Round 3 took place this past weekend in Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit. Super GT’s top class have produced some of the fastest GT racing cars in the world. Some of the most dominant cars come from Japan’s Big 3 automakers; Honda, Nissan, and Toyota/Lexus. It’s interesting to see at how much output these manufacturers come up with.
The strut tower bar is arguably one of the least expensive upgrades that can provide a very high degree of benefit that is felt immediately after installing. Often one of the first modifications performed on a vehicle, the strut tower brace improves handling and stability of a vehicle.
The Sustec Tower Bar has been very popular due to its low price and high functionality. By connecting the strut towers, and creating a balance, the shocks are prevented from independently moving and causing small changes in suspension geometry.
While simple in appearance, the design of the centershaft has a significant amount of engineering put into it.
The construction is reinforced extruded aluminum, which features dual reinforced lips on the underside, as well as tapered ends for additional rigidity. The centershaft is very lightweight, so weight is not added to reinforce the chassis.
The end plates are 100% steel for maximum strength and durability. Extremely budget tower bars commonly use aluminum end plates, which are highly subject to deformity and breaking.
The 100% steel end plates are engineering for durability, so that the stress properly transfers to the bar, and does not overstress the welds and mounting brackets.
It is always recommended to raise the vehicle when installing so that the load of the shock and uppermounts on the shock towers are relieved and balanced out. When raised, and the tower bar is placed onto the vehicle, the preload can be adjusted and set. After it is bolted on and the car is lowered, each shock tower will have equal load and will prevent independent movements of each shock.
This will provide and extremely noticeable difference after installing. If a tower bar is installed on a car that is not raised, great benefits will be missed.
Here’s a little collection of some of the food and drinks that I had while in Japan earlier this year. The food was phenomenal and some things that were so simple and can have here every day, was just plain better in Japan. Maybe because everything wasn’t greasy and/or fried…. And you’d be amazed at what you can find in vending machines out there!
Built by the folks at Switzer Performance, this Nissan GT-R is not your average grocery getter. This one hits the ground running and takes the women and kids along for the ride. Pushing 1,300 horsepower, the new quarter mile record was set at 8.61 seconds at 170 MPH. Just when you thought GT-R’s came equipped with enough ponies to test the average challenger, someone comes along and takes it to another level.
Found this online and figured it was worth a watch. It’s amazing what people do in their spare time, especially in kei trucks.
The R&D team taking off the stock BRZ exhaust to prepare test fitting the new Tanabe exhaust.
Welding a tip for this Tanabe Medalion test exhaust for new Honda Civic.
Tanabe springs going on Mazda 3 Skyactiv.
For more news check out the R&D blog!
Interesting video made by the people over at Top Gear. Here you’ll see a person with characteristics of a robot and a robot with characteristics of a human squaring off. Pretty cool concept to put them two together.
Last weekend I went to Autocon LA and snapped some pics. Last year I went to the show with a booth for work and since I was there by myself, I really didn’t get to walk around at all. That, combined with 100+ degree weather and me wearing black jeans and button up made the show pretty unbearable. This year it was scheduled a little earlier but still pretty damn hot. I went there with my team instead so I was able to enjoy the show more. The weather was still pretty warm but there was a nice breeze throughout most of the day. This year’s event was pretty packed. Staging cars was pretty tough and many of the cars were parked door to door or bumper to bumper. Making it difficult at times to take pictures or even look at some of the details of the event. I guess it’s a sign that the show is growing in popularity.