It's as big as a whale. Maybe its for a whale? Maybe ^_^
Behold!
So yeah, what is it?
So there you have it. End of the whince-inducing picture story. The abysmal title should've forewarned you, so no guilt is felt. You are reading this after all. And this. And this again. So. What we have here, are a set of
So, nature of this purchase? I have no reason to justify myself, but I shall - as a recent purchase was taking place in Singapore, and I was throwing enough money on nonessentials yet again, I figured it would probably be opportune to ask the recipient of my non-earned money - who aeons ago organised an Ultra Racing Group Buy of which I partook in - if he would be so kind as to alleviate my boredom by helping me spend more money. He was happy to oblige. As luck would have it, he was actually passing by Ultra Racing for an order anyway! Fate? Destiny? Whatever, obviously Buddha wanted me to have these with his none too subtle hint dropping, and so, despite roffling [but crying inside] at the price, I ventured forth with the purchase. Little did I know that by "Passing by" the guy was actually doing a 1000km DRIVE to Ultra Racing. Each Way.
And when I'm bored, I write this blog. Obviously different solutions to a single problem. So. Beyond my stereotypical justification of boredom/"why not?"/defending the substance of reasoning/clinical insanity as is quickly becoming usual of my purchases, I actually had further reasoning for the braces. As you may remember, when I first had the car lifted on, I was startled by the fact that the door would not close, leading me to infer that the Cefiro's chassis was indeed, made of blubber. Which lessened my surprise as whales are predominantly made of blubber, and therefore rendered this discovery, an obvious occurrence. And in my obsession for wanting to ultimately pwn at chassis development - which obviously justifies my expenditures, blatantly - I thus set forth to find a worthwhile item to help with such, before the downward spiral of retarded spending commences on this car as I turn it into a "project" and any and all of my purchases lack any notable scope.
You may vaguely recognise the form of these bars as I almost purchased something similar. Though some scoundrel in Japan sniped a bid from me and hurt my feelings. Those braces were apparently from ARC. And much prettier. However, that's where Ultra Racing seem to come in; I hate to create such notions of superiority, but I've always seen UR as the "Second Choice" when it came to bracing - made cheaply and cheerfully rather than engineered and made of gold and thus worth the piles of money I somehow manage to spend. Case in point:
Crush bends. Awesome.
Regardless, on first view, these braces seem substantial, with a heft befitting of their Cetacean connotations [at least this added weight is down low], though the odd, cheap measure is still in view. I have yet to know how these mount to the vehicle, but there are a multitude of mounting points, a lot of triangulation, and seemingly considerable tubing size, which would enforce the notion of adding a good deal of rigidity to the sills. As with most chassis stiffening measures - ignoring the recent Trunk brace I purchase which serves to take up luggage space ^_^ - this would serve to decrease the amount of energy from the suspension to be transferred in flexing of structures. This should hopefully mean defter and more direct handling, possibly felt as less delay in response on turn-in for example.
I have been trying to figure out how to quantity any benefits, if at all, of the braces through testing - not that I know much beyond my name and age, but it would serve to make me feel clever. Obviously, trying to close the door with the car jacked up at one end would be a very scientific example of their effectiveness. I was also contemplating of actually measuring minute chassis flexing via the use of laser pointers, but have not worked out how or where to measure this from, or if it can be done within a reasonable degree of accuracy. Another testing solution was through driving - perhaps measuring any improvements in generated lateral force or slalom speeds, though obviously I am limited in options of such.
Bah.
A lot of effort, but it keeps me busy.
And with enough packaging to cover a whale.
So, what next of the glorious Whale? Well. Install some of this ish, obviously, GAWD. Though focus should hopefully be redirected to my other transportation. *Cough*.
Also:
