I do the same. Instructor said never let go of wheel unless your planning to drift.

Still a bad habit I do..

Strangely enough, even with the letting go, I never really lose control of the car or "not know" where the front wheels are pointed... the car is ultra forgiving.

Can't ever let go in the s2k though... bad idea there.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-5yNHPaIvuU"]Look Ma! No Hands - YouTube[/ame]

This is magic. This does not happen IRL.

Would 255/40-18s (vs 225-235) be noticeably too much tire for a naturally aspirated car? I'm just getting back into tracking but I'd still like to be reasonably competitive.

How can I avoid the inevitable DI seal failure?

It won't result in the fastest lap times, but you'll have a more forgiving car (more cornering grip).

Competitiveness really depends on who your local competition is.

Stop driving the car and sell it. :lol:

Okay, seriously, don't redline. If you do, roll onto the throttle slowly after you shift.

That has crossed my mind many times. I've always debated on getting a CR instead. :thumbup:

If we can confirm that this is definitely the root cause of these engine failures, and Toyota/Subaru is unwilling to band-aid it with an ECU update, then there's really no point in keeping the car. :(

Thanks for your advice. I'm very humbly returning to racing after a several year hiatus, more forgiving sounds like exactly what I need. Could you explain briefly why a smaller tire is faster?

That... remains to be seen. I sincerely hope they do, cuz without, the platform is doomed. The majority of the track regulars have already had the issue.

Great, that's going to artificially increase the demand/price of the S2k even more. :lol:

Wonder if the 91 octane gas (highest available in Cali) has anything to do with it. Maybe it's causing more detonation compared to 93?

I'm having issues on track even with 93. :(

Our final failure happened while on 100 octane unleaded... we put it in as a precaution since it was pretty warm.

I'm sure this is true unless they come out with a permanent fix. I really hope the ECU flash fixes it or i'm guessing 1st year models will be worthless.

Good thing seems like it's a relatively new problem that hopefully is under investigation.

How's fuel starvation?

Car runs fine, even with the light on!

Can't say the same for those running E85 and/or aftermarket tunes and fuel pumps.

Definitely a no-no with FI.

I've been resistant to go with a tune for warranty reasons but it kinda seems to be the best step so far :(

That's what made me do it! :party0030:

Both ways seem to suck. Basically own a gimp sports car till it's fixed or get a tune and deal with warranty excuses from dealerships down the road.

Both ways you have to think if your car will have long term effects from damage that possibly have already occurred

Thanks Obama

you injector seal was already bad at this point adding octane after the seal failure does nothing to protect the engine.

It went bad on a day where we were running roughly a 1:1 mix of 91 and 100, so I'm willing to say no correlation between octane and DI seal failure

I know you're a Honda guy but do you know roughly how fast the wheel bearings and other parts would go out if you're on low offset wheels? Not really sure but I would think tracking a car would see higher stress compared to normal street driving.

Ideally I want around 40 offset wheels but it seems the more popular wheels only come in mid 30s

TBD, but these bearings are a bit larger than the s2k ;)

My cars been on 98 and e85 it's lifetime, tracked & drifted and up to 17 psi on stock internals, and a bit of a delay in getting the injector fix flashed. Seals are fine still! Just a ray of hope in all the doom and gloom.


Setup question! Dialling out low speed rear wheel skip/lift?

^
This. I'm about to pull my rear bar this weekend and see what it does. I also am increasing front swaybar size, and softening the rear damping. I'm having the same problem.

Mike - stock tires nearing the end - if i want to go RS-3 what tire width would you recommend for stock wheels? 225?

215. Sure you don't want to make the jump to wider wheels? :)

When the stars are aligned. :)

Mike, I don't have a question.

I just thought I'd share this baby with you..

$28k, 733rwhp
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/3966920765.html (car is in Utah)

Few cars in my life have I wanted so bad.

^ Why would anyone want a beat up racecar?

... because racecar!

Beat up?

Abused, raced... trying to channel some of the dealershit's excuses as part of teh funneh.

This thread reminds me so much of the tirerack random tire question commercial :thumbup:

I've got a question about gear shifting and letting out the clutch. One the street I drive pretty smooth (I think I may be over cautious) and release the clutch slow enough to minimize the driventrain lash/thunk/stress from quickly letting out the clutch.

In terms of performance driving, how much stress/thunk/lash can you put on the clutch/engine mounts etc...as you shift gears without long term damage? I don't ever drop launch the car from a stop but I'd like to know how far I can push the drivetrain with quick shifts from say 1st to 2nd, or quick downshifts from 4th, to 3rd or 2nd.

This is another one of those "long term" questions that have not yet been answered, simply because nobody's had their car long enough!

That being said, as long as you're not SLAMMING gears, you should be okay. The stock clutch doesn't grab hard enough to REALLY shock the gears; you'll notice a screeching noise if you do really really hard shifts. This is the clutch slightly slipping on that fast shift, which is absorbing some of the shock load.

I'd go slow on the shifts just to avoid DI seals failing :D

Yeah you can definitely hear it in my car if you pay attention in the video:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOeGz2W63OM"]Scion FR-S Chasing Porsche 997 GT3 @ Circuit Of The Americas (Track) - YouTube[/ame]

So...I bought a spare pair of stock rims and wrapped them with used 225/45 from a tire shop. Planning to use these on the track (rear tires), in the 86 Dynamic Driving Academy to be precise, which focuses on the drifting aspect.

Am I doing it right?

Bump

Whoops, missed this!

I'd recommend taking all of them! The car will easily fit 4 rims and tires in the back seats.

But you bought a pair...

Do you have a reason for wanting more rear grip on track? You're gonna understeer....

Ah crap, I didn't realize that...that I actually need less grip for this drift event haha. Anyway, main thing I was concerned with is that I need a spare tire that's not a donut.