I had my very first road course experience at The Streets of Willow today, and it was a blast I was one of three Acuras at the event (Acura #2 was an RSX type-s and Acura #3 was an Integra type-R), and man did I look out of place at the track haha. There were probably over 40 cars at the event, all very respectable sport cars ranging from Civics to STIs and EVOS to 370zs to F430s and GT3s.

Everybody who came up to me was excited to see me get out there and they all seem to love the 3G type-s. I don't think anybody I met today has seen one at the track before, let alone a 6MT, so they all got really excited even though I was generally out-gunned by every other racer there. We need to make more of a showing at the track, guys!

Anyway, track conditions were horrendous today. It was hot. Very hot. I'm talking three digit ambient temps and 150+ surface temps. By noon everybody was losing grip due to the slick surface and it was difficult for most of the veterans to get anywhere near their best times.

We ran the full Streets of Willow 1.8 mile course counter-clockwise and the best time I could get was 1:43.6 I believe the 370z in my run group had a best run of a high 1:42.x and a new Scion FR-S had a best time of 1:43.x as well. The three of us were pulling better times than the first generation M5, but the s2000 guys and Miata guys were murdering us, and the EG/EK Civic guys were murdering THOSE guys One guy driving an EG Civic pulled off 1:28.x for three laps consistently. That's an amazing time considering Keiichi Tsuchiya's best time in the TL type-s was 1:32.88 on Streets of Willow.

My type-s felt really responsive in the corners and it hugged the road very very well. The limiting factor for my poor times was not the car; it was me. I cannot stress to you how well the TL behaved in the corners; it was like glue once I learned to drive the car correctly. It's like the car knows exactly where to go on its own. Effortlessly. I'm sure that with experience, the 6MT type-s could pull much better times. I didn't go all out on the corners because I was scared, and I had the back end step out at least four times on the skid pad. It wasn't snap oversteer or anything, just oversteer, and that's with my Progress RSB on the "STREET" setting I don't know how you guys are running that bar on the "TRACK" setting! But I can't blame the skid-pad incidents on the car; I know it was because I headed into the beast wayy too fast on the times that I did experience oversteer On the times that I did to get it right, the skid-pad was a piece of cake! The TL has an AMAZING lateral grip!

The oversteer wasn't THAT scary though. It was actually pretty forgiving. I could actually feel the rear end begin to rotate, and it was surprisingly easy to control/correct. The only reason it was scary for me was because I'm a complete newb when it comes to driving the car hard and because this was the first time I've ever experienced oversteer at all haha. I'm sure a lot of you might actually get a kick out of that feeling. A simple steering correction and some gas got the rear end to stick, though.

Oh, and I understand that nearly all cars come with a bit of understeer dialed in from the factory these days, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can't oversteer with those beasts either. My car almost got wrecked during my second run today. I was coming onto the back straight and signaling for the car behind me to pass. After he passed me, the is250 behind him decided to try to pass me as well, so I let off the gas to facilitate the pass. He got on the throttle a little too hard, though, and by the time he was at my rear quarter panel I saw him fish-tail about twice. It was at that time that I decided to book it, and I threw it in second and mashed on the throttle. Good thing I did, because the is250 fish-tailed one last time before completely spinning out. His rear end nearly clipped my rear end in the process; had I not acted quickly and gotten on the throttle, I don't think I would have had a car to drive home from the track

I'm happy with my experience today because I walked away from the track feeling much more confident in my ability to handle the TL. I also got a kick out of being the underdog (probably the heaviest car there excluding the M5, and the only FWD 4-door for sure ). It was satisfying to know that we could pull similar times to beginner 370zs, s2000s, WRXs, FR-Ss and all those other more "sporty" cars Sorry for the long long longggg post! I just wanted to share my complete experience with all of you on azine! Get out there and show everybody what our four-door front-wheel-drives are made of!

 

Good to hear you had fun man... I am also in that 1% that took the TLS out to the road course (when I owned it). I did it on stock suspension and also in full adjustable suspension. What suspension are you running? Tires?

 

Great! What course did you run? I wish I could have run the car stock to know how it handles from the factory, but that ship sailed four years ago haha.

I'm running on H&R sport springs over Koni Sport SP3 dampers and a Progress RSB. I also have 16.75lb Enkei rpf1 wheels in 17x9 +22 wrapped in 245/40 potenza re760 sports (front) and Hankook Ventus V12 EVOs (rear).

I believe that the +22 offset gives me better road feel, which may be the reason why I knew exactly when I was going to break traction. The downside to that offset though, is the torque steer. I never noticed any torque steer at all with the honeycomb enkeis, but it is definitely noticeable with the rpf1s. No big deal though, as long as my throttle control is smooth

 

I did autox in FL @ the pbir when thye hosted some events... there is no real dedicated autox course that I know of in SFL like there is in cali... you have a decent setup just get more time behind the wheel you'll be fine and will keep surprising guys out there.

