[Guillermo]

If anyone here races their Insight in autocross events or knows anyone that does, or can help me find 1 or 2 of these people please message me.
I have a few questions for people that race their Insights.

I've heard that there is someone on the US that won H-Class autox event in an Insight. And I've heard that there is someone competing in Ontario as well.

Thanks,

 

[gomarlins3]

I AutoX'ed mine two weeks ago in ASP because my usual car is an S2000, but it was raining so I drove the Insight instead. There is a gentleman in the San Francisco region that runs his Insight regularly and does run in the H class I am told. I hear he runs on race tires though. That's about all of the info I have. P.S. I finished 31st out of 42.

 

[Sparky5501]

I auto-x my Insight twice in club events. I wasn't thrilled with the handeling. It has very predictable understeer though. The Insight might make a great track car if negative front camber were set and wider tires added.
I just wanted to know the handeling envelope for the Insight. My conclusion, very predictable and not to exciting for auto-x. You really have to watch out for the undertray and cones.

This is my daily-driver so I'm not keen on making it into a track car. I guess I'm too used to my tail happy Porsches. Have fun and ignore the snickering.

 

[Guillermo]

2 weeks ago I bought my used 2000 Insight on a thursday and autocrossed it on the Saturday. I had a blast! Yes it understeers a lot specially because of the OEM tires but using various advanced driving techniques I managed to get it to oversteer a few times, very predictable and stable!
The shocks are stiff and the Insight has way less body roll in the turns then most other cars. The tires must be one of the least grippy tires on the planet considering they are designed for minimum rolling resistence.
People were lining up to get a ride in my car and everyone was impressed with the torque and how quite it was. As soon as I sell my old car i'm going to buy 195/55/R14 Toyo Proxies T1-S ultra high performance summer tires. I can't wait to smoke some cars that have double the power!

 

[Sparky5501]

TRACK UPDATE:

I did a lapping day with my Insight at Bremerton Raceway. It's basically a flat course with cones (old airfield). It did really well and the high temps that day 87 degF helped the hard skinny tires stick better. My top speed was only about 80 mph but that's ok. The average MPG for about 13 laps was 52 mpg! Hah, show me any track car that can beat that.

Being a large course (approx 1.1 miles) the Insight held a much tighter line than when I Auto-X'd it. I think the larger radious turns were better suited to the Insights predictable understeer (easily cured by tire pressure adjustment). Most of the course felt like a Sunday drive with the light responce from the steering wheel. Only down side is getting your momentum back after threshold braking into a 90deg hairpin turn onto the long straight. Dropping down to 25mph and then trying to go full throttle in second gear at 1500 rpm leaves the torque band in the wrong place to get good horsepower responce. That was the only part of the course I couldn't get the Insight to respond quickly.

A friend of mine who races an 80's Mazda RX7 in SCCA drove the Insight for 10 laps and was impressed with it's stability and quickness. He was only doing about 6/10ths.

Heel toe braking and downshifting are a breeze in the Insight. Even if you don't quite match revs the engine is still quite accomidating.

I wonder if the dealership will notice the abnormal wear on the front tires and say I need an alignment? Ha, ha if only. :lol: