First Track Day in the FR-S: In-car Video w/ data from Harris Hill Road

[YawMomentRacing]

I got the opportunity to take my FR-S on track this past weekend....and it was a blast. It is my daily driver and will be an occasional track toy, but I'm glad I finally got to drive this car as it's mean to be driven. My car is bone stock other than a Berk Technology Track Pipe and upgraded tires (215/45R17 Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric). My friend,Yama, who is an H2R member and our guide for the day took me out for me sighting laps to start the on-track fun. After two solo Sessions, I started to push a bit more and got down to a 1:33.8s lap. After starting in the 1:35s range, I was happy to shave two seconds off without taking too much risk of balling up my daily driver. I'm sure there was a 1:32 out there.....but with only about 9 hot laps on the track prior to my 1:33.8s lap that was only going to happen if I didn't own the car or have to drive it home! To feel the car out and get comfortable sliding it around, I also did some drift practice (see video below). All in all, we got about two hours of open track time before some heavy rain started. It showed no sign of letting up and there were some big thunderstorms predicted for our drive home, so we bolted.

Despite getting cut short on track time, it was a blast. The FR-S is great on track - it was fun for the time attack laps and great for drifting out of the box. My car is only slightly modified, but from what I've read about the stock tires on track performance, I'm glad I was able to put the Goodyear tires on my car before going to H2R. It has great yaw damping and is very controllable in a slide especially in 2nd gear where you can use your right foot to steer more. Some more power would help in higher speed (3rd and 4th gear corner) drifting because it is hard to keep the drift alive on corner exit with the current engine output. For grip driving, it has one of the better stock balances of car's I've driven in it's price range. Most vehicles have strong understeer balance from the factory, but the Scion is easy and rewarding to make dance with the pedals. I was only running 3 laps stints to be easy on the engine, tires, and brakes, but I did not get any brake fade all day....which is not bad for a factory brake system. I'm glad I finally got to experience how this car is supposed to be driven.....and it didn't disappoint!

Here is in-car video from my two fastest laps with data overlay:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVsU4CGgsYw"]Scion FR-S Track Day: In-car Video from Harris Hill Road (H2R) - YouTube[/ame]



Here are some drifting clips ("feeling the car out"):
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf-bR31PSzo"]Scion FR-S Drifting at Harris Hill Road - YouTube[/ame]



On the way to H2R with my friend and his Cayman R


View from the pits


Despite the abuse, the rear tires held up pretty well!


Got hailed on by this storm on the way home....not fun. Luckily no damage.

[Sam Strano]

"# 199 ESP 2001 Camaro Z28 - Autocrosser" I'm so proud (that's my old car since most folks here wouldn't know that).

I think we have similar tastes considering Dave bought an FR-S too.

Oh yeah... Hi Dave, nice to see ya.

[YawMomentRacing]

What's up Sam. You should be proud of the Camaro - it is fast! I've seen a lot of your posts on the forum; lot's of good info you are spreading to the FR-S/BRZ community. I've been lurking for a while on the forum, but decided to post something after I finally tracked the FR-S.

See you at some Pros/Tours next year and I'm sure we will be talking over the off-season!