Tacoma autocross videos and discussion

Your buddy has some nice taste in machinery!

Also looks like you guys are all in the "front tire lifter club" noting both shots!!

This got me thinking, maybe lack of some down travel could also be partly the reason why your tires come up? Seems to me this makes for some great photos though, and if it isnt slowing you down then dont fix it!!

 

Our club just posted the time results and I got a chance to peak at them. I didn't win by much on Saturday.


The truck held true and I got the win both days, second day by four seconds due to different competitors. The funny thing is that second place time was a Mini Cooper S!



I also got permission to post this photo of one of our members with our most coveted award of the weekend. The "cone killer" award. It's 3D printed by one of our members for each event. This time the gentleman in the photo took out 27 cones in his Subaru outback/sti. The Chicago box we had was not his friend...

 

That's awesome! All of it. Your win, and his epic cone trophy.

 

One of the folks I race with brings his father to the events. His father is a hobby photographer and posts pictures sporadicly of the races, and he's some he got of the taco.

Starting off I love this photo of the truck absolutely sideways as I completely overcooked it into an element. Note my longtime friend in the passenger seat smiling wide and enjoying the ride.


Next up is me also completely screwing up a corner and going way too deep on the brakes. (Notice the rubber from the actual line wayyyy inside of my current location)



Here's a good one of the truck looking pretty aggressive despite it being mid spin.

And to finish it up, a few of it being a tricycle.

 

Would reverting it closer to stock height regain the down travel on the front end? I've talked to a few experts on autocross any many are very opinionated on lowering center of gravity vs sacrificing down travel.

Looks awesome and you have no fear, keep it up.

 

Unfortunately I can't go any higher. The truck is in the "banned" list according to SCCA unless I meet a 1:1 height x width ratio. They consider it a rollover risk otherwise, and the club I run with has told me I'm not allowed to run slicks until I get the body roll/wheel lift under control.

I'm currently 1.5 inches wider than I am tall with the 18x10.5 wheels.

 

I remember this from when I had foresters, it makes sense but makes for hard geometry.

Just trying to think of a way to get it to keep the tire down, heavier sway bar? Man there's not a lot of options. Driver mod and tires are your only options.

 

The only driver mod to keep the front end down is to put on another 80 lbs

I do need to put a rear sway bar in it, currently doesn't have one, only a front. (Stock)

 

wow, lots of cones “knocked down” in all those photos..

Tee Hee

 

These pics are awesome... bad ass truck, sick action, and some sweet photography work too!!

I admit though my jaw dropped a bit when I saw this very uneven gap where your bed meets the cab.. any idea what is going on and are you going to break you truck in half out there?!!

 

In my non-Tacoma autocross ventures this past weekend I was able to take Yvette out for the first time and had a blast learning how to handle the whole new machine.

Believe it or not, I was also fortunate enough to take home a second place trophy in the Super Street class out of 11 drivers! 4 drivers being sponsored and had won past events in this class this season.

This was not an SCCA event so they classed the cars a little different and their scoring was based on all 4 timed laps added together for the overall best time. Not too shabby for the first time out I thought!



Video footage was also captured, here is my fastest run of the day from pov:



Another vid from outside the machine:



The same group is actually putting on another event this weekend at an all new venue for me and I am signed up and will be going out again with Yvette. The first place C6 Z06 Vette will be out there again and even though he was roughly a second per lap quicker than me, I am hopeful with a bit more experience I can close the gap. There are 15 entries now, and also a bunch of newcomers with some mean machines so there should be some fierce yet fun competition!

I came in 15 place overall in raw time out of 83 drivers as well, so I think it may be safe to assume the Corvette may be a bit faster than the 1st gen Tacoma at this point!

But did I miss Trudy and did others ask about her too!? Of course!!

 

little off topic and being a purpose built drift car its not exactly autoX related
however, this thing would be a hoot and a half on an autoX course and i felt the need to share...

yall see this thing??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiCfHDm3UOQ

 

Another glorious weekend of autocross action occurred with my non-Tacoma product we refer to as Yvette. This round we scooted up a spot and walked away with the coveted first place trophy in Super Street class out of 13 drivers!

The course was super tight and everyone was knocking down cones in abundant fashion.. but even with 3 cones and timing issues that caught me off guard forcing me to do a make up run after lunch that wasnt as quick as my average times earlier in the day, we barely came out on top somehow in all the mayhem!



