Shortly after receiving the car, we got to baseline it at the 2012 BC Autoslalom Championship. SCCA classed the Scion FR-S in CStock and among other items, the ruleset allows running any DOT tire. We decided it would be quite productive to spend the weekend racing on R compound DOT rubber as that extra grip would allow us to fully expose the handling characteristics of the stock platform.
Right off the bat, we have to say we were very impressed! True to their marketing efforts, Scion has put out a true enthusiast car but left a lot of room for tweaking the setup. Due to it's wide track and relatively short wheelbase, the FRS responded very naturally to all driver inputs and corrections in transitions and steady state corners. Even with the stock, square (0 camber and toe) alignment, corner turn in was good, with mild understeer mid corner and a hint of oversteer on corner exit, depending on how greedy our right foot was. There was the od case where the electronics would get confused in extreme transitional situations and/or while left foot braking, but I would blame that on bad driving habits.
In the end, after a day of testing and 2 days of competitions, our two drivers Sead Causevic and Richard Basford finished 1st and 2nd in class and top 15 by the PAX index. Had it not been for a tagged cone on day 1, Richard would have had a major lead in the class and been in the top 5 overall!
We were very excited and pleased by the support and excitement of the autox community at this event. A lot of questions and excitement is building around this car and it's potential. Although we feel the chasis is extremely quick right off the bat, the engineers have left a ton of room for improvements, especially with power delivery.
Next up, we'll be tearing down the suspension at Shift Autosport and looking at how to improve the chasis' response and adjustability!
Richard Basford
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