Two Guys Rally

Keeping Drivers Cool

The whole point of keeping a racecar cool is so you can keep the driver(s) cool. There are lots of neat ways that race teams around the globe do it. Here are a few of them:

Cut Back On Layers

This may sound obvious but most racing suits have three or more layers of material to them. Keeping the layers down to a minimum (safety still matters) will allow the air you bring into the car to do its job and cool the driver down. The Subaru World Rally Team cuts that down to 2 layers of outerwear for the really hot rallies. The neoprene underwear still restricts breathability but keeps the drivers safe from fire.

One of the neat things about Rally Racing is that short sleeved suits are allowed in the extremely hot rallies. Many famous world champs have rocked the short sleeves or rolled up sleeves during desert rallies. See Colin McRae and Richard Burns for prime examples.

Drink Lots of Water

Being properly hydrated keeps drivers cool for a few reasons. First of all they can sweat, and if the car is breathing right that sweat can evaporate and will take a large amount of heat away from the driver(s). You will also lose a large amount of water through sweating, especially in the heat of a cockpit.

Your body is mostly water, so any heat your body generates related to general metabolism gets dumped into that mostly water body of yours. Less water means higher temps for the same metabolism (when controlling for the effect of sweat).

Your blood volume is also 80-90% water and so losing water means your blood volume will go down. This makes your heart work harder (oh look more energy release) and you feel hotter for the same temperature. Petter Solberg has said that he and Phil Mills will drink 10 liters of hydration fluid (mostly water and some electrolytes) in a day. That works out to over 1 gallon per person on that day not including the water that is in the food they eat. So drink up before and on race days.

Put Things In Freezers

Put everything you wear in a freezer (except maybe the neoprene) as it will make it a little nicer for that much longer. Your clothes will absorb that much more heat before letting you heat up.

Throw in some towels sprayed with water. Freeze those puppies so when at service, or pre and post race, you can wrap one around your neck and keep cool.

Mix Alcohol and Water

I am not saying drink alcohol, but add water and rubbing alcohol together and keep that chilled in a spray bottle. When you can, spray some on your skin and lots of heat will be pulled away with the alcohol and water (so will the oils in your skin). This works so well that some racecars will put this mix in intercooler spray reservoirs. It really will make that much of a difference.

Drinking alcohol will actually hurt your ability to cool off as it is a diuretic. So that is just one more reason not to drink when racing (besides the many obvious ones).

Neat Technologies Help

A loyal reader Dustin Tarditi reminded me about things like UnderArmor (loved it for lacrosse) and their high tech cousins deemed Cool Suits. Under armor is great for wicking away sweat (and with that heat) from the body and allowing air to do its job.

Cool Suits are even cooler as they will run coolant (water or what have you) from a cooler that is in the racecar (or in the pits) through tubes and across your body. The tubes are zig zagged across your chest and they pull heat away from your body into the coolant (which goes into the cooler).

Newer styles of Cool Suits are focusing on the wrists and palms. Why? Because “in order to cool the body you must cool the blood”, and the blood is a lot closer to the skin around the hands. This is the same reason you treat heat stroke/exhaustion by cooling the hands and feet rather than the whole body (the latter is dangerous as it may make it harder for the body to cool itself as it will bring the blood into the core due to shock). The trick to the new technologies is making them lightweight and not interfere with the driver(s) control of the car.

Keeping Racecars Cool

While racecars are usually most definitely awesome, today’s weather reminded me they are pretty effing hot inside them. In the quest to save weight (translation: saving time on your laps/stages) common things are kept off the car. Air conditioning is gone, underbody/frame insulation is gone and the lexan windows usually dont roll down. Combine that with the fact that a racecar’s engine runs quite a bit hotter and cars with antilag systems (ALS) have exhaust temperatures above 1000 ºC the car’s interior will be hotter when running. However there are a few tricks to keeping the cabin temperatures survivable:

Air Vents

Racecars have a love hate relationship with air. At really high speeds it slows them down and sometimes even makes them crash, but it also cools their engines. In a similar fashion, it can help cool the cabin and driver(s). Keeping your drivers alive means getting them nice cool air to breath. Good helmets allow the driver to breath and it lets sweat do its work at cooling the driver(s) down. NASCAR likes to use forced air helmets that push air through the helmet, while Rally tends to use open face helmets (very breathable and you can yell at your driver in them).

In order to let a helmet do its job air needs to be getting to the driver(s) from outside. Vents to the cabin are nice for this. Rally cars often have a vent on the top center of the car to let air in through a diffuser so the drivers can breath and cool off. Air also has to exit the cabin, but if your windows are closed how can it do that? Closable vents in the back windows help with getting air out of the car, however in a Rally application I would suggest a filter on them (dust likes to come into the car otherwise). Andrew Comrie-Picard’s Mitsubishi is a shining example of common air ducting.

