Hello! I am a WSCC (winnipeg sports car club) member and regularly auto-cross my TSX. I have no mods other than aftermarket 17" enkei evo 5 rims and yokohama avs es100 tires. I've been really impressed with the car so far in auto-x......

But yesterday, I volunteered to be a marshall at a wscc road racing event and afterwards, the volunteers were allowed 2 free 5-lap sessions.

All I can say is wow, I was impressed once again. When pushed to the limit, the TSX was very well behaved. It was predominantly under-steer, although occasionally the back end was a bit twitchy, particularly when taking a sharp left that was after the long straight... to be expected when braking hard from 160 km/h into a turn. I had a passenger in my 2nd session and he mentioned that he thought he had whiplash from the braking.

I had zero brake fade after my first session, but did have a little during the last lap in the 2nd session. My brake pads were smoking at that point... It was a hot day as well (28C) so that didn't help.

I don't usually get to heel-toe on an auto-x course as I usually keep it in 2nd gear the entire way, but I was able to yesterday. I found the pedals spaced nicely for heel-toe and was able to do it when I needed to fairly easily.

Overall, I was very impressed for a stock 4 door sedan to perform like it did when driven to the limit. 2 thumbs up for the yoko tires as well.

I'm angry at myself for not bringing a camera and asking someone to take pics and video. If I get another opportunity, I will make sure pics and video are taken so I can share it with you guys! One of the hilights of the day was a 04 Viper vs. 98 F355 battle which was awesome!

Oh yeah, VSA was turned off for both sessions as I usually have it turned off for auto-x as well. I ran 40psi cold tire pressures all around.

P.S. Any other Winnipeggers on here?

Yes, I am presently in the market for a TSX but looking for a used one, not new. Finances tell me used so if you know of one, let me know...

So you like your TSX at the track? Sounds like a blast

would a rear sway bar change your auto-x class? if it doesn't i think you will be surprised in the change that a comptech rsb will do, it'll nutralize the handeling so much, i think if you track or auto-x the TSX is should be a mandatory mod.

NICE, on the taking the TSX to the track, and auto-x the TSX. Good job.

40psi cold? IMO, that's quite high for a road course.

Nonetheless, nice to see some TSX's out on a road course.

I'm allowed 2 pts in g-stock and a rsb would only take up 1 of those points. So I could stay in stock even after changing the rsb. Thanks for the tip, I don't know if I will try it this summer, but I will next summer for sure!

As for the tire pressures, I really wasn't sure what to run since I hadn't been to a road course before. So I just used what I use for auto-x. My front right tire showed that it rolled a bit, so I think the pressures were ok although I'm sure I could've tweaked them a bit more. My tire size isn't quite stock, 225/45/17.

I don't quite understand the points thing you're talking about. Your region is following SCCA's rules, right? If so, changing/upgrading the rear swaybar is NOT legal in any stock classes. Only front swaybar is allowed to be changed or removed. For FWD cars, it's pointless to upgrade the front swaybar to a stiffer/larger bar. Some people actually remove them on FWD cars.


Well, you can add some pressures to the tires to prevent the tire sidewall from rolling over, but with stock suspension, you will always have some (especially with ES100, they have soft sidewalls). More negative camber will help this. The best way is to measure the tire temps across the width of the tire immediately after a lap or a run. This will tell you what you really need.

Just a tip, for road course the pressures are usually set lower than at auto-x because you'll be working your tires much longer than at any auto-x (usually 15-20 minutes session at track days versus about 60-sec. per run at auto-x'es). Your tire pressure will raise 4-6psi or more depending on ambient temp and track temp. What I normally do for track days is to determine what psi HOT I want to run, then subtract about 4psi from that to set my cold tire pressures. I will then check the tire pressures immediately after the session, and see if I need adjustments for the next session (usually I will).

Sports Car Club of Canada rules maybe

To be honest, I don't know if we use SCCA rules. I use this as my guide which is from our club, WSCC. http://www.wpg-autox.org/info/CarClassingWorksheet.pdf

Thanks for the tips for the tire pressures, I'll make sure I keep those points in mind the next time I hit the track. I'm an auto-crosser at heart, so I'm a rookie when it comes to setting my car up for a road course. Our sessions weren't as long as you used in your examples though. I believe our course is 1.3 miles long and we had 2 separate sessions of 5 laps each. It equated to roughly 6-7 minutes each with cool-down time in between. I can see how tire pressures would get quite a bit higher after 15-20 minutes! You are correct about auto-x times, we usually range from 60-75 seconds for our auto-x courses.

We were allowed to go for more sessions, but I was wary of excessive wear on my tires. At $200/tire, I have to make sure I make these last at least a little while!

That looks like your local region's rules. From that table, if I were you, I would go with R-compound tires (+1) and rear swaybar (+1), and all the allowable mods (except spoiler unless you want to look cool ) in Stock.

Have you ever heard of a band called The Weakerthans? They are one of my all-time favorite bands ever.

i don't know where you live, but if you can find a person with an upgraded rsb, i would seriously ask them for a ride, i am telling you it helps so much, its a difference like night and day. it nutralizes the car and even adds oversteer when lift throttle and helps you turn.

nice job on racing the tsx, what other cars are in your class, and how does the tsx compare to them.....