posted by jeffreytz @ 1:45 PM
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Thursday, April 19, 2018
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Wednesday, May 26, 2010
DIRECTV’s Whole Home DVR service
So about a month ago I noticed a “Multi-Room” option on my DIRECTV DVR’s system menu. Turns out there was an ongoing beta test program that would allow you to watch shows recorded on one DVR on another DVR if they were both connected to your home network. It may have been there a while, I don’t often pop over to the system menu.
Anyway this was really exciting for me, since in our old Chicago brownstone our media room only has a single coax cable run to it, which meant our HR21 DVR could only record or watch live one show at a time (which causes a ton of recording conflicts in our house). Our backup had been a second DVR (an older HR20-700) in the basement where it had been easy to drop two lines from the satellite without tearing up the walls. Since we didn’t want to watch TV down there, we were using a SlingCatcher to stream video over the wireless network from the Slingbox HD hooked up to the basement DVR (note that all our TVs and DVRs are HD, we don’t have any “standard def” equipment at this point).
While this worked pretty well, there was obvious picture degradation viewing our shows on the 60” Pioneer Kuro plasma in the media room. The Multi-Room Viewing (MVR) beta was a godsend in that the picture quality was exactly the same as if the show had been recorded on the DVR in the media room (it was just getting the undecoded data streamed over the home network, and then decoded by the HR21 DVR in that room). Awesome! Sure it could be a little pokey to start the playback, and trick play (FF, RWD, and skip) could be a little wonky, and sometimes the DVRs had to be rebooted as they would drop off the network and couldn’t be “seen” by each other, but overall the MVR beta was very impressive.
The catch was it was a beta. I guess living in the Google Age has desensitized me to the word “beta”; after all, everything seems like its beta software these days whether its labeled that or not. However it turns out DIRECTV was really doing testing, and on May 21st they actually shut the beta program down; imagine that!
After a responsive tweet from @DIRECTV, I checked their website and found all the info on the newly re-named Whole Home DVR service. At first I figured it was just time for DIRECTV to collect their $3/month charge for this feature (well worth it IMO), but after calling Customer Service to activate WHDVR I found it was actually a little more involved.
I could just turn on Whole Home the way I had it setup now; each DVR connected to a wireless N bridge that provided network and internet access, and the service would stream the data over the network and pull Pay-Per-View and other “connected home” features like TV Apps from the Internet. However my CSR told me that would be an “unsupported” network and in the future could be deactivated or new features might not be available on it.
The CSR went on to explain the preferred method was to upgrade my DIRECTV hardware to what’s called SWM with DECA connections. SWM (they pronounce it SWiM) stands for Single Wire Multiswitch, which means a DIRECTV dish installation is a lot more like CATV – only a single coax line needs to be run into the house, and then a splitter with a power inserter is used to distribute the signal to all your other rooms/receivers/DVRs. The beauty of this is a single line can now support up to 16 DIRECTV tuners! That’s the extreme example, more typical is what I got, a SWM8 switch that supports up to 8 (remember though that a DVR with two tuners is going to use two of those 8 available connections even though its one box). Key to that however is now a DVR with just one coax connection can record two shows at once!
This was exactly what I needed – it was actually better than the MVR option because now I’d be able to record two shows at the same time on the media room DVR, ending our show “conflicts”. The CSR (who really knew her stuff, by the way), then went on to explain that because the Whole Home DVR service let you share DVRs across all DIRECTV connected TVs, you could now do functions like pause in one room and pick up the show in another (similar to the UVerse options being advertised by AT&T), use non-DVR receivers in rooms like the kitchen or bedroom and still have access to all your shows. She explained the upgrade cost was $99 for the hardware and $49 for the installation; I was sold and we scheduled the install for that Saturday (which was only two days away, which I was pretty impressed with).
The install comprised of installing the new SWM8 LNB on my dish, and then just one of the existing four coax lines was used back to the basement. I have a distribution closet there where all the coax for the house feeds into (we’ve been using basic cable in the rooms that don’t have a DIRECTV receiver, because with the old system only allowed a maximum of four connections: one DVR with two lines [basement] and two more DVRs [media room and bedroom] each with a single coax line). In the distribution closet where the line from the dish came in, the tech hooked up the 8 way splitter and and the lines that connected the basement, media room and bedroom DVRs.
Now that alone would give me the capability to record two shows on one DVR with a single coax connection, but in order to stream shows between receivers a data network needs to be established that connects all the receivers together. This is where the DIRECTV Ethernet Coax Adapter (DECA) comes into play. The latest DVRs and receivers from DIRECTV (H24 and HR24) have DECA support built into them, but my HR21 and two HR20-700’s needed special DECA adapter boxes attached to them in order to establish the “DECA Cloud”. An additional DECA box needed to added to the cloud as well to provide Internet access for the receivers. This was done by splitting the line going to the basement DVR and hooking a DECA with its own power inserter (since the receivers/DVRs usually supply the power to the DECA units), and then I connected the wireless N bridge that originally connected directly to the DVR to that “standalone” DECA instead.
The beauty of the DECAs is twofold. First, the video streaming happens within the DECA cloud network, not on my home network, so all that traffic doesn’t clog up the network my home PCs are one. Second, a single internet connection supplies internet connectivity to all my DIRECTV receivers. My house three-story home plus finished basement doesn’t have any pre-wired network drops so everything is wireless, and the further you get away from the basement router the weaker the signal and slower the throughput. Now all the receivers use the wireless connection closest to the router (same floor, only 30 feet away). The bedroom on the third floor didn’t have a wireless bridge so it had no internet access; now it does.
So how well does it work? Beautifully. When watching shows from a “remote” DVR there is still a noticeable pause before the program actually starts, but once it’s rolling the trick play functions like 30 second skip are very responsive. The internet access for things like PPV and TV Apps seems the same as it was when each receiver had its own dedicated wireless bridge, so nothing given up there. I forgot to mention this setup also gives you access to media sharing off your home network, so I can now stream pictures and music from my HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server (and videos too, but I’d need to change some settings on my server as the DIRECTV receivers can’t decode h.264 encoded video). This setup also lets you use DIRECTV2PC, which lets you stream shows from a DVR to any of your home PCs/laptops (that meet the somewhat stringent hardware requirements – I actually have found that my Slingbox still works best for this functionality).
