Canada, EH, ya hosers.
Happy weekend loyal followers, minions, Apex citizens, and those who followed the clickbait.
Let's be honest, I haven't done that great of a job keeping you thoroughly entertained. Turns out, life is busy. When I started this blog, I expected to make a post every two weeks, minimum. Well, that hasn't happened. Each post takes me about 6 hours to write, edit photos, format and post to the site. Don't get me wrong, I love what I've created here and it's been awesome connecting with the MR2 community and helping develop meaningful parts for our almost ancient cars.
But, a few months ago, I was contacted by a dedicated follower wayyyyy up north in Canada (didn't know they got internet up there, congrats!) asking if I'd be interested in having a guest blogger contribute to the site. What a great idea! But, does this guy have what it takes to be Apex Attack material? Is his car, his mechanical abilities, automotive tastes, and most importantly his sense of humor all a little half-ass? Can he laugh at himself in front of the internet, does he live by the motto - No Ego, All Fun?
Yeah! Duncan has surpassed our rigorous vetting with flying colors. He has built a very potent street car, and he's just getting started.
So, without further ado, here is our new Apex Attack build log for your enjoyment, Duncan and his JDM (and RHD! OMG) 94 GT-S.
Hello all! I’m Duncan and I’m excited to be part of Apex Attack! I hail from the frosty northern realm of Canada. Don’t worry, we haven’t seen any white walkers in these parts yet… I stumbled upon the site many months ago and realized that Mike and I share a similar vision and passion for developing, driving and racing MR2s. Attacking apexes is what we do!
Seeing an opportunity to share my project to both learn from and give back to the community, I fired him an email seeing if he’d like a guest writer on his site… and here I am! I’m going to stick to some simple principles for my writing here… fun, openness and learning:
- Principle #1 – Fun. That’s why I’m doing this. I like to compete, better my performance, and challenge myself. But having fun and, more importantly, sharing those good times and experiences with others is why I do this.
- Principle #2 – Openness. I come from a scientific background where sharing clear and accurate information is critical to understanding and making effective decisions. You’re going to get every scrap of information I can share with respect to the car and its development.
- Principle #3 – Learning. I’m going to try things, make mistakes and learn from them and I’m going to learn from others’ expertise and experiences. Hopefully you find some value in my mistakes … and you can laugh at them!
While I do have an academic background in electrical engineering, I am not a practicing engineer. That said, my method here will be to use a basic engineering approach to project development.
An MR2 was my first car many, many years ago and I’ve always had some flavour of MR2 since. Once I got a taste of ripping around twisty roads, attacking autocross courses and lapping circuits there was no looking back; I had found a passion in my life. I’ve participated in autocross and lapping on and off for years, as well as completing a few driver schools. I’m continually seeking to learn and develop my own skills as a driver, and as an amateur mechanic.
It all started way, way back in the late 90’s… a mere pup at 18 years old, I scrimped and saved enough money from my job of scrubbing dishes and cooking to purchase a black 1986 MR2. It was loud, quick and fun! The cherry bomb muffler ensured everyone else in the neighbourhood knew I purchased it too when I blasted off for work at 7:30am every morning. It took almost everything I was making to keep it insured and running but it was a great toy… young men are more enthusiasm and ambition then good sense after all, so it seemed logical at the time. However, the harsh reality of owning and maintaining a high mileage car on a limited budget and the rust monster combined to bring about the end of that MR2…. But not before having a go at some modifications. Bigger wheels, polyurethane bushings, a stripped interior, racing harness and a one-off fibreglass nose sharpened up the handling a bit and ensured I wasn’t wasting my free time or money on more sensible pursuits.
In the early 2000s, I decided to do something with my life… or at least university looked like a lot more fun than scrubbing dishes! I wasn’t able to keep my MR2 on the road, but I had managed to infect my brother with the MR2 and racing bug. He found himself a nice 1991 MR2 Turbo and, when time allowed, he was gracious enough to allow yours truly to take it for a rip on the track. We both raced with the Victoria Motorsports Club, taking part in their autocrosses, lapping days and driver’s schools.
