Same RCF at Barber Motorsports

 

I had a 2001 Celica GTS. Had TRD strut braces, suspension, brakes, etc and weighed at only 2,650lbs @ 180hp. It was slow but if there was one thing it could do well was cone chase LOL. Glad to know as “big” as the RCF is that it can cone chase too.

Autox events were so fun and much cheaper than a full on track day. It was also a good gateway drug into that life. The only thing I hated was waiting around for your turn in 115 degree SoCal weather and have the runs only last :40-1:00. Miata’s and MR2s rules but we also saw some big boys like mustangs and Zs.

 

Yeah. we are 2ZZ-GE brothers. I had a (still sitting in a storage or a boneyard collecting dust) 2005 Corolla XRS with lots of suspension mods. Motor mount bushings, light flywheel, heavy duty clutch, adjustable Koni shocks, Megan racing springs, flywheel bolts, steel braided clutch lines, lightweight wheels Enkei wheels, PSS tires etc. and it was like your Celica GTS. Could not carry much speed out of turns due to lack of momentum out of turn, but it was very zippy through turns due to its size and 2650 lbs weight.

 

I know you took the RCF on auto Rolla. How did it feel for you? Any TVD settings or set up you had to prep? Stock pads?

 

Yeah, I was talking with the video poster. Had a few really good runs where I put down close to modified Honda S2000s that are ideal for auto crossing. The RCF in the video is Torsen and the video poster asking me the same question. I was sharing my experience with him on my auto crossing and TVD as per his question. TVD makes it almost feel like 2 or 3 different cars depending on the mode selected. SLALOM mode is the best mode for auto crossing. It makes the steering fast with minimal lock especially at slow speeds where the nose moves in and out very quickly essentially making it feel like a smaller car. Since you never go over 70 mph in an auto cross session, SLALOM mode works really well for slower speed maneuverability of the nose at slow speeds. The biggest limiting factors were the OEM PSS tires, which were quite horrible as they were under-spec'ed and somewhat stretched for a setting like this given RCF's weight. The front sidewalls especially folded a lot under tight turning. However, at high speeds, I never tried it with my PS4S tires that as you know, have much higher load rating and are designed to handle much more weight/inertia than RCF can throw at them. Still, I think proper tires like RE71R or Cup 2 or Trofeo R are needed for proper auto cross/track performance,

At high speeds, TRACK mode is much better than SLALOM mode and the car behaves very differently. The response from the steering is a lot more linear in TRACK mode while SLALOM mode especially since I have installed LCA USRS bushings, have become downright scary at high speeds as even a small amount of lock will make the car can at times dart violently at high speeds left/right. TRACK mode on the other hand is much more progressive and more linear either oversteer wise if you are turning tight and pulling the nose in hard at high speeds, the tail will gently start stepping out. SLALOM mode can snap the tail on the other hand at higher speeds.

Have very little experience with NORMAL mode, but I just felt the steering was "lazy" in NORMAL mode and required more active steering angle so I never explored it much further.