Largest Supercar / Performance Car Gathering at Super GT 2011

Pic 1: Preparing to enter into SIC

During the Super GT 2011, JPM Motorsports organized the Largest Supercar / Performance Car Gathering. Their aim is to gather the most number of supercar / performance car in Sepang International Circuit at the same time. They managed to create a new record in the Malaysia Book of Record at 405 units of cars. That is all great and mighty fine but I had an unfortunate incident during the event.

Pic 2: At the holding area

As we were waiting in the holding area next to the back straight of turn 14, I noticed that my front tyre had a flat. Oh man, that really sucks. Running my hand around the rubber reveals there's no nails/screw that have penetrate the tyre. Really weird. It must have leaked slowly too as just an hour ago, I was barreling down the highway at speeds which is best not to be revealed publicly. LOL :D

Anyway, as the rest of the cars are making their way into the track, I had to ditch the ER34 behind and hop into one of the cars there (Thanks Colin for the ride!). Why leave the car behind? Well I don't have a 19mm wrench with me to remove the Rays Engineering lug nuts. And the best place to loan one was where the rest of the cars are going to be parked, the main straight of Sepang International Circuit. Amongst the hundreds of cars there, I'm sure there must be at least one chap with the tools.

Pic 3: At the holding area

Pic 4: All 405 cars on the main straight of SIC

My plan to narrow down the search was to ask owners of cars that spots the same lug nuts as me. Smart move BUT funnily enough, most of the owners that I've asked either do not have the wrench or do not carry tools at all. Oh man!!!

Thankfully, Dennis had one in his beautifully kitted Reckless MR-S (Thanks a bunch bro!). Now, with the tool in hand, I had to get back to the parking area. This is where Jason (sakakida) came to the rescue with a loan motocycle from Alex. The ride back to the back straight is a journey in itself as we potter along outside the track proper to get to the area.

Jason helped with the tyre change and it was done in a jiffy. Thankfully too as there is a grandstand facing directly where we were changing the tyre. Not exactly a sight to be proud of. Hahaha

This is where the problem starts, the threads on the Rays Engineering lug nuts got worn while tightening; and as such, only 3 of the lug nuts can be somewhat tightened. Somewhat tightened? Yeap! Just realized that the smaller dimension of the Rays Engineering lug nuts means that it ain't gonna be sitting flush and tight with the space saver wheel.

Pic 5: My old worn and well-used Rays lug nuts

Lucky thing is that the ER34 managed to be nursed back home all the way from Sepang International Circuit. We were only doing 60km/h all the way! Man that really sucks!

Couple of days later, I got replacement Rays Engineering lightweight Duraluminum lug nuts for the ER34 and she's now all fine and dandy. Oh btw, beware of fake Rays lug nuts which is flooding the market. Those are selling at a small fraction of the price compared to the originals. Don't be stingy on safety!

Pic 6: Brand new Rays lug nuts


Pic 7: Brand new Rays lug nuts


Pic 8: Brand new Rays lug nuts installed

Wheels in Motion - Work Emotion XD9

Just wanna share this excellent video of the wheels off my ER34. I'm running Work Emotion XD9 with the below specs:-

Front: 18×8.0JJ+35 5H-114.3
Rear : 18×9.0JJ+38 5H-114.3

This video is showing the rear wheels on a dyno machine. Enjoy!

Replacement lug nuts

Pic 1: The replacement anodized aluminum lug nuts

Early last month I blogged about losing 3 pieces of my Rays Engineering Duraluminum lug nuts (read here). Ever since then, I replaced it with the factory lug nuts making the wheel looked quite weird with mismatch lug nuts.

Thanks to one of the workshops I frequent, I was given 3 units of blue anodized aluminum lug nuts to complete the 'look'. These are not from Rays Engineering but they do look similar enough to fool those who just took a quick glance. Hehehe

Finally I've gotten over the 'ugly' look of the wheels. :)

Pic 2: The previous look

Pic 3: This is how it looked like now. Red circle indicates the replacement lug nuts

My Work Emotion XD9 almost flew off the hub !!!