For me this was definitely worth the $145 fee to upgrade the system, and the $3/month fee for the Whole Room service seems reasonable. The system works so well I’m adding a H24 receiver to the kitchen to replace the basic cable HD service and if that works well I will replace the bedroom HR20-700 DVR with a new H24 receiver as well. Two DVRs is plenty, mainly providing extra storage capacity and the ability to record a third (and even fourth) show at the same time, should the need arise. Since you can schedule, watch and delete recordings from the non-DVR receivers, there’s no need for a DVR in the bedroom, and this will give us an additional “tuner” if we want to use it in another room.
If you decide to move forward with upgrading your existing system, be sure to read up on exactly how the installs are setup, the hardware configs, and of course verify your receivers and/or DVRs support the system. Here are a couple of links to get you started:
You need to understand this because the upgrade process is very new to the DIRECTV technicians, especially if a third-party contractor is dispatched. The tech who did my upgrade was very knowledgeable on setting up the SWM (since this has been around a while), and while he knew he needed to install the DECA units at the receivers, he thought that they should be left connected to their own individual wireless N bridges instead of using an extra DECA unit to provide internet access. Fortunately he was very interested in my explanations regarding the difference between streaming over the home network vs. the DECA cloud, why a separate DECA for internet access was needed, and was receptive to reviewing the example installation diagrams I had printed from the DBSTalk forums (he actually took those with him!).
This just started rolling out nationally in late May and based on the poll results in the DBSTalk forums you probably have a 50-50 chance of there being some sort of headache with your install (from the tech not having the right hardware with him or just flat out confusion on what needs to be done). That said, if you’re willing to arm yourself with a little knowledge, I would wholeheartedly recommend you move forward today with the upgrade and modernize your DIRECTV experience with the latest features, it’s all pretty amazing!
posted by jeffreytz @ 3:38 PM
13 comments
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Long Time No Post - TT Update
OK, I know I’ve been pretty lame about posting to my blog, and while I have plenty of excuses I won’t bore you with them ;) The main reason is after my last post about “surviving” the OTR event, the car took its revenge and promptly blew the turbo-manifold gasket again. I fixed it, and then went to an event at the California Speedway in June 2004 and the damn gasket blew again!!!
At this point I’d just had it; it was like the fourth time I was going to have to get this fixed (and it ain’t easy, so that means it ain’t cheap!). APR had us try something different to resolve the problem each time; new studs, a special bracket to brace the turbo and take some of the load off the studs, but none if it worked. Finally they asked me to send them the manifold after the California Speedway incident, so I did, but after their inspection they concluded my mechanic had installed the studs correctly (their claim was most studs were installed wrong) and sent the manifold back with a new “improved” gasket and “good luck”. (This after they had my manifold for six weeks – during which time they essentially did nothing).
When we got the manifold back, I told Ken, my mechanic, that if it comes apart again that’s it, we’re going stock. Now I don’t know if it was the magical combination of the new gasket with the new studs and the bracket, or the fact I begged Ken to try and snap the studs when he torqued the turbo back to the manifold (seriously – “They’re iconel,” I told him, “and APR claims you can’t break ‘em; try!”), or the fear that I might actually de-tune the damn thing, but knock on wood I’ve done 5 track days since September 2004 and the gasket hasn’t blown!
So it seems after two-plus years we finally got the APR Stage III turbo installed correctly ;) Better late then never. Not that it’s been smooth sailing since; now that the motor is staying together, its breaking everything else LOL! The latest was during the TracQuest Thunderhill event, where I had all four Dunlop SuperSport R tires show signs of delamination (I guess there was a reason Tire Rack was blowing these out), requiring a 140 mile round-trip drive to Redding, CA to get some cheap BFGoodrich Z-rated street tires from Big O, the closest place with any sort of usable tires in my size, just so I could do two more 30 minute sessions the next day and have the driver’s side CV joint start coming apart on me. (You have to give it up to VW for these Mark IV-based cars; though, it made it the 500+ miles home without a tow, although it did start pulling violently in short spasms towards the end). I also figured out that the upper engine mounts must be going as well, thanks to the horrifying rattle/vibration sound that started coming from the mounts at about 3500+ RPM.
The upside is, of course, new toys for the car! Namely two new axles by Raxles. Marty at Raxles told me they make their high-performance axles for Mark IV cars out of Porsche 993 parts, and they’re guaranteed not to break, they don’t care how much horsepower you hook ‘em up to. I haven’t had them on the track yet, but they looked mighty beefy and all the guys at the shop were pretty impressed. The other new items are the VF Engineering engine mounts. I already had their lower pendulum (dogbone) mount, so these newly designed billet aluminum mounts seemed the logical choice. These things are beautiful – almost seemed a shame to put them in the engine bay where they can’t be seen! Ken said they were a perfect fit, exceptionally designed. They’re not for the weak-hearted, though – while I actually expected more vibration from the near-solid mounts, I was surprised by how much all the engine noise was amplified. For me its not a bad thing, I’ve always wished the car sounded more aggressive, but its just weird, sounds like the transmission is sitting in your lap, that sort of thing. The increased vibration is mainly noticeable at idle, you can feel the revolutions ticking through the steering wheel, but once you’re over 2,000 RPM it really isn’t that evident (if you’ve already stiffened the crap out of your car with shocks and springs, that is …). Next up will be VF’s front sway bar end links – they’re listed on their web page but apparently not available yet.
