Continued from Jemima on Steroids part 1. If you missed part 1, you can head on over by clicking here. Now that we have the power plant of the car taken care of and our shocks and tires are taken care of, the next thing on the agenda was ensuring we had the best steering and angle possible. Last season, we struggled with steering bind and inconsistent steering which as a driver is really hard to push the limits and drive at 100% when you don’t know what the car will do. This is why we have partnered up with FIGS Engineering for the 2014 season as they have their PRO Angle kit that has been already released for the IS300 and has gotten nothing but amazing feedback from everyone that has it on their car. After talking many hours with Figs Engineering, they agreed to customize their already existing IS300 kit and retro fit it on our JZX90. Once we have a couple rounds of testing under our belt with it, Figs will be releasing it for sale to the public, which is estimated to be after round 3 of Formula Drift. Stay tuned for a blog post featuring our visit at the Figs Engineering headquarters where we installed their pro angle kit. For now, enjoy this video which shows their kit installed on our Gold in the Net JZX90.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/90940354[/vimeo]
With Formula Drift putting more emphasis on style and angle rather than speed for the 2014 season, we feel that the 70 degrees of steering angle that the Figs Pro Angle kit offers will definitely help us throughout the season.
Last season in New Jersey, we were faced with both mechanical and electrical gremlins that stopped us from qualifying. After the NJ round, we had partnered up with Wiring Specialties which they built a brand new engine harness for us to ensure we didn’t have any more electrical issues with the engine. In the off season, the guys from Wiring Specialties made the trip from their shop in Connecticut up to Montreal to rewire our entire chassis as well as our new engine. These guys did a fantastic job wiring the car and our new engine! Its nice knowing that we can go to the track and not have to worry about electrical issues and can now focus 100% on the task at hand, driving! Of course our setup is 100% custom based on our chassis and needs but they also offer brand new pre made harness for popular chassis and engine swaps such as s13/s14 with sr’s, rb’s, jz’s.
The next thing that we upgraded this season is our wheels. Our old ones had been on the car since 2011, and lets just say that over the years, they took a beating and with more power this year, we needed to go wider to accept a wider rear tire. We partnered up with Cosmis Racing Wheels USA and are running their new XT-206R in an 18×9.5 +12 and 18×11+8 stagger. Once we received the wheels, it was clear that these wheels mean business! The way they are manufactured ensures that they are extremely strong while being weight conscious. The XT-206R in 18×11 tip the scales at just over 20lbs which is extremely reasonable for a wheel that measures 11 inches wide. Also another thing that gets often over looked is how the wheel barrel is designed. The amount of tires that we mount/dismount in a season is in the hundreds and these wheels have to be the easiest rims we have ever mounted/dismounted tires on! It’s clear that Cosmis Racing Wheels USA do not overlook any details on their wheels when they get designed. These guys are constantly coming out with new models in great sizes and offsets so be sure to have a look at their full line up.
Still to come is a behind the scenes look from our visit at Figs Engineering as well as our Formula Drift Round 1 recap from Long Beach.
