MarkLinRacing

999 Ambulance

2011-09-19T19:57:00.001-06:00

Recently spotted this 999 Ambulance in Taiwan during one of my Dragon Boat races.

The fastest looking ambulance I've ever seen.

Ventil Sauber

2011-08-29T15:52:00.001-06:00

Lubro Moly/Liqui Moly Valve Clean (Ventil Sauber)

This stuff works.

Threw a can into my parent's 2002 BMW X5 3.0i before filling up at the usual gas station. After driving around for a couple days I can say for sure that the car feels like it runs smoother and perhaps maybe even peppier. I'd recommend it.

Formula One racer driven out by trash

2011-08-25T08:37:00.005-06:00

My response to this recent article in the Calgary Herald:
Formula One racer driven out by trash By Paula Arab - July 27, 2011
Source: http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/Arab+Formula+racer+driven+trash/5168649/story.html

Mark Lin - Photo by Kyle Ho

Well, Calgary is losing a race track, which is being replaced by a garbage dump, and Allen Berg along with his school despite Castrol Raceway being developed 2.5 hours north of Calgary. I guess with all the tough luck and poor conditions of our local track it made him feel like it was not worth while for his business to gamble on a track that wasn't built yet.

It really is too bad, as he is the only person to offer this kind of a driving program locally. Allen Berg was also one of the few Canadians to have raced in F1. He also competed alongside one of my heroes Ayrton Senna.

Allen Berg is relocating his school to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. I'd like to wish him best of luck and maybe I'll drive in the future at Auto Club Speedway in one of his formula cars.

Flashback 2008

2011-08-24T08:56:00.003-06:00

Looking back on old videos of when I first started tracking; all I can say is Wow my driving was bad.

The videos weren't any better either.

Flashback to July 30, 2008

Local Support for Motorsports

2011-01-19T05:02:00.005-07:00

I came across a thread (link) on Beyond.ca that talked about local Alderman support for a local motorsports facility and decided to write a letter to Alderman Shane Keating. I sent the following message:

Alderman Shane Keating,

I read in a recent article from the Calgary Sun titled "Alderman puts motorsports strategy in gear" dated January 11, 2011

(http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2011/01/11/16849896.html)

I would just like to say that I really appreciate that several alderman such as yourself has taken interest in the motorsports sub-culture and see it as more than a group of speed-crazed reckless people. I have been using the Race City facility for the past 6-7 years (since I was 16) and on average I am at Race City 14 times or more per year. Motorsports is so important to me that not only do I use Race City's facility, but I have traveled to Edmonton, Red Deer, Saskatoon, Vancouver and even Seattle just to participate in motorsports.

I'm glad to see that there are those that don't currently participate in motorsports but see the importance and support a 'motorsports friendly' community.

Currently, I have moved out of Canada but upon coming back last week to visit, one of the first things I did was check the Calgary Sports Car Club website. I noticed that there was an event for Sunday (Jan.16). Although I moved and had no vehicle to participate in, a fellow member of the motorsports community whom I haven't even met actually offered to let me drive their car at the Sunday Rallycross event held at Race City.

I can also assure you I'm not the only person that has traveled from elsewhere, noticed that there were events in Calgary and found ways to participate. I have friends from Edmonton that do come down to Calgary to participate in events at Race City multiple times during the summer so I would not be surprised if you receive comments from people outside of Calgary.

Motorsports is not only limited to people that race either, often there are many other people that participate in a variety of ways such as volunteering or working at the events and photographers.

Although I have temporarily moved away, I still keep a close eye on the motorsports community and support it from afar. My hope is that eventually, everybody will be understanding of motorsports and know what it means to the individuals that participate; whether it be racing, participants in other aspects of the sport that make it successful and how it also supports to local businesses.

Thank you for your support,

Mark Lin

Website - http://www.marklinracing.com

Blog - http://marklinracing.blogspot.com

YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/marklinracing

Facebook Page - http://www.facebook.com/MarkLinRacing

Motorsport - Every Second Counts

2010-12-22T04:16:00.000-07:00

This is one of the best motorsports tribute I have ever seen.
'Antti' always seems to make some pretty good motorsports/racing tributes.

Motorsport - Every Second Counts Made by: antti

2010 CSCC Solo Sprint Championships - 3rd Place

2010-11-28T00:20:00.000-07:00

I managed to place 3rd in Group C this year, which was not as good as much 1st in Group C last year for CSCC Solo Sprint Championships and 2nd last year in Speedway Performance Time Attack series but it was still podium.

