Podcast with Gresham Wagner (GR86 Cup racer)

[Racecomp Engineering]

Hey all,

We caught up with returning guest Gresham Wagner (2nd place finisher in the inaugural North American GR86 Cup series and previously 2022 SRO TCA champion in a 2nd gen BRZ) in our latest podcast with The Apex Files. He's got some interesting insights on the cars and the series, plus comparisons to Mazda MX-5 Cup. And yes we talk about oil pressure.

But beyond that, he's a great dude to talk to and a damn fast driver.

Video here (with links to Spotify/Apple/Google etc):

Check it out and subscribe if you're into this sort of thing. We've got a couple more BRZ/FRS/GT86/GR86 guests coming up soon too.

Youtube page here:
https://www.youtube.com/@RacecompEngineering

- Andrew

[900BRZ]

Relevant to my interests haha, here’s the portion on engine reliability:

RCE: Are you guys on your factory motor?
GW: Yes.

RCE: And/or have you or have you heard of any other teams that have had issues around new motors?
GW: I can't speak for if people had issues in testing or this or that, right. I can say there were maybe one or two instances, maybe, during the year where people had to swap a motor out. So don't quote me on that, but I think—for sure there's probably an instance.

RCE: It's a race series so things happen.
GW: Right, right. But you got 30 cars across 14 events, so one or two engine is, I mean...

RCE: That's nothing.
GW: Right, right. For our team and what I was doing, the engine is stock and there were no issues with that. So, you know, I see some people complain about that and I'm sure there were some issues that people may have, but it doesn't come over and affect GR Cup.

RCE: And you guys have aero and are putting down downforce too—legit tires—so if anything you guys would experience that first.
GW: Yeah we run this stuff as hard as anyone is going to run it... I can just tell you that this stuff didn't break.

Thanks to the RCE team for the great interview!

[jflogerzi]

based on community testing it might be more track dependent. They have only raced at Sonoma right so far?

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by jflogerzi

based on community testing it might be more track dependent. They have only raced at Sonoma right so far?

This was the 2023 schedule:

March 30 to April 2 – Sonoma Raceway (Sonoma, California)
May 5 to 7 – Circuit of the Americas (Austin, Texas)
June 16 to 18 – Virginia International Raceway (Alton, Virginia)
August 4 to 6 – Nashville Music City Grand Prix (Nashville, Tennessee)
August 25 to 27 – Road America (Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin)
September 22 to 24 – Sebring International Raceway (Sebring, Florida)
October 6 to 8 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indianapolis, Indiana)

- Andrew

[rice_classic]

I've watched 4 of the full length races on YouTube and as far as 1 make classes go - it's the best I've seen, just like the Australian TGRA 86 Series.

Mostly clean, unlike spec pinata, and due to the power/tire combination between the cars the racers spread out a little. You can really see who has the pace and who does not, yet there's still 3,4 and 5 car battles that are incredible to watch.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

I've watched 4 of the full length races on YouTube and as far as 1 make classes go - it's the best I've seen, just like the Australian TGRA 86 Series.

Mostly clean, unlike spec pinata, and due to the power/tire combination between the cars the racers spread out a little. You can really see who has the pace and who does not, yet there's still 3,4 and 5 car battles that are incredible to watch.

The races are really fun to watch online and the presentation is excellent. I think I've said it elsewhere but it's pretty incredible to be able to watch this (and other series) live on Youtube in HD with commentary. Couldn't imagine that 10-20 years ago.

- Andrew

[Petah78]

Thanks for posting. Do we have confirmation on what oiling mods are done to these GR86 cup cars?

[jflogerzi]

Originally Posted by Petah78

Thanks for posting. Do we have confirmation on what oiling mods are done to these GR86 cup cars?

it appears none

[RedReplicant]

Word on the street is that they run a small in-pan baffle and a 1qt overfill.

I have no skin in this game, but I will say that in other platforms it seems that a lot of baffle plates tend to hurt more than they help. There is a lot of shit sold that has never been tested properly or even at all.

[Petah78]

They must have oil cooler minimum, no?

[smoltz]

The syms baffle is listed with a GR86 CUP TRA part number, whether it's used or not on the US GR86 cars, I don't have any direct knowledge but it's likely they have something like this at a minimum.

https://www.blackhawkjapan.com/products/syms-y1000fa012

[RedReplicant]

Originally Posted by Petah78

They must have oil cooler minimum, no?

They do, yes.
There are also separate transmission and diff oil coolers.

[Racecomp Engineering]

One of the rumors going around before about blown engines (though I'm not sure it's 100% confirmed) had to do with under-filling, which is somewhat common in spec series racing but a very bad idea on these cars. Again, I don't personally know if that particular rumor is true.

- Andrew