Car 986 Scion FR-S NASA PTD Race Car Build

[phastafrican]

It's more of an "I gutted my car and turned it into a race car as quickly as possible... and now that it's actually completed a race, I can share it" story, but here it is.

While I did have occasional help along the way, this was mostly a one man effort in my tiny townhouse garage (except for the professionally done roll cage by Mark Cooper at Performance Chassis. Therefore, there are very few actual build photos since I was all hands on deck. My usual helper (my wife), was the better part of 6 months pregnant and sadly unwilling to work on a car. We did have a race to see if the birth of my daughter or the completion of car would come first. I let my daughter win!

I haven't fully thought this out yet so expect a few edits over the next few days. And I've been around racing long enough that looks don't really matter to me so my car isn't the cleanest or prettiest, but I'm working on that.

1. #trackcar
2. #rollcage
3. #racecar parts
4. #racecar

[phastafrican]

I wanted a Firestorm Red M/T, my wife wanted a Raven A/T. We couldn't find either anywhere in Raleigh the day we decided to pick it up, so the Fred Anderson dealer said he had both being delivered in 3 days and we could come reserve either. We got there and the Raven MT with 15 miles was sitting on the showroom floor with borla catback, tint, bespoke headunit, paint protection, toyoguard elite and he tossed in a few additions (lojack, free 1-day car rental for every service at the dealership etc.) so we both compromised. The plan was to drive the wheels off it for a year before deciding if it would be a race car or not.

Took it to Road Atlanta 6 days after buying it and loved it. We drove through the NC and TN mountains. We did a 7hr 15min bull run from Raleigh to New York. Covered 3000 miles in a 10 day trip from Raleigh - Charleston - Savannah - Gainesville - DisneyWorld - Miami - Key West - Tampa - Atlanta - Raleigh. And just before our Route66 trip, we found out my wife was pregnant so that was the end of the fun and games... racecar time.
Here are some random road trip pics, autox, and track pics.

Straight to the track at 987 miles.



This was probably my favorite trip. Here's the google maps link if you want to try it out.




Carries race tires, and race bikes very well.


Hanging out with my partner in crime at Petit Le Mans


NASA MidAtlantic Autocross with the pTuning crew


Coilovers came late so installed at the track with no testing , but there was beer and friends



Test day with coilovers at NCCAR



Last pic before the gutting begins!


Dyno runs to make sure we're legal for TT


TT fun at Road Atlanta




Giving some rides, and pace car duties







Charlotte Motor Speedway testing

[phastafrican]

Cheap cell phone camera so pics aren't great quality. Here are a "handful" of pics I managed to snag up from my different cameras. I'll probably add comments later, but the general progression is self explanatory. The goal was to keep the cage as close to the chassis as possible, and opening up the cockpit as much as possible as well. My wife and father-in-law are both claustrophobic so every little bit helps whenever they decide to drive the car on track. I love my triple door bars.

While I care a lot about keeping the weight down, I care even more about safety. Went with 1.75 x .095 steel tubing. Found a good deal on the tubing for about $60/20ft (some company in Greensboro, NC). For a race car, Rustoleum Hammered paint works extremely well. Use a brush (soooo much easier, cleaner, and manageable by yourself in the middle of the night), and apply an enamel with a spray can if you need the extra finish. Powder Coating isn't necessary, especially since you'll cover most of it up with roll bar padding anyway. Plus you'll scratch it up anyway after the first few events with the window net, hans, harnesses, hooks, etc. and brushing/spraying right back over the tiny spot is easy to do.















































Cage Complete. Whew!!!

[phastafrican]

Reserved for Race Car Parts pics

[phastafrican]

Reserved for Completed Race Car pics

[phastafrican]

Reserved for Testing Videos and Pics

[ATL BRZ]

Reserved for applause gif

[phastafrican]

roll cage pics updated - @Piercemotorsports @philooo

[philooo]

awesome picture of the cage building, nice ! you did that yourself..R-E-S-P-E-C-T ...for not messing it up

[phastafrican]

Didn't do it myself. I can't weld for nothing. I pre-bent the main roll hoop and down bars using some muffler tubing so the cage builder knew exactly what I wanted. Then I stood around like a kid in a candy store as he translated that to the actual cage. I like to do as much of anything as I can and give people as little work as possible.

[Ryaquinn]

Looks great!! I'm trying to see in the pics. Did you remove the oem dash bar or put another bar in front it it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ZionsWrath]

I thought TTD was time attack, not "race"

What race series are you in?

Sick car regardless

[phastafrican]

Originally Posted by Ryaquinn

Looks great!! I'm trying to see in the pics. Did you remove the oem dash bar or put another bar in front it it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I added one in front of it. The oem bar is structural, and since I'm not attaching to the chassis, I left that there.

[phastafrican]

Originally Posted by ZionsWrath

I thought TTD was time attack, not "race"

What race series are you in?

Sick car regardless

Thanks. I race with NASA in the Southeast and Florida regions.
TTD is Time Trial "Class D". PTD is Performance Touring "Class D".

The car was only in TT until it was paid off and because I hadn't completed all the safety stuff needed to pass race car tech. (fire system, kill switch, cage, window nets, etc). I personally don't care for Time Trials, prefer wheel to wheel racing; however, you still earn contingency and there's an official time sheet results to show to sponsors.