Brian's BRZ: Painful Lessons in Lubrication

He’d spent years dreaming of driving on a track. Brian Armstrong had grown up hearing racing tales from his late uncle, a former professional stock car racer; and grandfather, a racer, mechanic, and performance engine builder. Even coming from good stock, Brian hadn’t really found a door into the world of motorsport himself. The opportunity finally arose when he relocated from New York City back to his native California in 2021.

Now in a more car-friendly environment, he decided to get a more track-oriented car and explore performance driving. It didn’t take long to choose a vehicle. He wanted a front-engine, rear wheel-drive platform and relatively low cost of operation. It was either the newly released BRZ/GR86 or the latest MX-5. The stars aligned when he found a 2022 BRZ in World Rally Blue in transit to a local dealer for MSRP. He put down a reservation site unseen and picked it up about a week later, in early December 2021.

In Good Company

He started with autocross, attending 4-5 events before graduating to track days. After a couple events, he found 86 Challenge, a local time attack series dedicated to the 86 platform and sponsored by SpeedSF and GT Radial. He started participating in the Stock Class, which allows only minimal modifications to the car, with the intention of setting a level playing field with a low cost of entry to be competitive. “The stock class appealed to me because all the cars are set up the same, more or less. That means your pace is primarily dictated by driver skill.”

The few modifications allowed in street class help showcase the BRZ’s brilliance out of the box; there are no drawbacks to having such a short list of legal upgrades. His car has the following modifications:

• Pedders Offset strut mounts and top camber bolts for -2.5° of front camber

• 17x8” 949 Racing 6UL wheels wrapped in 225/45R17 GT Radial Champiro SX2 tires

• AP Racing Endurance front BBK with Ferodo DS1.11 pads and Carbotech XP10 pads in the rear

• 7mm Perrin front spacers

• ARP extended studs

• GR Performance Exhaust

And he’s added a couple ergonomic tweaks: a shift knob from Ansix and, for a little added support, he inserted a section of half-inch yoga mat into the factory seat bolsters. It’s surprisingly effective!

In addition to competition, he also found community in 86 Challenge. Having faster drivers as benchmarks is helpful, but the participants also freely share information to help each other improve as drivers.“We record our telemetry data on AiM Solo 2 or RaceChrono data loggers, then share the data on Google Drive, so we can compare. It’s all voluntary, but we all want to help each other get faster.”

They were also interested in diagnosing some of the BRZ’s from-factory flaws. “We’ve also been collaborators in trying to understand and improve the reliability of the oiling system in the 2nd generation BRZ/GR86,” Brian continued. Two 86 Challenge participants had added oil pressure sensors to their cars and started documenting oil pressure drops on right hand corners as early as November 2022. After several drivers in the broader 86 community suffered engine failures on unmodified engines, including a couple who Brian knows personally, this became a bigger focus..

Brian’s analytical strengths helped him delve into the data and contribute to this effort. He instrumented his own car, with help from 86 Challenge drivers @nostreetracing86 and Miles Kodama, and published a video on YouTube explaining the issue with evidence from his car and two others. He also volunteered to test a prototype baffle from Killer B Motorsport and later Verus Engineering in hopes of finding a simple way to mitigate oil starvation.

Ironically, his engine blew the day one in-depth article he’d contributed to was published.

That expensive afternoon at Thunderhill East went smoothly until it didn’t. Initially, when Brian saw a pressure drop to 0 PSI, he first thought a sensor had failed. When he heard that terrible telltale shuddering sound emanating from his engine bay — the one he’d heard so many times in the big-hit failure videos on YouTube — he knew it was catastrophic.

Thankfully, fellow 86 Challenge driver Kevin Schweigert offered Brian space in his garage to suss out the cause of his FA24’s failure. With the pan on Kevin’s garage floor, Brian took a peek. It took two seconds to determine what had happened.

A small piece of metal had broken off the baffle and blocked the oil pickup. “It was a one-of-one prototype build, so these types of things can happen. Verus immediately accepted responsibility and said they would help with the rebuild.” They covered the cost of a new FA24 long block and, through generous donations from the community, Brian was able to cover the cost of labor and additional parts needed for the rebuild.

