gavin_t

From been a passanger in @VAD17 car I would say it is quieter on cruise then my NA tuned car with a stock catback. To me his car sounds like a nice factory turbo car that you could buy out of the showroom. Maybe a bit quite for some but I quite like it.

Even more of a no brainer then usual if you have the time to cash to do it in the window
Still loving my NA setup especially now I have done a couple of track days with the setup compared to stock. Not quite ready to jump up to FI yet as I need to up my brakes and a few other bits first. black Friday 2019 aswell? I will probably be in 
PS might want to clarify the Mtec springs and insert in the picture are additional incase people nit pick the ad

Nice read thanks for sharing. 
New wheels look miles better too. Shame they didn't lower the offset a little. Would look so much better. Although I am sure there is a reason for this. Plus at standard ride height the high offset isn't as noticeable.

A new GT86 Club Series has been launched and this time it's called the 'Blue Edition', with it's own colour of electric blue. You may remember the other Club Series edition in Solar Orange. That model was solely cosmetic, but whilst you could say the same of the Blue Edition it has an optional extra called the 'Performance Pack'. The interesting thing about the performance pack is what you get for the extra £1460. Richard from RRG Macclesfield invited me down on a sunny day to drive it. 
How about this for value? In the pack there are 4 piston Brembo calipers up front and two piston Brembo calipers a the rear. The Sachs dampers are revalved to increase their stiffness and gain more focus on handling. There is also some strengthening to the lower arms on the rear suspension and you get a set of different wheels. These are presumably to be able to clear the new bigger brake calipers and bigger discs. When you add up the cost of these extra and very nice parts, it seems like an absolute bargain for the money. The performance pack is only available on the Blue Edition, so could this be the best GT86 you can buy right now? 
Let's start with the colour, which if you want the performance pack you will have to like. Thankfully it's a lovely colour reminiscent of Porsche Maritime Blue which really is no bad thing at all. I rather like it. 

There is something just so appealing about a nice set of Brembo calipers on a car. Whilst the standard GT86 brakes are certainly adequate I have found their limits at times on Alpine descents and also on the race track. A big brake kit with greater stopping capacity is hugely confidence inspiring when you are pushing on and let's face it, you'd have it wouldn't you? Here's the fronts and rears respectively:


This car supplied by RRG Macclesfield also has the addition of an HKS drop in air filter and a resonated Cobra exhaust. I totally agree with Richard here in that the first thing you should change on this car is the exhaust, the stock one is just way too quiet. When I review a GT86 for RRG Macclesfield I always follow my usual test route, the 'Lauren Triangle'. This takes the A523 out of Macclefield to Boseley, then the A54 up to the top with the downhill route being on the infamous A537 Cat and Fiddle road. Fifteen years ago I used to live in Macc' and this was my test route and practice route when I was racing back then. It's a spectacular drive with a real good variety of corners, compressions and perhaps more importantly a route I know intimately. 
So what do the changes mean? Well, setting off on the relative cruise in traffic out of Macc' and towards Boseley, the car maintains it's decent ride quality as the standard kouki car. It's a comfortable and more refined place to be than the earlier zenki car which I have. Richard told me that when he got out of a stock 2018 car and into this one that he felt that the car cornered more flattly and was better controlled. When I look for these comparisons it's really tricky as my benchmark is of course my car which I've driven for past 122,000 miles and my car has coilovers, poly bushings and pretty much everything done on the suspension, so a stock car always feels like more of a cooking version in comparison. But, compare I shall. There are no changes to the interior in the Blue Edition, so no orange stitching that you got in the Original Club Series car. 
After a sedate drive we turn left onto the A54 to Boseley and this is my chance to open the car up, so off we go. As I approach the first tricky set of S- bends I can see that the road is glistening somewhat. Perhaps not ideal when I remind myself I'm on the Primacy HP tyre, I've got the car set to track mode as well to allow me a little more slip, well some is better than none at all! The car inspires confidence and we navigate the first few tricky bends easily, not pushing too hard. This is my first time on the brakes and there is a lovely amount of feel to them. I note that they require a higher pedal pressure than my car running AP 4 piston calipers up front. That's not a bad thing as it allows you to modulate the brake pressure well. Then as we start to climb we inevitably happen upon a seemingly well driven Fiat Panda, though I'm barely trying to be honest. From here we end up behind a tractor for some time and end up in a line of traffic. Sometimes it goes your way, other times it doesn't. Never mind we pull over further up in a lay by to take some pictures and let the traffic go 

