Quote:
Originally Posted by JJZ4MR
Attachment 1600147
My quoted text from previous post is an interesting thread to read. It's from North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club. NASIOC has a 2004 post on it's forum, titled Slalom Technique Question. I had stopped when I read the pasted quote, but as I read further the owner of this statement got pretty much shredded for his statements. He did throw in keeping a turbo spooled, there was some left foot braking discussion and some great debate. It's a good read, I'd be interested in your take, if you have the time and interest.
So yes, it was Carl. At check in/pre entrance he was doing the signing in. As he was checking in the car lined up ahead of me, I noticed him eyeballing my car several times. Then he walked up and said " You must be Jeff " and I said " You must be Carl " He was the only car I really cared about, as far as comparing myself to. Nice guy, we talked a bit, then I didn't really see too much of him the rest of the day. I'm going to look and see if he is out there again, I signed up fairly early, all 104 spots are nearly full. The AM session filled fast, as there is Miatapoloosa later in the day Sat.
1) LFB- I have never done it in my life. Experimented in the Honda a bit the other day. Seemed weird. Had GF in the Z4M car while driving nearly all day and thought best not to try it with her in the car. I'm going to experiment with it. When there is NO TRAFFIC AT ALL. I of course will not do it at the event Sat. Actually had GF drive my car for the first time. I wanted to set that # 2 seat memory for her. Adjusted steering wheel/mirrors. She had not driven stick in 4 years. She did OK. She drove ME to a beach bar in St Pete Beach. She wore a matching red bikini/red lipstick/red shades. She got ALL kinds of attention while driving MY car. ( she looks like Cameron Diaz/just tuned 30 )
2) I watched a 3/9 steering technique YTube video. Amazing that he had to nearly roll his hands over/upside down, but maintained that position on the steering wheel. He had a yellow neon piece of tape at the 12 position. Which seemed like a good idea as well.
3) I've got a much better understanding of backsiding now. Cool diagram. Printed and saved in records/file THANKS ! Q : The parallel ( with the cones ) STRAIGHT lines.... I'm 99% sure this is because the format of the diagram doesn't have curves in it's ability right ? That pasted quote also seemed to indicate that there was some parallel to the cone driving " brake ( in a straight line ) " which is why I even ask. I have NO FEAR of asking a dumb Q.
4) TB, OK for now, but I'm just trying to take it all in, keep it in mind, practice a bit a SLOW speeds on empty roads and see if I can start good habits right from the start VS having to break those bad habits later. Driving School is NOW on my list of things to do.
5) Tire pressure. I'm pretty sure Carl told me ( I asked him ) that my setting of 35-F/36-R was "probably" too much. I know how to chalk and why, though I did not. I did not see any tire temp machines that anyone was using. I did buy a descent tire gauge with valve. I think I'll drop down 2 # on both and see how I like it. At 33/34 should I take that long highway drive out there that low, OR drop at the event, refill before heading home ? Seems low for everyday driving.
One last possibly stupid question. I kept my DSC ON the whole time at the first event. I've never really driven with it off and didn't want any surprises on the coarse. It made me feel safer. I know that if I really want to drive this car to it's limits this will LIMIT ME. I'm going to turn it off tomorrow and do some driving ( after Mann cabin filter/new spark plug install ). So I'm going to push the car some and see how much difference the DSC really has. With AX, control seems more important that speed/power. So even if it slowed me some, I felt I was less likely to spin get a DSQ. I think you have DTC right ? Which I think is nearly the same.
Super excited for Sat ! REALLY APPRECIATE any and all advice ( past and future)....from anyone
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The diagram is a bit crude since it was done on a phone using mobile power point at the time I did it for a friend several years ago. I just couldn't draw arcs like I wanted to with my finger LOL. The key take away is the line across the back corner of the cones.
Carl's a good guy and should be a good source of "M" info for you.
Approach LFB very carefully! It takes about 3-4 weeks for humans to make or break a habit and LFB is no different. First week there was a lot of neither foot on the brake as my brain was fighting the learned right foot braking. That was the sketchiest period. The 2nd week was more both feet on the brake as the brain over reacted to the first week. The 3rd week I was using the left foot mostly but it took deliberate thought and my brake modulation sucked. Toward the end of the 4th week I was starting to get the hang of it, but keep in mind this was with my auto tranny E36 so there was no clutch to deal with. When I got the Z4 I was back to RFB for street driving and relearning LFB on the autocross course. There were a couple incidents where the left foot found the clutch pedal when it needed to find the brake pedal that caused the wipe out of some cones, but fortunately nothing more. It is an adrenaline spiking feeling when you believe you have your foot on the brake and it goes right to the floor like you have no brakes, but then after a moment there's the realization you hit the clutch pedal.
Most people drop their air pressure at the event and then refill before leaving. It's mainly to reduce tire wear as much as possible since you already know the car handles better at the lower pressures.
Since the Z4M has a limited ship diff, the threshold where DSC kicks in is higher so it might not interfere as much as it does on the non-M cars. On my si it kicks in at the worst possible time so I run with all the nannies turned off. I believe Carl leaves it on, but it might be costing him on some courses.