Sam Strano's FR-S, and upcoming road trip.

[Sam Strano]

I'm not a big blogger, but I thought you guys might find this interesting.

I bought my FR-S as a DD/development tool for my business (www.stranoparts.com) on 6/2. I've worked the suspension, I've developed a specific front swaybar. I've done a few track days, I've autocrossed it some. I've driven it on 4 sets of tires. I drive it in the snow. Being an very serious autocrosser I'm very suspension picky. I live in Western PA about 80 miles NE of Pittsburgh. We have winter here. The roads aren't pristine. And part of my efforts are to dial in setups that work well enough to win National Championships, but also can be driven every day without wanting to commit suicide because it's so bad). This is one reason why I didn't even raise the car or realign it for the winter. I drive what I compete in.... and here's a hint, while quite firm it's LESS harsh than stock and it's on stiffer tires (not the snows but the other two sets of performance rubber). As of tonight I turned 10k miles.

Next week, I'm going on a BIG road-trip. I've been invited to New Orleans to a BFG roll-out event for a bunch of new tires. Some track time and it's not PA in the winter. I'm not a flier, so knew I'd have to drive. But then, realized I don't ever take real vacations. They are always just related to cars 100%, usually on the way to a National Event to try and win and keep doing winning setups. So I talked to my girlfriend, who of all things lives in the SF Bay area. And I decided that I was going to take a giant road-trip to CA, by way of New Orleans. I have friends who just moved to San Antonio, one in NM. I've never seen the Grand Canyon or Hoover Dam, so on and so forth. And since I really don't fly I might never see that stuff, so I decided to do it.

I had to decide on what to take. I have a 2012 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins diesel, it gets ok mileage, and it very comfortable (I put 23k on it in a year doing nothing but towing my cars to competitions). I have 2012 Corvette Grand Sport. Great cruising car, good mileage. But it's winter here, and there can less than ideal for summer tire weather in the South and out west. And I'm coming back via I-80 which means snow.... so the Corvette isn't really very smart. So I decided that I'm taking the Scion. It gets the best mileage, and the most comfortable for me driving position (for me). But what put me over the top was I could just prove to folks that the suspension work I do is so street friendly that I'm willing to drive it across the USA and back (plus some more). It'll be some 6.5k+ miles in the end.

I've made a tire change to Continental Extreme Contact DWS, which are Ultra High Perofrmance All-season tires. The car is too squirmy on the LM-60 Blizzak's, and frankly beating those through TX and all that on what I suspect will be mostly a dry trip is nuts. Also I'm teaching two Evolution Schools in CA (so much for no work/car stuff... though I guess the BFG thing shot that to hell to start with) and I like to use my cars to test the courses. And my girlfriend lives on CA Hwy 9 which is pretty twisty so I wanted some good tires on the car. My Hankook R-S3's are killer, but summer on, terrible in the cold, worse in the cold and wet... and frankly pretty loud too in terms of road noise.

Nothing else but the tires will be changed on the car compared to how I ran it at the SCCA Road Tour I ran @ Gateway Raceway outside St. Louis a few months back.

The setup is:

-KW V3's with some custom spring rates vs. their stock out of the box setup.
-Strano Performance Parts Hollow 22mm front sway bar
-Whiteline C-com mounts
-Perrin non-resonated cat-back (which doesn't drone or I'd not even try)
-Perrin Crank Pulley
-Perrin Air filter
-Ferodo DS2500 brake pads
-Custom alignment (and fairly aggressive it's -2 or more pretty much all around).

I'll try and check in as the trip progresses. FWIW, there will be someone at my shop Mon-Thursdays while I'm gone... If I can figure out how to post pics I might do the whole look where the car is now thing on the way. Maybe some mileage and general thoughts too. Maybe not, depends how much fun I'm having not having to check in on the computer while on "vacation". But I'll have some time I'm sure since Shelly is flying to PA and we are doing to trip together. Oh yeah... we're doing this with two people. We will have to pack efficiently!

[whataboutbob]

Thanks for the post. Which "Evolution Schools in CA" events are you doing? I'm an AutoX n00b and would like to have you as an instructor.

[OrbitalEllipses]

Sweet. Thanks Sam, I'd love to see this thread grow along the lines of some of our other vendor car threads.

I find the stock setup "harsh" as you put it. It's stiff, but that doesn't necessarily bother me. The tread squirm and marshmallow sidewalls of my Wintersports really brought out this behavior IMO; I didn't feel it nearly as much on stock tires.

