Hutt Valley Autocross

June 28th, 2015

Having driven the AZ1 for a little over a month now, it was time to learn more about what the car could really do.

I found an autocross event not too far from me here in Wellington, and decided to give it a go.  It would be a good test to see how the car handles, and also what I should upgrade.

To learn the most about your car, you have to race it.  The nearest track is 2 hours away, and I didn't really feel that such a small, under-powered car would be as fun there.  It wasn't built for battling Skylines on the Wangan.  I figured an autocross course was where it would really shine.

I drove out to Upper Hutt to meet up with 31 other racers around 7:30am.  Once the cones were all laid out, we were allowed a practice lap, and then 3 timed runs to determine who qualified for the shoot-out.  The variety of cars there was amazing.  Skylines, drift cars, huge V8 muscle cars, raced-out Imprezas, an MR2 with a 400+hp supercharged V6.  There were a handful of newcomers, but a lot of seasoned locals.  As people started up their beastly racecars, I started to feel out of place.

The driver of the Subaru above offered to give me a ride so I could get more familiar with the course before driving it in my own car.

Cage, racing buckets, 5-point harness, the whole shebang.  I stepped out with absolute certainty that there was no way the little AZ1 could do it.  Would I even have the courage to attempt the course at that speed?  Would I understeer right off the road?  Surely I brought the wrong car.

Nope.  This was the perfect car.

Ok, so during my practice run I almost spun the thing, but man what a rush!  I'd driven it on some winding roads in the area and had the feeling that it understeered a bit too much.  I started thinking, "maybe the tires are too skinny" and "maybe it's just too light up front."  Those are both probably true, but understeer it did not.  Turns out, I just hadn't been going fast enough!

It's 63hp of rage propelled the car into second gear, where I kept it pinned to 9000 rpms until the straightaway ended.

I nudged the wheel to the right to set up for the turn, and the rear end broke free.  The car dove left and I cleared the first cone.  Before gaining traction again, I flicked it between 2 more gates and stomped on the brakes.  The back hairpin was brutal and narrow.  Even in the AZ1 it felt like I was using the entire width of the road.

The whole way back, it was like playing a video game.  Understeer and oversteer became a choice.  My foot was planted, so all I had to do was aim.

So much fun.  This car is a blast to drive.  Sure, it could use 3x the power, stiffer suspension, better brakes, and wider tires... but holy cow what a fun car!

In the end, I placed around 18th out of 32.  Not too shabby, but the most rewarding part of this event wasn't beating a few Skylines (ok that felt awesome).  I think the highlight was feeling like I'd finally found a community of like-minded people on the other side of the world that loved cars and racing as much as I do.

That.. and telling someone that the car had a 657cc engine in it and him replying "oh, a big block!"

Here's a video of my best run (also the run where my camera rolled around under my feet):

https://vimeo.com/131997305

Putting it all back together

June 14th, 2015

It took a while to get back to work on the car, but I finally found some time over the weekend to sort it all out.  I lost count of how many times I hit my head!

First order of business: more things needed to come off before I could make sure the HVAC would fit.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work when it was mounted on the inside of the dash.

The cables that connected the a/c slider, and the slider that changed where the air came from were either too long or too short, so I swapped them.

Mounting it on the outside was a whole lot easier/stronger, and I was able to hook up the heat controls and a/c slider.  The bottom one, I'll have to change manually until I find a long enough cable.

This has seriously been the most complicated job I've done in a long time.

Since everything was taken apart, I figured it was a good time to wrap a few parts in suede.

If anyone is curious, I'm using this stretchy, self-adhesive suede from an ebay seller called spicygoods.

The suede accents should class it up a bit, and they go with the knew steering wheel:

And a few more suede pieces for good measure:

From the combination of a smaller steering wheel, a shaved seat, and relocation of the HVAC, the interior feels so much more roomy.  I've entered the car in a local autocross on the 28th, so we'll see how it goes!

Sparco

June 1st, 2015

The new steering wheel arrived!

I measured the Momo that is already in the car and it was about 340-350mm wide.

