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Eric Hsu posted on January 09, 2012 00:40 
Garage Revolution's Time Attack FD3S RX-7, Part 2
By Eric Hsu
If you missed part 1 of this story, read it here: GARAGE REVOLUTION FD, PART 1
In part 1 we took an in depth look into the front/rear suspension and brakes, engine compartment, front of the car, and the aero. In part 2 we'll cover the rear section of the chassis, the cockpit, electronics, and the rest of the car. Let's get straight into it.
Immediately behind the driver's seat is a jumble of tubes tying the rear of the chassis to the main hoop. Everything's tubular back here: cage, subframe, suspension, exhaust, chassis, etc. Imagine a unibody with only the sides of the unibody still there, everything behind the rear wheel wells cut off, and all the missing stuff replaced with tubes and carbon fiber and you will be imagining the Garage Revolution FD.
The factory rear shock towers are still present, but there are plenty of tubes welded to them. Surprisingly the shock tower itself does not appear to be reinforced in any way. It looks like both TIG and MIG welds are used.
Nestled deep within a sea of tubes is what appears to be a bespoke carbon fiber fuel cell possibly made to fit the contours of the RX-7 floor. Of course the cell probably has a bladder inside of it. Fuel cell manufacturers, such as ATL, make chassis specific fuel cells and can make custom ones too if you have big bucks.
Posted in: Magazine, Columns, Beyond the Dyno, Tech, Features, Feature Vehicles, Motorsports, Mazda, RX-7, Race Cars, Time Attack, 2011 WTAC
Monday, January 09, 2012 3:19 AM
the final "catch all" tank is standard fare, rules allow no fluids leaking out so there is a final final can for everything together, usually rear mounted for obvious reasons. Its odd, in JP enduro racing nobody really utilizes a PDU. Just a trend i guess everyone uses a simple fuse panel. People DQ on electrical more often I think as a result.
Monday, January 09, 2012 8:09 AM
Is that tiny lever next to the shifter for an adjustable sway bar? It looks like the swaybars are covered by the rear subframe work, but the SSE EVO had one and a car as well done as the GR FD would probably have one too. Thanks for the look in the car Eric, no other magazine or website could have come close to giving us the info you all provide. Thanks you MotoIQ!
Monday, January 09, 2012 9:54 AM
That rear structure that the wing is mounted to may house crash structure, at least thats what it usually is in a formula car. Usually just a bunch of aluminum core carbon in a special arrangement to take up a huge amount of energy in one direction.
Monday, January 09, 2012 10:29 AM
Amazing car...seems like building a tube frame car from scratch would be less work...obviously doesn't apply, just a nod to how much work it is to take a unibody street car and make a cutting edge race machine! Nice writeup, thanks Eric.
Monday, January 09, 2012 10:45 AM
Andrew, thanks for that extra insight on the wing and electronics. I would imagine the control software for power distribution modules being in English is a big hurdle for the teams. Glad you guys like the coverage. If you guys want more coverage like this on high end cars, then you have to help by spreading the word. The more readers we get on articles like this, the more opportunities we will get to do these kinds of features.
Monday, January 09, 2012 11:02 AM
Eric, Thanks for the great writeup and photo coverage. I am a consultant and do service guide tech writing. You guys at MotoIQ are far and above anything I've seen yet in the import, domestic, or marine performance scenes. Cross-pollination is a great thing! Keep up the great work. We need more of this quality tech coverage and geekery!
Monday, January 09, 2012 11:11 AM
Eric, thanks for the detailed pics. Could the small gold lever next to the seq. shifter be a sway-bar adjuster?
Monday, January 09, 2012 11:20 AM
Eric, anything I can do to help out, keep up the great work!
Monday, January 09, 2012 11:32 AM
I'm not sure why they didn't tie in the X bars from the main loop into the bar that goes across the rear shock tower. That way the chassis could have been a bit stronger/stiffer. The AP blue knob is clearly for the brake bias. The gold knob below that could be the sway-bar adjuster, and if that's the case, I'm not sure what the small gold lever next to the shifter is....lol Regarding the unique color of the Volk RE30: it is because those ones are the " RE30 Club Sport" which are 200 grams lighter than the regular RE30. (the 30 stands for 30% stronger than the CE28N). Thanks again for sharing
Monday, January 09, 2012 11:59 AM
Just echoing Eric’s sentiments about spreading the word. The biggest help our readers can offer (in addition to regularly reading the site) is spread the word on forums and social networking sites with links back to MotoIQ. Please
Like us on Facebook as well! Thank you.
Monday, January 09, 2012 12:37 PM
I think the smaller gold lever could be a sway bar adjuster. I don't think the knob is a sway bar adjuster however. A sway bar adjustment requires good sized detents to maintain the blade position so it would have to be through a lever of some kind (like the small gold one perhaps).
Monday, January 09, 2012 1:15 PM
I think thats the neutral release for the gearbox??
Monday, January 09, 2012 1:37 PM
The small lever is probably the reverse lockout for the transmission. Thanks for the coverage. That looks like a pretty crazy time attack car.