So, here we are, October 2005, and the car seems to be back in shape ready to head out to the track again. I’ve even already got new R-compounds, trying out the Avon’s since their rounded shoulders are supposed to be more “friendly” to camber-challenged cars like mine. We’ll see how they do – up to now I haven’t had much trouble with tires, but the front camber on the TT isn’t adjustable without installing aftermarket camber plates at the strut towers, and while lowering the car did help the camber somewhat its still pretty positive in front. The Khumo Victoracers always held up well, but I was diligent about rotating them every day at track events. Now that I’m pushing the car harder with the Stage III kit, it might be that the lack of camber is making its presence known. We’ll see how the Avon’s do at the next event.
At this point I’d just had it; it was like the fourth time I was going to have to get this fixed (and it ain’t easy, so that means it ain’t cheap!). APR had us try something different to resolve the problem each time; new studs, a special bracket to brace the turbo and take some of the load off the studs, but none if it worked. Finally they asked me to send them the manifold after the California Speedway incident, so I did, but after their inspection they concluded my mechanic had installed the studs correctly (their claim was most studs were installed wrong) and sent the manifold back with a new “improved” gasket and “good luck”. (This after they had my manifold for six weeks – during which time they essentially did nothing).
When we got the manifold back, I told Ken, my mechanic, that if it comes apart again that’s it, we’re going stock. Now I don’t know if it was the magical combination of the new gasket with the new studs and the bracket, or the fact I begged Ken to try and snap the studs when he torqued the turbo back to the manifold (seriously – “They’re iconel,” I told him, “and APR claims you can’t break ‘em; try!”), or the fear that I might actually de-tune the damn thing, but knock on wood I’ve done 5 track days since September 2004 and the gasket hasn’t blown!
So it seems after two-plus years we finally got the APR Stage III turbo installed correctly ;) Better late then never. Not that it’s been smooth sailing since; now that the motor is staying together, its breaking everything else LOL! The latest was during the TracQuest Thunderhill event, where I had all four Dunlop SuperSport R tires show signs of delamination (I guess there was a reason Tire Rack was blowing these out), requiring a 140 mile round-trip drive to Redding, CA to get some cheap BFGoodrich Z-rated street tires from Big O, the closest place with any sort of usable tires in my size, just so I could do two more 30 minute sessions the next day and have the driver’s side CV joint start coming apart on me. (You have to give it up to VW for these Mark IV-based cars; though, it made it the 500+ miles home without a tow, although it did start pulling violently in short spasms towards the end). I also figured out that the upper engine mounts must be going as well, thanks to the horrifying rattle/vibration sound that started coming from the mounts at about 3500+ RPM.
The upside is, of course, new toys for the car! Namely two new axles by Raxles. Marty at Raxles told me they make their high-performance axles for Mark IV cars out of Porsche 993 parts, and they’re guaranteed not to break, they don’t care how much horsepower you hook ‘em up to. I haven’t had them on the track yet, but they looked mighty beefy and all the guys at the shop were pretty impressed. The other new items are the VF Engineering engine mounts. I already had their lower pendulum (dogbone) mount, so these newly designed billet aluminum mounts seemed the logical choice. These things are beautiful – almost seemed a shame to put them in the engine bay where they can’t be seen! Ken said they were a perfect fit, exceptionally designed. They’re not for the weak-hearted, though – while I actually expected more vibration from the near-solid mounts, I was surprised by how much all the engine noise was amplified. For me its not a bad thing, I’ve always wished the car sounded more aggressive, but its just weird, sounds like the transmission is sitting in your lap, that sort of thing. The increased vibration is mainly noticeable at idle, you can feel the revolutions ticking through the steering wheel, but once you’re over 2,000 RPM it really isn’t that evident (if you’ve already stiffened the crap out of your car with shocks and springs, that is …). Next up will be VF’s front sway bar end links – they’re listed on their web page but apparently not available yet.
So, here we are, October 2005, and the car seems to be back in shape ready to head out to the track again. I’ve even already got new R-compounds, trying out the Avon’s since their rounded shoulders are supposed to be more “friendly” to camber-challenged cars like mine. We’ll see how they do – up to now I haven’t had much trouble with tires, but the front camber on the TT isn’t adjustable without installing aftermarket camber plates at the strut towers, and while lowering the car did help the camber somewhat its still pretty positive in front. The Khumo Victoracers always held up well, but I was diligent about rotating them every day at track events. Now that I’m pushing the car harder with the Stage III kit, it might be that the lack of camber is making its presence known. We’ll see how the Avon’s do at the next event.
posted by jeffreytz @ 1:02 AM
1 comments
Monday, March 22, 2004
Auto Show Pics; Enzo Sighting; BWM Conspiracy?
Pictures from the LA Auto show back in January are now up; go to http://community.webshots.com/album/126915100oTyYsU to see them. A couple of interesting vehicles are the Tango, a 3000 lb electric car that does 0 to 60 in 4 seconds, and the OKA from Russia, a 48 hp powerhouse that retails for under $8k with the optional roll cage (you have to see it to believe it). And of course, the usual shots of Aston Martins, Lamborghinis and other fun stuff.
Think BMW is getting tired of all the bad reviews of the SMG in the Z4? Witness the latest long term update in last month’s European Car (ok ok, yes I’m behind in posting anything to this stupid blog) in which the author says it really isn’t that bad, just takes getting used to and, oh, look at this, there are some helpful tips in the owners manual! I used to work in the magazine industry; sounds like a certain manufacturer might have suggested that there are a lot of other magazines it can support (and I’m guessing if your EC you probably need strong support from BMW, Audi, VW and Porsche …). Just an opinion, I could be wrong, but all you conspiracy theory freaks should check it out.
Sometimes it sucks to live in southern California. Yeah, the weather’s great and you can run summer tires all year round, but how many other places will you really see a burnt orange Ferrari Enzo just parked on Pacific Coast Highway in Corona Del Mar in front of the local coffee shop? A couple of weeks ago I’m pulling out of Rose’s Donuts after picking up Sunday morning coffee and as I pull on to PCH I see in my rear view mirror this orangish-reddish car that I can’t quite figure out what the nose is, but geez that can’t be an Enzo, could it? So I loop around and go back three blocks and pull back onto PCH at the rival coffee shop down the street and come up behind, sure enough, the Enzo. So of course I illegally park the Jag in a driveway and hop out (my wife at this point is just sadly shaking her head, drinking her coffee) and check this beauty out.