The traditional fastest run of the day video:


Of course a view from outside the machine to see her in action:


There's a bunch more videos on my channel of each run in and outside the car, enjoy.

So it appears last three times out I took first place in the Tacoma, 2nd in the Vette, then first place in the Vette.. seems that using a Tacoma as your learning platform for autocross is not the worst way to go!



Oh yeah, and the C7 isnt too shabby either..

 

Got out there once again this past weekend with Yvette, there were some fast drivers out this round and the competition was fierce but we still took 3rd place this time!

My first lap had a slow start as the first cone was down and I was sent while the worker was heading to the cone, so I was driving just a bit more cautious off the start.. You get good at making excuses after a few events it seems!!

Look at the measly .015 difference between the first two drivers, this is total after 4 laps keep in mind! I was just over a second off the top 2, maybe just over .2 second per lap, but as you see I lost most of my time with that slower first run.



On to the obligatory video footage...

Here was my fastest timed run for the day (we also did 4 practice and 4 extra fun runs at this event):



Here was the controversial first timed run with the downed cone and worker close to the course at the start! I know I could have requested a rerun if I was seriously competing, I am just out there for fun mostly so I didnt fuss over details.. just having fun making excuses for not winning here!



The Corvette has a nifty g-meter on the dash, I turned it on and saw a best of pulling 1.18 g's in the first u-turn (watching the video of course)!



And finally, we got one decent video from outside the car this round.



Already signed up for the next event on the 21st which will be a test and tune day only. They have a competition day Sunday but I have other things going on that day already. If things change registration is open though..



Beyond the competition during the fun runs, since this course was quite a bit more open than the previous I was able to push the car harder and started feeling like I was getting more used to driving her closer to the limits and just having more fun than ever behind the wheel. We will definitely be back out there soon, hopefully quicker than ever!

Keep on autocrossing fellow citizens!

 

To add to the archives.. I was able to get the latest non-Tacoma videos up from last weekends adventures in autocross. Just a casual test and tune day this time around so no timed results/trophies, but this seemed to make things super fun!

My first run I got sideways a little bit on a couple occasions learning the course.


6th run in I was shaving down my lap times. There was 10 runs this day, straight in a row.


Some one requested a ride along on my last run. This was the first time Yvette had a passenger while on any course, and we managed to get our best time of the day!

 

I had the privilege of riding along with @BananaMan. He's a helleva driver. Was a lot of fun.

 

We had a Halloween just for fun event, I got to dual drive another friends Miata and ended up beating them by a second and a half in their car. No footage since it was a last minute event, but it was a hell of a lot of fun! I honestly think I could've beaten my Tacoma with that Miata. It had mostly used RE-71's, cheap coilovers, and nothing else. It was a 96 NA with the 1.8 in it.

 

That car looks like a handful, and also a great load of fun to race. We've got a few really well sorted c6's that run with us and put the mustangs to shame usually.

 

She is a bundle of fun for sure, so different than the Tacoma obviously!

Re-watching my run I noticed she hit 64 mph coming out of the slalom, it sure didnt feel that fast or look like it on the videos but this car can really get cooking quick. I am still adjusting to the machine but having a great time finding the car's limits and how to keep her happy at speed! E-diff's and electronic throttle's are not something I am used to dealing with, but I feel I am catching on little by little with more seat time.

Beating folks in their own cars? This is something I was able to experience myself this past weekend! After giving the ride along to his buddy a Tesla owner repaid me with a ride along and even talked me into doing the driving! I never drove any electric machines and dont really know how to make the best use of awd but I went for it all, melted his tires off every corner, and pulled off a 58 second lap where his prior best time was a 59!!

It seemed like he really enjoyed it by his reactions!

 

I was fortunate enough to make it to an autocross event that was actually on a karting track yesterday with old Yvette!

We took the top qualifying in our class, which put us in a chase challenge at the end where we ended up in 2nd place in class for another silver trophy (keychain).

There was some fierce competition from a couple of 600hp Cadillac's, and we barely squeezed out the TQ:



Of course the obligatory personal fastest lap of the day video:



And a video shot from outside the C7:



Also met up with some old friends and made new ones out there during all the high performance action, what a great day!