The R3gister - Race Rally Research (R3)

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R3 TIME ATTACK 3dot6

It’s back!! After some fun and exciting action from 2dot6 Danga Bay, the R3 Time Attack for 2006 will continue on the 1 July 2006, the third of another 5 round series! Remember, it is a Championship now, with bigger and better prizes to be won!

Date: 1st July 2006, SATURDAY
Time: 830am - 1600pm
Venue: Shah Alam Stadium

The R3 TIME ATTACK 2dot6 will be held together with the D1GP Malaysia Drift Series 2006.

CATEGORIES
Category A, Rocco: Open to vehicles with 2501cc engine capacity and above
Category B, North Pole: Open to vehicles with 1901cc to 2500cc engine capacity
Category C, Hung: Open to vehicles with 1601cc to 1900cc engine capacity
Category D, Eat Me: Open to vehicles with 1301cc to 1601cc engine capacity
Category E, Pre-Viagra: Open to vehicles with engine capacities below 1300cc
Category S, Spunk: Open to 2-seater 2-door Sports cars with engine capacities below 2500cc

A Registration and Payment session for R3 Time Attack 3dot6 will be held today. Details as follows:

Time: 730pm - 930pm
Date: 22 June 06 Thursday
Venue: Sunway Extreme Park Cafe

Entry Form and Rules and Regulations can be dowloaded here-
Entry Form
Regulations
Entry fee as always is RM100 per entry.

For Outstation competitors , you may fax Entry to 03 5195 5370 and contact Adian or Faisal to make payment.

Special Insider News!
A little bird has revealed that Champions for each class will be given a chance to participate in a time trial cum driver selection for the Merdeka Millenium Endurance Race 2006. Three fastest drivers will race in the factory-backed R3 race Waja or Satria. How is that for opportunity?

Next year’s R3TA champs will also be in the running for the R3 MME race team for 2007.

For those who are not participating in the R3TA, one word - “Tough!”. And “Too late.”

It’s a wonder what 8 little aluminium things can do to improve your driving experience. Big thanks to my friend Andrew over at The SP Files for recommending this noteworthy car mod. Just like what 8 little Stage 2 R3 lower arm bushes did for my car’s handling, the little things work, in a huge way. Small in size, big on performance!

The Symborski transmission shifter base kit bushes are made of aluminium and replaces the stock rubber bushes on your transmission shifter base. The stock rubber bushes help reduce NVH, but not exactly anideal setup where shift feel and accuracy is concerned. The inherent sloppiness in shifting has been a major complaint of owners.

Since the installation at R3 (together with my 4-1 header and a couple of other mods which also includes SuperPro PU steering rack and rear anti-roll bar bushes), I’ve come to appreciate the new accurate shift feel. Improvements are very apparent with diagonal shifting i.e. 2nd to 3rd, 4th to 5th and vice versa. There is major reduction in sloppiness and unnecessary horizontal movement. It feels almost like a short shifter in many ways, and has improved shift speed, although it does not reduce shift throw.

At RM120, the Symborski bushes are not cheap (they are imported from USA), but if you are, like me, a person who appreciates driving and ‘feel’ of the car, then this is a fantastic mod. Contact Andrew at The SP Files if you are interested. It comes highly recommended by me here at The R3gister.

Having tolerated the constant buzzing and ringing of the cracked R3-Hotbits stock 4-2-1 header and later fullblown lorry-sounding orchestra after running at Sepang, I got a R3-spec Hotbits 4-1 header installed. Prozac, owner of the first ever retail version of the Satria R3 (series number 0006), offloaded his 4-1 exhaust header to me on the cheap. I had initially wanted his stock 4-2-1 header through a one-to-one swap with my stock bonnet, but the chance to own the bronzy stainless steel header was just too difficult to pass up.

Pic borrowed from The SP Files
The 4-1 header is similar in spec and looks to the R3 version above. There is a difference in design with original 4-1 Hotbits developed headers, just to note. Theoretically speaking, a longer primary will create more torque rpms below peak torque. It does this by increasing air flow velocity and expels spent exhaust gases much more efficiently than a 4-2-1 header. Want to know more? Read this (thanks to LLSaw of The SP Files).

