Gotta Have AIr!

Try to spot the Old vs. New air filter!

Yes, your gas engine car has to have air to breath, just like the driver! Once the air gets into your intake and heads for the engine, it really needs to get filtered just to weed out any particles of what scientists call "not air" before going on the engine. To perform this critical weeding out, thank goodness we have car air filters!

Looking into a spaceship?
Nah, just the inside of a new air filter. 

On the NMS Cayman, we just replaced the old filter with a new one, and I had the enjoyable experience of learning that the very cheap mail-ordered filter I ordered first really didn't fit. With the big oval shape of this car's filters, it HAS to be a certain size to fit over the mounting point, and, well, the cheap one just didn't fit. The oval was too small by just a little bit. 

Name brand Mahle air filter made in Turkiye. Good!

First I tried to bend it, then I trimmed some of it down, but since even that didn't work, I bit the bullet and ordered the more expensive OEM type filter (like I already had on the car) and guess what? IT FIT EASY!  

Discount air filter made in China that didn't fit. Bad. Very bad. 

Part 2 of this adventure, and the good news part, is that I ordered the good filter from FCP Euro. They specialize in parts for European brands like the Porsche, and within a few days the new filter (THAT FIT) was on the car. 

From the passenger rear, looking into the engine bay, where in the world does the air filter go?

BINGO! The main intake is behind the driver's door, into the side of the car, so the air filter is over there behind the driver's seat (top center of photo.) Easy!

The really GOOD NEWS part of this is that FCP Euro offers your money back when you buy the next replacement part, and ship them the old part! It is true, and in the past I've done several sets of brake pads this way! Lucky for me, my old air filter came from them, so I'm shipping them the old one (since I ordered a new one) and I'll get my money back from the old filter! I don't know how they afford to do this, but it's a good deal in my book. 

New filter in place, just need to fasten the screw in the upper right, then put the cover over all of this and screw that in with two screws at the lower right and lower left. 

If you own an Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, Mini, Porsche, VW, or Volvo, NMS says to definitely check them out and learn about the lifetime money back deal! 

FCP EURO LINK 

NMS Visits US Legend Cars

There are a LOT of different car racing series in the world, and one of the funkiest is Legend Cars! The home of Legend cars and where they are all built is just up the road from us, and not far from Charlotte Motor Speedway, so we stopped by for a visit!

These cars have been around since 1992, and of course the first thing you notice about them is that they are small! The basic chasis weighs about 1,100 pounds, and they use a 3 cylinder Yamaha motorcycle engine that cranks out 135 horsepower. Another sign of how small they are is the gas tank, which holds 4.1 gallons! Dang, that's less than the typical 5.5 gallon fuel jug like the Bunch of Idiots team uses! Of course the cool factor is that you could tell your friends "Yeah, I just filled up the tank for 14 bucks!"

For all the inside scoop on Legends cars, check out their website:

     US LEGEND CARS DOT COM

Old (and New) Cars (and Coffee)

Here's a few cool cars from this month's Cars and Coffee sponsored by Rally Point Detailing in Fort Mill SC. Coffee wise I visited the Knowledge Perk located in the same shopping center and enjoyed a delicious beverage! 

What's the word?
It's THUNDERBIRD!

Sweet Thunderbird valve cover!

Hot Rod!

Toyota Corona 1900

Ford Falcon

Right hand drive Japanese Honda NSX, which was the Acura NSX in the USA. 

Mercury Monterey, note the "Mercury" in the rear bumper!

Mercury called their automatic transmission "Mercomatic" from around 1955-1968.

Honda NSX interior, and sure enough the steering wheel is way over on the other side!

Another Japanese market right hand driver, a Mitsubishi van, the WASABI WAGON!

Mitsubishi interior

Autocross Analysis

NMS #77

When I watch car racing on TV or read about how to be a better driver, one big topic is always how the drivers and teams use data analysis to find out where to go faster. For instance, with a two driver Formula 1 team, the drivers can look at tons of info on how they drive a track, and see differences in brake points, speeds, steering angle, etc. 

McLaren shopping at Long Island Sports Cars!
Just kidding, I just happened to stay in the hotel next door. 

