Race Tracking Your Supra - Information exchange

[Rocksandblues]

So question for autox. Have my first one for the season tomorrow but I also very novice. Had a question for tire pressure. For the stock tires, I was reading online that a good place to start cold was 29/30 PSI. For anyone that's done autox with the stock tires, where'd you start and relatively like to keep the car? Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the high 50s for temperature and cloudy. Might get anywhere from 5 to 7 runs in. I know that's a super subjective question haha just don't know how to really ask what I'm asking.

You have gotten good suggestions. especially if first time.
I (but i am a little nuttier than most) would start at 27. you are never going to get to optimum tire temps if you run for 40 secs and then wait 20 mins- repeat in 50 deg weather
I would do this despite possible excessive wear on the tires because, well i am me.

if you are serious about autox and have several at those temps get some tire blanket for between runs. game changer for when you get serious.

put it in sport and let the car shift. concentrate on braking, turn in and feeling how you can make the car rotate. send it. not like a teen boi, but the car can take a lot more than you will believe being a novice. Autox is great because if you spin there is no off track, low friction grass, tire walls. worse case is you punish some cones and have fun spin

good luck! report back

Sponsored

 

[FLtrackdays]

So is interesting as I just noticed mine starting to throw grease and was looking for something. Mine is at around 20k/ 70 track days with a little over 2 years. They do not look torn but appear to be leaking where the champs are. So would be interested in what others find out if. There is a boot kit or you have to go the axel route.

A boot kit would make sense and Fuzzy may be on to something for us. Fingers crossed

Wanna say there are at least 6 or more Supras here this weekend. Glad to see peeps using their free track days. Some people even coming back for more. Love Toyota and NASA for doing this together. That being said, there are other track groups out there if you can’t make it to the NASA dates available. This is a repeat, but definitely options out there for everyone. Such a fun car on track

 

[Rta95]

You have gotten good suggestions. especially if first time.
I (but i am a little nuttier than most) would start at 27. you are never going to get to optimum tire temps if you run for 40 secs and then wait 20 mins- repeat in 50 deg weather
I would do this despite possible excessive wear on the tires because, well i am me.

if you are serious about autox and have several at those temps get some tire blanket for between runs. game changer for when you get serious.

put it in sport and let the car shift. concentrate on braking, turn in and feeling how you can make the car rotate. send it. not like a teen boi, but the car can take a lot more than you will believe being a novice. Autox is great because if you spin there is no off track, low friction grass, tire walls. worse case is you punish some cones and have fun spin

good luck! report back

Thanks for the advice! I feel like after HPDE I got a good taste of what the car can do so definitely will send it this time haha. I was thinking of keeping it in manual so I can keep it in second but I'll play with both options. It's chilly rn too

 

[AdamP]

So anyone getting more cracked windshields than usual? I’ve found running in the red group, HPDE 4 or the no point by better drivers & cars groups, when I’m following closely to the race cars, I’m getting peppered. I didn’t think it’d crack my windshield (hindsight is 20/20) and stayed with a really good driver, watching his lines for about 7-8 laps. He had huge 40tw racking slicks. I’d do this same thing in my S2K as well but I never cracked a windshield. Maybe glass was thicker 10 years ago?

Anyway, any y’all use a light UV coat to protect the windshield? My PPF guy says there are some I won’t even notice and will provide some UV protection. But ultimately give me some extra cracked windshield protection.

Cracked mine 1st time out, unfortunately.

I know this is a little late but this helps https://www.vibra-tite.com/threadlockers/removable-reusable-threadlockers/

 

[Ryanthetemp]

So I bent my tie rod end when I spun off track at NOLA Motor Park, I didn’t even hit anything it just bent when I went off into the green. I’m lowered on H&R springs with about -2 degrees of camber. Can the SPL tie rod ends be my fix? Some other Supra guys there said they’ve had this happen to them too…

 

[garudathree]

do you have a pic of the other side of the lca? are there witness marks? do you have bumpstops installed after swapping to lowering springs? it's possible your suspension ran out of articulation, and the lca bent the tierod at max compression due to increased compression travel from bumpstop changes. the spl tierod kit allows you to space the knuckle end lower (fixes bumpsteer angles as well), giving you some more room.

 

[FLtrackdays]

So I bent my tie rod end when I spun off track at NOLA Motor Park, I didn’t even hit anything it just bent when I went off into the green. I’m lowered on H&R springs with about -2 degrees of camber. Can the SPL tie rod ends be my fix? Some other Supra guys there said they’ve had this happen to them too…

I did this not once but twice until some thread, somewhere, a few peeps mentioned to remove some of the “spacers” (forgive me if the terms are wrong) on the SPL endlinks so there was less stress on the tie rods. And viola! No more bent tie rods. This did fix my issue. But I went a step further and removed my really slammed down lower than stock street/sport springs. Now I’m on Ohlins coilovers & springs with increased height. Stock springs should be fine as well, if you don‘t want to mess with SPL parts.

This past weekend was my 1st at Sebring on my new Ohlins. My track times went down by ~ 3 seconds (confidence up by 3 seconds) . When I use to run my ND MX5 there, lowering spring and sway bars were all I needed to feel more confident. So I assumed my Supra needed the same things. However, this Supra really is quite capable without a ton of mods. My “optimal lap” from the Catalyst is now in the 2:25s, if & when I can piece all those sectors together. I’m really loving the Catalyst for ease of use and track analysis/feedback.