Even though I did not reach my goal of breaking into 1:23s @ Race City Speedway I did manage a best of 1:24.3 which was 'close'. Seeing as the race track is closing in Oct. 2011 and I've currently moved to Taiwan, I do not know if I'll ever get a chance to reach my goal. Despite not having ran as many events as I would've liked this year, I was quite happy with my own personal improvement and performance.

I do believe I could've had 1st Place though if I had my power steering which seemed crucial for the smaller and tighter track; Stratotech Park. My strong arm steering was not enough to combat the forces acting on the front drive/steering wheels. The car felt impossible to drive... which prevented me from performing my best.

The awards and year-end party was held earlier this month but since I was in Taiwan I was unable to collect my trophy. Hopefully I can pick it up next time I'm back in town to visit.

BMW / Club of the E34

2010-11-20T08:11:00.001-07:00

Seems like I found a regular meet spot for the weekends. Yesterday it was Audi and today on my way home I came across a bunch of BMWs. Unlike yesterday, there wasn't an identifiable group to me for me to approach so I didn't know who the cars belonged to.

As I was taking the pictures though, a girl did come up to me and started chatting as to why I was taking pictures. I mentioned I had a blog and wanted to take some pictures for it. She replied saying she thought I was taking pictures based off license plate numbers since the cars I was taking contained number 8 or 9 in the plate. To be honest, I didn't even notice the pattern in the plates, must be a chinese thing.

Apparently as she was leaving the mall she saw the group of BMW guys freaking out wondering why there was somebody walking around taking pictures of their cars. I looked around and still didn't see any identifiable group and nobody approached me so I assumed they were probably inside and saw me from a window.

Anyways, enough of that. I snapped what I could since it was starting to rain and I was unprepared for the weather.

Interesting color, a deep metallic purple with lots of glitter in it.

Brembos behind those wheels.

Sweet! AC Schnitzer wheels and brakes!

I like this Z4, especially the HREs. (girl that saw this car thought it was an Audi)

Another Z4...

mmm... AD08s...

I really like the AC Schnitzer wing.

Taiwan Audi Car Club

2010-11-19T10:34:00.001-07:00

While I was walking home from the gym tonight, spotted some Audi's parked along side the road. I decided to approach the guys after seeing this Audi with BBS wheels and Porsche brakes.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics.

Halfway through, something like an Exotic Car Club came rolling through... Porsches, Lambos, Ferrari, and what I believed to be a E46 M3 GTR.

I like these fenders, they seem functional and don't look as bad as my pulled out fenders on my RSX.

I'm no photographer, but I particularly like this shot.

Porsche Brakes in the front, Brembos in the rear.

Taiwan Car Scene 1

2010-11-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

Snapped some random pics over the past two weeks that I've been in Taiwan. Just cars that I saw walking around my district/area.

Not used to seeing chinese decals on cars... seems weird to me.

Ogura Racing Clutch? O RLY?

Hiromu Naruse - An Inspiration

2010-11-08T06:30:00.001-07:00

Lexus' Hiromu Naruse Tribute Video

This was a very touching and incredibly inspirational video Lexus created to honor Hiromu Naruse.

Although I am not very familiar with Hiromu Naruse, it was very sad to hear of his passing.
I can only wish to continue living my life full of passion for the art of motorsports just as Hiromu Naruse had done all these years.

I hope that one day, I will be as inspirational as Naruse.

October 18th - Civic Election

2010-10-15T01:54:00.004-06:00

It's true Race City is closing and that there's probably no way to keep it open. But there are other options.. if we have a Mayor and people on city council that understands the importance of motorsports we can keep it alive by having the city welcoming a new location for a track or allowing renovations to accommodate both Race City and the City of Calgary (Shepard Site).

http://www.motorsportcouncilofcalgary.ca

Please vote October 18, 2010.

Oct. 4 Track Day

2010-10-06T13:25:00.001-06:00

I went to the track expecting it to be low on grip because it had rained the previous night and that morning.

But since it was a track day and passengers were allowed I invited my parents to come out and watch. My first session out, my mom decided to come out for a ride along. She got a chance to see what driving on Race City was like and what a high speed slide + 180 spin felt like.

Here's the video clip from that day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLZcVxfiAXg

Sept. 27 - Event #6

2010-09-28T09:52:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was the last event of the season and although I couldn't reach my goal of running 1:23 on street tires, I still had as much fun as always.