At an autocross event, I can watch other drivers go through the course and copy some of what they do if they approach certain points differently. Another great way to improve is to have someone ride with you and give you tips, or even ride with the fastest drivers to get a better idea of HOW they are going faster. 

I consulted with the Ferrari Pope, and he told me "Data, Schmata. Drive faster!"

Data wise though, I typically will have video of each run that I can quickly watch before trying it again, so that's helpful. More specifically, I use a free app on my phone to record timing and some other tidbits such as start and finish speeds, and top and low speeds at other points along the course. So, here's a look at three runs from my latest event, and just a few observations. 

RUN 1: 42.871 Using this as a base line, we'll look at the next two runs that were faster and see WHERE they were faster. 

RUN 1

Data Point A: START and END SPEEDS: 21.0 and 26.8, which totals 47.8mph. 

Data Point B: Slowest and Fastest during the run: 21.0-40.1 With a top speed of 40.1, not a blazing fast autocross course design, which to me means driving skill comes into play more than just driving a higher horsepower car. 

Data Point C: Fastest 4 spots: As seen on the photo above, this run included some green (fast) speeds of  40.1, 38.6, 38.6, and 38.1. All four adds up to 155.4mph. 

Data Point D: Slowest 4 spots: 24.3, 25.5, 28.6, and 31.2. Most of us probably look at their driving and want to know HOW FAST DID I GO, but it's probably more important to find places to not be so slow! Regardless, adding these four times turned out to be faster than the next two runs, although it's only 0.1 mph faster than run three and 1.2mph faster than run 2. Call this one a tie.  

RUN 2: 41.260

 

RUN 2

Data Point A: START and END SPEEDS: 24.0 and 28.3. This totals 52.3mph,  is a huge 3mph faster at the start, and 1.5mph faster at the end, so no surprise this run was faster than Run 1. 

Data Point B: Slowest and Fastest during the run: 22.7-43.0 Hey, a good improvement in both of these speeds should give a faster run. What this does NOT spell out though is how a faster/slower spot affects the NEXT part of the course. This data point isn't the only impact on the entire run. 

Data Point C: Fastest 4 spots: 43.0, 41.7, 41.0, and 40.1. With all four times in the 40s, this run beat Run 1 that had only a single 40.1 top speed. A total of 164.8mph. 

Data Point D: Slowest 4 spots: 22.7, 23.6, 28.8, and 33.4. In my data here I'm not being consistent with comparing the exact same spots, so this category is not exactly apples to oranges, and the app doesn't always measure a fast or slow speed in the same spots. 

RUN 3: 40.338

RUN 3

Data Point A: START and END SPEEDS: 19.0 and 30.2. This totals 49.2, which is slower than Run 2, making this the slowest run at the start, but fastest at the end by 1.9mph. I'm going to say that this data point proved nothing, since the overall fastest run did not have both the fastest START and END speeds.

Data Point B: Slowest and Fastest during the run: 19.0 and 43.5 A slower start, but that higher top speed of 43.5 had to help the overall time here. 

Data Point C: Fastest 4 spots: 43.5, 41.5, 40.8, and 40.3.  By adding these fast four speeds, this run just barely edges Run 2 by 0.3mph. Not much of a difference, but, faster is still faster! 

Data Point D: Slowest 4 spots: 24.3, 25.5, 28.6, and 31.2. These four speeds add up to only 0.1 slower than run 1, 

CONCLUSIONS: While this is not an exact science, what sticks out to me is that looking at the four slowest points didn't indicate which run was fastest, since the fastest and slowest runs were only separated by 0.1mph. 

However, the four fastest spots clearly put Run three on top, with a total difference of 10.7mph. Apparently you can drop your run time by making the car go faster!

The Data Points for slowest four and fastest four spots didn't really mean a lot, other than in trying to make the car go faster everywhere. 

For all three runs the car was on the same settings of rear wing up, traction control (Porsche Stability Management,) and same driver on same course on the same day with basically the same ambient temperature. The tire pressures were lowered a bit, so that likely contributed to faster times. Driver familiarity with the course also helped. 

New Wheels and Tires!

