COBB Tuning Blog

COBB Tuning Adjustable Rear Anti-swaybar Endlinks for the GT-R are threaded to easily remove all preload from the bar and provides consistent handling balance in right and left turns. The construction of these endlinks starts with carbon steel bearing rod ends utilizing a PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) self lubricating corrosion resistant coating. The CAD designed and CNC machined spindles are 6061-T6 aluminum and hard anodized for a long lasting finish. Our endlinks were designed and assembled in-house for optimal strength, performance and durability. Adjustment is as easy as loosening the jam nuts and turning the spindle to lengthen or shorten the endlink while installed on the car.

Direct bolt-in replacement for the factory links. To improve the feel of your stock or upgraded sway bar, spherical rod bearings are used at all connection points, which provide razor sharp response. Supplies are very limited and once sold out, they will not be restocked. Sold as a pair.

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Updated 2010 Lancer Ralliart AccessPORT maps are available for immediate download from COBB Tuning.com. The new v1.01 maps resolve a critical fault present in the previous v1.00 AccessPORT maps that rendered 2010 Lancer Ralliarts inoperable upon installation of the AccessPORT.

These new maps are available by direct download from the Lancer Ralliart Map Download Page and also via firmware update to be released shortly. Before installing your AccessPORT, download the desired v1.01 map and load to your AccessPORT via AccessPORT Manager.

Only 2010 Lancer Ralliart is affected by this update.

Please contact COBB Tuning directly if you have further questions or concerns at tech@cobbtuning.com or call us at 801-713-0035.

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Check out Drivingsports.com’s exposé on COBB Tuning’s top tuner, Tim Bailey, and his Nissan GT-R. Along with COBB Tuning ECU Wizards Joe Graham and John “Thistle” Banks, Tim is the man behind testing many of the performance upgrades available for the GT-R market, using his own car as the test mule for COBB’s Godzilla enhancements. Whenever Joe and John take apart a line of code that unlocks more features for your GT-R AccessPORT, Tim straps his car to the dyno for more testing and tuning.

The result is this E85-powered monster with just under 600whp on tap, almost 200hp more than stock! The secret is a custom fuel system that allows Tim to run the high-octane corn fuel. But what is all that power good for if you can’t have fun with it. To that end, Tim gave in to the archaic NHRA rules and bolted a custom cage into his supercar so he could post 10-second drag runs all day without fear of being snubbed by the tech inspectors.

See more of Tim’s beast at Drivingsports.com and also on www.Blip.tv!

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COBB Tuning is proud to announce that we will be hosting the Grand Opening of our new Austin, TX headquarters facility on July 24. We have a tons of stuff planned!

When
Saturday 10am-3:30pm
July 24, 2010

Where
COBB Tuning
2311 W Rundberg, #500
Austin, TX 78758

Why

• Texas BBQ and beverages
• COBB Motorsports Forza
  • Drive the COBB Motorsports GT-R, STI or 370Z
• Free t-shirt giveaways (while supplies last)
• COBB Tuning Products Sales Station
• Dyno Demonstrations
  • Hosted by COBB Calibrators Tim, Christian, Calvin and Lance.
• Tuning Seminars
  • Hosted by COBB Calibrators Tim, Christian, Calvin and Lance.
• Special Prize Awards
  • COBB Spirit Award
    • Given to the person displaying the most “COBB Spirit”
  • Best Car Award
    • As voted by Grand Opening attendees
  • Biggest COBB Fan Award
    • Decided using a popular Texas pastime
• Facility Tours
  • Led by Trey Cobb

So mark July 24th on your calendars and come prepared for a full day of fun! We’ll see you there!

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COBB Tuning announces the availability of the COBB Post MAF Hose for the ‘08+ Subaru STI, ’08+ Subaru WRX and ’05-’09 Subaru Legacy GT. The COBB Post MAF Hose balances form and function with its smart appearance and turbulence taming characteristics.

