Track Day: Stock GR Supra Lime Rock Park

Ever wonder how a stock GR Supra is on a race track? It was a question that we just had to answer and hope you as the reader enjoy hearing about.

We already have a good understand of how a Stock GR Supra is as a daily, backroad car, autocross, and on a road trip. The final piece was to bring it out to the rolling hills of Lime Rock Park to see how it performs on track. Despite having some rain we were able to get in some dry sessions as well as some time on the skid pad. Let us start with the skid pad.

A skid pad/the FCP Euro proving grounds is the perfect spot for a GR owner to test out their car. It is vey low risk and the perfect opportunity for an owner to turn all of the electronic nannies off and understand how their car really behaves at and beyond the limit of grip. We hosted an event on the FCP Euro Proving grounds this past spring and were proud to sponsor this event hosted by the SCDA. The GR Supra handled well with all of the electronics off. Despite it being a bit heavy the weight was not very noticeable. The torque was easily accessible and made it all to tempting to slide. Over the limit in a slide the Supra was a bit twitchy. That behavior is likely due to the shorter wheelbase and the massive amount of torque on tap. Too much throttle often resulted in a spin. The stock Pilot Super Sports were fine in the wet conditions and regained grip quite well. We are not going to be linking slides like a drifter any time soon but learned quite a bit about the chassis.

There were more….well…..significant findings on the main track. Lime Rock is a shorter road course at 1.5 miles and was a good venue for a first outing. Setting out in the Supra and putting the car under higher speeds and lateral loads we felt like we were riding on top of the car rather than in the car. The stock seat had sufficient bolstering and the soft interior materials made it more comfortable for the drivers to brace themselves with their knees. Our biggest finding, a stock Supra has way more go than slow. It has been several years since we have driven a car of this power level and weight with stock brakes. If we were not being conservative, we could have easily found ourselves mowing the lawn. Aside from not adequately slowing the car the stock brakes did not have good feel. We would get on the brake and be greeted with a week and whimsical pedal feel. One of our drivers described the brake pedal as synonymic with a “wet fish handshake”. To avoid off track excursions we opted to not push the brake zones. Another finding albeit not a positive one was the wind buffeting. We are of the opinion that on the street the wind buffeting is not terrible. But wind buffeting at 120mph on the track is a different animal entirely. The buffeting is bad enough that you want to get off of the accelerator pedal to make it stop. Not only does the wind assault your ear drums but it actually moves your head when it is greeted with a 120mph slap in the face. It is the first time on a straight we have experienced lateral G forces from wind rather than the expected accelerative or decelerative G forces on a straight. Despite the drawbacks the Supra still great fun. It has power and handles the corners better than expected given stock alignment and tires. Any owner should be excited about the opportunity to take their car on track but keep in mind the limitations of the stock brakes.

To conclude a stock Supra is track capable and has its own pros and cons. We walked away having 2 must do mods if any owner wants to have the most enjoyable track experience out of a near stock Supra. First anti-wind buffeting deflectors, the Supra is a fast car and its hard to enjoy speed if wind is slapping you in the face moving your head around at 100+mph. Second and we know it is one of the biggest cliques, better brakes. A bit more on the brakes, we would love to say that upgraded brakes are not needed and if you are a beginner they might not be. However, if you have been spoiled with racing brakes on racecars and/or other high end performance cars you are going to walk away from a track day with a stock Supra wanting better brakes. Even after understanding the limitations of the stock brakes on the Supra it was difficult to drive fast. The stock brakes did not bite enough to sufficiently slow the car down. That meant we had to brake earlier or harder. Harder did not necessarily result in more brake force but rather just more pedal travel. Earlier meant sufficient time to slow down but more heat being put into the brakes with a prolonged brake period. So, if you are an experienced track driver and new owner of a GR Supra, do yourself a favor and get some anti-buffeting deflectors and brake pads… Next track outing our car will likely have those upgrades.