This is a completely stupid question, but I can't figure it out. Near my house there's a little back road (EC people, it's off of Main Street in old EC, you may know what I'm talking about). Anyway, that's my test/practice road, as it has just about any kind of turn you can imagine (with the unfortunate exception of hairpins), elevation changes, a noticeable lack of population, and most of the road has been recently repaved. Getting to the point, there's a pretty tight S curve near the one end of the road, and I'm not sure of the proper line to take through it. I've tried many different ones, but they all seem to be not so good and upset the balance of the car at the exit. Any help?

 

track experience ma boy...track experience! You won't be dissapointed. Give it time and you will see, feel and understand what it's all about. :wink:

-Victor

 

General rule of thumb....keep it on the track if your gonna go fast.

But if it were a racetrack situation, the general concensus is ' in slow and out fast'. Meaning sacrifice your entry speed to set up for a quick exit. This especially holds true for esses leading on to a long straight. It can be taken conversely if a long staight ends in esses. If the entry and exit are similar, slow in and fast out will help you stabilize the car quicker thus power down faster.

Hope to see you at the Expo, it will be the place to learn.

 

well put!

-Victor

 

Cool, thanks bbqman and victor. I am also an advocate of keeping it on the track, and even on that road, I keep myself well within control. It just wouldn't be worth it to hurt myself (came close enough once) or even worse, someone else, just to go fast. Especially after hearing stories like the one about that kid in the S2000 in Philly...yikes. Yeah, one accident is enough to open your eyes. Now if I could just find a big bag of money to pay for all my track days...

 

GREAT! Glad you are focused on that and play it safe.

Thanks,
Victor

 

Are you coming to the EXPO? Will be the place to play, especially with an ITR.

Can't wait.

 

Hell yeah, I'm coming, I can't wait. First REAL track day for me too, after that another in May at Summit Point.

 

Try to reduce your understeer as much as you can. Don't enter the turn too fast and cut as close to the inside of your turns (what's known as "cutting the apex") and then drift wide on the exits of your turns for extra speed at the exit.

You're gonna laugh, but play more Grand Turismo 3 and pay attention to the licensing tests. They offer real-world advice in proper racing technique :P

 

I've tried applying Gran Turismo 3 techniques to the road, like the line to take and all, and I agree, it seems to be applicable in most situations. The problem with this particular S-turn is that it's on a public two lane road, so I can't really cut the apex, or I'd be on the wrong side of the road. I had heard (maybe from GT3, maybe someone else) for an S-turn, go easy on the first apex, like don't push hard for that one, but set yourself up for the second one so you have a higher exit speed.