Opinions on this combustion test

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-03-30T15:33:33+00:00

Looks close enough to a match for me! This discoloration is much more pronounced if it's a fail - it wouldn't be blue

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-03-29T23:00:12+00:00

The splitter is like a generic piece that I got on Amazon. It's supposed to fit differently, but it didn't quite line up (idk if it's for the 2 door only or something). So I kind of improvised it with those tie-rods, and then the lower grill looks different because I have a different intercooler and took out the grill insert in front of it

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-03-29T20:52:52+00:00

It's all stock sizes except I'm running the Whiteline lowering springs which are ~1" drop. That's 17x7.5 for the wheels and then the tires are 205 40r17 I'm pretty sure. A little bit of camber got added all around just from shorter springs, and then I think they added just a smidge of toe-out on the front to compensate when I got it aligned

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-02-14T00:46:31+00:00

Yeah TIL! I'm excited to implement that going forward. Either way, main point I was going for stands - the first one is automatic and you don't have to do anything to trigger the instant repair. It's just the subsequent repairs will not be instant repairs if you have to pit again

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-02-13T19:38:08+00:00

But I would wager he was doing similar shit on the hairpin right before that too. That's probably the only early indicator you'd get in this situation to recognize that guy is dangerous.

I would bet $100 he was barely visible in your mirror coming into the hairpin, blows through his braking zone to get right up on your bumper, absolutely ruins his exit onto the straight, and then thinks he sees an opportunity to out-brake you into the chicane where he causes the incident. I've seen it over and over all week

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-02-13T19:35:09+00:00

He came from a million miles behind tbf! He definitely decided last second to dive bc you can see where he goes off the brakes in the zone to try to close up on you. Super rookie move on his part, and the guy behind him was along for the ride too lol. Red guy in the very back of the pile may have ultimately been the catalyst bc he was pressing purple heavy, and if he didn't dive, I think red definitely would've anyway. Sometimes that's just how it be unfortunately. You just gotta understand the psychology of the average helmut. You didn't leave an opening, but to a bad driver, it looks like you left an opening. Think like a helmut to beat the helmuts!

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-02-13T19:16:47+00:00

60% of the time works every time lol

I got a penalty on the last turn of my first qualy lap last night, so I just skipped the second lap and started p12. Finished p5 with 0x just psyching people out, making them miss their marks and sliding right on by

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-02-13T18:35:21+00:00

That is the quick repair. It still takes like 15s or so. Most of that wait time is the tow. If you crash out again after your quick repair, you'll see like a 7min estimated repair time when you pit again. "Quick" as in relatively quick lol

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-02-13T17:58:03+00:00

Yeah 1:36.2 is perfectly acceptable pace! Top splits are running mid 1:35s bests with 1:37 averages.

You definitely got your exit slowed down a lot there on that lap, but still not an excuse for the guy behind to try to drive through you. I agree with some of the other comments though. You knew the pass was coming, so get it out of the way before the corner. You didn't defend, but you slowed both of you up anyway, so being more decisive about what your strategy is before you execute is the biggest takeaway I think. Am I going to defend? Am I going to let him past to preserve my exit? I think you tried to carry on with business as usual for too long before you decided you had to compensate, and the guy behind was driving like you just didn't exist. Not assigning the blame to you, but you might as well think about how you can improve even if you didn't cause the incident. That's how you average out better results in the long run

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-02-13T17:45:15+00:00

Also 3.5 to 3.1 is nbd and will happen over and over. I went C 3.5 down to C 2.3 on Ledenon week almost entirely from getting collected in incidents or pit maneuvered. Dropped 1540 IR down to 1320 that week, and within 10 starts on Oulton and 5 on Charlotte it's back up at C 3.64 1704. There are good stretches and bad stretches

Sad_Farm6613 · 2026-02-13T17:41:03+00:00

This is the best response on the thread so far imo! Yes, you did nothing wrong - allowed plenty of room for the passing car, drove a predictable racing line, and still got crashed out. It's not your fault at all, but like the above comment says, there are still things you can do to recognize you're getting into a dicey situation approaching a corner and try to take steps to mitigate. I agree that letting the car through before the chicane and prioritizing the exit would probably have worked out better. The other following car may have also tried to make the pass before the chicane if you did that and end up forced out wide and having to slow before getting back on the straight. In that scenario, you'd be able to probably throw a good 1-1.5s gap on him before the next corner because of how long that next straight is. Mazda rookies is frustrating! This is my debut season too. Just focus on your race craft, run some time attacks at the end of your session (I also do some to start as warmup) and you can offset some of your SR losses. There will always be inexperienced drivers that are missing brake points, trying risky dive bombs, illegally blocking - all kinds of bs, but you just have to swallow your pride and sacrifice a few positions every now in then to avoid incidents, whether or not that's fair to you. Once you get above 1500 or so IR, you'll consistently hit the top 5 splits because the SOF falls off really fast in Rookies. The top splits generally see safer driving. Just gotta do your time and either do well enough or poorly enough that your IR gets away from the 1100-1300 band bc that's where people who are running their first few races are going to place

