WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update
03-12-2004, 01:19 AM
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WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update
Warning! This post got really long. Go get a Pepsi and a comfortable chair before you read it.
I've been meaning to do one of those official press release jobs for a while now but wasn't sure exactly what to say. For those that don't like blatant self promotion you may want to skip this post. But I'd like to update all the racers on what I've been up to. Not everyone will be as lucky as me but I think there will be more opportunities opening up soon for Honda Challenge drivers.
It's a little late, but yes officially, I will be driving the RO_JA Motorsports RSX this year in the WCHC H1 class. The car was built a year ago by RJ De Vera. You may have seen it in GRM in the RO_JA advertisement. The car is sponsored by Acura, Pepsi, Pioneer, Valvoline, Versus, and a bunch of others that RJ regularly works with. RJ originally intended to race the car himself but his sponsors want him at the Hot Import Nights events, where he can expose them to a larger market. Unfortunately for him (but good for me!) the HIN and NASA schedules conflict at all but 2 race weekends. He could have just gotten the car in a magazine to make the sponsors happy and walked away. However, I believe he sees road racing as a useful marketing tool, if not now at least in the near future. So he asked me to drive the car for him this season.
For me, the chance to drive in a sponsored ride is unbelievable. The only things on my resume are Driver of the Year from TCRA back in'99 and my WCHC Championship from last year. For me the benefits of this ride are obvious. I can race, pay off my debts, and maybe even move out of my parents house! But, I think if things go right a lot of people could benefit from this deal. RJ writes for several magazines and can definitely bring additional exposure to the series and its drivers. Also having sponsors like Acura and Pepsi involved can help others get new bigger sponsors. Now when you're working with sponsors you can say you race against the RO_JA/Pepsi/MuscleMachines/Comptech RSX. One or two of you may even be able to say you beat... cough cough... sorry better adjust my pressures, pshhhhhhhhhhhhhht pshhhht. OK.
This issue might come up so I'd like to throw in my thoughts. Some people may feel that it's not fair to have to compete against big budget teams in the Honda Challenge. They may feel that professional efforts belong in a series like World Challenge. To that I would point out that a WC season and car costs easily $150K or better. And the series and its drivers aren't necessarily what the youth market relates to. On the other hand for maybe 1/10th that price a sponsor could run a Honda Challenge car and with the right publicity could generate more sales to its target market than a WC team could. As for the racers you should be glad to get to race against sponsored cars. I know for me at least, back in like 99 my H4ish CRX ran 1:49s at Laguna Seca and when WC came to town that would have gridded me around 10th or 15th or so. I would have killed to go out there and prove myself. But there's no way they'd let me run with them, USTCC wouldn't even let my old Honda in. In Honda Challenge a driver can come up with very little and make a name for himself. OK, I'm done now. On to the racing updates.
I took the car out to a Speed Trial USA event a couple weeks ago to shake down the car. RJ warned me that the car had funky oversteer when you got on the gas. I didn't listen since when he drove the car it didn't even have an alignment, plus, well, everyone sort of figured the show car guy couldn't drive. note(Kid can drive, he smoked me at Dromo 1, twice!) So the day before the test day I took the car to my man Darin Nishimura at West End for the full on alignment and corner balance. Since my CRX has always been awesome after visiting with Darin I got in the RSX and was ripping on it by the third lap. It didn't feel real good in the high speed transitions but I couldn't figure out what it was doing. On the 4th lap I went a little faster and right when I transitioned from right to left I hit a little dip and the rear shock bottomed out. So now I'm at reverse lock on the steering wheel, full throttle, and the car just does the bunny hop until I go flying out into the mud, sideways, at maybe 90MPH. I'm not sure why it didn't flip. So anyway they drag me and my mud sled back to the pits. I thought RJ was going to kill me, but instead he's like "yeah, it's kinda twitchy when you get on the throttle in a turn huh?" Then he crawled under the car and helped me pick mud out of it for about an hour. The testing went better from there after we cranked as much pre-load on the rear springs as we could. But for the most part I just had to drive slow. I towed home trying to accept the fact that I was going to get my *** handed to me all year in H1. Everyone had told me that the RSX was a bad car and that I'd get smoked with it's suspension and weight. Up until that point I didn't really believe them though.
A couple weeks later it's time for the first race of the season. There was a lot of stuff that needed help. But I'd rather build the car slowly by testing it after each mod. So the only thing that we changed is the rear spring rates. Oh, that and the paint job. It was decided that silver racecars are bad luck. That was cool with me since I hate silver cars unless they are German. I thought the car was going to be blue but then I get the car down to M.O.B. and RJ starts talking about Sunburst Orange from the Diablo. I guess they painted a Supra that color and the girls were flocking all over it at the D1GP. The paint actually turned out really nice but you have to see it in person to appreciate it. I'm not sure about the exposed carbon fiber on the hood above the headlights. I think it looks like something out of Finding Nemo but that's just me.