Pic 1: The circles indicates the missing lug nuts. Missing lug nut stud in the green circle

A couple of days ago, I heard some sort of scraping sound coming from the right rear wheel whenever I move off from standstill. After speeds of about 15km/h, the sound disappears and that’s it.

Yesterday somehow, the noise started to get more audible. I thought it was just due to some bushings on the suspension that is worn or something along that line. Peeking under the car reveals all is fine. Boy was I wrong when I inspected the ER34 more thoroughly.

Three of my Rays Engineering Duraluminum lug nuts were missing. Yes it was gone! My immediate reaction was someone stole them when the ER34 was parked in a shopping mall over the weekend. Then it dawned upon me that I could have possibly be hurt IF the remaining two lug nuts did not manage to hold the wheel in place. Worst case scenario is I could be been dead if it flew off while I was barreling down the highway. The wheel could have flung into a motorcyclist or a pedestrian. They would not have stand a chance for survival.

Anyway, that night I took a couple of spare lug nuts from my store room to fit it back in. Only then I realise what could have caused the lug nuts to fly off from the studs. One of the lug nut stud had broken and thus the vibration and stress could have over time slowly unscrewing the lug nuts off the wheel.

Pic 2: Replace missing Rays Engineering Duraluminum lug nuts with ordinary ones

I can only think of 2 possibility of why it happened:-
1) Someone stole off some of the Rays Engineering Duraluminum lug nuts and thus the stress caused one of the studs to break (which I doubt!).
2) The previous shop that removed the wheels failed to tighten one of two of the lug nuts properly and thus the stress caused one of the studs to break.

Pic 3: Can you spot the broken lug nut stud?

Anyway, I thank my lucky stars that nothing untoward happened to me and the ER34. Today I went to my regular mechanic (those who knows me would know where is this place) but are kinda pissed. They don't seem to be interested in fixing 'small' and trivial stuffs like this. I was told to wait until they are free.

C'mon I also have time constraints ok; as I stole some time off my lunch hours. Called up another mechanic I know that specializes in Nissan and drift cars and off I left for the place without a goodbye. Over in the new place my problem was fixed within an hour and off I go.

Now my wheels looked kinda crap with mixed Rays Engineering Duraluminum lug nuts and normal lug nuts. Anyone know where I can source 3 pieces of Rays Engineering Duraluminum lug nuts with M12 X P1.25 thread size??

Pic 4: What is left of the lug nut stud...

Pic 5: The broken lug nut stud will be replaced with a new unit

Pic 6: The Work Emotion XD9 now looks kinda crap with mismatched lug nuts

Rays Engineering lightweight Duraluminum lug nuts

Well, with my soon-to-be-installed Work Emotion XD9 wheels which leaves the lug nuts exposed, I can't be using the stock ones which looked pretty crap eh? :P

Pic 1: Rays Engineering Duraluminum lug nuts

Pic 2: Rays Engineering Duraluminum lug nuts

So I got myself a set of the lightweight forged Duraluminum lug nuts from Rays Engineering. These lug nuts are extremely strong and ultra light. It's only 0.8 oz each! (about 22.6 gms).

The Rays lug nuts also feature one 7-sided lug nut per wheel. These heptagonal nuts look stock from a distance, but can only be removed with the specially designed socket that comes with the set. These will act as the lock nuts to protect the wheels from theft.

The lug nuts are available in anodized red, blue, or black. I got the blue ones. Afterall, it matches the blue Work V29R2 wheel valves and my blue painted Sumitomo calipers. :P

For the ER34, ones have to ensure to get the correct specifications, which is the M12 X P1.25 thread size.

Will update when I get my wheels and lug nuts installed.

Stay tuned.......

Pic 3: Top view of the lock nut

Pic 4: Front end of the lock nut

Pic 5: Rear end of the lock nut