Monday, January 09, 2012 5:14 PM
Looking back in Part 1, the rear sway doesn't look to be adjustable, so that lever is probably for the transmission. I wonder if that is actually a second bias adjustment knob on the dash. One knob may control bias through the pedal box and the other would use a proportioning valve. A prop valve will change proportioning and pressure in a different way than a pedal mounted adjuster, so it's possible they are running both. That would certainly be different.
Monday, January 09, 2012 7:43 PM
Eric, i do believe the roof is still the stock steel roof Heres a picture of the chassis before it was painted http://club13b.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/REVbd.jpg
Monday, January 09, 2012 8:26 PM
Eric thank you for the detailed write-up and Jeff for the excellent pictures, this is a special race car. I am intrigued by the fuel surge tank. I agree that they are logging fuel temperature but I suspect they may also be heating the fuel. The connector with the black and red wires appears to be power going to two individual elements. Do you know what fuel they were using?
Monday, January 09, 2012 8:43 PM
You guys are the best in the business at doing righteous write ups of these high tech cars. Another great job.
Monday, January 09, 2012 9:42 PM
I may be overanalyzing this one and there are just two fuel pumps in there, it just seems to be a small volume.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 12:12 AM
Eric, you're the MAN! Looking forward to whatevwr comes next :)
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 1:23 AM
Mike: I think there are two fuel pumps. The reservoir is small in diameter but two small frame high flow Denso pumps will do 500+lph. Plus we don't know tall the reservoir is and the pumps can be staggered vertically. Those Denso pumps are approximately the size of a POS Walbro but the Densos have ball bearings on the commutator shaft rather than bronze bushes. Plus the Densos don't fall of so hard on flow with at high fuel temps like the Walbros do. The only catch is that the Denso pumps are only available in Japan. Glad you guys like the story. The real credit goes to Garage Revolution and other teams that build balls out cars like this. Without them and their sponsors, we'd have no cars to aspire to.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 9:21 AM
Are pushrod equipped engines allowed to compete at WTA?
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 11:28 AM
It depends on the series. For US Superlap, I do not believe pushrod engines or flat-6s are allowed. In Japan, Australia, and the UK engines are free. I'm not sure about GTA rules.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 10:25 PM
Fun in depth article, thanks. If only SSE would of done something like this to their evo ...
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 1:14 AM
Hi Eric and Jeff, Great detailed photos as you could only just get a taste of the make up of the car from the pit entrance! Eric myself and a few of the boys are already counting down to a hopeful RE v GR showdown at the creek, can't wait. Just on the GR vehicle you mentioned the Sun Auto ground wire and the A and B tests you've seen so just to confirm you believe in the product and i guess with that the JAP theory of having extra ground wires ? Cheers,
Sunday, January 15, 2012 4:33 AM
This appears to be a bigger budget build than either of the top two Evos. I wonder where the Evos were faster and where, if anywhere, this FD was faster.
Sunday, January 15, 2012 7:26 PM
SSE spent more
Monday, January 16, 2012 12:34 AM
Really? Holy shit on spending more than a team that basically built their entire car out of carbon.
Monday, January 16, 2012 1:52 AM
I don't know if SSE spent more, but it does look like it from the outside. The baller transport trailers and big rigs came from their Formula Atlantic and Mazda days. The facility was already there, the equipment, etc. were already there too. The rear dampers and some of the electronics came from the Formula Atlantic car. SSE probably spent more, but just not as much as it might look if you isolate the EVO program. Certainly not the many millions of $$$ that HKS spent on the HKS CT230R, etc.
Monday, January 16, 2012 2:00 AM
That was just coming from conversations with the guys at respective teams. I dont know how to separate a campaigning budget from a build cost when you are rolling like that. How would you delineate a fabricator/mechanics annual salary vs a build cost?
Monday, January 16, 2012 2:38 AM
Like you point out, if a guy spends 100% of his time on the EVO, then his salary would definitely go into the build cost. SSE certainly spent a bunch more than any US team with the exception of the Rado Scions I'm guessing. And more than any of the Japanese teams with the exception of HKS. I'm just pointing out that the sum SSE spent may not be as astronomical as it looks from the outside.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 10:11 PM
BTW Eric, I was curious as to why Time Attack Rules specifically target Corvettes (pushrod rule) and Porsches (flat six rules)? In light of these all carbon cars, price doesn't seem much of an excuse.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 10:29 PM
This article is "Certified Legit" in my book! Amazing shit to be sure!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 11:22 PM
Daewoo: I'm guessing that since the small block is so highly developed, plentiful, and cheap, they wanted to eliminate the possibility of somebody buying a 800hp small block on eBay for $2 and dropping it into some POS. I'm guessing it is the same situation with the Porsche flat 6 where both the engine and chassis has been highly developed over the last 40 years. Some Time Attacks are all about whoever's fastest and run what you brung (e.g. GTA, Redline, etc.), but the American Superlap events are put on by enthusiast magazines and they probably want the event to stay relevant to their readership.
 
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