I’ve seen an Enzo before, the yellow one that made the US auto show circuit last year (and took a few pictures of it), but it was amazing to stand this close to one with virtually no one around. It was soooo hard to resist the temptation just to touch it! The ceramic brakes on this car are really something to see, and it was the best look ever at the interior. It really is a much more impressive car in person than in pictures. The color is what really got me, I’d only seen them in yellow, black and of course red, but this orange was beautiful. I checked it out for about 5 minutes before the Jag horn started honking; I looked around but the owner was still a no show, would have really liked to say hi.
What was really amazing was that few people were even checking out the car as they walked by. There were a few glances from the dog walkers and stroller pushers, but most had no idea what they were looking at a near-million dollar car and the rest didn’t even give a passing glance – one of the curses of Newport Beach, where you’ll see three or four 360s an hour on an average weekend and I call our Jaguar XK8 the Ford Taurus of Corona Del Mar because there’s one on every corner. Still, it’s amazing to me to see the Enzo just parked along side the curb like any other car, but honestly it was great to see that at least one person who bought these is actually willing to drive it.
Think BMW is getting tired of all the bad reviews of the SMG in the Z4? Witness the latest long term update in last month’s European Car (ok ok, yes I’m behind in posting anything to this stupid blog) in which the author says it really isn’t that bad, just takes getting used to and, oh, look at this, there are some helpful tips in the owners manual! I used to work in the magazine industry; sounds like a certain manufacturer might have suggested that there are a lot of other magazines it can support (and I’m guessing if your EC you probably need strong support from BMW, Audi, VW and Porsche …). Just an opinion, I could be wrong, but all you conspiracy theory freaks should check it out.
Sometimes it sucks to live in southern California. Yeah, the weather’s great and you can run summer tires all year round, but how many other places will you really see a burnt orange Ferrari Enzo just parked on Pacific Coast Highway in Corona Del Mar in front of the local coffee shop? A couple of weeks ago I’m pulling out of Rose’s Donuts after picking up Sunday morning coffee and as I pull on to PCH I see in my rear view mirror this orangish-reddish car that I can’t quite figure out what the nose is, but geez that can’t be an Enzo, could it? So I loop around and go back three blocks and pull back onto PCH at the rival coffee shop down the street and come up behind, sure enough, the Enzo. So of course I illegally park the Jag in a driveway and hop out (my wife at this point is just sadly shaking her head, drinking her coffee) and check this beauty out.
I’ve seen an Enzo before, the yellow one that made the US auto show circuit last year (and took a few pictures of it), but it was amazing to stand this close to one with virtually no one around. It was soooo hard to resist the temptation just to touch it! The ceramic brakes on this car are really something to see, and it was the best look ever at the interior. It really is a much more impressive car in person than in pictures. The color is what really got me, I’d only seen them in yellow, black and of course red, but this orange was beautiful. I checked it out for about 5 minutes before the Jag horn started honking; I looked around but the owner was still a no show, would have really liked to say hi.
What was really amazing was that few people were even checking out the car as they walked by. There were a few glances from the dog walkers and stroller pushers, but most had no idea what they were looking at a near-million dollar car and the rest didn’t even give a passing glance – one of the curses of Newport Beach, where you’ll see three or four 360s an hour on an average weekend and I call our Jaguar XK8 the Ford Taurus of Corona Del Mar because there’s one on every corner. Still, it’s amazing to me to see the Enzo just parked along side the curb like any other car, but honestly it was great to see that at least one person who bought these is actually willing to drive it.
posted by jeffreytz @ 12:49 AM
0 comments
Monday, February 02, 2004
TTUNED visits the track (and lives!)
January 21st was a mild milestone of sorts. Almost two years after starting my Stage III project, TTUNED went to a track event and drove home in (relatively) one piece. Open Track Racing’s day at Willow Springs was an absolute blast. While no track records were broken, I did manage to top my previous personal best lap time of 1:43.74 with a 1:40.20.
This was the first even where I really got to put the Garrett turbo to work. The only previous track event with the APR Stage III kit was the November 2002 TracQuest event at Laguna Seca, but they were out of 100 octane so I was only running the 91 program (282 hp) and even though I was only able to run two sessions before the turbo-to-exhaust manifold studs backed out (two even snapped) I was encouraged by the results, pulling off a 1:58.18 lap time on S03 street tires, almost two seconds better than my best lap during my previous visit when I was running just the APR 1 bar chip with the 100 octane program.
Most of 2003 was spent shaking out issues with the turbo and the Sachs clutch, but I also used the time to work on dialing out the car’s understeer by installing front and rear Neuspeed sway bars. A Neuspeed short-shifter was also installed, and in November 2003 I finally got around to having Stillen/BrakePros install the AP Racing brakes that I knew I needed after experiencing serious brake fade at Laguna Seca.
In December I finally gave up on trying to figure out what was wrong with the Sachs Sport clutch – Sachs had pressure checked it and said there was nothing wrong with it, but after re-installing it in the car it was still engaging at the floor and nearly impossible to use. I pulled both the clutch and the Autotech flywheel and replaced them with a 228mm clutch/flywheel package from SPEC.
While the car was apart I decided to splurge and get the Forge FMIC. I had wanted the APR intercooler as I liked the design and wasn’t keen on having to replace the 180hp manifold with the opposite facing 225hp manifold, but after being on backorder from APR for 5 months (supposedly waiting on some mythical bracket) I got tired of waiting and decided to go with something tried and true. Forge has had plenty of time to get this kit right, including Sampco hoses that dimple in just the right place so you don’t lose your headlight washers. Yeah, it was a lot more work than a top-bottom core like the APR would have been, but Ken (my mechanic at Newport Auto Center) was up to the challenge and I like to keep him busy. Ken did a fabulous job installing the intercooler, clutch and flywheel, and while he was at it I picked up a VF-Engineering billet aluminum motor mount from Evolution Motorsports in Tempe, AZ.
