Author: occamsracers

The Veloster N has electronically controlled shocks that dictate how the car rides in normal driving situations, and then changes the damping automagically whenever the system detects the need to do so. It’s a sophisticated system that allows the car to have both Jekyll and Hyde personalities, without the driver ever being aware that this transformation is happening instantaneously, behind the scenes.

This split personality has three pre-programmed modes, which are selected by using the different drive modes on the steering wheel. Or if you go into N Custom mode, you can choose the suspension setting you want in that mode, and save it. The three modes are:

• Normal – This setting is mostly Jekyll, and works great for everyday driving. But when the car detects a handling event, there’s enough Hyde personality to compensate. This is my preferred mode on a wet or bumpy track.
• Sport – This is quite a bit firmer, and so I don’t use this on the street. But it’s a good setting for both Jekyll and Hyde, as long as you have a smooth and dry track.
• Sport+ – At this setting, Dr Jekyll is an ornery pain in the ass, and My Hyde is an unpredictable and dangerous monster. I never use this, it’s awful.

In essence, the system gives you a three way switch. But since the shocks are controlled electronically, it makes sense that you could have the equivalent of a dimmer switch instead. This way you could set the firmness anywhere you want. For example, I’d like one mode that’s softer than the Normal. My daily driving includes many potholes, recessed manhole covers, potholes, bad pavement, and more potholes.

I’d also like a track-only mode that allows me to tune the suspension somewhere in between Normal and Sport. I also want to adjust the front and rear shocks independently, because on a FWD car, setting the rear shocks a bit firmer can help a lot with rotation.

The Mando ECS10 suspension controller allows you to do exactly that. It’s essentially a Bluetooth potentiometer that allows you to set the suspension softer, firmer, or anywhere in between. More importantly, you can set the front and rear independently. And in Advanced mode, you can even set the damping at different speeds!

Installation

It took me about an hour to install it, but it’s really a 30 minute job. You need to remove the steering wheel cowl, unplug a harness and plug in a piggy back harness that goes into the Mando brain unit.

The Mando has one wire that needs power, and so you’ll need to provide a fuse doubler for that. I jumped the interior light fuse, but there are plenty of candidates in the fuse box. Once it’s hooked up, you’ll see a green light indicating the unit is on. I mounted the Mando inside the fusebox area with some zip ties; it’s completely out of sight.

You access the ECS10 using a Bluetooth phone app. The app is a little quirky the first time you use it, it keeps saying that it’s not connected or some such. But be patient and you’ll figure it out, it’s just like most motorsports apps in this way.

How it works

Once in the app, the controller allows you change the settings for Ride and Handling. This is exactly what the shocks were doing all along, but now you have precise control over how much Jekyll and how much Hyde.

• Ride is the normal driving mode. It’s active whenever there are no Handling events.
• Handling mode is triggered by an event. This could be hard acceleration or braking, changes in steering angle or speed, changes in yaw, swilling a potion, etc. Out comes My Hyde.

The shocks go into Handling mode in milliseconds whenever one of those events is detected. It’s not clear on what triggers going back to Ride mode, perhaps just an interval of time with no more Handling events.

In both Ride and Handling modes, only the low-speed compression damping is adjusted. This doesn’t mean low vehicle speed; it means the shock has a single curve for damping. A dual-adjustable shock would have more sophisticated digressive damping, with low and high speed curves that absorb sharp impacts like curbing differently.

But the shocks aren’t that sophisticated, and so while we don’t get two damping curves, we do get to control the compression damping over two driving situations, normal (ride) and sporty (handling).

The controller allows you to set the compression from 0 to 100 for both Ride and Handling. Hereafter I’m going to refer to these numerical settings as percentages, because these go from 0 to 100. But 0% is not a blown shock absorber and 100% is not locked out suspension. These are just a range of numbers based on who knows what, and I’m calling it a percentage.

Pre-programmed settings

The Mando ECS10 comes with three pre-programmed modes. Although the names are similar to the Veloster’s suspension menu, I don’t know for sure if the settings within these modes are exactly the same.

• Comfort – I haven’t tested this vs Normal mode, as I made my own custom mode that’s as soft as it goes.
• Sport – I tried this once, it seemed similar to Sport mode in the Veloster, but I didn’t evaluate this much considering there are custom settings available, and that’s the whole point of the ECS10 controller.
• Sport+ – The Veloster’s Sport+ mode is useless and dare I say, dangerous. So I avoided this mode altogether in the Mando; once bitten, twice shy.

Custom settings

In addition to the pre-programmed modes, there are three user configurable custom settings. This is where the fun (and confusion) begins.

Luckily a user on the Veloster N forum who goes by ProjectVeloN went through an exhaustive process to determine what the Ride settings control (see parts 1, 2, 3.) He did this street driving, not on a race track, but the data and insights were still very valuable. Generally he found the following.

• Changes at the lower end of the scale were more significant. So going from 10% to 20% was a larger difference than going from 60% to 70%.
• He found that the rear shocks should be set slightly stiffer than the front: If the front Ride setting is 10% or less, multiply rear by 1.5; For front in the 10-20% range, multiply rear by 1.3-1.4; For front 20-30%, multiply rear by 1.2-1.3.

