Automatic 86 On the Track! OH NO!!!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by soulreapersteve

Speaking of which, think the forum is broken. I didn't get a notification saying I was mentioned in a thread, just happened to stumble upon this via "new posts" button.


Makes me wonder what other threads I've been tagged in :o

That happens a lot. I sometimes wonder how many people think I ignored them.

[soulreapersteve]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Dude, that was one of the best writeups I've read. You're spot on.

Figured I'd do some useful contribution to the forum besides shitposting in Random Thoughts. Besides, I haven't been logging in daily so that made up for the days I've missed.

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by SmireyFase

Hi! I drive a '13 FRS automatic. I was wondering if there were any enthusiasts that currently have or had a automatic car that they took to the track and/or autoX. What was your experience and how was it different from manual and what was the pros and cons of it. Just for educational purposes I wanted to know how you guys feel XD

Moto, Bob, and Tye3000 all track or auto-x their automatic cars on here...

[SmireyFase]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

Moto, Bob, and Tye3000 all track or auto-x their automatic cars on here...

yay!!!!!!!!!!! xD

[SmireyFase]

Originally Posted by soulreapersteve

I'll give my thoughts and exp as a still newbie to auto-x, though have about 10 events or so under my belt. Also did a "introduction to tracking" event a few weeks back.

First off, you'll always leave some time out on the course due to the nature of how the auto tranny works compared to the manual. I'm not a car-technical person so I won't bother trying to explain why. Its simply the damn nature of the torque converter.

I did my 2nd serious event earlier this year in normal drive and sport mode. In my opinion, it simply sucks due to how sport mode works. Every event now, I switch over to manual mode and shift when needed. If you didn't already know, the tranny will never shift up on its own and itll only shift down when it almost reaches stall speed - which is perfect for auto-x.

The paddles forced me to be a "grip turner" than a "shuffle turner" regarding the steering wheel. I used to always hit the damn paddles which caused unwanted downshifts or upshifts, which usually turned out to be a wasted run when it happened. I use the gear selector btw.

Whatever people tell you elsewhere, DO NOT MOD THE CAR!! Especially the tires, I am glad I listened to the wiser minds on this forum and stuck with the tires. They are great to learn on and they break loose very progressively. They also squeal like a baby pig so you'll know the limit between grip and no grip. Looks like your car is a bit older so I dunno if you still have the "prius" tires.

VSC/traction control. I didn't turn that off until probably my 3rd or 4th event, that was because I was still learning how to navigate the sea of cones. Once I started being more comfortable seeing the course and not getting lost, I started to push the car more. That's when traction control kept kicking in and grabbing the car, and if you know how that works, it slows you down so much. I turned it off halfway through an event and gained about 8 seconds. Up to you when you want to decide to turn it off.


Looks like I digressed lots from the original intent of my post so I'll end with this thought: the auto is damn fun to take to competitive driving events. As I said above, I am still a noob in the auto-x world so take it however you wish.

Thank you, this was really informative. Unfortunately, I don't have the stock tires :C. But I will definitely keep all this other information in mind. Wow I learned a lot haha.

[Impureclient]

Originally Posted by soulreapersteve

Using normal brake torquing, you can only get up to 2k rpm but there's slightly different way to get past the "limiter"/safety feature. Posted somewhere on this forum, I recall all you have to do is not press down on the brake pedal as much then you can go up to 4k rpm or more.

If the brake is pushed first it keeps the RPM under 2000. If you press the gas and then then brake, you are able to go above that 2k RPM.
So basically if you at the starting line at a standstill, you have to release the brake, gently press the gas, press and hold the brake again, and give it gas up to whatever RPM you are aiming for.
I'll just tap the gas a little which will slightly roll the car forward, immediately hold the brake down all the way, then give it gas and the RPM climbs past 2k. If I don't hold the brake down hard enough,
the rear tires break loose and start spinning while the front brakes grab the front tire and hold the car still. There is a fine line between doing a burnout and brake torquing this car.
Holding the RPMs at 4k while doing this seems to be the sweet spot where the car leaves quickly and not spinning it's tires too much off the line but different tires determine that for each car.

[Ocala FR-S]

Originally Posted by Impureclient

If the brake is pushed first it keeps the RPM under 2000. If you press the gas and then then brake, you are able to go above that 2k RPM.
So basically if you at the starting line at a standstill, you have to release the brake, gently press the gas, press and hold the brake again, and give it gas up to whatever RPM you are aiming for.
I'll just tap the gas a little which will slightly roll the car forward, immediately hold the brake down all the way, then give it gas and the RPM climbs past 2k. If I don't hold the brake down hard enough,
the rear tires break loose and start spinning while the front brakes grab the front tire and hold the car still. There is a fine line between doing a burnout and brake torquing this car.
Holding the RPMs at 4k while doing this seems to be the sweet spot where the car leaves quickly and not spinning it's tires too much off the line but different tires determine that for each car.

Has any of this been tried using the handbrake alone or in combination with the brakes?

[soulreapersteve]

Originally Posted by Impureclient

If the brake is pushed first it keeps the RPM under 2000. If you press the gas and then then brake, you are able to go above that 2k RPM.
So basically if you at the starting line at a standstill, you have to release the brake, gently press the gas, press and hold the brake again, and give it gas up to whatever RPM you are aiming for.
I'll just tap the gas a little which will slightly roll the car forward, immediately hold the brake down all the way, then give it gas and the RPM climbs past 2k. If I don't hold the brake down hard enough,
the rear tires break loose and start spinning while the front brakes grab the front tire and hold the car still. There is a fine line between doing a burnout and brake torquing this car.
Holding the RPMs at 4k while doing this seems to be the sweet spot where the car leaves quickly and not spinning it's tires too much off the line but different tires determine that for each car.

So I tried doing this a few times before coming to work (with no traffic around, ofc). I kept spinning the tires lol... Either I'm not doing it correctly or its the stock tires. Also couldn't get past 2k still.

[Impureclient]

Originally Posted by Ocala FR-S

Has any of this been tried using the handbrake alone or in combination with the brakes?

I've never tried that but I will give that a go to see what happens.

Originally Posted by soulreapersteve

So I tried doing this a few times before coming to work (with no traffic around, ofc). I kept spinning the tires lol... Either I'm not doing it correctly or its the stock tires. Also couldn't get past 2k still.

Could be this: Press and hold the "Trac Off button" for more than 3 seconds while the vehicle is stopped, the two lights come on the dash, then try those steps again. I never have tried it without turning of traction control so maybe that was missing when it didn't work for you. It did take a couple times to get the hang of it. Make sure the car accelerator responded by watching the RPM jump a little then push the brake. If you don't get it right it will stay below 2k rpm. Either you mistimed it or the trac off has to be done beforehand.

[Ashikabi]

M>A

[xFury]

Originally Posted by SmireyFase

ahhh, I was just curious because I was watching a buncha informative videos on how to actually drive your car and the racer was basically talking about the types of racing and stuff. This question was just interesting to me at the time. I also do wonder if you can use different techniques with automatic as you would use in a manual. I'll probably look into this more XD

Here ya go!

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6485

[Tye300]

Go for it!!!!

[machewcoy]

I'm sure plenty of people have tracked their automatic transmission cars. Go for it and have fun doing it! That's all that matters!

[makesdrivingfunagain]

I have a 2013 automatic, pretty much stock except trd springs, swaybar set, exhaust, 16 wheels and 225/50/16 yokohama advanced neova Ad08r. I love this car for autocrossing. Done around 120 laps.