Howdy

I had my first trackday yesterday and I've got some questions (complete track n00b).

To my surprise I had quite a lot of understeer. Mid-corner power-understeer, that is. As soon as I got more than about 10% on the throttle mid-corner the front-end slides out of line; as soon as I release throttle it tucks back in again. How should I fight this? Apply more steering and live with the understeer? Or should I try to take more speed into the corner and let it roll through the corner with adjusting throttle before the exit of the corner.

I had graining on the tires. After a 20 min. session I could clearly see melted rubber that has moved to the edges of the profile-blocks. After some long sweeping medium-speed corners I could feel vibrations from the wheels for 100m or so after which the melted rubber presumably got back into place.

Overall I was disappointed with the level of grip. I couldn't keep up with a 180HP FWD Seat Leon 1.8T. Could this all be due to driving bad lines? Are there some general directions on what lines to drive with S2000s?

My car is a completely stock S2000 from october 1999 (MY00) with Bridgestones S02 with about 4000km on them (all four tyres). Ambient temp was about 25C.

Does anyone know how much faster a MY06 is compared to an AP1 e.g. in pct? A magazine tested a MY06 on the same track recently and I'd like to know how I stack up. I'm assuming a MY06 is a bit faster because it has wider tyres.

TIA

 

In ascending order of ease of fixing:

Tire pressures? (Next time use a piece of chalk to mark your sidewalls. You want it to be worn off to the tips of the little triangles)

Alignment?

Shocks?

As far as comparing yourself to another car, were they running r-compounds? Was it an experienced driver? Either of those could explain the difference. Driving a bad line will absolutely cause you to not keep up with another car.

I'm not sure how melted rubber would get back into place.

Next time, get an experienced driver or instructor to drive your car with you as a passenger. You will be amazed at what they do. If there's a problem with your car, they'll help you with that, too.

 

All the rubber probably just fell off. After every run around the Hockenheimring my tires will develop those dingleberries. By the time I get home it's gone. Look inside your wheels for dingleberry build up too

 

More steering does not solve understeer. Going in to the corner faster certainly does not solve understeer. Alignment/suspension changes can do so, but most probably the answer is that you were just driving it too hard. The most common mistakes that novice drivers make are going into the slow corners too fast and going into the fast corners too slow. The "too fast in the slow corners" one is where you will see lots of understeer.

Yes, well the tires don't like understeer.

Yes, it is almost certainly your driving that is limiting your speed, rather than the car. It might be a matter of what line you are taking, or it might be a matter of how you are driving that line. It's probably both. Did you have an instructor?

At the novice level, there is no significant difference between any street stock S2000s.

 

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies.

I guess i was overdriving it then, going into slow corners too fast and chickening out on the fast corners

Yes, I did have an instructor for a few minutes. He was driving, slowly, explaining the lines a bit, so I didn

 

[QUOTE=mbvt,Jun 16 2006, 12:36 PM] Yes, I did have an instructor for a few minutes. He was driving, slowly, explaining the lines a bit, so I didn

 

No, unfortunately, that wasn

 

[QUOTE=mbvt,Jun 16 2006, 04:51 AM]As soon as I got more than about 10% on the throttle mid-corner the front-end slides out of line


[QUOTE=mbvt,Jun 16 2006, 04:51 AM]should I try to take more speed into the corner

 

[QUOTE]
I think you should consider a different driving instuctor

 

20 seconds is definitely driving technique. To give you an idea, the absolute best mod to improve laptimes is tires. Going from good performance street tires (SO2's) to r-compounds for an experienced driver is good for a few seconds a lap not tens of seconds. Changing the car at a novice level is not productive, just have a car in good condition. Jackie Stewart wouldn't hurt