The event proved to be challenging as there was a pretty good headwind which limited the top speed on the front straight by close to 10km/h for most people. Overall, the track also felt like it was not quite as grippy as the previous event back in August and the water over the first curbing in the chicane made it difficult to run a fast line through that section.

I also needed an alignment before the event which I wasn't able to get. Since my steering wheel became crooked after a track day I went to previously, I believe a camber bolt may have slipped reducing my camber and altering my toe which would've affected grip levels as well.

At the end of the day, I ended up running a 1:24.9 which was fine but it was not the time I was looking for. Just like my season last year, I came up just a little bit short from reaching my goals which is fine because it just makes me want to push harder.

Warm Up Session
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwriRolUQpo

Session 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FUPx52XIIk

Session 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmxKxgoia7g

Session 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR19zl6Ne_o

5 Years of MarkLinRacing (2004-2009)

2010-09-23T23:44:00.003-06:00

Currently, I'm planning on moving from Canada to Taiwan for anywhere between 6 months to 2 years. It's possible I won't be racing for awhile.

Car might get sold, she might get parted or I might put her into storage for when I do return.

Therefore since I don't expect to drive or race for a long time, I decided to document my cars and myself through my years of racing from day one. Also, my blog was created this year so it doesn't contain anything pre-2010.

First time on the track.. 6 years ago. At this time, I was 16, had my driver's license for a month and didn't own the RSX yet. Back then, it was still my parents new car and I snuck it out for a track day saying I was going to go hang out with friends.

The event went fairly well. I managed to keep the car intact and learned some things at the same time. I also managed to perform my first 1080* spinout off the track and into the grass. That was an unforgettable experience.

I continued to participate in motorsports since that track day and even during the winter with rallycross.

Spring of 2005 rolls around and the autocross season starts. Since I participated in 4 events through the winter, I couldn't qualify for rookie championships for autocross the following summer. I was pretty choked about it, but nothing you can do about it.

During this time I picked up a 'sponsorship' from very small local business called JDM Racing that only sold parts. In a short matter of time, I purchased Tanabe GF210 lowering springs, DC Sports rear lower tie bar, and an Injen CAI.

I tried to attend every event possible. Since I couldn't go for the rookie championship at least I could aim for class championships. I was car #103 running in CSS class under Canadian Autoslalom rules.

My friends Jay Hsu and Liz Lai pitched in for a spoiler for my birthday. I choose to get a Type R Type 2 or also know as the Type R Mid-wing. It was similar to the OEM Type R wing but approximately half the height. During that summer I also picked up a C-West style front lip.

That summer, I participated in the 2005 Canadian National Autoslalom Championships hosted by the Calgary Sports Car Club and VCMC Mtotorsports club in Red Deer, AB from August 20-21. I borrowed a set of Rota Slipstreams wrapped with Kumho V710s for the event from my buddy Anthony Lo.

Tried to do as much rallycross events as I could in the winter of 2005 as I was still new to the sport and could use all the seat time I could get.

In 2006, I was racing more than ever. Not only was I going to the rallycross events, I was always at the CSCC autocross events and even the Friday Secret Street Nights held at Race City Speedway. The Secret Street Nights would include a night of drag racing and the oval would be open to an autocross course. During the summer of 2006, I picked up a used Comptech Race Header and Ractive Fireball catback exhaust. The Comptech Race Header is currently the only mod I've been using to this day.

Sometime during 2006, I participated in a TSD Navigational Rally at Rocky Mountain House with my friend Paul Boone. During this event, in one particular location, the road was incredibly rough. Enough for the nose of my car it get a slight bit of air only to crash down and rip off my front lip. Which is why the following picture, taken at one of the Secret Street Nights shows me without a front lip.

Mark Lin (Left)

I co-drove in my friend's ESP prepped WRX at a WCMA regional event on July 29, 2007 held at Griesbach, Edmonton. It was my first time driving a WRX and I still remember the first impressions of being in a turbo AWD car. The regional event went really well for me pulling off a quick enough time for a first place finish.

My Class-winning Run

With some more experience under my belt now, I decided to take the RSX out onto the track again and unlike my first track experience 2 years ago, I managed to keep the car on the track and pointed the right direction.

When winter came around, I was at it again with another season of rallycross. I have video footage from an event on Dec. 12, 2006. It is currently hosted off my inactive YouTube account.

Dec. 12, 2006 Clip

Occasionally during a warm spell in the middle of winter, the rallycross course can sometimes turn into a mud bath.

Damn the over sized rally mudguards!