With that information, I started to experiment both on the street and on the track. I set the Ride to the following:

• F0%, R5% – This was too floaty for anything but street driving, but what a difference! More on this later.
• F10%, R15% – Feels too soft on track, and I preferred it softer still on the street.
• F20%, R25%: Still not stiff enough for track work.

For Handling events, I started with 60F, 80R, and then gradually softened both ends.

• F60%, R80% – Pretty terrible.
• F40%, R55% – Better, but needing fine tuning.
• F35%, R50% – Good for a bumpy tracks or rain.

My custom settings

You can save your custom settings and give them a descriptive name; I went with Buick, Track, and Rain.

• Buick – This is my daily mode (I don’t daily this car, but when I drive it around town, this is the setting I use).
• Track – My track mode for dry conditions.
• Rain – This is for driving on a wet race track, not on the street, where I always use Buick.

Buick

My philosophy for this setting was to make the car as plush as possible. I don’t foresee needing any handling events in this mode, but just in case I need to run from the cops, I changed the handling to base track settings.

1. Mode: Basic
2. Ride: Front 0%, Rear 5%. I’ve tried the rear at full soft as well, but I can’t tell much difference.
3. Handling: Front 30%, Rear 50%. This is an all-purpose track setting, which probably (hopefully) won’t be triggered during street driving.

Rain

My philosophy for this setting was to make the car as predictable as possible. Since I would only be using this on a race track, I could set the Ride and Handling settings to be identical. This should (in theory) keep the car from behaving differently when it kicks into a handling event.

1. Mode: Basic
2. Ride and Handling: Front 35%, Rear 50%.

Track (basic)

Before I got the Mando I used Normal mode for wet weather and Sport for dry and smooth tracks (Watkins Glen). For dry tracks with some undulations (Pineview, NYST), I flip-flopped between Normal and Sport without a clear indicator of which was better.

With the Mando I began to experiment a lot more, but I still haven’t figured out exactly what I like, other than a firmer rear. My Rain setting is honestly quite good all around. Bumping up both ends by 5% in the dry work great, but I haven’t found a full stiff setting that I like.

Track (advanced)

Advanced mode allows you to change the damping at different speeds. I don’t have enough data to say that the Advanced mode is better than Basic, but it surely has potential. Here’s how Advanced differs.

• You define different speed zones on a chart (see image).
• You can then set the compression damping at each speed, both front and rear, for both ride and handling.

This means you could do something like set front compression to 40% at 50 kph, and then at and 55 kph it bumps up to 50% front, and then at 60 kph it goes back down to 40% again. I don’t know why someone would do that, but it’s possible.

A better approach might be to set a low-speed zone where the front is medium-soft, say 35%, and the rear is much harder at like 60%. At lower speeds, you want the car to pivot more, and the imbalance in front/rear compression should help that.

Similarly, you might define a medium-speed zone where most of the corners are, say around 100 kph. At this speed you ramp up the compression of the front and rear, but more front, to gain some predictability in turn-in. Because you want balanced handling for the average corner, you set the rear to be just more than the front.

Finally you set a high-speed zone where the front and rear compression are both a little softer. This is so you don’t upset the chassis at high speed, or some such logic. This is depicted below.

The previous logic might make sense for defining three speed zones, but the ECS10 allows you to set five different speeds. These are completely custom, you can set them anywhere you want on the graph.

A neat usecase for this would be setting the suspension up for basic track work, but there’s one corner, like a bumpy fast kink or bit of bit curbing you hit at a particular speed, and you soften the suspension for that one event (speed). You could go pretty far into the weeds with this shit, fine-tuning the suspension for different tracks and specific corners, with a log book for every track.

Conclusion

If you daily your Veloster N (or Kona N) on shitty roads, the Mando ECS10 might be the best modification you can make. It has transformed my car from a being uncomfortably stiff to acceptably compliant. The change is more significant than going from 235/35R19 tires on OE wheels to 235/40R18 tires on lightweight wheels. Combine the Mando with the increased sidewall height and it’s like a totally different car.

On the race track, the Mando has allowed me to unlock much better handling balance, even just using the Basic settings. My suspension is otherwise completely stock, and the car handles just incredibly, with laugh-out-loud four-wheel drifts.

As for the Advanced settings, I’m still on the fence. Having the ability to control damping at different speeds sounds incredible, but is the complexity really worth it? I’m not sure yet.

I don’t know how the ECS10 would handle things like lowering springs, stiffer spring rates, sway bars, and other seasonings, but I can imagine the ability to tune all of those things together with the Advanced damping options could get very rewarding. And very complex.

Although this also reminds me of my youth as a twenty something living in Seattle. I was the guitarist in a punk/grunge band playing a Gibson Les Paul through a vintage Fender Bassman head. The Fender had a nice warm sound, to which I added a Rat rack-mount distortion pedal with three options (A, B, and stacking A+B). This gave me four different voicing options: clean, bluesy, sludge, and heavier than fucking dinosaurs.