The traffic has gone and I know we are about to give this car a real test. The next section of road is very up and down with some hard compressions with sweeping bends and a good opportunity to push the car a bit harder. As we hit the first series of bends, the car loads up well maintaining it's composure and as the road dips and rises the damping is certainly keeping up with things, I feel confident to push the car harder and it's standard ride height, means I can push the car hard through compressions that would cause my car to be kissing the tarmac. We become briefly airborne over one of the rises, just leaving the tarmac, but the car deals with it no problem. I'm impressed and enjoying myself here. The difference in damping between this car and a standard one, feels for me fairly subtle, but perhaps coming from a car with bespoke dampers and active suspension it was always going to be far less of a difference when comparing to mine. 
What is important here is that there is some perceived to help to turn in and the damping has no problem dealing with mid corner bumps holding it's line and staying composed. As we rise towards the top of the A54 I notice they've laid new tarmac, time to update my records and I think that I haven't given the brakes much of a test yet, but there is the downhill on the Cat'n'Fiddle to come. 
We cross the plateau and pass the Cat and Fiddle pub which is still not open. Terrible pub in an iconic location. And so we begin our descent and through the first corner, 'Moisties', named so because it is always damp due to water running across it and then onto the 'Balcony' giving a great view over the Peak District. All the corners on the Cat'n'Fiddle have names. The best thing about this road is how far you can sight ahead and soon we easily pass the traffic in front of us. This car has only done 700 odd miles, so the engine feels a little tight and I'm being a bit easy on it. As we approach the first tight left hander at speed, I'm able to really get on the brakes. The car stops well, no doubt about that, pedal feel is more than my car but it is not difficult to modulate it well. I did find it a little hard to move the rear around under braking on the turn-in but I know that it's easier on my car with more front bias, but the car grips well and I can still neutralise any understeer, leading to the stability control just intervening on the exit with a smidge of opposite lock. 
This car just eggs you on and really a GT86 is simply made for roads like these. Even better the road is nice and dry for the most part, so I can work the suspension and the balance feels good. I'm aware with stock geommetry settings that more negative camber helps get rid of any understeer, but I think this car is doing a bit better with it's uprated dampers over the standard car. I can feel myself getting into the zone, relishing every heel and toe downchange, loading the car up ready for the next corner, nailing the exit and getting a little bit of oversteer in places. 
We pull over for a quick breather and more pictures and some five minutes later all the traffic we passed at the top, comes by!

A quick glance and oil temperature is around 120C, which shows that you can get it to a fair old temperature if you are working it hard, but it never really seems to go above this at least on the road. The rest of the drive down is spoilt somewhat by traffic, but never mind, we've had a good few clear sections to test the car. This is really a test of the performance pack and it's no surprise that it is absolutely worth having. You'd have to be crazy to order a Blue Edition without ticking the Performance Pack it is just an absolute no brainer. The cost of individually buying the Brembo calipers all round would easily be more than the cost of the performance pack and you get wheels and uprated dampers as well. This car really is the ideal base model if you want to go modifying. My only observation with the brakes and this may relate to comparing them to mine is that I wondered if the pads didn't quite bite as well as mine. I've been mulling this over, but I think it is that mine require less pedal pressure to get them to bite and this could simply be more that I need to acclimatise to this set up. 
This car also has the improved JBL setup and Richard gave me a demonstration. It is way, way better than the original JBL setup, though seeming to use the same components there has been some retuning. The bass is more prominent and the clarity of sound is much clearer. Again, I have a £3000 pro-install in my car, but the new JBL system starts to look worth the money as the standard sound system is just so poor. I think they should offer the JBL set up as standard really! 


The spare wheel has gone and you have a sub instead, much like the old setup. I'm not sure whether a spare would fit underneath it, that's something to look into. 

The gear stick surround now has a leather gaiter which is much nicer than the cheap looking synthetic in earlier cars. 


My car next to the Blue Edition:

In summary, the Performance Pack is a total no brainer. It would be absolutely brilliant if Toyota offered this as an option on all new GT86's but at the moment you'll have to order a Blue Edition to get it. I would!
 

