Tacoma autocross videos and discussion

Hey folks, figured I'd start a thread dedicated to talking about and sharing media of our trucks racing. Of course if you autocross something else and want to post a video of your mad driving skills or best attempts at it, feel free!

If this is your first time seeing a post about a Tacoma racing that's not down a drag strip, I welcome all questions and curiosities but please be polite and don't tell us we're stupid. We already know that. Yeah we've heard Miata is always the answer, or suck it up and buy a Porsche if you want to win. But there's something special about beating turbo Miata's on slicks, or Joey with his 350z that is "gods gift to motoring" so we'll keep playing with our trucks.

All that being said, welcome!

 

Here's my last run of the day on Saturday, some commentary included from my wife and myself while driving. The power steering on this truck does not like tight slaloms, it gets overwhelmed and stops working after the first two turns. On bigger courses with a longer slalom it's fine, and actually handles them quite well.
https://youtu.be/Neb2MiHOQFw?si=eUZOdowHXoo1CIc9

 

On Sunday we had the course in a reverse layout, and tweaked a couple elements (removed the slalom thank god) so that it was a faster and more flowing course. The taco really liked this, as my times were about four seconds faster than the day before. We did only get eight runs, but we had somewhere around 70 cars, many of which were being dual driven so it was a busy day.

My GoPro didn't want to turn on for some reason, so my passenger managed to get this shaky cam footage while holding on for dear life. You'll hear an exhaust leak every time I turn left, my gasket at the header collector is failing so it opens up each time I put strain on the system.
https://youtu.be/FlG3aDnmcZs?si=mjjtKQSK7ViXcNpS

 

Sub'd

 

Same.

 

@BananaMan that thing sounds great! Love to see it on a longer course, or a full track.

 

Ask and you shall receive. This was nearly two years ago down at Canaan motorsports park in New Hampshire. The back straight where I'm grabbing third, I was hitting 85-90 before the hard chicane. This is what that chicane looked like from outside as well.


https://youtu.be/USSjmdbiLw8?feature=shared

 

Guess now there's two spots folks would need to go to check this all stuff out!?!

Anyone that is interested in this content may enjoy my autocross thread started almost 3 years ago.. here is a sample vid where my truck Trudy took first place for the class last time out:

 

My thought was to create a general autocross/truck racing thread, whereas yours is more dedicated to Trudy. I kept thread jacking yours with my truck

In related news, I am getting that set of 315 tires in a few weeks, so I may be breaking out the sawzall and some fender flares soon.

 

I gotta say, sounds/looks like you're still dealing with a fair bit of understeer. What tires are you running now?

 

That's a pretty truck.

 

Heheh, no worries I hope you always felt welcome in the other thread!!

You are worrying about my understeer? Interesting thought as my truck really oversteers at the limit..

315's next for your truck? ... I am getting worried about your truck rolling over onto its roof!! How do you plan to keep your fatter tires on the ground?!!

 

Thanks a bunch.. she's my favorite Tacoma hands down!!

 

I'm kinda hoping they weigh themselves down

The last couple corners in your video, specifically the last one actually, as soon as you turn in to get to the finish the tires start squealing with understeer, and a few turns before that in the left hand sweeper it looked like quite a bit of understeer.

It may also look odd to me since we normally run on concrete at an airport, which has significantly more grip than pavement.

 

Hahhhaa!! Definitely get a video of your 315 action, hope this works out!!

Maybe I am just not too keen on what is going on when I am driving, but it seems I can make the tires squeal all day long if I feel like so perhaps it's driving technique. Seems all the tires get scrubbed around a bit depending on when I am braking and how sharp the curves are, perhaps I am braking too late and turning the wheel also in some of the slower tighter turns which produces a bit of understeer at times.

However if I go too hot in a corner I can definitely feel the rear end rotating and have spun out totally in extreme cases. I feel my truck is balanced just the way I like to drive her, I like the rear coming out a bit since its fun and feels good to me. I do have a supercharger laying around still and never installed it thinking I may upset the balance of the truck a bit and Trudy is more about handling and ride than power as we know.

