My SCCA National budget RTR build

[SeanRTR]

Bought my FR-S in February, with the plan to autocross it this season while I finished my F-Street Prepared Neon ACR. Well I've been having so much fun in the FR-S, that the Neon hasn't really gotten much attention all year.


Anyway, the car:
2013 Scion FR-S
Mods (in order performed) (Updated 6/11/14 for current setup)
Cosworth Air filter
BFG Rival tires 225/45/17 (31 Psi)Front - 245/40/17 Rear 31.5 PSI
Stoptech Brake pads
22mm Perrin front bar (on soft)
Crash bolts for a degree of negative camber
HKS Hi-Power Spec-L Exhaust
Koni Yellow shocks
Enkei RPF1 17x7 wheels

I took the final trophy spot at the Peru Match Tour with (the old) setup. (4th out of 11), and coned away second place. First place was a black BRZ, and a member on here. Very nice guy, and a great driver.

Anyway, the stuff I have listed above may not be best stuff available, but it's easy on the wallet, and it WORKS.

Stoptech pads, You can get a full set of these pads front and rear for well under 110 dollars, and they're pretty impressive. I'd put them in between a Hawk HPS and a Hawk HP+. They don't have a hard initial bite, but they're easier to modulate at the limit....and they work for lite-medium track use, for 10-15 minute sessions still running hard. No issues with dust on these pads, and squeal is minor. Trying to brake too late and too hard will still put the car into ice mode, but I've been very happy with these pads so far. Fantastic second mod if tires were your first.

Flow Master exhaust - Probably one of the most inexpensive exhausts on the market for this car, but the tone is great, it looks sharp, and doesn't create any drone on the freeway. This thing retails for about 600 bucks...you really can't beat it.


Perrin front bar - I went with the 22mm bar, left it on soft, and initially thought it might be slightly too big when running the car on asphalt...but once I got the car out to some higher speed courses on concrete, I think the balance of the car is fantastic. Turn in still feels crisp and responsive, and I'm able to carry more speed through the slaloms. This bar is about the same price as a Whiteline Front sway bar.

Cosworth Filter - Really improved the in-cabin engine note if anything else. Maybe a few HP from 4k-7k rpm. Normally you think big $$ when you think of anything from Cosworth, but this item is very friendly on the wallet, much like the HKS, or Perrin Filter...but paper design like a K&N, not a foam design.

Video of my most recent event at the Toledo Express Airport Great Lakes Divisional Race:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3v9H-sqwYU"]Sean Grogan SCCA Divisional Solo June 2013 - YouTube[/ame]

Video on asphalt from the Pontiac silverdome (1st on pax out of 140ish cars)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2khNSnRY-OE"]Sean Grogan The FRS Silverdome SCCA Autocross - YouTube[/ame]

I'm running a local event this weekend to prepare for the following weekend....the Toledo Pro Solo, and then the week after that, the Wilmington National tour. I plan to run the car in Lincoln this year for the SCCA national championships as well. Between my road racing Neon ACR, and my Yamaha 100CC kart, I'm usually racing somewhere every weekend May-October.

I might just bite bullet and use my tax return check on some Koni yellow inserts. What is everyones thoughts on the Koni yellows over stock shocks in RTR trim?

[Sccabrz192]

What club is running a local this weekend?

I've got the konis on my BRZ now, havent had an event since though to try them out.

[SeanRTR]

Originally Posted by Sccabrz192

What club is running a local this weekend?

I've got the konis on my BRZ now, havent had an event since though to try them out.

Everyone, NWOR SCCA, SVR SCCA (I'm doing SVR), and Furrin Group at US131.

Did you get Koni's before tires?

[Kido1986]

Nice to see another RTR competitor. @TRev was the black BRZ

The Konis are definitely worth it if you're running the car competitively. Can be more comfortable than stock if you want to soften up on the street, and controlling the body motion is so nice.

[Sccabrz192]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

Everyone, NWOR SCCA, SVR SCCA (I'm doing SVR), and Furrin Group at US131.

Did you get Koni's before tires?

Yup. mainly because I want to get wheels at the same time as the tires and that combo was a little over budget right now. Figured I'd get the konis while the sale was still on.

I'll have all my prep done and ready to go for the start of next season. I'm very much looking forward to next year if you are planning on running the FR-S, or are you planning on jumping back in the grape?

[SeanRTR]

Originally Posted by Sccabrz192

I'm very much looking forward to next year if you are planning on running the FR-S, or are you planning on jumping back in the grape?

We'll see if I can compete in this car at the national level and go from there I suppose....and I have no idea what's going on for next year as far as rules. I don't keep up on that stuff enough, but it's the reason I haven't even attempted to look at buying wheels yet.

[Kido1986]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

We'll see if I can compete in this car at the national level and go from there I suppose....and I have no idea what's going on for next year as far as rules. I don't keep up on that stuff enough, but it's the reason I haven't even attempted to look at buying wheels yet.

Still 7" for next year. Just have the choice of 16, 17 or 18 (x7" +42).
We will be going to C Street (the new name for Stock minus Race tires)
MSR MX5 is out of C, into B
So it's Twins, 370z, RX8, NC2 MX5 in terms of competitive for C Street

Pretty much the same, just no more indexed class.

[SeanRTR]

I didn't mind the index class, I prefer to race 20 people at a Tour than six...but oh well.

