BRZ4Science

Also, the e85 usually undergoes more complete combustion and has a cooling effect on the combustion chamber (partially due to the water content). The biggest downside is the lower energy density (that 30% you mentioned) and the hassle of sourcing and usually bringing your own e85 (different sources also will give different concentrations so your local station might suck). Also, since it absorbs water you have to be careful (or just shouldn't) storing it for long periods of time. If we had more e85 stations like up north, just about everyone would run it. Metals aren't the main issue with ethanol, it's seals that aren't meant for it. Older rubber seals will be dried out by the ethanol (it's a solvent for the volatiles that keep the rubber pliable). The army did a study in the late 70's/early 80's and basically as long as you aren't running methanol (great for power, bad for engine longevity) your engine will be happy (no increased wear) with gasoline, gasoline/ethanol mix (10% like we've got now), and all the way up to the e85 (it's hard to get more than 85% ethanol since that's close to the limit you can get with distillation). The main problem with methanol was that it produced formic acid as a byproduct of combustion which increases wear (same reason why drinking moonshine is dangerous, if you distill alcohol with insufficient oxygen you get methanol instead of ethanol and the methanol gets metabolized into toxic compounds like formaldehyde).

The performance package is Brembo brakes (front and rear), Sachs dampers, and wheels. Personally, I wouldn't put much into going for the performance package unless you didn't want to do any upgrades and/or the price difference in a used one was low (you might be able to sell performance package parts when you upgrade, the stocks you're better off just storing for spares, like if you want to rebuild a caliper, or if you sell the car). 2017 was the refresh, some of the parts for 17 and up are different from the earlier cars. The only performance update was a redesigned intake manifold and air box which netted an additional 5hp, and the newer cars do have a shorter gear ratio which does make the car feel a little more peppy around town and diminishes the 'torque dip' (I test drove one when it came out to specifically look for the dip and didn't notice it even though it was obvious driving mine, which has a header and tune that completely gets rid of it, and a friends stock 2015 with the noticeable torque dip). The torque dip doesn't matter at the track since it's low enough in the rpm range that you're never there (it's annoying for autox and on the street though since you hit it often there). I mostly noticed the torque dip from 4k-4500 rpm when I was stock. The 17 and later cars also have some cosmetic differences and some aftermarket cosmetic parts are either pre or post 17. Basically, 2013 was the first year and some of the early cars had issues, if you want one make sure it's a great deal and that the major stuff has been addressed. 2014 has most of the stuff fixed but still uses the same coil packs as 13's which tend to fail (fixable with an engine wiring harness update, mine was done under warranty but I don't think many others were). 2015-2016 are great choices, find a deal. 2017 was the refresh, really not enough of a difference to worry about aside from the gear ratio change (automatics were not upgraded, lol). The performance package started in 2017 and has good parts; however, they are still street oriented and not really a full track upgrade (the brakes are actually plenty big stock and the PP Brembos are very nice, I like my AP Racing Sprint kit and the cheaper and thicker pads it uses do help pay down the cost of the upgrade over time). The info-tainment changed every other year and was different between Scion, Subaru, and Toyota as well as some of the trims. If someone destroyed mine and I had to replace it, I'd look for a 2015 or 2016 that I could get for as cheap as possible (in good condition with 90k miles or less). I'd get an oil cooler, then I'd have to decided if I wanted to do the SSC (solo spec coupe SCCA spec class for the pre 2017 cars) or do the same STX prep I've got now or go full track build. My STX build is as far as I'd want to go for a dual use daily and track car (the SSC prep makes a competent track/daily setup, you can't upgrade the brakes or do the headers and tune but the spec suspension setup works well at the track and everything is very reasonably priced). The car (all iterations) can run at the track completely stock, I'd still recommend an oil cooler and some sort of camber adjustment upfront (along with pads and fluids of course). There's lots of aftermarket support and the FT86club forums are a great place to find good used parts at a discount (also a great place to offload your used stuff when you upgrade parts or retire the car).

I'll have to sign up to instruct when I get home from work. I also need to bleach my instructor shirts, I cannot believe that they chose white shirts.

For 2 sets of track tires and a set of autox tires I usually spend right around $2k and that's all the tires I need for an entire year (last year 30 days at the track and 10 autox, but I was using autox tires that I had started with halfway through the 2018 season). A set of 255/40-17 RS4's is typically around $600 and the RE71r's are about $800 in that size. I got about 20 days out of my last set of RS4's and I get 20-25 autox events out of a set of RE71r's (150 competitive runs typically, then they heat cycle out but will work for a day on the track). Corvettes are great, but I just don't have the tire budget for one and I don't want to do fewer events to run a faster car. As it stands, I can run with all the local DE/HPDE/trackday organizations in any of their run groups and be "one of the fast guys". I'm faster than just about all the Miata (they'd have to be one hell of a driver and run slicks or a very well set up ND, which I haven't run into yet). Now, if more local fast guys drove faster cars then I could totally see feeling slow in my BRZ (luckily the faster cars usually have slower drivers at the DE events I go to). I take far more point-bys than I give, so I'm happy with the speed of the BRZ. Now, you might have different needs. If you run with a group of fast guys in fast cars, you might need more car to be happy. In the fastest groups I'm at the bottom end of the 'fast guys', and if I ran at COTA there'd be no way to make up for the horsepower gap. Spending most of my time at ECR and MSR-C though, I've got enough car to keep towards the front of most groups (or at least go fast enough that I don't feel like I'm getting run over). I also love the slow car fast experience. If you're in a Corvette and you pass someone, unless you're one of the very fastest cars at the event, no one is impressed. Now, you pass someone in a BRZ or similar car on street tires with 100, 200, 300, 400, or even 500hp less than the car you're passing, you feel damned good about it and people notice. I get to play at the limit lap after lap and the car eats it up like a friendly puppy dog. Sure, you could try that in a faster car but as the limits increase so do the consequences. The little cars are playful and fun, there are faster cars than my BRZ but you'd be hard-pressed to have more fun in anything than I have in my BRZ. Your situation could be vastly different though, so if you've got different priorities or run with different types of groups or compete in a series where specific cars match up better with the classing rules or are more competitive then you might find a different answer. But, if you want a daily driver capable car that you can track every weekend then I think you'd be very happy with a BRZ, I am.

