Will my next event be a waste of time?
 

Hey!
I have done a few autocross events on a completely stock car. The car has Prius tires on it with 26K miles on them. It was a bit of a challenge autocrossing with reduced grip but I had a ton of fun power sliding and still managed decent times. For the most part I landed in the middle of the pack with my personal times.


Now I turbocharged the car. It put down 290 wheel hp on pump gas.
I am registered for an event later this month but I am not sure that I will be able to upgrade brakes and get new wheels and tires by then. The car definitely has traction issues now. If the car is not going straight or with any steering wheel input, I can roast the tires in third gear.
Should I even bother attending the next event? I suppose I can baby it around the track and not utilize all the power. What would you do?
Thanks!

Go through the entire course sideways tho

Well that was really stupid of you, why would you do that? It's gotta be fun, but there's a reason tires are one of the best first upgrades...you kind of went 0-100 with the turbo kit before tires lol.

The wheels and tires are in the works. I don't plan on leaving the car on stock wheels/tires. The car is not a daily driver. I have owned it for 6 months. In those 6 months I have put on 1100 miles. It has seen 4 track events in that time frame. It has been turbocharged for about 100 miles now, test miles really after the tune to ensure all is well. I have also upgraded the suspension since the turbocharger install. Its now on Flex Zs with TRD sway bars.

No, go learn how the the throttle responds with boost at the limit and have fun.

If you can be fast in with less traction and brakes, you'll be even better once those parts get upgraded.

Wait this is a track day or autox? What brake pads and fluid are you using?

Will you be competitive?: Absolutely not.
Will it be a waste of time?: I don't think so. You will be able to start learning the new power delivery and balance of the car.


This is assuming the event your talking about is an AutoX. If it's a track day/HDPE, then you need better brakes/fluid.

Any time spent behind the wheel at the limit in a controlled environment is never a waste.

Just think of it as similar to a session in the rain.

You've got to figure out how much grip you've got and how to get on the power smoothly.

I was just in the rain on Friday and it was funny to see guys sliding around as they adjusted their driving to the conditions.

Why put yourself or others in danger if you think the car could be uncontrollable? Wait for the proper tires, brakes, etc. to do it safely.

For the tires you should be fine just be careful not to destroy them as you still have to drive back home. Regarding the brakes - do you have upgraded fluids & pads? I'd be careful of them since you'll be going a lot faster now. It can get pretty sketchy once they start fading or overheat and you're carrying twice the speed you were before down some straight.

Just work on your throttle response. You shouldn't be any slower than before the turbo, even a little faster if you can control it.

Absolutely not a waste of time. Sticky tires hide driver mistakes, the Primacy HP's are fantastic for learning because they teach you how to balance the car. That is because they are more punishing instead of forgiving; upset the balance of the car and you will slide or even spin out in areas where a sticky tire would not.

Plus, I believe there is value in changing only one part of the car at a time. That way, you can experience how each mod individually affects the car's performance. Obviously we know what happens when you increase power without increasing traction, but there is value in going out there and feeling it for yourself.

I don't know how your events run, but around here, going out to burn up the tires would would earn you a warning the first time at best.

Throttle control is now going to be an even bigger part of your strategy even on stickier tires.... and the tires you have will force you to learn that while behaving in a familiar way (which is actually beneficial - as someone noted, make one change at a time). Go run the events and practice. Seat time is always worth more than mods.

What class did that kit put you in? I’m fairly certain you just went into an SM class on stock tires. If you were the middle of the pack in DS, you will likely finish dead last now.

Yeah, you are going to get crushed. You will probably still get beat in RAW times from street classed cars on RE71's and such top tier tires. I have a feeling that the class you are going to be classed in with a turbo now will permit full slick tires. So until you get your hands a a nice set of fat, slick tires, full suspension mods and good alignment to get the full use of the tires and not just the outside, you will struggle to post competitive class times.

BUT!!! Still completely worth it :) It's going to be fun none the less hehehehe.