I had my fingers crossed on the SPEC clutch, since we really weren't sure what the problem was with the Sachs kit, but it performed beautifully from the moment it was installed. The SPEC clutch pedal feel is incredibly light compared to the Sachs - it almost feels stock, you'd never guess it was a Stage III clutch. SPEC is pretty serious in their documentation about the 450 mile “city driving” break-in period, which also served as a nice shake out period for all the other new parts. With everything seeming to be working as planned (for once!), it was time to get to the track!
The Willow Springs event was my first with Open Track Racing. My buddy Eric had heard of them through some friends he tracks his modified Z06 with, so we signed up and coerced Jae to show up with his Boxster S as well. This was my fourth visit to the Big Track, which I hadn’t driven since September of 2001, so my goals were pretty modest – get my feet wet again on the track, see how well all the new mods play together at speed, and see if everything would stay together in one piece.
The only other track group I’ve run with is TracQuest, which provides a host of instructors that you can have hop in your car all day long as well as ride in their cars (always an eye-opening experience). I was used to always going out with an instructor for at least my first session of the day; it’s a confidence builder, when you only go to the track a few times a year, to have the basics pointed out again, build up speed with someone knowledgeable in the car, and there’s always something new to learn as well.
OTR is run a little differently, without any real “formal” in-car instructors other than the guys running the event (the novice yellow group does get a formal chalk talk prior to their first outing, and attending an OTR event is significantly less expensive than a TracQuest event). Without anyone in the passenger’s seat to tell me “yeah, you can definitely carry more speed in that corner” and the like, I didn’t really push it in a few places I think I could have gained some more time in (mainly entering turn 2 and staying on the throttle entering turn 8). I decided that today wasn’t the day to go after my target of cracking 1:40, that I was more interested in learning how the AP brakes worked and what the new horsepower could do on the front and back straights. Considering that, I’m pretty happy with the 1:40.20 lap time – I’m sure with some instruction (or more seat time to build up the confidence) on turns 2 and 8 there’s easily a 1:39 the next time out. A more experienced (talented) pilot would no doubt wring out something much lower.
The car was an absolute blast to drive, pulling so strong that I caught air a couple of times going through 6 (a right-hand kink with a hump in the middle). Prior to the Stage III upgrade, I wouldn’t get out of 4th gear on the back straight before entering 8, but now I was over 6000 rpm well before 7 and entering 8 close to 120 mph. The days of driving TTUNED with the throttle either “on” or “off” are over – the 100+ extra horsepower requires actual modulation, and that meant I had to learn how to drive the track all over again. The extra power and taller 5th gear had me hitting over 130 mph on the front straight without breaking a sweat, where before the car was straining to get over 110 mph before braking for turn 1.
The Quaife was fantastic – I never felt the car hunt for traction. Steering was razor sharp; I’m not sure how much of the understeer has been corrected (I never noticed it much at Willow, the real test for that will come at Thunder Hill) but it certainly didn’t cause any adverse affects.
The extra speed seems to have made the lack of rear downforce fairly noticeable in spots like braking at the end of 8; the rear end seem very twitchy at times. I’ve resisted adding a spoiler to my car purely for cosmetic reasons – I’ve always preferred the look of an “unspoiled” TT and read several articles about the car’s aerodynamic ground effects when I was first considering buying it. There were a couple of moments, however, where I found myself wondering if an extra 90+ lbs of downforce wouldn’t be useful. Still leaning towards the Sportec, but maybe the factory 3.2 spoiler is the ticket.
There was a minor casualty right off the bat – while walking around the car after the first session I noticed what I thought was tire rubber stuck around the hole in the rear valance for the exhaust, but closer inspection revealed the valance itself had been melted. The metal where the rear exhaust hanger attached to the Neuspeed/Borla exhaust had fatigued to the point where it just gave way – the hanger weld was perfectly intact, it just ripped the stainless steel right out of the pipe leaving a hole where the hanger should connect. I tried to support it using some bailing wire but at the end of the second session I was dragging the hanger into the pits and the exhaust had melted the opening even further – mostly on the left (driver's) side, due to the g’s pulled in turn 2.
I tried the bailing wire again, this time wrapping it around the exhaust tip and part of the bumper to restrict its lateral movement and that worked well enough for the rest of the day and the drive home. I’d been toying with the idea of getting the 2.5” Milltek cat-back anyway, since the Neuspeed/Borla was a 2.25” and the APR cat is a 2.5”. I also thought about having a custom 3” exhaust made, as the APR cat starts as a 3”, but in the end decided to order the Milltek from Stratmosphere as some of the twists for the 180 Front-Track exhaust just look really tight for a 3” exhaust, and I’m happy with the dyno numbers already using the 2.25”. It should be here the end of the week, so we’ll see how that goes. I already have my black 3.2 TT rear valance from TT Stuff which will replace the melted stock piece.
My big worry had been the turbo studs – they had failed in both of the previous events I’d used the car in after the Stage III upgrade (first at the Silver State road rally in September 2002 and then again at the aforementioned Laguna Seca event in November). I already have a set of the second-generation inconel studs from APR (the originals were stainless steel with tungsten inserts) and recently received a special bracket that provides support for the turbo to the exhaust manifold, but neither have been installed since the current setup is firmly attached. Ken’s theory was take it to the track, and if they loosen up then we’ll do the replacement and add the bracket, otherwise see if it will hold together. So far, so good – after over two hours of track time everything’s still in one piece (knock on wood!!).
