2002 Tacoma for Autocross

Your truck handles the direction changes far better than mine. I'd say almost as much body roll, but it looks a lot lighter on its toes.

 

You've done very well. Earned that recognition!

 

One more video, for those few that enjoy this stuff.. note a Lambo and the mean looking muscle machines surrounding the little pickup!

 

Not even squeal. Your truck stay glued. Clearly you felt how good that run was.

 

That can’t be right. Both his inside tires aren’t off the ground….

 

Not sure Trudy wants/needs coil-overs just yet, my truck rides so nice on the street its actually dreamy (compared to stock, thanks to 368 lb front springs) and keep in mind this is still my daily driver believe it or not.. in fact Trudy was the only truck that did not come off the back of a six figure trailer this weekend!!

Oh yeah, every truck I beat had coil-overs too, so there are some extra bragging points perhaps running plain old Bilsteins. I must admit it is extra fun when folks say stuff like "dont you know this truck is not supposed to go that fast" seeing the overall lack of upgrades to my little almost stock econo-truck that takes out half the field!

HOT tip: Them new Bridgestone RE71RS are the grippiest tires I have ever tried out hands down no comparison, and the smaller size did seem to feel tighter and less floaty around the speedy curves. The lighter weight and slightly less diameter also seemed to add a bit of pepper to the stepper too, and the truck felt slightly quicker overall out there. They seemed to be wearing better than others too, but my truck is tuned a bit different now and it was a cooler day too so maybe too soon to tell how much life I will get out of this set just yet. But yes, I truly fell in love with these tires, and must highly recommend these to my fellow Tacoma-crossers and anyone that likes to drive in a spirited manner. These will be my next tire for sure, until something better may come along.

Wondering if I try the 265's next how they will compare - they may get floaty like the Nankang 265's or maybe that tougher sidewall may make a difference in feel. Visually the 265's are the obvious choice, but I was stunned to feel a performance gain going to a smaller tire.

Certainly learning a lot and having the most fun ever autocrossing in the Tacoma, I hope others can get out there and experience this level of fun (and exceeded performance expectations) these little trucks can deliver!

Here was one decent run I captured from in the cab, it was later in the afternoon and I could not find any more time on the course in the last session but luckily neither could my competitors and I stayed in 2nd place overall in the Truck class.

 

Love it!

 

Arent we all just a bit addicted to the old Tacoma's?!

For the next micro-tune/test - I am going to try lowering the rear of the truck just a tad bit more. The hope is this will give a bit better front to rear weight distribution and improve handling further adding more bite in the rear end, less weight transfer, and slightly lower center of gravity. I have some 2" blocks in the rear now, and I just found some 2.5" blocks that I scooped up today. Hope this small increment works so I am not bottoming out on the rough stuff. I am planning to hit the next event back to SCCA Cal Club in November, so I have time to try this setup out on the streets still. I also have a rear sway bar laying around, so if the truck does start bottoming out I can try out the rear sway bar and see if this resolves any issues while also seeing if I like the handling better with the sway bar too.

Thoughts for the day - After a number of events under my belt now I think Trudy feels great out there, she is a total blast to drive and seems to exceed everyone's expectations which certainly adds to the fun! I can feel my confidence building up too the more seat time I get pushing the limits, and the upgrades I have done seem to proven quite effective performance and cost wise. There are only 2 events left for the 2022 season and I have actually only done a couple test and tunes this year, so my plan is to simply finish up the season events getting more time in and the aforementioned tuning.

As for the future? - With Trudy and myself feeling like we are getting to a new performance level, I am sitting here now thinking for 2023 season I may try to actually get back out there with the truck a bit more optimized and see if I can actually be competitive in the Street Touring Extreme - STX class! Ok, I know this class is dominated by the FRS, BRZ, GR86 triplets with all the track mods allowed and no one has ever taken a title home in a Tacoma or any truck in autocross history... and the Tacoma is 20 years older and was the slowest cheapest vehicle in production when new, has no aftermarket mods, etc, etc..

But you know, THIS IS TACOMA WORLD we are living in now after all!!

Also added some older video footage to the TacomaCross tube channel today, take a gander if you like this kind of stuff!

 

4‐link if you're feeling exceptionally geometric.

 

Thanks for the input @Hayrider and @Torspd!

Believe it or not I am not moving up a class, any Tacoma any year is placed into STX by default according to the rule SCCA book (I believe since you need to lower it and add larger tires to be competitive). I was Novice my first year and just mentioning that I think I will try to compete in STX as a non-novice just to see what I can do with the truck as is mostly even though a truck should not be there at all. It is built to what I may say a "mild STX" build, 4/5 drop, LSD, SRunner front sway bar upgrade, and 255/35/18's on the max allowed 200 treadwear rubber. My class does allow up to the 265 tires, which I think you know I was running prior to my 255's and may try next set. They only allow a 9" wide rim though, hence the testing of the smaller "better fitting" tire.

As for tuning my truck for how I like to use it, you can see I do not follow any conventional cookie cutter copy cat style building in my process and also do not use my truck the same way as anyone in the known "world"! I try to make the most drastic gains with as little money and effort possible, and keep my truck riding super nice on the street while allowing me to still have a TON of FUN on the course with notable performance improvements. I found I do enjoy the competitive aspect of racing as well, but not so much that I want to spend every last dollar possible to see if the Tacoma will ever beat those modern custom sports cars. Let's face it, if I really wanted to be more "serious" would you tell me to keep upgrading my Tacoma?!!