It has always been a assumption (which has in recent times proven wrong) that you lose low to mid range torque in 4-1 header designs. Header designs have much improved, fusing the 4-2-1 layout with 4-1 lengths - hence the birth of longer primary 4-2-1 headers as well.

Since installation by the boys at R3 (thanks Suhaimi, you rock dude!), results through my sensitive butt dyno, have been surprising. Suhaimi had mentioned slight throttle vagueness i.e. lag at lower rpms when we were heading back to R3/Proton HQ. However, my drive back home revealed ‘a different car’, so to speak.

There is slight loss in torque in the lower range rpms. At lower rpms, I refer to anything below 3,000 revolutions. Where torque used to kick in early at 2,500rpms, the presence of the 4-1 header has shifted that to around 3,500rpm. It’s not a substantial loss, through my experience, but still notable. The surprise comes at around 5,000rpms. Be prepared for a seemingly endless ability to pull. And boy does it pull! The torque does not kick it in a lump as it did at 4,000rpm using the stock header, but its incredibly well-spread and smooth. It’s pretty amazing how it pulls smoothly to the upper ranges towards the redline. Sweet. Stay in the region of 5,000-6,000rpms in 3rd and 4th gear and you’ll know what I mean. I’m not afraid to say that it feels almost as if I’m running bigger piping. The car feels a lot more ‘free’.

Exhaust note overall has changed too. The burble at idle is crisp and misleadingly tame. Try it at full throttle and enjoy the aural orchestra! Very full, very solid. Menacing and addictive.

Initial reports of the 4-1 header on Stage 2 cams weren’t especially positive, with overall power loss on dyno. The header however increased peak power on a few SGTis and seem to work best with ported heads. I would like to do a dyno run just to look at the torque/power curve to compare with my previous dyno. From my own experience with the car (albeit brief with the new 4-1 header), I feel it has increased peak power by at least 3-5bhp and overall gains across the rev range. Although I am disinterested in peak power readings in general, I’m confident that my Satria SR3 has touched the 140whp mark with this header mod and hope to confirm this with a dyno session.

I’m also looking forward to port the head, which would conclude my engine mods on this hot hatch, and concentrate on the drivetrain, suspension and brakes. One important things to note. R3 had to remove the 4-point under chassis tie bar to fit the 4-1 header. If you plan to have a similar header installed, be prepared for this.

Coming right up is a smallish review on the Symborski gear shift aluminium bushes! Stay tuned.

Some really nice pics of the Satria Neo snapped during the Satria Neo Media Preview at Sepang International Circuit.

Pics courtesy of Shukor Jasni.

The Satria Neo looks pretty solid, and I like the lines. It’s got quite a menacing stance. The wide flared arches reminds me of the new Ford Focus.

The usual bunch of track enthusiasts - Stanley, Andrew, Nigel (with Sabreena, the youngest ever Satria R3 owner at 16-years of age!) and I decided to feed our systems with adrenaline on Sunday. The open track day was the last track day before next week’s Super GT. Uncommonly so, due to a SuperBike event, track day started only at 4pm, which deterred another track enthusiast and Satria R3 owner, Hanif to burn rubber with us.

It’s been a while since my last track day, too long in fact. Had made a pact with Andrew before, to have track days every month. Two of us being the most track addicted amongst the bunch, couldn’t wait to get our asses on Malaysia’s most famous speedway.

Being the last track day meant lots of other cars, many track cars were there to prepare for MSS (Malaysian Super Series) and MME (Merdeka Millenium Race). That was slightly worrying as an overcrowded track means a more dangerous track, which means less fun and possibly track time. But the thought of extended adrenaline rushes got the better of us and we hastily prepared my car, with help of Stan and Don, swapping my worn AD07s with FTZ Type RR semi-slicks, which were equally as worn. Heh.

It wasn’t a blind track experience for me this time round though. My sole purpose was to test a pair of development race pads, developed in Japan. I had successfully tried and tested the road version, which really wasn’t too bad. Rated at 550 degrees, performance was above average overall. And as demonstrated at Genting Sempah, the pads held its own.

