My Weekend at the Korean F1 Track

Me too. Pulsar GTiR is sexy.

MOAR PHOTOS! http://bengarrido.com/2013/10/23/more-youngam-race-weekend-pictures-courtesy-of-chris-marsh/

I see that there were some Porsches there, a BMW, and that Nissan, but it seems that the field was mostly Korean cars that wouldn't get a second consideration as track cars here. And the usual fare of Miatas, cheap BMWs, and Hondas are conspicuously absent. Is that because of Korean vehicle import tariffs? Or just Korean pride?

Nice pics! I love the white new body Accent leading the field in one of the pics. Good looking car.

I see y'all use the AIRRAM intakes on the beta's over there.

steronz wrote: I see that there were some Porsches there, a BMW, and that Nissan, but it seems that the field was mostly Korean cars that wouldn't get a second consideration as track cars here. And the usual fare of Miatas, cheap BMWs, and Hondas are conspicuously absent. Is that because of Korean vehicle import tariffs? Or just Korean pride?

Import tariffs are a big part of what you're seeing, so is availability. In a little more than four years in Korea, I have literally never seen a Miata - in fact I've never seen any Mazda except for maybe half a dozen JDM FD RX7s. I have seen two double a-arm Civics of any description. Ditto old BMWs. I've seen a couple E36s, but nothing older than that. Newer BMWs are all over the place, but the old stuff is super rare.

Another part is simply aftermarket support. Tiburons and Tuscanis have lots of available parts, particularly the beta engined cars. Avantes/Elantras are the same story. New Accents and Avante/Elantra/Velosters also have lots of available parts. Genesis Coupes, parts everywhere. Older Accents to a lesser degree. Forte/Koup a little less. Anything made by Kia prior to 2006 - nothing. Anything made by Chevrolet/Daewoo before the Cruze - almost nothing. Oddly, some of the best supported tuning/racing vehicles are Ssangyong Mussos, Kia Sorentos and Hyundai Santa Fes.

This ^ for example, has very few parts you can't just buy off the shelf.

For foreign cars, Porsches and BMWs are really the only cars with any aftermarket support and i think that's because their owners are rich enough to not care about tariffs.

As for the Korean stuff that wouldn't get a second look in the US, I think that availability factor works both ways. All of those cars, in a vacuum, make perfectly acceptable race cars - but in the US I'd sure as hell rather parts shop for a Civic than an Elantra.

Bobzilla wrote: Nice pics! I love the white new body Accent leading the field in one of the pics. Good looking car. I see y'all use the AIRRAM intakes on the beta's over there.

Oh yes. And they put betas in everything. The team boss at Turbo Spark is trying to convince me to swap a beta into my Nubira when I officially take it off the road. I'm considering it, if I'm honest.

The beta is a great engine. Durable as hell. Biggest problem for us over here is lack of support. The stock cams, while good for boost, are absolutely the worst for N/A power. With their huge overlap to negate the need for EGR on the engines they just don't "wake up" NA here.

Personally, I always thought the 2.0L BetaII would have been great with a good pair of cams, a small bump(from 10:1 to 11:1) in compression and a good stand alone engine management. I still think that it would have been a good 200whp with good torque (unlike the K20's we have here).

All the beta powered cars in our team have big cams, and yeah, they don't seem to need a whole lot beyond that, the Airram intake, a tune and an exhaust to make near 200 hp.

We'll see how well my T20SD does with ITBs and an exhaust. If I'm getting blown away on the straight stretches, I might end up with the world's first Hyundai powered Daewoo.

Personally, I want to snag one of the new 1.6GDI-T drivertrains and swap it into an EF Civic..... 210hp, 1900lbs, 60mpg. All the awesome.

DaewooOfDeath wrote: As for the Korean stuff that wouldn't get a second look in the US, I think that availability factor works both ways. All of those cars, in a vacuum, make perfectly acceptable race cars - but in the US I'd sure as hell rather parts shop for a Civic than an Elantra.

Fascinating stuff, thanks for taking the time. Now I want to build a Hyundai for some reason ... :)

Bobzilla wrote: Personally, I want to snag one of the new 1.6GDI-T drivertrains and swap it into an EF Civic..... 210hp, 1900lbs, 60mpg. All the awesome.

In the words of the great philosopher Charles Sheen, that is winning.

Does Korea still use the registration fee linked to engine displacement? I spent a few years stationed there in the military and that was the reason that their cars & motorcycles were small displacement. Us military used different license plates and were exempt from that but limited to only one vehicle. If we wanted a second vehicle, that was subject to Korean registration fees. Last time I was stationed there (during the 88 Olympics) the car of choice was the German Ford Granada with a very small V6. I think around 2.4L if I remember right. Which was about the biggest engine you would find.

On a side note, supposed to go back to Peong Taek area for work for a couple weeks in January. Although retired army, I still work for the army.

wlkelley3:

Yes, there's a bracket for 1L, 1.5L, 2.0L and 2.5L and above (I think, I've never registered a car above 1.5L). It's one reason Hyundai decided to go with an all four cylinder lineup with all their sub-Genesis vehicles this generation.

Pyeongtaek is near the ocean, you should go watch the fireworks if you get a chance.

Bobzilla wrote: Interesting, because IIRC the Beta never came backed with a 6-spd and the bellhousings were different between the beta and the Delta. Possibly a Theta-swapped car? THat would make since with the hood scoop feeding air into the turbo because the Theta exhaust is on the back side of the engine. 235's on a car that size/weight would be hugenormous. COnsidering it would have weighed 2200-ish stock before gutting, I could see it sitting around 1900-2000lbs with a 235 tire is impressive. I definately want to know more about this one if you see it again.

Zombie thread alert...

I wanted to get back to you on this because I just did my first track day at the f1 course. Story on that coming in a couple days.

Anyway, there were at least some 6 speed beta powered Tiburons. I know this because the guy parked next to me in the garage had one. I think this might be the first bit of desirable kdm only unobtanium.

nAH... you guys got some cool stuff we don't.

KDM is REAL!

KDM FTMFWWTFBBQ.

Thought you might get a kick out of this...

Our hillclimb association (NEHA - hillclimb.org) has been running what we call the "Daewoo Challenge" for 2-3 years now. The car was abandoned by its owner and recovered by the contract municipal tow driver that races with us. The state didnt want it (they often auction recovered cars if the owner cant be located or doesnt want to pay for the recovery) and it would have cost more to make it legal to drive on the roads than its worth (not to mention the total lack of parts availability), so it became the next whipping boy for everyone that races in our series to flog up the hills once each event until it died. Well, it refuses to die and has become something of a crowd favorite. To be honest it has needed a few parts like an upper strut bearing when it was jumped once too often, and because for the most part you cannot buy new ones here (you should hear a parts guy laugh when you say Daewoo) they have come from wrecking yard Daewoos.

Enjoy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xG4mFfOQ4M

That video is gnarly.

In reply to wclark:

Where did you get the straight cut gears?

Bobzilla wrote: In reply to DaewooOfDeath: Ah, the no-2.4 would definately neuter it. The EF's curb weight was ~3180lbs while the NF was ~3250. I'm not sure what engine choices y'all got for hte EF, but we got the knockoff mitsu 2.4 (138hp/145tq)and the horrific early 2.5L delta.

My buddy just bought an EF 2.0 and it's an NA 4g63, if he's to be believed.

I strongly advised against getting a delta. I'm just not a fan of that engine.

In reply to DaewooOfDeath:

If I remember the videos author correctly - .A YouTube soundtrack for some hot factory car running Nürburgring. Might have been this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-tuGOb0p0s

Pretty good editing, huh?