Actually I even hit my personal goal as far as autox this year goes - which was to go for a trophy in STX class and I was not only able to compete with my little truck but even took first place!

So good time for this thread I guess, its time for some new goals.. My normal club is off until December, but I found another club to test out and signed up for two events already on the 10th and 17th in September. Since you are gracious enough to allow it Mr Banana, I will go ahead and disgrace these pages with a heinous non-Tacoma I will be running for the upcoming future..



Apologies for you hard core citizens of the "world", but know even with other interests Trudy is the girl that is also my daily driver so she still gets plenty of love.. and may be taking time to get some oem boost going, which we know would induce other mods accordingly!

 

Congrats on getting the win in STX! I think I've said it before, but I run in STU with mine, although I think the fender flares will bump me.

You'll have to keep us in the loop on running that sweet vette. We have a couple c7's that run with us, but the owners are a little scared of touching cones to put it mildly. I know they're a hell of a lot wider than most courses take account for, similar to my pain with running the taco.

 

Thanks for the congratz, as you know my truck was not purpose built solely for autocross so I was pretty stunned I was able to get a trophy in the class.. I think this may simply prove what we all already know deep down inside, anything is possible when you put your heart into it and you have a Tacoma!!

I will keep you in the loop as requested then, heck yeah! I cant wait to get out there in my C7 affectionally referred to as Yvette. She is a totally different beast than ol Trudy and I need some serious seat time to adjust and extract all the capability she has to offer, especially since its hard to push this impressive machine anywhere near its limits on the streets. Much like Trudy she is not a full race car by any means, more so I refer to her as my "luxury race car" and she wasnt purchased with the sole thought of winning trophies.

I just love the car as a whole, gazing at her beauty, experiencing the rush of enjoying spirited trips to the local canyon, melting miles quickly across country seeing sights with my wife and dog, and of course plan to hit the autox and some actual track events to enhance life the best way I know how - driving fast! Yvette is not afraid to knock cones out of her way for sure either... She may not be the best choice for pure autox, but for me I am all about fun factor combined with every day drivability so Yvette seems to be as close as you can come to automotive perfection in my mind (next to the Tacoma of course). The magnetic shocks let you go soft for cruising, then crank it up a couple notches if you get frisky! I usually dont dig techy stuff in my machines, but this thing is magical and the tech makes it better actually.

Of course I am from the USA and have loved Corvette's all my life accordingly. Then when the C8 came out I knew the mid engine mego bucks automatic tranny machine was not for me so the 7th gen became obviously the best driving front engine Vette ever built in my mind, and the Grand Sport seems to be the best balance of naturally aspirated hp combined with the fattest tires money can buy. When I finally drove this car, I knew I had found the one after a lifetime of pondering and searching!

Sorry to digress with my Corvette back story, back to autox! My upcoming event is not scca, so they have a bit different classing. Reading the rules I will be running in their "Super Street" class which they describe as "fast stockish cars". There are 13 entries now, so a lot of competitors to see where I stack up first time out. 4 of the drivers have sponsors and points cards and are running for season standings, looks like the Cadillac oddly enough and the Camaro ZL1 towards the bottom of the list are the fast guys to beat just by judging the results of the last events.

Take a look at the competitors I will be up against, C6's galore, a C8, the Caddy and the ZL1, some Porsche's, and a couple of "the devils cars" (teslas):



This should be FUN for sure.

Hope this is the kind of stuff this thread is for... thanks a bunch.

 

Oh this is definitely the thread for this kinda discussion. Glad to hear you finally found your "it" car, I know of many vehicle enthusiasts who still search. It's definitely going to be a different driving style and experience going from ol Trudy to Yvette. My friend races his '64 Austin healey and a '19 fiat abarth 124 spyder at events, and always has a hell of a time switching back and forth.

 

My brother and I did a day of autocross run what you brung. Very, very fun. We got smoked by a guy in a clapped out Prius. Definitely learned there is a big difference between having a fast car versus driving a car fast.