86 Challenge wraps up its most competitive season
86 Challenge has been steadily growing for the last 10 years. The 2024 season saw more participants than any so far — a total of 90!
Several events had the podium split by less than a second. They even had some drivers within a hundredth (0.01) of a second! That’s one tenth of a blink of an eye.
Stock Class Highlights
Stock class lost one of its best when Haowei decided to jump to Street class with his Gen 2. It made sense for him — he already had 6 stock class records. With Ivan and Richard the only frontrunners returning for 2024, it was unclear who else would be challenging for the podium. The favorite was Brian, aka 900BRZ, who placed 5th in 2023.
Ivan, thanks to his experience, handily drove away with the championship. He added a bit more front camber and swapped to Bilstein dampers, turning his car into an oversteery monster. He managed to collect 5 records and 7 wins in the process.
However, nobody could have predicted the ferocity of the fight that ensued for the next 2 steps of the podium. A couple of hotshots joined the fray in 2024.
Nico was the first (and only) gen 2 driver to topple one of Haowei’s records — a 1:57.3 at Sonoma, with help from the newly repaved track surface. This was just his third 86 Challenge event, and his 10th track day overall. He beat 7 other stock Gen 2s, overcoming the new surface’s understeer.
Dennis made his first appearance with fresh tires at round 8 — his 6th track day — with just 3 rounds left in the season. But he made it count by winning 2 events in a row, prying the Sonoma record out of Nico’s hands.
Dennis put Brian under pressure to defend his championship position at the finale. Lucky for Brian, Dennis wasn’t as confident with the mixed conditions and tricky 5-mile layout, which allowed Brian to land his first championship podium.
Dennis and Nico tied for 4th. Aris was 3 points away from making it a 3-way tie.
However, the most consistent newcomer was Saurabh, who, after suffering a bitter loss to Nico in round 2, managed to stay on the podium the rest of the year and lock in 2nd in the championship.
There were so many close battles for other positions — everyone had someone to chase.
Street Class Highlights
The matchup of the season: Timur vs Haowei. Until this year, we never got to see these two duke it out in the same class.
Haowei opened strong, taking 2 wins in a row with nothing but used 245 SX2s and a bit more camber. But then, at round 3, an upset: Bill Wu on top, then Timur, then Haowei, who had finally installed coilovers but somehow gone backwards, and only shaved 3 tenths from his stock class PB.
Bill took 3 wins in a row, leading people to speculate whether it was his choice of coilovers, his multitude of Cusco braces, or his skills that were making the difference.
Timur, for years, has been steadily building his skills, setup, and pace from a rock-solid foundation. He is perhaps the human embodiment of “measure twice, cut once”. His disciplined approach with a small helping of double sign-ups finally paid off this season, with a heroic 4-win streak to clinch the title. He also added 4 records to his collection.
Bill Wu had an excellent showing this season, taking 2nd from Haowei by a margin of just 2 points. His lack of familiarity with the rare Buttonwillow Reverse and Thunderhill West Reverse layouts cost him the championship.
Haowei reverted to stock springs with non-adjustable Bilstein dampers, electing to spend his points on aero instead — quite an unconventional approach. It wasn’t enough to stop Timur this year. We’ll see if he sticks to it for 2025.
Touring Class Highlights
Qianli has rapidly ascended through the 86 Challenge. In 2022, he was doing his first events in Stock class. In 2023, he took 3 wins in 4 events in street class. For 2024, he moved up to Touring with a gloves-off build for GridLife and SpeedSF S4. A splitter, wing, hood vent, and 100tw RC-1s meant he needed to outdrive some heavy handicaps. Will and Tor stuck to minimal builds, electing to minimize their handicaps.
Will’s car was mostly identical to a Street class build. SX2s, non-adjustable coils, and a fatter rear bar were all it took for him to glide to his championship title, always staying a gear higher than his competition. Some of his lap times would be Street class records, so even if they're not official, his performance gives us a glimpse into Gen 2’s Street class potential.
Qianli wrestled his beast of a car to 2nd place, showing us what it takes to extract pace from a heavily modified car. It turns out a big wang is not free speed. He struggled with terminal understeer at the beginning of the season but was able to tune it out eventually with ARBs.
Tor, the retiree (so he claims), was happy to stay on the podium. He continues to skirt black flags while roasting his stickier 18” SX2s.
Touring Class in 2025
For 2025, Touring class will be simplified. Instead of assigning handicaps to modifications, all drivers will have up to 7 modification points to build their cars. The winner will be determined solely by the stopwatch!
Expect to see records fall and S2000s sweat as more competitive drivers with 200tw-focused builds sign up to show what they and their cars are capable of.
Unlimited Class
It wasn't an eventful year for Unlimited class, probably because the points cap on Touring class was so high. We did see a few builds such as Qianli’s and Gary’s (of Eggplant Supra fame) that will fall into Unlimited for 2025. Expect to see more drivers follow them. For example, any Gen. 2 with forced induction and 200tw tires will be sent straight to Unlimited.
Want to join the fun?
Whether you’re just starting your high-performance journey, or you’re a jaded PB junkie looking for your next hit, 86 Challenge has a class and, more importantly, a community for you. See the 2025 schedule at https://86challenge.us/events.
Want more information? Join the 86 Challenge Discord.
Published by Saurabh Kulkarni on January 23, 2025 09:48