anyone else here road race their Celica?

[ace3]

thought maybe we could swap ideas... tires, brakes, suspension, etc...

i have given up autox and am solely road racing the GTS now... but, it's hard to meet people doing the same. :D

[GTS LAID]

damn man i wish i could.. i dunno where to do it... the new road course is opening up here in etown shortly but i doubt they'll just let you walk on... oh well i think i have to start getting friendly with these guys.

[ace3]

best thing i can tell you, is to GET INVOLVED as soon as you can... our track just opened up a few months ago, and i've been out there more times than I can count already. :D

i've gotten in pretty good with the general manager, and helped all the workers out with a bunch of stuff.

last monday, i was out on the track all by myself for a good hour. it was pretty awesome. :D

http://www.midamericamotorplex.com - look under the buttons on the left side... that Celica would be me. :)

the track is pretty sweet, and it's one of the first in the world to be based on a "club" atmosphere. we have "4N" days on Mondays, "Hi-Po" (high performance cars) on tuesdays, bikes/carts on wed, and open track (test & tune) on thursdays...

i'll be out there all weekend, probably.

Need to get my new server setup (hopefully tomorrow) so I can share all of my in-car video. :D

[GTS LAID]

you have to teach me how you did that camera mount too.. cause its soo stable when you're missing apexes and stuff...hehehehe...

[ace3]

the "stableness" really comes from the image stabilization built into the camera. it REALLY helps.

this is how the camera is mounted. Pretty simple, actually... but, we had to custom fabricate the whole bar... then we just welded a little plate onto it. :D

http://www.jetter.net/ac/pics/celica/IMG_0309.JPG

[GTS LAID]

i'm guessing that bar is welded right into your chassis right?

or is it bolted somewhere? I'd shy away from a weld cause i still need the usable space that you get when you fold down the rear seats ... the bar would def. get in the way. if it was a bolt on affair that would help numerously... although i guess you can weld the brackets and bolt the actual bar to them!

dont mind me i'm thinking...

and does this automatically put you in the modded category according to solo2 rules?

[ace3]

Originally posted by GTS LAID
i'm guessing that bar is welded right into your chassis right?

no, it's actually just bolted into the rear shoulder belt mounts (where the retractor is mounted)... works out pretty well!

[erok]

Look up a member named "Raymond" here. He's pretty dedicated to road course driving and has done plenty to his car including major weight reduction. I've run at Buttonwillow and the "Streets of Willow Springs" tracks. It's a blast. A lot of the mods that'll improve your times on a road course work just as well in autox. What did you want to know?

[Kendo]

I run my Celica at Open track events. Not true racing but still there is is no limit on your top speed. I suspect this is what you are also doing. Or are you really racing your car? If really racing in what association and what is your competition?

Ace3 if you want to do some track driving outside of Nebraska you should come down to Colorado as there is some very fast and exotic cars at the Open track events. Not too many asian imports but if you like european or high powered domestics... As for driving variety there are 5 different tracks we run at around the Colorado area and several different clubs. Season for me starts May 11th in Pueblo. If you want the other events for the season I can send you a list.

As for car set up, I am very interested in your track feedback as to what you believe makes the car work for you. I ran several events last year, but this year it will be like a whole new car as I have since added the quaife ATB, Hotchkis sway bars and the Fidanza flywheel.

Ken

[ace3]

it's more of a "club" atmosphere at my track, I guess, so the competition is pretty steady. WRX's, M3s, few ITRs, miatas, etc, etc, etc.... i'm the only 2k+ Celica out there (for now).

I just bought a house about 6 months ago, so $$ for suspension/brake mods is pretty tight. I've been running Porterfields (R4S) for a little while now, and like 'em quite a bit. A rep from EBC races with me, so I'll be trying those out next.

Currently, i'm only running TRD springs (stock shocks), cusco front bar, RMM upper, trd rear, and the ST rear sway. Mounted some shaved Toyo RA-1's on my stock wheels, too.

I have a deal going with a local shop, and will probably get the Fidanza and ACT street clutch from them. Kendo - how do you like that combination (clutch/fly)? I plan on getting some TEINs as soon as I can scrounge up the $$. Is the "rust problem" really a problem?

I'll probably make a run out to Gingerman this summer, but Colorado might be a stretch. Actually, my uncle lives out in Denver, and is HUGE into SCCA... was worker of the year (regionally & nationally) a year or two ago. Pretty cool.

What do you guys pay for road course time?? Yearly fees? Track fees?

Haven't done much else, other than the AEM, TRD exhaust, B&M shifter, AFC, and the Sabelt harnesses.

