optronix
Senior Member
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- #1
I signed up with actually very little advance lead time (~3 weeks) for an SCCA Track Night in America, this one at Dominion Raceway in Thornburg, VA. The turnout felt small compared to what I'm used to but apparently was large relative to this particular event/track according to the staff. It was great for me. I ran in the novice group, and as I'll get into I pretty much surely should have been running in the intermediate group, but it was a great event, great people, overall fantastic time and I can't recommend it enough, especially for anyone who maybe has done an HPDE or two with some in-car instruction before and wants a taste of that next step in HPDE when you're on your own.
Let me be blunt: this car is amazing on track. I've been on this track in a 911 and can say sincerely that I had just as if not more fun in my Acura than I did piloting a 991.2 C4S PDK around this same track. And felt just as confident! Which is a feat on its own- both from a "feel comfortable going fast" perspective, as well as a "wear and tear on the car" perspective. Worth noting, 2 track days I previously ran in got cut short due to issues with my cars; a 2015 STI that I had just had quite a few aftermarket parts installed and tune done on started leaning out enough to make me nervous, and a 2015 M4 cooked the brakes to the point where they shuddered horribly and had to be replaced under warranty.
I did only run 2 20 minute sessions (not counting the "paced laps" where everyone was going ~6/10th or less), but brakes held up great, tires held up great, and no temp issues. I left before the 3rd session because I was tired and they were running behind, not due to any issues with the car whatsoever (the brakes did a bit soft towards the end of the second session but they still stopped the car just fine). I did remember to keep a full tank due to fuel starvation issues people are commonly experiencing with these cars. I somehow managed to burn through half a tank (!) of gas in my 2.25 sessions though, and experienced no such issues.
Again, I ran in the Novice group but almost everyone in the group had about as much experience as me with a handful of track days so it wasn't like I'm some expert out there "pub-stomping n00bs" or anything. But I honestly felt like I was egregiously outpacing everyone and will definitely run in the Intermediate group next time, where I'm sure I'll be humbled. I'm seriously not trying to blow smoke up my ass, but I think it's important to note that someone like me with maybe 3 complete track days and a handful of autocrosses can get behind the wheel of this thing bone stock and obliterate a Novice group with some significantly fast cars (JDM imported 96 FD RX7, LSx-powered FD RX7, GT500, Mach1, at least one boosted miata, etc.) has to mean something.
I was also taking it relatively easy, especially on the brakes. I was a little nervous about tire pressures because I rolled in there after a 2 hour drive in 70 degree weather and my tire temps were at 30 psi and I thought maybe I'd get some sidewall roll-over and almost stepped out to put a few more psi in- but after the first session established everything was fine. Stock pads, stock fluid, so at the end of the long straight heading into turn 1 I definitely was not going 10/10ths- more like 6/10ths on that stretch, 8-10ths everywhere else. There was still a lot of headroom left for both me and the car, and I was still on someone's ass pretty much the entire day and no one kept up with me. Some aftermarket pads, fluid, and 200 treadwear tires and this thing should do quite well.
I fully expect Lewis Hamilton himself to come find me and sign me to Mercedes, so let's move on...
I have really zero true complaints with the car. For my needs, it fulfills 100% of my requirements. But if I were to be slightly more hardcore or nitpick, here are the only issues I think are valid:
- The seats, let's just get that out of the way. They're good but definitely not great. For autocross I'd say they're perfectly adequate, for a true track day they're functional but leave a bit to be desired. The alcantara centers really do wonders here- if they were leather/vinyl I'll admit they 'd be terrible for track use. I didn't find them distractingly bad like some others try to claim them to be, but I'm sure the Type R seats are better. I'm ok with it because for the 362 days or so I won't be at the track per year I find the seats wonderful, but yes for maximum track effort they could be better.
- You HAVE to disable VSA if you plan on driving this car at the track. Or anywhere fun, really. So get acclimated to the pedal dance.
- Speaking of the pedal dance, with VSA disabled you effectively lose the gauge cluster on the right side. I had it set to tire pressure but had to flick the scroll wheel to see it; otherwise the blank screen with the orange VSA light is all you get over there.
- More on the gauge cluster- the Type R's is way better. There is at least a shift light, and the HUD helps a bit but overall it's nowhere near as purposeful for track driving as the Type R. If I were a track rat I'd find this disturbingly inadequate- but I'm not so it doesn't bother me. It's not like it's useless- it's just not as good as the Type R. There are plenty of amazing cars to drive on track that don't have cool progressive rev counter bars and shift lights; a tach is all you really need. But it's worth noting for those who are still on the fence between an ITS and a CTR. If you plan to spend more than 5 or so track days a year, it's worth strongly considering the Type R for the seats and dash alone.
- It does struggle with understeer in some corners. I think my rare combination of luck and laziness actually did this car a favor, because where I left the tire pressure (~34-36 PSI hot) it felt really well balanced but there was one section where I could see cars start to pull away from me through a long "3rd gear corner", and I knew if I tried to go faster it would just start to push, and it's too long of a corner for the cool "lift off oversteer" this thing is so good at to really help much. I'm sure I could dial that out though. The car is BONE STOCK after all, and all tires the same pressures.
