1) It’s very easy to get overconfident
2) sunset (the name of the turn) is the bane of my existence
3) it’s a relatively friendly track to really test out what’s necessary to change on the car. theory and everything is great. measuring the geometry, doing windtunnel tests, analyzing gear ratios – they’re all great. but actually testing it on a road course – that’s where a ton of data come in.

i got Road Race Motorsports to sign my tech form for the track, I drove all the way up to Buttonwillow. It was a LONG drive, and the best MPG i got was 25.3 with A/C. I never hit that 26 Side note: if you do go up to buttonwillow, stop by willow ranch. The MOST delicious BBQ place ever. It’s family owned and has an amazing tri tip and an equally amazing beef and pork ribs and louisiana hotlinks

The next morning, I woke up at 6:30 ish, go to the track at 7, and prepare for the drivers meeting. 8:50 the track runs start. Being my first time at this track, i join the beginners group. My best was a 2:24 that weekend – not bad for a completely stock car. I never experienced the 3 second delay, but i have a feeling it’s because i short shifted on the the 1 to 2 and shifted at 5750 ish for 2 to 3. I bounced off the rev limiter from 3 to 4 multiple times though, and the car still ran fine. Throttle control was very easy, and i was pretty happy with initial turn in feel. the whole time TC was off.

As the track day went on though, i definitely felt the steering wheel could be heavier…the responsiveness of the wheel also wasn’t as good – my tires were losing its stickiness. The brakes were good at first but they faded a few times causing me to go off course…and as a result filled my interior with dirt and dust. ugh, detailing time.

The car kept its own against most of the cars. I couldn’t compete with a sc400 (which later spun out and never caught up to me again) and a ferrari 599, and very well driven wrx and sentra (yes a sentra). a modified and tuned evo 9 kept up with me, and i let him pass, but he also spun out and never caught up again. a friggin legacy kept spinning.

please go to the photo album to see pictures!

some videos here:

The Tsukuba Circuit is a famous race track located in Shimotsuma, a neighboring city of Tsukuba, Japan.  It is 1.286 mi long, has 32 pits and the longest straight is 0.272 mi long.  The track was established in 1966 with the aim of attracting young people to participate in motor sports but wasn’t actually built until 1970.  The track has a large variation in corners ranging from wide sweepers to hairpins, testing drivers and their vehicles.

Does this car deserve to have a color coded name that refers to such a famous circuit in Japan?  Yes.  A Million Time Yes! 

I have previous articles that explain the purpose of red.  To refresh the memory,

So fine, I don’t have 500 HP.  I do have 306 HP, and I don’t think it’s a long stretch to say that 500 HP IS possible.  But man, does this car get noticed.  I love it when I’m driving and people crane the neck to see the car.  What is it?  Who makes it?  It’s a Hyundai?  DAMN!  The ladies stare, the men swoon, the children quiet down for once.  There is an aggressive elegance in this vehicle, and what can I say, I love it.

Hyundai really outdid itself this time.  The Brembo brakes are huge.  Ridiculous, in fact.  The LSD makes it easy to bust a donut or a drift.  The self-leveling HIDs make the road in front of me bright and clear.  The seats hug you as you drive through the canyons and to the beach.  The Infinity sound system pumps with energy (I’m not an authority with sound systems, but this sounds good).  The fit and finish is much above average.  Somehow $29500 is more than worth it for this vehicle.

Power comes on strong.  Acceleration is amazing, and reach highway speeds seem to come at a blink of an eye.  In fact, I found myself exceeding highway speeds because you can’t tell how fast you’re going.  I went up to 95 mph by accident, and it felt more like 55 mph.  That’s dangerous (tickets are bad!).  The DBW throttle takes a little getting used to, and the way the pedal is mounted definitely needs getting used to.  The gears are very close to each other, and so that requires learning.  Turning, however, is perhaps the most amazing aspect of this car.  With traction control off, this car loves to whip around a corner with just a slide.  The tires are more than enough on the street.  We’ll test it out on a track and give better feedback and learn exactly what we need to upgrade first.