So anyway, the car did much better on race day. The springs got rid of the snap oversteer but it was still a little soft. The stock brakes and 205 series tires had some trouble with the 2600 pound Acura. After braking coming off the oval everything would turn to mush. It was a handful through the infield but nobody could get around me in there. Then out on the oval it would pretty much walk on everyone. Top speeds were just over 140MPH which let the tires and brakes cool down just enough slow down off the oval and start it all over again.
I ended up taking 2nd place on Saturday and 4th on Sunday in a field of like 15 H1 cars or something like that. That was way better than I was expecting. I was really hoping not to get lapped. But running up front in that thing was awesome, especially since it's going to get faster. The people who doubt the RSX are wrong. That thing's a screamer. I ended up getting to race with Glen Kawano (Gansan) a little on Sunday. He used to have a reputation of not being comfortable racing really close to other cars. But I can now confirm that that is not true. It was also cool to be on track with a lot of new drivers of different levels of experience. This is looking like it's going to be a really good season. I'll try to some race reports through the season. I failed to do that last year and felt bad for my team and our sponsors. I promise my posts won't all be this long though
I've been meaning to do one of those official press release jobs for a while now but wasn't sure exactly what to say. For those that don't like blatant self promotion you may want to skip this post. But I'd like to update all the racers on what I've been up to. Not everyone will be as lucky as me but I think there will be more opportunities opening up soon for Honda Challenge drivers.
It's a little late, but yes officially, I will be driving the RO_JA Motorsports RSX this year in the WCHC H1 class. The car was built a year ago by RJ De Vera. You may have seen it in GRM in the RO_JA advertisement. The car is sponsored by Acura, Pepsi, Pioneer, Valvoline, Versus, and a bunch of others that RJ regularly works with. RJ originally intended to race the car himself but his sponsors want him at the Hot Import Nights events, where he can expose them to a larger market. Unfortunately for him (but good for me!) the HIN and NASA schedules conflict at all but 2 race weekends. He could have just gotten the car in a magazine to make the sponsors happy and walked away. However, I believe he sees road racing as a useful marketing tool, if not now at least in the near future. So he asked me to drive the car for him this season.
For me, the chance to drive in a sponsored ride is unbelievable. The only things on my resume are Driver of the Year from TCRA back in'99 and my WCHC Championship from last year. For me the benefits of this ride are obvious. I can race, pay off my debts, and maybe even move out of my parents house! But, I think if things go right a lot of people could benefit from this deal. RJ writes for several magazines and can definitely bring additional exposure to the series and its drivers. Also having sponsors like Acura and Pepsi involved can help others get new bigger sponsors. Now when you're working with sponsors you can say you race against the RO_JA/Pepsi/MuscleMachines/Comptech RSX. One or two of you may even be able to say you beat... cough cough... sorry better adjust my pressures, pshhhhhhhhhhhhhht pshhhht. OK.
This issue might come up so I'd like to throw in my thoughts. Some people may feel that it's not fair to have to compete against big budget teams in the Honda Challenge. They may feel that professional efforts belong in a series like World Challenge. To that I would point out that a WC season and car costs easily $150K or better. And the series and its drivers aren't necessarily what the youth market relates to. On the other hand for maybe 1/10th that price a sponsor could run a Honda Challenge car and with the right publicity could generate more sales to its target market than a WC team could. As for the racers you should be glad to get to race against sponsored cars. I know for me at least, back in like 99 my H4ish CRX ran 1:49s at Laguna Seca and when WC came to town that would have gridded me around 10th or 15th or so. I would have killed to go out there and prove myself. But there's no way they'd let me run with them, USTCC wouldn't even let my old Honda in. In Honda Challenge a driver can come up with very little and make a name for himself. OK, I'm done now. On to the racing updates.