The COBB Post MAF Hose joins the stock airbox (or optional COBB SF Intake) to the turbo inlet tube by replacing the stock corrugated rubber piece, arguably one of the most aesthetically challenged OEM parts in the engine bay. While the sleek exterior is easy on the eyes, the slick interior is friendly to airflow, feeding a smooth column of air to the turbo.

The 4-ply silicone construction has the right compliance to bridge the chassis mounted airbox to the violent motion of a boxer engine being driven in anger, while the steel reinforcement prevents collapse when the turbo is drawing maximum vacuum at wide open throttle.

Available in COBB Blue and Stealth Black for $75, the COBB Post MAF Hose qualifies for free ground shipping in the US. Click here for more info.

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Takata Time Attack recently celebrated Independence Day with participation in Redline’s fourth west coast event of the year dubbed The Liberty Grand Prix. Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California set the stage for a challenging contest as temperatures exceeded 90 degrees and average speeds on the course exceeded 100mph for Modified class cars. The LIC Motorsports crew was busy in the weeks preceding the event preparing for the challenge. The Takata Time Attack/LIC Motorsports STI is making over 500whp and is tuned on the stock ECU with the COBB Tuning AccessPORT, once again proving the AccessPORT is Motorsports grade!

“Chassis development has been and continues to be our focal point for development of the car” said Noah Levy of LIC Motorsports. “Based on feedback from our driver and the advice of some of our partners we have made some changes to the car to improve its high speed stability. Along the way we have also removed some Lose Weight Exercise from the car. We were hopeful for dramatic improvements in the handling of the car.”

As driver James Elterman took to the track on Saturday, he immediately found new confidence in the car at high speeds. Development continued throughout the weekend with alignment, spring rate, aero, and rear differential changes. With each change came reduced lap times and by Saturday evening it was looking as though a podium finish was attainable.
The serious business of racing took pause on Saturday night as the main straight of the raceway was converted to a drag strip. Street cars, prepared drag racers, as well as some Time Attack cars raced the 1,000 ft. drag strip as the sun set. The Takata Impreza made an impression on the fans as it posted the fastest trap speed of the evening at 112mph. After nightfall the fans and racers were treated to a 22 minute fireworks show.

In Sunday’s first Time Attack session James claimed 4th position just 1 second out of 3rd. The final session again proved to be a critical one.
“Going into the final round of the Time Attack we all felt the car had the potential of reaching the podium.” said Elterman. “We made some minor changes going into the final round but unfortunately we took a small step in the wrong direction. Despite this I was pushing for an improved time. The first lap offered no improvement, and on the second lap I had in incredible off in Turn 1. Fortunately the damage was contained to the front splitter, but it forced our retirement from the session.”

With no improvement in the final session, the team retained 4th place in Modified AWD. After some quick repairs by the LIC crew to the front splitter, the Takata Impreza was ready for the Super Session sprint race. James started in the second row of grid in 3rd for Modified AWD. After the race’s first lap, the 034 Motorsports Audi in 2nd position retired due to a mechanical issue, putting Elterman in 2nd. Four laps later the Cobb Nissan GTR of Brian Lock crossed line first for Modified AWD, with Elterman in 2nd.

The intense battle for the Modified AWD Season Championship continues with James Elterman and Brian Lock standing out from the rest of the pack. After 4 events Elterman retains a small lead over Lock with 150 points to his 149 points. With three races left in the series the Championship may likely come down to the final event.

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The Dobson Motorsports MAZDASPEED3 recently clocked another win at Infineon raceway for round 4 of the NASA US Touring Car Championship. The Dobson Motorsports MAZDASPEED3 was recently tuned at Fine Line Imports with the COBB Tuning AccessPORT. This car is one of the new MS3′s racing wheel to wheel and all tuned with the power of the stock ECU with the COBB Tuning AccessPORT.