Over the winter of 2006, I also picked up a production class prepped rally car. It was a 1989 Suzuki Swift GTi with the 1.3L motor. This was a very fun and petty little car to be driving around. Although I never got around to participating in Stage Rallying in it unfortunately.

I did however, of course put it through it's paces during the rallycross events so she would at least see some action.

In the summer of 2007 the car saw a few changes. I purchased 2nd set of OEM wheels for $350 and mounted some 225/50-16 Kumho V710 r-comps onto them. The tires were buldged and wasn't a great match for the wheels, but being a student I couldn't afford any bigger and more expensive wheels. My car at this time also saw one of it's biggest changes with the addition of Buddy Club Racing Spec Dampers to replace my worn out OEM shock/lowering spring combo. Sometime during 2007 I also replaced my final drive with a Spoon 5.1 ratio gear and a Quaife Torsen LSD. I also decided to increase the power a little more with the use of Hondata K-pro ECU and Brian Crower NA cams.

Calgary group @ Vancouver Nationals.

Mark Lin, Top Row, 2nd from Left

Sept. 2007 - I picked up a used VIS Mugen Style Hood for $250 and was still running CSCC autocross events. At this point, about half the events have been moved from Calgary to Penhold (south of Red Deer).

Due to a minor accident from a freak snow storm late spring of 2008, I had to buy a new headlight so I picked up a pair of DEPO blacked-out headlight housings. I also later grabbed a VIS carbon fiber front lip for $100 off my buddy Aaron Appleyard.

I also bought a new exhaust due to the excessive noise my from my Ractive Fireball style exhaust which had no more muffling left in it. I chose to go with the Greddy SP2 exhaust because it was full stainess steel and had a large muffler and resonator which was good for sound suppression.

Winter came around and my friend Kasem Farm offered to let me drive his Skyline GTS-T one day. Pretty quick car considering it had a GT35R turbo. It was poorly setup for rallycross though. Had several things wrong with it such as lowering springs with blown out shocks and oversized winter tires in the rear matched with undersized all season tires in the front. Definitely proved to be a challenge to drive but hey at least I managed to get it to the finish line every run. I later turned one of the pictures from that day into a motivational poster to give to him for his birthday. I suspect that he eventually 'lost' that poster on purpose.

I had a pretty bad start to the season of 2008. Since I was starting to move from autocross/rallycross events to the track I decided from the end of 2007 that I would probably need a baffled oil pan if I plan on doing more track events to prevent oil starvation. Despite having anticipated I may have oiling issues if I pull high lateral g's I decided to go to the first track day of the season. I still remember the day vividly because it was on May 2nd, the day after my birthday. Halfway through the event, I started developing a knocking noise from my motor while I was going through corners 5 and 6 at Race City. I immediately pulled into the pits and tried to diagnose the noise. It was horrible... definitely something along the lines of a spun bearing. I decided that since the motor was toast anyways I'd try to limp it home. I managed to get it into my neighbourhood but then a few blocks from home, the motor seized. I managed to get it unseized and limped it the rest of the way. In the end, since I didn't want to replace the crappy K20A3 motor or bother to fix it, I settled for selling my Suzuki Swift rally car to purchase a K24A2 motor out of an Acura TSX. To this day, I still can't believe that I oil starved the motor since I was only running on street tires. I had not expected to pull high enough steady g's to cause oiling issues.

Learning from my mistake, after the K24A2 motor came in, I waited for my Spoon Baffled Oil Pan to arrive along with my Hytech Oil Pump so I would never encounter this problem again.

Despite these problems, I made sure it didn't deter me from chasing my dream so of course I continued to participate in track and autocross events whenever possible.

July 12, 2008 CSCC WCMA Autocross @ Namao Airfield Base

My first time racing in a rear wheel drive car and first time participating in a SCCA Pro Solo event was in my friend Philip Zhu's C-stock prepped Miata. The Pro Solo event was held from August 23-24, 2008 @ Hamilton Mills in Packwood, WA.

I can still recall how phenomenal the Miata was. The handling was crisp and sharp, the car rotated extremely well and had lots of mechanical grip. Despite my first time in a rear wheel drive car and at a Pro Solo event, I think I faired well. I managed to place in the middle of the pack running 4th in class out of 8 drivers.

Miata, Philip Zhu

I started participating in my first 'Time Attack' events in 2008. I decided to try out a different track by Edmonton called Stratotech Park. The time attack events I participated in were hosted by a local group/shop called Speedway Performance. Right off the bat, I was quite successful. Even bringing home some hardware! During Time Attack Event #4 on Sept. 20, 2008 I brought home a 2nd place Cosworth Piston Trophy for race tire class!

