Thanks for the Reply Sam, I appreciate it!

I understand the problem with the original system and applaud the further development.

I too arrived at a much more aggressive pad, and a weak-ish rear pad. I also appreciate there is no support for an abs driver aid, love that! The car is stopping damn good.

I just resist the trend to make it mandatory, and the trend for the rulebook to squash crew chief adjustments for driver feel. Engagement of the brakes is a huge piece of the puzzle. For example, I've recently had one Porsche driver tell me they can't stop their car, and a teammate under the same tent take the car out for a few laps and report back they are the best brakes he's felt. They raced the same cars in the same class, just wanted different feels. (One of the drivers in this example just got a RUSH! Ironic!)

A strong motivation of mine for the 2026 series has been to reduce full-course yellows. This, and some other reliability changes we've made and are making, will go a long way toward that goal.

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This is excellent to address. ABS used to be a luxury in a race car, but now it is so common that I think the RUSH class has lots of participants that have always had ABS. Feeling a lockup is a learned skill of course and people will get there, but I understand helping them along with design updates!

Kyle

Sam Reed said:

Just noting the response in the FB group here for reference - we have seen intermittent issues with throttle position sensors that are as easy to remedy as simply unclipped the harness from the pedal, plugging it back in, then restarting the car.

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I didn't realize this got posted. I fixed the 303 car and was going to do a thread about it.

On most fly by wire throttles, once a code is set, you have to reset the code before the system will try again, EVEN AFTER THE ISSUE IS PHYSICALLY FIXED. I presume this is the same for the Suzuki per norms.

So, I am not sure that cycling the master switch resets the codes on this. I may induce a TPS code again and find out and report back.

But in this case, my scan tool communicates with the suzuki. It had several codes for the TPS and specifically called out "tps circut d" and "tps circuit E".

So I actually initially reset the codes and the throttle worked again for a little bit, but then it failed again shortly, and the codes were back. A new tps sensor failure is very suspect, (I actually originally thought it was more likely the dogbone that actuates it came off). But that was ok, so I went hunting for a bad circuit.

There is a 6 cavity Duestch connector on the TPS sensor pigtail that has been used for the RUSH car wiring harness. The root of the problem is that the locks for the male pins did not get engaged properly when building the plug. So, plugging it in once, stuff works because the pin might be touching the other half of the connector but then shortly there is an open circuit creating the behavior that was reported, which is due to a open circuit from the pin being pushed back.






So the middle pin on that side, and also one you cant see in the pic on the near side, were pushed back in.

If you are having TPS problems, this is worth a look.

Altho this is an easy mistake to make (I have done it myself building race car harnesses) that is no consolation if you have to DNF with the car just idling!!



Once you get them clipped, that orange block keeps the lock engaged to hold the pin firmly. Note in this application only 4 pins are used of the 6 available cavities. I forgot to get pic of final assy fix.

Also for future reference, for anyone coming across this chasing a problem, the wire colors do the following.

Brown - Sytem 5 volt reference, should be solid. (5.3 on mine)
Blue - System Ground.
Black - Voltage signal that follows the pedal sweep. I presume this is a secondary signal. Mine went from .2-3.6 on pedal going from off to full throttle.
White - Voltage signal that follows the pedal sweep. I presume tis is the primary signal. Mine went from .53 - 4.86v on pedal going for off to full throttle.

Many FBW systems have multiple signal to confirm logic. Again, I don't know the suzuki design specifically, but I would expect norms.

Anyway, yes its all good now. Took an afternoon to run down tho.

Hope this helps in the future.

Kyle

Per my note on FB - the clip was fine but the wires going into the clip were not installed correctly. They just weren't pushed in and snapped. Fixed them. All good.

Okay. Please call the shop on Monday we’ll get you taken care of.

Thanks Sam - wasn't sure if Facebook was the right place to post issues like that, I suspect it's ok for the group. I tried that this morning, followed the directions explicitly, and to no avail. My AiM dash is listing an accelerator pedal figure of 148.6 so maybe this is electrical as you noted but not remedied by the harness itself. Will keep trying and report back. Appreciate the note.

Kw78 said:

I don't think this is good news. What is the point of this? If it is to get the proceeds from a consumable, then is RUSH going to offer quite the variety of pads that is out there?

