Originally Posted by TuxedoCartman
I've only been to one track day even (HPDE), and it was in this car. It was out at Spring Mountain Raceway in Pahrump, NV, and my only modifications to the car at the time were my Cusco chassis braces and strut-tower bar, as well as TRD door stabilizes. Nothing to improve power, and no coilovers, swaybars, better brake-pads, or better tires; this was a mostly stock car. Because it was my first-time, I was put with an instructor for the entire day, and we were *supposed* to be taking it relatively easy the whole time. Highway-level speeds, and very, VERY limited passing.
However...
My instructor was an adrenaline-fueled psychopath, who was not only teaching me lines to take that were completely different to everyone else's (lines which, he claimed, were the fastest for a FR car type like mine), but was also yelling at me the whole time to "run down" every car that had the misfortune of being in front of me. He felt that if I wasn't inches from the rear bumper of the guy in front of me, forcing him to open up room to pass, I wasn't doing it right.
Because of this, in spite of having 20 second start-delays between us entering the track, by the end of the day I'd overtaken a Mini Cooper S, newer STi, C6 Corvette, and a frickin' Lambo Gallardo. Was pretty close to overtaking a Porsche 944 too, right at the end. Only car that day that overtook me was a newer model M3, and only after I spun out in a corner by misjudging what gear I needed to be in.
My impressions?
Never, ever, EVER let someone tell you that driver feedback from a car isn't as important as power or grip! I am 100% convinced that I achieved the times I did in this car because I knew, at any given time, exactly how much further I could push my car through any sort of turn. My limits were lower than a lot of the cars out there, but I could get much closer to them, confidently, than could a lot of the other drivers. I've owned two of the cars that I ended up passing out there (the STi and the Mini Cooper S), so I know what they were capable of. Both cars would outgrip the FR-S, and the STi had me so beat in terms of power it was obscene. And yes, while I was stuck behind him, every time we hit a bit of a straight-away, he'd start putting distance between us. But before we were even halfway through the next corner, I was up on his ass again, wishing to god I was allowed to pass him already. Let me say that again: an STi was slowing me down in the corners! That's where those cars live! And that was 100% a result of the predictability and great feedback of my car (well... that, *and* a couple of corners that my instructor gave me better lines on. Lines the STi wasn't capable of taking).
I'm certain against better, more experienced track drivers, I'd lose. I'm certain that on a course that had fewer turns and more straightaways, I'd lose. But the fact of the matter is I took my near-stock FRS out to a full-on racetrack, and held my own all day against some much, MUCH better cars (or at least much more expensive ones). And there were some good drivers out there too; hell, the STi that I was running right behind had been dogging a C6 Corvette himself for most of that run, and the M3 that passed me wasted no time at all in leaving me behind. But if my FR-S did that well in that crowd stock, I can't wait to take it back out there once I start getting serious with the mods! Next time, I hope to have a Vortech supercharger and some Michelin Pilot Sports put on my lightweight wheels, in addition to having my Bride bucket, to see how I do.
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