Heck @Hayrider, how about we meet up at an event SoCal/Az and show me what your ultra-modded Tacoma and all your experience can do in person on the track head to head against Trudy?! We can chat about potential mods based on actual results and how your truck rides in person! If you cant make it to SoCal which I highly recommend the events out here, I will gladly head out to Az for this type of action (my truck rides that nice, not sure if your truck is "road trip-able still?")!! Just let me know when and where please. I would love to see what your truck can do and further learn from your vast experience!

My mind IS made up for now - I still drive this as my daily, but also want better handling. I have found this to be totally achievable so far, so why would I stop now?! Keep in mind my main goal is fun as well, and I find it more fun beating faster cars with my very mild upgrades! Anyone can buy a new MX5 and hit the ground running, but thats just not as challenging or exciting in my mind.. less fun basically.

Folks registering cars out of state seem like potential cheaters/creative rule translators to me, these are supposed to be street legal according to the rules and we are in Cali. Guess people dont always play by the "theoretic" rules though, like the truck that "beat" me at NMCA was not running any side windows, which were required according to the rules I read so who really won that day?! Yep, that unassuming little Tacoma! But I did not protest or anything like that, told you this is really all about the fun for me and arguing about mods isnt my idea of fun really.

Although part of the fun is definitely going faster than others and hence why I want to just "try" to compete to see what I can do in this little truck. I'm not necessarily heading for the Nationals any time soon.. If I have to "cheat" to win I wont feel as good about it at the end of the day either, even with the obvious total underdog pickup and "known cheaters" on the field. So I want to play by SCCA rules in STX for 2023 and simply go for it, who knows what the future may hold though...

E-Bench Tuning:
My thought is lowering the rear will accomplish roughly what a higher front spring rate/thicker sway bar would roll wise. Less weight on the front means less roll (less need for spring rate), but while also adding weight in the rear for better balance and keeping that nice ride. This is why this my 2.5" blocks are next.
Also it's way cheaper and much quicker to get blocks here and installed than having custom springs/sway bars made. Keeping the money in the account for tires, and getting more seat time with the new tune, which I say are the best upgrades of all hands down!
I have not installed the rear sway bar yet either thinking that would produce more oversteer, but may test it one day to see for myself.
A c-notch throws me into a modded class with full frame fabrications and way more mods with faster cars and such I believe, so this is not really the direction I would go for actual competition (at this time anyhow).
I found Toyota does offer two factory sway bars for SRunners that are still available, one seems to be for 02-04 and since mine is from an 01 I was wondering if there may be any difference at all. Any way to find out specs on these factory bars to compare anyone know of?

 

Sorry to you too buddy, but please try not talk too much trash about an event you have never been to and do not know the full details about apparently (I can get over 20 runs in one Saturday at my club). Also keep in mind that this thread is dedicated towards auto crossing so I'd appreciate you reserving any further negative commentary.

It seems my mods are working best for my needs and actual usage.. Tires apparently do way more than an overly stiff set of coils for handling!

 

Hmmm…
The run above lasted lass than 60 seconds now two more and you are done for the day. At least that’s all you get in AZ…
I guess Cali. is the same as AZ in some respects…
Sorry but here in AZ you pay $35 to $45 or more, then get to walk the corse and drive only 3 laps and spend all day for that!? For me, No Thanks! I can find other things I enjoy more like going to a shine & show that’s free to see. Rent a shifter kart and spend hours having a blast or even doing a MTB race. There’s not much cheating in racing MTB’s unless you’re Lance Armstrong. It’s the hours, days, weeks, months & years you spend training. But after hitting a lawyer in a charity bike ride causing a 4 degree shoulder separation and eventually having to have shoulder replacement surgery, (on both shoulders) the Hell with that I rather drink a Margarita and tinker with my Taco.
Knock them dead kid, I’m done here…
The only trophy I ever kept from back when I had my 78 280Z. Been there done that!

 

Next question. When do the road course track days happen?

 

That's something I'm trying to get nailed down. I really want to get it set up for it, but I'm pretty sure it would require a cage for anywhere near me.

 

Depending on the type on track day event, I could see that. None of the events that I attended, in my truck, required a cage.

 

The track day is also something on the agenda for the next year and I have been checking into some track events that pop up around here quite often not too far from me. They refer to some as the HPDE high performance driver education and they do not require the roll cages to enter from a few I have seen. They cost a bit more but also seem to provide hours of seat time on the full track vs the 10-20 minutes you get per autocross day at my local events.. coming soon for sure!!

Since there is not much laying around as far as potential bolt on upgrades for my truck I thought I may as well scoop up this find I came across: an ultra rare oem late(r) model SRunner specific (mostly?) front sway bar that has been laying around on the oem parts shelves for years!!

Here is the hidden oem high performance gold I came across in the oem parts catalog, look at what it fits and it lists pretty much just the SRunner. And yes these are still available new oddly along with other front sway bar options for the old trucks still.. I figure if they designed this sway bar to be more SRunner specific, it was more than likely to increase some handling character!!



Curious to see how this goes..

 

Just so you can see another sway bar option you can get from the same oem parts wholesale site, note you can see only the 2001 SRunner listed and a bunch of overlap with other 2wd trucks across many years and cab configurations. Again this made me think that later model SRunner specific listed bar above may have a bit of extra "magic" going on!!



My current front sway bar was actually pulled from a genuine 2001 SRunner myself, so I will be able to compare them both in person and on the truck driving in a "spirited manner".

 

We typically 4-5 w0 minutes sessions a day. 2 days. Unless you have a mechanical issue.