[Kendo]

I think most tracks have the club atmosphere where things are pretty laid back. There are a few people who always want to run the show, but as I said they are few and the rest of the people are just racing and car enthusiasts. Like you, I am also the only Celica, although there are several S2000's and some RX-7s from SCCA club racing. I expect to see some WRX's out this year and I am trying to get a local group of DSM and Honda guys out to show them what true track driving is all about.

As for mods I didn't list, I also just put on the R4S pads on the front and changed the brake fluid to Ford heavy duty. Stopping seems better, but lets just say I am working up to the limit on the street rather than going for broke. I will wait for the track when I use my 5-point G-force harness to keep me in place.

Before I bought the Tein HA's I had the TRD springs. There is a huge difference between the TRD springs with stock shocks and the Teins. I feel the difference in handling improvement was of the same magnatude when you go from the stock springs to the TRD springs. You pay the penalty in cushy comfort on the road when daily driving (especially with the strut and sway bars) but your car can just about stick through any corner. Not aware of any rust problem on the Teins except for some minor surface rust on the threaded portion. Shouldn't hurt anything but if you like a show car you shouldn't drive your car in the winter or on the track.

As for tires you have me beat. This is my biggest shortfall as I am only running some Yok A520's on my stock 16" rims. Once these are gone I will invest in some true race tires and hope that it never rains on track day.

As for track fee it depends. The smaller tracks run from $60 for 1/2 day to $90 full day. Pikes Peak International Raceway is $145 for a one day Nasa sanctioned event. I belong to Nasa ($25/year)but I suspect that they may be kicked out of Colorado because the local represenatives are in a dispute with the head office. Not a problem as the tracks and local drivers will always be there.

Did the AFC help you that much? So far I haven't touched the engine as it seems extremely limited on the aftermarket engine upgrade and the improvements that you gain.

BTW I did things opposite to you. I made the upgrades to my car suspension and will close on my house at the end of June.

[ace3]

Yeah... we have our "4N" club on Mondays... all day for $60. not too bad. I'll most likely be out there all weekend (tomorrow & sunday) for $150. LOTS of cars this weekend, hopefully.

The R4S' are great once they heat up. Pretty interesting on cold mornings, but that's okay. :) If you ever look into getting different fluid, let me know. "Woodhouse" is a dodge dealer up here & has the largest collection of Vipers in the world... they take care of a lot of the race-prepped Vipers in the states. They started using some pretty good stuff (BrakeMan) and got me hooked on it. You have SS lines, don't you?

I've been wantin the Teins for quite a while now... just have to find the $$ for 'em. One of my racing buddies (drives a SWEEEET R33 Skyline, btw) has been pushing me to get JIC coils... they're a bit more expensive than the Teins, but he *really* likes 'em. Who knows....

If you ever look into race tires & want to give the Toyos a try, let me know & i'll give you the name of my guy. I got them shaved & shipped to me for right around $600. Heat cycled 'em myself, and they've been great ever since. 1,000x better than street tires, that's for sure.

I'm about to get rid of the AFC... doesn't do much for me other than look cool. :D

:thumbup:

[Raymund]

Originally posted by ace3
the "stableness" really comes from the image stabilization built into the camera. it REALLY helps.

this is how the camera is mounted. Pretty simple, actually... but, we had to custom fabricate the whole bar... then we just welded a little plate onto it. :D

http://www.jetter.net/ac/pics/celica/IMG_0309.JPG

I can see you mounted the bar on the rear seat belt mounts.

what suspension set up are you running?

[ace3]

Originally posted by Raymund
I can see you mounted the bar on the rear seat belt mounts.

what suspension set up are you running?

sure did! :D

let's see...

TRD springs
TRD rear Strut bar
TRD Exhaust
RMM front strut
AEM CAI
ST rear sway
Cusco front tie-bar
5 point 3" Sabelt Harness

How do you have your belts mounted?? did you put a cage in?

my cage could be installed as soon as this fall... :o

[Raymund]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid18/p5af9d79927a6e5c677e2ce999fe5e3ca/fdcbd2c2.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid18/p1a529962133fbe834c4a27f9c22e1a65/fdcbd2c4.jpg

cage is going in this year also

[Jmu RJ]

wtf? You guys are running harnesses in your car... open track... with no cage? You've got to be kidding me... I hope you value your noggins........ I cant believe the tracks allow this...

And for track use, a good set of shocks (Koni) would be of more use to you than front stb's, exhausts, and TRD springs. While the stock shox are very good, a set of adjustable Koni's would be much better than the TRD spring setup...

[ace3]

Couldn't agree with you more (on the shock part)... In my case, road racing was a surprise. I had just been building it up for fun, and casual autox's... then they built a road course 30-minutes away from me. JIC's or TEIN's will be going in next.