Four 15 inch wheels easily fit in the Maverick. 

NMS North recently drove up to Raleigh NC to purchase these wheels, and they don't even fit any of our current cars! Smart move, right? As a bonus, on the way home I met up with a former student that I hadn't seen in three years, so that was great too!

Kosei K-1 wheels. With four bolts, they should be 20% faster to change than 5 bolt wheels!

The background is that we are planning a future project that WILL use these wheels and tires, so we're just getting prepped way in advance. We estimate that this project will be completed in May 2027, so it's a bit early to announce what in the world we're up to for now. So today, here's a look at our purchase!

205mm tires are the same width as the fronts on my 17 inch Cayman wheels.
The "RCES" means that Hoosier makes these for NASA events, specifically some of their Spec Racing series where everyone is driving the same car with the same tire.
RCES = Road Course Endurance Spec.

These 15 inch Kosei wheels came off of a Spec Miata that has been racing for a while. As a HUGE BONUS, they came with some brand new Hoosier racing slick tires! For top level autocross and track driving, slick tires are the fastest way to go, and this is our first set of Hoosier brand tires. Yes, Hoosiers are made in Indiana. 

Fifteen inch wheels also fit in the back seat of the Maverick!

July Coffee (and Cars)

 

Knowledge Perk coffee, Rock Hill South Carolina. 

The monthly Cars and Coffee in my hometown of Rock Hill last Saturday can be seen in the one and only photo above. It rained a lot the day and night before, and the morning of the event! Being a fan of coffee as much as anything else (Italian food, bicycle racing, cars, guitar playing, etc) I headed down to Knowledge Perk anyway. 

Sure enough it was a small turnout, with a lot of Civics, some trucks, two Miatas, and a nice Mazda RX-7. Since I didn't spot any million dollar cars or vehicles I couldn't identify, I headed inside and splurged big time on a decaf hazelnut latte. This made for a nice short morning visit, while I walked around and looked at the cars. That didn't take long, so it was time to head home and catch the live Formula 1 qualifying from Hungary. Not a bad day for a retired dude!

NMS Returns to the Winners Circle

FIRE!

Not FIRE, NMS #77. 

Driving with the Triad Sports Car Club at the First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro NC, the NMS #77 took first place in B Street class from five other drivers! The Cayman took on the "Toyota GR" army of a Toyota GR Supra, and two GR Corollas, as well as another Porsche and a Corvette, so it was a good day of competition. At a lot of autocross events there might only be one or two cars in my class, so having six of us out there added to the competition level. 

Who doesn't love a purple Mustang!

Out of the 68 drivers, NMS came home in 21st fastest actual RAW time, and 20th on the adjusted PAX time. That comes out to about the 70th percentile, so our best time of the year with the TRIAD club. My goals for this year have been to finish in the top 50% on both RAW and PAX, so this was pretty good for the #77. 

This Jeep Cherokee was very fast!

Fueled by another round of NMS homemade lunch, the team Chief of Nutrition believes that the "crunchy" peanut butter, combined with a new homemade NMS Peach Jam recipe really made the difference. Unlike a previous experiment that got the steering wheel all messy, the Nutrition team really came through this time, and put the ingredients in between two slices of bread! This new food from the NMS Nutrition Department of Future Foodstuffs says it is what scientists call a "sandwich." This new to us configuration is sure to be a hit, so try it in your garage with your team!

The McLaren orange hat is out because while we were autocrossing, Lando Norris of McLaren was starting on pole and winning the F1 race in Hungary. He's the defending champion, but this was his first win of this year. Hey, I won my class and he won his race! We have a lot in common! Well, minus the salary, fame, and fortune part that only Lando has! Oh well, I bought a hat. 

Speaking of orange, I worked on course with Joey here, and his Nissan 350Z was quick!

On a tight and technical course, the NMS team saw top speeds of only 43.5mph, so there was a lot of tricky driving out there. Sometimes on autocross courses the set-up might be a lot more wide open and we see top speeds of 60, but not today. This type of course might favor the smaller and more maneuverable cars, and we can look at the fastest times of the day  and see that the top three were set by a Miata, then a Scion FR-S, and third place was taken by a GMC Syclone pickup! Well, maybe plain old horsepower and having a good driver helps too!

