Veloster Turbo at the track

[Pierce7144]

Hey guys---got the car, spent a week putting miles on it and got it to the track---ran all day without issue allthough the tires even after flipping them around several times were wearing pretty thin. I took a bunch of video and will do a proper review after we hatch it together but I wanted to share some pics---the car did very well/great power and relatively decent handling for a sporty hatch! Oh we were at Willow Springs...






and the obligatory peace sign---or V for Veloster??? Nope...

[nvyseal]

Looks like you had a great day of fun!

[hsh2000pk]

will wait for the review. agree, looks like you had a lot of fun

[Pierce7144]

It was fun indeed---by the way I weighed the car at the track with 2 gallons of fuel in it and it came in at 2790lbs---I have no sunroof/turbo/6 speed manual---the impressive part was that the split was near perfect and the crossweights with me in it were 49.7%/50.3%---that's impressive even for a racecar with coilovers being corner balanced!!

[Pierce7144]

I'm still editing the footage together, but here's a taste of it. Did some quick lead/follow laps with a student of mine behind in a BMW.

[silverarrow27]

Looks fun!

[HyundaiVeloster]

sigh if there was a race track near by ...

[MTD]

These are the types of reviews that I love reading. Made by someone (I assume) with no affiliation to a magazine, internet forum or even a manufacturer.

Do you plans to track the VT or have any other plans for it?
What do you think can be improved on the car?
Have you run any other newer cars through your review/testing process?

[Pierce7144]

I enjoy reading peoples unbiased reviews as well---Your absolutely right, I don't have anything to do with any of the above---and I do have plans to develop a complete product line for the trackday/race guy which can be used to enhance someones dailydriver for sure. My car will run either timeattack or performance touring next year and then the following either get developed for US Touring car or World Challenge TC---we'll see how this year goes.

I looked at 4 cars mainly before I pulled the trigger on the VT---the Ford Focus ST, the Dodge Dart turbo, the SCION FRS, and the Veloster Turbo. I've liked/raced mainly fords all my life---mostly in the desert/baja stuff and had some success with them back in the 90's. I really haven't cared for the focus until this year (in fact for the roadrace stuff I raced the dodge SRT4 in grand-am and skipped over the earlier focus' developing a complete performance line for the 2ND fen Ford Escort's), and was excited to hear of new styling and of course the turbo. I drove the focus st and found that while it had incredible power, most of it wasn't useable---it needed a diff badly and with the tracs off it had so much wheelspin (with the tracs on it was too limiting)---and the price was ridicuous---not many folks can afford a near $30k hatch and then dump dollars to tune it---so I passed. The dart was awful---great look, but heavy, too soft/poor geometry, notchy shifter, disconnected feel---so I passed. The FRS was wonderful---well balanced, crisp---not quick, but fun like a miata almost. The price point was a bit high and really after researching the aftermarket it was really saturated before the car was released (for aftermarket performance parts)---at SEMA they're were a ton of them with product lines everywhere.

The Veloster however had amazing styling, great power/lightweight at a great price point---and I'd bet if we but equal tires on it and the FRS and took them to the big track at Willow they'd be very similar in laptimes (the Veloster Torque would pull away from the FRS and then the FRS would drive around it through the turns..). The aftermarket support for Hyundai is very little and the car will greatly benefit from tuning/suspension mods---and don't let anyone tell you the rear suspension is going to be a limiting factor---if you look at the last 10 years of american touring car racing---like in grand-am/Koni challenge stuff, the Cobalts, KIA's, Golf's etc have done very well with the rear beams---it's all in the setup. So I was excited to choose the Veloster and look forward to making it an amazing trackday/race platform---I got a good baseline at Willow---I'm still cutting the video together but I'll put a bit more rough stuff out this weekend. I really enjoy the car/process/learning how to make it better/faster.

These are the types of reviews that I love reading. Made by someone (I assume) with no affiliation to a magazine, internet forum or even a manufacturer.

Do you plans to track the VT or have any other plans for it?
What do you think can be improved on the car?
Have you run any other newer cars through your review/testing process?

[MTD]

Excellent, excellent info.

You were hauling a$$ around that track. I remember reading that Willow is a very fast track too. Looks like a blast. My Genesis would would be fun there.

[Pierce7144]

Thanks-I can't tell you how many times I've been around that track---a few thousand in every type of car imaginable---including the genesis. It is a super fast track---in my racecar I average 100mph there!! Here's a bit more footage---some in car with poor audio, but you can just make it out. We're hoping to use the audio from the handheld and splice it together for the final vid.

[RPW00Mirage]

so jealous. my buddy mike races there in his ITR swapped sol.

great photos and videos. :thumbsup:

[RayT2]

I'm still editing the footage together, but here's a taste of it. Did some quick lead/follow laps with a student of mine behind in a BMW.

Enjoyed your reveiw nothing like being out on a track to really turn this car lose legally. Wish I could have done my track testing on my V at this track. I however was on east coast at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut and did a short autocross run back in February this year only because we had no snow and SCCA offered this day to its track workers free of charge.
Again nice report and run with your VT.

[Pierce7144]

Limerock!!! I've always wanted to run there---back in 05' I was racing a Dodge SRT4 in Grand-am cup and the series went to Limerock and I missed it/still regret missing it. I guess the grass is always greener, but Willow doesn't quite have the "character" that Limerock does...We do have infineon out here though and it's a great track...I'm liking the free day that SCCA offered---gotta take care of the crew!!!

[RayT2]

Limerock!!! I've always wanted to run there---back in 05' I was racing a Dodge SRT4 in Grand-am cup and the series went to Limerock and I missed it/still regret missing it. I guess the grass is always greener, but Willow doesn't quite have the "character" that Limerock does...We do have infineon out here though and it's a great track...I'm liking the free day that SCCA offered---gotta take care of the crew!!!

Limerock is my "home" track" since I'm only an hour away. I wish the chance would have come up to use the actual track but settled for the much smaller "Butterfly" course they use for teaching and as go-cart track. Jaguar Club offers a "Track Day" every July, bring'em and run'em. I have long ago run my 69 AMX during a track day event there and enjoyed the hell out of it, took 3rd place in class for first time ever running the track. I always followed the Trans-Am Series way back in 69/70's. Joining SCCA years later as crew and flagging/communications was the best thing I ever involved myself in. I flagged Trans-Am, ALMS & Grand Am finale this year and other SCCA support races. Next to actually turning the wheel it don't get any better.
The V would love to open up on this 1.5 mile road course. I agree the I beam rear is a little squirrly but you did say it could be tweaked to work better. I'm gonna consider the Jaguar track day event for this year but $$ could be the deciding factor.

[Pierce7144]

Go do it for sure---it's good for the soul!!! Here's another bit of video from the camera car, they're almost done putting everything together...

[gchin]

Great videos. Enjoyed the runs.

[Pierce7144]

Here's the almost final product---we're struggling with the audio, but it has enough volume to be reasonable. This is part one-

[The HACK]

WSIR (Willow Spring International Raceway) eats up tires like crazy. By far the WORST in terms of tire wear due to the poor surface and the massively long, high speed sweeper.

[gchin]

Enjoyed the latest video.

Which tires are on the car?

After the laps, how is the wear on the fronts vs. the rears?