ES3

TJ thanks for such a thorough write-up! Clearly you've been at this for a while. How many years?

A few more questions, perhaps your link answers this. Would alternative tires be that much more helpful for novices, or do road tires make more noise, which may be helpful to beginners so they know where the car's limits are?

Also for the first time out which you recommend me leaving VSC on? Or is it better to get to know the car's capabilities in raw form?

Thx!

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Seriously about the tire pressure? 49 psi? I wouldn't start there personally, but it's an interesting recommendation.

BTW, you'll learn a lot more on cheap tires that slide easily and predictably than you will on ultra-sticky R compound tires. Your times won't be great, but you'll learn car control very quickly (or take out a lot of cones...) at a speed that isn't intimidating.

tjZ06

I started AutoXin' when I bought my '99 Z/28 in '00. Back then I only had the time/money to hit a handful of events every year. Once I finished college I got more heavily into it. I've been going pretty religiously for the last 3 years now (1 season in the '99 Z/28, then I sold the Z/28 and got a Z06 and the last 2 years have been in that).

I moved to race tires about half way through my first "full" season of consistent racing. The first 4 years I AutoXed I just made occasional events and I stuck with street tires. Race tires are tricky because the levels of grip are so high, break-away is silent (unless you're really, really, really under-steering the car), and they let you do things you just shouldn’t be able to do in a car.

I say learn on street tires for at least a year or so. In the long run the "cheapest" way to AutoX on a regular basis is to get a second set of wheels (a good excuse to put some nice 19s on for street use and keep your stock 18s for AX) and keep an eye out for good used race rubber. Until you get super competitive in a class (and I don't really think there's a class a 2IS could ever be super competitive in) buying brand new race tires isn't worth it. Used Kuhmo 710s are an awesome deal because you can get very long life out of them (for a race tire) if you don't mind them being a few tenths of a second per lap slower than the first 40 or so runs the tires had. I've had much worse luck with used Hoosier A6s, so I buy those new now.

With street tires you can use the noise they're making to judge the limit. A street tire that is just on the edge should be barely "singing" to you. When they start screaming you are pushing too hard.

As for VSC, I say "kill it all." Corvettes have a similar setup (a traction control, and a stability control) and some guys just kill traction control. I think its a "crutch" and will slow down the learning process. But I noticed in my Lexus that the VSC is WAY over conservative and steps in way too hard, way too early. It will only frustrate you when you are truly doing things right (a little slip angle is standard on street tires, even if its not visible) and the car is beeping at you and cutting throttle/hitting the brakes. Without VSC you'll loop the car a few times, but that's what you're there for! Learn those limits in a safe, controlled environment.

I really think everybody w/ a RWD car should get the tail out many times and learn to catch it. Once you've done it enough the reaction becomes natural, you never even think about it. In time you'll find that before you even have the time to think "whoa, she almost came around there" you've fed in some counter-steer, eased off the throttle some (but not lifted ) and the car is tracking straight. Literally before you can even "think" about what just happened.

I agree 100% about the tires. I ran an AutoX school in the rain and that was better-yet. At that point the limits are low enough that everybody is stepping their cars out even if they'd be too timid to try it in the dry. And if you can learn to AutoX in the rain, you can learn to AutoX in the dry easy as pie!

Anyway, 49 might be a hair high... but surprisingly not much. I hear 45 pretty often from street tire racers (in lighter cars, with "better" tires). In a heavy 2IS though I might start at 48/46 front/rear (assuming a 50psi max rating for the tires). Be sure to adjust the tire pressure after every run, as the tires heat up the pressure will come up (often 2-3psi per run in the fronts) and you'll need to adjust back down to your desired settings. If you don't you'll a) be running pressures that are unsafe they are so high b) have inconsistent handling since your tire pressures will be different all the time.

Once you're relatively comfortable with the car and your driving start bringing the tire pressures DOWN from that starting point and pay very close attention to the edge of the tire where the tread comes down to the sidewall. Some shoe-polish on the edge of the tread/sidewall is a handy tuning aide. You want to bring the pressure down until you find the point where you use every last bit of tread, but do not roll over onto the sidewall. Keep in mind if you severly push a turn, and especially if you turn into under-steer you'll get "a false reading" since even at huge psi the tire will roll over when abused like this. Only consider readings from laps that had moderate under-steer at most.


This is the type of tread-wear you're looking for: all the way to the edge but NOT onto the sidewall at all.






Oh, one thing I think I forgot to mention in my previous post about driving style, but I touched on a bit above: DO NOT TURN INTO UNDER-STEER.

I’ve sort of assumed we all know what under-steer (aka push) is, but let me give the quick and dirty definition. Under-steer is basically when the car isn’t turning as much as you’re asking it to. Hence the term “push” since the front end is just “pushing” its way forward instead of turning. Also known as “plow” for obvious reasons. With only a 225 front tire on a heavy car I thought under-steer was going to be a huge problem with the 2IS, but it actually is very balanced setup. That (pleasant) surprise was one of the things that led to my purchase. Still, there is only so much front grip available, and you can only ask the car to do so much.

When the car begins to under-steer, or push one of the common rookie mistakes is to turn further into the under-steer. It’s a natural reaction: the car isn’t turning enough right… well heck I’m going to steer more right! This will only make the situation worse as you’ll only be increasing the angle between the cars actual path and the direction the front tires are pointed. This will take the tires further away from the envelope in which they actually work. They are not designed to work sliding across the pavement at an extreme angle from the path of travel. If you get into under-steer lift off the throttle (if you’re on it) or VERY gently apply some brake. This will get weight back up to the front of the car. While you’re doing this “unwind” the steering wheel (aka turn back OUT of the turn, so if it’s a right turn move the steering wheel to the left) to give the tires a chance to bite again. Wait until the screaming goes away and you feel the car catch (and the car should have also slowed down considerably) THEN turn back into your turn. You don’t have to unwind all the way, just enough degrees to get the front tires pointed where the car is actually traveling, or at least close, again.

-TJ

PS- lbouxracer I know you have a racing background of some sort, so this advice isn’t directed at you. I know you already know this stuff. 

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

I've raced lots of things with two and four wheels. I think I have the most fun in karts.