Welcome to 618 Motorsport
618 Motorsport is an Adelaide based motorsport team competing in their Nissan 180SX Type X. The team will be competing in various motorsports including drift, rally, hillclimbs, time attacks and motorkhanas.
News
Tuesday July 20, 2010
During the time since our last event, Leon has improved the cars cooling by using pre-fabricated and also custom ducting to direct the airflow more effectively through the front bar, radiator, intercooler and oil cooler. Leon was also busy fitting a carbon rear wing to the car to create more down force to help improve grip of the car at higher speeds.
618 Motorsport’s next outing was the supersprint run by the Porsche Club of SA and Leon and Mettina were both entered to drive. This event gave Leon a good opportunity to study how the changes from ducting to the wing affected the cars performance. The Nissan 180SX felt good around the track and there was a minor improvement noticed when driving the car fast through the kink at Mallala – the car didn’t feel like it wanted to drift across the track as much.
During the lunch break, Leon made further changes, by adding spacers to the wheels to widen the car’s track. In the next session both Leon and Mettina noticed a reduction in oversteer from the car. The Nissan was running well until a large cloud of blue smoke bellowed out from behind the car as Leon launched off the startline. He immediately pulled off the racing line and returned to the pits where he found that the oil return hose from the catch can had split. The hose was repaired and Mettina did her next session without incident.
Leon and Mettina’s lap times were less than a second apart which ensured useable feedback and good discussion. However, Leon was again plagued by the gremlins and terminated his next session early. Whilst driving down the back straight, Leon become aware of a miss-fire from the engine. He eased off the throttle whilst checking his gauges and instruments to see if he could identify what was causing it. As he drove through the esses, the problem increased dramatically, and the car limped back into the pits. On inspection Leon found that the igniter and the nearby wiring had melted due to excessive heat transfer from the turbo. It was a pity to end the day this way but it was a relief to know that our problems were fairly straightforward to fix!
Since having the car home, Leon has replaced the igniter and moved its mounting location to help protect the part from the heat generated around the turbo and exhaust. The wiring has been repaired and moved also. On close inspection and assessment of this area to determine how to best shield from heat and protect the wiring and hoses, Leon also noticed that the dump pipe had cracked again. There was only two nuts of the four holding the turbo onto the manifold. Leon removed the turbo set up to replace the nuts and studs and resecure the turbo and a new dump pipe was sourced from MTQ Engine Systems. With the changes made, both Leon and Mettina are hoping to be able to continue to improve on their lap times.
Thursday May 27, 2010
618 Motorsport once again competed in the annual Mt Alma Mile Hillclimb with Leon behind the wheel. The Nissan was set up for grip and with the increase in power compared to last year’s event, Leon was keen to set himself a personal best time. The practice was run during patchy wet conditions which meant the car broke traction with ease. Leon drove the car cautiously, wanting to get a feel for the newest changes and set up of the car.
The first timed, competition run was in the dry, and Leon set down a new personal best time. Leon settled in nicely with all his times continuing to improve until the very last run. 618 Motorsport finished in the top 3rd of the field overall and with a new personal best time.
We were also invited to be a part of the Time Attack event at the drift supercup in which Leon again drove the Nissan 180SX. The car felt good with the increase in power but Leon found that the car was now suffering from a lack of grip. The car was also afflicted by overheating problems which kept Leon busy and prevented any chance of some good lap times. Leon has since been working on the car, looking into both the grip and overheating issues.
Sunday March 21, 2010
March is always a busy time of year with various car shows and motorsport events. 618 Motorsport was again invited to have their Nissan 180SX on display as part of the annual ‘All Jap Day’ held at Glenelg. All Japan Day was born from a crisis developing in the import motor enthusiast community. Local car shows involving Japanese imports were losing focus on what the enthusiast wants at a car show - a oppurtunity to admire and and talk about the sensational vehicles on display with out being distracted by gimmicks or high prices. Our car was only one of a few race vehicles on display and attracted a high level of interest from the large crowd gathered for the show.
Clipsal 500 is Adelaide’s largest motorsport event, with an average of 40,000 people attending the track each day. Our vehicle was on display for the second year in a row as part of the CAMS motorsport display. The CAMS display is positioned along one of the busiest pedestrian thoroughfares at the circuit. The Nissan was one of a variety of motorsport vehicles on display, other vehicles included an off road buggies, 4WD dirt rally cars and go karts. Our car would have definitely helped to draw people from the thorough fare and through the display. There were opportunities for the kids to sit in the vehicles and there was always someone available to answer questions for the viewers.
Aside from cleaning duties at the CAMS display, Leon was employed during the Clipsal 500 as a member of the crew for one of the teams competing in the sports racer category. Leon was part of a small team responsible for looking after one of the teams 5 cars which were competing. The car and team performed well until race 3, unfortunately the electric water pump suffered a fault which caused the car to overheat, ending its race early.
We would like to welcome MTQ Engine Systems to our team. MTQ are suppliers and repairers of diesel fuel injection systems, turbo chargers and suppliers of high performance parts. They have also just become a Bosch Superstore where they sell all Bosch and selected PBR products. We would also like to thank, Mark at Mobile Brake Repairs for working long hours to get the brake upgrade onto our car in time for the Clipsal 500. Pictures of the brake upgrade will be coming in the next update.
Sunday March 7, 2010
618 Motorsport have once again been asked by CAMS (Confederation of Australian Motor Sport) to have their Nissan 180SX on display at this years Clipsal 500.
The car will be part of the CAMS Motorsport Display to show various other vehicles and disciplines not competing at Clipsal. The display is set along one of the busiest walkways from the main entrance off of Rundle Street right near the Adelaide Lawn Bowls Club.
We would like to thank everyone who has been busy helping us get the car ready for Clipsal. Dave & Kyle at Vivid Vinyls for getting the car all stickered up with the new design and all the sponsors logos and also Mark from Mobile Brake Repairs who is busy trying to get our brake upgrade onto the car in time!
If your planning on attending the track over the carnival, make sure you go down and check it out!!
Sunday February 14, 2010
The last couple of months have seen the Nissan 180SX get a bit of a spruce up. All the decals were removed and the left front guard was repaired, thanks to Nick, from an earlier little incident. Leon buffed the whole car twice before working on the paint work with a hand polish followed by a wax. The car is now silky smooth and has lots of shine back!
A new turbo was fitted along with larger fuel injectors to keep up with fuel supply, a less restrictive airflow meter and a new intake pipe was also made. Leon had a new oil catch can fabricated which he custom fitted along with an after market programmable computer. The 180SX was then left in the hands of Simon from Morpowa to tune the car, in which he did a fantastic job. He managed to get the car to make a nice 237rwkw only on 16psi of boost. This is nice and safe as we want the car to keep its reliability.
618 Motorsport would also like to welcome some new sponsors to our team for 2010. Mark Povey from SA Motorsport Tyres will be taking care off all our tyres for this year. Whether it be for rally, hillclimbs or drift, he has the tyres that we need. We would also like to welcome AutoPro Clovercrest who will be helping us with any parts, oils and accessories required to keep our race team on the track. Mark from Mobile Brake Repairs has also joined us and will be taking care of all our braking needs.