2002 Tacoma for Autocross

That makes sense. I have the same X- wheels

 

Go Mrs. BananaMan!

 

It was a long time coming, but this weekend old Trudy was finally able to compete head on in STX class with just enough folks showing up to hand out a class trophy. It turned out the Scion FRS did not show up so we went against two co-drivers in a modified 05 BMW 325i.

The official results are in.. Who would of thought the 142 hp pickup truck could take home a first place trophy on her first full STX title bout?! (First time not in novice class I mean..)



Not sure why they arent listing all 4 runs from the BMW drivers.. maybe they were discouraged by old Trudy getting faster with every run and decided to head back to the garage for more wrenching!?

They also had an XRuns bonus session with 40 drivers taking 4 extra laps afterwards fighting for the fastest time and bragging rights. Old Trudy managed to come in 25th place out of 40. The obligatory list of sports cars the 1st gen Tacoma is able to best is always something the "World" likes to see! Here are the results of the XRuns session:



Here are a couple of videos, first up is Trudys fastest run of the day, run #7 during the xruns session.



Here was the lap that won the trophy, run #3 since I coned it on the 4th run.



It was so much fun out there and Trudy was just feeling so good, it sure is hard to beat the level of the super quick action and excitement autocross provides, especially when you're living in Tacoma World!

 

HELL YEAH! YOU LOVE TO SEE IT! SUCK IT SPORTS CARS!

 

Our event got cut short this weekend due to unforeseen circumstances, and was rainy the first half of the first day. Still was carrying a tire off the ground in the wet, and got some pics when it was dry. Funnily enough, this photo is of my buddy driving. (We were dual driving the truck as a birthday present to him)

 

Awesome pic @BananaMan, so glad to see her back out there doing her thing!!

Anther video from the weekend, crank up your sound as this lap had the most tire squeal of any run.. enjoy.

 

Y’all making me want to do an Autocross event. My mr2 is itching for it. My Tacomas sadly are all a little too tall to want to do it in. Lol

 

There was a 93 MR2 out there, it was a novice driver but the car sure looked like fun!

I highly suggest you take yours out, you definitely wont have any regrets.. except for not trying it out sooner perhaps.

 

sadly mine being a v6 swap with the exhaust it has, i cannot even get in because of how loud it is.

 

Freaking impressive!!! Bravo sir!

 

I’ve done autocross on my 85 Corolla GTS, an 88 Celica All-trac and a 90 All-trac. Not a lot, an a while back. But I switched rims on the Corolla for racing.

The problem that you’ll find is that your existing mods pushes you up the modification ladder, into classes that allow lots of mods. But you’ve only done some that are allowed in that class. Unless you do most all the mods allowed for a class, you won’t be competitive.

Bottom line, it’s not a good autocross platform, imo. If your goal is just to have fun, go for it. But if your goal is to win, get and study the rules for each mod class, decide on a class and build towards that class.

 

I didn’t see if you have a V6 or I4, manual or auto trans. As for the V6, manual trans First Gen Taco, the 2nd is slightly too tall, imo.

 

His truck is the 2.4l 2RZ\MT. Toyota didn't offer a regular 5 lug in the V6\MT in the 01-04MYs unless you got the S-Runner package. Which has a body kit, so it's easy to tell the difference at a glance.

 

Totally agree this is good advice here, and we should all build our trucks to maximize our own usage as best we can and be realistic with our goals. I would add most folks also seem to purchase the class winning cars, and follow known specs/builds for pure trophy hunting. This is not "a problem" for me however..

This is actually my comfy econo daily driver, show truck, race setup, right down to the same tires (all I change is pressure for race day). So I built it for a balance of drivability, performance, oem simplicity, and mostly FUN! I sip coffee with one hand cruising down the freeway to the events in the morning, so I cant have too stiff of a ride! I know what I like, and how to build and enjoy my truck for sure as you can see this thread is almost going on 3 years already, wow. I certainly hope others have such a bond and this much fun with their machines as well!

However I must admit it added to the fun that I was able to score a first place trophy last time out with the 142hp 2.4! Good old Trudy, she never ceases to do the seemingly impossible does she?!!

Speaking of fun, this lap I decided to punish them tires as hard as I could... crank up your volume to hear the rubber melt away!

 

Regarding the modded 1st gen Tacoma platform and where does it stack up overall even after STX PAX factored -

Trudy rustled up a 74th place out of 110 sports cars this round, so roughly 1 out of 3 cars were beaten by the little old pickup truck. The obligatory list seems to include just about every "winning" platform you can imagine and then some.. take a look for your self!



This truck may be a little bit better than folks think at first glance...

 

This is it right here.

My truck started as a daily driver with a VERY modest 5psi. It was really fun. But then the bug bit me.

I think it's more about seeing WHAT I can do with the platform and not necessarily chasing a trophy. Hell, 9 times out of 10 I use my truck at the end of the event to help haul in cones and then load up and leave. I could give 2 shits about the trophies at the end or whatever. If I get lucky enough to win something they'll give it to me at the beginning of the next event.

I'll check the results when they're official and brag to my buddies about demolishing Mustang GTs

 

I do the same thing, rag on the truck all day, beat half the field, then load it to the bumpstops with cones and gear to pack up at the end of the weekend.

 

Exactly @Murd3rd !

I think being the only truck out there and not worrying about trophies really adds a lot more to the fun pure excitement that driving the old truck hard provides!!

 

can you go wider or does that put you in a different class?

What are you wheel specs? diam, width, offset? What tires are you running?

thanks

 

This does speak to Driver over Car. Lol.
One particular event that I can recall there was a roush supercharged mustang. That car should've eaten my truck alive and then some. The guy just couldn't really handle it. So yeah, the truck is great and holds it's own, but the driver (and maybe tires ) are generally really good determining factors in who is faster.