2nd place - Best Time of 65.141

1st Trent Oster, 2nd Mark Lin, 3rd, Conroy Ganson

With winter we see snow, cold weather, icy roads but that doesn't mean the racing stops. There is always rallycross, stage rallying, ice racing and... Autocross??

Jan. 25, 2009 - Namao, AB

Edmonton Garrison Military Airstrip

Since it was winter, it also meant the track conditions were interesting to say the least. Some parts would have patches of snow and other parts would have icy patches. As the day wore on these conditions would change, such as previously patches of snow would get compacted and become ice. When you hit cones in these -28*C (-14*F) temperatures, they don't squish, they explode!

Special Delivery!!

March 13, 2009

8 brand new Bridgestone RE-01R Tires in 245/40-17 from Tire Rack.

Special Delivery 2!!

April 1, 2009

A set of 17x9 Enkei RPF1 Wheels for the Bridgestone tires to wrap around.

Bought from Speedtech Racing Development.

Surprisingly, my first event on April 19, 2009 was not much different from 2008. Although I did not blow a motor again this time around, several problems arose during this event. Both rear wheel bearings started making it's awful humming noise, my Primary Wideband O2 sensor died, the tie rod ends wore out and developed a popping noise and excessive play. Despite these problems however, I still managed to scrub by getting first place.

When the primary O2 sensor decided to quit, it rendered the car undriveable. I would not have been able to continue the event but I was more worried about trying to get home since it was a 4 hour drive away. My friend Howard Choy, who is known for hoarding Honda parts, came to my aid by going home to grab a brand new O2 sensor even though he was going to be terribly late for his date.

The next Speedway Performance Time Attack event on May 4, 2009 I managed to perform well and remained at the top. Again, going home with another first place win.

Gary Roberts, Mark Lin, Philip Lo

I wasn't able to participate in Solo Sprint with the Calgary Sports Car Club in 2008 because too many members registered for the season which resulted in a hat draw to see who would be able to run to be 'fair'. In any case, I was able to register for the 2009 Solo Sprint season so I made sure I registered for all the events as I was disappointed from my lack of experience on the track and particularly Race City Speedway since it was local.

My car wasn't ready for Event #1 so I borrowed my friend Kasem Farm's Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009 Mobil 1 Solo Sprint Series – Event #1 Track Report
June 29, 2009
Jay Z., CSCC Solo I Track Reporter

“The fastest AWD car belonged to Mark L in a Subaru STi, running a 1:28.471. Mark was also the fastest driver who did not compete last year. Close behind Mark was Gerald T in a Mitsubishi EVO X, which a time of 1.29.898.”

Source: http://cscc.speedracer.ca/forums/index.php/topic,8906.0.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 14, 2009 @ Race City Speedway

July 4th Practice @ Stratotech Park

Kris Kropiniski, Mark Lin, Etienne Gagnon, Erik Samoil

The 2-day event at Stratotech Park from July 4-5 didn't start off with in the best of circumstances for me. The track was wet since it had been raining earlier that morning and still had a light drizzle. But as I was starting to feel comfortable in the wet I decided to push it. This eventually resulted me in going off the track in corner 7. Since I could feel the rear end coming around, I immediately started to correct. However, the car continued to neutral sideways slide and I eventually ran out of available track. I was able to drive straight off the track and pull immediately back on, but due to a improperly placed hay bale (it was literally placed at the edge of the track) I was not given any run off room and the RSX ate a hay bale.

Some of the straw actually pierced through my radiator which caused a pretty significant coolant leak. I called every available parts store within a 30-45 minute drive radius and nobody had a radiator in stock. Since I needed the car to get around, and to continue my weekend I resorted to doing the only fix I knew - JB Weld. So I pulled the bumper off, removed the radiator and started bending back the tubes that the coolant flows through and then JB welded around it creating a seal. Despite having bought a new radiator soon after that race weekend, I still haven't changed it out. It appears that I have made a permanent fix, so I figured I'd keep the new radiator as spare parts.

Still chasing my dream, I was determined on doing a full season of Solo Sprint in Calgary, a full season of Speedway Performance Time Attack in Edmonton, track days and driver instructing on the side.

July 19, 2009 Speedtech Track Day

During May, I also finalized a sponsorship with VEX Performance. We still currently work closely together and help each other mutually. The decals were finally made just in time before the July 19th track day.

