Monthly Archives: February 2016

CounterSpace Garage (CSG) is known to test a variety of compounds on the market and helps identify specific application needs for clients all over the world.  With this specialized knowledge, CSG is able to help competitors achieve their maximum potential without concern.  Brake setups are very complex, like any other parts of the car, and each application is tailored to the driver's skill set, car setup, conditions, applications, and the peak potential.

Winmax is an excellent brake company that we have worked with in order to bring another brake option to the table for drivers seeking a pad that provides great modulation, heat capacity, stability, and quality on top of a reasonable price point.  Today, we look into Winmax's W-series lineup and a quick spec list of each pad to suit your application.  As always, contact CSG for a quick consultation on the proper pad setup to go with in order to maximize your braking potential for your specific application.

Winmax W1 and W2 pads are exclusive to street applications.  As noted, the temperatures are excellent for street use with excellent pad life.

Winmax W3 is a great all around pad for street and spirited driving use.  It can hold up to novice level track abuse due to its stable compound mix, however, it is best to use this pad for more street use than for the track.  Always use track pads for the track!

Winmax W4 pad is a very linear pad with a higher friction coefficient than W3.

Winmax W5 and Winmax W6 pads are the dedicated track pads that we recommend for track use.  Winmax W6 and Winmax W7 should always be used with high grip tires to maximize its potential.  Having too high of a bite without the right tires can cause the tires to lockup easily and cause flat spotting for cars without ABS.  Cars with ABS can easily engage the ABS and cause overheating.  In other words, MORE bite and HIGHER friction compounds don't always mean better!

Please contact us on what pad setup will work best for your application.

Don't hesitate to check out our website to see a variety of Winmax pads that we can offer. If you don't find the right pads for your application, please contact sales@counterspacegarage.com!

Winmax Brake Pads - CSG

One of the major challenges with the BRZ/FRS, is the ability to extract heat out of the engine bay. While a stock car that is street driven doesn't have any problems staying within normal operating temperatures, cars that are Forced Induction, or are driven hard on the track often have overheating issues.

Another occurrence the more spirited drivers may have noticed, is that the stock hood "flaps" at higher speeds. There is a lot of air trapped under the hood, and to escape, the air wobbles the stock hood, escaping out the side. This produces a few undesirable effects: extra drag, front end lift, and a general feeling of uneasyness about the hood staying in place.

CounterSpace Garage (CSG) is proud to offer TrackSpec Motorsports Hood Louver/Heat Extractor Vents for the Subaru BRZ / Scion FR-S / Toyota GT86.  Through CSG's reputation of impressive R&D levels and testing of products and concepts, Trackspec has partnered with CSG to develop a solution to extract heat out of the engine by and to proof test their latest Hood Louver Kit for the FT86 platform.  With the proper models and analysis performed, it was time for testing of these beautifully developed louvers.

Testing was performed at the world famous Willow Springs International Raceway, also coined as "The Fastest Track of the West."  The 2.5 mile course is famous for hosting a variety of high powered cars and consistently sees a high average speed indicating a liberal use of the throttle.  With this level of driving commitment, many cars have heat issues due to the length of time at full throttle.  The stage was perfect for stress testing our BRZ with the newly added Trackspec louver kit.

The CSG BRZ was wired up with pressure sensors inside the engine by and outside of the car to identify the measured pressured differences between the two readings.  Tuft testing was also performed to provide a visual on the air flow over the vents.

Pressure sensors were used to identify the pressure differential between the engine bay and the outside conditions.  So what does a pressure differential mean for this particular application?  Before we answer this question, we would like to identify how physics work in this regard.

This phenomenon is quite intuitive.  Pressure is a force per unit area. In a high pressure zone, particles experience a large force in a given area (coin Star Wars meme?).  In a low pressure zone, particles experience a smaller force (the Force is weak with this Jedi...).  The larger force "pushes" or "overpowers" the smaller force, which moves particles from the high pressure zone into the low pressure zone.  A build up of air gushing into the engine bay is a high pressure zone (think of boost!) and the high velocity air flowing over the hood is the low pressure zone.

Now that you had a simple physics class on how natural air flow/extraction works, it gets a bit more complicated when providing real life application.  This not only has simple physics, it also has basic fluid dynamics involved with this heat extraction project.  FIrst of all, air leaking out of a void will actually create drag.  This is because extreme low velocity air leaks out of these holes and actually trips the boundary layer of the high velocity air traveling over the hood.  This mixture causes turbulent flow and increases the drag profile.  To reduce this level of turbulence, a solution is guide the air flow smoothly out of the vent and introduce it into the air stream with minimal disturbance.