Some people are really worried about running harnesses with no cage, and some aren't. I've seen numerous roll-overs in cars with no harness, and more often-than-not, everything is fine. Yet, there is still the possibility....

I fully plan on putting a cage in, but only when I can afford to convert the Celica into a race-only car. Need to make sure I really want to keep it first. :D

[nxracer]

Seen the effects "lapping" days have had on way too many street cars to ever want to do it in mine.

If you want to go road racing do it in one of these

http://home.attbi.com/~nxracer/specracer/images/specracer.jpg

Way more fun than any street car.

[ConeKiller]

Yeah, they aren't called Spec Rambo's for nothing. Or Crash Racer Fords...

So what did it cost you to get into the Spec Racer... I've thought about it for some time...

Rick

[Jmu RJ]

Still, IMHO, the track shoudnt even let you out there while strapped upright in a harness without a cage... at least the harness is mounted properly and a 5 point but still. Not worth the risk. Schroth sells a series of harnesses that are designed to be used on the street/track without (additionl) rollover protection, and have left- and right-specific harnesses so they can act like a harness while driving, but also act like an OEM seatbelt in a rollover such that you can duck out of the way of a collapsing roof.

RJ

Originally posted by ace3
Couldn't agree with you more (on the shock part)... In my case, road racing was a surprise. I had just been building it up for fun, and casual autox's... then they built a road course 30-minutes away from me. JIC's or TEIN's will be going in next.

Some people are really worried about running harnesses with no cage, and some aren't. I've seen numerous roll-overs in cars with no harness, and more often-than-not, everything is fine. Yet, there is still the possibility....

I fully plan on putting a cage in, but only when I can afford to convert the Celica into a race-only car. Need to make sure I really want to keep it first. :D

[nxracer]

Originally posted by ConeKiller
Yeah, they aren't called Spec Rambo's for nothing. Or Crash Racer Fords...

So what did it cost you to get into the Spec Racer... I've thought about it for some time...

They actually get a "bad rap" for the crashes, think about it most races are 30 to 40 cars and the lap times are usally within a couple seconds. One year at the June Sprints (Road America) 85 cars started and the top 25 were withing 1 second. Needless to say the first few laps were quite dicy. I was on a wrecker guarding the gravel trap at 14 and on lap 1 all 85 cars came throgu nose to tail in less than 1.5 seconds. Of course the race ended under a red/checker, mostly because we had 18 wrecker calls, only 4 actual wreckers and 3 more races to run that day. We moved all the wrecks to locations were thay could be picked up any time and each of us hauled one back in, then one truck hauled SpecRacers the rest of the day.

Anyway... I won the Chicago Region "Worker of the Year" award and Beau Martin of Elite Autosport (http://www.eliteautosport.com/) gracisly donated me a car (I even had a backup car) for the regions drivers school. So I actually got my SCCA school for almost free. I had to pay the $250 entry fee and of course there is always that you break it you bought it clause in the contract. To this day I am the only "Worker of the Year" to take him up on the offer.

Stupid people, ahhhhhh!

A new "turnkey" (if it had one) is about 30K and I think the "you build it yourself" Kit is around 24k. I think they are in the 20k range used and since they are a spec car pretty much hold their value.

Elites rental prices are on the web site but here is a short list
Test Day $1,700
SCCA Driver School (One Day) $1,750
SCCA Driver School/Race (Two Days) $3,275
One Day Race $1,750
Two Day Race Weekend $2,850
Two Day Double Race Weekend $3,275

Some say Elites prices are on the high side and you get what you pay for. Elite cars have won multiple National Championships and the crew is second to none. The car I was in had won the Runoffs in a past life (as a SR)

Beau (a long time friend of mine) still wants to work me a deal on my next ride and I'm really thinking hard about it.

It IS the most fun you can have in a car without getting arrested for indecent liberties with a minor. You have not lived until draft another car down the main stright (100+), jump out at the 2 marker, dive inside and take the corner door handle to door handle. (ok fiberglass to fiberglass)

[gts24]

Ace3...
I'm addicted to this type of thing as well. My setup is very very similar to yours,

I have the TRD springs with the stock shox. I need to upgrade. I have the RMM strut bar front, and the TRD strut brace in the back.

I have the hotchkis sways, just not installed yet.




NXracer, so do you think that us running these road course's will just fudge up our cars?

[Kikin WRXWagon]

Check this Celica! It runs in a Street Touring class here in Puerto Rico. Go to the Caribbean Area forum for more info.
http://www.i-club.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=1969591

[ace3]

crazy paint job!! :D

how does he do out there? what kind of mods?