Ken Stout Racing TRD FR-S with TRD Supercharger
 

I feel insulted as an owner that I've only just discovered the Ken Stout Racing TRD Scion race car. I believe they had a good learning season. Not bad considering this is Scion's development car and first time comer to the GTS series. Just peel your eyes back and look at what they're racing!!!

Been seeing a lot of shitty threads lately; bashing our cars etc... Here's to that!

...the thought of my Ultramarine capable to the same degree as the KSR race car has me feeling gitty. I LOVE MY FR-S!


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL51vKHLOg4"]FR-S TRD Supercharger with Eaton TVS Rotor system - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3-DVhJ7LHE"]Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach - Lucas Oil KSR Scion FR-S - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF2NAl2MjH4"]KSR FR-S WC Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio - YouTube[/ame]

Enjoy

:cheers:

The Eaton corporation is no joke, they make a whole bunch of stuff including some of the most sensitive electronics equipment that goes into US Navy warships. I have worked with their product for the last 4 years on a Nuclear submarine and i can attest to their quality. Though $26k is a tad expensive, if I'm reading the articles correctly.

some more visuals:
http://distilleryimage1.s3.amazonaws...0aa80146_7.jpg


http://distilleryimage9.s3.amazonaws...0a1f96c5_7.jpg

They had a lot of growing pains this year with the FRS, they should do much better next year. It's got to be very hard to compete with a brand new platform like this and being the first to do all the R and D. It would be so much easier to jump into a Boss R mustang or the like that someone else has done all the work on....I applaud them.

It is a nice looking machine but they did have a lot of technical issues and mechanical failures this year. I believe they only finished a couple races and even then they were not competitive with the front runners.. I just do not understand why Scion choose to run the car in the GTS class instead of putting it in the Continental Challenge Street Tuner class where it seems to be a natural fit running against the BMW 1 and 3 series, Mazda 3, MX-5, Honda Civic, Nissan Altima Coupe, VW GTI etc. Instead they put a $26K supercharger on it and run it against the much more powerful V8 and V6 powered cars in GTS. I believe it would have been competitive in the ST class right out of the gate.

Well good for the Stout's. They want to go play with the big cars without a big car and they have the resources and drive to do it. While I think the FRS is a good fit in ST, I think having the Stouts in GTS with it is right for them.

I hope they continue to develop it, make it reliable and we see more if it on TV. The only downside is that PWC get's hardly any air time which is unfortunate since it's a very fun series to watch, especially in person.

I too would like to see others bring the FRS/BRZ into ST, it would be a lot of fun to watch it race there.

Very cool, but having a racecar worth probably $100k but cant afford a HANs device sounds to me like "more money than sense"....

I see the tabs on his helmet, but never see him put it on.

I was in the Irvine area last April for work. Made it to one of the meets and they showed up. I recall that bit about having the motor torn apart the day before.
They all seemed open and down to earth.
I was happy to have met them, see the car and even smell it..LOL

Thanks OP for sharing the vids:w00t:

I got to meet Robert and his crew this summer when they came out to Sanoma raceway. All were pretty nice. Robert was very nice and talked to me a bit. I got to take some up close pix, but his lead mechanic was a bit protective. I let them know I would not upload anything. :) I'll just say they have a less than usual placement for the radiator.
Rob told me that the car sits higher than stock to allow for more suspension travel. Also said the car lacked the torque to pull them out of some of the sharper turns. Especially the 180 degree.

We have a bunch of the control centers for our equipment from Eaton at the waste water treatment plant I work at.
and they make the supercharger on my celica.

can someone please explain to me why anyone would pay $26k for a supercharger? even a race team. Are these sponsored by TRD or what?
If I had a race team I would use one of the ton other available FI options.
for $26k you can build a nice race car not just add a SC.

if I'm correct you had to buy 2 SCs too.

WC is a cool series. Unfortunately they weren't at my home race this year and won't be next year (Laguna).

While I like what KSR is doing with this since I have the "same" car, I wish it looked a bit more like the GT300 BRZ (maybe some of that is the WC rules though). I started following them before I got my car, but with the lack of coverage of WC and their issues with the car, it was hard to follow the progress over the season.

The WC series has pretty strict rules I would presume... Especially for the TC and GTS classes. I'm pretty sure they are regulated to run that supercharger as it's probably the only one that is homologated to be used on the FRS. Funny to hear the race car actually has a higher ride height then the stock car :).

Meh... Nice and all.. But they're just throwing stupid money at this car..
In the real world.. That same money could have bought a used whatever that would be faster and more reliable....
But maybe some of these pricey sponsored components will trickle down to the real world aftermarket and something reasonable and obtainable will come of it.. Until then... Meh...

So eaton is a/the major sponsor here. Would this be a test mule for the commercial s/c?. Fingers crossed

But this isn't the "real world" it's the "televised racing world" and the class requirements require the car to have a factory FI option and only the TRD SC fulfills that requirement. And yes it's a lot of money, but it's not "stupid", it's just a lot. That's what it takes to race in a televised series... Cubic Dollars.

Ok.. Fair enough.. I stand corrected.. Maybe some trickle down effect will
Benefit those in the "real" world after a successful series.. Thanks..

Got to see and talk with the Stout team in St. Petersburg during the Grand Prix. The issues with the ABS were a real challenge and I applaud them for attempting to demonstrate what the chassis and engine are capable of for the racing world. They're extremely personable and real fun to talk shop with during the events.

So does anybody know where I can get that hood prop from, or at least who makes it?

