Star Road

For a five year period, I completely neglected this website. Of course, during that time I was still doing the usual sort of car things; I just didn’t post about them on this site. Today is February 6th, and on this date four years ago I visited Sonoma Raceway. It was a Sunday, and the track was buzzing with two events: an autocross and a full track day. I went to hang with Chris and his orange FR-S, and to see some cool cars going fast.

If you want to see the coolest modded cars, head to the track. Of course it was the more extreme machines that caught my eye first, but there were much more humble machines out there as well.

There was quite a furor over blown FA24 engines early on, but it seems to have died down. In any case, the second generation “eight-six” is still one of the most popular cars at the track.

The autocross was well underway and within sight, so I went that way first. I never see the third generation MR2 these days so it was a treat to see this out there. People have always seemed to hate how these look, but I always thought they were pretty cool, although I’ve never driven one.

General selection of Nor Cal tuner cars in 2022. Pretty neat selection of stuff, like an old Camaro and hey is that..?

Yup, that’s a Camry Hybrid. It looked and sounded stock to me. I do see that it was smartly equipped with Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tires though.

People always mention that their car needs something or another to be “track ready”, and anyway it just costs so much for a track day. Well, here in 2026, I can see that it’s only $125 to sign up for an event in three weeks with SpeedSF at this same exact spot, the same type of no-work autocross with “unlimited” laps. If some dude in a Camry Hybrid is out there thrashing it, you have no excuse! And in case you’re wondering how much it cost for me to check all this out as a spectator: absolutely nothing. Free entry, just park and enjoy.

There really isn’t much to see at an autocross, so I decided to go see what was running around one of the best race tracks in the world. Well, forget Camry Guy. If someone is out there in an automatic 2010 Civic LX sedan, you can take your car out to the track!

With the chunky rubber and extra aero addenda, I think these track-prepped A90 Supras look especially cool.

I am a simple person. I see World Rally Blue, I take photo of World Rally Blue. Nice number choice on this STi.

Another MR2! I’ve always thought the second generation looks like a baby NSX, although it does have its own style. This thing was almost too gorgeous; I think part of the reason people were sour on the next generation car was this one had been so beautiful.

This was just a regular track day, so anyone could enter. On the other side of the Honda spectrum from an automatic Civic might be something like this heavily modified S2000. I love the second frame, where you can see the car is yawing out with just a few degrees of countersteer dialed in. Seeing cars on the limit is why I love going to the track and what got me into motorsport photography. Getting to see people do this for fun on a Sunday is a real treat.

Now we were into the Rear Wing class. I’m sure it comes in handy through the esses and turns 9 and 10.

I think this is the stock wing on the ZL1, actually. It’s a bit shrimpy in this company but it will do.

Whoa! This E92 M3 takes the cake. That’s a wingu and a half for sure.

It’s the law at track days that there has to be a fast Miata right up somebody’s ass in the corners but can’t pass them in the straights and no one will let them by.

I’ve always thought the FK8 Civic Type R looked pretty cool. It’s even better with a good wheel/tire combo and the requisite track aero.

Back at the autocross course, there’s no aero: just a ton of mechanical grip from big wide tires.

They call this type of event “Driftocross” because they switch between session types of drift and autocross. Unlike grip driving, there is a very wide discrepancy in drift driving. Not surprising, considering most of us spend the vast majority of our time on the road with a good amount of grip in reserve, not sliding around with a turn of countersteer. This 350Z driver was smooth and sideways through the entire course.

On the other hand, this Z4M gets an A for effort with a good amount of speed and angle, but the overall results were not quite as good. But that’s exactly why you come out and explore the limits at an event like this. You get a ton of runs, and I could see the improvement as the session progressed.

Who says a Mercedes SLK isn’t a sports car! Most everyone, actually. This thing sure looks awesome though; the design has aged well. And are those Enkei RPF1’s? Just looking at this photo makes me want one even though they are so tiny inside.

When this car, the F87 M2, came out in 2016 there was a huge uproar about the shapes of the lower bumper around the grilles, which looked so extreme at the time. Of course, we had no idea how lucky we were in comparison to the new G87 M2, which looks like a nightmarish cubist portrait of a sneezing capybara.

Since the day it was released the S2000 has been a cool car, but as with every Honda, the tuning scene really made them properly cool.

This is Chris’ FR-S. Sadly I have no photos of him driving that day. I recall he was having some sort of minor issue and didn’t want to drive it on the track.

On a track day you can just walk through the garages. At the back of the garages are windows that, because we’re in California, slide open! From here you can get a great view over the pit lane to Turn 11.

Dick Trickle’s Miller High Life livery from the 1989 NASCAR season was an inspired choice on this (maybe 1989?) E30. Not only a rad throwback to a fun driver from a great era, it just looks great too.

Purple E36’s always tend to look too dark in photos, but I had a favorable angle of light to show off this one.

Out of nowhere, a JDM Daihatsu fire truck popped up. It could only be one person: fellow DWAer Todd from San Francisco.

Heavy vehicles transfer so much energy. It’s amazing how resilient tires are even with this kind of treatment.

Yes, you can even track your stupid grey Tesla if you want to. Outside of high center-of-gravity vehicles like trucks and SUV’s, whatever you drive can surely be taken to the track.

In closing, I would like to share two ways for the same car to take the same turn in completely different ways while using both axles. First, this 2016 Subaru BRZ Series HyperBlue demonstrates the grip method. Check out the rear tire; the sidewall is deflecting a bit and the edge of the tread block is on the tarmac. The front tires are right around the slip angle limit and the sidewall is rolling over a bit past the tread, showing how much energy is going through them. On a photographic note, this was shot at f/3.5 and 1/640 to freeze the action and emphasize the grip; plus it adds some nice background bokeh.

On the other hand, with a very different driving and photographic style, is this rally-inspired 2019 Subaru BRZ Series.gray demonstrating the drift style. In contrast to the previous photo, I shot this with a 1/125 shutter at f/9.0 to emphasize the motion of the car sliding with the wheels spinning. The cars’ noses are pointed at the same place, but this one is rotating with a lot more yaw on the rear axle than the front. There’s not a lot of power in these cars, so it must be at or near full throttle to get even that little puff of smoke off the back tires.

Ah, tires. I love the look of well-used tires. They’re just one of the many things that are deeply satisfying to me about going to the track. If you live anywhere close to a race track, check the schedule. These amateur events can be just as fun as the big professional ones and cost literally nothing. And if you really want a good time, sign up for a track day and drive your own car!