The Camry controversy continues! Famed Nurburgring racing instructor and TTAC contributor Mike Solowiow says the Camry SE sucks. Unfamed Ohio circle track racer and occasional Grand-Am pay-driver/equipment-destroyer Jack Baruth says it’s GRRRRRRRREAT!
Clearly this can only be settled with more racetrack testing of Camrys. Which leads to the completely inexcusable actions above.
Your humble author somehow managed to get a completely empty session at Nelson Ledges Road Course. No other cars. Nobody in the flag stations. Totally empty facility, except for a few people driving lawnmowers. I’m not going to say that I snuck in and was almost immediately ejected, because that’s not strictly true. They knew I was going to be there. Kind of. The bottom line is that I’m probably allowed to come back, some time in the 22nd Century.
Given that kind of freedom and a completely awesome 2012 Camry LE featuring a four-cylinder engine and just 28,000 rental gentle miles, I decided to take some friends around the track. You’ll see some outtakes from that session in an upcoming review of the Camry LE. But the way we ended the day was like this: I piled my brother Mark, whom European TTACers can see during his August tour, National ProSolo Champion Marc Pfannenschmidt, and Marc’s wife, a former model and current wedding photographer, in the Camry for a quick chat.
The first thing we discovered is that the Camry can accomplish that relatively rare street-car feat of taking the “Kink” flat-out. Mostly because it’s only doing 108mph when said Kink appears. Still, the car’s basic composure continues to impress, even without the improved steering and suspension response of the SE model.
The second thing we discovered is that the foot-operated E-brake works very well.
The following disclaimers apply: Do not drive a car no-handed at 80mph in a turn. Ever. Not even on a track. You could get killed. Don’t E-brake your car in a turn. Not even on a racetrack. You could get killed. If there had been a single other car on course, none of this would have happened. Drive safe and smart. No texting occurred during the making of this video, but Marc’s wife’s figure does cause distracted driving and caused a guy at a gas station near Garrettsville, Ohio to walk into a pole because he was staring at her going the other way. Your mileage may vary, but my mileage was excellent.
The helmets are not so much for safety as to hide identity from the rental agencies.
they would have needed burqas to hide their identities
All your passengers are still taking to you, I assume, good for you :-)
Nice. Nelson Ledges is one of my favorite tracks. You’re right to mention the kink, it along with the dip tend to cause Escorts to spontaneously wipe out in my experience.
The kink can get hairy in the wet, let alone the carousel. I’ve done similar with fwd understeer on wet onramps. Passengers don’t like it but it is the nature of the beast.
Glad to see it is a little smoother course than in the past.
Your passengers are sitting in the wrong seats. Seating her up front would have improved the weight distribution.
And here I thought the Camry was going to go on it’s top, a la Bob Lutz’ Kadette.
Outtakes, my friend. Outtakes.
Um at 0:46 is that you taking your hands off the steering wheel and letting it auto return? IIRC that is a big no-no on the track, or maybe you have included that with left foot braking in your driving habits :)
Did you read the text of the story?
+1 for wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt! Rock on!
So the driver’s helmet says IMPACT. Was that a wise choice?
OK so the Camry is a lousy race car.
“The first thing we discovered is that the Camry can accomplish that relatively rare street-car feat of taking the “Kink” flat-out. Mostly because it’s only doing 108mph when said Kink appears.”
I expect most of the cars I’ve owned could do that, mostly because I don’t think they could hit 108 mph on a long, steep downhill with a tailwind.
My ’63 Chrysler Newport (361 V-8, push button Torqueflite) could do that, even with a top speed of 124. The brakes were another matter. 60-0 stops were in the 280-320 feet range, and I honestly can’t imagine mine stopping that short.
Great movie- That Camry was really moving!- and another reason why dad said (besides saying a used car was somebody elses problem) to never never buy from a rental car fleet.
Jack don’t you know in these videos you are supposed to put the jiggly girl up front, not the jiggly brother!
While I currently weigh about 175, well above my target weight of 165, I have to say that shirt is not doing me any favors in that video. :)
I completely understand, I could stand to lose 5 or 10 lbs myself. The cool thing is, when you have a hot wife, you can get away with extra pounds, no one cares. But you still should have put her in the front seat. :)
Different Marc. Even spelled with a ‘c’.
True, but my wife is also hot, so it’s still true. :)
Jack,
What helmet do you use/ recomend?
DK replying on behalf of Jack.
Jack uses an Impact Carbon Fiber helmet. Mark has a Bell BR-1, which is what I have. No complaints. The Carbon Fiber one is much lighter.
MANY years ago when I lived in the northeast there was an annual event among the local autocross crowd. A rental car was selected for each autocrosser to drive on a course. He or she with the best time wins. One year the victim was a Chevette with the three speed auto duct taped into place in second gear.
Ahhhh…memories.
This is why I would never, ever, buy a used rental car.
I’m reasonably certain that I once read an article about Formula Rental Chevette Ice Racing too. I understand Chevette ice racing outlived their time as rental cars, but I think that’s how it started. At some point, they were probably cheaper to buy than to rent anyway.
I was noticing the cheap look of the steering wheel and signal stalk. And console lid.
Baruth always sounds like Nicholas Cage.
I was just listening to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Rock on.
So, does it suck or is it great?
I’m surprised the wheel stays at a fixed position when you take your hands off. Just the right amount of tire slip and pedal input to keep it there?
As part of the disclaimer you might want to add the reason people don’t normally drive on track without marshals and safety crew is because it is in your interest to have someone there to let you know if there are any obstacles around blind turns (wildlife, lawnmowers, some guy walking a dog, etc), as well as the ambulance service in case things do go wrong.
Thanks for the great video though, but I am still waiting for you to find a new mazda 6 or accord to compare before beleiving the camry as a track car hype
I’ll take that 1:17 back please.. If it still made 108 mph with 550 plus lbs in the cabin, then that makes it one hell of a car.
Where is the disco jacket?
I don’t think Chris Harris and DRIVE have a whole lot to worry about. That camera seems pointed in a useless direction.. So did this make you think the Camry is great? What’s the conclusion here..
OK – will someone get Jack a V6 Camry and Capt. Mike a I4 Camry so we can compare apples to apples?
Otherwise, its a bit daft to compare a heavier V6 car to a lighter, more balanced I4 one.
Exactly.
I still don’t really understand the point of this. One of the worst cars in the segment doesn’t fall off the earth when driven around a race track. Ok… so what? It’s still bad advice to tell people that it’s worth buying this thing over massively better cars like the Accord, Mazda6, or Fusion.
GRRRRREEAAT shirt, Jack!
Haven’t seen Powerslave-Themes for a while. In Frankfurt/’Maiden England’ they played Aces High as the first encore, which made the core-crowd go absolutely crazy. Bandits at 8 O’clock move in behind us – Ten ME-109’s out of the sun…
That Dr. Tongue’s Evil House of Pancakes ending freaked me out a bit.
=8-O
Oh damn it, here I am chiding myself for wrapping my thumbs around the steering wheel when I drive! Then again it helps (thank you Ford for including these on the stock GT500 steering wheel) when thumb rests (is that what they are called?) are included.
My Sportage has thumb rests.
At first glance, I though that was Bertel driving, and he’d dyed his moustache. My bad. Bertel’s lens frames are different.
So, a musician, an autocrosser, and a model, BUT NO DUCK???!
What kind of joke is this?