Zhong’s Car Before All The Fire

2006 Mitsubishi Evo IX GSR

Power

  • SpeedElement Built 2.0L
  • CBRD BBK Full Turbo Ported
  • ARP Mainstuds and Headstuds
  • Supertech Valvetrain
  • Kelford 272s
  • Nisei UICP/LICP/FMIC
  • Perrin Intake
  • Megan Racing Full 3″ Exhaust
  • Titek V2 02 Housing
  • Buschur Racing Ported Coated Exhaust Manifold
  • Deka ETX14 Mini Battery
  • S.S Clutch Lines
  • RC Engineering 1200cc Injectors
  • Walbro 255 Fuel Pump
  • Weir 12-plate Rear Differential
  • Perrin Shortshifter
  • AMS Shifter Bushings
  • AMSOIL 15w50 Dominator RD50
    Dyno tune by FFTEC Motorsports using Tephra Mod V7
  • 500whp/429wtq (RRE Dynapak) @28.5psi E85
  • 427whp/379wtq (RRE Dynapak) @25psi 91oct

Handling

  • Robispec KW Clubsports
  • Whiteline Bushings and Roll Center Kit
  • Perrin 25mm Rear Adjustable Sway Bar
  •  Toyo R888 255/40/17 Tires
  • Buddy Club P1 Racing QF 17×9 +28
  • Raybestos ST43 Front and Rear Pads
  • Performance Friction 2pc Rotors
  • Stoptech S.S. Brakelines
  • Girodisc TI shims
  • AMS Brake Ducting
  • Motul RBF600 Brake Fluid

Driver

  • TC Design 4-Pt Rollbar
  • Schroth 4pt ASM Harness
  • HANS Device
  • Alpinestars SFI 3 layer Driving suit
  • Alpinestars SFI Driving Gloves
  • Alpinestars SFI Nomex Balaclava
  • Alpinestars SFI Nomex Driving Socks
  • Kognition Design 68″ Rear Trunk Mounted Wing
  • DIY 3.5″ Alumilite Chassis Mounted Splitter

How did you get started tracking your car?

I started back in mid-2007.  I watched a lot of car & track videos from people I knew who were tracking.  Later a friend told me about this event at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, CA and said I should come try it out.  5 years later, here I am.  My car had 294 whp back then on stock tires, stock brakes and stock suspension with very minor bolt ons.  That was an eye opening and addicting experience.  I got hooked bad.

So how many track days do you have under your belt?

32, but who’s counting.

And what series have you run in?

I was the 2011 eXtremeSpeed Evo Competition Cup Series Champion for Modified class.  For 2012, I’m running in eXtremeSpeed’s AWD Competition and Extreme Time Attack in the Modified and Tuner classes respectively..

What was your scariest moment at the track?

One time at Buttonwillow, my ducting caught on the front right axle, which then severed both my ABS and stainless steel brake line going into Lost hills at 120.  I lost all brakes, front tires locked up, and went straight off the track over a blind crest.  I felt so helpless and out of my control.  I was just along for the ride, and that is such a scary feeling.  Thankfully, there was only minor damage and no one got hurt.  It was my lucky day that day.   

What is your biggest pet peeve when you go to the track?

That would have to be preparing the car, unloading the car, swapping  tires and at the end of the day, putting back on street tires, loading the car, swapping brakes when you are all tired and doing everything by yourself.  Do that for 30+ track days and you just get tired of it.

If you could recommend any one part what would it be?

If I had to pick 1 part you could put on the car, it would have to be a data acquisition/logging product.  It is so important, versatile, and crucial to your development in going faster and driving better.  It is like having a professional coach sitting with you telling you all you need to know.  If you can’t afford that, the next best thing would have to be a well positioned in-car camera.  It is such a great learning tool.

Any parting words for the track heads out there?