“We managed our 3rd victory of the season. Round 3 was held in June, it was a 2 hour race and we came in second place,” said Team Principle Ken Dobson. “We lost it by a small amount on fuel mileage. Miles Hechtman (of Fine Line Imports) spent this past weekend at the track with us and he really has the car mapped well, it is running strong. What a great guy he is and he is extremely knowledgeable.” The next race is set for Fontana at the end of July, check the NASA schedule for dates and head out to support the Dobson Motorsports team.

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Our weekend competing in Redline Time Attack Round 6, Liberty Gran Prix started off about as rough as one could expect. Despite our intentions of fitting our new brake rotors and top hats for the first practice sessions on Friday morning, a miscommunication by our supplier left us without any new brake hardware. “The existing hardware was literally falling apart,” car chief Brian Marsteller stated as he frustratingly tried to remove the scorched bolts from our fire-damaged rotors.

Being 4th of July weekend, having parts rushed was going to be difficult. The best we could do was have parts sent back up to Portland after this weekend, making the possibility for a DNF ever present in all of our minds. I began to peruse the parking lot, searching for any spectator owned STIs that may have been running our same brake setup. Luckily, before things got ugly, the LIC crew came through with a pair of rotors and top hats from a previous package they used to run allowing us to get on track!

Having not run any practice sessions Friday, I took the opportunity to reflect back to my experiences from SubieFest 2009 and used my spare time to walk the track and do my best to become re-acquainted with the “fastest road in the west”. Saturday morning as I walked back to the pit from the driver’s meeting, I was happily surprised to see that Tim and Brian had rotors back on the car and that we would be making our first session.

I took the first few out laps incredibly slowly, we were watching a remarkable amount of smoke billow from the engine bay as the engine burned off the oil soak the car got at Chicago last month. We anticipated some oil burn off as the car got back to temperature for the first time since the fire, but we didn’t expect the extent that we ended up having. Residual oil seemed to pour from every possible orifice of the car; the sub frame, intercooler and radiator, and the frame rails were all spitting oil onto the cars fan assembly. This raised some big question marks as we were all hesitant to disregard a possible oil leak as just residual oil, but as we ran slower laps our indicated oil pressures suggested that we were leak free.

Nevertheless the front of the car and intercooler/radiator assembly was apart for the majority of Saturday morning; a thorough cleaning was in order to try and remove more of the oil that was giving us such trouble. It wasn’t until the late afternoon sessions that we were finally able to put in some hot laps. Despite having not touched our setup since Chicago, the car felt decent. We definitely had something to work with. A high 1.30 lap time in the last session of Saturday moved us into the lead in Street Tire Class, but we all knew the car was green and that there was so much more time left in our chassis.

There was a distinct moment at last year’s SubieFest where I realized where a lap at Willow Springs can be either made or broken- this was the turn 8-9 complex. Remembering the Harman and LIC car just walking away from me as I tried to follow them through this high speed section of the track, made me realize how much better the car now felt. The feel of the car through turns 8 and 9 is so intimate because it is such as high risk/high benefit corner; I found that as a driver I was so in tune with what the car was doing in this complex because I knew the risk of going off and the rewards here for going fast. The AST 5200’s were absolutely, hands down, phenomenal here. Getting off the brakes, the car took an excellent set through 8, and the steady state performance that is so crucial in this portion of the track was amazing. While last year I struggled to maintain speed through this section, I was now making time on most of my competitors through 8 and 9. In comparing data with some other teams, we actually found I was carrying roughly 10mph higher into turn 8 than even some of the mod cars running on R-comps.

With lap times that put us into an early leading position, it was time for us to outline a race strategy that would allow us to lower times in the relatively short amount of practice time we had left. Brian Lock, Brian Marsteller and I made the decision that instead of spending time we didn’t have trying to continue chassis setup; we’d try and improve the setup we already had. We would do this by altering tire pressures. This wouldn’t find us seconds, but that’s not what we needed. By lowering our tire pressures by just a few PSI we kept the balance of our setup, while increasing overall grip- we were rewarded by dropping several tenths of a second, widening the gap even further over our competition.

