slimedog_86 is an amateur racing driver with 24 laps across 2 vehicles, averaging 12 laps per car. Recorded lap times include 1:16.136 in a Toyota GT86 ZN6 2017 with Hankook Ventus RS4 tires. The GT86—lightweight rear-wheel-drive sports car co-developed by Toyota, Subaru, and Scion—has become beloved track day platform for enthusiasts prioritizing driving skill and balance over outright power. With 10 laps CW and 4 laps Extended Course 10B CW, this driver demonstrates focused platform development typical of GT86 enthusiasts who treat the car as driver development tool.
2017 Toyota 86 (setup details are at bottom of description)
First shakedown at Gingerman on the new suspension and first time running the track since last September. I need some more work before I'll feel like I'm back to where I was last season, but this session was a solid baseline for the new setup.
Following 5-11 at Waterford I noticed the alignment seemed visibly off, so I ended up heading back into the shop to get it back on the rack. It turns out the whole car had settled significantly on the new coils, on account of having the car aligned and on track 2 days after installation. The rear had settled a quarter inch and the front a half inch, resulting in wild alignment issues including 0.33 degrees of toe out at the rear. Before correcting the alignment I finally ordered a set of SPC RLCAs so that we could fully dial in the rear camber at the same time as we reset everything else.
The main thing I wanted to try with the new suspension this weekend was expanding the stagger between the front and rear rebound settings to further settle the rear. I began at 16F 14R, which seemed to be the best setting upon reviewing the video and data from my previous Waterford test. This was ok in the first session but felt a bit floppy in the high speed 7-8-9 section, which is the area I've most been targeting for improvement via setup. For the second session I increased only the front rebound by two clicks to 18F 14R. This seemed to help, but the second session was cut short due to another car going off deep on T10 after a single flying lap. I decided to keep the settings for the third session and was able to put down 3 consecutive 44 second laps chasing this Cayman, with this being the 3rd and fastest.
For the following session I experimented with raising the front and rear rebound by 2 clicks, to 20F 16R. This didn't seem to yield any immediately obvious improvements and I found myself running 45s, so I decided to return the settings to 18F 14R since I knew that there was still plenty of time on the table with this lap. I ran these settings for the remainder of the weekend so that I could keep my focus on my driving as opposed to chasing my tail with constant adjustments.
The fifth session saw some consistent 45s, and then the sixth and final session had very consistent 46s. Evidence indicates that the track was slowing down toward the end of the afternoon but I always have a hard time making myself believe that. Blaming anything other than my own driving feels like an excuse.
At any rate, cutting 1.3 seconds from my PB on year old tires and brakes is a promising start. I'm planning to be back for next months Evening Test and Tune on the freshly mounted RT660s to figure out how fully utilize them ahead of the SCCA Time Trials.
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)
-Enkei RPF1 17x9 +35 w/ Hankook RS4 245/40/17 (13th day?) 33psi
-CounterSpace Garage C2 Brake Pads
Alignment:
-4F / -2.2R Camber
-6.2 Degrees Caster
0.1 F Toe Out / 0 R Toe
~5.15 inch ride height from pinch weld