I'm going for my second HPDE event at Spring Mountain. I have prepped my Honda Fit GK with koni strts, tein springs, progress rsb, and Maxxis Vectra VR-1 205/50/R15s on Konig Hypergrams with negative camber bolts to fit. I plan to get racing pads, ss brake lines, and fluid. So, my question is about racing seatbelts. Last time out, my knee got pretty sore from bracing myself. I was looking at
these. But how do I attach them? Is it possible to tie them to this bar? I saw some harness belts attached to below the rear seat? Thanks for any advice. Cheers, d'Art

 

I don't see any pics of the harness you are referring but only link to eBay belts. Save some money get a proper harness https://www.schrothracing.com/produc...lye-belts#1575

Or just stick with stock seats and harness

 

Raced the Fit Saturday and Sunday at Spring Mountain. I got in about 60 laps on a 3.4 mile track. It was amazing. I went to the same track in May for my HPDE driver instruction. My best lap then was 3:30, stock car, full interior, with short ram intake and HPS silent power exhaust. I got back into town thursday night with major jet lag, and had Friday to recover (or keep configuring more mods on the Fit). I was truly too tired to do the SS brake lines and install the RBF 660 fluid (next time). My race configuration was pretty tame, Koni STRT shocks and Tein lowering springs, 15x7.5 Konig Hypergrams and Victra VR-1 205/50/15s. Negative camber bolts up front. Also installed the Schroth 4-pt racing harness. I pulled the back seats, tools, and spare tire for weight savings.
Saturday, I requested an instructor even thought it was not required for novice. He and I did not get along as well as my previous instructor (maybe just not a personality match), although from his, and any instructor's perspective, they really are putting their lives in our hands and trusting our driving skills (and mechanical in my case). Pretty sure he was offering good advice and I just wasn't fully understanding what he was trying to express or why. It was like he was telling me brake only, turn only, don't accelerate through the turns since you're just going to have to slow down for the next one. A modded CRX guy told me maybe it's because he was a Mid-engine RWD 911 guy, and not FWD??? Suffice to say, I wanted to open her up and he was kinda holding me back. I knew I had a lot more brakes left, but he was trying to slow me down kind of early for sure. He provided great advice for hand placement, when to turn in, how to hit the apexes etc. He continued to tell me to "wait for it" on the turns, as I was early apexing a lot of them. I think it may have been due to the Fit's understeer. Many times I would wait for it, turn at the last moment, and not be able to get to the apex. Certainly I could have been carrying more speed into some of those corners. I informed him I had more brakes, and he helped me safely learn how to brake to almost ABS lock-up and how that felt from a way too early distance. Then we started braking that hard, but later into the turns. With the instructor in the car, my best time was a 3:24 after 3 sessions and about 20 laps. I was not pleased... There was an instructor shortage, and so I gave him up to the next guy. Without the 150ish lbs of ballast, and with no fear to where I was braking, I was able to come down to 3:13 as I drove my own line, accelerated through turns, trail braked, etc. I went home, to think about the day, install my Ktuner Tune 1 tune off my new V2 box, get rid of the passenger's seat, and go again. I was not able to take out the passenger's seat since I was running late and I didn't know how to unplug the two electrical connections. Also, the seat belt was just dangling from the side post and I did not have a plan better than zip ties for how to secure it. The tune is amazing. No dip at 5K, very smooth power application, red line at 7200, woot! Ktuner said it would accommodate higher octane so I threw in 7 gallons of 101 when I arrived at the track. With the remaining 3 gallons of 87, I was probably around 95-ish octane level. Day 1 was pure 91 octane 100%. The first two sessions were frought with traffic. Porsche Club of America runs a very tight ship and there is only passing on the straight aways with acknowledgement of both parties (you feel pretty safe on the track with most of these folks). I was able to get my PB down to 3:08. For reference, my friend with a Cayman GTS is at 2:50. A gutted CRX with suspension mods was running 2:52. The Civic Type-Rs were way too fast for me on the straights and well balanced in the turns. A guy in a Boxster-S came over and asked me how I get that fit to drive so fast, and was a bit incredulous when I told him the motor was all stock... I go back out in November and I plan on having the RV-6 DP, a few more suspension mods, some video recording capability, a customized tune for my mods, etc. I'd like to get into the 2:XX speed, would be pretty nice company at that point. Cheers!

 

Great write-up!

I have found from past experiences that every instructor has good info to impart - some have more than others, some can relay that information to you clearly.

There is something magical about accomplishing great lap times at a supposed deficit compared to others on track.

 

 

Preparing for another go at Spring Mountain on 17-18 November. The car is definitely faster with the RV6 downpipe installed. I have made some more brake and suspension upgrades. I am hoping to drive her in to the 2:XX category which would make me hella happy. I think it's going to be tough sledding to get there, but I'm up to the challenge.

