2002 Tacoma for Autocross

Thanks again for your input, the rear sway bar definitely sounds worth trying out. I dig your build thread too, you sure have had your truck a long time and she's a beauty!

Looks like I need to rustle up some of those Hellwig saddle brackets and u-bolts to get that SRunner rear bar mounted. I found part #'s looking at the instructions (below) for their rear sway bar, but looks like I need to call them to get them ordered separately since I can't seem to locate them for sale online.




Guess I need to call them up to see if they could get this stuff to me quickly..

 

Thanks! It's a life long build at this point haha. She's looking a little rough lately as the sun has had its way with the clear coat. I'll be looking into paint shops shortly. You will definitely have to call Hellwig, that is actually what I did back in the day. I called them up and asked, they were able to sell me them over the phone and they shipped pretty fast.

 

I was able to take Trudy out to another autocross event this weekend. She did great overall, was a total blast and even took home 3rd place out of 10 in the novice class. I had the second fastest lap time, but the trucks class vs the others out there put me in 3rd.



But it was so hot out there it did end up costing me a couple tires. Guess I wasn't cooling them properly between runs in the scorching heat, the rough parking lot track, and the Tacoma's tire smoking ability. Made it home no problems thankfully.



I was on the fence about whether or not to get some beefier softer 200 compound tires in a wider 265 size to maximize for my class and to fill the wheel well's with extra rubber. After I have "chunked" these not so old Michelins I figure it's a perfect time to get those new rubbers I have been looking into..

There was also some great interactions out there. One young guy that asked got a "hot" lap in the Tacoma on Saturday test and tune, and today his dad came to me saying his son had so much now he wants to build his own Tacoma for autocross!

Such a fun weekend in Tacoma world with old Trudy, what a great little truck she is!

 

Don't know if he plans on running www.speedventures.com events or not but their events are for fun. No classes run what you have. It's more about competing against yourself and just trying to improve. Not like SSCA.

 

That's so rad! Look at all those performance cars you slayed!

 

You really set the bar high for the other drivers, in the sports cars. Bravo.

 

I think "he" is me?!

Thanks for this, I actually was told about the speedventures just this weekend, hearing they run a smaller course in another lot at the same venue I am at - Fontana Speedway. I think I will check this out to get some more experience. Although I really dig the SCCA events because the track's are big and awesome, the people are cool, and it's super fun in the Tacoma even though I am not going to be in the running for any national title's with my truck and the way I built it. I admit though, it adds to the fun knowing I will be picking up my second trophy for the season next month when I go and I may even be in the running for a Novice class season title as they do add up the best 3 events from each participant over the season to determine an overall winner. The Tacoma has a couple 3rd places so she may be in the novice class running this year.. even being handicapped a couple seconds against new Miata's due to classing!

 

Thanks a bunch!

Forgot to mention the tire was shredded on Saturday and those recorded fast laps were done Sunday with the tire already totally destroyed as seen above!!

No wonder SCCA is handicapping these Tacoma's so much...

 

Definitely part of the fun is seeing high end cars coming back from their laps with slower times than the old Tacoma! I came in 98 out of 140, so here is the full list of cars that were shredded by a pickup truck even after the PAX class calculations for your indulgence!!



Tacoma beats everything from Miata's to Corvette's, Tesla's and Porsche's, and everything in between basically!

 

That Lotus Elise might have beaten you if it finished. I wouldn't be ashamed to lose to a Lotus, though. Why does the SCCA handicap Tacomas?

 

@DJB1 I believe it's mostly because I have drop springs and larger tires that put me into a modified vehicle class called "Street Touring Extreme - STX".

The two FRS that took 2nd and 4th were both actually modified as well and running in my STX class, so no handicaps there according to the rule book. There must be some other factors that put the vehicle in this class, here's the full list of cars when modified put them into STX per SCCA rules 2021:


Yeahp, any Tacoma is the same performance class as all the above machines per SCCA..

Get another before this becomes main stream knowledge!

 

Right?!

 

Just ran mine this past weekend as well! I was right on time with the non forced induction miatas. I'm in STU though because of my 275/40's, which means I'm not competitive at all in that class.

 

As luck would have it, I ended up finding some Bridgestone RE71R's on close out special in my current size of 245/45/17 so I could not pass up the deal.. I can definitely tell the 200 treadwear is quite a bit more grip and cant wait to take it out for the next event coming up next weekend!




Here was a pro pic from July when I melted my Michelin's, pulling up to the starting gate:



More surprising news, I found out I am in currently first place for Novice class for the Cal Club SCCA 2021 season!

For fun context I was doing a bit of math - the fastest guy out there drives a 911 GT3 and he is also the current national champ for SSP and basically the fastest in the country. Of course he beat my old Tacoma by 10 seconds (57 vs 67 seconds lap times). This works out to being roughly 15% quicker, which is quite a margin to overcome for sure.

But if you calculate the cost of the GT3 (~$150k+) vs my old Tacoma (~$5k+) though, this equates to costing way over 3000% more than my pickup truck, yes for only a pathetic 15% increase in performance. Turns out the Tacoma has proved the 911 GT3 to be a gigantic waste of money!

Guess we already all knew this, you just cannot beat the 1st gen Tacoma when it comes to performance and fun per dollar!! Heck, I didnt even need a truck and trailer..

 

That gave me a good chuckle!

You have moved up quite quickly in the standings. Well done.

 

Haha, that's some great math Let's all very quickly forget Miatas are a thing Tacoma's are the ultimate autocross platform!!!!!

 

@Torspd @MatosTaco

Glad you guys appreciate the formula, I enjoy coming up with creative math to ensure the Tacoma wins every time!!

Miata's are easy to forget since everyone has one down there basically, no one forgets the Tacoma.

 

Haha, yeah, Miatas at autocross are like roaches in back of a bad restaurant . That and the fact that the Tacoma was more fun to autocross, led to me making my Miata a fun weekend car while the truck took over AutoX duty.

 

Thanks for sending me the link, 2Runner; looks like you're having a blast! It's always great to me to see folks find and enjoy autocross.
I started in the late 70's, and still dabble a bit; it's the only place where you can run 10 tenths w/o worries. Great for learning your vehicle's dynamics, too, which can really help in road situations. Party on!!

Edit: your truck looks really nice, too!

 

Very good info here. Kudos for helping an autocross newb.