The trusted partner that is LTM Performance supporting me trackday after trackday after trackday

Many a time in discussing the results of motorsports endeavor,  there is great focus on the driver and the machine including parts used to achieve improvements in performance. Most of the time, the less glamorous but equally vital maintenance support goes unacknowledged when this is positively critical for long term care to keep the driver in the running over the years.

Since in Singapore virtually no one has the space to work on their own car, my work schedule definitely rules out wrenching on the car myself, I needed to look for a workshop that could support me in installation and servicing needs. I was already acquainted some years earlier with the head mechanic of the workshop Alvin and was subsequently introduced to Edmund who owned the business. We shared alot of common viewpoints and I'm truly grateful to his trust in me to run the decals of LTM Performance as a showcase of the capability of the business to support cars prepped for the racetrack.

Visiting their website at LTM.sg , we see their history from as far back as the 60's and their continued success until today is a testament to their experience and repute in the industry. The entire span of car related services are available spanning car performance enhancement, servicing / repairs, accident claims, spray painting, car purchase/sale and even car leasing. They have recently said their farewell to the iconic workshop at Sin Ming Industrial Estate Sector C and are currently housed at  176 Sin Ming Drive #03-06/09/10.

I managed to get some pics of the old workshop just before they completed the move and I was kind of sad to see it go seeing how it had become a familiar haunt of sorts for me.

Here is my ride in front of another S2000 awaiting our turn for some TLC

 

 

Some of the cars being worked on Continental, Japanese and even GTRs get work done here.

 









Even a Thai registered plate Silvia track car gets it work done here



Some of the past magazine features and history of their racing exploits







Showcase of the turbos on sale, something to whet the turbo car owners appetite!

 

 

Workshops in Singapore have had to deal with rising labour costs, rising rents and dwindling demand in areas such as modifications. LTM has taken these in their stride with the diversification of the business into areas such as spray painting and commercial vehicle maintenance housed in the the flatted Sin Ming locations.

 

Commercial vehicle workshop in the new building at Sin Ming Auto City

 

 

 

The spray painting workshop is situated at Sin Ming AutoCare building, right alongside the main LTM workshop

 



 



All prepped for the paint job

Spanking clean facility to get the paint job done perfectly

The main workshop for their car maintenance and operations also at the 3rd floor of Sin Ming AutoCare like their spray painting shop

Cosy waiting area while you wait for collection of your car

Yet another track car being worked on, this one being a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution deliciously  covered in classic Advan Racing livery. If i'm not mistaken this belongs to the owner of VP Racing , racing fuels and additives company, locally

The performance arm of LTM, obviously titled LTM Performance, focuses on maintenance and enhancement of cars much like mine and the vast experience the mechanics hired have in this line has been of great value to on my motorsports journey. I attended the Nakama R and Super GG trackdays to test out my new Ohlins DFV long stroke suspension which had been setup by SakeBomb Garage. I'll share a bit more on how I came across this setup and how it has worked for me in a following post but here is a snap of the suspension set as a whole.

 



 

Here are some pics of me making my runs during that those trackdays where there was a lovely variety of machines blasting away through the corners

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know Malaysian motorsports scene is vibrant when Ron Celestine of SpeedHunters is also trackside and I'm pretty pleased he got a snap of my ride

 

 

 



In the first trackday the car felt sluggish and only felt worse at the next trackday where I began to experience a fair bit of backfire or misfire. The oil levels had fallen perilously low which led me to cut short the track time I could muster. These symptoms were truly worrying and I immediately sent my car in to LTM once I got back from the track.

 

Their checks confirmed the compression seemed a bit on the low side although still within acceptable ranges but revealed my coil and plugs were drenched with oil (my entire catch can was full!) as the pic below shows

 



 



Some searches on S2000 International Forums (S2KI) revealed that engine oil apparently was not drained fast enough when it is on the baffle plate in the valve cover and thus gets sucked into the vents and into the intake manifold side of the engine especially when successive hard cornering is done. RAIN H8R on S2KI suggests to drill drain holes in the baffle plate allowing it to drain quicker back to the oil pan and road racing S2000 owners have had their oil consumption issues resolved when they followed his guide.