Right after finishing university (many, many years later…) it was time to get some wheels under me, as my old MR2 was beyond resurrecting. I happened to find an ad for a rust-free 1985 MR2 in Vancouver and that was it! It had a blown head-gasket but the price was right and my ’86 had a good engine and transmission… sounds like a totally logical solution to a young man with energy to burn and a tight budget, right? The MR2 was secured in short order and driven back to the Island… trailing a massive cloud of steam all the way out of Vancouver and onto the ferry. I recall stopping numerous times to refill the car with water, but again, young-man enthusiasm carried the day.
Not a bad set of wheels! It had the rear anti-roll bar that only the ‘85s and ‘89s had, so that helped it rotate compared to my ‘86. I also managed to find a set of brakes from a supercharged MR2, TRD headers and a 5Zigen exhaust (slow boat from Japan) and dropped those in, in addition to swapping the Enkei wheels and polyurethane bushings from the older MR2. What a great little car and what a sound it made with those headers and exhaust! Best sounding four cylinder in street car I’ve ever heard as it powered up to the redline. With this MR2 I was able to get back to racing at some events in Victoria with my brother and that little 85 MR2 wasn’t far behind his Turbo on the timing sheets… even coming out ahead once or twice.
I had forgotten how much I loved racing with him when I found this picture… nothing better than racing with your bro!
But then we moved to different ends of the continent…
Incidentally, while studying for courses in university it’s not a bad idea to take a break once in a while and relax to help you survive the endless onslaught of studying, projects, labs and exams. One of my favourite ways was to head to a local arcade and crush some downhill touges on some O.G. JDM Battle Gear 4. They actually had the machines hooked up to the Japanese servers so you could purchase a key, save your progress and log on at home, muddle your way through a Japanese website and tune your car online with points earned during racing. Not a bad way to keep you hooked and feeding coins into the machine! One of the best part of the arcade machines was that they had a six-speed shifter, gas, brake and clutch. In the right-hand drive configuration.
Interesting skill to pick up… this is called foreshadowing folks.
Advancement in my career meant a move away from the coast and into the heart of the Canadian prairies. After a couple years slaving away and saving some money up, it was time to get myself a little present for my 30th birthday.
Boom! There it is! Found in Winnipeg, of all places…
It’s a JDM 1994 MR2 GT-S that was imported to Canada (aka JDM North because of the 15 year rule) about 9 years ago and has been mine ever since. It came with the JDM Bilstein dampers, an HKS Silent Hi-Power cat-back exhaust, the Keiichi Tsuchiya wheels, a Momo steering wheel, and not a spec of rust. If you’re looking for a clean classic car, Japan’s the place! I picked it up with only 78k km (48k Freedom Units) on the odometer and it’s been a rockstar, never failing to start, surviving prairie winters, and having outstanding reliability. Yup, I drove it in the winter in -45°C (-50°F)… Manitoba is so cold in the winter they don’t even bother using salt on the road! It’s currently at 170k km (105k miles) and going strong. Nineties Toyota, best Toyota! Just do your maintenance.
I started racing it almost as soon as I got it in Winnipeg, participating in autocrosses with the Winnipeg Sports Car Club at an airstrip.
It was a handful compared to what I was used to! Over twice the power, more weight and the turbo lag combined to prove to be a greater challenge than my meager skill could overcome. I was fighting to keep the back-end behind me and spun out more than a few times. To help get it under control I participated in a performance driving school and it was a huge eye-opener to have a champion level auto-crosser take my car around a course. He showed me what was possible with the correct technique and gave me a starting point for developing my own driving technique and I started to also see just how different autocross and lapping really are, in terms of the driving style and line required. This new knowledge enabled me to get the back end planted in the corners and to build some confidence. It’s also the first time I experienced what a limited slip differential could do. It felt like a rocket-ship compared to my brother’s Turbo! Not only are you getting 45 more horsepower with the gen3 3S-GTE and the CT-20B turbo, you’re getting better response and more torque under the curve. Did I mention 30 MPG on the highway? Better reliability? What’s not to love??