255/40-17 is what I run on my BRZ. I think it was the 370z that came with 19" and up wheels, I think the autox guy who was running a 370z was on 19x10 or 19x11's, that would bankrupt me.

I didn't mean that they drove the same, but that they fell in the same niche as far as performance and consumables. Tires are the primary consumable cost and the guys I know who used to run them ran big tires. They are cheap to buy though, so no reason not to try to test one out.

Only if you go FI and aren't conservative with the tune. I'm on my first engine after 5yrs, 60k miles, nearly 200 autox events, and 100 trackdays. The BRZ has been very reliable for me.

Aside for COTA, I'm about 1sec behind Joe (#El_Tortuga) in his Mustang GT in my BRZ at half the running cost. I daily drive my car and can get a full set of tires and tools in the back with the seats folded down. I've road tripped down to Houston for trackdays without issue and in relative comfort (if you're careful about putting everything in you can fit everything for 2 people, wheels and tires, and tools without compromising the passenger seat space (you can even throw in a set of golf clubs if you need to). The only modifications the stock car needs are: wheels and tires, pads and fluids, an oil cooler (at least here in Texas for peace of mind), and either camber plates or bolts up front to keep from killing the shoulders of your tires (camber bolts can get you enough). Here's me playing with a Spec Boxster at ECR last weekend for a good comparison:

Here's a rebuilt performance package 2017 BRZ for $14.4k in Joshua, Texas: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137855.

ABS is great to keep you from flat spotting a tire and costing you replacement costs and track time. Sure, you can get by without it and you shouldn't need it, but when you screw up or shit happens, it's nice to have and can save you some frustration and/or money. Plus, you can threshold brake with an ABS equipped car the only differences are the weight of the system and the safety net it provides. I'm keeping mine. Also, not to be mean but you aren't anywhere near the limits in your Cobra. If you had some driver aids you might feel more comfortable pushing a little harder and picking up some speed. Then, when you've learned a thing or two you could turn them off (hell, you can even disable ABS in most cars by pulling a fuse).

I mostly only see or hear of them at drift events, all the guys I know that used to have them got rid of them years ago. They are like v6 Mustangs/Camaros at the track, nothing wrong with them but for the consumables you need you can either run a faster car for the same costs or a lighter car for much cheaper without giving up much/any speed.

Track: Eagles Canyon Raceway 2.7 Italian Canyon - January 18, 2020 Lap Time: 2:13.4 (AIM Solo2) Ambient temperature: 50 degrees F Car: 2014 Subaru BRZ Estimated weight with driver: 2900 lb Estimated whp: 178 RWHP Tires: Bridgestone RE71r 255/40-17 (very worn) My 2 year old autox tires needed to be put out to pasture, so I ran them at ECR to kill them off. The surface is so easy on tires though that I could probably get another day out of them, but the only event I've got left before the first autox of the season is the day before. I didn't see any increase in braking g's (my go to indicator of grip) over my fresh RS4's but it seemed like the RE's still had a little more lateral grip (at least from my butt-dyno). I was running the Green classroom and coached a Green student, so I mostly ran in the Blue (intermediate) group, I snuck into the yellow (advanced) group for a couple of sessions but it wasn't worth the effort since there were twice as many people in the yellow group than the green group and it was a bit of a rush to jump out of my student's car and get into grid before the session started.

This was before they had any curbing on the runoff area, and he came over Ricochet a little too fast and/or offline (this was the 3.1 so the speeds are higher and you have to manage your speed a bit more). He dropped a wheel and it caught a rut or the edge of the track and physics took over. As for the insurance, it was a PCA event and he talked to one of the lawyers in attendance, they told him he could not lie to his insurance but he did not have to volunteer any information. When asked about the crash he said it was a single car incident on private property with no injuries, others involved, or a police report. The insurance paid out and he switched to autox (I'm not sure he's been back to the track since, maybe once or twice).

That's my friend Curtis! He walked away with no injuries (belt bruises and sore everywhere though) and his insurance covered his GT3. I've gone off a number of times on the 1.7 and there's lots of room. It's a teddy bear of a track and definitely one of the safest places you can learn at. Nowhere is completely safe, but the margins are pretty high at MSR Cresson, especially on the 1.7CCW.

No. They feel like wood when it's below freezing but I've never seen any damage to my 200tw "street legal track tires" running them through the winter.