Later I got a Mesa Boogie Studio amp with switchable channels, preamp inputs (for the Rat), and a built-in graphic EQ. There were so many good sounds coming out of that thing that I could never really settle on what I liked. I was like the proverbial donkey that starves to death deciding between two piles of hay. Except there were 10 piles of hay. A couple years later I sold the Boogie and kept the Bassman.

Maybe the Mando’s Advanced mode is like the Mesa Boogie? I don’t know yet, but being able to set five different speeds of my choosing, and then front and rear and ride and handling at each speed… well it’s going to take a lot of experimenting to get everything out of this. I’ll certainly document this journey, but I won’t be surprised if I wind up with a track mode that’s 35% front, 50% rear, at all speeds.

But honestly, the Buick mode is reason enough.

I’ve tested several tires on my Veloster N over the past two years and have pulled that data together for this comparison article. The tires were tested on different dates and in different conditions, but I use the same Pirelli P Zero PZ4 control tire to normalize the lap times, and I feel that that all the data can be compared pretty equally.

Note that my Veloster N is a dual-duty car with camber bolts netting -1.8 degrees of camber, but is still on OE suspension. A more track focused setup with coilovers would be able to exploit better suspension and alignment settings, and get more performance out of softer tires. But I haven’t gone down that road yet, and so this tire test should be thought of as applicable to a trackable street car, rather than a streetable track car.

I’ve put the tires in this article into four categories, and noted the best rolling lap time for each. At the end you’ll find a summary table listing predicted lap and something I’m calling compiled lap, as well.

Pirelli PZero PZ4 vs Michelin Pilot Super Sport

My control tire is the Pirelli PZero PZ4, which came as original equipment on my Veloster N. It’s an excellent rain tire, but has mush sidewalls and wears out a little too quickly on a dry track. As a result, I don’t use them much other than for benchmarking other tires.

I killed the first set of PZ4s in the OE 235/35R19 size, and probably wouldn’t have bought them again, but saw the 18” tires on ridiculous sale. I couldn’t help myself, but this time I got them in 235/40R18 and mounted them on 18×8.5 +45 wheels.

Another tire that came as original equipment on the Veloster N was the Michelin Pilot Super Sport. But this tire was on the non-Performance Pack version, which had 25 hp less, no eLSD, smaller brakes, and smaller tires. I got a set of PSS for free on Marketplace with about half their life remaining and figured I should compare stock vs stock. These came in a narrower 225/40R18 size, but I mounted these on 18×8.5 +45 wheels. Thus, I can do a fairly direct comparison between PZ4 and PSS, but only if I ignore the fact that the PSS is 10mm narrower.

In terms of lap times, it was a wash, as the PZ4 and PSS performed identically in lap times. The .03 seconds between them equatable to noise from any number of variables, such as air and track temperature, rubber on the track, driver consistency, etc. For a 300 TW tire, I’d take the PSS in the dry and the PZ4 in the wet, but neither is really a track tire.

• Pilot Super Sport (45.207) – I like the way these feel at the limit, but the audible feedback is a little strange, being more of a protesting whine than a loud shriek.
• Pirelli P Zero PZ4 (45.170 and 45.176) – The PZ4 gives an earlier warning and they are louder, so they give a better indication of the approaching limit. The sidewalls are too soft and so limit handling is a little compromised, but I’d still drive these all day. I tested these tires twice, a year apart, and they were .006 seconds apart. Given that the lap times, rolling lap, and predicted lap are all within .01%, I feel confident that my PZ4 benchmark laps can be used to equate the various tires to each other. So let’s take a look at those tests.

Armstrong Blu Trac Race vs Atlas Force UHP vs Linglong Crosswind

The next three tires I’ll examine are budget tires, and they are the slowest by a fair margin. But they are also the most fun! They slide early and make a lot of noise, and I can do four-wheel drifts in my FWD hatchback.

• Blu Trac Race (46.247) – Armstrong left the e off of Blue, the k off of Track, and the grip off a 200TW tire. In lap times, it performed in between the two all-season tires I tested, and it’s a joke to classify it as a 200. Certainly the tread pattern looks the part, but these are all-season grip levels.
• Atlas Force UHP (46.450) – I wanted to try these budget all-season tires because Jonathan Benson (Tyre Reviews) raved about their track handling in his video review. He says that the Atlas Force punches well above its weight and was fun to drive. I agree. But it was also the slowest tire here. At 520 treadwear, it ought to be! I got them for $55 as dealer takeoffs that were mounted once but never used (still with stickers).
• Linglong Crosswind UHP (46.095) – This is another budget all-season, with a 400 TW rating. I put down one flyer lap that was the quickest in this segment, but in reality, I think it’s no better than the others. I got them for $65 on sale (regularly $76). These have a symmetrical tread pattern, but at this price, I’m not flipping them once.

It’s worth noting that the Blu Trac Race were 235/40R18, and mounted on Konig 18×8.5 +45 wheels. The all-season tires were 235/35R19 and mounted on OE 19×8 +55 wheels, which weigh 10 lbs more. Each! If you put all the tires on equal wheels, the Blu Trac might be the slowest!

