Spring Practice Day in beautiful AZ!

[mopwer]

YouTube - 2-17-08 AZ Solo Practice Day - MR2 Turbo

Greg

[kbrew8991]

slalomns are getting better, the one run that started right around 2:45 was really good (though the rest of the run was a bit rought, heh)

next course you walk I'd look at places where you can make 2-3 turns into one smooth arc, there are some spots in this course that would benifit from that technique

the last run was really good except the last corner the only thing that I would've done differently was catch the rear of the car more smoothly, but that takes alot of "pitch and catch" to get down pat

[mopwer]

Originally Posted by kbrew8991

slalomns are getting better, the one run that started right around 2:45 was really good (though the rest of the run was a bit rought, heh)

next course you walk I'd look at places where you can make 2-3 turns into one smooth arc, there are some spots in this course that would benifit from that technique

the last run was really good except the last corner the only thing that I would've done differently was catch the rear of the car more smoothly, but that takes alot of "pitch and catch" to get down pat

The slaloms felt better as the day went. I knocked off about 1 sec on two of the fun runs (not recorded) by hitting the slaloms faster.

Don't know about all this pitching and catching stuff, but I'm not into that! But really, thanks for the advice. The front end was pushing at the 2 90s after the second slalom after getting on the brakes hard. Maybe I needed to slow down earlier to maintain some grip there. After that, the back end gets loose in the big turns when the boost comes up.

I ended up cording my left rear Hoosier, probably from the spin on the first run! Now I don't have rear tires to run on. Guess I'll have to use my street tires. Big wheels, yuck!

Greg

[kbrew8991]

yeah, understeer sucks, only thing you can do is go slower in and be patient

[mopwer]

Originally Posted by kbrew8991

yeah, understeer sucks, only thing you can do is go slower in and be patient

I'm guessing the biggest contributor is the limited slip and the front tires have a lot of camber. So, unless I can get the weight to transfer better to the front tires on a slow turn in, it pushes. Any thoughts?

Greg

[Gairloch]

More negative camber (If that's what you mean) will, up to a point, cause the front tires to grip better in a corner decreasing understeer not increasing it.

What are your tire sizes? What tires? What pressures?

Are you trail braking into the turn or getting all your braking done before?

[Lachrymal Cloud]

that was rad. let me know about any other events. i'd love to come out.

[mopwer]

Originally Posted by Gairloch

More negative camber (If that's what you mean) will, up to a point, cause the front tires to grip better in a corner decreasing understeer not increasing it.

What are your tire sizes? What tires? What pressures?

Are you trail braking into the turn or getting all your braking done before?

I'm braking very hard before the corner. Please explain trail braking. I've asked this from a few others and get different answers.

Front tires are Nitto Drag radials in 205x45r15. Running 36-37#. Rears are Hoosier R6 in 205x50r15 running 28#. They do well in faster corners, but push in the slow ones.

If there is too much negative camber, the contact patch is much smaller until the car leans which should flatten it out. That's what I meant by too much camber. If the car doesn't transfer enough weight and lean in a slower corner, the tire won't flatten out.

Greg

[mopwer]

Originally Posted by Lachrymal Cloud

that was rad. let me know about any other events. i'd love to come out.

I have a track day next month, I'll post up in the Southwest forum when I'm sure its going to happen.

Greg

[Gairloch]

Originally Posted by mopwer

I'm braking very hard before the corner. Please explain trail braking. I've asked this from a few others and get different answers.

Front tires are Nitto Drag radials in 205x45r15. Running 36-37#. Rears are Hoosier R6 in 205x50r15 running 28#. They do well in faster corners, but push in the slow ones.

If there is too much negative camber, the contact patch is much smaller until the car leans which should flatten it out. That's what I meant by too much camber. If the car doesn't transfer enough weight and lean in a slower corner, the tire won't flatten out.

Greg

Trail braking is when you extend the the braking zone into the turn. Some cars are friendlier to this technique than others. It can be done with an MR2 but you have to be super smooth with the pedal inputs. If you have all the weight loaded to the front then stop braking mid turn and tromp on the throttle the tail will come around to say hi for sure.

How much camber do you have in front? Unless your car is super stiff you should be able to load up plenty of weight on the outside front tire. Have you tried running lower pressure in front? I tend to run with less pressure in front than I've got in back and I've discovered that even a very minor change in tire pressure can have a dramatic impact on how the car rotates.