First track day + autocross of the year for me. Consequently also the first time really stretching my performance driving legs with the new suspension setup. I really like my car right now...
Track day was at Hallett in Oklahoma. Nice little facility with a ton of elevation. The track’s layout is relatively simple and compact, but the elevation really adds a challenge as many braking zones and turn-in points are blind.
The SSC suspension is fantastic in this environment. Never felt a lack of grip whatsoever. It takes all the things that make the FR-S a great drivers car - exceptional turn in, remarkable rotation around the center, predictable handling at the limit - and dials them in just that much more. My instructor happens to run an automatic FR-S out here on the regular with 140k miles on it and said that my car handled really well. He did question if the upgraded swaybars were really doing much compared to stock, but I think that’s a fair evaluation.
This track is supposedly very hard on brakes and I spent a lot of time near redline. The car did not break a sweat. I definitely felt a little bit of brake fade by the end of the day, but nothing severe enough to really require a change in driving style. And it was a hot day (the car read 100 on the way out). I don’t have an oil temperature gauge but I feel like things stayed safe. Plus I have the same oil cooler as my instructor does on his car and well, he has 140k not so easy miles on that odometer so I have a long way to go to catch up.
That was Saturday, today was the first local autocross of the year after the COVID-19 shutdown since March. I had a little better idea what to expect here as I’d driven another autocrosser’s SSC car last year, but again I came away very impressed. No lack of grip, the overly tail happy nature of the stock car has been completely eliminated, and I was able to pull some pretty darn good times if you ignore my tendency to hit cones. In the end my standing in the results was garbage, honestly probably one of the worst finishes I’ve had in a while, but only because I struggled to keep it clean on fast runs. Oh well, cobwebs have been shaken and the next event should be better. Here’s a look at my fastest run with a cone:
And now for some much needed sleep...