Which is not to say the Blu Trac are worthless. They are still the most fun, and should hold up to track abuse better than all-season tires, which have more and deeper sipes. Nevertheless, I’m still on a quest to find a bargain UHP all-season tire, and see no reason to go back to Armstrong when I can get something comparable in performance for half the price.

For those who are reluctant to try all-season tires on track, I say get a set of Atlas Force and just try them out. I often hear resistance to using all-season tires on track, with fears that the tires will blister or chunk. I’ve not had the problem (yet) and at $75 per tire, it’s a gamble I’m willing to take.

Also, let me give a quick shout out to the mobile tire service I use, On the Go Tire Pro. They do my tire changes at the track in between sessions, which is pretty much the only way I can get this many tests done in a day. Thanks Paul, you make this possible.

Hankook R-S4 vs Kumho V730

The ideal track tire for a car with OE suspension and limited camber is an endurance 200 TW. There are a lot of great tires in this segment, such as Continental ExtremeContact Force, Falken RT615K+, Hankook R-S4, Maxxis VR1, Yokohama AD09R, etc. For a camber challenged car, I also like a symmetrical tread pattern, because if you get too much wear on the outer shoulder, you can flip the tire once.

• Hankook RS4 (44.568) – The RS4 was once considered average in the 200TW segment, but time has moved on, and this is now considered a pretty slow tire. Just the same, it beat out a couple other 200TW tires in this test, and proves to be a great match for a FWD car. This is my favorite tire, and my familiarity with it means I may have driven it slightly faster than other tires.
• Kumho V730 (44.616) – In every other test I’ve seen, the V730 is considered a faster tire than the RS4, so why is it slower here? Well it’s actually not, I’m just not driving it as well. On predicted lap, it’s .271 seconds faster than the RS4, and I think it’s mostly a case of not enough time getting used to the tires. I ended up destroying the outside shoulder with 2/3 of the life still remaining.

Goodyear Supercar 3R vs Vitour P1 Tempesta

Neither of these tires performed great on my Veloster, and this is to be expected because the car doesn’t have enough negative camber. But I tried them anyway, and these are my results.

• Goodyear Supercar 3R (43.965) – The SC3R posted the fastest time by a fair margin, but I honestly didn’t like the the way they felt. The rears didn’t come up to temperature at the same time as the fronts, and so the first laps were sketchy. They didn’t give much audible feedback, and so the limit was harder to drive. But oh man do they grip. The steering is immediate, and it felt like I was driving someone else’s car. With coilovers and camber, I’m sure they are amazing.
• Vitour P1 Tempesta (44.877) – I liked the way these tires felt. They have very stiff sidewalls and despite a soft rubber compound, they don’t require a lot of camber. From the seat of the pants I expected a PB lap, but it never materialized. The reason was because of Turn 2, which requires braking, turning, and accelerating all in short order. This overwhelmed the tires, creating a micro heat spike (I think). In the data, this was clearly visible as a V-shaped vMin in the speed trace, and a corresponding M-shaped LatG trace.

The reasons the P1 Tempesta underperformed could be down to a variety of factors.

• Tire pressure – They like very low pressure, but I was afraid of cording the shoulders and ran them at 34 hot. This is still very low for a FWD hatchback, but lower might have been better.
• Heat cycle – I did heat cycle these, but many people have reported they get faster and faster with more cycles. Perhaps the next day would have been faster.
• Heavy FWD – The Veloster has about 2/3 of the weight on the nose, on a skinny 235 tire. Most of the people having great success with the P1 are using lighter cars, and most of them are RWD, where combined loading isn’t as much of an issue.
• Track – Pineview Run is a strange track to begin with, being very short and slow. At a track like Watkins Glen, I might never have experienced the Turn 2 phenomenon.

I’ve given the tires to a buddy to test on his Subaru, and so perhaps next year I can unravel the mystery of why these tires underperformed on my car.

Summary data

The following data is sorted by Compiled lap time, which is an average of the rolling lap and the predicted best lap.

• A rolling lap is the fastest lap time where the start/finish line is most beneficial to the lap, rather than a start/finish in a static location. The rolling lap is a legit fastest lap, and a more consistent data point across multiple laps.
• I’ve also added the predicted lap time, which assembles my best sectors together. I use a five-sector map, which makes for a realistic the lap time if I hit my marks and drive without errors. But there are always errors, and this way I can see what the potential is.

Tire	Rolling	Predicted	Compiled	% Time
SC3R	43.965	43.694	43.830	98.34%
V730	44.616	44.351	44.484	99.81%
RS4	44.568	44.568	44.568	100.00%
P1	44.877	44.514	44.696	100.29%
PSS	45.207	44.927	45.067	101.12%
PZ4 6/4/25	45.170	45.096	45.133	101.27%
PZ4 6/25/24	45.176	45.125	45.151	101.31%
Crosswind	46.095	46.095	46.095	103.43%
Blu Trac	46.247	46.026	46.137	103.52%
Atlas Force	46.450	46.401	46.426	104.17%

Note the final column in the table, % Time. You can use this value to find your approximate lap time using different tires. For example, on RS4s I typically do Watkins Glen in about 2:16 (136 seconds) and so on SC3Rs that would be a 2:13.7 (136 * .9843 = 133.74). Likewise, if I use my shitty Atlas Force tires, I can expect a lap time of around 2:21.7 (136 * 1.0417 = 141.67).