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We understand this. The reasoning is:

• The stock pads that were shipped from 2022-2025 were inadequate for the car. There was too much rear braking and not enough front. Practically, everyone needed to run brake bias as far front as the adjustment bar would go. This is not a great way for the car to ship.
• Unequal-sized master cylinders helps alleviate that problem, but it is best in combination with unequal pad compounds.
• Development of this solution took time and money. Additionally, a design review of the brake calipers showed that there was some small deviation from the intended shape and the d961 pads had some overhang. The new spec pads fix this problem and maximize available pad area, wear more evenly, and fit the actual driving profile of the car.
  • To be clear, the new spec pad is *not* the D961 shape - it is slightly different. There is no other way to get this corrected shape, meaning that any non-spec pad is going to be inferior in wear.
• So it became clear that an OEM change was necessary, and that a fair number of incidents we've seen in the car due to more amateur drivers locking up, could have been avoided by this solution. Compelling them to change was easiest done by mandating a spec pad, which also helped cover some of our sizable internal development costs.

Among drivers who have tried the new solution, even the among most elite in the series, the feedback has been very positive. I understand your resistance and it's legitimate. Every decision we make has trade-offs; we decided the trade-offs fell on the side of mandating the pads this year.

A strong motivation of mine for the 2026 series has been to reduce full-course yellows. This, and some other reliability changes we've made and are making, will go a long way toward that goal.

Just noting the response in the FB group here for reference - we have seen intermittent issues with throttle position sensors that are as easy to remedy as simply unclipped the harness from the pedal, plugging it back in, then restarting the car.

JChapman said:

Brake pads used to be open but 2026 regulations now require pads sold by RAW. This change is not included in the changes document. Is it an oversight in the changes document or mistake in the 2026 regulations?

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I don't think this is good news. What is the point of this? If it is to get the proceeds from a consumable, then is RUSH going to offer quite the variety of pads that is out there?

If it is to force the brake feel to suit a certain style of braking, then this is bad news.

RUSH, part of the attraction of this car is it is tunable to the feel that the driver works with best. SPEC cars ultimate performance are dominated by the physics of the car. IE, HP to weight, ride height, dimensions, tires.

Driver performance is dominated by the feel of the car. Spec Miata made this mistake long ago and then recovered. They tried spec alignment, spec brake pads etc. All this does is narrow the field to one driving style. I have been part of this expirement before and all it does is reduce the field.

Years ago we took two championship drivers from the same class and had them test a spec car from their class with the other drivers setup. Each was respectively WAY off in lap time compared to driving their own setup, while producing nearly identical lap times in the same vehicle when allowed to drive their preferred setup. One driver was only adept at managing a pushy car, and the other liked a very pointy or loose car, but both drivers were national champions. I stress that no parts were changed on the car, just adjustments to sway bars, shocks, alignment etc.

The point of the exercise was to teach how the feel of the car working with the drivers brain is a more important requirement than the root ability of the car, to promote close racing.

The 2026 rules for RUSH appear to be going down that path of dictating driver style versus just keeping a collection of parts at the same performance potential. Physics of tire, ride height, hp to weight, and spec aero should be kept in spec, but not camber, rake, brake bite, and shock forces. Those are all driver feel. Those are all things that change track to track possibly, as well as in different conditions.

I hope RUSH will focus on the reliability of the car running a reasonable race distance (that's not 20 min btw) and letting the club racers develop and adjust the car to suit their style and feel.


My .02
Kyle

JChapman said:

Brake pads used to be open but 2026 regulations now require pads sold by RAW. This change is not included in the changes document. Is it an oversight in the changes document or mistake in the 2026 regulations?

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Please see the new doc - thanks for pointing this out.

Sam Reed updated Technical Regulations for Rush Auto Works Race Series with a new update entry:

2026 Rush SR Race Series Technical Regulations

Technical Regulations for the 2026 Season.

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Read the rest of this update entry...

Sam Reed updated Technical Regulations for Rush Auto Works Race Series with a new update entry:

2025-2026 Technical Regulations

PDF with updates between the 2025 and 2026 seasons.

Click to expand...

Read the rest of this update entry...

Eric H said:

Thank you for the detail. Best of luck to you on sale so you can move on!

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Thank you Eric.

Thank you for the detail. Best of luck to you on sale so you can move on!

Yes, they come with a parts warranty. I had an agreement with Rush at the time that the transmission components would be shipped to me for free but this was over a year ago and I'm not necessarily expecting them to honor that anymore. To be honest, it took far too much effort on my and my dealer's part to get help from Rush at the time and it soured me on the company to the point I dropped the entire hobby after this experience. Part of the blame may have been on my dealer as well, but not entirely, and they are no longer working with Rush. Rush may also have improved their communications since then. I just want to be rid of this vehicle at the moment and will entertain all serious offers.