[snapspinner]

Enjoy your trip Sam! Should be a fun semi working "vacation". One of the reasons I bought the BRZ is because I thought it would make a great GT/getaway car for 2 people on a road trip. Keep us updated as you go if you can fit it in!

[Rampage]

This would make a great blog subject. It will certainly be more interesting than most blogs. I hope you take the time to do a write up with photos in this thread as you go along. I am sure a lot of people on here would be interested in your experiences living with the FR-S on a trip of this magnitude. Few if any on them will ever put this many miles on their cars all at one time. Be safe and enjoy!

[Sccabrz192]

Have a great trip Sam! I'm looking forward to hearing about your much needed time off and how the car fairs on this quite epic road trip.

Be safe and have fun!

[DarkSunrise]

Sounds like a good time! Will look out for the blog & pics.

[Rampage]

I have no idea how this double posted a half hour later.

[Sam Strano]

Originally Posted by whataboutbob

Thanks for the post. Which "Evolution Schools in CA" events are you doing? I'm an AutoX n00b and would like to have you as an instructor.

I'm teaching two more advanced ones over Feb 2 and 3 up in Marina, CA. Two weeks later at the same site there are Phase 1 and 2 schools which you'd need to start with... While I'm not teaching those, the guys that are are good, and I've even taught some of them, way back when.

[Sam Strano]

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

Sweet. Thanks Sam, I'd love to see this thread grow along the lines of some of our other vendor car threads.

I find the stock setup "harsh" as you put it. It's stiff, but that doesn't necessarily bother me. The tread squirm and marshmallow sidewalls of my Wintersports really brought out this behavior IMO; I didn't feel it nearly as much on stock tires.

I'm not saying it will make your kidney's bleed. But it can be harsh at times, and certainly more stiff than it needs to be on high-speed impact. Considering I'm running more than double stock rates, and it rides rough roads (patched, rippled, frost heaved) ones in a less jarring manner it shows the improvement that is sitting there.

There is a difference between it not bothering you, and it being better. I mean lots of folks drive bone stock cars and aren't bothered by that. Most of us aren't that way.

As for the stock tires. Blah. My car wandered all over on those. In fact I changed tires first before even dampers. Putting a stickier, stiffer tire on (R-S3's) usually makes cars move more because they tramline more. My car got much more stable just because it wasn't moving around on the tire so much. When I dismounted the Michelin's for my winter tires, I saw why.... the tire is quite flimsy where the sidewall meets the tread plies. This is one reason they stretched the 215 on a 7" wheel, because that makes it less sloppy.

I'm not sure how much this thread will grow... I'm pretty busy running my shop on a daily basis without a lot of folks here (me and one other) to do all the work that needs done, so "blogging" tends to take a backseat.

I can tell you learned something today. If I have my cell phone charging, and lay in on the passenger seat... it things there is someone there. The seatbelt chime goes off, the airbag turns on. Unplug the phone, it all stops.

[OrbitalEllipses]

I'm currently debating new tires... I have low mileage KDW2 in 225/45/17 I can throw on my 8" wheels, but these are LOUD tires and I want performance without compromises like noise. If I can sell them I'll get some Michelin PSS since I want low noise, good wet grip, and acceptable treadwear versus outright performance. I've also been debating putting the stock tires back on just to learn the car more on tires that don't hide bad driving, but I fear the stretch will be too much.

Originally Posted by Sam Strano

I can tell you learned something today. If I have my cell phone charging, and lay in on the passenger seat... it things there is someone there. The seatbelt chime goes off, the airbag turns on. Unplug the phone, it all stops.

That's functioning properly. It's noted in the Owner's Manual that the airbag sensors function this way rather than some weight sensor. Interesting technology eh?

[Sam Strano]

Interesting? I guess... pretty silly that my Droid 3 needs to belted in and made safer by an airbag... but only while charging.

[Sam Strano]

Today's update...... I leave on Saturday. Prep work continues though. Oil changed...

I've been running the Continental DWS's for about a week now, had some snow this morning so I got to see how they were going to be in some less than ideal weather. So now I've had dry running, lots of rain, and snow. I'm impressed. Impressed enough that since I own a truck, when I get back I think I'll not be putting the Blizzak's back on the car.

[Sam Strano]

And off we go: Leaving @ 6pm on 1-19... 9956 miles on the car. Full tank. First stop Pittsburgh to pick up my other half.

I'll do my best with updates and a few photos!

Eventually, sometime next week, California here I come!