C.Wei and C.Ming did checking and markings on my front discs to gauge wear on my runs. Strapped in and with Stan’s borrowed helmet over my head, I cruised out of the pit, with Nigel and Andrew on my tail. It felt so good just being there at Sepang once again. As I approached the end of the pit and flagged off by the marshall, I accelerated off in 2nd then 3rd to approach T1. The first lap was a re-acquaintance lap for me. Refreshing the lines, braking points was a feat. It’s been more than 6 months, heck. With lots of traction and seemingly no understeer, I pushed a little bit more, finding rhythm.

T7 and T8 always gives me flashbacks of the time went I veered off into the gravel. Although I am pretty much over it, I approach it smoothly and cautiously on my warm-up lap. Nigel and Andrew had disappeared off my rear view at this point, and I pretty much took the rest of the laps alone, with intermittent encounters with various track cars, including Evolutions, Hondas and Scoobys. I pushed on harder and braked gradually a little later as I pressed on, mostly around the 70-80m mark.

The car felt solid and quick, especially on the straights. Where I could only manage 175km/h on the Sepang pit straight in my Stage 1, the Stage 2 convincingly and consistently showed me 190km/h before I had to brake hard at 80m. The straight approaching T9 was also substantially quicker before. It was 160km/h before having to drop to 3rd and 2nd on the T9 accent. The back straight proved quick as well, and I managed 180km/h on approach to T14. Nice. Brakes felt solid, but under hard braking seemed to pull to the right.
My lap times on my first couple of laps were average - 3′00 on my opening lap and 2′58-2’59s. I pitted on the 5th lap to let the engine, clutch and tires cool down. Clutch was already slipping badly on the 4th lap. A clutch upgrade is definitely warranted! Double-checked on the brakes and apparently C.Ming felt it is overall underused. Under-used! Hah!

I let Stan do some laps next. Circuit was closed momentarily due to an accident at T1. Once the lights went green, the three SR3s eagerly made their way out, with Andrew leading the way. Andrew led mostly, with Stan close behind. Andrew has always showed his prowess at Sepang. Despite driving a stock Stage 1 Satria R3, he consistently shows how skill can overcome the power handicap. And of course, not to mention, balls of steel.

He returned with pretty impressive 2’59s and 2’58s while Stan within 2’59s.

I was up next. Eager to push harder, and get a few good lap times and to find that braking threshold. And push I did, eventually. I braked really late into turns, as late as 50m. Had to keep it smooth, no doubt. The pushing did bring some errors and understeer on exit at a few turns, but overall I had quite good speed in turns and on the straights. No threat to the more powerful turbo-charged track cars out there, but I can safely say my SR3 matched them at corners. A particular EVO III track car was awfully slow at corners, and braked really early.

The hard and late braking and overall cleaner lines revealed some better times. I managed a 2’56s on my 2nd timed lap and 2’58s on the 3rd. I was pretty pleased in the end, although I know I could have done better, once ironing out the errors. Dipping below 2’55s would be my next goal!

The brakes held up really well, and C.Ming and C.Wei were quite pleased with the tests. The stress cracks and fractures in my brake discs are worrying though. It’s a mere millimeter or two before it shatters completely. Not good news, for a financially-strapped owner! Any rich Datin or Datin’s daughter wiling to sponsor me? The brakes were one problem. Another was my exhaust header. The little leak which gave it a annoying ring and buzz transformed into a more evil, ear-thumping bellow. My first thought was it sounded like a bus. A mini bus, more like. I got stares around the pit, including Sabreena and friends. Really horrible.

The third and final problem? A stone hit my left headlight, leaving a hole in the centre. How that happened, I do not know. Could have been tailing another car too closely, or something to that effect. Sigh. The price you pay to have fun. Had it plastered, knowing too well that it was merely a temporary remedy. Money loss from pocket was inevitable. Grrr.

In any case, I’m looking forward to another track day soon, especially eager to see how my new Hotbits 4-1 header fares when I have it installed!

Pics courtesty of RZD of Terato.com