This past weekend I completed my first autocross event with the Western Ontario Sports Car Association (WOSCA). I wan't too sure what to expect as it was my first time ever racing a road vehicle.
Like mentioned in my OP, I am still completely stock on my tires, suspension, and brakes. My plan is to understand the vehicle and how it handles and then upgrade as I see fit in order to obtain my desired results. My plan is to use the vehicle dynamic concepts that I learned through a vehicle dynamics course called Optimum G (if you have never heard of it check it out:
http://www.optimumg.com/). If you are still in university and a part of Formula SAE, I highly recommend you attend this course! But it is open to anyone so if there is a seminar near you and vehicle dynamics is something you want to learn more about I suggest this course.
On to my track day. My goal from this track day was to get a good first impression of how the vehicle handles. I also wanted to understand what the driving aids do. I did my first few runs in Sport Mode. The VSC was immediately noticeable on my first run - the electronic brake distribution (EBD) kicked in rather quickly and I found myself fighting with it over my next few runs.
For my last couple runs, I decided to turn the TC and VSC off (holding the TC off button for 3 seconds). This felt much more natural to me as I was not fighting any electronic aids - what I am used to from driving an FSAE car. My lap times immediately improved by about half a second.
Here is a video of my fastest runs in either mode - the first in sport mode, the second with TC and VSC off.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXRxNcKLIHI"]July 2014 WOSCA - YouTube[/ame]
For the experienced racers - any positive criticism on my driving is welcomed!
I was amazed at how well the car handled stock. Even the stock tires! They weren't amazing and I wasn't able to keep up to the guys running semi-slicks, but they did better than I expected. I did notice that the car has a tendency to understeer a bit (common for a brz). It wasn't a lot but it was there.
Brakes:
The stock brakes weren't terrible and I didn't notice any fade since my runs were only 50 seconds each. However, I will hopefully be upgrading brake pads and fluid this summer as I would like a little more initial bite.
Tires:
If I want to be competitive, I will need tires. I was about a second off the average time with the stock tires. My biggest problem will be budget. I want good tires but I don't want to have to replace them every summer. Looks like I will be doing some research.
One last thing - @
calispec's tablet mount was absolutely perfect for this event. My tablet didn't budge, nor did it bother me when I had to shift. I don't think that there are any other tablet mounts currently on the market that could hold your tablet without moving. Thanks for the great product Kyle!