Tracking a Stock GR86

Thanks to Toyota, all GR owners will know the joy or at least have an opportunity to experience their GR car on track. We here at GR Performance Parts are track regulars and were going to take full advantage of our GR86’s free track day. But having already had experience tracking for many years we were going to approach our track day with some things in mind. What we really wanted to answer is, How good is a stock GR86 out of the box? Our car only had a Greddy Oil Pan Baffle and the RTV cleaned out of the pan before we took it out for it’s first track day. We also chose to do a half a quart overfill of 5w-30 engine oil.

The questions that we had going into the event were vast. We had our own as well as questions asked by other owners and prospective buyers.

The main questions from new owners is can I do the NASA track day with a stock GR86?

Simply put YES! The car did not have a single issue or hiccup throughout the entire day. By the end we just found ourselves looking forward to next chance we would have to take the car out on track.

Were the stock PS4 tires up to the task of track use?

Yes. The tires were a bit lower grip than our normal 200TW tires but they were loads of fun. Something we always like to say is “Fast is fun but fun does not always need to be fast”. The tires allowed for the perfect amount of slip that brought a grin to the driver. Even the driver thought the tires taught him lessons about managing grip that he may or may not have had if running a 200TW tire.

Did the engine starve of oil and catastrophically fail?

No it did not skip a beat. Hammer it down the straights and out of corners the FA24 was responsive and willing to zip right along. The low end torque of the motor even for a naturally aspirated 4 cylinder was a highlight.

Did the stock brakes hold up to track use?

Yes they certainly did. We chose to run the car in DE2 and at a conservative pace. The brakes held up just fine. There was some fade over the course of the entire 20-25minute sessions but nothing that was not manageable. An entry level driver coming out for their first track day should not have brake failure as a concern. Because we had some fade and we were doing the Sunday Track day as well as the Saturday we decided to swap the pads out and give the iSweep IS2000 that we brought with us for testing. After our last session on Saturday we set to work putting in the new pads. It was quite an easy task and we were all set for Sunday with new pads.

The stock pads had a bit of pitting in them. We ran them pretty hard so we were not surprised to see some rapid wearing of the pads. We would not recommend that owners track their GR86 on a set of heavily used pad because there is likelihood of wearing through pad material quickly. You don’t want to run out of pad.

The IS2000 pads from iSweep were a noticeable bump in performance. They were not quite at the level of a performance track pad but that is not their design intent. See the chart below for where the IS2000 falls in the iSweep line up.

The IS2000 pads had even less fade than the stock pads. They gave the driver a bit more confidence to push the braking zones for a few laps at a time. The driver also noted improved pedal feel. For a track setting we do not plan to run the IS2000 pads long term but we wanted to report back on their performance. We plan to test the IS3000 pads on the GR86 next which we feel will be the best suited offering from iSweep for our dual duty street and track GR86.

To sum it up all owners should take full advantage of their free track day that comes with their purchase of a GR86. Owners should have very little fear or concern in tracking the car as it will hold up to beginner track use right out of the box. If you have experience and plan to drive the car harder you should consider upgrading the pads and fluid of your car for its first track outing. What are you waiting for? Sign up for your NASA track day and enjoy your car in a safe environment out on track. Hope to see you there.