Race School with the Yaris - Stratotech, AB

[Mavix]

So this last weekend I finally was able to take the Yaris out to the racetrack for the first time. For the last year and a bit I've been helping my friends at Speedway Performance put on lapping events and time attacks at our local track, Stratotech, but never actually been on the track on anything but a John Deer Gator ;P

So when the opportunity to attend the first event of the season, the race school, came up I was all over it. We had a couple hours of classroom work then we hit the track for some drills. After the drills it was mostly just track time with various instructors. All and all I was pretty impressed with the stock Yaris. It gets killed on the straights as expected but in the corners it can hold it's own so long as the driver is doing his job and nailing the right lines and braking correctly. Anyway, here's some pics of the car after I borrowed some wheels from a friend and a few of the track shots.







Here's a fellow student in an NSX...clearly outclassed, if only he'd known red was the faster color.

Outcornered obviously...

The awesome body roll.





Anyway, without the tires I would have been hooped for the most part, but it was still piles of fun and I'm totally hooked. So now I think a few parts will be on order shortly. Rear sway, lsd, and springs/coilovers for a start.
Enjoy the pics. Won't be the last for this year.

[cali yaris]

Very nice, looks like you had a great time. Car looks good on the track.

Hope to sell you the suspension parts you need.

[kurokoma-kun]

Fantastic pics! love the red lip on the wheels.

Originally Posted by Mavix

The awesome body roll.

Yeah cali yaris (Garm) can definitely help you with that

[Thirty-Nine]

Great pics!

[Loren]

I'm not sure you really need the LSD unless you're adding some major power. The big rear bar and some good tires should "hook you up". Nothing wrong with a good coilover kit, of course.

Looks like you were having fun showing the NSX how to get around a race track.

[SpeedwayPerformance]

I feel a little bad about where Pete ended up.

I am not sure why we ended up putting him in the group he was in. The other cars included the silver NSX, a 2009 M3, 2 2010 mustang GTs one of which is the city of Edmonton recruitment car which is supercharged and running most of the ford performance parts catalog. We like to design our courses around driver skill over hp though. He did really well and I hope to see the car out again. I might need the tires back for my Integra type R though. My new set of racing slicks are going to be mounted on those wheels

[YarisFan007]

I dig those tires.

[Mavix]

Yar, I plan on buying the same set of wheels once I give them back :P

Should have a few more pics from other angles if I attend some other time attack days, they didn't have a photographer out on the track for this event. Depending how work goes I might get another session out with just the stock car, but if I get time to install some parts I won't hesitate. Would be nice to know what kinda times I was starting at though.

[m911gt]

I am totally jealous of your track experience, very nicely done and great pictures. thank you for sharing with us.

[Zefoxe]

those tires/wheels look pimp with your car :)

[kngrsll]

Originally Posted by Loren

I'm not sure you really need the LSD unless you're adding some major power. The big rear bar and some good tires should "hook you up". Nothing wrong with a good coilover kit, of course.

Looks like you were having fun showing the NSX how to get around a race track.

i dunno about that... look at the Type R series, FWD all with LSD's and they handle great. I know i get alot of front wheelspin, just doing spirited driving. Part of it may be due to the fact that you adapt to cars well, as you mentioned in the rear sway bar thread. I know people who do that, they tend to notice less of a difference when using new parts bc they subconsiously adjust to the car quickly. I bet if you changed the LSD and drove it, you'd be able to get on the throttle a little quicker with a little more power, improving lap times. Personally, i just love the way a car drives with an LSD. My 240 was absolutely a new car with a helical S15 diff.

I will get one when i get out off school, if i get to a track day prior to the install, ill do a comparison and see if i can quantify some difference. Or maybe you can join me and compare back to back cars. We will see, but it is definitely an interesting topic...

btw, cool pics... i love on track photos :D

[dallas]

Nice Pics, StratoTech is a Cart Track not a real race track, its got a lot of tight turns well suited to the smaller cars. We sponsored a Drift event there 2 years ago. I don't live in Edmonton any more but send me a pm if you want a great a great contact for local performance and OEM Toyota parts, Who is Speedway Performance never heard of them?

[SpeedwayPerformance]

We are a local performance shop in Edmonton. Most of the work we do is prepping road and ice racing cars for people. We have been around since 2006, and to the general public we are likely best known for the lapping and time attack events that we hold. Where do you work Dallas ?

The majority of our shop race cars are FWD hondas. Personally I feel that regardless of how much power you are making you can benefit from a LSD. Its really only something that can be appreciated when you are driving the car very close to its limits.

As for Stratotech being a cart track and not a real race track. The track was actually built for Arcobaleno Formula cars. While it is a tight course the track is still over 30 feet wide. Its by far the best maintained racing facility in Alberta. In comparison I guess what you consider to be the only "Real Race Track" would be race city in Calgary. That place is likely one of the worst maintained courses I have ever raced on. Not that I blame them considering that the Calgary city council has been attempting to turn it into a drainage ditch for some time now. But its a little hard to race when there are tire sized holes 3 inches deep right on the racing line.

This is my current time attack project

[dallas]

I agree with you that Stratotech is an amazing and well run facility, and the only race track near by unless your a drag racer. Great to hear about you guys. I left Edmonton just after you guys started up. Don't you hate wrenching and freezing at Ice races, the Original Drifing LOL. Going way back I built some L20B engines for a few of the old Datsun 510 ice racers. 0-60 my 510's would hold a brand new at the time 1988 5.0 Mustang, that was before it was cool to race an Import car.

[lammy29]

ride looks gud man.