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      04-20-2014, 07:50 AM   #1
3002 tii
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Valuable Lesson - Even Slow Corners Require Fast Hands

Over the last 2.5 years I experienced 3 spins over 35 days. One was in the downpour (luckily I was only 1 of 5 cars that decided to drive that session so there were no cars around me) and the other 2 were both SLOW corners. I'm always extra attentive in fast corners, ready to make any adjustment as necessary. However I made the mistake (again this past weekend) of losing focus on a slow corner following a HARD braking zone.

For some reason in my mind, I told myself slow corners are just that and surely if I scrub enough speed this turn is pretty much a freebie. I'll use the weight transfer from braking and trail brake the corner. After turn-in, unwind the wheel and get on the gas. Here's the problem, as the day progresses I try to find areas I can make up time and since I'm not catching anyone on the straights, I find myself always trying to brake deeper / later. What happens though is this adds more heat to the tires and I believe the tires haven't recovered enough to make the turn. As a result, in both instances the backend came around as I fed gas.

Not anticipating this, slow hands is an understatement. I didn't counter at all, I was like deer in the headlights. And here's the ironic thing, the spin was rather slow... in fact so slow in my mind I actually foolishly thought the car would hold the slip angle and remain somewhat neutral. The first 9/10ths of the spin was slow as the front tires tried to maintain traction but it's that last 1/10th where traction finally gave and the back end snapped around.

Another thing, I REALLY need to bring the steering wheel closer. I noticed that in these slow corners, I have a tendency to shuffle my hands around the wheel. This is really poor form as it won't allow me to counter steer during a spin.
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      04-20-2014, 08:11 AM   #2
3002 tii
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A lot of technical difficulties in terms of lap timer & video but one of the few sessions I managed to squeeze out. The spin (not recorded) happened in T5 -- hard left hander which I like to hug tight so it doesn't help. Other higher hp cars will come in from the right and take it wide.

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      04-20-2014, 09:35 AM   #3
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Yea, I like to run my wheel telescoped all the way out and seat close to where I can stand on the brake if I want to.

At then end, I'm about a 90* angle with my upper arm to the lower arm when I'm turning the wheel. The closer you are, like you mentioned...the easier and quicker you are to recover from an error, or loss of traction.

This is where I think autocross translates over to track, ever so slightly. I've learned pretty well when to do corrective action.
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      04-20-2014, 02:08 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kgolf31 View Post
Yea, I like to run my wheel telescoped all the way out and seat close to where I can stand on the brake if I want to.

At then end, I'm about a 90* angle with my upper arm to the lower arm when I'm turning the wheel. The closer you are, like you mentioned...the easier and quicker you are to recover from an error, or loss of traction.

This is where I think autocross translates over to track, ever so slightly. I've learned pretty well when to do corrective action.
No doubt about it, I should've spent more time getting the seat positioning setup. This was only my 2nd time with the 6 point, HANS, etc and didn't realize how far I'd be away from the wheel.
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