So all in all a very fun and relatively uneventful day. The OTR folks were a fun group to run with (despite a serious lack of Audis - I think it was just me and a lone A4) and I'm looking forward to attending another OTR event. There are a couple of new in-car videos from the event on my race movies page, one of Jae and Eric’s cars, and a more general highlight reel (that one is “sped up” 25% to compress the time, fit more cars in, and just make it a bit more fun – the videos just don’t convey the real speed). I didn’t take many pictures, just a couple of TTUNED to get shots of the new intercooler and brakes, so I’ll throw those in a “general” album later on Webshots. Once the exhaust is squared away the next event I’m planning to attend is TracQuest at Buttonwillow, a track I still haven’t driven even though I’ve signed up for events there a couple of times (but something always broke just before). Hopefully the third time will be the charm!
back to Jeff's Stage III Audi TT page
This was the first even where I really got to put the Garrett turbo to work. The only previous track event with the APR Stage III kit was the November 2002 TracQuest event at Laguna Seca, but they were out of 100 octane so I was only running the 91 program (282 hp) and even though I was only able to run two sessions before the turbo-to-exhaust manifold studs backed out (two even snapped) I was encouraged by the results, pulling off a 1:58.18 lap time on S03 street tires, almost two seconds better than my best lap during my previous visit when I was running just the APR 1 bar chip with the 100 octane program.
Most of 2003 was spent shaking out issues with the turbo and the Sachs clutch, but I also used the time to work on dialing out the car’s understeer by installing front and rear Neuspeed sway bars. A Neuspeed short-shifter was also installed, and in November 2003 I finally got around to having Stillen/BrakePros install the AP Racing brakes that I knew I needed after experiencing serious brake fade at Laguna Seca.
In December I finally gave up on trying to figure out what was wrong with the Sachs Sport clutch – Sachs had pressure checked it and said there was nothing wrong with it, but after re-installing it in the car it was still engaging at the floor and nearly impossible to use. I pulled both the clutch and the Autotech flywheel and replaced them with a 228mm clutch/flywheel package from SPEC.
While the car was apart I decided to splurge and get the Forge FMIC. I had wanted the APR intercooler as I liked the design and wasn’t keen on having to replace the 180hp manifold with the opposite facing 225hp manifold, but after being on backorder from APR for 5 months (supposedly waiting on some mythical bracket) I got tired of waiting and decided to go with something tried and true. Forge has had plenty of time to get this kit right, including Sampco hoses that dimple in just the right place so you don’t lose your headlight washers. Yeah, it was a lot more work than a top-bottom core like the APR would have been, but Ken (my mechanic at Newport Auto Center) was up to the challenge and I like to keep him busy. Ken did a fabulous job installing the intercooler, clutch and flywheel, and while he was at it I picked up a VF-Engineering billet aluminum motor mount from Evolution Motorsports in Tempe, AZ.
I had my fingers crossed on the SPEC clutch, since we really weren't sure what the problem was with the Sachs kit, but it performed beautifully from the moment it was installed. The SPEC clutch pedal feel is incredibly light compared to the Sachs - it almost feels stock, you'd never guess it was a Stage III clutch. SPEC is pretty serious in their documentation about the 450 mile “city driving” break-in period, which also served as a nice shake out period for all the other new parts. With everything seeming to be working as planned (for once!), it was time to get to the track!
The Willow Springs event was my first with Open Track Racing. My buddy Eric had heard of them through some friends he tracks his modified Z06 with, so we signed up and coerced Jae to show up with his Boxster S as well. This was my fourth visit to the Big Track, which I hadn’t driven since September of 2001, so my goals were pretty modest – get my feet wet again on the track, see how well all the new mods play together at speed, and see if everything would stay together in one piece.
The only other track group I’ve run with is TracQuest, which provides a host of instructors that you can have hop in your car all day long as well as ride in their cars (always an eye-opening experience). I was used to always going out with an instructor for at least my first session of the day; it’s a confidence builder, when you only go to the track a few times a year, to have the basics pointed out again, build up speed with someone knowledgeable in the car, and there’s always something new to learn as well.
OTR is run a little differently, without any real “formal” in-car instructors other than the guys running the event (the novice yellow group does get a formal chalk talk prior to their first outing, and attending an OTR event is significantly less expensive than a TracQuest event). Without anyone in the passenger’s seat to tell me “yeah, you can definitely carry more speed in that corner” and the like, I didn’t really push it in a few places I think I could have gained some more time in (mainly entering turn 2 and staying on the throttle entering turn 8). I decided that today wasn’t the day to go after my target of cracking 1:40, that I was more interested in learning how the AP brakes worked and what the new horsepower could do on the front and back straights. Considering that, I’m pretty happy with the 1:40.20 lap time – I’m sure with some instruction (or more seat time to build up the confidence) on turns 2 and 8 there’s easily a 1:39 the next time out. A more experienced (talented) pilot would no doubt wring out something much lower.
The car was an absolute blast to drive, pulling so strong that I caught air a couple of times going through 6 (a right-hand kink with a hump in the middle). Prior to the Stage III upgrade, I wouldn’t get out of 4th gear on the back straight before entering 8, but now I was over 6000 rpm well before 7 and entering 8 close to 120 mph. The days of driving TTUNED with the throttle either “on” or “off” are over – the 100+ extra horsepower requires actual modulation, and that meant I had to learn how to drive the track all over again. The extra power and taller 5th gear had me hitting over 130 mph on the front straight without breaking a sweat, where before the car was straining to get over 110 mph before braking for turn 1.
The Quaife was fantastic – I never felt the car hunt for traction. Steering was razor sharp; I’m not sure how much of the understeer has been corrected (I never noticed it much at Willow, the real test for that will come at Thunder Hill) but it certainly didn’t cause any adverse affects.
The extra speed seems to have made the lack of rear downforce fairly noticeable in spots like braking at the end of 8; the rear end seem very twitchy at times. I’ve resisted adding a spoiler to my car purely for cosmetic reasons – I’ve always preferred the look of an “unspoiled” TT and read several articles about the car’s aerodynamic ground effects when I was first considering buying it. There were a couple of moments, however, where I found myself wondering if an extra 90+ lbs of downforce wouldn’t be useful. Still leaning towards the Sportec, but maybe the factory 3.2 spoiler is the ticket.