Window Tint

Sunlight heats up the cabin majorly. Ever been burned by a seatbelt buckle that was left in sunlight on a hot day? I know I have. Tinting a racecar’s windows with reflective tint can reduce any sunlight that is causing the cabin to get real hot. While black tint works to combat cabin temperatures, mirror tint works better (more reflection, less absorption) as it will not radiate as much heat through the glass into the cabin.

Roof Paint

Another way to keep the cabin temperatures from skyrocketing due to sunlight is to paint the roof of the car. The roof of the car is often not seen by spectators, so diverting from your colorscheme is not as big a deal. Painting the roof white will keep it from absorbing as much heat from the sun and further lowering the temperatures in the cabin.

Interior Paint

The interior is exposed to light too! Roll cages and the inside of the car frame make up a large surface that can absorb even more heat. Painting them white keeps them from absorbing as much heat. Plus a consistent interior color makes the car look neater and better organized. Also white shows everything wrong(great trait in a racecar) like: all sorts of leaks including exhaust, cracks and where you dropped your notes pen.

Insulate Exhaust Pipes

Exhaust pipes in racecars get extremely hot. They get way hotter than the exhaust on a street car so there is a lot more heat that comes off of them and into the cabin. Wrapping the exhaust in heat insulation might add a couple pounds, but it might give you a better performing engine. Higher exhaust gas temperatures means higher exhaust gas velocity, and if you’re running a turbo this means a faster spooling turbo. Not only will you get a possible gain in your engine, the cabin temps will drop. A normal exhaust will radiate heat into the metal on the underside of the cabin (a good amount of it too) which will transfer into the cabin. 1000ºC exhaust gas will conduct massive amounts of heat through a thin piece of metal(exhaust piping).

Regardless of what you’re racing doing everything you can to combat high cabin temperature will make your racedays more enjoyable and more consistent. Heat fatigues people, and tired drivers are dangerous drivers. That one, came straight out of a DMV Manual.

How To Put Your Car On Jackstands

What You Will Need

• Jackstands
• Jack (either for your car or a general jack)

Putting Your Car on Jackstands

1. Put your car in gear (or park for autos) and make sure the parking brake is on.
2. Find a jackpoint on the car’s frame. It will be metal and solid, not flimsy.
3. Start jacking up your car from that point.
4. Slide the jackstand under the frame (not plastic!!!) or jackpoint.
5. Drop the jack to lower your car onto the jackstand.
6. Remove the jack from under the car.
7. Repeat on the other side of the car (LEFT-RIGHT, not front-back).

Put the car up on jackstands on both sides of the car (left and right) as it is safer. If you are going to be taking wheels off, break the lugnuts loose before you jack up the car.

Why Put Your Car On Jackstands?

Because it is the only safe way to work under your car. Never work under your car when it is only supported by jacks, they go down as well as they go up! If you have a hydraulic lift…I am jealous and you should be using that (also can we use that?)

How To Remove the Snorkus On a 2006 Subaru WRX

I was reading about an intake resonator that my car has called a “Snorkus”. It is technically referred to as a Helmholtz Resonator, but Snorkus is way cooler. Just think of it as an upside down snorkel on the intake, because that is what it is. The whole point of the snorkus is to reduce intake sound (and on the naturally aspirated version there is a resonance on the intake, because of valve movement, that it works to defeat). Where’s the fun in a quiet car? I didn’t see any.

So Mark and I took a look at the intake system of my WRX. We figured that I could get away with not having a Snorkus and everything I had read about the WRX intake helped confirm that. We decided to remove it.

*DISCLAIMER* Removing your Snorkus may or may not VOID your warranty. I cannot be blamed for anything happening to you or your car related to this “mod” *DISCLAIMER*

Removing the Snorkus

Things you’ll need:

1. Jack
2. Jack Stands
3. Lugnut Wrench (19mm)
4. Small Flat-Blade Screw Driver
5. 10mm Socket w/ Ratchet
6. Foam Tape (1/4″)

We started off by removing the ram air intake portion. This requires a 10mm socket and fingers to remove the bolts. There are only two bolts holding this part on and they’re easily accessed. Mark is un-screwing the bolts in the picture below.

Next, loosen the lug nuts on your front right wheel and then jack up your car. Place the jack stand under your lift point. Go ahead and jack up the left side of the car and place it on jack stands too (safer to have both sides on jackstands). You might want to make sure your car is off, in gear and the parking brake is on. Finally once your front wheels are off the ground take the front right wheel off of the car.

Now with your jack stands safely supporting the car you have to remove three plastic pins from your front fender. This is so you can peel the wheel liner away from the fender temporarily. So using your flat-blade screw driver, pop the pins out (don’t rip them out). Here is a picture of two of the pins removed, the third one is further to the front of the fender.