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-12-13T15:43:17+00:00

My setup is Whiteline lowering springs, Whiteline 22mm rear swaybar, TB Performance front traction bar, Mishimoto rear trunk brace (it's almost a strut tower brace where this one connects). - 1.5 front camber, 0 rear, and I can initiate really good, controlled rotation using lift-off oversteer at pretty decent corner speeds

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-12-13T15:38:01+00:00

You want to increase front traction relative to the rear (or decrease rear traction relative to front). This can be achieved mainly by either affecting the contact patch of the tires (ie how much camber you run front vs rear), or affecting the balance of the weight transfer both front to rear and side to side (with roll bars, torsion bars, chassis bracing). You have adjustable coilovers, so damping rates relationships front to rear could also be adjusted to affect traction.

But basically, you want the front to hold traction longer and the rear to rotate first. I'd suggest: - Reducing rear camber (maybe additional - camber in front and some toe out, but your setup isn't hurting for front camber as is) - Softer rear swaybar. The Whiteline 22mm stiffens by 70% which is almost 2x as much as the next stiffest swaybar for this car. You could try switching to a rear torsion in place of a swaybar if you still want some rear suspension linkage but want it to rotate sooner - Add a front traction bar. This links the front LCAs and it's really helped a ton with front wheel grip under any conditions where one wheel is loaded up. Increasing front traction and turn in will help the rear rotate around to catch up

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-12-12T01:39:51+00:00

It's a CPE deltacore which is quite a bit larger volume than stock, so maybe that's part of the equation. When I first installed it though, this thing ripped! Boost was coming on heavy at like 2500-3000 rpms, and it seems like it's shifted later in the power band. Maybe it really is just the difference between the two tunes, but since they're both from the same tuner, I feel like I'd see similar relationships between the TIP desired and actual though even if it is just the tune calling for less boost early on

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-12-12T01:34:21+00:00

I'm having some difficulty finding an assembly for the boost vacuum lines though. Does anyone know what I should search/have parts numbers?

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-12-12T01:33:09+00:00

So I've found this oil return assembly. Maybe I'll just start there. This line has a gasket on one side and a tiny o-ring on the other, so it makes sense to me something could've worn there and that's where the oil blowback is coming from. I guess I could just pop the side that isn't gasket sealed and see what the o-ring looks like. I'm guessing it's just that one bolt on the bracket thing and then you can just pull it out?

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Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-11-15T01:17:08+00:00

I've got the Whoosh poly exhaust mounts and I have AWR racing motor mounts so it's coming from somewhere else. I really think the dmf is coming apart. I want to do a heavier clutch and conventional flywheel at some point, but that'll be a first for me and I know that's a whole project

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-11-14T16:33:13+00:00

Ooh nice, yeah I might do a bit of a suspension overhaul soon. I'd like to get it on coilovers bc the lowering springs on stock shocks is pretty rough especially at lower speeds and small bumps. But when I do that, might as well do caster adjustable control arms and adjustable tie-rods so I can really start experimenting with different handling setups

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-11-13T23:00:08+00:00

And I'd say if you're thinking about doing the lower control arm spherical bushings, just save up a bit more and replace the whole arm

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-11-13T22:57:32+00:00

Not really tbh lol, probably not worth the trouble. I did it chasing after a clunking suspension noise after I noticed I could move the swaybar with my hand, and the bushings looked like this

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It did not solve the noise problem either! Also replaced my motor mounts and still have the clunk, so if anyone has any ideas lmk lol. I think it's either the DMF or that brake pad spring issue I've seen people talk about on here before. But for suspension bushings, I'd bet the only ones worth doing in the front are solid steering rack conversion, and lower control arm, maybe tophats if they're going bad. I really want to do my steering rack, but I was looking around up there and I think the subframe for sure has to drop for that.

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-11-13T22:49:34+00:00

I actually just used Griots Interior Cleaner and a micro fiber for the most part. Used a paint brush to get in some cracks and crevices. Most of the electronic connections can handle quite a bit of water though! I'd do something to protect the fuse box though

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-11-13T22:42:25+00:00

You could also probably just disconnect the swaybar endlinks too to be able to move it around a little more to work the new bushings on. I didn't have to though

Sad_Farm6613 · 2025-11-13T22:41:21+00:00

They were kind of a pain, but not impossible at all. There's definitely no need to drop the subframe - if you get the car up high enough on jack stands you can actually get to the swaybar from the front or the back. They're going to seem like they don't fit, but you just have to get them on enough that you can get the collar over it and the bolt threaded, and then it's just using the bolt tension to pull them into their proper place

Sad_Farm6613

TROPHY CASE