How about the Z0K Soltice, C street, or B street?

I assume the hot setup next year will be 16 inch rims then? I'd assume more gear is always better, I don't have an issue upshifting/down shifting.

[Kido1986]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

I didn't mind the index class, I prefer to race 20 people at a Tour than six...but oh well.

How about the Z0K Soltice, C street, or B street?

I assume the hot setup next year will be 16 inch rims then? I'd assume more gear is always better, I don't have an issue upshifting/down shifting.

All Solstices to B Street.

I dont think 16" will be the way as there is too much sidewall. I have run gearing calculations on nearly every size Z2/RS3/Rival on 16-18" and can't find one in 205-225 that will provide enough gearing to satisfy me I'd like to hit 62-63mph but it's just not going to happen. I'm running 215/45/17 RS3s myself.

[jprice130]

Originally Posted by Kido1986

All Solstices to B Street.

I dont think 16" will be the way as there is too much sidewall. I have run gearing calculations on nearly every size Z2/RS3/Rival on 16-18" and can't find one in 205-225 that will provide enough gearing to satisfy me I'd like to hit 62-63mph but it's just not going to happen. I'm running 215/45/17 RS3s myself.

My automatic transmission goes to 63 MPH in 2nd gear....wanna trade cars? Seriously though, I agree that RTR folks running the manual transmission will probably be better off sticking with 17" wheels and running 225/45/17 or 235/40/17 tires. I don't think there's a magic formula in the 16" and 18" wheel/tire combos that will change things significantly for the better.

For me, if the +/- 1" diameter proposal holds up, I'm definitely going to consider 16x7 wheels and run 225/45/16 Dunlop Z2s. My crappy automatic gearing could definitely stand to be shortened and shifting back and forth between 2nd/3rd is a just a click of a button! I already drop down to 1st fairly often when on small lots because it's so easy to do. It's the only thing that makes the automatic somewhat tolerable.

[Kido1986]

I did a bunch of calculating and looking through specs and found something interesting but I cannot find a proper wheel 18x7s (especially light ones) are rare

[SeanRTR]

Video from today's event.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-xGSCS2C-o&feature=c4-overview&list=UUZcLwIZD4WvPIyX40KOF8QA"]SVR Nexteer 7 21 13 Sean Grogan Scion FR-S - YouTube[/ame]
1st in RTR, 4th on index about 65ish cars total.... The tight 100 degree turn into a long straight away didn't help me much index wise, but still fun....better than sitting home watching baseball, and a good practice event before next weekends Pro Solo in Toledo.

[SeanRTR]

I got my Koni shocks put on at the last possible second before the Toledo Pro Solo....but the rear spring seats were on upside down, and my car looked completely ridiculous, so I ran Sccabrz192's BRZ with my tires at that event...and it didn't go so well, finished one spot out of the trophies.

That event showed me how important a front sway bar really is on these cars, and was anxious to get back in my car for the Wilmington National Tour.

I drove through an epic rainstorm after work Friday in my Rivals to get there, which was interesting but not nearly as bad as people make Rivals in the rain out to be. I will admit my tires are nearly full depth though.

Saturday, it was still very wet, and we ran first heat....run 1 the course was 95% wet. I set up my car conservatively as I knew every run had to count, as it was either going to dry up, or downpour at any second. I setup the shocks 3/4 from full stiff up front, and half a turn from full soft in the rear. This worked out well, as the car was fairly balanced, but Rivals were not the fastest in the rain. Trevor changed his Rivals out for Dunlops...and was destroying the class after run 1. Run 2 was about 50% dry, but Trevor was still ahead. By run 3, the course was about 85-90% dry, and it was finally time for the Rivals to shine, I dialed in a 1/4 turn more rebound on all four corners for run 3, and ran it all out. I ended up 3 tenths behind David Santell for second overall.

Day 2 we had fantastic weather. I started with the same settings, and put an additional 1/4 rebound in the rear only for run 2, which happened to be my fastest.

Day 2 / Run 2
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gwd4dGzEiE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUZcLwIZD4WvPIyX40KOF8QA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gwd4dGzEiE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUZcLwIZD4WvPIyX40KOF8QA[/ame]
(as you see I made a giant mistake on the first corner of this run, which may have cost me the win)

I beat David Santell by the a few thousands on day 2, but almost got passed by Mike Potocki who was the fastest on day 2, but stayed ahead of him overall by just .010, to hang on to second place. Top 4 spots were all FR-S's, with Trevor's BRZ in 5th, and an E46 M3 rounding out the final trophy spot of the 18 car field.

Results: (page 15)
http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/assets/results/Northern%20States%20Championhip.pdf

The event was fantastic, and had us touching the rev limiter 1-2 times per course each day, which made me appreciate the Flowmaster exhaust making that important increased power above 7,000 RPMs. My Koni's felt fantastic, especially on day 2 when I could clearly notice the car had a new ability to be thrown into a corner even faster, without any fear of massive over/understeer. All in all it was a fantastic weekend for me, and probably the most memorable autocross I've done in a very long time. The Wilmington site was incredible, and Sam Strano treated us to two incredible courses each day. The event basically got me excited about autocross again, as I've been focusing more on road racing my Neon lately....but after last weekend, I've got Enkei wheels on the way, and you're certainly going to see me at Nationals.

[Sam Strano]

I'm glad you liked the courses.