I decided that a 300mm wheel would be a substantial difference without going so small that it would affect the steering.

This suede-covered Sparco feels great!

More photos to come!

Roomy Micro-car

May 31st, 2015

Ok, time to get to work.

I had originally planned to move the spare tire up to the front to offset the weight, but there isn't a mount on this car, so I just took it out altogether.

The biggest issue with the AZ1 for me (and even a complaint in Japan) is that the interior is very cramped.  My left leg is trapped between the steering wheel and the center console where the heater controls are.

It's a tight fit!  I wondered if maybe using smaller padding on the driver's seat might get my some more room.

The padding is about 2" thick, so if I can swap in something that's only 1" thick, we're in business.  A quick glance at the underside of the padding showed that the previous owner had a similar idea:

He shaved about an inch off of where the thighs go, but not where you sit.  I may shave some more out of this before I have to order some racing pads.  It's pretty comfy already, so I don't mind suffering a bit.  It's not a road trip car, after all.  One thing I did want to do was buy a smaller steering wheel, so I ordered a suede 300mm Sparco:

After having seen Drive's youtube clip of the Autozam in New York, I decided to do the same thing he did and relocate the HVAC up to where the radio is.  I can move the radio somewhere else, possibly mount it hidden inside the dash somewhere.  First thing's first:

Wow what a mess of crazy wires back there!  Next to come off is the shift knob:

Then the rest of these crazy panels.

Then off come the gauges.

I wanted to relocate the voltage and boost gauges anyway, because they're totally blocked by my left knee, and I'd still like to use them.  As you can see in this photo, they're really far down there:

Getting the head unit out was more difficult than it should have been because one of the clips on the mounting box was bent.  First you have to take the top cover off.  Super easy because there are only 3 screws:

The previous owner spliced in all kinds of crazy stuff everywhere.  I'll try and clean it up as best I can before putting it back together.

The really complicated part though, was removing the HVAC.

It took a long time and a lot of troubleshooting.  Basically, the sliders are connected to cables, and all 3 of them need to be disconnected (in addition to unplugging and unbolting) to get the HVAC out.  It will only come out toward you, unfortunately.

And then you have to reassemble everything before working it back up under the dash and into position where the radio was.  I initially thought I could just shove it in and mount it like this:

.... but then there was no way of attaching the cables.  There just isn't enough room back there to work.  Not to mention, mounting it this way wouldn't leave enough room for the cover piece to fit back on properly.

I'll try and get a shot of how contorted I was.  Even with the driver's seat out, it probably looked hilarious when I tried to get my head under the dash.  Also, something I didn't know: the driver's seat has sliding rails, and the passenger's seat does not.  The mounting points on each are completely different.

Of course the radio surround was smaller than the HVAC, so I took a knife to the inner piece.  Then I wrapped it in suede, just to keep it a bit cleaner.

I ran out of time once again, so I'll hopefully finish mounting the HVAC up next weekend.  Then I'll need to figure out a better spot to put the gauges.  There is so much more space under the dash already, and I can see exactly why the guy from New York did what he did.

Whoa!

May 30th, 2015

We decided to go for a drive on Saturday, and all I can say is "whoa!"  It's exactly what I'd hoped for.  Actually it has a bit more power than I was expecting.

There is a specific road just north of Wellington that is so narrow and twisty that I'd always thought this car would match perfectly.  Here's a short video we shot:

https://vimeo.com/129379367

The only way to describe the car is that it's like a street-legal go-kart.  Steering is precise, and if there is any power-assist, you don't notice it.  Handling is sharp and grippy.  When the boost comes on, the car rockets forward due to it's light weight.  It's only 750kg (1600lbs), and feels very stable.  The suspension is stock with KYB replacements in the rear.  I wanted to lower it and stiffen it up a bit, but I actually feel like it's the perfect amount of stiffness for these roads, and it's certainly low enough:

I even got Jenn to drive it, and she loved it!  When you buy an expensive car that is basically seen as a toy, it's helpful to hear that people fully understand why you bought it.  She had such a huge smile on her face!

I think this car and I will be visiting these roads a lot.