Soon after obtaining my sponsorship with VEX Performance, I ordered a set of tires to replace my worn out Bridgestone RE-01R. I decided on going with a set of Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 tires in a 255/40-17. They're definitely one of the top summer tires available on the market and in my personal opinion, I like them better than my RE-01Rs. The Dunlops feel like it has more grip (although could be the slightly larger size) but one thing for sure is the tire provides a better feedback to the driver than the RE-01Rs. This could be attributed possibly to tread design and/or stiffer sidewalls.

July 20 - Race City Event #3

Wow, 2009 is just not a good season for me. During the warm-up sessions my car started developing problems again! This time it was hard for me to get it into any gear and I basically had to rev-match even with the clutch in otherwise the car wouldn't go into gear. My Event #3 was cut short and I didn't even get to drive for 15 minutes.

Turns out one of my clutch springs broke and popped out and was jammed between the friction disk and pressure plate preventing the clutch from working properly.

In July, I also started working with VEX Performance to secure a sponsorship with Mark Mendoza and Sean Fenstermacher at OS Giken. I submitted a sponsorship proposal in 3 parts. One describing myself and was essentially a biography including my racing experience. One part was for the current modifications of my car, plenty of pictures and what I planned to do in the future such as racing events, car shows, and modifications. The last part being what I could do for OS Giken, how it would benefit OS Giken and what I would expect in return.

The sponsorship ended in my immediate purchase of a twin plate unsprung clutch kit (TS2A) and a Super Lock LSD.

The TS2A clutch kit for my car weighed in a total of 22lbs. This included the pressure plate, both clutch disks and the flywheel. I was told that this was a Honda Racing Team clutch and at first I was quite hesitant since my RSX is my race car as well as my daily driver. However, when I got the clutch in, I was amazed at the drivability. Sure the clutch is a little stiffer and heavier than factory, but it didn't have chattering issues like some other aggressive clutches I've driven and was definitely much easier to feather and driveable on the street.

This is the OS Giken Super Lock LSD I was sent. In all honesty, this LSD was incredible. I was not expecting the performance gain from going from the well-known Quaife LSD to an OS Giken. This unit totally blew my previous Quaife LSD out of the water.

After my OS Giken sponsorship, as per our agreement, I started sporting OS Giken decals along with my VEX Performance decals.

August 16, 2009 - Race City Speedway

At the WCMA Solo Sprint Regional Event from August 15-16 at Race City, I managed to bring home a 2nd place in class which was also the 8th fastest time of the day.

I remember that I was incredibly sick during that weekend. I had developed bronchitis and had several nosebleeds every day. But despite this, I attended both events and even went to a Speedtech Evening Track Day to volunteer my time to help instruct participants.

My buddy Noel Jones shot the following sequence of pictures from that weekend.

Even though I've moved away from autocross since I enjoy driving on the track much more, I still attended autocross events whenever possible to further improve myself and to have experience with a variety of racing disciplines.

August 23, 2009 @ Grey Eagle Casino

Because of my previous racing experience, my friend Kyle Ho convinced me to try out formula cars. Normally, participants have to do a school before they can participate in track days in a Formula Renault car but he helped convince former F1 driver and school owner/operator Allen Berg to let me participate without doing the school so it'd be more affordable for me. I ended up going to their evening track day on Sept. 3, 2009. Even though it was a costly $800 the experience was worth every penny. At the end of the day, you were given a flash drive with your pictures, video, and track data from the Motec Data Acquisition system to bring home to enjoy or analyze. In between each session, instructors and Allen Berg would go over people's runs and make comments.

The data acquisition system can combine sector times to create your theoretical 'fastest lap possible'. He said that generally anybody within 1.5 seconds or within 1 second is a fairly consistent driver. However, when he took my lap to create this theoretical 'fastest lap possible', the time difference was only a tenth of a second. He said he had never seen anything like that before. I took this comment from him as a great compliment.

Mark Lin in Formula Renault 1600

I attended a 'beyond.ca' track day on Sept. 15, 2009. Since my car was out of commission and I had prepaid for the event, I decided to show up in my parents BMW X5 3.0 hoping my friend Chris Sun's cousin would show and take my spot so I could get my money back. His cousin couldn't make it however, so I was out $180 for the track day; or so I thought. I decided to ask the organizer if it was possible for me to take the SUV out and he said it'd be ok. Here's a picture of me tripoding in my parent's SUV; although people have said they've seen 2 wheels come off the ground that day.