Moving into the Time Attack, with ambient temps over 100 and track temps of above 140 degrees, the key was to be smooth. Most competitors over drove their cars, dust plumes constantly shot out of turn 9 as drivers would dip wheels as their tires screamed to maintain grip in the blistering heat. We matched our early morning times that afternoon, despite the increase in temps. While it felt like we were constantly behind the eight ball all weekend, it looked like our luck was finally shifting. Coming out of our first qualifying position, we were gridded 1st overall in the street class.

We were eventually bumped to 2nd by a wicked fast 135i that clicked off an impressive sub 1.30 lap times. Regardless, in Street AWD the competition remained incredibly close; the first 4 competitors were separated by less than one second. We’d have to work for this one. Steve Ruiz brought the heat as usual, running just 2/10ths off our pace coming out of the first time attack session. We made a few slight tire pressure changes in anticipation of slightly cooler track temps in the second time attack session, and despite a 4 wheels off excursion coming out of 9 with the accelerator still pegged, we dropped one more tenth. Just 3/10’s of a second separated Ruiz’s StopTech EVO from the STI at the end of the day- a testament to the level of preparation had on both cars.

While the Street AWD victory in the time attack was in the bag for us, the exciting super session still remained. The grid looked full as I glanced over from our pit; Mike Bonanni and I shared our excitement for what was going to be a great race. The green flew and I watched the G-STIG in the GST Impreza and the COBB GT-R jockey for position into turn 1. As the field spread, I held and inside line through the first turn and homed in on who I’d be racing with. It looked as though the Super Modified FWD Mini piloted by Dez Ballard may be my main competitor. While he was in front, I could tell that I was making time on him. His tires were ailing, and by lap 4 I was riding all over his bumper.

I was mere inches off his rear bumper through Omega and down through 5. The Mini stretched its legs as the 700hp compact stayed neck and neck with me down the back straight and over turn 7. I positioned myself on the outside, and braked just after he did securing me a clean pass into 8 and through 9. By turn 2, it looked as though the Mini had dropped off pace, and with just one lap to go, we had secured 5th place overall in the super session and 1st in the Street Tire Class!

The Liberty Gran Prix at Willow Springs has been one of our more challenging events, having only run 5 sessions the whole weekend we just didn’t have time to do what we wanted but despite the setbacks we kept our attitudes positive and our heads on our shoulders. We used pragmatism and logic to derive an approach that would maximize our use of time. In the end this approach paid off giving us a win we really worked for and deserved.

I want to give thanks to all the car’s sponsors, AST Suspension, COBB Tuning, Velocity Carbon, Jongbloed wheels, and our newest sponsor that has just come on board, Subaru of Ontario! Looking ahead, we will be taking the car back to my alma mater, Portland International Raceway, for 2 months of rigorous testing prior to Round 7. We will further to develop our chassis and suspension setup, and when we arrive in Pahrump in mid-September, we will be certainly looking for another win.

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You always know the dedication it takes to run a motorsports program when the conditions are terrible and everyone is still working their tails off. This weekend at Willow Springs was pretty much as bad as it can get. At times the temperatures reached 108 degrees in the paddock. Over 50 gallons of fluids were consumed by the crew to try to stay hydrated and cool. Through all this though, I saw the same tireless dedication to their jobs as the crew has on any other weekend. We were a little worried about engine temps this weekend, but with a new carbon hood from AIT with louvers our crew was the ONLY thing that got overheated this weekend.

We had a lot of work to do this weekend on the GT-R. Every stock bushing in the suspension had been replaced with the ERP full spherical bearing kit. The difference this made was absolutely incredible. The GT-R became at least twice as easy to drive this weekend with the stability the ERP kit added. In previous events we had logged a huge amount of toe change under braking and on throttle. This made the car very hard to drive consistently, which in Time Attack is paramount only having 1 or 2 laps to post a your best lap of the weekend. You can even see the difference in my in-car video with how much calmer my inputs are on the wheel. Definitely one of the best upgrades we have made to the car all year!

