[Biggins]

After some lingering disappointment at Nationals last year and a few minor tweaks, I’ve been treating this autocross season as a “reset” year to figure out what I want to do with the FR-S. I have always had a tough time justifying spending a large chunk of money on an autocross-only car when there are other hobbies, vacations, house projects, etc. I’m finding that spending what I consider big money is still quite a large part of national events to be at the top, and I haven’t been ready or able to drop $5k for shocks and buy tires every month or switch cars mid-season because mine is not the best one for the class.

Somehow, I’ve had more fun this season than the past two combined and I’m not sure why. Perhaps it is because I’m doing fewer events but more selective about them? My surprise is that I’m still having fun even though I’m not even in the same ballpark as the winners/winning car in my class after getting accustomed to being at/near the top of my class for a few seasons. The ND Miata is a better autocross car and probably more fun on the street, but I never thought it was a better car for me to replace the FR-S. I had no goals for this season other than to put pressure on the Miata drivers and have handicapped myself by running on year-old 2nd-tier tires that are definitely off the pace of this year’s new crop. I have been thrilled to be within a second or less of the leaders at multiple events this year instead of disappointed.

After doing a couple national events with the most recent one in Devens, MA last weekend, I finally have a clearer picture of how I want to “finish” my car and just accept into which class it falls in future years. When my size becomes available again, I’ll make sure I’m on the best tires for Nationals. The only other things I have to “fix” on my car are the sway bars, an alignment adjustment from that other tech thread, find a less-droney exhaust for highway driving, and finally purchase the expensive MCS shocks. I then have two class options depending on which springs I want to run, but the ricer in me likes the car lower to run against friends with Miatas. We’ll see, but I like having the decent street-ability of the “stockish” class.

I’m glad I finally have a vision to complete my car, but it’s going to take a bit more saving to get there by next season. I’ve so far been able to sacrifice a little this year and still have fun!

The only problem with this plan is that I’ve given up on competitively doing ProSolos (drag race starts) with my car. I am convinced that my car is not competitive in street form, so I plan to hopefully find a car completely different than the FR-S but hopefully reliable to co-drive for ProSolo events.

I know this thread has turned into more autocross-specific ramblings than an actual long-term review, but I don’t really have anything new to add than what I’ve already said about the car in this thread. Now that I have all-season tires on the car for long trips and driving around town, it is much more comfortable and will easily get 33 mpg. I actually think 35-36 mpg on the highway might be doable. The trip to Massachusetts with my wife and two duffel bags including all the autocross stuff was VERY tight, but there’s no chance a Miata could have fit all that we did without a decent-sized trailer. We’re going to try that again to Nebraska this year, but we’ll see how that goes…

I still love this car and don’t see myself selling anytime soon. I might add an older 4-door Civic Si, new Civic hatch, TSX, TLX, FiST, FoST, Mazda3/6 or some other practical car that could fall into a boring autocross class and do a track day once-a-year, but I’m going to keep enjoying the FR-S and hope I continue having fun at autocrosses!