Overall INCREDIBLE for a front-drive, $55k car. I can't put into words how much I love this car, and it continues to grow every time I do more stuff with it. More than any other car I've ever owned, I feel 100% confident saying this is a forever car... which is also why I don't want to modify it too much but that's another conversation for another day.
I did manage to snap some mostly unremarkable pics but here they are anyway.
Let me be blunt: this car is amazing on track. I've been on this track in a 911 and can say sincerely that I had just as if not more fun in my Acura than I did piloting a 991.2 C4S PDK around this same track. And felt just as confident! Which is a feat on its own- both from a "feel comfortable going fast" perspective, as well as a "wear and tear on the car" perspective. Worth noting, 2 track days I previously ran in got cut short due to issues with my cars; a 2015 STI that I had just had quite a few aftermarket parts installed and tune done on started leaning out enough to make me nervous, and a 2015 M4 cooked the brakes to the point where they shuddered horribly and had to be replaced under warranty.
I did only run 2 20 minute sessions (not counting the "paced laps" where everyone was going ~6/10th or less), but brakes held up great, tires held up great, and no temp issues. I left before the 3rd session because I was tired and they were running behind, not due to any issues with the car whatsoever (the brakes did a bit soft towards the end of the second session but they still stopped the car just fine). I did remember to keep a full tank due to fuel starvation issues people are commonly experiencing with these cars. I somehow managed to burn through half a tank (!) of gas in my 2.25 sessions though, and experienced no such issues.
Again, I ran in the Novice group but almost everyone in the group had about as much experience as me with a handful of track days so it wasn't like I'm some expert out there "pub-stomping n00bs" or anything. But I honestly felt like I was egregiously outpacing everyone and will definitely run in the Intermediate group next time, where I'm sure I'll be humbled. I'm seriously not trying to blow smoke up my ass, but I think it's important to note that someone like me with maybe 3 complete track days and a handful of autocrosses can get behind the wheel of this thing bone stock and obliterate a Novice group with some significantly fast cars (JDM imported 96 FD RX7, LSx-powered FD RX7, GT500, Mach1, at least one boosted miata, etc.) has to mean something.
I was also taking it relatively easy, especially on the brakes. I was a little nervous about tire pressures because I rolled in there after a 2 hour drive in 70 degree weather and my tire temps were at 30 psi and I thought maybe I'd get some sidewall roll-over and almost stepped out to put a few more psi in- but after the first session established everything was fine. Stock pads, stock fluid, so at the end of the long straight heading into turn 1 I definitely was not going 10/10ths- more like 6/10ths on that stretch, 8-10ths everywhere else. There was still a lot of headroom left for both me and the car, and I was still on someone's ass pretty much the entire day and no one kept up with me. Some aftermarket pads, fluid, and 200 treadwear tires and this thing should do quite well.
I fully expect Lewis Hamilton himself to come find me and sign me to Mercedes, so let's move on...
I have really zero true complaints with the car. For my needs, it fulfills 100% of my requirements. But if I were to be slightly more hardcore or nitpick, here are the only issues I think are valid:
- The seats, let's just get that out of the way. They're good but definitely not great. For autocross I'd say they're perfectly adequate, for a true track day they're functional but leave a bit to be desired. The alcantara centers really do wonders here- if they were leather/vinyl I'll admit they 'd be terrible for track use. I didn't find them distractingly bad like some others try to claim them to be, but I'm sure the Type R seats are better. I'm ok with it because for the 362 days or so I won't be at the track per year I find the seats wonderful, but yes for maximum track effort they could be better.
- You HAVE to disable VSA if you plan on driving this car at the track. Or anywhere fun, really. So get acclimated to the pedal dance.
- Speaking of the pedal dance, with VSA disabled you effectively lose the gauge cluster on the right side. I had it set to tire pressure but had to flick the scroll wheel to see it; otherwise the blank screen with the orange VSA light is all you get over there.
- More on the gauge cluster- the Type R's is way better. There is at least a shift light, and the HUD helps a bit but overall it's nowhere near as purposeful for track driving as the Type R. If I were a track rat I'd find this disturbingly inadequate- but I'm not so it doesn't bother me. It's not like it's useless- it's just not as good as the Type R. There are plenty of amazing cars to drive on track that don't have cool progressive rev counter bars and shift lights; a tach is all you really need. But it's worth noting for those who are still on the fence between an ITS and a CTR. If you plan to spend more than 5 or so track days a year, it's worth strongly considering the Type R for the seats and dash alone.
- It does struggle with understeer in some corners. I think my rare combination of luck and laziness actually did this car a favor, because where I left the tire pressure (~34-36 PSI hot) it felt really well balanced but there was one section where I could see cars start to pull away from me through a long "3rd gear corner", and I knew if I tried to go faster it would just start to push, and it's too long of a corner for the cool "lift off oversteer" this thing is so good at to really help much. I'm sure I could dial that out though. The car is BONE STOCK after all, and all tires the same pressures.
Overall INCREDIBLE for a front-drive, $55k car. I can't put into words how much I love this car, and it continues to grow every time I do more stuff with it. More than any other car I've ever owned, I feel 100% confident saying this is a forever car... which is also why I don't want to modify it too much but that's another conversation for another day.
I did manage to snap some mostly unremarkable pics but here they are anyway.
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