Yesterday we had our 2nd Annual S2K TakeOver at the NY Safety Track in Jefferson, NY. It's an S2000 only (with one or two exceptions) track day organized by Brad from s2ktakeover. I got there the day before to meet everyone, do the track walk and meet new faces. Track days are always fun but being able to go to the track with all my S2000s brothers and sisters makes it extra special as we can all share in the love we have for these cars and enjoy them to the fullest.
Arrived at NYST - 5-9-2019
It's always great seeing familiar faces and some new ones too. There were a number of people that have had their S2000s for a while now and are now just popping their track time cherry as well as a few that had come out with us in other cars before and have since bought an S2000 of their own. It's good to know that even though S2000 prices are creeping up, truly passionate owners still come out and use them for what they were made for.
Track walk - 5-9-2019
Track walk - 5-9-2019
The grip on this track has always been quite good and I was excited to drive it again. Of course as luck would have it, on the track day itself it was windy and rainy. The track was quite damp but thankfully no puddles on the racing line.
Ready for track time - 5-10-2019
Ready for track time - 5-10-2019
The track was pretty slick during the morning as a result. I was thoroughly impressed with these new Yokohama Advan A052 tires. At least in damp conditions they were quite fast and very controlled. I was logging data via the Track Addict app and was recording up to 1.3 laters Gs in the damp. Since they have stiff sidewalls I set the pressures to what I had on the RE71s (30psi front, 28psi rear). It seemed to like that quite well. I set the fastest NA lap time in the wet at 1:49 in session 2 second only in lap time to the supercharged DeftMotion S2000 who were also running the same tires.
Arrived at NYST - 5-9-2019
Session 2 in the wet, 1:49s - NYST 5-10-2019
They're also a bit wider than the RE71s for the same "size". I was actually rubbing a tiny bit on my rear bumper tabs on big dips in the road on my drive up to the track but at the track itself, I had no rubbing. I'll likely have to trim the rear bumper tab a bit more for perfect clearance.
Yokohama Advan A052
After lunch time, I filled up the tank again and as I was about to go out in drying conditions, one of the cars on track had his oil filter back out and oiled the entire racing line. I went out for a recon lap and deemed it unsafe for me to continue so I parked it that session. It didn't look like things were going to clear up so I started to pack my stuff.
JJ lent me this sweet color matching compressor
Of course as luck would have it the sun came out and dried the track completely for the last two session. As I was contemplating taking my stuff out again to get dry runs, I got a weather alert on the phone about a chance of a tornado in the area and there were clouds above us again. I decided not continue and of course, the tornado or the rain never came and people were putting some nice flying laps in the dry. I really wish I could've tested these in full dry conditions. The DeftMotion guys did set the fastest lap overall in the dry on the same tires and they were already old tires for them. They also said these tires love the heat but frankly even in cool conditions, I felt they were at least on par with RE71s. Granted, I didn't test them in full wet conditions with standing water so I'll reserve my judgement on them as a good "wet tire" until then.
Conclusion of another fun and safe track event - 5-10-2019
And here's the video Kwesi Peters (Topi Digital) put together of the event.
S2K TakeOver NYST Feature Video By: Kwesi Peters (Topi Digital)
Finally got my oil analysis back which includes wear from the track day at The Glen towards the end of last year. Everything's looking pretty stable which is great. I think an individual oil analysis is good but being able to see the historic trend is even more valuable.
Blackstone Labs oil sample results - 4-26-19
The little shocker at the dyno a few weeks ago with my power being down got me a bit worried and as the data and evidence continues to show no issues with the engine, I'm more and more certain the worn down clutch was 100% to blame. Great seeing this before we head out to NYST this week for the S2K Takeover.
I probably should just clear bra the car if I really cared but the black part of the CR lip has already taken a bit of a beating from road debris in just a year. When the car was resprayed, the entire bumper was painted yellow and the bottom piece painted over black but obviously rock chips and stuff cause the underlying yellow to show.
Black paint chipped from road debris - 5-3-2019
It doesn't make sense to keep doing a "proper" paint job on this part alone since I'm sure it'll just keep happening and I'm not really trying to be super precious when I drive her around (that takes away from the pleasure). I was initially thinking of wrapping that part in black vinyl but instead I decided the easiest thing to do is just to spray that part with matte black plastidip. It's easy to apply and I can keep repeating the process as many times as I need to make it look normal again.
Plasti-Dip with "Can Gun" - 5-3-2019
After about two coats - 5-3-2019
It's not perfect but at least it doesn't look too bad and I won't be upset if it chips again. It's actually one of the best uses of plasti-dip I can think of. While I was at it, I also plasti-dipped over the Zunsport logo on the grill we installed last weekend. I don't really mind that it says Zunsport since I really like what the company makes but it's a bit of an eyesore having a white logo in the front of the car where there's nothing else white.
Zunsport logo blacked out
Also, after much waiting, I finally got new hardtop locks from Heel Toe Automotive. I already had their locks but one of them was no longer locking and while I'm sure the hardtop is perfectly safe with just one side locked that bothered me so I installed new ones.
New hardtop locks - 5-3-2019
I'm sure a few people were wondering why the heck I was driving Bumblestook around after dropping Kay off at the Meadowlands for the NJ ProSolo this weekend. Partly it was just to keep putting miles on the clutch but more importantly I needed to grab a datalog of the car now that the clutch is broken in to make sure my AFR is all safe for next week's track day.
Rare instance of both cars being out a the same time