Chris Sun (Passenger), Mark Lin (Driver)

On Sept. 21, the final event of the year for 2009 CSCC Solo Sprint Championships, I was trying to reach my goal of running a lap time of 1:25 on street tires in my 195whp RSX. I was never able to reach my goal unfortunately. The best I could do that day was 1:26.501, which was still a good time since it was a new personal best but it was not what I wanted to run.

Sept. 21 Solo Sprint

Despite having countless problems during my 2009 season, it ended on a positive note. Not only had I set my new personal bests at both Stratotech Park and Race City Speedway during my last events, but I was also awarded 1st Place in the 2009 CSCC Solo Sprint Championships in Calgary and was ranked 2nd Place for the Speedway Time Attack Series.

Soon we were seeing winter again... which means more rallycross on gravel/snow/ice!

Well, in this case, since the deep freeze hasn't set in yet. It just made for a really muddy course.

Oct. 18, 2009

April 2010

On Friday the Thirteenth in November of 2009, I took ownership of a Toyota Supra Turbo. It was mostly stock other than intake, downpipe, exhaust, coilovers and the 2 piece MazdaSpeed Wheels made by Volk Racing. In 2009, I just changed the transmission and release bearing to get the car driveable. In 2010, I put a bunch of work into it such as new windshield, a custom 1 piece drive shaft, Motul fluids all around, Rotors and Stoptech brake pads, Stainless Steel Brake Lines, JZA70 Torsen-LSD, and bought some Energy Suspension Polyurethane bushings.

Early spring in April several of my buddies and I went out and did a photoshoot. Pictures were taken by my friend Reggie C. Mah.

April 2010

April 2010 - Ray Hoang (Left), Mark Lin (Right)

After Forza 3 came out, people apparently started to see my car pop up in the game. I thought it was pretty cool that a few people tried to replicate my car in Forza 3 and other people have actually purchased it.

Race cancelled! =(

2010-09-20T12:55:00.000-06:00

Due to unfortunate track conditions, the event was cancelled and postponed to next Monday.

There was 6 inches of water through the chicane which made running through the chicane nearly impossible.
Water was flowing off the grass, up and over the curbing and covered 2-3 feet past the curbing on the track on either side.

Too bad, I was really looking forward to running in the wet today too. Hopefully we get some better conditions for next week.

Racing regardless of...

2010-09-20T09:13:00.004-06:00

sun, rain, or snow?

Time to head to the track!

Mugen Front Bumper 2

2010-09-20T08:58:00.000-06:00

Out with the old...

And in with the new!! Just in time for my next event in an hour!

Authentic Mugen Front Bumper

2010-09-19T23:14:00.004-06:00

My new authentic Mugen front bumper.. front nose vent filled in and where the emblem sits was rounded off for the 'A' Acura badge instead of the more square Honda badge.

Off the bat I noticed several things that were different from replica. One of them being strength and rigidity. There definitely seems to be less flex in the whole bumper itself no matter how you try to twist it or bend it.

Also there came with a metal bar that supports the bumper from underneath that attaches the bumper to the lower rad support.

Aug. 25 Drift Practice

2010-08-26T11:36:00.003-06:00

I believe this is my 4th drift practice event I attended. It was held in the Oval at Race City and needless to say, I think I definitely need more practice drifting.

Here's a compilation video I made from that day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6VEy05C-PE

Pictures courtesy of Dave Lawrence.

Aug.14th Update, Prepared for OS Giken

2010-08-15T22:24:00.023-06:00

When arriving at Race City Speedway on August 14th, I noticed that track conditions were ideal that day to run a good time. What I didn't expect was that I would run a much faster time that I had hoped. The OS Giken Super Lock LSD and Twin-Plate Clutch performed the same as the day I installed them a year ago. Throughout the day as I improved my times and as the track and conditions heated up, the SuperLock LSD and Twin-Plate Clutch continued to deliver a consistent and high-level of performance even as the car skipped over the rough tracksurface and curbing; especially the chicane curbing.

Watch on YouTube in High Quality

Even with the increased power and torque this year from the supercharger, the car was able to put down the power significantly better than my previous torsen-type LSD when I ran with much lowerpower. The OS Giken Super Lock LSD and Twin-Plate Clutch helped me runmy new personal best of 1:24.3, which was the fastest time in a front-wheel drive and fastest car on street tires by far. The new personal best was also able to beat many of the fellow competition who run higher horsepower and r-compound tires.

OS Giken Links - August 2010 Issue

MarkLinRacing.com

Mark Lin - Drifting?