Apologies if prying too much, but I thought the cars came with a 6 month warranty. I read here the damage happened 4-5 months after delivery?
Sorry to hear I can only imagination the frustration.
Seems like a new chassis for someone to drop new engine in (or rebuild) and option for nice trailer too. GLWS!

Hey @JChapman, this is an oversight in the change document. It is an intended change. We will amend.

Brake pads used to be open but 2026 regulations now require pads sold by RAW. This change is not included in the changes document. Is it an oversight in the changes document or mistake in the 2026 regulations?

Late Entry Motorsports said:

Rush Spare Parts	Customer Tools
Spare Wheels & Tires	Tire Pressure Gauge
14T Sprocket	Air Compressor
Front Sprocket Nut & Washer	Floor Jack
Axle Nut	Wheel Chocks
RAWPP-126 – Wheel Nut (Recommend at Least 4 Spares)
Starter	Torque Wrench 20-150#
Variety Pack of M6, M8 & M10 Bolts, Nuts & Washers	GripEdge Metric Allen Set
Clutch Cable	Tee Handel Allen Wrench’s
Chain	Basic Mechanics Hand Tool Set
Throttle Cable (Only on Older Chassis)	Pliers Set
Axle (Same Right & Left)	Basic Prybar Set
Axle Flange Bolts	Adjustable Wrenches
Hammer Set
Neutral Select Switch	36"Long 1/2" Breaker Bar
51600 - Steering Wheel Cable	18" Long 1/2" Extension
ATM Micro Low Profile Fuse Kit	19mm Wheel Socket
40A Fuse ATC	Impact Gun (Small 1/2 or Large 3/8)
Misc Electrical Connectors	17mm Wrench's (Multiples)
Speed Emulator	16mm Wrench's
Comp/Fuel Pump 30A Relay	10mm Wrench's
Brake Light Switch	13mm Wrench's
150PSI Transducer	Screw Drivers
32 mm Socket for Axles
AIM Camera Lens	36 mm Socket for Front Sprocket
SD Card for AIM Smarty Cam	Drill Bits (Step Bits are a Great Option)
USB Cable MINI USB AIM	Wood Sliding Ruler
12PT 8mm & 10mm
(2) Brake Caliper Pin & Retaining Clip	Paint Pen
Brake Pad Sets (Same Shape Front & Rear)
3/8 Impact Gun
Splitter, Splitter Stays, Pucks & Hardware	Drill
Splitter	Vacuum
Splitter Mounts	Leaf Blower
Front Bumper
Steering Wheel Cable	Battery Charger w/ Anderson Connector
Jump Pack w/ Anderson Connector
Brake Fluid	Euro 5 OBD Connector & OBD Reader
Engine Oil - 4T Motorcycle	Multimeter
White Lithium Grease
Broom & Squeegee
Fire Extinguisher	Canopy
Detailing Products - Glass Cleaner, Quick Details	Car Cover / Tarp
Red & Blue Loctite
Nitrile Gloves	Fuel Jug
Racers Tape (Gaffers Tape)	Fuel Filler Neck
Chain Lube	Jack Stands
Soapy Water	Body Work Stands
Distilled Water
Oil Drying Rags
Trash Bags

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I would suggest including a “no-air” radiator funnel and Water Wetter or similar product.

Late Entry Motorsports said:

Kirkey can make one for you. Note you will want around a 40° to 45° recline.

View attachment 1601View attachment 1602

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Thanks, guys. We really appreciate your input here.

TimG said:

It is a bit tricky to get off. I used what I call a python wrench (plastic handle with a rubber cinch strap). Was slow going as not much room to get more than a fraction of a turn at a time. Replaced original filter with bolt head one and my life got a lot easier. Cover your exhaust with something impermeable (I wrap tinfoil around the section) otherwise some oil will drip onto the heat wrap . Will smoke for 20 minutes when you start the car.

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bcarrollWDC said:

I keep coming back to this thread for advice so I'll ask here:

What tool do I need to remove the OEM oil filter on the engine? I was expecting one with a bolt head but it's just a good old fashioned oil filter.

Thanks in advance!

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First time drive a big screw driver through the cartrige, the factory glues them on and it is super hard.

After the first it should be able to be done by hand or a small filter wrench.