As I noted previously, I didn’t like the feel of the SC3R, and I actually drove the V730 to a better lap time at NYST. If my Veloster had coilovers, I would surely be singing a different tune. The P1 Tempesta felt fantastic, but V730s are a performance bargain, and that’s probably what I’d use most of the time.

But as my car sits now, all-season tires are a better driving experience than Super 200s. Sliding around sideways with the tires howling is where the fun is at. And even if my off-brand all-season tires are a few seconds slower per lap, my budget Korean FWD hatchback is still getting a lot of point bys in the Advanced/Instructor group… from people driving expensive German sports cars, on expensive French rubber. Just sayin.

But at the end of the day, the Hankook R-S4 is the best dual-duty tire for a FWD car with OE suspension and not a lot of camber. The tires grip well enough, have great feedback, and when I wear out the shoulders I can flip them once and get more life out of them. The more I test, the more I come back to old faithful. Long Live the RS4.

2026 Tire Tests?

I enjoy tire testing as much as racing, and I’ll certainly do more of it in the future. Pineview Run’s short track is the ideal venue for this, as it’s mostly vacant during weekdays, and I can get in runs whenever I want. The 45-second lap time is also a bonus, as I can get in many more laps to normalize the data. So what’s up for 2026?

• Super 200 – The fact that my Veloster doesn’t like tires that are any better than a 200 TW Enduro tire begs the question: is there any reason to test anything else in the Super 200 category? Probably not. My Veloster will destroy the outside shoulder on a A052, CRS, RE71RS, RT660+, Hoosier TAP, etc., without getting much more performance out of them. But I got a set of used RE71RS tires and I’ll have to at least bench mark those vs the PZ4s. And if I get anything else for free in this category, I’ll test them out.
• Enduro 200 – The Continental ExtemeContact Force is supposed to be a smidge faster than RS4s, but the price is typically a lot higher. There really isn’t anything else with a symmetrical tread pattern that’s worth experimenting on. But I’m thinking about going back to an old friend, the RT615K+, just to see how they compare.
• Max Performance 300s – At the top of the list is an old favorite, the Continental ExtremeContact Sport. I loved these on my Miata, but I haven’t tried the Sport 02 yet.
• Drift tires – Nobody believes me when I tell them the Veloster is a drift car, but it goes sideways like no FWD car should! There are a couple drift tires with symmetrical tread patterns that look like they’d suit my purposes. The Kenda Vezda KR20A is about $135 each, while the Accelera 351 GD is about $5 cheaper. Both go on sale regularly, and I might pull the trigger on either. Another one that looks interesting is the Vitour Enzo, which comes in a 300TW and 340TW.
• UHP All-Season – I’m also curious about high-end UHP tires like the Continental DWS06+ and Pirelli PZero A/S Plus 3. Tyre Reviews and Tire Rack have tested these and put them within 1% of a Pilot Sport 4S in lap time, which is kind of shocking. So I got a set of used DWS 06+ tires on Marketplace for a song. I got them in a 225/45-18 size. The taller sidewall and narrower tread won’t help on track, but they will be my daily tires, and the Veloster can use some more cushion. Of course I’ll test them on track, and maybe they can beat the budget tires.

Every year people wait for Black Friday sales so they can get cheap parts that make their cars faster. Buy and large (sic), they set a faster lap time, but the driver remains the same. The best strategy for lower lap times is driver education and seat time. With an eye on that, here are some of the best BF deals going.

Pineview Run Track Pass

The best deal in motorsports is Pineview Run’s track pass, and right now it’s 10% off. In years past, there have been a limited number of track passes available, and when they are sold out, they are sold out. I’m not sure if that’s the policy again this year, but you might want to jump on this early in case that happens.

Pineview is a great technical track, with a luxurious club house, and a supportive community. You’ll never have to sit through another 7:30am driver meeting! No more dumb jokes, explanations of how to do a point by, or reviewing what the flags mean. Ever. Again.

And that’s one of the best parts about being in a private track club; I show up whenever I want, and run however many sessions I want. But more than that, I really love the layout. The track has every type of corner, on and off camber, elevation, and compromises. Simply put, there is no other track that is more a measure of driver skill than Pineview Run.

There are three track pass options:

• Track pass – The best deal is the most expensive, but for just $2160 (10% discount applied), you get unlimited track days in 2026 (Friday to Sunday). Come to the track 20 times and that’s $108 per track day!
• Pay-to-play track pass – At $1460 (discount applied), this is a cheaper option, but you pay $50 per visit. If you come 10 times, this works out to $196 per track day, and that’s still a great deal. If you come 15 or more times, the unlimited track pass is cheaper.
• Challenge Cup track pass – This pass includes six Challenge Cup races and three a-la carte events of your choosing. Challenge Cup races are all-day competitions, and so you’re getting a full track day with timing, scoring, and awards. $1620 (with discount) works out to $180 per event, which has to be the cheapest time trial racing series around.

