Autocross Stinger GT Surprisingly Fun

[Brian B]

I finally got around to putting my Stinger GT (GT AWD with all seasons) through the paces of an autocross event and I had a blast. It was great way to spend a birthday ! I classed it into FS and ran neck and neck with the two drivers of the 2012 mustang GT in the FS class (they shared the car but both drove the car 9 times since there was only 55 drivers that day). It was nice to get 9 runs in a single event.

The other 2013 mustang in FS was on worn but still vastly superior BRIDGESTONE POTENZA RE-71R tires and driven by an excellent autocross driver who was very helpful with pointers. He placed 17th out of 55 (Im not there yet in my skills lol) I was 38 out of 55 drivers.

The good:
People loved it !
It can actually move decent despite the all season tires.
Low end torque monster !
AWD in sport mode with traction and stability control off will hang the rear end out a bit !
Placed 38 out of 55 drivers

The bad:
The car requires calculated smooth transitions in tight corners otherwise, the rear really has a hard time dealing with abrupt direction changes.. I learned the hard way in the technical slalom lol (Spun it).
Stock all seasons and tire size for the Stinger are not meant for this sort of thing ( a given but manageable).
The Stinger was literary the heaviest car out of the 55 cars at the event !
Could really benefit from a upgraded rear sway bar like people have mentioned before, I see the light now !

Take a look at the times all adjusted with the pax timing.

 

[Brian B]

Just some photos of some cars from the event.

 

[forzanerazzurri]

Sweet. I was going to mention the weight but you did. Not an ideal car to Autocross being that heavy.

 

[robz32]

Considering the competition and the specs of our car I think it did pretty good for full stock.

 

[CaliSting]

Fun times! While Stinger is heavy it does have one ingredient other cars don’t. Torque. On some courses it is a monster. I have surprised guys with my car. Also with RWD gt2 I’m not afraid to hang tail out so it’s a crowd pleaser too. I ran against 350R Mustang with good driver and he was so impressed with car he asked for ride. So funny as he would drive by me on grid he would give me that it’s you verses me look. I held him to 1 second in my stock GT2.

I think thing that surprised me about Stinger is that it handles so damn well for big heavy car. It almost feels like a momentum car on some courses. It turns very well once you learn what it likes.

At Porsche club events I had guy say damn that Kia makes a good car. He was handing out timing slips and I was beating his times in his 911.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

Fun times! While Stinger is heavy it does have one ingredient other cars don’t. Torque. On some courses it is a monster. I have surprised guys with my car. Also with RWD gt2 I’m not afraid to hang tail out so it’s a crowd pleaser too. I ran against 350R Mustang with good driver and he was so impressed with car he asked for ride. So funny as he would drive by me on grid he would give me that it’s you verses me look. I held him to 1 second in my stock GT2.

I think thing that surprised me about Stinger is that it handles so damn well for big heavy car. It almost feels like a momentum car on some courses. It turns very well once you learn what it likes.

At Porsche club events I had guy say damn that Kia makes a good car. He was handing out timing slips and I was beating his times in his 911.

Shame it will be extinct by 2020

 

[Flameangel]

Shame it will be extinct by 2020

Why will it be extinct ? aren't kia making anymore Stingers after 2020 ?

 

[Stinger GT SS]

Why will it be extinct ? aren't kia making anymore Stingers after 2020 ?

Hahaha, no it’s just a little dig at Kia Stinger doomsayer @CaliSting, so don’t panic.