Here is the link to his thread on the valve cover modifications : RAIN H8R V/C MOD. DIY S2K Smoke Screen Fix w/valve cover modification

Here is the link to his video on the modifications:

Honda S2000 Smokescreen cure with the RAIN H8R mod

Here are his suggested spots to drill drain holes for the AP2

 

 

 

The mechanics at LTM Performance used this example and did the modification for me as per the pics below, following the guide that RAIN H8R had detailed.

 

 

 

Testing at the API Racing trackday, no issues with excessive oil consumption thereafter!

 

 

 

 

I later decided to upgrade my radiator to a CSF Dual Pass radiator to enhance cooling efficiency on the track which I will expand on later in a separate post along with the coilover upgrade but some months down the line had issues with high coolant temperatures at idle or low speed. LTM Performance once again came to the rescue by narrowing down the problem to a malfunctioning fan which was spinning far too slowly and needed to be replaced.

 

Here is the video of their testing which shows clearly the poorly performing fan

 



 

It's tough enough figuring out as an enthusiast the various chassis specific related enhancements or fixes required so the support that LTM Performance has given as my trusted workshop has been absolutely vital to my upkeep of my ride. There not many S2000s on our shores or even in the region and as such I have needed to many a time consult forums in the USA to get more information and have LTM act on it as best they can. At all times, they have gone out of their way to accommodate and keep my vehicle in the best of shape so I am proud to run their livery as a testament to their excellence in keeping my S2000 ready to race!

 

Big smiles from the boss Edmund and here's to many more years of racing with the strong support of LTM Performance!

 

 

Thanks to my partners in motorsports:

LTM Performance

Achilles Radial

Thian Seng Motors

Ardeca Lubricants Singapore

 

Photo and Tech information Credits:



Ad.Am Photography

aziemphotography

Tune Photography

#SYAZ_ONE Photography

Ron Celestine of SpeedHunters

RAIN H8R from S2KI for valve cover modification information and photos

AutoMoment

9tro

 









New beginnings, thoughts for 2017 and what lies ahead in 2018

I faced significant challenges in 2017 for my setup just as I did in 2016 however on a totally different magnitude and I'm not sure I would have done what I did should I had known the ramifications. Juggling my personal life and career was already tough with the car in its previous incarnation but the plans I had to transform the car necessitated sleepless nights and constant monitoring. This was clearly required much more of my attention and time so I am relieved I am past that stage.

Probably a good idea to get a tune done after so many years!

In summary, a rebuild of the worn and torn parts of the car was done, most of the car's performance was given a new lease of life in order to give me the best possible start to the goals I had set myself for the years ahead.

  

And what a start it was!

I had spent what seemed like an eternity away from the track and has totally lost touch with braking / acceleration points and but the support from my partnering companies had given me the ability to be able to hustle in just one hot lap that eventually counted for the win at MegaLap Round 2 2017.

A massive delay at the checkpoints, a Malaysian police stop that almost resulted in a fine (no idea how I wriggled out of that one haha!) and slow traffic conditions meant I arrived at the track way later than I had expected. The blur of action that ensued when I eventually reached Sepang Circuit involved setting my car's pressures and suspension for the track, registering for the event, getting safety equipment on and clearing the car before my class was due to run. MegaLap is one of the supporting events in the MSF Racing program which was crafted by Adian Yein and the organisation is absolutely top notch with the best emphasis on track safety and class regulation that other organisers can only hope to replicate so I was in good hands despite my travel issues.

Queuing up is a Singaporean obsession

 

Sitting in the car with a flustered mind, I had hardly a moment to reflect before the marshals of MegaLap began waving participants into the lineup. More than a year's absence meant plenty of the memory that helped me around the track was lost, I had to quickly pick up the new character of the new setup which would be a challenge for a relatively slow learner like myself and above all I had to manage a winning lap while staying out of traffic or trouble.