We all can’t leave a good thing alone, can we? Young man’s disease never sleeps… the modifications soon followed. I started out with the basics: polyurethane bushings, TRD strut tower bars and then the KW Var 3 coilovers. While the Bilstein suspension worked well on smooth pavement, the KW Var 3 coilovers really improved the ride quality on the rough prairie and coastal roads and helped to tighten up the handling. The Wolfkatz Stage 2.5 Big Brake Kit followed a little while later and proved its worth when I had an opportunity to travel to Ontario and lap at Shannonville and the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park Driver Development track. Absolutely fade-free brakes! I also slapped on a set of Falken Azenis RT-615Ks to try, as they’re a budget-conscious motorsports tire… inexpensive and grippy, especially compared to what I was used to.
After six years in Manitoba, further advancement in my career has brought me to my current home in Edmonton. Conveniently enough, I moved just in time for the asphalt to finish being laid down on Castrol Raceway. I currently race there now, participating in autocrosses and lapping days hosted by the Alberta Solo Association.
Moving to Edmonton also finally gave me access to a garage… I was now completely in the grip of young-man’s disease. Pay no attention to the autobahn cruise-missile on the left…
After a season on the track, an extremely busy couple of years in my career waylaid my ability to work on and race the MR2. Fast-forward to 2017 and I started to feel that little twinkle in my eye and my wallet was getting a bit pudgy… time for more parts! And time to get back to racing!
Based on my previous autocross and lapping experiences, I was looking to get the handling tightened up and get that back end planted. Being an avid lurker on the MR2OC, I had followed the development of the Suspension Geometry Correction Kit produced by Wilhelm Raceworks and decided to give it, and the Coilover Top Mounts, a try. And the Rainguard Eliminator Kit. Because, race car? Sure, we’ll go with that. Note, keep a couple garbage bags in the car if you get that kit… rain + engine electronics = bad day. I also found a set of the Suspension Techniques anti-roll bars to try out.
I had been trying to find a Greddy rear wing for years. YEARS. I thought it was just the right size and look for the MR2. After many, many years of searching, I found Camposites (camposites.bigcartel.com). Another die-hard keeping the MR2 dream alive! Well you can’t just get a wing? Why not a front lip to help keep that front end down at higher speeds? Maybe one with brake ducts? Because race car. Ok, so he also has the Daie super lip… You know what makes a front lip better? A splitter. Huh, he has that too… You know, I kinda like those Greddy side skirts too. With splitters. Check and check. Young-man’s disease was back with a vengence. And this time it had a budget.
It turned out alright… not perfect but we’ll work on that! And now you’re all caught up…
So by now you're wondering, what more could I do to this street and track beast to improve perfection?!
Based on my past driving experiences, I’ve focussed on improving the handling and traction for cornering and braking performance. As this is in progress, I have not yet increased the engine power as this will not contribute in a meaningful way to improving cornering performance (it sure is tempting though…). After all, if you have less power you have to learn to conserve your momentum! Tsuchiya-san said it best:
A street-legal MR2 suitable for weekend drives, road trips, autocrosses, lapping and driver development. Drive it to the track, make brake dust all day, and drive it home, no problems. The interior and creature comforts will be retained, and it will not be caged or have any major modifications to the body. It’s not built for a specific race class or series, but rather to be a balanced performance car for enjoyment and tinkering. If the time comes to build a competitive race car in the future, I will re-evaluate.
Strap in! You’ll be able to follow the development of the MR2 here on Apex Attack! Up to this point, no data gathering or analysis was conducted to support the current modifications, rather it was based on my driving experience and recommendations of the community.
Where possible, future development of the MR2 will be done via the “engineering method” outlined below. My initial focus will be to gather as much data as possible and share it with you. If you can measure it, you can improve it…
- Identify Objective/Problem (what do you want to do or improve?)
- Research/Theory (what are the physics behind what you want to do?)
- Requirements Analysis and Computer Modeling (figure out what numbers you have and what you’re looking for and mock it up)
- Prototyping (build something and give it a try)
- Testing, Data Gathering and Analysis
- Success? Go to last step. No success? Iterate and improve!
- Implement Solution
My first project for the winter will be getting a basic data measuring, logging and analysis suite set up to support future development. Specifically, I’ll be looking for the capability to record video, as well as track and record position and linear and lateral acceleration to provide the data required to support basic tuning of the suspension and future development. I have a few other areas in mind to continue to develop but I’ll save writing about those until I have something meaningful to share…
I’m excited to get the development started this winter and hit the track when the thaw hits in the spring… I hope we can learn and enjoy this journey together!