Archive for April, 2011
Maryland International Raceway Quarter mile – April 2011
On April 3rd 2011 I went to Maryland International Raceway (MIR) in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. This is a nice and well run quarter mile drag strip. On April 3rd of 2011 I went for the Test and Tune event they have periodically throughout the year. I wanted to go early in the season to get a baseline for my car. As of this day the only power mods I have on the car are the SURE Motorsports Aeros Short-ram intake, Sidewinder turbo inlet pipe and a prototype test pipe. I was also running on 93 octane with no octane boost.
I decided to call this my baseline instead of stock because these are very basic and inexpensive bolt-on mods that most entry level tuners will have on their cars almost immediately. With this said, I showed up at 10am and headed over to Tech Inspection. Passed with flying colors, of course, and was assigned number 902. Be sure to look at the times under the column with Car #… 902 in the pictures below. I ran a total of 9 runs that day but I will only show the 3 important ones!
My First Run was at 10:30am and is not pictured here because it is not very good. I had to use this to feel out the power band, when to shift and, of course, shack off the first run jitters! I ran a 14.876 with a top speed of 100.61.
Second run at 10:36am. It wasn’t very busy in the morning! Other than the horrific reaction time of .387 the run was my best run of the day. Found the shift points and sped through to the finish with a 14.151 and a top speed of 101.55. Not too bad, but I felt I could do better with the reaction time.
Well, needless to say, That wasn’t the case. I did 2 more runs between 10:36 and 11:07 and they were horrible. I guess I got too anxious or the fact that I was next to a 9 second dragster and couldn’t hear my engine may have had something to do with it. Although I did beat a old Civic hatch, which was fun. However, I only ran a 14.384 and he ran a 14.892. That would have potentially have been my best run but my reaction time was .628 and his was .266. I am amazed I even won that one.
So after that, I broke for a bite to eat and let my car cool down for an hour. At 12:05pm I decide to get back on the track. My nerves are calm, I am feeling good and… Dear god I am next to another dragster pictured to right. The tree lights up and I nail the reaction time! but the wheels spin a tad. That’s okay, feeling good… I go into third gear and EEERRRRR, miss shifted… Worst run of the day as you can see.
I raced three more times after that but I couldn’t break 14.7 seconds, no matter how well I launched or went through the gears. The car just got too heat soaked to get any more power out of it. So I shut her down for a few hours and watch others race for a bit.
I decide to go for one last run for the day at 3:51 pm. The car had plenty of time to cool down and I was as ready as I would ever be at the point. It wasn’t a bad run after all, I just have to work on my reaction time a bit.
So as you can see from these slips, with the Mods I have on my car and a little more practice, at this stage it is a 14 second car. Three basic, inexpensive bolt-on modification and we are .151 seconds from needing a helmet when racing! Not too shabby if I may say so myself!
How to Adjust Rear Suspension Dampening on 2010 MS3
As stated in my article about the BC Racing Coilovers, in order to adjust the rear dampening you must remove all the paneling in the rear trunk compartment. This DIY will show you just how to do it in about 20 minutes. Remember, with the BC Racing Coilovers for the Mazdaspeed 3 you have a total of 32 points of adjustment. Position 1 being the softest and position 32 being the hardest.
Where is it:
To access the dampening controls for the BC Racing Coilovers you must remove the paneling inside your trunk. You can see in the second image that the controls are just behind the seatbelt spool.
+ click to enlarge image
Tools Needed:
- Socket wrench
- 10mm sockets
- fillips head screw driver
- Flathead or punch to pop anchors
- Needle-nose pliers
- Gloves
+ click to enlarge image
What to do:
Start by removing the (1) spare tire cover and (2)foam from around the spare tire. (3) This will expose all the necessary push-pins that we need to remove to pull out the rear kick plate. (4) Using a flat head or punch, pop out the push-pins and completely remove them from the hole. (5) Once you have removed the 2 push-pins on the left and right, with 2 hands, at shoulders length apart, grab under the panel and carefully pull up to remove the panel.
+ click images to enlarge
Now that we have exposed more push-pins for the side panels we can start removing all anchors. (1) First we remove the anchors as pictured by exposing the bolt to loosen the anchor. (2) Using a 10mm socket wrench completely loosen the bolt to pop out anchor. (3) Once that is removed, removed the other anchor to completely free up the back of the panels. (4) while we are in the back of the car we should expose the screw holding on the seatbelt cover panel. using a fillips head screw driver, remove the screw. (5) Next remove the anchor that is behind the seat backs as pictured below.
Be sure to do this for both sides of the trunk.
+ click images to enlarge
Now lets move to the front of the trunk by going through the rear doors. Here you will see a few push-pins we need to remove. (1) Remove the push-pins from the seat belt cover panel. (2) Then, down by the back seat hinge we need to remove another push-pins. (3) carefully pry the panel loose. You do not need to completely remove this panel. (4) Once the panel is loose you will see the hidden push-pin that you must remove in order to remove the seat belt cover panel. (5) Once again, gently pry off the seat belt cover panel. (6) This will expose the trunk side panel for removal.
Be sure to repeat on both sides.
+ click images to enlarge
Now we are all set to remove the trunk side panels to expose the BC Racing Coilover dampening controls. (1) Starting from the rear, begin to pry off the panel carefully. (2) To make things easier for you I would suggest pulling it out entirely to give you a comfortable amount of room to access the dampening controls. (3) You can see the BC Racing Coilover dampening controls now. (4) To adjust them you access them from the top, in. (5) This image show the left side exposed as well.
Be sure to adjust both sides!
+ click images to enlarge
If you are an avid racer and plan on doing a lot of adjustments I would leave the panels off until you have the proper settings. (1) This is how I go to the track. Even though this DIY should take you about 20 minutes, it can add up after a while as you tweak for that perfect setting. Once, I am done tracking the car or if I have the setting I know I will be happy with, only then would I suggest putting the panels back on.
Also, Don’t forget about the front suspension. (2) Just pop the hood and twist away to the best setting for your racing environment.
+ click images to enlarge
