TRD Supercharged Scion tC at Willow Springs : NASA 2-2010

TRD Supercharged Scion tC at Willow Springs : NASA 2- 2010. Camera ran out of battery.

On Sunday Dan invited me up to Willow Springs for a NASA event. The last couple of years I have been helping Dan with his Scion tC race car that he competes in NASA TTC, PTC, WERC Endurance Series, and World Challenge TC in 2009. In the past the car has even run in the Koni/Grand Am Challenge. Talk about a car with a few race miles under its belt. This car is the “spare” car. Also known as the “street car”. Same color, but stock suspension, stock brakes, less power, more weight.

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Saturday it was raining, and I had some work to do, so I didn’t go up on Saturday. Sunday however, I woke up early to head out to Willow Springs. It has been a long time since I have driven at Willow Springs. Last year I drove at Buttonwillow, and Streets of Willow, but its been years since the last time I drove at the “Big Track”. The first session I rode with Dan, watched his lines, the gears he was driving in. Familiarize myself with the track again, and the car. This would be the first front wheel drive car I have ever driven at speed on a track. Normally its all Nissan GT-R’s on the track for me.
My first session, I started from the back, and just wanted to drive around the track with Dan in the car. Follow another car, and just get familiar with everything. The Scion tC with the Nitto NT01 tires on it is easy to drive. Cornering was easy, the car went where I wanted it to go for the most part. A couple of times the electronic brake distribution did some weird stuff, but its more a matter of making sure you are actually braking in a straight line. Stock brakes with aftermarket pads and fluid worked out well. No problems with the brakes fading or getting mushy all day.
Willow Springs is a fast, horsepower track. The tC had a 112 mph governor on it so, we were running into the governor out on the track in a couple places. With Dan driving, it was about 3 places, and near start finish on the straight. Turn 8 – Turn 9 is the big spot at Willow Springs. Though 8 I glanced down and was at around 105 mph in the last session, fast long sweeper, followed by the dog leg of turn 9. Turn 9 is a fast turn that has a hole at the curb that more than a few cars have caught, and rolled. Rolling, or even going off track was in my plan for the day, so I kept it pretty mellow. Just driving around within my limits. The last couple of years I have been working on the other Scion tC, the racecar, at the track about 20 weekends a year. Compared to those weekends, this last Sunday was a very mellow day.
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