2010-08-12T01:45:00.002-06:00

My 3rd drift practice event. This one was held in the Oval at Race City Speedway on August 11. Overall I had a great time and can't wait to get back out!

I over-inflated my tire pressures thinking it'd help me slide better and yea... I think I put too much air into them. The car drove really weird and was incredibly snappy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7VxQjOIC-4

July 21, 2010 Drift Practice

2010-07-28T11:03:00.001-06:00

Being the 3rd drift practice that I've attended I'm still quite new to drifting and I still have a lot to learn but I definitely enjoyed myself.

I was very challenging trying to mangee the straight and then drift down and into the infield through a decreasing radius corner. The fact that there was a lamp post on the edge of the track at the corner going into the infield didn't phase me though. I got a pretty good handle on it since I would go wide and drift down and into the decreasing radius turn making it easier to navigate since it wouldn't tighten up as much in the end.

After this drift practice, it made me really want to go to the final DMCC Amateur drift event to see how well I do in a nearly stock Supra.

I do have one picture that made it onto illmotion but I also have another picture that some spectator took.
http://www.illmotion.com/2010/07/illmotion-x-drift-practice-july-21-2010.html

Poly Rear Suspension Bushings

2010-06-25T21:11:00.034-06:00

Recalling how big of a pain changing bushings were, I decided to get poly bushings for the rear because I believed in the added benefits of running poly bushings. So I picked up a set of Energy Suspension bushings for the rear of my car to replace the worn-out factory bushings. I already have the Super Pro caster increasing poly bushings for the front so I didn't bother buying the master bushing set.

What can I say... changing them out was as big of a nightmare as I had imagined. Things did not go smooth from the start from having one incredibly seized bolt in the left rear of the car. Which we had to torch out and end up purchasing a whole new rear lower trailing arm because it was damaged from the heat.

Luckily enough, at least one side came off without a hitch.

Now that I have the control/knuckles disconnected the more fun ensues. The bushings are hard to remove so some heat was used... A little fire never hurt anybody right? The fumes of the burning rubber bushings were terrible though.

I would say this is the hardest bushing to change the whole rear-end. Mostly because the metal bracket that attaches this trailing arm to the frame is in 2 pieces which is press-fitted and glued together inside the rubber bushing. So lots of heat was required to crack it loose. Essentially, the whole bushing had to get burned out and you had to keep turning that bracket and prying at it to separate it into it's 2 respective pieces.

Here's one half of that metal piece.

Q/A - Why do I use water/meth?

2010-06-19T12:50:00.002-06:00

"Don: Mark did you install a water-methanol injection kit because you wanted more boost from your supercharger? how much of a psi boost do you get? so you use 91/92 octane? I have always been curious about why people install these kits."

"Boost" is created through the compression of the air before it reaches the motor. Generally this is done through a turbo or with a supercharger like the one I have. The use of water/methanol should not alter boost levels.

The reason why I am running water/meth is because I don't have any form of cooling for my supercharger. By running water/methanol, I can make my motor more reliable by reducing IAT (intake air temperatures) and will also aid in reducing my combustion temperatures and exhaust gas temperatures. The reason why water/meth is used is because methanol as a fuel has a much higher octane rating than gas you can typically get at the pump. This means that because you increased the octane of the fuel going into your motor you can run a more aggressive air/fuel or ignition tune.

Methanol also evaporates very quickly which does a good job drawing the heat that the supercharger generates from pumping the air into my intake manifold. Although ethyl alcohol is slightly different, you can think of how hand sanitizer evaporates off your hands quickly and cools your hands in the process. Water is used because water has a high specific heat capacity and provides an excellent source of cooling.

There are several reasons why you mix water/meth together. One reason is that pure methanol is extremely flammable (boiling point ~65*C and flash point ~12*C). It is also very toxic, I wouldn't want to get this stuff splashed onto skin or eyes or into my mouth. Methanol also burns with a colourless flame so there may be a fire and you might not even be able to see it. Therefore, by mixing it with water, it becomes much safer to handle and you can take advantage of water's high specific heat capacity.

Most of the really low temperature windshield washer fluid (like -35 stuff) contains up to 30% methanol by volume. In my car, I am running a 50/50 mixture by mass and I just get the distilled water for mixing from local grocery stores.

Need to remember too that when you use water/meth, methanol is a fuel source therefore you need a way to tune your car. For my car I have Hondata K-pro ECU which uses an alternate map when I flip my arming switch for my water/meth.