Let's go to the video of the fastest NMS run of the day: 

NMS FAST RUN ON YOUTUBE LINK

This version of the Toyota Celica with the wing always looks cool to me for some reason. They make a great birthday present...

I believe this is a Club Edition of the Miata, comes with the groovy Brembo brakes. This driver John had put these slick after market Enkei wheels on it too.

Following the competition, the #77 was cooling down, and the chief engineer came up with a new cooling package, by taking the leaf blower that we use to clear the course in the morning, and firing it up to high and aiming it right at the front radiators. This worked great, and was inspired by seeing Formula 1 teams do the exact same thing. Since this was the first time the team had tried this upgrade, there was a "teachable moment" incident, when the unattended leaf blower slipped away from the car, and while still blowing full blast, proceeded to race along the downhill pavement about 10 yards! There were no injuries, and we just might start a new form of LEAF BLOWER RACING! Watch for it on ESPN 8, THE OCHO!!!!!!

NMS tries out the Formula 1 team trick of cooling the car by aiming a leaf blower into the radiator. How about that for technology!

Here in the Carolinas we just had a few days of lots of rain, which was a good thing, so it was great to stay dry and not get too hot during this autocross event!

End of the day awards time!

This handy magnet was my trophy for 1st place in BS class. 

Upcoming Autocross Schedule

Today the NMS-North Autocross Executive Council announced their targets for the rest of the 2026 season, and it looks like they will have the NMS Cayman busy with events into the month of November. With the hot temperatures this time of year in North and South Carolina, a few of the clubs take a month off here and there, but NMS will still be competing in at least one event every month. 

With eight events spread across five different locations, the team Chief Engineer pointed out that they will be monitoring the tread depth on the Hankook RS4 tires to make sure the car can complete all these events. One interesting note is that some of these autocross events may only include four runs during the day, while others have as many as 10 runs. On the other hand, driving up to 100+ miles each way to get to the events adds to the tire degradation, but so far the team Chief Financial Officer has not released funds for a tow vehicle and trailer. 

Other than tire wear, autocross does not really wear out brake pads, so the team is sticking with their stock brake pads. The Head Brake Guy stated that "Of course we're saving the really good brake pads from Ferodo for the track events."

The NMS car is competing with three different club, primarily with the Porsche Club of America Carolinas Region, where the #77 is currently leading it's class. Also driving with the Triad Sports Car Club, our unofficial points standings show another first place so far. With only one event with the South Carolina Region SCCA so far, NMS is targeting a few more events with this club as well. 

In the NMS-North Fuel Department, the Chief Head of Utilizing Great Gas (CHUGG) says that the team will "Continue putting gas in the car. This is the one expense we can't live without, even with the premium gas." Previously the CHUGG had announced a major breakthrough that "We don't spend as much at the pump when we refill at half a tank instead of waiting until it's empty." Scientists and Economic experts were stunned at this relevation. 

We also spoke to the Chief Analyst of Tracks (CAT) and the NMS CAT stated that "We're targeting big performance gains at the large 14 acre Michelin location, and looking for some high speeds there as well."

Rock Hill Cars and Coffee Anniversary

1975 Bricklin

  

My current hometown of Rock Hill SC Cars and Coffee just celebrated it's 5th anniversary, so it was a great morning to check out some cool cars! Sponsored by Knowledge Perk coffee, the Knowledge Perk folks were selling coffee right in the parking lot, which was nice, since usually you have to walk all the way inside their store to buy some brew!

From classic US models to unusual British, Canadian, and Japanese models, this show had a little bit of everything. 

The Bricklin was built in Canada.

Bricklin interior...welcome to the 70s!

The Bricklin model was SV1, for Safety Vehicle. Safety features included the fiberglass body, gull wing doors, and no cigarette lighter!

1996 Suzuki. Huge 660cc engine (less than 1 liter). 
The engine is under the floor in the rear. 
These tiny Japanese Kei cars can be imported once they are 25 years old. 
I know of at least two companies that import a bunch of them. 
This one is from MayberryMiniTrucks.com in North Carolina.