Second Stab

During this rebuild, Brian took advantage of the opportunity to make some improvements to his oiling system to try and increase durability and decrease flow restrictions, which can decrease pressure to the crankshaft.

His old oil cooler lines had been rubbing on a sheetmetal seam near the driver’s side headlight and there was insufficient protection from abrasion. It could have been a serious issue if not addressed.

Following advice from other 86 Challenge members, he decided to replace the lines with custom built Goodridge 910 AN hoses—as used in the GR86 Cup Car. These kevlar-braided lines are more abrasion resistant, but also feature a larger internal diameter, for less flow restriction. He also increased the size of the oil cooler core with the hope of reducing temps and reducing flow restriction.

His shakedown of the new engine, oil cooler, and a new generation of oil pressure instrumentation hardware at a recent SpeedSF event was auspicious. Everything worked well, Brian was at ease, so he pushed a little harder than normal set a new PB.

Brian’s committed to the cause. His continuing work with Verus aims to solve this starvation issue and the pair is planning to test a new prototype in January. They now believe the primary issue may be related to the oil returning too slowly from the heads to the oil pan, which the prototype attempts to fix.

The community support and innovation from the major aftermarket players have encouraged Brian to continue chancing his baby in an attempt to solve the problem which worries most BRZ owners. Undaunted by the big bang this year, he’s planning on returning to Stock class in the 86 Challenge in 2024. Consider it a testament to a lovely atmosphere among cooperative drivers and an exhilarating platform worth taking a few risks for.

You can follow him at @900BRZ on Instagram and YouTube.

Fenton's Integra Type S: A Change of Heart

“I used to be the biggest hater of FWDs,” he started. Despite his introduction to cars coming in the form of a Civic, he rapidly transitioned into rear-drive platforms when he took up track driving. After a pair of S2000s, he moved onto Porsche Caymans, 911s, and, most recently, a Subaru BRZ. What they all had in common was their rear-drive layout, which cemented in Fenton the belief that all other drivetrain configurations were beneath consideration.

Lately, he’s had a change of heart.

It was an unexpected decision to sell his BRZ. Oil starvation issues concerned him, but he had also owned the car for eighteen months and was starting to wonder what decent replacement was out there—something new, fun, and practical between fifty and sixty grand.

Actually, he was a little more particular than that:

1) It had to be track-capable.

2) It had to have been endorsed by Throttle House, savagegeese, or TheTopher.

3) It had to be at least as practical as the BRZ.

4) It couldn’t break the bank in the event of an incident.

Not much in that price range met his requests, but the faster Hondas, despite driving the wrong axle, were fairly close. But it was more than the drivetrain that deterred him at first.

“I remember when the base Integra was first announced, I thought Acura was disrespecting the Integra name. It looked like a boat; it had no resemblance to the DC2 or the DC5 and, I believed, was probably an overpriced Civic.”

A few months later, the Integra Type S was announced, and Fenton found himself torn. “I started to love the way it looked. Even though the general shape was the same, they tweaked the right areas to make it look like a driver’s car. This had proper flares, an aggressive rear diffuser, a vented hood, gaping intakes—it was unique and purposeful.”

“The Integra wasn’t really on my radar until, one day, I was bored at work and decided to configure a car on the Acura website. I specced out my ideal Type S, and figured I’d add my email to their list—why not?

The next day, Acura of Pleasanton, just seven miles from my house, contacted me and offered that exact car at MSRP plus $1,000 of non-negotiable dealer add-ons. One prospective buyer had backed out and my name came up on their list.”

At the time, he’d been considering the FL5 Civic Type R, though the markup was significant. Plus, the car has a number of creature comforts and tuning differences over the Civic that makes it a better daily. An Integra-specific re-tune of the K20C1 engine, shared between the two, provides much more mid-range torque. Additionally, the Integra’s electronic dampers benefit from new tuning to make it a more supple road car.

The case in favor of FWD was growing, but he still had his bias to overcome. “I used to believe that, if you cannot powerslide it out of a corner, it’s not a sports car.

However, he couldn’t find anything else under $60,000 that is spacious, has a backseat, has a manual transmission, is track-capable, and is rear-wheel drive. I realized that, in order to hit my price point, I’d have to make one or two concessions.