Mass Tuning

Every year Mass Tuning releases their calendar around Thanksgiving time, with a huge discount for advanced purchases. For every track day you buy in advance, you get $100 off. Some tracks, like Canaan, Pineview, and NYST are less expensive to begin with, and so you can track them for as low as $150 for a day! And in the past there were Ladies Day and Miata Day events that were only $200, and ended up being half price.

There are a limited number of discounted track days available, so get on this before they are sold out (I’ll update this article as soon as the sale goes live). Note that I often coach with Mass Tuning when they are in my area (Watkins Glen, Pineview, and NYST), so if you sign up as a Novice, give me a holler and I’ll try and get in your passenger seat.

SCDA

There are several trackday organizations in the northeast to choose from, but I feel that SCDA sets the high water mark for the E in HPDE (education). SCDA is a little more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

Their Black Friday deals include decent discounts on their track packs. For example, their 7-day track pass is usually $3143 ($450 per event) and is discounted to $2595 ($370 per event). You can pick and choose which events to run, from Lime Rock to Watkins Glen to VIR and more.

Sim Racing

If you aren’t sim racing yet, see my brother’s article on a minimal sim rig. For less money than you think, you can get started with a very usable sim rig and Assetto Corsa. You can buy Assetto Corsa on Steam for $5, which is a one-time purchase, unlike iRacing which is double that price every month.

Doctor Korf has cataloged a lot of his sim racing articles at You Suck At Racing, so check those out. And stay up to date with this blog, as there’s always a lot of sim content.

Ross Bentley’s Speed Secrets

Seat time on its own is useful, but if you want to be a better driver, you need education and direction. Head to Ross Bentley’s Speed Secrets site and peruse his book, playbooks, and other content.

The off season is the ideal time to join his Sim Racing Academy. If you want something more intensive, then join the Sim Racing Boot Camp, which includes a month of the academy and 1:1 coaching.

Use the discount code BFCM25 to get 25% off.

JKF Aero

If you’re interested in learning about aerodynamics, Kyle Forster’s online classes on aerodynamics are a huge 30% off on Black Friday. You can read my review of his first course, and then head over to his site and save major bucks.

WingLogic MSHD

I wrote about the WingLogic MSHD in a previous article, and it’s still on sale for a ridiculous $350 for a 65” wing! I don’t know if there will be a Black Friday sale on top of this, but it’s a crazy good deal already. You’re not going to find an aluminum wing that makes more downforce, weighs less, or is less expensive.

This is how stoked I am on this wing: All of my DIY wing projects are now in the trash. I’m using the WingLogic MSHD from here on out.

I’m less serious about performance or aero on my second Veloster N, and doing some mods just for fun, appearance, or convenience. One of the things I’ve done is to install rally lights.

I deliberated on 3.7” and 5” lights, bought both, and eventually returned the 5” lights. The larger lights were higher quality and gave the car a more legit rally look, but they were also a lot heavier. I was concerned about the extra weight bouncing around on the front of the car, more than a weight from a performance aspect.

I also went back and forth on white versus yellow lights, and in the end I decided to buy a pair of each.

To mount the lights I removed the front fascia and installed U-bolts around the front bumper beam. I then used coupling bolts on the bottom of the U-bolts to hold up an aluminum U-channel, which would serve as the mounting point for the lights.

I mounted everything up, checked clearances, ran the wires, tested the lights, and let out a sigh of satisfaction. And then I disassembled everything. Now that I was sure everything worked and fit, I could put the front fascia back on again.

In the following picture you can see a T-handled hex key inserted into the mounting bar (black U-channel), which is how the lights are installed and removed. If I need to remove the fascia, I undo three Allen bolts, unclip the wiring harness, and pull the whole light bar away. It all comes off in a minute or two. The mounting system is otherwise invisible, and I’m pretty happy with how it came out.

The final step was to run the wires into the cockpit. This required removing a few pieces of interior trim, zip tying wires, and drilling holes in the dash plastic to mount the switches.

All told, the project cost me a little over $100 and took about a day to install. I removed and installed the front fascia at least three times figuring out how to mount the light bar in front of the fascia, and moving the U-bolts around. Other time sinks included managing all of the wires so that the bar would disconnect easily, and running the wires into the cockpit.

I’ve tested the lights a few times now, and they are awesome. I have the white lights pointed out into the corners as apex lights, and they do a great job illuminating the sides of the road. This is important this time of year with all of the deer collisions. The yellow lights are pointed straight ahead and down, to be used as fog lights.

PittRace ranks as one of my favorite race tracks. It’s not just a great technical layout, but has multiple configurations, usable curbs, and great facilities. I was lucky enough to attend the final ever wheel to wheel race there, and the final ever event. Neither went to plan.

Out with a whimper

The final race was with Lucky Dog Racing, an endurance racing series that I really enjoy. Like AER or Lemons, they divide cars into brackets based on speed. But the cars must be 2006 or older, and there’s a speed cap (minimum lap time) to discourage and eliminate really fast cars.

The car I was set to drive is the same Miata I took to the wind tunnel. It’s one of the best built Miatas you’ll ever see, with a stoker crank, 85.5mm pistons, big cams, Skunk2 intake, Haltech ECU, and a Quaife sequential gearbox. Look around the car you’ll see an attention to detail that is second to none. Aim dash, Chill Out driver cooling system, you name it, it’s got it.