After a warm up lap to heat the tyres, I tried to get going but much to my embarrassment ended up doing a nice 180 at the exit of T15 at the end of my first hot lap thereby wasting the entire lap. It became apparent how rusty I was as I began to relearn the track while avoiding overenthusiastic competitors sharing the track with me who had managed to spin in front of me.

 

Snapped by a friend who had come to spectate, nicely timed shot Ken!

 

The car felt good but the water and oil temperatures started to climb higher than I had expected them and with my limited experience of this new setup, I had no choice but to limit the revs I could use to err on the side of caution. The blazing hot ambient and track temperatures could be a reason this was so but there was no real way for me isolate that is the sole reason. The Qstarz LapTimer showed me I had done a 2:38 and although this was not a great time, I had hoped the second session for my class would allow me cooler temperatures so I could eke out a better timing.

 

Live timing site was able to give real time updates

 

After some food I decided to take a walk to check out the cars competing in MegaLap as one of the big attractions for me as a particpant has always been the diversity of rides competing in their individual classes. Malaysian enthusiasts are a friendly bunch and I saw more than a few familiar friendly faces while being engaged with conversation with a few curious folks checking out my car.

 

Chilling the pits while resting

 

This Ex WTAC Evo looked insane!

 

 

NA RWD Street Class competition

 

 

Other classes were very diverse and there were plenty of other gems outside the track

 

Soon enough it was time for round 2 my allotted runs for my class and I got taught a lesson for my utter lack of preparation by way of a stumble due to the lack of fuel! In my haste, I was not able to get a full tank of fuel before getting to the track and this meant that I was running less than half tank by the time I was heading out for my second hot lap. The first sign of this came at the upslope at Turn 9 when the engine stumbled and I slowed down to try to see if it was anything else like the engine pulling ignition from knock. I tried to string together a lap more gently but it soon became a bit more common and I decided to err on the side of caution and end my run early. The cooler weather did not significantly alter the trouble I was having in terms of managing rising engine temperature so I would have to be content with the best laptime of the first run.

 

In the office busy busy

 

Overall standings looked like this

 

After getting back to Singapore, there was some soul searching to be done if I wanted to break my own personal records and hit the targets I had set for myself in the coming year. Outside of the poor prep which had cost me dearly as my pressures and damping settings were NOT right, these points stood out as what I needed to address:

1. Seat time was a priority. I really needed to get the hours down to get comfortable driving at the new limits.

2. A back to basics plan to identify my new brake and acceleration points would be critical and I intend to seek some form of coaching to unlearn my poor habits.

3. Resolving the issue of heat so I could consistently lean on the engine without being forced to limit revs which is less than ideal. This is on the way to be worked on and should be done before my next event.

4. Some areas in the handling departments were a step in the wrong direction owing to my over reliance on the conventional wisdom but its clear now how flawed that has been. If I had trusted my own feel for how far the balance was changed, I might have done way better.

 

OEM paint looking nice and shiny in the sun, great pic by BecauseRC.com

I am absolutely astounded by the support I have received in my journey in 2017 from my main supporting partners who have believed in me and kept their trust in me through this long arduous evolution that I have undergone. During conversations at the year end, we realigned our goals and I'm thrilled to say we have a superb 2018 to look forward to. This win is for all of you!

Some might question what exactly the vision for 2018 holds and here's a little sneak peek into what lies ahead for my dear readers. New partnerships to raise my setup to a vastly improved envelope of performance in my quest to reset the limits of what we think is possible for the S chassis, a thorough look at what I as a driver require to operate or maintain the car and plenty more racing in store so keep me on your favorites tab!

Thanks to the following who made this possible:
Achilles Radial for the strong support
LTM Performance for all work done on the car to prep it for the track
Thian Seng Motors for all OEM Honda parts keeping my ride going
Ardeca Lubricants Singapore for the Pure Sports engine oil keeping the engine well protected
MegaLap for the fantastic event, fantastic work by Adian and his team plus use of the pics
BecauseRC for the use of the pic