Gav you got it from Rayleigh? Take it back and give them hell looks fishy to me 

Bit of an odd one this.
 
@willfmair and I got talking and he posted some videos of online reviews of the GT86 for a few years back. Now the car in the video has my registration but is red. Where as mine is Orange??
 
Any idea what Toyota do with their press cars? I went to the launch of the Honda FK2 civic type R a few years back and was told by the guys there that the initial press cars are scrapped after they have served their purpose. Is this the same with Toyota and they have just applied the same reg to another car afterwards?
Car came to me via a Toyota dealership and I even did my own HPI etc and it all came back as complete and it been orange....
 
Ah yer there she is  what a slut deffo gets around!
Although has that video got a weird filter on as it's the wrong colour??? 
 

Yup, I think we were parked next to each other at the Sunday Service a couple of weeks ago
 
Press cars! 
Anyway I best stop detailing the thread  
Edit: isn’t this your exact car?
 

Take it to rayleigh.  What could possibly go wrong.... 

Dare you first mines off the road now not even checked if it's on list rumours are the first cars built are the best 😜

Take it to rayleigh.  What could possibly go wrong.... 

@Lucas@PartBox - Can we have a group buy on: https://www.part-box.com/ferrea-dual-valve-spring-kit-subaru-brz-toyota-gt86-12-15-kt4022 ???? 

Funny that, after seeing your car it spurred me on to treat mine. It also got a coat of fk1000p on it! Great stuff that, it's the first time I've used it on my 86.

Ta mate
 
Sneaky pic of when I had freshly DA polished it and applied a fresh coat of finish kare 1000

@gavin_t on a side note. Thats a seriously glossy car! Looks ace.

Finally putting pen to paper to give my 2p worth on the Mods @Mike@TD.co.uk fitted with the team for me.
Taken me a while to post up as I have been too busy to drive the car and don't use it for work
 
So I had fitted
>NA kit for EL manifold (keeping the standard 2nd CAT and exhaust)
>MTEC shifter springs
> Whiteline positive shift bush
 
So to sweet talk the other half into this been a good idea and the long drive from Essex to be worth it we had a day out shopping in Warrington and a trip to Blackpool
 
We stayed at the IBIS down the road which was nice enough and had a good breakfast. Was worth the £45 to have the short drive to TD in the morning
 
Arrived at 9am to find mike and co unloading an endless chain of nice Toyotas from the workshop. Had a good chinwag left the keys with them and got a cab to Warrington.
to our surprise mike was on the phone by 1pm stating that the car was done and it was good to roll. cant beat that for efficiency!
Arrived back at TD settled the tab and mike gave me a quick run through of the maps and settings and off we went.
 
Before and after Graph:
The old girl made good power in stock form  obviously the life of a press and demo car and my track day appetite giving it a hard life from birth paid off!
 
First impressions were that on cruise the car sounded more of less the same but has a nice little rasp now when pressing on through the revs. Ideal for what I wanted which was a stealthy sound and still be within the noise limits at all the strictest tracks (IE Bedford)
Didn't really get much of a chance to have a play with the car coming home due to traffic and a boot full of luggage.
Few weeks later I finally got to take the car out for a proper blast on a nice sunny Sunday. The car now has a butter smooth power curve which is actually deceptive and doesn't actually make the car feel any quicker. However coming out of corners and starting off there is no torque dip and the mid range is very strong. Also at the last GT86 meet I had a play with a couple of stock 86's coming home and after 2nd gear the car will now comfortably pull away so defiantly an improvement even if the feel is deceptive.
However my favourite thing about the changes actually is the throttle map. In map 3 with the most sensitive throttle map it is lovely. And this is the setting it has been left in since picking it up. Makes the car feel so much more eager and makes heel and toe action even easier.
Cant really comment on launch control, flat foot shifting and autoblip as I have not really used them.
When I first picked up the car I was really not sure on the MTEC shifter spring upgrade. felt all it had done was make the shift heavier. However I think they are growing on me....
Not sure if I would do with the whiteline shift bush again though as it was increased noise a fair bit at low speeds. However this may bed in a bit and I am yet to try it on track to see the difference in hard use.
 
Also having the cold start mapped out is an added bonus!
 
