2013 Scion FR-S: Autocross Prep
 

Sorry if this is a repost

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Last Wednesday, the Edmunds HQ closed early for the Turkey Day holiday. I figured that'd be my chance to get into our shop to get the Scion ready for the Black Friday autocross.

The first order of business was to swap the new wheels and tires out for the originals. This was done so we could compare stock vs. stock setups between the Focus ST and the FR-S. It also gave me a chance to get a little hoonage going.

By the way, what a luxury it is to have a Craftsman compressor and impact wrench at our disposal!

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Just a side by-side comparison of old and new should be an indication of the performance gap. I'll be posting more on the autocross itself shortly as I get back into the work mindset after my gravy-induced coma.

In the meantime, think about this: In a minute-long autocross, how many seconds do you think the new and stickier tires are worth on track?

Mark Takahashi, Automotive Editor @ 9,140 miles

http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtest...ross-prep.html

2013 Scion FR-S: Black Friday Autocross, Arrivals

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After the Thanksgiving feast, I was not feeling all that confident in my upcoming autocross performance. I overindulged in everything and I felt like my heart was pumping gravy. Call time on Friday was 7am in Fontana, which meant I had to leave CasaHashi no later than 5:30am. It doesn't happen often, but this was one time I wish I had more restraint.

My internal clock woke me up three minutes before my alarm went off. I still felt the effects from the night before. I was at least happy I packed the car the night before.

Just as I approached the main gates of the speedway, I caught a glimpse of my sister's STi Limited and that was comforting. We found a spot and began unloading our cars, leaving room for Kurt and the Focus ST, which he'll be covering separately. There were plenty of FR-S' that showed up, and quite a few had some pretty aggressive rubber mounted to their aftermarket wheels, so the pressure I was placing on myself was building.

Kurt showed up a bit later and we started adjusting tire pressures. I set the FR-S pressures at 41 psi all around. Some people suggested 45 pounds, but I thought that'd be too much. We made our way to registration and tech inspection and had plenty of idle time left.

We headed out on foot to walk the course to get a better idea of what we were in for.

The course was sufficiently wide for the handful of Corvettes to navigate without mowing down cones. That meant there was a ton of room for our long-termers, and that's when a feeling of dread began to creep in. You see, Kurt is fast. He doesn't brag about it, instead, he sandbags his skill.

"Oh, I'm not a good autocrosser," he says. "You'll probably kill my times out there."

B.S. The wider track means he has a better chance of getting into the power on the Focus. Freakin' sandbagger.

Kurt and I both got assigned to the first work group, which meant we had to manage the cones for a full hour before we got into our respective driver seats. That gave us a little time to familiarize ourselves with the first section of the course. The second half was a complete mystery to us.

My apologies if I haven't gotten to the meat of the story yet. I'm still working on the videos, but please stay tuned. It's good stuff.

Mark Takahashi, Automotive Editor @ 9,140 miles

http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtest...-arrivals.html

2013 Scion FR-S: Black Friday Autocross, Lap One
 

Kurt and I were assigned the first work group, which meant we were out on the course picking up cones. That gave me the opportunity to at least learn the first section of the Autocross.

The time passed quickly and it was finally our chance to drive.

My first lap was a "getting-to-know-you" run, where I was really just trying to learn the course and find out how much grip I had (or didn't have, in the case of the stock tires).

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ns_bVGAzPI"]GOPR0036clip - YouTube[/ame]

The lack of adhesion to the asphalt made for some entertaining moments behind the wheel. It's far too easy to get the tail whipping out, and just as easy to control a drift. So. Much. Fun.

But fun isn't all that fast. My first silly lap took 75.261 seconds. Not a problem, I was well aware that it would be easy to pare that time down into the mid 60s. My next lap was a 70.914, with some slides here and there. Kurt and I agreed that a time in the low 60-second range would be respectable. As we rolled through the lineup, though, we were told that we were only getting six laps before lunch and six laps after. The pressure was on.

Mark Takahashi, Automotive Editor @ 7,140 miles

http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtest...s-lap-one.html

The car needs a front sway bar badly. That video is hard to take seriously though, the guy is constantly letting go of the wheel.

great read!

what happened to the rest of the laps?

Good stuff! but I would strongly suggest changing your habits when it comes to handling the steering wheel. Too much hand sliding when it isn't necessary.

Also, this should be in the proper sub-forum. AutoX/HPDE.

+1... One of the 1st lessons I learned. It's so ingrained in me know, I CAN'T let go of the wheel, even just tooling around.

Perfect example--see abt 1:12 in where I almost loop the car in a sweeper, then after the run moving the car around the grid area--can't let that wheel go! lol

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ4NqFe1GlI&feature=plcp"]George Bonafede MSCC (almost) quickest run in FR-S 11/11/12 - YouTube[/ame]

Nice read.

Love how low-slung the FR-S is stock compared to the econoboxes.

In my experience, the FR-S is a lot of fun to autocross because of the way it's setup from the factory. I think some sticky tires and maybe a front sway would be enough to make it competitive.