I figured I’d at least give the Integra a try. In person, it looked fantastic, and it felt like a $50,000 car inside. It was something I could live with on a daily basis. The shifter is nearly as good as a Honda S2000’s, the ride quality is phenomenal; with the dampers in comfort mode, it rides almost as well as a luxury car. It has minimal torque steer and phenomenal brakes. After driving it around the block, I was sold.”

He bought it that day.

Since then, he’s beaten nearly all of his previous bests. At Laguna Seca, Thunderhill East, and Thunderhill West, he’s beaten his bests in the BRZ by 2 to 3 seconds. Some of that has to be down to Integra having twice the torque, but, as Fenton’s learned, a FWD car might be easier to come to terms with.

“I can lean on the car more confidently, whereas the BRZ would break away more abruptly. I know that, on turn-in, it’s going to understeer, and while that might sound boring, it means I can get up to speed a little bit faster, especially on cold mornings.”

At Laguna Seca, he drove the tires off his car—literally. Underinflating the PS4S tires to try and keep them in their ideal range seemed sensible, but during turn-in to Turn 6, the front-right tire debeaded. “I only stopped a few feet from the wall. It taught me not to track 30-profile tires with soft sidewalls any longer.”

If there was one issue beyond that, it was the lack of support from the stock seats. “The OEM seats are inadequate for track driving; they are the same design as the base Integra with very little bolstering. The OEM FL5 seats are supportive and soft enough for daily driving and track duty. I’d happily exchange the Integra seats’ heating and electronic adjustability for the FL5’s greater versatility.”

And so he started adding the first round of modifications, beginning with a set of 18 x 9.5” + 45 Apex VS-5RS wheels wrapped in Kumho 265-35 V730s (the same as he had on his BRZ for fair comparison), as well as a set of Ohlins Road & Track coilovers.

The Road & Tracks have a reputation for being more road than track, but the Integra-spec 6kg front and 10kg rear springs are much stiffer than what’s normally offered. “The spring rates have helped a lot with tucking the nose. You can get consistent mid-corner rotation with a lift-off the throttle.”

Along with those mods, he added some Castrol SRF fluid and a set of Endless ME20 pads from RHD Japan since the yen is weak now. Their torque rating is much higher than the standard pads, which were at least resilient enough to run sessions at Laguna without fade.

With the first round of modifications in place, he took it to Thunderhill West and ran a 1:24 in his second session—some 2.5 seconds faster than he ever went in his hardcore S2000 on Federal tires. “It felt adjustable; it wasn’t a battle against understeer in every corner. You can transfer weight with the inputs and rotate the car in small, measurable increments. That’s something I find a modern GTI just won’t do.”

Most recently, Fenton ran Thunderhill East Bypass for a day that he found encouraging, if not a little frustrating. After spinning in the first session and getting the black flag, he found himself without traffic in the second session and logged a 2:01. “I believed I could find another one to two seconds in the third session, but one of the flaws of the car held me back.”

In order to completely avoid fuel starvation, the tank needs to remain above half-full. After dipping below the middle hash five minutes into his third session, he spent the remainder dealing with fuel cut. He couldn’t leave too miffed; he’d only had one real session to push the car, and with that 2:01 indicated on his Garmin, he’d already gone three seconds faster than he ever had in the BRZ.

Considering he’s only done three modifications and is already three seconds faster than the BRZ, he has no regrets. “I might not be powersliding it everywhere, but it’s taught me that there are other, subtler ways of manipulation.”

Beyond all this, I can drive to and from the track in complete comfort. With radar cruise control, lane-keep assist, blind spot monitoring, heated seats, a premium ELS sound system, and even a sunglasses holder—I’ve never been so comfortable on my way to and from the track before. Going from a partially gutted S2000, to my mostly-practical BRZ, to this, I’ve experienced three distinct improvements in comfort. Plus, I can ferry people around. There is plenty of space for four adults—roughly the interior space of an Accord from fifteen years ago.”

It’s still a little too quiet to hear with his helmet on, so he’s planning on upgrading to a modest exhaust that should make it easier to gauge where he is in the rev range, reduce backpressure, and find a little more grunt. That said, it’s not lacking in that department; it has more than enough torque to run third gear through most of Thunderhill West. Oh—it could use more front camber.