That thing looks awful quick! I saw it at Lime Rock Park but they retired early, sadly. How are they in terms of overall standings?

Moral of the story - Don't be sponsored by TRD.

I think they were last place? Lol.

I don't really care for standings though. The point that matters to me most is that at least there's a car out there that is being developed. Hopefully they picked up a lot of experience and knowledge from this past season to be competitive for next year.

I'm thrilled to see that they went straight to the big dogs running against mustangs, caymans, and 370zs. That puts a huge smile on my face that they went all-in when they could've just settled for less- racing against civics, minis, and kias.

I will be following closely next season for sure!

Dear TRD,

When where there be a roots blower for this car? It is beloved by all enthusiasts for it's many exceptional qualities (e.g., styling, braking, handling), given its modest price point. However, the motor's lack of torque remains a persistent complaint, requiring an owner to either disregard this limitation or enter the potentially risky (and frequently not road-legal) world of aftermarket modification.

TRD, please, please develop an affordable roots-blower option that will take the FR-S to the next level of performance, and give it a much needed dose of low end grunt, without sacrificing any overall balance to the car.

Love,
Me

Copy, paste, edit as desired, and submit with your own name.

That kit could be developed and sold for like 5 - 7 grand, installed and under warranty -- and still have room for more boost. Boo to TRD.


Also, what is up with the idx? Apparently Nissan is gunning for your car with a refreshed Datsun 510. Congrats on your early victory...

This year the Stouts finished mid-pack (21 out of 45--see attached pdf from PWC web site). A Kia Optima was 3rd--I think that's a factory team ($$$$).

What happened to the car for this season? The Scion Racing site and blog doesn't have any updates after March 2014...

http://kenstoutracing.com/live/

Factory supported TRD supercharger:

http://i.imgur.com/UuJZy.gif

The car has been so unreliable during 2013 and early 2014 that it is not even competing anymore. Most times it would not even stay running long enough to qualify. I believe he managed to finish two 45 minute races in 2013 and was never really competitive.

That would be $26K each for each supercharger with a minimum purchase of two.

What a shame...:(

FI causes headaches for even the best teams (look at this year's Audis at Le Mans). The NA GT86 can do well against cars its own class. This year it finished 1-2 in the 24 hours at Nurburgring in class v3 (which is close to production). 3rd place was a Honda Civic Type R followed by 4 more GT86s. Toyota GT86s have won this class the last three years. In class SP3 (a modified class) at Nurburgring the only GT86 entered finished 1st, followed by various cars including Renault Clios, an Opel Manta, a Golf GTI and a Honda S2000. A Toyota GT86 has won this class 2 of the last 3 years. Among similar small-engined NA cars it does pretty darned well.

I'm sadden to say that KSR isn't even competing this year :(

Last I saw, they were liquidating everything they had. What a bummer.

Somebody should snatch that chassis, build a NA motor for it and go pro racing in the ST or TC class where it should have been all along.

Not good enough for PWC GTS?

Its track record tells the tale. None of those cars it was trying to race in the GTS class were really its market competitors anyway so what was the point? In TC and ST it would be competing against Civic Si, Genesis coupe, Kia Forte Koup, MX-5, BMW series 1 and 3, Mini, VW GTI, Focus ST, base model Porsche Cayman etc. Those cars are more likely to be compared to the FR-S from a price and performance point and that is where it should try to prove its superiority.

Trying to supercharge a high compression, unproven flat four and compete against extensively developed and race proven American V8s and the KIA turbo V6 was a recipe for disaster.

Fair enough. But I still believe this car has the potential to be competitive with the beasts in GTS. It's too bad there was no further developement this year. I was looking forward to going live to PWC in Toronto specifically to go cheer KSR on and possibly scope their racecar out.

It bothers me to no end that Scion Racing isn't doing a damn thing in North America. I absolutely hate drift yet that's all Scion is focusing on. Damn shame.

Ditto. I have zero interest in drifting...

Ironically and arguably the best drift car in the business and nobody is interested in drifting...I'm not either. Extremely more interested in this car cultivating a rich race heritage. Because it can!


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Agreed. Drifting is not racing. Unfortunately, it probably has more fans on this forum than road racing does. It is easier for an urban boy racer to find a cul-de-sac to slide around and feel like a drifter than it is for him to drive hours and hours to find a good twisty road in the hills to feel like a road racer. Despite what you read on this forum, 95%+ of all twins will never see a race track of any kind.
I consider drifting to be on the same level as tractor pulls or monster trucks.

As far as I know, no one has managed to make a boosted FA-20 reliable enough to compete in a 45 minute race (PWC) and certainly not a 2.5 hour race (CTSCC). There are a few guys doing NASA time attack and the Pikes Peak car from Evasive but none of them run full out for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. Anyone serious about racing is swapping the engine for an ej, jz or ls.

I personally suspect that engine heat plays a major roll in the durability issues. Someone will eventually get a handle on it. Unfortunately, Scion Racing got their image tarnished with this effort. I just wish they would follow Mazda's example. Race the car where it belongs. Do not try to make it something it is not.

Totally agree!

It's a great potential race car, but it is only competing overseas. I'd love to see it in an endurance series of some sort (my favorite racing). I wonder why they aren't in CTSCC ST class?

Reports of the teams demise may have been premature. They are at Mid-Ohio this weekend. Qualified for the race 4.5 seconds behind the pole winning Camaro but then crashed out on the first lap.

Second race of the weekend it broke again.

maybe a little off topic, but even if that things makes AWESOME power --
is it me or does that SC look ugly as hell!