There was a minor casualty right off the bat – while walking around the car after the first session I noticed what I thought was tire rubber stuck around the hole in the rear valance for the exhaust, but closer inspection revealed the valance itself had been melted. The metal where the rear exhaust hanger attached to the Neuspeed/Borla exhaust had fatigued to the point where it just gave way – the hanger weld was perfectly intact, it just ripped the stainless steel right out of the pipe leaving a hole where the hanger should connect. I tried to support it using some bailing wire but at the end of the second session I was dragging the hanger into the pits and the exhaust had melted the opening even further – mostly on the left (driver's) side, due to the g’s pulled in turn 2.
I tried the bailing wire again, this time wrapping it around the exhaust tip and part of the bumper to restrict its lateral movement and that worked well enough for the rest of the day and the drive home. I’d been toying with the idea of getting the 2.5” Milltek cat-back anyway, since the Neuspeed/Borla was a 2.25” and the APR cat is a 2.5”. I also thought about having a custom 3” exhaust made, as the APR cat starts as a 3”, but in the end decided to order the Milltek from Stratmosphere as some of the twists for the 180 Front-Track exhaust just look really tight for a 3” exhaust, and I’m happy with the dyno numbers already using the 2.25”. It should be here the end of the week, so we’ll see how that goes. I already have my black 3.2 TT rear valance from TT Stuff which will replace the melted stock piece.
My big worry had been the turbo studs – they had failed in both of the previous events I’d used the car in after the Stage III upgrade (first at the Silver State road rally in September 2002 and then again at the aforementioned Laguna Seca event in November). I already have a set of the second-generation inconel studs from APR (the originals were stainless steel with tungsten inserts) and recently received a special bracket that provides support for the turbo to the exhaust manifold, but neither have been installed since the current setup is firmly attached. Ken’s theory was take it to the track, and if they loosen up then we’ll do the replacement and add the bracket, otherwise see if it will hold together. So far, so good – after over two hours of track time everything’s still in one piece (knock on wood!!).
So all in all a very fun and relatively uneventful day. The OTR folks were a fun group to run with (despite a serious lack of Audis - I think it was just me and a lone A4) and I'm looking forward to attending another OTR event. There are a couple of new in-car videos from the event on my race movies page, one of Jae and Eric’s cars, and a more general highlight reel (that one is “sped up” 25% to compress the time, fit more cars in, and just make it a bit more fun – the videos just don’t convey the real speed). I didn’t take many pictures, just a couple of TTUNED to get shots of the new intercooler and brakes, so I’ll throw those in a “general” album later on Webshots. Once the exhaust is squared away the next event I’m planning to attend is TracQuest at Buttonwillow, a track I still haven’t driven even though I’ve signed up for events there a couple of times (but something always broke just before). Hopefully the third time will be the charm!
back to Jeff's Stage III Audi TT page
posted by jeffreytz @ 12:41 AM
0 comments
Sunday, January 11, 2004
Hartmann Motorsports Update
I get lots of emails from Southern California Audi owners who are contemplating a Stage III upgrade to their 1.8t car but have read my missives regarding APR's "authorized" Orange County installer, Hartmann Motorsports. Based on some things I've heard and read over the last couple of weeks, it might be safe to enter the HMS water these days. To wit:
- While chatting with Ken (my mechanic) while he was installing my Forge FMIC just before Christmas, he mentioned that Scott Hartmann had been in to Newport Auto Center just a few days before; he'd been picking up an RS6 that HMS was going to modify the suspension on for the upcoming LA Car Show (my car was up on the rack having the SPEC clutch/flywheel installed, which someone pointed out to him and caused a good-natured grimace). Newport Auto gets a lot of modified A4s in for service and "normal" warranty work, and they keep track of where the cars have been modified at. Cars from HMS typically were very sloppy, but Ken mentioned that the last three HMS cars that had come in were immaculate, everything where it belonged, all trim in place, every nut and bolt not only installed, but actually torqued down! Ken said he thought it was clearly someone else turning the wrench over at HMS. Made me wonder if Fabryce was still there.
- Last week on a flight to Chicago I was thumbing through the February 2004 issue of european car and there in the S4 Shootout article was the yellow Hartmann S4 and Fabryce's mug in the "owner" picture. What caught my attention, however, was another unknown face in the picture. Reading through the article, it stated that Casey Allinder is the HMS "chief mechanic", and when the S4 "blew up" 2 days prior to the shootout event Casey was the guy who put it back together, not Fabryce.
So I was at the LA Auto Show yesterday and made sure to stop by the Hartmann booth in Kitna Hall. Scott wasn't around, but I did check out the RS6 (looked good) and had a little chat with Fabryce, who was very cordial and gave me the low down on what had happened to the S4 (basically the timing belt snapped at 11k miles). My guess at this point is that HMS' business is doing pretty well and Fabryce has moved to more of an owner/partner role, probably handling HMS while Scott tends to Intrax (the cash cow).
HMS Part II: I've been thinking about adding a rear spoiler to TTUNED for a while now. With the extra power of the Stage III kit I'm worried about the amount of lift that get's generated at speed. I read in a new TT book I got (Audi TT - The Complete Story, by James Ruppert) that the factory spoiler actually adds enough downforce that the lift generated at the TT's rear is something like 53 lbs at 125 mph, down from 148 lbs of lift for an "unspoilt" car. A Boxster, the book states, generates 68 lbs of lift at the same speed.
The problem is I hate the factory TT spoiler - one of the styling cues I love about the TT's original design was the lack of a wing on the car, but apparently it's true that the car's underside ground effect panels simply don't generate enough downforce. So I've been looking at alternatives and have basically narrowed it down to two ideas:
1. Get the Audi TT 3.2 spoiler (and add the nifty honeycomb rear exhaust valance) or
2. Get the Sportec spoiler
The 3.2 factory spoiler probably generates tons of downforce, and that's good, but it's no more stylish than the "regular" TT factory spoiler, other than the cool black outline bit. The Sportec spoiler, on the other hand, is the best I've seen for the car, sweeping gently from the edge of the car and gradually building up to the middle of the car before doing the same on the opposite side. Really fits the lines of the car well.
Trouble is I haven't found anyone who carries the Sportec line of Audi accessories, even after some extensive web searches. I also don't know how effective at reducing lift the spoiler is; I don't want it for looks (although it does look great), I want it for downforce.