Make sure you save up enough money to track the car as it sure likes to eat up funds quick.  Quality seat time, quality seat time, quality seat time, repetition, consistency is the name of the game.  Invest in quality coaches and organizations that will teach you the fundamentals and steer you on the right track.  That is the most valuable thing you can do if you want to learn how to drive on  the track.  Practice does not make perfect, but perfect practice makes perfect.  A friend once told me, “You start off with an empty bag of skill and an full bag of luck, and you hope to fill the first before you run out of the second…” — so true.  Pick up some driving and racing books like Going Faster and Speed Secrets and read them before heading out to a track event.  Watch quality track videos of the track you will be attending, and just ask questions at the track from the experienced people.  You will gain a lot of knowledge.  Most importantly, go have fun.

What’s Cranking?

My built block from Costa Mesa R and D seemed to be a little tight on bearing clearance and did not last long.  Fortunately, I have a back up plan.  My old sleeved motor from the GD.  More to come.

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Angry Panda Racing 2014 Super Lap Battle – 2nd Place Limited AWD

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This year there was alot of development done to the car and stepping up to big boy tires (Hankook TDs 285/30/18) for 2014 Super Lap Battle. It was just Emilio Cervantes from 949Racing and the guys and gals from FFTEC Motorsports that came out to support me and my Angry Panda Racing car. Weather was fantastic all day long. Perfect for breaking old records and setting fast times. In our Limited AWD class, 7 teams came out to compete. Almost 60 teams came out in total for the biggest event of the year. At the end of the day, my driver Emilio Cervantes beat JC Meynet’s old BRP 13CW standing lap record of 1:48.550 with a 1:47.425.
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However, Professional Awesome owned by Daniel O’Donnel, who also came out was just too fast for us. They spent an entire year rebuilding and resetting up their new Evo 8 from scratch. They left no stone unturned and had a complete package capable of record breaking times. Their driver was Jeff Westphal, a professional racing driver who was also piloting GST Motorspost Subaru L machine in AWD Unlimited class.
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We had our hands full after hearing their 1:44.062 time over the loud speaker in the early morning session. Realistically, we were fighting for 2nd place. Not blowing up, crashing, breaking stuff was the top goals heading into the event. Next was getting a sub 50 lap.
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Before the day started, I had to swap to fresh Raybestos ST47 race pads in the front and bleed the brakes all around as they were down to 3mm of pad. In the morning sessions, we had a few issues to tackle, which slowed down some valuable seat time for Emilio. First was getting him to fitted in my car and adjusting the steering wheel length, sitting position. We ended up getting his wheel to fit on my quick release, which brought it 2.5in closer towards him. It was originally interfering with his knees and was completely unsafe and undriveable. So it had to be fixed. He is a lot taller than me, which was why. After sorting that out, he was able to go out in session and set a 51.5 lap feeling out the car. Later, there was a wastegate issue as something wasn’t tightened down, which allowed a lot of boost, which then blew a coupler off the licp during the first hot lap. That ruined our session 2. We also had to adjust the boost curves on how the power came on. It came on a bit too hard and felt more like an on/off switch, where you hit full throttle and you get some boost then all of it. So we smoothen that out with the help of Anthony Cardinale at FFTEC Motorsports. So far we have not even set an official time. Session 3, 4, 5 were the sessions where would actually set some times officially. We would adjust tire pressures after every session to dial it in a bit better. We however never touched the rear wing adjustments nor the suspension dampening adjustments and ran it as it was. The balance was almost there to his liking as it was.
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As Emilio was getting more comfortable with the car, he said 47s were possible after doing 1:49s in session 4. Getting on the podium as just a 49.xxx wouldn’t have been enough to be on podium. On the last session of the day, Emilio was able to set a 1:47.425 in a car he has never driven before. He told me after that session that he had a mid 46 in the car if he drove a bit better, but it is what it is. In fact he did 3x 1:47 laps that session, so a 1:47 was not a fluke. Hell, I haven’t even driven the car with the new setup so I had no idea what it could do. I was actually behind the pit lane wall, timing him and yelled with joy when he did the 1:47 time. No freaking way!! 3rd was just on our heels driven by Ivo with Renner Motorsports in their lightweight Subaru GC with 500whp. They set a time of 1:48.5xx also beating the old record.
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Overall, I was very happy we broke the old record with my car, but Professional Awesome was too far ahead and too fast and took home the AWD Limited Class win along with resetting the previous record by over 4s with a 1:44.062. All in all, a total of 12 drivers/teams did sub 50 lap times. 7 class records fell that day. Amazing!! The level of competition was fierce this year. If this same car ran last year in its current setup, we would have taken victory and the class and overall class record, but that’s assuming we had all our ducks in a row and all the variables like weather and track conditions were the same of course.
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It was quite clear where my car needs some help to make it go even faster. Need to overhaul the brakes to a Big Brake Kit, shed another 200lbs from the car using skin doors, carbon fiber driveshaft, BBK, headlight replacement skin covers, delete rear mustache bar and replace side diff bushings, remove the heater core, and sound deadening which can be done. Install a 6pt cage as well as a fire suppression system. Installing a flat-bottom and revising the rear diffuser would also be beneficial.
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Great job to the team and to all the sponsors that supported us to get to where we are today.
FFTEC Motorsports
Wasp Composites
Modern Automotive Performance
Mil.Spec
GF Suspension/Chassis
Massimo Power
Girodisc
Hankook Tires
949 Racing
ATP Turbo
Extreme Turbo Systems
TeamREV
My wallet :)

