Cloverleaf cornering competition is rarely mentioned here, yet it's so much fun. I've been hammering on the clovers all summer long with my Toyo RA-1s and Comptech competition swaybar and it's entertaining when another sports car tries to hang with me on my favorite ramps where I know precisely how fast I can go for the conditions. I badly dusted a boxster today merely by maintaining a constant speed (and pulling close to 1g). My favorite trick is getting completely around a cloverleaf so fast that I appear to vanish from the perspective of the car following. RA-1s rule the ramps!

MG

PS - The margin of victory in a drag race is imperceptible compared to total cloverleaf annihilation. I feel like I lose a drag race even when I win.

 

right on! i love it when the lifted pick-em-up trucks try to hang with you on the clovers - minivans even! what's really fun is going DOWN the clovers - especially when you have full-lock oversteer! i can't do this (esp. not in the S) but my dad takes his '01 Q45 with sport suspension at 125% down those babies; we're so sideways that you don't look out the front windshield to see what's ahead, you look out the side windows... and in a 2ton+ sedan!

 

! Why challenge guardrails? It is just a matter of time before the limit is reached and damage and injury is next. Go find a track with run off.

 

guardrails? no guardrails here, just some pretty steep embankments - either loose dirt or soft grass... no biggy...

 

No biggy? You're right, its no biggy if you hit a curb or a small ditch in the grass going sideways. It sucks watching your car get towed off with one wheel hanging on by the lower A-arm.

Blake

 

Yay, yet another reason I will never set foot in Texas.

 

The good thing about cloverleafs is that you can know exactly what the limits are and not exceed them. It's sort of like a big skidpad, you win by simply having higher grip limits. On a track you are pushed to exceed the limits by the flow of the course and the desire to go faster by late braking and may eventually go for an "off track excursion". You don't come into a cloverleaf at high speed, you start slow and ease into the throttle until you get to the limit. Yes, going sideways in a cloverleaf is an indication that the limit has been exceeded a tiny bit and you need some stickier tires.

MG

 

well, to get some things straight, i personally never hit the limit on these clovers - as i've already said. my dad is the one that does 125% (well over the limit) down the clovers. now, this isn't a high-speed run to lose an optimistic tail; rather, it's a kinda slow but fun as hell way to show off one's driving skill by being able to "control" a 4000lb in full-lock drift.

 

I'd like to see it, just not on the street.

-Steve (whose dumb ass slid off the highway in the rain on race tires at 60 and scratched both bumpers on signs, narrowly missing a light by 3 feet).

 

First of all, you all seem a little less mature than most of the people on here...

The S2000 is almost impossible to drive at the limit. It is very dangerous, as once you're over the limit, its usually too late. If you're pushing it so hard your back end starts sliding around, you're are way to close to losing it.

And higher grip is only part of it. Body roll, suspension compression, etc, play a very large role in the equation.

And can you explain how you can drive a car over its limit? If you driver a car over the limit constantly, you're wrecking it.

Blake