Tacoma autocross videos and discussion

Had to post some pics of my bros 97 SC 5speed, we’ve had it in the family for well over a decade. Doing a bunch over the years. My bro as well had a 95.5 EC 5speed that he used strictly as a work truck for over 5 years, his family grew so he bought a Tundra, Long story short the 95.5 is now mine and has a second chance at a righteous life. Owned it about a year now and it’s been transformed. Doing more and more to it each week getting ready for our 2024 Auto X season. The First photo of my white 95.5 is how it was when I got it. Pulled a trailer everyday of its life for multiple years, has just under 300k and she’s been cruising like a beast. Just installed the sparco r100 v2s this weekend! Second lease on life and it’ll be a fun one. More to come!









Here is a link of my last run at our last event. Apologies for no sound. Dash cam decided to not record Audio. That is in the 97 single cab.
https://youtu.be/z3XSApNJx7s?si=zGypjhd9bU5IDw0i
Wish yall could hear it, straight piped with a lce header back to a delta 40 flow master. Few other things done as well

 

Thanks for sharing @OG.Taco-95.5, very nice trucks you got there and I know first hand how much fun you must have in the old pickups!

This is getting me missing old Trudy, I have just been picking up dinner and running truck duty errands lately with her but I believe she is due for some action upcoming in the next year.. pulled this clip from the archives.



Hope you enjoy!

 

Totally diggin it! Gotta love the minitrucks rippin. Thanks for the post. One of our lasts events of 2023 was with a local Porsche club. Super sick cars and no doubt quick on the course. My bros single cab was the one we were rippin that day and ended up finishing top 3 out of 35 in that class. They allowed some other vehicles to enter the club race to assist in bumping up attendance and bringing some diversity to their norm. They weren't ready to see a Taco roll up and didn't dig it until it held its own. Of course, a lot has to do with the driver or drivers but when the day came to a righteous end they were all checking the Taco out. Good day for sure!

 

That right there is exactly the reason I stick with the taco for racing. It's awesome to run with a new group or out of my normal area, and watch everyone be grumpy about a slow truck making them wait for their turn. Until that truck beats them by a couple seconds of course!

 

Im glad i found this thread. I have done a few different kinds of racing but never autocross. looking forward to seeing more of this thread. im really hoping you guys share some of your suspension combinations so i dont have to buy stuff twice. cheers

 

You can get a pretty in depth look at @Murd3rd's setup on his wild rear suspension build thread.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-stuff-pic-heavy.796494/page-11#post-29503775

 

@Bananman , do you daily that taco and do you mind giving a brief build list?

 

I did daily it for a year before I cooked a couple rod bearings racing it. It's a DJM 3/4 notch kit, 4x4 four leaf pack, 3 inch block in the rear. Feal coilovers up front with the 550lb springs they come with. Sprung a bit stiff by all accounts, but I drive it without issue and love the feeling of it being a go kart. -3 degrees of camber, makes it a bit unruly on the street at times. Definitely more track than street oriented. Factory front sway bar, no rear sway bar yet. Vorrsten 18x10.5 wheels. That's about it for suspension/handling setup.

 

Just wondering, why are you running so much negative camber. Does it help track handling or that’s as good as you can get it with that combo?

 

It's definitely for handling. It helps square the tire when cornering so it's not rolling onto the outside sidewall as much.

 

Without the negative camber, the tires roll over so much in the hard turns you dont get good grip since your full contact patch is not on the ground.

Also they tend to wear out on the outside faster than the inside since you are stressing this area of the tire.

To illustrate, here is my first set I ran without enough negative camber, the truck rolls over so much it chewed up the outside of the tire quickly on a hot day:



You are basically countering this rollover action when diving into the turns, the truck will grip and change directions much quicker without much drawbacks on the street from my experience. Zero toe in will give you quicker turn in responsiveness to if you are looking for a bit more performance from your next alignment!

 

Phew, you definitely got everything out of that side of that tire! I've rotated my tires and flipped them side to side at least four times to get as much life out of the RT660's as possible.

 

Since this thread lives on I thought I would share some updates from a fellow Tacoma autocrosser,

I have still been getting out there and hitting every event feasible gaining experience with my C7 Corvette "Yvette". I am still learning to get more out of this car every time I go out and having a blast doing so!

Wow time flies.. checking my logs I have been to 14 autox events total already and we even have a nifty trophy collection starter kit to go with the seat time..



Here was my fastest run of the day where we took 1st at the last event:



Hope everyone get's out there and takes in the experience for themselves.. enjoy whatever machine you got!!

Also, there was talk and planning for the next phase for Trudy's return to autox going on in the home shop lately... motivate us with some more truck action PLEASE.