Hyundai, knowing that this car was going to be hot, decided to alot 2-3 cars per dealership.  Some only were allotted 1.  Others had none.  There wasn’t much choice as to which cars you could choose.  Some dealerships had the colors you wanted, others had the transmission you wanted.  And even less had the package you wanted.  Hyundai, in its method of cost-cutting, doesn’t allow you to build a car to your specifications.  You choose a package, and you can choose minor additional things.  Things like and IPod cable.  Or floormats.  Kinda crappy if you ask me.  But the package does include pretty much everything you would want, though of course there are a few options I wish I could delete (I hate leather seats and sun roofs).

Because of the rarity and the anticipated rush to buy these cars, dealerships were not very cooperative with pricing.  Some dealerships were selling vehicles at $500 above invoice.  Some lucky people got it, but pretty quickly that pricing was voided for future customers.  I wasn’t so lucky.  Dealership after dealership scoffed at the idea that they could/would sell at anything less than MSRP.  In fact, some unscrupulous dealerships wanted $4000 over MSRP.  Yes, $4K.  WTF?  This isn’t a hybrid.  Gas didn’t jump up crazy again.  A dealership even made it sound like they were giving me a deal, offering to not mark up over MSRP.  No thanks.  I wanted to stick to my game plan.

So I continued contacting places all around southern california.  Finally, I was able to find a dealership that was accepted my offer for $29500.  They were saying that it was only slightly above invoice, but they would do this favor for me.  Not true, invoice was actually about $28K.  MSRP was $29500.  After some talks, I told them that they would have a definite sale if it they gave it to me with the IPod Cable and floormats.  That’s about $125.  So yes, I got it at MSRP.  It was a rare car though, and it was something I wanted immediately.

This “immediate need” will be explained quite shortly.  Stay Tuned!

The model I got was the 3.8 V6 Track Model.  Weighing in at 3402 pounds, it has 306 HP.  It has a body-bending rigidity 24 percent higher than BMW E46 M3.  With 19 inch wheels with sticky Bridgestone RE-050A tires, a torsen LSD, brembo brakes front and rear, HIDs, and an aggressive spoiler, this car sets itself apart.  And being red, it attracts attention like nothing.  Driving from home to work, the number of people giving compliments and stares was amazing.  Perhaps it’s because I bought one of, if not the first, v6 track models in SoCal.  The driving characteristics are amazing: braking is sure, steering is perfectly weighted, seats are comfortable, and plenty of power on tap, even in 6th gear at 2K RPMS.

I’ll post up a story about the search for my car, along with our current plans and happenings with our new toy.  Gotta respect Hyundai now, it’s changing everything.

I understand the rear.  But if I put my front license plate on my dash, where it’s very easy to see, why punish me?  I not only find that silly, I also got a ticket for it.  And no, not a fix it ticket.  Under the rules and regulations, having your front plate but not attaching it to the front is easily fixable, and therefore a fix it ticket.  It is not a moving violation, nor is it a major infraction.  But the damn CHP still gave me a non-fixable ticket.

So instead of paying the $240 fine (WTF?) for this ticket like the passive Asian that I am supposed to be, I requested a court date.  I attached the front plate to the bumper, got the sign off even though the slip said it was a non-fixable problem (thanks nice LAPD guy!), and showed up to court on a Monday afternoon. 

Did you know if you go to traffic court, you’re subject to a ridiculous number of fees?  Actually, whatever the judge decides the final fine, you have to pay 240% in fees.  I’m not joking.  Why say one number and raise it by that much?  That’s like extortion.  Whatever, I was confident in my case.

The judge took one look at my ticket and responded, this is bullshit.  I’m dismissing this case.  Awesome.  That’s the same as saying, your fine is $0.  240% of $0 is —- well it’s supposed to be $0.  But there’s also the administrative fees of $10.  So I walked in with a $240 ticket, and left with $10 out of my pocket.  Booyah.