Now with the pins out of your front fender, push your wheel liner toward the back of the car and peel it back and out of the way. It is pretty flexible, but your fender isn’t nearly as flexible (don’t try and bend your fender a lot). You should end up with something looking like:

The big white bulbous thing is the Snorkus. That is what we are here to remove. But there are two bolts holding it in place. One of those bolts is easy to get to, it is in the engine bay by the hole your ram air exits in to, but the other is in a not so nice place. It is on the front side of the big bulbous part inside the fender. You need a 10mm socket/wrench to loosen these bolts. Here is a picture of the bolts:

Remove the bolts, the suggested order is: remove the one in the fender first, so when you remove the last bolt, the snorkus doesn’t fall onto your face. Mark posed with the oddly shaped snorkus:

Now your car should be without a snorkus. So put the wheel liner back in its place and push the pins back into the fender (pull the center part of the pin out of the plastic housing a bit, makes it easier to push them back in). You have succesfully removed the snorkus. Put your wheel back on and tighten up the lugnuts (remember star pattern!). Take the car off the jack stands and tighten your lug nuts to the specified torque (read your owners manual).

We decided to leave the ram air on the car to push colder air into the fender, rather than the fender filling up with engine bay air (not much of a performance gain, but maybe some?). But if we left it there as it was, it would rattle against the ABS lines (you can see them above). Our solution was to use foam tape where the ram air would hit the ABS lines. It is cheap and easy (just the way we like it). So put some foam tape on the bottom of your ram air, it should look something like this:

Just reattach the ram air, make sure your car is in working order and BAM: Go drive your car and see what it feels/sounds like.

What I noticed driving around without a Snorkus is a much louder Compressor Bypass Valve. So when you come off the throttle, it sounds like you have a Blow Off Valve, but your engine is not going to be running really rich every time you shift. Low in the RPM range, when the engine is loaded, it sounds rumblier/growlier too. This ended up being a free way to make my car sound like a new machine to me.

How To Install Vinyl Stickers: The Video

Videos are becoming almost weekly. Hooray!

Read the text version here on Two Guys Rally.

Youtube video. Revver video.

How To Install Vinyl Stickers

Performing the Sticker Install

1. Gather materials
2. Clean application surface thoroughly with soap AND water
3. Use masking tape to secure sticker (Fully Intact) to surface
4. Use water (optional: and soap) to wet sticker
5. Peel backing of sticker away slowly WHILE pressing sticker flat to surface
6. Pull, do not push, the vinyl sticker to fine tune your placement (with top layer intact, this requires soapy water)
7. Squeegee bubbles out of vinyl (top layer still must be intact)
8. Wet the sticker down with just water, and squeegee again
9. Let the sticker dry (help it by removing excess water)
10. Remove the top layer slowly and at a diagonal angle (if the sticker comes with it, press it back down and wet a tiny bit more, let it dry)

I recently installed stickers from DirtyImpreza.com. Aaron, the mastermind of the site, sent me over the stickers and I think they look really good. This became the perfect opportunity to write up a How-To, Thanks Aaron.

The Steps Performed

I gathered a spray bottle of water, some dish soap (hand soap works too!), an old bank card (drivers license would work), an old shirt, masking tape and the stickers. You could also use a razor blade for the install (to remove stubborn bubbles and to cut stickers at gaps.

Next I started cleaning the surface where I wanted to apply the sticker. This is the most important part of the process. An unclean surface will result in many bubbles in the sticker and peeling. Peeling is the death of a vinyl graphic. Anyway, I sprayed the surface down with water and used a couple drops of dish soap on my fingers to clean the surface. For a bigger decal I would suggest a bucket with some soap and water in it. I then dried and scrubbed the surface with my old t-shirt (lint free because its been used so much!).

I placed the sticker onto the surface where I wanted it, then taped one edge of it with masking tape. The masking tape holds the sticker where I want it and acts as a third hand when peeling the sticker backing away. I wet the sticker down and removed the backing of the sticker starting first from the edge I taped. I kept applying pressure to the sticker while slowly peeling the back away.

I squeegeed bubbles out of the vinyl sticker, wet the sticker with just water and then squeegeed again. The top surface doesn’t matter so I focused on the vinyl, as should you. At this point you could use a pin or razor blade for any stubborn bubbles in the vinyl, but I didn’t have any. I removed the excess water with the worn out t-shirt by pressing and no rubbing! I was a bit impatient while applying the sticker and ended up with a slightly curvy decal, but I think it looks fine.

Let the vinyl dry for 30 or so minutes. Come back and peel the top surface of the sticker away, slowly and carefully. If the vinyl comes with it, put it back on the surface and wet it a little again, let it dry and retry. If you cross any gaps, cut and pinch the vinyl around the edge.