My fastest time was 2:28.06 and I’m running lots of 2:28s, but wanted to show y’all @1slow_mk5 and his stock Supra running 2:26.88 at Sebring. He is on 200tw tires and Hawk DTC pads. But that’s it . Gotta love it!!!! More proof seat time and professional instruction = best mod ever, for us track rats

In addition, Carlo’s 2020 Supra (no. 45 below) has less power than the newer Supras and he’s completely stock. Food for thought . However, I still enjoy spending money on mine and pretending that will make me faster on track

For reference the fastest BRZ/GR86s was 2:43-2:45 seconds at Sebring. Any newer driver typically runs over 3 minutes (regardless of the car they are driving). The track is over 4 miles. So these BRZ/GR86s are really cool cars for the $$$. But this Supra is way way up there with much higher priced cars, time wise on track.

 

[Ryanthetemp]

do you have a pic of the other side of the lca? are there witness marks? do you have bumpstops installed after swapping to lowering springs? it's possible your suspension ran out of articulation, and the lca bent the tierod at max compression due to increased compression travel from bumpstop changes. the spl tierod kit allows you to space the knuckle end lower (fixes bumpsteer angles as well), giving you some more room.

Good comments, I need to examine the other side. From what I’ve seen the brief time I had it up was just the the end link itself was bent and nothing else. I do have the bump stops installed that came with the H&R springs. The end link comes as either an assembly or just the end link knuckle end by itself. I’m assuming I’ll need the assembly so I get the actual shaft that is bent coming out of the steering rack correct? Does the SPL one come with the shaft or is it just the knuckle?

 

[Ryanthetemp]

@FLtrackdays , yes I saw in previous posts you are no stranger to this happening! I’m sure my slammed front end has everything to do with it.

 

[razorlab]

Good comments, I need to examine the other side. From what I’ve seen the brief time I had it up was just the the end link itself was bent and nothing else. I do have the bump stops installed that came with the H&R springs. The end link comes as either an assembly or just the end link knuckle end by itself. I’m assuming I’ll need the assembly so I get the actual shaft that is bent coming out of the steering rack correct? Does the SPL one come with the shaft or is it just the knuckle?

SPL is just the toe link.

 

[garudathree]

you shouldn't have to check if the LCA is bent, just whether there's a witness mark on it from kissing the tie rod. for ex take a piece spaghetti from your pantry and press straight down on it length wise, it should be pretty hard to actually bend/crack. now if you apply the slightest of bend to it, it should crack very easily. so if you the lca was pressing down on it just a bit, while receiving lateral load, that would cause it to bend. the fact that yours bent straight down suggests that was the case.
the H&R bumpstops are probably softer and shorter than your oem ones. it's also possible the H&R's compressed spring length is shorter as well

 

[Rta95]

My best run of the day. Feel free to give me all the pointers and critiques. Still new to this. Temperatures never got above 52 for the day but I kept my cars tire pressure at 30. Seemed to be good since the car didn't roll on to the side walls but I was making contact across the whole tread (used chalk to mark up my tires to see where contact was being made). Only issue I had is my back end kept wanting to kick out. So I felt like I was fighting it. I'm assuming because it was just cold out. But I appreciate the confirmation on the pressures everyone gave.

 

[Rta95]

My best run of the day. Feel free to give me all the pointers and critiques. Still new to this. Temperatures never got above 52 for the day but I kept my cars tire pressure at 30. Seemed to be good since the car didn't roll on to the side walls but I was making contact across the whole tread (used chalk to mark up my tires to see where contact was being made). Only issue I had is my back end kept wanting to kick out. So I felt like I was fighting it. I'm assuming because it was just cold out. But I appreciate the confirmation on the pressures everyone gave.

Had a slight close call with a worker haha. This is what I meant by the back end kept kicking out.

 

[Rocksandblues]

Won SCCA max 2 and second fastest lap time overall for the weekend
PB time for my home track so I was pushing a bit

Very fun time with scca friends in the paddock

 

[FLtrackdays]

My best run of the day. Feel free to give me all the pointers and critiques. Still new to this. Temperatures never got above 52 for the day but I kept my cars tire pressure at 30. Seemed to be good since the car didn't roll on to the side walls but I was making contact across the whole tread (used chalk to mark up my tires to see where contact was being made). Only issue I had is my back end kept wanting to kick out. So I felt like I was fighting it. I'm assuming because it was just cold out. But I appreciate the confirmation on the pressures everyone gave.

A good track alignment usually does the trick for me. Negative camber ofc, toe in in the back and slight toe out up front (the latter you won’t do until you become very comfortable on track). Also you have more “wiggle” room doing HPDE at a larger track. Whenever you apply the brakes you become front end loaded and the back end looses grip. Braking in a straight line or braking less when the wheel is turned will also help. So I’d slow down and brake less when the wheel is turned. When you feel that back end starting to come out, that is your sweet spot. You either have to turn the wheel less or brake less at that point.

You may be describing something totally different than the basic concept I’m describing. You were cooking pretty good in that short video and our cars build up speed so quickly. My hope is, it’s that simple

Sponsored