I took the car out to a Speed Trial USA event a couple weeks ago to shake down the car. RJ warned me that the car had funky oversteer when you got on the gas. I didn't listen since when he drove the car it didn't even have an alignment, plus, well, everyone sort of figured the show car guy couldn't drive. note(Kid can drive, he smoked me at Dromo 1, twice!) So the day before the test day I took the car to my man Darin Nishimura at West End for the full on alignment and corner balance. Since my CRX has always been awesome after visiting with Darin I got in the RSX and was ripping on it by the third lap. It didn't feel real good in the high speed transitions but I couldn't figure out what it was doing. On the 4th lap I went a little faster and right when I transitioned from right to left I hit a little dip and the rear shock bottomed out. So now I'm at reverse lock on the steering wheel, full throttle, and the car just does the bunny hop until I go flying out into the mud, sideways, at maybe 90MPH. I'm not sure why it didn't flip. So anyway they drag me and my mud sled back to the pits. I thought RJ was going to kill me, but instead he's like "yeah, it's kinda twitchy when you get on the throttle in a turn huh?" Then he crawled under the car and helped me pick mud out of it for about an hour. The testing went better from there after we cranked as much pre-load on the rear springs as we could. But for the most part I just had to drive slow. I towed home trying to accept the fact that I was going to get my *** handed to me all year in H1. Everyone had told me that the RSX was a bad car and that I'd get smoked with it's suspension and weight. Up until that point I didn't really believe them though.
A couple weeks later it's time for the first race of the season. There was a lot of stuff that needed help. But I'd rather build the car slowly by testing it after each mod. So the only thing that we changed is the rear spring rates. Oh, that and the paint job. It was decided that silver racecars are bad luck. That was cool with me since I hate silver cars unless they are German. I thought the car was going to be blue but then I get the car down to M.O.B. and RJ starts talking about Sunburst Orange from the Diablo. I guess they painted a Supra that color and the girls were flocking all over it at the D1GP. The paint actually turned out really nice but you have to see it in person to appreciate it. I'm not sure about the exposed carbon fiber on the hood above the headlights. I think it looks like something out of Finding Nemo but that's just me.
So anyway, the car did much better on race day. The springs got rid of the snap oversteer but it was still a little soft. The stock brakes and 205 series tires had some trouble with the 2600 pound Acura. After braking coming off the oval everything would turn to mush. It was a handful through the infield but nobody could get around me in there. Then out on the oval it would pretty much walk on everyone. Top speeds were just over 140MPH which let the tires and brakes cool down just enough slow down off the oval and start it all over again.
I ended up taking 2nd place on Saturday and 4th on Sunday in a field of like 15 H1 cars or something like that. That was way better than I was expecting. I was really hoping not to get lapped. But running up front in that thing was awesome, especially since it's going to get faster. The people who doubt the RSX are wrong. That thing's a screamer. I ended up getting to race with Glen Kawano (Gansan) a little on Sunday. He used to have a reputation of not being comfortable racing really close to other cars. But I can now confirm that that is not true. It was also cool to be on track with a lot of new drivers of different levels of experience. This is looking like it's going to be a really good season. I'll try to some race reports through the season. I failed to do that last year and felt bad for my team and our sponsors. I promise my posts won't all be this long though
03-12-2004, 04:24 AM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (AndyHope)
awesome update andy!
your move helped me out a bit too...
got your old sponsor from last year...maybe ill get some residual luck from him!
your move helped me out a bit too...
got your old sponsor from last year...maybe ill get some residual luck from him!
03-12-2004, 08:35 AM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (AndyHope)
Nice update Andy. I hope to see you guys soon. I just need to get some stuff done to the CRX and get it in this season. I'm hoping I can participate in a few races this season. BTW, this is Jeremy if you did not recall!
03-12-2004, 09:45 AM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (ACRDC2)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ACRDC2 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Silver Cars are bad luck? 
</TD></TR></TABLE>
You don’t have bad luck trust me on this. At least you have sponsors. Our H4 car looks plane.
</TD></TR></TABLE>You don’t have bad luck trust me on this. At least you have sponsors. Our H4 car looks plane.
03-12-2004, 09:50 AM
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Andy when I saw the RSX on the scale my eyes popped open. Man you need to put that think on a diet. It was a really good race, and we will be back again. By the way I like the CF hood. Good luck at Buttion Willow.
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03-12-2004, 10:05 AM
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Re: (ITAcelica)
03-12-2004, 11:22 AM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (ek four)
Looks good Andy, I'm hoping to make it to watch a few events this year. I'll be at Buttonwillow on 4/16, so I might see you...and since I now have a CRX I might be bugging you a little bit 
Austin
Austin
03-12-2004, 11:44 AM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (Austin)
"I think it looks like something out of Finding Nemo..." - Andy Hope
Okay, here are my pics of "Nemo"
Okay, here are my pics of "Nemo"
03-12-2004, 11:48 AM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (Outrun)
While on the subject of RSX, whatever happened to HART's blue RSX that was running in a Grand-Am series?
I wonder what would happen if you ask for RSX advice from HART or RealTime?
I wonder what would happen if you ask for RSX advice from HART or RealTime?
03-12-2004, 12:59 PM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (Outrun)
I know that John at HyTech redesigned the bumpsteers, as there were a few issues that he was having with the car, as well as doing a pretty thorough suspension R&D with the Progress group.