The key to having a long sticker life on the car is making sure the surface you’re applying the sticker to is dirt/dust free. Give it a good cleaning, any dirt specks will show up as bubbles on the stickers. Also, do not use Clorox and Lysol and stuff like that as it keeps the stickers from sticking to the surface and you will get peeling stickers. Happy Stickering!

Why Apply Stickers?

Because they add Horsepower DUH! Actually, they dont, infact they just add weight. However the weight they add is usually worth more than their weight in Gold. You’re putting your sponsor’s stickers on your car so they get some advertising for giving you whatever they gave you. Or you can tell everyone who looks at your car what you like (Like Colin McRae, DirtyImpreza or Team O’Neil).

How To Double Clutch: The Video

A video on how to double clutch:

Read the text version here on Two Guys Rally. Youtube video. Revver video.

How To Handbrake Turn

Performing the Handbrake Turn

1. Approach the Corner at 20-25mph (in 1st or 2nd Gear)
2. Turn Into the Corner with lots of Steering Input
3. Clutch In
4. Hold Button on the Handbarke In
5. Pull the Handbrake Up HARD
6. Wait for Car to Rotate
7. Drop the Handbrake (button still depressed)
8. Straighten the Wheels
9. Clutch Out and Go

The key to the handbrake turn is having enough speed to rotate the car and pulling up on the handbrake with enough force to break the traction of the rear wheels. Remember to Clutch In before you pull up on the handbrake in AWD and RWD cars. If you do not, the engine will stall or you will hurt your transmission and brakes.

The steps will blur together as you get better at this. Steps 3, 4 and 5 will be almost simultaneous and steps 7, 8 and 9 will start to blend together also. At first, focus on getting the car to rotate and learning how long you have to keep the handbrake applied before dropping it and getting your move on.

If the car is still not rotating, very light foot braking can help the car lose rear wheel traction as it unweights the rear end. As with any driving maneuver you must practice it to know how to do it right. So find a safe place to do it, preferably a loose surface. As always, with most sliding techniques, high center of gravity cars are more dangerous to do this in.

Why Perform a Handbrake Turn?

Sometimes the fastest way around a corner is to slide around it. This is especially true through a hairpin turn where a 180 degree rotation is required.

The handbrake is also used to correct mild understeer mid-corner and tighten up a sloppy wide corner. Although in North American rally races you do not see the handbrake used as widely as it is in the WRC races. I wonder why that is…

Anyway, with a FWD car you can actually apply power to the ground while the handbrake is up. This is very handy for getting the car to rotate without losing as much speed in very slippery conditions. Remember, stay safe and don’t keep repeating it too many times after you get it right.

How To J-Turn - The Video

If you would like to read about how to do it, see our text article here on TwoGuysRally.

Video on YouTube. Video on Revver.

How To J-Turn (James Bond Reverse to Forward)

Performing the J-Turn

1. Shift to Reverse
2. Go in a straight line backwards at a good speed(higher speed for more grippy surfaces)
3. Take your foot off the gas abruptly
4. Jerk the steering wheel Right or Left (Left for an actual J as seen from above)
5. Clutch in
6. Move the gear selector to Neutral (BE SURE YOU’RE IN NEUTRAL!)
7. Clutch out and then Clutch in (This step is the double clutch, it will make the reverse to 1st/2nd gear transition easier on the transmission)
8. Move the gear selector to 1st/2nd gear (keep one hand on the wheel!)
9. Once the car starts pointing in the direction of travel bring the Steering wheel to straight ahead
10. Clutch out and Gas! GOGOGO

The speed required for a J-turn increases with grip. The faster you’re going in reverse, the easier the car will whip around, but also the easier it will be to lose complete control of the car. The first few times it is attempted, don’t worry about forcing the transmission into 1st or 2nd gear, focus on the speed and steering inputs (also safety!).

J-turns are not like the other how-to articles on this site, they are jerky and not smooth. Quick pedal movements and quick steering inputs upset the balance of the car making it possible to complete the 180 degree rotation.

Why Perform a J-Turn

Why not?! You get to look like James Bond doing it. While it is mostly a for show technique it does have a legitimate use: spin recovery. After a spin, you might be facing the completely wrong direction, and a J-Turn is a fast and dangerous way to save some recovery time.

So go out and find a safe place to practice a J-turn. A safe place means somewhere you are allowed to do this and has lots of space so you will not hit anything. Keep in mind it is much easier on loose stuff or wet tarmac than the grippy dry pavement we find all over. I would not suggest doing this in high center of gravity vehicles such as an SUV as the risk of rollover is huge.

Here’s a video version: How To J-Turn - The Video.