It lasted about 10 laps.

The problem was a rookie mistake, which is normal for a rookie team. The owner and builder was chasing more power, and installed new cams before the race. This required claying up the pistons for valve-to-piston clearance, and then removing the head to measure that. In the process, Phil reused the head gasket, and that was probably not a good idea.

Head gaskets are typically single-use items, but since this Miata runs 2.5mm over the standard bore size, it’s much harder to find a 85.5mm head gasket. I guess there wasn’t an extra for testing valve clearance, and there certainly wasn’t an extra in the spares box. You win or you learn; we learned.

That’s the way to goes sometimes, and it was at least fun to be at the track, talk to people, and watch the racing. It was a good opportunity to see how other teams use (or don’t use) aero, and that lead me to doing a podcast episode on Garage Heroes in Training on aero for endurance racing. Thems sour grapes, but grapes just the same.

Strike three for MSHD!

This race was also strike three for testing the MSHD wing. I had previously loaned a wing to Alyssa Merrill for testing at Watkins Glen, as she has a 9 Lives Racing wing. I also loaned her an original WingLogic to test. But she had assorted car troubles and wasn’t able to do any extensive testing on the wing. She was able to try the new MSHD vs the 9LR, and concluded that the new wing made the car more stable (more downforce), but there’s no data to go with that.

Then I gave the MSHD to Steve Leo to test at WGI versus the old WingLogic on his Subaru. The wing supports are the same distance apart, so it was easy to use the same wing. Unfortunately Steve had car trouble, and wasn’t able to test the wings back to back.

So this Lucky Dog race was also supposed to be yet another wing test, and this time I brought my MSHD set up as a dual wing, to test versus the 9LR dual wing (which is what is on the Miata now). But obviously none of that happened.

All said, I didn’t get to run any of the back to back tests I had envisioned at the end of 2025, and so it looks like maybe I’ll hit the wind tunnel first and then do the track tests in early 2026. One thing is for sure, me planning to track test aero ends up breaking cars.

Out with a bang

So if the Lucky Dog finale was less than eventful, the Hooked on Driving finale was eventful in the wrong way.

I signed up to instruct, but HoD didn’t have a novice group. Instead, I would have a low-intermediate solo driver, who I’d be instructing and evaluating. My student knew the track, in fact it was his home track, and during the pre-drive interview, we commiserated on the loss of this wonderful track, and discussed where he’d go next; Mid Ohio, or Nelson Ledges perhaps.

His car was a Shelby GT350 with 522 hp at the wheels. “At the wheels,” I echoed back, and he nodded. This is about what a stock GT350 has at the crank, and so it had been breathed on a bit. The car was on Michelin Cup 2 tires, which have a reputation for heat resistance, but they do take a few laps to come in.

So I asked about traction control and stability control in the drive mode he selected, and he said no to the former and yes to the latter. I should have stopped him right there and made him put on the traction control.

We started the session with two laps under full course yellow on a cold (40F) and wet track. This is not enough time Cup 2s to get up to temperature. I think you see where this is going.

We got stuck behind someone who clearly didn’t belong in the Solo group for being slow giving point bys on the wrong side, and then we went into T13 and my student got on the gas just a little too much. Like a tiny, tiny too much.

The rear wheels lost grip, we went into a slide, and then hit the grass at about 25 mph. If it was dry, we’d have come to a stop and laughed about it. But the wet grass was like ice and we picked up speed going sideways, straight into the Armco.

What’s absolutely wild about the incident was I was completely calm the whole time. I saw the wall coming and knew for sure we were going to hit the wall on my side. The driver was freaking out at this point, “oh no, we’re going to crash!” But I was loose and totally calm.

If you follow the blog, you know I was hit from behind by a fire and rescue vehicle earlier this year. So when you’ve seen a 7000-lb vehicle run into you from behind at 60 mph, and watched it coming the whole time, a 25 mph crash is fucking nothing.

Except that it was a pretty sudden stop, very loud, with plastic shrapnel and airbag chemicals in the air. My back and neck are a little sore (again), and my arms have scrapes and bruises. Enh, I’ll certainly walk it off, but FFS! This was definitely not how I saw 2025 ending, or my final two events at PittRace going.

Still, I feel oddly fortunate for getting to experience something (anything) at PittRace, and walking away from another accident with a smile, and a story to tell.

Last weekend I instructed on track for the first time since my accident, and while my neck isn’t 100%, I can right-seat coach and drive a car on track again. I’m definitely concerned about things like sudden and unexpected stops (tire walls, Armco, and other barriers), but the general motion of a car on track is no longer a problem.

My student for this recent track event with Mass Tuning was a 16-year old girl who got her driver’s license two months ago. She was driving her dad’s clappped out Chevy Cruze, which I fully support (except the seats, which lack any support). But we found out quickly the budget Accelera Phi tires suck in the wet. Naturally, it rained the whole day!

