What should I do next to my sprint car?

[MR2Pagey]

Hi,

I am currently competing in a Sprint/AutoX Championship which I am winning. I have done a lot of work to my car to remain competitive and beat the naturually aspirated V6 engined cars and stripped out MR2's. I'm in a naturally aspirated class and any car/make/model is allowed.

Here is the mods done to my car, I am slightly limited compared to all of the other entrants as I use my car every day for communiting to work, going out, etc, etc. Another MR2 in the championship is completely stripped and even has lightened panels instead of engine/boot cover, etc.

My MR2 is a REV 3 shell with a REV4 engine

- TRD ARB's
- HSD Coilovers (Adjustable Dampening)
- Slight Weight reduction (sound proofing & rear firewall carpet removed)
- Carbotec Brake Pads
- Drilled/Grooved disks at front
- Toyo R888 tyres all round
- 4-Point race harness
- Mommo 280mm Steering wheel
- Stainless steel straight through exhaust (No CAT)
- TRD LSD
- Typically serviced (Regular Oil/filter changes, new Iridium plugs, Distributor cap/Rotar arm)
- K&N Induction Kit

The next thing I want to do is to move my K&N down towards the intake vent to get cooler air coming in. To achieve this, I will also need to move the heater pipes slightly or it defeats the object of moving it. The other thing is to use a spare sunroof I've got, smash out the glass and replace with perspex or Alu.

For the enxt event I'm considering stripping out my subs for extra weight loss. I take out the Passenger seat anyway.

Does anyone else have any advise? I'd like to think of everything and consider it so I can think abouts cost and materials, etc.

Cheers!

[tonigmr2]

Surely it's all about more weight loss? You won't extract much more power (though a cool air intake is probably a good thing).

Do you also have strut bars?

[cartledge_uk]

Set up if you havent already.

Get your car corner weighted and fully set up (geometry etc), it wont make it any 'quicker' but it will make it handle better and improve speed round corners.

Have you replaced the brake hoses?

[MR2Pagey]

Surely it's all about more weight loss? You won't extract much more power (though a cool air intake is probably a good thing).

Do you also have strut bars?

Yes, I think you're right, but there isn't really a lot more I can take out of it as I use it every day. One thing I've noticed, a large weight on the rear subframe, what's this for?? I've got the rear X Brace from the standard T-Bar's (mines a moonroof) but I haven't got anything on the front other than the flimsy standard bar. Is there much good/use out of these engine stay bars, to stop the engine moving too much?


Yes I'm not really thinking of power, it has plenty enough, it's more about stability and handling.

The cold air feed will be next!

[MR2Pagey]

Set up if you havent already.

Get your car corner weighted and fully set up (geometry etc), it wont make it any 'quicker' but it will make it handle better and improve speed round corners.

Have you replaced the brake hoses?

I have had a gemometry setup, but think I will go back for another, theyre not cheap and just set my car up to the standards last time, I wonder if they will be willing to make it different to improve handling? The company I took it to are rally specialists.

Brake hoses are standard, does uprating them to braided lines make much difference?

[jasongtr]

is this a serious thread, you compete in your daily driver car, you are asking about what to do next and talk about other peoples weight loss in their cars and you still have a stereo system AND a sub box, maybe i have read this wrong but surely you wouldnt compete in a car with 30kgs of unnecessary weight anyway

[MR2Pagey]

is this a serious thread, you compete in your daily driver car, you are asking about what to do next and talk about other peoples weight loss in their cars and you still have a stereo system AND a sub box, maybe i have read this wrong but surely you wouldnt compete in a car with 30kgs of unnecessary weight anyway

No I'm absoloutely serious. Unfortunately I can't afford to have 2 cars, 1 for towing and for work, and another to race.

The Sub- boxes are the standard ones that sit in the boxes behind the seats. I will be taking them out of the car for the next event.

I know it sounds daft, and I'm the only one there who drives their car their, and home again and use it day to day. Unfortunately it's all I can afford.

I'm currently winning the championship, my thread was to find out if there was much else I could do to improve handling and stability, I appreciate and realise weight loss is a big factor as I help build and strip my friends MR2 race car.

[bri0905]

Back to your question, braided brake hoses are a brilliant upgrade, They will give you a firmer pedal and less fade when hot as they won't expand like the rubber ones.

[jasongtr]

not questioning the depth of your pockets mate. In fact it sounds like a great effort to be winning in the car that takes you to Tescos, it must annoy the guys you are up against. I personally wouldnt have any form of stereo in there at all (although i did assume they were aftermarket subs) good luck anyway

[MR2Pagey]

Back to your question, braided brake hoses are a brilliant upgrade, They will give you a firmer pedal and less fade when hot as they won't expand like the rubber ones.

Sounds good, I'll put that on my wish list and get to it.

The EBC brake pads are also brilliant at preventing brake fade, obviously the hoses will help even more.

[MR2Pagey]

not questioning the depth of your pockets mate. In fact it sounds like a great effort to be winning in the car that takes you to Tescos, it must annoy the guys you are up against. I personally wouldnt have any form of stereo in there at all (although i did assume they were aftermarket subs) good luck anyway

Indeed it does, they're now taking out windows and swapping panels for aluminium panels, something I definitely wont do. sunroof replacement will be happening though as I can swap it around easily before an event.