Suspension wise: .5* negative camber plates and .25* toe out plates in the rear. Second camber bolt installed in the front. If anybody has information on if/how to run two camber bolts up front, lemme know. Originally, I installed 1 camber bolt in the top, and the stock bolt below. To me it was like the bottom was a pivot, and the camber bolt up top allowed me to push in the "top-of-the-rotor" for lack of a better term. Then, I added the second camber bolt this weekend with both of them pointing in the negative camber direction, and I am wondering if I have not essentially just pushed the rotor in (and/or the shock out). I had a think about going positive in the lower position and negative in the upper position, this makes intuitive sense to me.

*** Does anyone have experience with this? revhappymatt evilchargerfan shout out to the bros that are doing this stuff a lot...

Brake wise: Porterfield R4S pads in the rear, staying with my Power Stop track rotors and a fresh set of their matched pads. Goodridge SS brake lines all around and Motul RBF 660 in there. The brakes were already really good with the Power Stop matched set. They wore down super fast, of course I used them too much on the street. Irregardlessly, I feel I am set on the brake front until I have to do pads again in the rear, then I will buy a disc brake setup so I can throw those fkn springs and shoes out forever LOL.

Thanks to all who are looking at this thread. Good luck in your racing endeavors! Cheers, d'Art

 

in the case of koni (which I believe you run koni oranges), the bottom hole is elongated/oval ish shaped, and the top hole is round. I was not able to get the washer/tab in the top hole, for the life of me:




the general knowledge of "THE TOP HOLE IS THE CORRECT HOLE" to shove camber bolts into, in this case, is wrong. the bottom hole will get you much more adjustability. buy an el-cheap-o bubble camber gauge, and test it for yourself, something like this thing:





OKAY, back on topic. I have no doubt you're doing anything wrong, but just to confirm.... you're bolt and washer orientation is like THIS..... correct?




double check to see what the manual calls for, but this example "should" be the right way.


* * * to be continued * * *

 

* * * continued * * *


if you dont own one.... buy a camber gauge. the cheap bubble one is like $15 on amazon and with the magic of prime, you can get it in a day or 2


for me, I was able to get much more neg camber, with the oem bolt on top, and the camber bolt in the bottom. my method:

-loosen the top (oem) bolt
-insert camber bolt into lower hole, and make sure your tab/washer is oriented correctly (see my pic above, or the manual)
-tighten the camber bolt's nut down, snug (dont over snug)
-on the bolt side, use an open ended wrench and spin it slowly .... watch your car gain camber. at some point.... spinning it will feel like "nothing" is happening.... and if you continue to turn, you'll notice the camber starts going in the opposite direction, this is your "max" .... back off a bit until you get your neg camber where you want it
-grab the top of the brake rotor, and TIP it inward, is there play? can you manually force inward more neg camber? if yes .... GREAT! using a 2nd jack (and if possible a JACK PAD so you dont damage the ball joint), go under your hub and use it to raise up, and aid in your "tilt" efforts. and just like that, more camber!
-once u get it where you want it, tighten down the oem bolt's nut side (helps to have a friend hold/tip inward)
-measure camber, if things are good for ya.... you're done. -2 is probably where you'll end up using the inward TIP
-if you need MORE neg camber.... remove top oem bolt, and insert another camber bolt in its place (no washer/tab) and repeat the above steps. this time around, you should be able to dial in a little extra camber (-3 max is my prediction for ya)


GL D'Art, you got this!

-DK

 

Thanks ECF!!! I think you explained this before but I had no frame of reference. I'll get the tool to make sure

 

at some point .... you're gonna end up at the level of doing your own alignments. that said, here's a recommended "kit" any reasonable person should own:

-Toe Plates


-magnetic bubble camber gauge (awesome for camber bolts)


-digital camber gauge - so you can measure camber after adjustments


-steering wheel holder


was in vegas over the weekend.... last min trip, sorry I dindt hit ya up. you should check out Nelson Ghost Town, that place is awesome!

 

Great pics! Car looks tough! So undecided on if I would throw on some of the winglets or diffuser, definitely wish you woulda hit me up cuz I'd love to check them out in person. And of course you could have heard the RV6... I made some videos but fitfreak does not like mp4s, and I've been to lazy to look for a conversion tool. Send me your email on DM and I'll email you a couple of the exhaust videos.

 

Ty, I'd def love to hear (and feel the power) of that rv6 dp! I've always been a big fan of winglets AND diffusers, I'm pretty bias .... but I say .... DO IT! Do both!

Dont be surprised if we come back sooner than later, I did win a little bit at the craps table. We were there in june, july. I predict next visit will be dec or jan

Upload to youtube man. You gotta share that with all other potential down pipe buyers!

 

WILCO tonight. Cheers, d