All Play and No Work

So I just got new rear tires, and wanted to leave the fronts alone. Well I realized that was a bad idea. I’m running around -3.5 degrees of static camber, so while the outside looks fine, the inside is close to gone. They’re also a little cupped, or maybe flat-spotted. I didn’t think much about that, but at some point I was making a U-turn and understeered pretty hard. Well, that was the kicker. Gotta replace them before MR2 Nationals. Well, with less than a week left, better order a new set of 235/40/17 RT615k tires.

Welp. They’re backordered everywhere. I guess I could look for other sizes? 225/45? 245/40? Nope. Can’t get them in time. What about other tires? RT660s? 245/40/17 is cheaper than 235/40/17. Interesting. Plus I just got those wide fenders. They’re in stock too. Nice! 245/40/17 RT660s for the front, and new RT615ks on the rear. Surely that will work out for me.

Okay these things are huge. It’s only supposed to be 10mm wider but its much closer to like 1” wider. It’s exciting but man I’m already nervous if these will even fit. Oh yeah, and you can barely see it there but I insalled anodized red aluminum RAYS valve stems/caps. Zero function but they look cool. It’s the small things that count. Well, they were a little hard to mount, but they balanced perfectly, let’s take them home and test fit on the car.

Well, they fit! But just barely. It’s a damn good thing I’m running that extra spacer, otherwise I’d have tire-to-spring contact. There’s about a 2-3mm gap there. Had to cut a little bit of the inside lips off of my brand new fenders, but that was kinda expected. Surprisingly very little clearance issues, doesn’t hit anywhere on the fender, just the inside tub like the 235s did. Well, I actually don’t have pictures of the car with the tires freshly installed, I had next to no time to drive it before heading to Dallas. I decided to trailer it, one to save my eardrums, but also to stick a bunch of tools in the pickup in case my car broke in any way. I knew I overprepared, but I wanted to be safe. So all signs point in favor of trailering it. (All those tools and I forgot a flippin helmet)

Boy was that fun.

Driving from Phoenix to Dallas, I didn’t want my car exposed to the elements. That’s a long drive across the desert to sandblast the paint. I look around at trailer rentals, found a 16 foot enclosed trailer with a 70” wide opening. The MR2 is 66.9” wide, according to Wikipedia, and that seemed close based on a tape measure. So, that’s what I get for the week, and I knew it was going to be tight loading the car, but…

Oh boy. That was rough. Getting it in was pretty straightforward, I did have to fold in my mirrors, but getting out was hard. It took a combination of removing one of the Ts and rolling down the window, and spelunking next to the car to make it out of the trailer. Took some gymnastics to tie the car down proper, but it did just fine getting to our hotel in Addison. A 16 hour drive later, and arriving at 2AM local time, no issues to report. I’ll leave unloading the car to the morning. Luckily most of the events are really close to the hotel so there won’t be much loading and unloading while there.

Well, day 1 was Dyno day at ATS Racing. It ended up being predominantly socializing, meeting a lot of people I’d learned names but never a face. Everyone was super nice there, and it was cool to see some of these iconic MR2s in person. Eric Hux, David Faircloth, Aaron Bunch, all big names with cars I’ve always admired.

I managed one of the 15 slots that ATS had available for a dyno run. I kept my expectations low, I’d never had the 2gr on a dyno and I heard theirs tends to read pretty low.

Well my 2GR mustered a whopping… 266whp. Well, looking at what other people got, seems like ATS reads around 10% low compared to most other dynos. I’ll say 290 and be happy about it. Other NA 2GRs got 268 and 269hp, so I’m feeling fine. That number isn’t something I particularly care about. That day was far from the highlight of the trip.

While at ATS, the Toyota team brought over a GR Corolla and Yaris. This was the first time I’d seen both of these cars. GR Yaris was Mexico-spec, and the GR Corolla was a pre-production Circuit Edition.

It was crazy to see these cars. The Corolla was completely off-limits, but we could get up close with the Yaris. Man that forged CF roof looks cool. (Even though that one is vinyl wrapped)

Day 2 was of much more interest, autocross and car show!

To start off the day Eric Hux was weighing everyones cars. I got in line, and with a half tank of fuel and a full interior, this car sits at 2648lb, with mediocre corner balance. (569/555 front, 746/778 rear)

Do you like my electric tape number 12?

Now, this was my first autocross event. I had no clue what to expect, and I’ve always (jokingly) talked shit about autocross enthusiasts. It was about a 30 second course, and we all got 6 runs for the day (I managed a 7th because of a miscommunication). I got faster every lap, and whittled down from a 33.14 to just 29.5. I know I could have been faster with a few more laps, but I did what I could.