The stereo will unfortunately be staying for a bit

Any other suggestions welcome!

[tonigmr2]

You on Carbotech or EBC brake pads, as you say both? Can't beat carbotechs IMHO, I regularly outbrake cars without them racing...

Lightweight wheels perhaps?

[Mike 'MR2' McHugh]

Would you be able to take your passenger seat on for the day ?

Your doing well to be beating a two with lightened panels etc , must have some driving skills You might be wasted in the sprint series, maybe you should enter the MR2 series !!!

[MR2Pagey]

You on Carbotech or EBC brake pads, as you say both? Can't beat carbotechs IMHO, I regularly outbrake cars without them racing...

Lightweight wheels perhaps?

Sorry, my bad, I USEd to have EBC Yellow stuff, I now have Carbotech's.

[MR2Pagey]

Would you be able to take your passenger seat on for the day ?

Your doing well to be beating a two with lightened panels etc , must have some driving skills You might be wasted in the sprint series, maybe you should enter the MR2 series !!!

Yep passenger seat comes out along with storage box and ash tray + all stuff in Frunk.

Haha thanks very much. I've just got some tyres now, before I was running on worn down T1R's, which didn't enable good starts, I was having to launch at lower RPM, or launch high and feather the power off and on until I had grip. Hard out of corners or through the S bends I was sliding everywhere, but I just kept it planted and tried to recover.

The last event my mate beat me to win the sprint in his MR2 with the lightened panels etc. This is why I'm looking to other possible improvements. I'd love to do the MR2 chamiponship, I constantly watch the videos, unfortunately for me it's down to cost!

Might do a Toyota Sprint Series event this year if I can afford it.

[toxo]

Yep passenger seat comes out along with storage box and ash tray + all stuff in Frunk.

Trying to think of other things that come off easily... glovebox removes with 4 screws, you could lose the carpets and still use it as a daily couldn't you?

Turbo engine lid is made of fibreglass not metal like the N/A one, so is lighter. If you're rev3 you already have the lightest stock rear spoiler.

Does your rev4 engine have the EGR system on it, you could rip that off and gain a few bhp (make it a rev3 spec engine). Would affect your emissions slightly but not to the point of MOT failure.

There's the triangular vibration weight on the rear subframe, that can go.

I would imagine if you get a good idea of what you're looking for you could easily pick up a set of lighter-than-stock alloys from eBay or here.

You can get goodridge braided hoses with 25% off from affiliate bobhatton on here except he's a bit uncontactable at the moment!

[Rustyracing]

Take out carpets, all plastic trim aside from central console, dash + drivers doorcard. Lose the sunvisors, a sunstrip will do.

Consider replacing drivers doorcard with plastic sheet and losing switchgear with simple up/down switch.

Glovebox and topbox can go.

Get a heatgun and paint scraper on the sound deadening on the floor etc. Thats 6KGs alone. Hammerite and skateboard grip will do.

Lose the stereo, subs, aerial, strip the speakers out of doorcards too - buy an ipod if you need music. Earplugs if not

Boot carpet and trims. Frunk trim, plastic shroud over the brake cylinder, etc. Support structure for plastic shroud. Spare wheel, tootkit and jack is obvious, presumably already gone?

Lighter alloys.

All of this apart from alloys is free/cheap and will save you 50Kgs

[dave5526]

Definitely get aftermarket strut braces front and rear, even the cheap alloy ones (ebay) do their job ok, but get your hands on a decent set if you can afford. TRD are probably best but rare and expensive compared to the others, greddy, tanabe, cusco etc all make decent ones.

Next on the list should be a full polybush kit, the rubber bushes on a rev3 will be knackered by now and the whole car will feel much sharper and tighter on the corners.

Little things like the gearshift bushes and a shortshift kit will help your gearshifts too which are all-important on an NA, and make sure your clutch is fine.

You can look at seating/driving position too - harness is a good start, a bucket seat would be a good idea. Recaros are pretty comfy but hold better than the stock seats if you're worried about getting in and out and being uncomfortable in a proper bucket seat. A steering wheel spacer or deep dish wheel to bring the steering wheel closer to your body will give you better control.

Any weight you can lose from the top of the car (i.e. rooflining, upper plastic trim, passengers sun shade, moonroof as you said) will do far more good than similar weight removed from the bottom of the car.

Is there a particular reason you need to keep all the interior? I know its a daily driver but I used my stripped-out, bucket seated, roll-caged NA as a daily driver (i'm an accountant ). You get used to it, I actually miss the noise.

[tonigmr2]

...plus a CF bonnet I guess.

Bushes is an excellent idea.

[kaiowas]

Is there a particular reason you need to keep all the interior? I know its a daily driver but I used my stripped-out, bucket seated, roll-caged NA as a daily driver (i'm an accountant ). You get used to it, I actually miss the noise.

If it's MSA sprinting in a roadgoing class then everything originally fitted in the interior must be present and working with the exception of seats which can be replaced with buckets or similar on safety grounds.

Drives me mad as we have a couple of sprints a year on the test track at work, literally 5 minutes down the road but our purpose built completely road legal track car isn't eligble for any class as we've stripped the interior but haven't fitted a cage (which is a requirement for the non-roadgoing classes).