Pineview Run is a busy and technical track, not the easiest place for your first track day. But she was a good student, listening to instruction, implementing changes, and without ego. So pretty soon she was safely navigating the track with pace and giving point bys. The next session we were quickly on pace with other cars, and right in the swim of things, cutting wakes through the wet track. By the last session we had a few dry spots, and she started throwing the car into turns and squealing the tires. With that she earned a few point bys, and even dropped her 18-year old brother (in a track-prepped BMW) in her rear-view mirror.

That was a good day with Mass Tuning, and a nice way to ease back into coaching again. This was my first event since coaching with Ross Bentley, Peter Krause, Sam Smith, Josh Herbert, and my brother Ian. We called it the Speed Secrets Academy, and it was a smashing success. I haven’t written about that event yet, but it went really well, far exceeding the high expectations the students or coaches imagined. Ian wraps up some of that in his blog about the Speed Secrets Academy, so I won’t repeat that here.

There have also been a few podcasts on that event:

• Ian and I were guests on Garage Heroes in Training, reviewing how the program went, and how it was different from regular HPDE. .
• One of our students, Michael Beers, was also on GHIT. After taking the class, Mike set the fastest lap on his team.
• Then I was on the Blind Apex podcast doing more of the same for Kaan’s audience.
• And finally Peter Krause was on Garage Heroes, doing another deep dive on the program and helping Vicki.

People keep asking if we’ll do another Speed Secrets Academy, when, and where? Yes, and I’m not sure. We had always envisioned this as a traveling road show, and we’d like to hit tracks in the Northwest, Southwest, and Southeast. But a lot of this hinges on the availability of Ross and Peter, so I don’t have even tentative dates yet.

In the meantime, I’m available for private coaching at Pineview Run. I prefer to coach here as we can do drills, data, and run through many of the program elements that we did in the Speed Secrets Academy. Alternatively, I can also meet you at Watkins Glen, but you’d get less out of a coaching session there than at Pineview.

• If you are a Pineview member or have an annual track pass, you can contact Pineview via the website. In the notes, mention that you want me as your coach.
• If you aren’t a member, contact me and we can schedule it. Pricing will depend on if you need a guest pass, and what day, but figure around $400-800.

The best track layout for coaching sessions is the short track, as you can get in more laps in than on the long track. This is especially important for doing drills, and we will be doing mostly drills.

Pineview’s track schedule goes like this:

• On Wednesday and Thursday, Pineview uses the short track, but it’s a shorter day that goes from 12:00 to 5:00. Still, that’s plenty of time and you’ll be exhausted.
• On Fridays they use the short track starting at 10am, and switch to the long track in the afternoon.
• On weekends, they sometimes use the Friday schedule, and sometimes use the long track all day. This layout is fast and flowy, but not quite as good for coaching sessions.

I’m working with Pineview to offer other coaching programs, and with Ross on the next Speed Secrets Academy. But until we get that figured out, hit me up for intensive drilling and 1:1 coaching.

I was able to find another Veloster N with a 6-speed manual and a factory warranty! Unfortunately it has almost twice the miles and it’s a year older, but there were only two in the country to choose from. I would have taken any color, but it’s red, same as the last one. Insurance almost covered the cost of replacing it, but covered none of the performance or aero parts.

AAA sucks. I documented 14 pages of parts that I’d added, with receipts and links to articles here on this site, but many were DIY things I designed and developed and tested in the wind tunnel, and they didn’t give a hoot about any of it.

They also said the upgraded suspension, FRP hood, Konig wheels, RS4 tires, Pagid brake pads, camber bolts, alignment, and all the other stuff are “preference items” and don’t increase the value of the car. Also, anything over a year old is not insured. They were willing to consider the tow hitch (which is a custom job I had to weld up), but in the end they said the best they’ll give me is permission to drive to the junk yard 90 miles away and remove it. Thanks man, it’s the thought that counts.

If AAA sucks, maybe New York laws suck even more? There’s something called a No Fault law that provides $50k reimbursement for medical, my car, and loss of work. But I can’t go after the person who did this unless I’ve lost a limb or been permanently disfigured.

And because the fire and rescue driver was responding to an emergency, I’d have to prove he was grossly negligent and driving recklessly. Which is really the lawyer’s job, but they aren’t interested because of the No Fault law.

I’m going to be a better person at the end of this, I swear. But right now, I just want to swear.

My wife has had enough of the swearing and moping around and set up a Go Fund Me. I feel sheepish putting this on here, as I feel like these things should be for people truly in need. So please feel no obligation to contribute. [Update: Go Fund Me is now closed.]

One of the things I’ve learned about this car is that it’s more fun on crappy tires. So rather than doing a lot of aero or modifying it for setting a fast lap time, I’m going in the opposite direction: less aero and slower lap times. No more fussing about weight, or power, or sticky tires. In fact, I’ll probably track it on all-season tires most of the time.

[Update #2] Here’s the new car, still waiting on the plates.

Instead of lowering springs I got a Mando ECS10 to make the suspension softer. I’m going to figure out how to lift it. And then maybe I’ll do a rallycross or something? Anyway, a new adventure beginning, and more time will be spent on Falconet for track use.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Go Fund Me, I will send you out wind tunnel reports and maybe I can run some OptimumLap simulations or do 1:1 aero consultations with you.