In summary happy chap and cant wait to try it on track on the 5th of November. Will be like an outing for the TD cars with us all going along. Hoping to get a ride in Vads TD turbo car to plan my future spending
 
 
 

You are more then welcome
 
Thanks for the top work and maybe see you again in the future for more toys

Thank you for the feedback Gavin, it is appreciated
 
Mike

Finally putting pen to paper to give my 2p worth on the Mods @Mike@TD.co.uk fitted with the team for me.
Taken me a while to post up as I have been too busy to drive the car and don't use it for work
 
So I had fitted
>NA kit for EL manifold (keeping the standard 2nd CAT and exhaust)
>MTEC shifter springs
> Whiteline positive shift bush
 
So to sweet talk the other half into this been a good idea and the long drive from Essex to be worth it we had a day out shopping in Warrington and a trip to Blackpool
 
We stayed at the IBIS down the road which was nice enough and had a good breakfast. Was worth the £45 to have the short drive to TD in the morning
 
Arrived at 9am to find mike and co unloading an endless chain of nice Toyotas from the workshop. Had a good chinwag left the keys with them and got a cab to Warrington.
to our surprise mike was on the phone by 1pm stating that the car was done and it was good to roll. cant beat that for efficiency!
Arrived back at TD settled the tab and mike gave me a quick run through of the maps and settings and off we went.
 
Before and after Graph:
The old girl made good power in stock form  obviously the life of a press and demo car and my track day appetite giving it a hard life from birth paid off!
 
First impressions were that on cruise the car sounded more of less the same but has a nice little rasp now when pressing on through the revs. Ideal for what I wanted which was a stealthy sound and still be within the noise limits at all the strictest tracks (IE Bedford)
Didn't really get much of a chance to have a play with the car coming home due to traffic and a boot full of luggage.
Few weeks later I finally got to take the car out for a proper blast on a nice sunny Sunday. The car now has a butter smooth power curve which is actually deceptive and doesn't actually make the car feel any quicker. However coming out of corners and starting off there is no torque dip and the mid range is very strong. Also at the last GT86 meet I had a play with a couple of stock 86's coming home and after 2nd gear the car will now comfortably pull away so defiantly an improvement even if the feel is deceptive.
However my favourite thing about the changes actually is the throttle map. In map 3 with the most sensitive throttle map it is lovely. And this is the setting it has been left in since picking it up. Makes the car feel so much more eager and makes heel and toe action even easier.
Cant really comment on launch control, flat foot shifting and autoblip as I have not really used them.
When I first picked up the car I was really not sure on the MTEC shifter spring upgrade. felt all it had done was make the shift heavier. However I think they are growing on me....
Not sure if I would do with the whiteline shift bush again though as it was increased noise a fair bit at low speeds. However this may bed in a bit and I am yet to try it on track to see the difference in hard use.
 
Also having the cold start mapped out is an added bonus!
 
In summary happy chap and cant wait to try it on track on the 5th of November. Will be like an outing for the TD cars with us all going along. Hoping to get a ride in Vads TD turbo car to plan my future spending
 
 
 

Well that escalated quickly
 
My 2p worth is that I have used 225 on a 7J wheel and currently run 225 on an 8.5J wheel.
 
regarding driver feedback and feel I agree with @Lauren the big tyre on narrow rim just felt spongy and did not inspire confidence. The big wheel with the same size tyre is razor sharp and inspires confidence. Therefore making me quicker I would assume.
Although this does not take into account acceleration as my wider wheels are heavier then the stock ones so the car is slower in that respect. However feel, enjoyment and corner speed big wheel for the win  find me a forged light rim the same weight and it will be win all round!
Look at a lot of competitive race cars and most run wide rims to match the tyres.

Crap as it was solid traffic all the way down the M6, M1, M25 to Essex
 
But yes very much enjoying the new power delivery. Also got the shifter springs and gearbox mount done too.

Yes and digging up some worms😜

Are the Australian GT86 any different in their headlight setup
 
I find the xenons superb on the 86 especially on a dark lane on full beam

Indeed just a little damp
almost ideal maggot wriggling conditions

Thanks all for your support last night. Great company great venue see you all at The cars and Coffee at the museum of power on the 28th Oct.
Don’t forget next mid week will be November 7th at the Half Way House.
I will post officially soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Following our discussion as well
 
Question is though were the gantry lights showing as on or not?