2017 Toyota 86 (setup details are at bottom of description)

After my last day at Waterford all I wanted was to break into the 16s on my RS4s. At this point the tires are over a year old, and this was either their 14th or 15th event. They're chunking significantly and were going to be scrapped after this event no matter what, so this was my last shot before committing to the RT660s for the rest of the season.

At my season opener I ran multiple 17.0s but didn't hit 16 until Jacob gave me his RT660s for the final run of the day. I honestly wasn't happy with that lap either, my driving was very sloppy as I shook off the winter rust, started trying to figure out how to adjust my new dampers and acclimated myself to the new suspension setup overall. Not to mention the fact that the suspension had settled post alignment and severely thrown my alignment out of wack, introducing significant forward rake and 0.33 degrees of toe OUT to the rear end.

After a full weekend at Gingerman I came back to Waterford with a much better understanding of the new setup and having settled into some consistent damper settings. I felt much better about my driving and set to work refining my line. I infuriatingly ran EVEN MORE 17.0s out of the gate but quickly broke the 16 wall and eventually posted this lap as my best of the day.

There's definitely still a lot more potential even with these tires. Comparing my data revealed that the 17.046 lap (which I also uploaded) is still by far the fastest all the way up to T3, and comparing against the session Paul ran in my car I can cut a ton of time carrying a lot more speed through T3. I feel like there's potential to cut at least another half second off of this without changing anything on the car.

Paul running my car also confirmed some suspicions I had about the setup, and I think I'm going to be adding some toe in to the rear before my next event. The car is clearly fast and is a lot of fun to drive as it sits, but it's definitely touchier and a bit more difficult to drive than it needs to be. I've developed a lot more confidence with the current setup, but I think I can find time more easily if I tighten it up a touch.

Another suspicion I confirmed is that my braking still needs a lot of work. I've determined that my pedal issues I encountered over the last couple events were most likely due to overheating the fluid via excessive ABS activation. I've been working to reduce my overall braking pressure and avoid ABS since last year, but it still needed more work. At this event I consciously set my major braking points a bit earlier and successfully reduced pressure. I expected this to be a compromise, sacrificing time to accommodate my parts, but in practice it actually sped me up significantly. This was most pronounced at the end of the back straight, where an earlier braking point allowed for an earlier, deeper apex and significantly more speed out of the corner. It was also considerably easier to run this line consistently than the late, aggressive braking point I had been using previously.

Still, Paul's data showed me that I'm still using about twice as much pressure as I need to be in corners that call only for light trail braking, which is something I'll especially need to work on if I want to really take advantage of the added grip of the RT660s.

I feel like I gained a lot of very useful, applicable knowledge at this event and am optimistic about carrying it forward to improve my driving further.

Mods: 
-Borla UEL Header
-OFT Stage 2+ 93 Tune
-Tanabe Concept G
-Jackson Racing Dual Radiator/Oil Cooler
-Fortune Auto FA510 (8k square, Rebound: 18F 14R)
-SPC Adjustable RLCAs
-Enkei RPF1 17x9 +35 w/ Hankook RS4 245/40/17
-CounterSpace Garage C2 Brake Pads

Alignment: 
-4F / -2.2R Camber
-6.2 Caster
0.1 F Toe Out / 0 R Toe
~5 inch ride height from pinch weld