Louvers are used to trip the boundary layer of air flow.  By tripping the boundary layer of general airflow, mini boundary layers are formed over each louver and causes a reduction in thermal resistance.  This allows the warmer high pressure air to move to the cooler low pressure area with less resistance.  On top of this, the minor flow separation at the louver energizes the boundary layer by forcing the free flowing air to adhere to the skin surface, thereby reducing drag.

Crazy stuff right?  This is just touching the surface too and it can get more complicated if we attempted to explain it a bit more.  So what's the TL;DR version of this physics problem?

• Proper louver size is required to optimize heat extraction from the engine bay.
• Free flow air over louvers energizes localized air and causes reduction in thermal resistance.
• Particles from high pressure region naturally moves to low pressure region
• Energizing airflow through the car and over the car creates natural forced convection (heat transfer) through the engine bay thereby improving cooling capacity by increasing the temperature delta from the power system to ambient temperature.
• All of these characteristics reduces turbulence and improves airflow over the car, through the car, and under the car which reduces the drag profile.

So now that we went over the theory, what was the actual data?  By knowing that dropping overall engine bay temperature, the larger temperature delta allows the radiators and heat exchangers to work more efficiently.  In order to prove that there is definitely a difference in air flow, measured pressure differential is required.  This is the data up to 130 MPH!

• An overall 43% drop in under-hood pressure at highway speeds
• 60% drop in under-hood pressure at 120mph!
• Tangible net front downforce (we had to add wing angle during testing to balance the now-grippier front)
• Increased cooling (less pressure under the hood = more air flowing through the radiator; more air being extracted = more air flowing through the radiator)

Besides an amazing large Pressure Differential, we noted that the hood actually suctioned to the body.  The BRZ/FRS/GT86 hood, and even the available aftermarket vented hoods have been observed to lift at speed, which causes a very small gap between the bumper and the hood.  This is why hood pins are so important!  With this Trackspec louvered vents, we can definitely see how effective the extraction is working.  We also noted much lower engine bay temperatures post track session and much added stability in the front.

So the real question is is this CSG approved?  Absolutely!

CounterSpace Garage has these Trackspec Motorsports T1 Hood Louver Kit - Subaru BRZ / Scion FR-S / Toyota GT86 IN STOCK and ready to ship.  MSRP is $329.99.  As always, our US customers get free shipping for orders over $300 in the 48 US states.  Alaska and Hawaiian may incur a higher shipping rate.

For more information, please contact sales@counterspacegarage.com.

We also have various Trackspec Motorsports louver kits available for the C5 Corvette, C6 Corvette, 2005-2009 Mustangs, 2005-2009 GT500, BMW E36 M3, and Honda S2000.

CounterSpace Garage (CSG) and ACE Header (ACE) would like to congratulate Michele Abbate on her SCCA US Majors Tour - Western Conference Majors STU Class win on Saturday, January 30th at Auto Club Speedway with her Scion FR-S.  Her car is equipped with key items including the all new Edelbrock E-Force Supercharger Kit, the proven quality ACE 4-2-1 with 350 Collector Merged Header, and CSG's Fan Shroud with high powered SPAL Fans.

In celebration of Michele's Saturday class win, ACE & CSG is offering a 20% discount off listed MSRP from ACE's website (aceheader.com) on all ACE Type-B 350, 250, and 150 collectors.  This discount applies to Type-B headers ONLY for the Subaru BRZ / Scion FR-S / Toyota GT86 platform with the FA20 / 4U-GSE engine on the ACE website.

Disclaimer:
ACE Header's listed price DOES NOT include AIR FREIGHT SHIPPING and CUSTOMS FEE charges.  The shipping is added at ACE checkout -and- customs fee is charged after shipment arrives to your doorstep.  The customer is responsible for the shipping charges and customs fee if purchased direct from ACE.

CSG Guarantee:
CSG will price match the TOTAL Type-B header shipped pricing with the 20% discount from ACE's website.  (ie: ACE Listed MSRP - 20% + Shipping + Customs Fee)

Please e-mail sales@counterspacegarage.com for this limited time offer and mention Michele Abbate and ACE header special deal.  Offer expires after Sunday, February 14th, 2016.

ACE Header - Type-B 350 / 250 / 150 (Shipping & Customs Fee *NOT* included in MSRP)
ACE Type-B Equal Length Header 4-2-1 - 350 / 250 / 150 Collectors

CounterSpace Garage ACE Type-B 350 / 250 / 150 Collectors
ACE Type-B Equal Length Header 4-2-1 - 350 Collector - $1380
ACE Type-B Equal Length Header 4-2-1 - 250 Collector - $1350
ACE Type-B Equal Length Header 4-2-1 - 150 Collector - $1180