I realized that with the Camry final drive I had installed (3.933 vs stock 4.285) I could actually stay in 1st gear for most of the course. Most people were getting to 2nd by the first corner, but I could stay in 1st pretty much until the straightway. My frame of reference here is that I was only 2 seconds slower than Faircloth, who has a hell of a lot more experience than me, in a similar but lighter setup. I had a couple DNFs, locked up the brakes once and spun out completely another time, but so be it. I feel that I did well.

I didn’t win anything at the show, and didn’t get many pictures in that. Basic swap, street spec (heavy-ish), trailered not driven, only thing real special about my car is the color and front fenders. Oh well.

Day 3 was what I was most excited for. Track day.

This event took place at the 1.3 mile CCW course at Motorsports Ranch in Cresson, TX. 6 turns with elevation change, it was a great course to learn on. Oh yeah, this was my first track event too. Ever.

Sessions ran at 30 minute intervals from 9am to 5pm. Drivers were separated into two groups, beginner and advanced, and alternated turns on the track. I started the day hitching a ride with Faircloth. Given that he had a similar setup, I felt that the lines he took would like translate well to my car.

My first session out I ended up off the track twice. First person off the track for the day, and I did it twice. I came in way too hot at turn 1 and later turn 5, and that was okay. I was fine, the car was fine, nothing bad resulted from that. But I learned what the car started to feel like at the limit, and where I could and couldn’t push the car. I started to pick up time everywhere, could maintain more speed, and just hit better lines. I took a bunch of people out and they all had good advice to give. Sounds like the source of my 4-offs, besides inexperience, was running the mismatched tires. The RT660s are way grippier than the RT615ks, so that lead to the rear end being seemingly looser than normal. I’m sure I’ll wear through these fast enough to put 660s on the back end.

Sadly my lap timer didn’t work for most of the day. Despite being on track for about 2 hours total, I only had 4 laps recorded, the fastest of which being 1:15, pretty early on in the day. I definitely shaved time off that but I have no reference for actual numbers. I’m confident that I set the best time of the beginner class. Nobody ever even tried to pass me, and I just kept getting faster.

Honestly, I don’t care how I did. That was the most fun I have ever had in my life. Getting to drive the car I’ve spent the last 5 years building at full tilt, and see the result of the effort I’ve put into it, nothing compares to it. Every minute I was on that track I was thrilled. The blood and sweat (no tears… yet) sacrificed to this car have all led up to this, a culmination of all of the concepts I’ve learned and skills I’ve acquired. What a great way to find out that I’m far from being done learning. I’ve got the itch now and I need to scratch it.

Day 4 was Drag day, and that was a great way to wind down the trip. Drag racing is much more relaxed and low stakes compared to turning. (You’ll never guess, this was my first ever drag race too). In my mind, I knew the best 2gr drivers tend to run 12.5 in a street weight car. being my first event, I wanted to break 13. I felt pretty confident I could.

13.394

13.969 (overheated my clutch, started slipping)

13.232

13.367

13.055…

12.971! Yeah David won (no surprise there) but I broke my 13s goal. Not only that, but the track required additional safety equpment faster than 13s. I didn’t want to rent a helmet another day, I hit my goal, I started to feel my clutch slip a few times, I had a 15 hour drive home, I decided it was best to pack up and head out. One thing I didn’t think about until a few runs in, the Camry final drive with this amount of power was just wrong for the strip. I’d shift into 4th basically as I was passing the finish line. With the MR2 final drive its more midway through 4th at that point, and actually gets used. Oh well. Guess I need more power.

This whole time I was here, I didn’t even touch a tool to my car. Not once! The whole event I had ZERO issues. I packed all the tools for naught. Oh well. I did get the chance to help someone with a specialty tool I actually brought - coilover wrenches. Frank (idk his last name) needed to raise their car a few threads and I just happened to have them in the right size. Go figure. Guess my car is pretty reliable or something.

Overall, my time at MR2 Nationals was above anything I’d experienced before. I could not have asked for a better experience, and I’m super glad I finally got the chance to go this year. I’d like to thank everyone who put effort into putting this event together, Armin Mejia, everyone at MassTuning, ATS Racing, everyone who attended, especially those who gave me racing advice, Don Matthews, Scott McClendon, David Faircloth, Dante Darancou, and my codrivers from Phoenix, my dad and brother. I wouldn’t have been able to do it, or done so well, without the aformentioned people, and so many beyond that.