03-12-2004, 01:13 PM
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Re: WCHC, BO_BA Motorsports H1 RSX update
I think a lot of the joy Andy is having is coming from the new technology of the K series. Im so excited to run my K20a after watching Hope, Stevens, and Varo show what they can do.
I just fired her up for the first time last night!!!! mmmmmmmmmm lope lope lope
It'll be interesting to see how that DC5 does at all of our many Buttonwillow events!
I just fired her up for the first time last night!!!! mmmmmmmmmm lope lope lope
It'll be interesting to see how that DC5 does at all of our many Buttonwillow events!
03-12-2004, 01:53 PM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (AndyHope)
Andy, I asked you if it was going to be candy apple red, you said "close" or something like that..... [sarcasm] orange it isn't that bad [/sarcasm]
nice photos outrun.
nice photos outrun.
03-12-2004, 04:02 PM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (ChrisOnePointSix)
That orange on the RSX definitely takes a little getting used to!
Glad to see the development is coming along on everyone's racecars.
Glad to see the development is coming along on everyone's racecars.
03-14-2004, 10:54 PM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (Outrun)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Outrun »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">While on the subject of RSX, whatever happened to HART's blue RSX that was running in a Grand-Am series?
I wonder what would happen if you ask for RSX advice from HART or RealTime?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Getting info from RealTime? I tried to get some info awhile back from them on their DC2 teg for an article I was writting and they wouldn't tell me a thing. It seems that PD has the pro racer "keep it all a secret" disease. Try calling Scott Zellner at King Motorsports for some info on the DC5 stuff. Scott Zellner and Rich Hays know how to make an RSX work (as good as can be expected).
I wonder what would happen if you ask for RSX advice from HART or RealTime?
</TD></TR></TABLE>Getting info from RealTime? I tried to get some info awhile back from them on their DC2 teg for an article I was writting and they wouldn't tell me a thing. It seems that PD has the pro racer "keep it all a secret" disease. Try calling Scott Zellner at King Motorsports for some info on the DC5 stuff. Scott Zellner and Rich Hays know how to make an RSX work (as good as can be expected).
03-15-2004, 06:57 AM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (turfer)
congrats andy....glad you like it.....
but i do have one question....if you have all these sponsors where is the bling bling sticker package???
and yes....i'm looking forward to rolling the bling machine at midohio!!!! with a d series!!!!
JOKE!!! just talking andy!!
03-15-2004, 08:15 AM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (JeffS)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JeffS »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
On a related note, I'm finding it a little hard to wade through all the self-promotion here lately - whether it be personal or in most cases business related. I would expect that many, like myself, are simply trying their best to ignore it. </TD></TR></TABLE>
I agree. The press peleases are a bit much.
On a related note, I'm finding it a little hard to wade through all the self-promotion here lately - whether it be personal or in most cases business related. I would expect that many, like myself, are simply trying their best to ignore it. </TD></TR></TABLE>
I agree. The press peleases are a bit much.
03-15-2004, 08:23 AM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (vtecvoodoo)
This seems like a good place to ask this:
What's up with that new Cobalt pad compound for Drifting?
Scott, who likes good racing stories from East and West...and had some good laughs over Zsolt's "Press Release"...
What's up with that new Cobalt pad compound for Drifting?
Scott, who likes good racing stories from East and West...and had some good laughs over Zsolt's "Press Release"...
03-15-2004, 08:36 AM
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Re: WCHC, RO_JA Motorsports H1 RSX update (RR98ITR)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RR98ITR »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This seems like a good place to ask this:
What's up with that new Cobalt pad compound for Drifting?
Scott, who likes good racing stories from East and West...and had some good laughs over Zsolt's "Press Release"...
</TD></TR></TABLE>
"Cobalt spec(D1R) is designed specifically for professional drifting competition. High static torque levels with excellent cold initial bite, yet extremely fade free to withstand repeated left-foot braking maneuvers -- when you want to let it all hang out! The spec(D1R) is manufactured on a special order basis to fit your vehicle application"
"Coeff. of Friction:0.50mu
Temp Range: 65-900F"
What's up with that new Cobalt pad compound for Drifting?
Scott, who likes good racing stories from East and West...and had some good laughs over Zsolt's "Press Release"...
</TD></TR></TABLE>
"Cobalt spec(D1R) is designed specifically for professional drifting competition. High static torque levels with excellent cold initial bite, yet extremely fade free to withstand repeated left-foot braking maneuvers -- when you want to let it all hang out! The spec(D1R) is manufactured on a special order basis to fit your vehicle application"
"Coeff. of Friction:0.50mu
Temp Range: 65-900F"
