn't a $50,000 car either, and can't be equipped with things like this out of the box. High-end cars like the Porsche 911 and many exotics do use similar advanced valve mono-tubes, and for the FRS, I chose to see if RSR can better the already superb but cost-limited production twin-tube FRS setup it came with.

A Japanese mechanic, nicknamed "Steve" Shinichi Yamazaki from RSR-Japan who happened to be in town for Formula D, took great care in installation for me today. Starting with corner weighting, marking alignments, and even weighing me (the driver) to install and carefully adjust the suspension to 32mm drop at front and 28mm at rear. From a previous talk I had with CE, Tada of Toyota, his recommendation for suspension lowering of -20mm+/-15mm for dynamic alignment of the arms, I went on the lower height end of the spectrum just for kicks.

One of my small (tiny) complaint about the FRS was its jittery, easily upset, balance of the car by Los Angeles' rough, less ideal pavement gaps and fillers, which tended to take your steering a bit more than I liked... (Tuned very aggressively for the track, the lower cost factory unit could not cover for both scenarios too perfectly I guess? as OEM is really perfect for the track, amazingly enough for a production car from Toyota)

The RSR's Sport-i, despite the higher spring rate, actually proved to be more compliant for the streets, due to the much more sophisticated damper valves. The car instantly became as comfortable and composed as many, and more expensive European car, and all the precise motions of the car seemed to be intact. I haven't had a chance to put it to the test on the raceway just yet, but with added capability of spring tuning, and fairly useful and wide range of damper settings, I can almost feel that the Sport-i will prove to be just as fun on the track, given I know what the heck I shall be doing. (I have a rough idea but it's not easy to improve on the performance end of the FRS as it came) But at least for now it seems the jitter and tracking of faily stiff city ride OEM damper is now calmed with the expensive damper which the $25,000 MSRP car, originally could not be equipped.

Here's some photos of the install, and I will write more when I get a bit more time behind this on the raceway and other venues or conditions. So far so EXCELLENT. You get what you pay for at RSR.

On Sale from CLub4AG.com here
http://store.club4ag.com/product/rs-r-sports-i-full-coilover-system-for-scion-fr-s-subaru-brz

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RS-R Sports-i Club4AG Moto-Spec Coil-Over

MotoP — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:23:07 +0000

RS-R Sports-i Club4AG Moto-Spec Coil-Over

Due to the popularity of the RSR Sports-i Coilver for the FRS in Club4AG spec, RSR is temporarily shipped a few dozen sets of Sports-i to the USA.

What this means is you save a ton on the usual international shipping from Japan, and with the new MSRP of $1799, it's now more affordable than ever.
It's still the same i-Shock based units with all the specifications and materials as the units that once sold for more than $3000 in the past, and thanks to the much more favorable USD to JPY exchange rate, all the savings are brought down to you!

There is only a limited supply and once it's out, you'll pay more on shipping again, and 2-3 weeks of waiting... so hurry!
Price is good till the end of April 2013.

You can purchase them directly from RSR USA, or online at http;//FRS86.com web, where you can also get free apparel and gear till supplies last on the offer.

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