To brake just in time down to just the right speed before entering a corner. I'm trying to time my heel-toe downshift without overreving and keeping consistent brake pressure and before I know it I'm already halfway through the corner with no idea what line I'm going to take and I lift throttle because I looked down at the guage for a tenth of a second and get that :ugh: oversteer and make a horrible exit and am glad I just didn't run off the road. Lift throttle oversteer is scary shit, if something goes wrong its your natural inclination to get off the gas but that just makes things worse. Braking and entering (no pun intended) is some hard shit. Once you're in the corner its not that hard to manage understeer and make a clean exit but trying to get your brake timing right, hitting the downshifts is, and getting a good turn in is hella hard.

 

Actually the thing I learned after attending the DC Tour in May that helped shave a full second off that LONG course on Saturday was setting up the car which makes you feel comfortable. I had my car setup for oversteer (rotation) since I drive a front heavy car.

My 1st run I spun going into the downhill esses. Scared the crap out of me. Talked to one of my friends and he and his wife do very well at the Tours. He told me I should setup the car so it's predictable and comfortable. Because a comfortable car you will drive faster than a car that is waiting to bite you in the butt.

I usually run 40f/30r in my Azenis and the shocks at full soft front, full stiff rear. Well I turned up the front shocks (Koni Yellows) 1 full turn and ran 40f/46r and the car felt so much better and I wasn't wondering when the car was going to spin.

But learning threshold braking is just something you pick up on your car after you get accustom to it. Having a thin sole'd sneaker or wrestling shoe does help you modulate brake pressure (I feel). Also running the same setup all the time will help to. If you change from R tires at one event to street tires at another event, then new brake pads, then another drop the front and raise the rear your car is always changing. Very hard to learn your car like that.

 

yeah, having big feet and not being able to sit in the car with the seat straight up doesn't help either. I wish there was some auto-x around here.

 

I wear 11 shoes

 

I would not practice aggressive track techniques on the street.

 

When driving 10/10ths, never never NEVER look at the guages on a corner entry. You should know by the way the car feels if you're at an appropriate speed for the corner, the ONLY time you should look at the guages at all is on straightaway upshifts, and that's only if you don't know your engine note well enough to shift by ear.

 

I always shift by ear and same as entering a corner. It's just something you pick up once you know your car.

 

If you learn to time your downshifts is heel-toe necessary?
Because that's what I have trouble with.

 

We're talking for the track right?

 

yeah