I recently this year tried my Maxima out (its on stock sport suspension) and the rear of this car is so light that it would come around from time to time... if this car was rwd it'd be a fun ride, I surprised a couple of ppl there; most ppl look at the car and say wtf? isnt that heavy? but the car is actually light, weights about the same as the 3g.

 

How did they assign the groups, by experience & car potential or just experience?

 

Great post Randy....am glad you had fun....one day I shall hit the track

 

Its so much fun. Hitting the next autocross session coming up soon

 

Sounds like fun, even in a TL. We've got similar suspension setups, and I can't believe how much better my car handles compared to when it was stock, especially now that I have the Conti DW summer tires. I love leaving people who are riding my ass on sweeping exit ramps. 2.5x the posted limit is so easy now. I'm tempted to start messing with the Koni settings a little more.

BTW, I never knew an IS 250 had the balls to spin out, lol.

 

Haha I wouldn't call the 3G light, but at least it's better for road racing than an S-class It is quite fun surprising people out there with our comfy family sedans though

I believe they just assigned it by experience. I went with ExtremeSpeed this time, SpeedVentures also hosts events at The Streets of Willow and I hear they're more organized. They not only group you by experience, but by qualifying time as well so that you're always behind a guy who's faster than you. Very interesting! Don't get me wrong though, ExtremeSpeed is also very organized and I had a great time running with them. It's comparing apples to oranges.

My run group (beginner) had two EvoXs, an S2000, an RX-8, FR-S, 370z, A3, GTI, a Jetta, an EG Civic, an ITR, and an RSX type-s. The other beginner run group had about 7 WRXs and STIs and a new BOSS 302 mustang lol. Oh and an older M5 and 3 series.

Haha you definitely need to take that anorexic beast to the track, Anil!

Are you in Cali? I've never done an autocross before, might give it a try next time! This road course was excellent though, I highly recommend it if you get the chance!

Haha I never thought an IS250 could spin out either. My girlfriend has one so I drive one on a regular basis... sure surprised me! In a bad way too



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As an afterthought, my recent visit to the track does make me wish I had a lighter car though. The TL is amazing! But I could only imagine it being all the more fun tossing a car around that is... well, more toss-able lol.

Everybody at the track asked me "isn't that heavy?" And, I had to reply "well, yes, it is!" Although the lightest TL offered in 2008, at 3500lbs the 6MT type-s is still a heavy car. The S2000 is 2,800lbs and the Miata is 2,100lbs. I have had the opportunity of driving several S2000s and I must say, the car is much easier to toss around and it is no wonder that it is the Honda of choice at the track.

I'm still happy with my TL. It's comfy, safe, practical and it's fun at the track when I need it to be. One day I'll buy a featherweight dedicated "fun" car, but for now, let's try to make some compromises with the TL diet

 

Remember, your comparing a 4dr midsize to a S2k/miata/370z/RSX/etc... so yes, its going to be heavier (for some not by much). But compared to midsize cars its either on par or lighter then others...

 

damn i want some koni yellows...

 

Having fun is all that matters. I've taken my TL to 1/4 mile passes, won multiple trophies with her.

 

not the same thing, bud.

and what were your times for the trophies!?!

 

Sounds like a really great day glad you enjoyed it. How did the Boss do?

 

haha yes it was a great day indeed! The BOSS opted out in getting timed because he didn't want "another thing to worry about" haha. I spent most of the day with him; he was a nice man that I believe was in his sixties. His car overheated during his last run though he told me the thermometer on the instrument cluster went all the way to "HOT"

It's okay though, that thing is Built FORD Tough

 

Awesome!!! One of the nice guys I met at the track got photos of the session and he even got photos of the IS250 spinning out! All photographs credited to Nate Cho.

Here we go!


Close call! haha

 

wow nice!

 

 

As long as my times were consistant. 14 sec sedan at 1000 above sea level. -Stock-

 

....just as you described it! That could have ruined an otherwise great track day.

 

Just imagine how scared the guy in the A4 behind must've been That IS was all over the place.

Great to hear you had fun, though, and all the drivers were cool. It sounds like a really addicting experience. Hope I get to try it out one day.

Have you considered a FSB to make the handling a little more neutral?

 

Thanks, man! And yes, I can see how many people get addicted to road racing haha. I just want to get back on the track and beat my times! I would definitely recommend any performance enthusiast to try it at least once in their lifetime

I am pretty sure that I will never do the FSB because of the work involved (dropping the subframe). But I do have the type-s FSB so the handling is actually pretty balanced; I just kept taking the suspension to the limit because of my poor driving skills

 

Missed this thread when it started but glad you had fun! I've had countless cars spin in front of me over the years and it's a rush everytime. I guess I can say that for YEARS now I've been saying the TL is a capable track car and seems like it's catching on. Now just imagine your TL on track and being 250lbs lighter than an S2K lol That's what I get everytime haha

 

How did that IS spin out? Did he lift while turning going downhill towards that straight?