In Fenton’s eyes, it deserves to be seen as Acura’s flagship sports sedan—it’s a deserving successor to the DC2 Integra Type R. “It’s a compromised car at the end of the day, and yet they have kept all those compromises from adversely affecting driving enjoyment. To me, it’s the perfect compromise.”

Kevin Schweigert's GR86: Back to Basics

Kevin Schweigert’s fondness for the little Toyobaru products has waxed and waned over the last decade. His first, a first-generation BRZ, gave him that feeling of involvement that had him hooked. The lack of power led him to supercharging its engine and pushing power near the 400-mark, which proved to be a backloaded decision; axles and gearboxes needed replacing soon afterwards.

Tired of dealing with the temperamental blown BRZ, he traded it for a stouter A90 Supra that could happily handle 500 pound-feet. However, the Supra’s heft, increased running costs, and softer edges didn’t excite him quite like the little BRZ once did. In fact, he even considered hanging up his helmet.

Despite big power and impressive lap times, the softer Supra didn’t excite him like his BRZ did.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to do that. After getting a shot at testing his friend’s GR86 last winter, he sold his Supra and sprung for another normally-aspirated, lightweight, visceral, and raw machine. This time, another .4 liters will have to do; Kevin’s done with boosting an FA motor.

Without the former cars’ power, the new GR cannot hope to compete on longer tracks, but its combination of a larger motor and low weight is keeping Kevin quite busy. Significant torque increases and similar gains at the top end mean it’s happy to dance around in third gear in a way that the previous BRZ pre-blower never could.

Though power adders aren’t a priority right now, he’s planned out a few bolt-ons to get the FA24 making something closer to 250 horsepower at the rear wheels. A few duels with a lightly tuned AP2 S2000 has proven that it’s not lacking any straightline speed—and that’s with just a Counterspace Garage Spec Touring exhaust bolted on. This was done mainly for the fact that he couldn’t live with the digitized noise piped into the cabin. “It just wasn’t right,” he said.

He’s made good use of his connections at Counterspace Garage to get his latest acquisition into fighting shape—not that it needed much help. His list of modifications is fairly short, but the effect is obvious. “I wanted more stability and sharpness via the coilovers,” he stated. Thankfully, the ones used didn’t cost him much—they were once the coilovers he ran on his GR. “I had them revalved for 2kg less spring rate since this car is driven to the track,” he added. These CSG Spec Tein SRC V3 (7kg F 8kg R) aren’t the only hand-me-downs—he’s also got an OEM 2013 rear sway bar. Two hand-me-downs and he had all the pointiness he was after.

Stopping also needed some work. For Kevin, the CSG Spec C1/C11 pads don’t fade, last forever, and offer great modulation. Of course, a wider set of shoes helps there, too. His car wears a set of tasteful 17x9.5” Volk TE37 TA +44, including a 10mm front spacer, shod in 255/40/17 Maxxis RC-1 R2.

At this early stage in its development, he’s been able to go sub-two at Buttonwillow CW13 without wings or slicks, and from the onboard footage, it’s not hard to see why. Assuming the angles are kept reasonably shallow, the car can be shimmied in on the brakes and wiggled through the middle of the corner—several times if necessary—to get through the corner quickly and stylishly. The straightline speed isn’t anywhere near as great as his Supra’s, which also likes to dance around in this fashion, but the GR’s low weight, moderate power, and greater communication makes it a more involving drive.

“It’s pretty much telepathic,” Kevin adds.

It’s got the right sort of rack as well as all the sensory inputs needed to keep an aggressive driver completely engaged and satisfied—straightline speeds be damned. An audible beep every time he nears redline, plus a rife bolt-like throw of the gear lever help the 2.4-liter motor stay in its ideal range. Again, this engine’s not a top-end screamer, but the added displacement means the ratios don’t need to be shuffled through so frequently, and that rear end will move around just a little more with some third-gear stabs of the throttle.

That willingness to rotate, plus some mild engine tuning and a few aerodynamic additions might make this GR a contender for the S4 title. Will Kevin take the crown? It’s hard to say, but it’s definitely in the realm of possibility. What’s certain is that he’s rediscovered his love for tracking—and that’s what matters.