Of course we would not even have a weekend without SSP. At the previous event, our AWD input shaft sheared in two, we had to find a solution to get the GT-R back on the track in a hurry! Kris rebuilt our damaged AWD clutch unit and sourced a new gear in only 2 days, got it over-nighted back to us, and saved our event. There was only one person I thought of calling when we knew our transmission was broken, and that was Kris at SSP. His experience with the dual clutch gearbox of the GT-R is unparalleled in the US, and he came through with flying colors.

Back to events of the weekend, we took another track record, and another overall AWD Modified Class victory. This wasn’t an easy victory, however, with 034 Motorsports, Ryan Gates, and LIC/Takata in attendance, along with the very fast GT-R of Fontana Nissan with Mike Cronin Jr. at the wheel. It was a good thing we broke the track record by the margin we did this weekend because 034 Motorsport also broke the previous track record and was not far off our pace. In the record assault session they were as close to us time-wise, as Ryan was out at Autobahn Country Club. We were not sure how fast Ryan Gates could run as he was playing games with his competitors all weekend by refusing to run full hot laps in practice, however, his challenge never materialized.

At the end of the day were able to hold down first place and extend our margin of victory in the second Time Attack session by putting on a new set of stickier tires and I was able to put down a blistering 1:23.4 lap time. This was pretty exciting considering we were on par with last year’s AWD Super Modified Class times. This car continues to amaze me with every event we go to.

Now it’s time to get ready for two rounds that I believe will prove to be much more technical and difficult win for us. Spring Mountain and especially Infineon Raceway will be very different from Willow Springs with tight turns and hard transitioning corners, something GT-R struggles with its Lose Weight Exercise. We have the best crew in the paddock though, and an AccessPORT powered GT-R engine, so I am confident we will do well!

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The COBB Tuning Motorsports Team once again proved the power of stock ECU tuning with the COBB Tuning AccessPORT by scoring two first place wins in class as well as an overall win in the Modified AWD class. Brian Lock rocketed the COBB Tuning Motorsports GT-R to a first place win in the Modified AWD Class during the Record Assault session putting the GT-R well ahead of his next nearest competitor by a full second with a 1:23.488 lap time, smashing through the Modified Class track record in the process.

Not to be outdone by his teammate, COBB Tuning Motorsports STI driver, Cameron Benner, quickly raced to the top of the standings during Saturday practice and held that position for the duration of the weekend. However, this was no run away victory as Steve Ruiz in the Stoptech EVOX nipped at his heals as the two fought for lead by tenths of a second. In the end, Cameron was able to grab the AWD Street Tire win with a 1:30.200 lap time.

Both cars were able to handily take their classes in the Super session as well, with Cameron besting several Modified class cars in the process. Brian Lock and the GT-R proved once again that the GT-R is a formidable opponent, especially in the hands of Lock who has spent the majority of his career banging doors in Grand Am Cup and USTCC touring car racing. Brian was able to jump into 2nd place behind the GST Motorsports Super Modified Impreza and hold his lead over 3rd place James Elterman in the Takata Time Attack/LIC Motorsports STI to the finish line.

For Cameron, the Super Session was incredibly exciting as he battled several Modified Class cars. Cameron was able to dispatch the Street Tire RWD 135 BMW of Mike Bonanni, who was suffering oiling issues, as well as the Modified Class 700hp front wheel drive class AFB Motoring Mini of Dez Ballard. Cameron and the mini drove an incredibly close race with the two swapping position several times. In the end, Cameron was able to pull the mini down the back straight on the penultimate lap and hold that lead to the checkered flag despite his 200whp disadvantage.

Despite some minor mechanical difficulties for the STI, ambient temperatures that reached over 105 degrees on race day and track temps that soared above 150 degrees, the cars performed flawlessly showing that solid preparation and a well-sorted car, as well as reliable horsepower thanks to the COBB Tuning AccessPORT, win races.

The team has a 2-month respite from Redline Time Attack and will use that time to repair, refit and do some testing. Look for the team to back on track in Sin City in September!

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