So what's this got to do with HMS? As I'm talking with Fabryce in the HMS booth at the car show, I notice a black TT and it has the Sportec spoiler on it, along with a nice set of 18" Sportec rims. Fabryce said it was a customer car, and I asked him where the spoiler came from, and (surprise!) turns out that HMS is now an authorized Sportec reseller.
I asked Fabryce how much downforce the spoiler generates but unfortunately he didn't have any numbers on it (if anyone knows please email me!! jeffreytz@yahoo.com). I asked how much it was and Fabryce said $800 unpainted. Sounds like a lot. I'm going to check around some more, I think I saw one of these for sale used on the web, just need to remember where it was (maybe the TT Talk forum?). But at least I know where I can get one now, it's just ironic it's at HMS. A lot will depend on how TTUNED handles at its first full (we hope!) track event at Willow Springs on 1/21. If I don't notice any lift issues than I'll probably just skip the spoiler issue for now, but if it's twitchy, that's the next mod.
Anyway, took a bunch of pictures at the show, will get them posted on the Webshots site in the next couple of days. Best in show was the new Austin Martin DB9, hands down, but there was other fun stuff there too, like the Morgan, the Bentley GT, and a few others. Watch the website or this blog for notification when the pics are up :)
- While chatting with Ken (my mechanic) while he was installing my Forge FMIC just before Christmas, he mentioned that Scott Hartmann had been in to Newport Auto Center just a few days before; he'd been picking up an RS6 that HMS was going to modify the suspension on for the upcoming LA Car Show (my car was up on the rack having the SPEC clutch/flywheel installed, which someone pointed out to him and caused a good-natured grimace). Newport Auto gets a lot of modified A4s in for service and "normal" warranty work, and they keep track of where the cars have been modified at. Cars from HMS typically were very sloppy, but Ken mentioned that the last three HMS cars that had come in were immaculate, everything where it belonged, all trim in place, every nut and bolt not only installed, but actually torqued down! Ken said he thought it was clearly someone else turning the wrench over at HMS. Made me wonder if Fabryce was still there.
- Last week on a flight to Chicago I was thumbing through the February 2004 issue of european car and there in the S4 Shootout article was the yellow Hartmann S4 and Fabryce's mug in the "owner" picture. What caught my attention, however, was another unknown face in the picture. Reading through the article, it stated that Casey Allinder is the HMS "chief mechanic", and when the S4 "blew up" 2 days prior to the shootout event Casey was the guy who put it back together, not Fabryce.
So I was at the LA Auto Show yesterday and made sure to stop by the Hartmann booth in Kitna Hall. Scott wasn't around, but I did check out the RS6 (looked good) and had a little chat with Fabryce, who was very cordial and gave me the low down on what had happened to the S4 (basically the timing belt snapped at 11k miles). My guess at this point is that HMS' business is doing pretty well and Fabryce has moved to more of an owner/partner role, probably handling HMS while Scott tends to Intrax (the cash cow).
HMS Part II: I've been thinking about adding a rear spoiler to TTUNED for a while now. With the extra power of the Stage III kit I'm worried about the amount of lift that get's generated at speed. I read in a new TT book I got (Audi TT - The Complete Story, by James Ruppert) that the factory spoiler actually adds enough downforce that the lift generated at the TT's rear is something like 53 lbs at 125 mph, down from 148 lbs of lift for an "unspoilt" car. A Boxster, the book states, generates 68 lbs of lift at the same speed.
The problem is I hate the factory TT spoiler - one of the styling cues I love about the TT's original design was the lack of a wing on the car, but apparently it's true that the car's underside ground effect panels simply don't generate enough downforce. So I've been looking at alternatives and have basically narrowed it down to two ideas:
1. Get the Audi TT 3.2 spoiler (and add the nifty honeycomb rear exhaust valance) or
2. Get the Sportec spoiler
The 3.2 factory spoiler probably generates tons of downforce, and that's good, but it's no more stylish than the "regular" TT factory spoiler, other than the cool black outline bit. The Sportec spoiler, on the other hand, is the best I've seen for the car, sweeping gently from the edge of the car and gradually building up to the middle of the car before doing the same on the opposite side. Really fits the lines of the car well.
Trouble is I haven't found anyone who carries the Sportec line of Audi accessories, even after some extensive web searches. I also don't know how effective at reducing lift the spoiler is; I don't want it for looks (although it does look great), I want it for downforce.
So what's this got to do with HMS? As I'm talking with Fabryce in the HMS booth at the car show, I notice a black TT and it has the Sportec spoiler on it, along with a nice set of 18" Sportec rims. Fabryce said it was a customer car, and I asked him where the spoiler came from, and (surprise!) turns out that HMS is now an authorized Sportec reseller.
I asked Fabryce how much downforce the spoiler generates but unfortunately he didn't have any numbers on it (if anyone knows please email me!! jeffreytz@yahoo.com). I asked how much it was and Fabryce said $800 unpainted. Sounds like a lot. I'm going to check around some more, I think I saw one of these for sale used on the web, just need to remember where it was (maybe the TT Talk forum?). But at least I know where I can get one now, it's just ironic it's at HMS. A lot will depend on how TTUNED handles at its first full (we hope!) track event at Willow Springs on 1/21. If I don't notice any lift issues than I'll probably just skip the spoiler issue for now, but if it's twitchy, that's the next mod.
Anyway, took a bunch of pictures at the show, will get them posted on the Webshots site in the next couple of days. Best in show was the new Austin Martin DB9, hands down, but there was other fun stuff there too, like the Morgan, the Bentley GT, and a few others. Watch the website or this blog for notification when the pics are up :)
posted by jeffreytz @ 4:35 PM
0 comments
Finally got around to creating the blog for my Stage III Audi TT site. I'll be using this to post quickie notes about the car, car stuff in general, and anything else that strikes me as relevant at that particular moment Thanks for reading!
posted by jeffreytz @ 4:28 PM
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