Thank you to all my friends, fans, family for supporting what I do
Here is the hot lap

-Zhong Cheung

2014 Projects In Review – The Good

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  • Tires
    • I settled on the Nitto NT01 as a reliable r-compound for Mod class in the generally dry conditions in Socal.
    • I guess my only wet tire fallback right now is the Dunlop Star Spec, but they discontinued any sizes that would work for me beyond what I have laying around. Not a great wet tire anyway.
    • I am curious about the Maxxis RC-1 Victra coming out in 275-35-17 at the end of the year.  I had a chance to chat with them at SEMA 2014, and they seemed optimistic that the aspect ratio would benefit my car.IMG_4643
  • Cage
    • We caged the GD at Pierce Motorsports.  Jim’s guys have done many well-known Subarus; so, they were the obvious choice for me.  As usual, I just copied the design used by Jager Racing.IMG_6479
  • Suspension
    • After a lot of frustration with my KW setup, I picked up Feal Suspension as a sponsor.  I now have their coilovers on both my cars and have been fine tuning the ride height, corner balance and alignment.  I’m looking forward to playing with different springs rates on the cars in 2015 and working with Feal to cook up a new camber plate design that will solve a lot of problems for the GD and GR chassis not currently addressed in the market.IMG_5417
  • Weight
    • Speaking of suspension, I picked up a set of scales.  I also have been gutting the car and adding carbon fiber to improve my power to weight ratio.  The GD is now under 3,200 lbs with driver and a half tank of fuel.  Sadly, my love of cheeseburgers keeps us above 3,100.  GR is around 3,500 lbsIMG_4948
  • Autocross
    • I tried my hand at an autocross event, but I do not think I will be going back.  It was a lot of waiting for a 40 second lap.  Still, it was pretty cool to drive on an active runway in Camarillo with planes landing at one end. IMG_4890
  • Presentation
    • I’ve been cleaning up the car little by little: reapplying vinyl bits, scraping out dynamat, updating driver pieces.  I am really trying to get the car down to what I need and nothing else.  Eventually, some rewiring may be in order.IMG_6537
  • Friends
    • As always, the car community continues to be my favorite circle of friends.  We have had some good times this year; although, admittedly, we always seem to wind up spending a lot of them on our backs.  I think SEMA 2014 was the only time we were not fixing something.  IMG_4951IMG_5507