How active is the club in Seattle area? Motorsports?

mike325ci

New member
Hey guys, I'm an old member here (had my current ST185 since 2003, also had an ST165) from New York City...

I'm very likely to move out there to the Seattle area (Issaquah) this coming fall for my new job, and I've been researching a lot of things as one normally would, but one thing I can't find much info on is things as it pertains to cars.... I wonder how different it is than out here in NYC.

I'm also a big autocross (and track) person, so I want to know how active that is around there-- how big are the turnouts? I found websites for the Porsche Club and BMW Club and an affiliate(?) of SCCA that runs autocrosses not that far from Seattle, so that's a good sign... There also seems to be a track to the south that's not that far away, too...

Also, specifically, are there a lot of Toyota/MR2/AllTrac folks in the area? (Where I'm from, it's very rare to see another AllTrac on the road-- in my 12 years of ownership I have not seen a single one yet [that wasn't a MR2/AllTrac meet] and only know of 3 friends in the area that have one... Frequent meets? (I just browsed this subforum and there seems to be a fair amount of events...)

If my company pays for the shipping of my car as part of the relocation package, I'll bring my ST185 over. Else I might just buy another car once I arrive...

(P.S. is rally/rallycross big in the area? Anyone been to this? http://www.dirtfish.com/ )
 

ChrisD

New member
Hey Mike!

You should connect with Joey Sim, he's quite into the autocross scene there. Also, good to connect with the PNW All-Trac (GT4) group on Facebook. Of course, we host the Ogopogo meet each summer in BC, which is definitely close enough for seattle people, which includes our own private autocross event.

That's a big move! I bet there will be a lot of adjustment from life in New York.
 

Eurus

New member
Not to toot my own horn, but check out my website: PNWCarCulture.com. I keep a very up to date calendar on events, from shows to races, for events in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and BC. We also host an annual Celica & Supra Meet, this year we will be at Toyota of Kirkland.

Also, if you're on Facebook, we have a group for PNW Alltracs.

As for Autocross and Toyota (MR2) groups, there is BSCC, Bremerton Sports Car Club, Toyota Syndicate NW (mostly kids in their 20's) and Puget Sound Toyota Owners Club (which is kind of dieing out.)

If you want any more info hit up another fellow (Western) New Yorker turned Washintonian (me), and Ill try and get more info for ya!
Good luck with the move!
 

underscore

Well-known member
In Seattle you've got three tracks within ~4 hours of you (The Ridge near Seattle, Mission Raceway north of the border, and ORP at the Oregon/Washington border). Rally is decently popular up here in BC at least, there's several TSD events each year that will be near you both in BC and Washington/Oregon, as well as the Pacific Forest Rally (stage rally) in Merritt every fall (~4hrs away from Seattle). I'm sure there's even more going on in Washington but I'm just a bit too far from Washington to justify going to them.

Dirtfish rally school is on my bucket list but at the moment a bit beyond my budget, I've heard good things about it though.
 

CMS-GT4

Active member
When we were considering seattle I found that there are a lot of back roads to enjoy as well. Seems there are a lot of local to the area forums that talk about driving roads. So its got that going for it.
 

Eurus

New member
CMS-GT4":1git0tvd said:
When we were considering seattle I found that there are a lot of back roads to enjoy as well. Seems there are a lot of local to the area forums that talk about driving roads. So its got that going for it.

Lot of good driving roads outside of Seattle.
 

mike325ci

New member
Thanks, I'll be sure to check out those sites/groups~!

(I'm actually in Issaquah right now, going back to NYC tomorrow night. This afternoon, in a span of about 2 hours, I saw 3 red SW20 MR2s, lol...) It's definitely very different out here, but not as much as I had imagined, and I feel like it's something I can adjust to, so that's good.

I'm having second thoughts about bringing my car here, though-- it seems like you need to drive a lot around here, so I probably need a more appropriate and dependable daily driver, not a temperamental toy... (e.g. I still get occasional warm start / stalling problems and no idea why-- I stalled in the middle of the highway during rush hour in Brooklyn the other day... I think it's a sign I need to go to Prime for a Gen4 swap :twisted: j/k)
 

___Scott___

Active member
mike325ci":2cz04uif said:
(e.g. I still get occasional warm start / stalling problems and no idea why-- I stalled in the middle of the highway during rush hour in Brooklyn the other day...
Is this stalling issue like you are driving along and the engine shuts off just as if you had turned the key off? When you try to restart, sometimes it will fire right back up and other times it will just crank but not fire at all?

If that's a fair description of your problem, I've been through it and eventually found the EFI relay to be the problem on my ST165. The saga that led up to that discovery starts here.
 

93cc

Member
Off the top of my head there are 7 running 5th gen Alltracs in the atea.

and I know a good shop that could do anything you need on the alltrac if you decide to bring it
 

mike325ci

New member
___Scott___":lylr8txm said:
mike325ci":lylr8txm said:
Is this stalling issue like you are driving along and the engine shuts off just as if you had turned the key off? When you try to restart, sometimes it will fire right back up and other times it will just crank but not fire at all?

If that's a fair description of your problem, I've been through it and eventually found the EFI relay to be the problem on my ST165. The saga that led up to that discovery starts here.

Thanks Scott-- I remember reading your thread before, but the symptoms are a little different than yours-- but I saw how frustrating it was for you to replace all those parts to figure out exactly what the culprit was. Basically, my car has problems starting when it's warm (first time starting it's fine b/c it's cold. The hot wire to the starter was one related cause (corroded; replaced with thicker 2ga wire). Swapping the EFI Relay (with another used one), while waiting it to cool off (about 5-10 minutes) gets it to start again almost all the time. I'm thinking maybe get a brand new EFI Relay and try that. It gets very very hot (along with other relays in the fuse box). It's only from a month ago that the engine now stalls and shuts off while driving (happened 2x so far)-- and before it does that, when I open the throttle, the car jerks b/c it doesn't want to rev (it drops to about 500rpm momentarily and then goes back up-- back and forth about 3 times). Very weird... :shrug:

Nice, 7 running ATs in the area is A LOT! :))

If all goes well, I should be moving out there in mid/late September. I don't have details of the relocation package yet and what they cover. If they pay for shipping my car, I'll bring it, what the heck. Even if I have to buy another beater/daily... ;)
 

corax

New member
mike325ci":2tm6m2pb said:
(P.S. is rally/rallycross big in the area? Anyone been to this? http://www.dirtfish.com/ )

Yes, yes it is. Oregon Rally Group (oregonrally.com) has been averaging more than 70 entries per event with 1 event every month from April - September.
If you want instruction Dirtfish is excellent, but $pendy - Primitive Racing (http://get-primitive.com/) also puts on single day classes about once a year for a lot less money.
If you want to see stage rally, volunteering at an event is the best way. Wild West Rally will be in the Shelton area (not far from Seattle) at the beginning of September, Mt Hood Rally is usually late October near Hood River, Oregon, + there are a bunch of winter rallies in Canada.
 

mike325ci

New member
Sweet, I checked out the Oregon Rally Group website and Facebook page just now... Looks pretty active and fun! :) Thanks!
 

corax

New member
mike325ci":1pm6kuzz said:
Looks pretty active and fun! :) Thanks!

If you've never been to an event before, the rally community is one of the friendliest bunches in motorsport that I've ever encountered - if you hang around long enough, you'll understand what people mean by "rally family".
BTW, even if you don't want to drive, come to one of the RallyX events (with your own helmet or use one of the loaners) and you can get free ride-alongs to see what it's about.
 
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