I get some understeer at autox's when I brake late in a sharp turn...front end just plows forward.

 

Check out the S2000 Racing and Competition section of this forum; it has many tips on adjusting the car to minimize oversteer.

 

I think the OP is confusing a car's bias toward understeer or oversteer. With actual over/under-steer. Most cars can be made to do either with the wrong inputs. And this bias can be adjusted. The AP1 came fairly neutral from the factory, thus it is easier to get into oversteer.

Most (average) drivers would prefer an understeer bias, over a neutral bias, or oversteer bias, because understeer is a lot easier to correct than oversteer.

Based on this preference, the AP2 was changed to have a mild understeer bias. The MY08 may have even more bias towards understeer than 04-07, but time will tell.

 

You want to make some under steer? Add two bags of concrete or sand from Home Depot or any other hardware store to the trunk of the car!

 

As others said, the easiest things to do would be to add a bigger front sway bar (I just put on the Gendron bar and it makes a world of difference, though its a little expensive for just driving around on the street) and do some autocrosses/take an Evolution school. Seat time is 1000 times more important than adding parts to the car though.

 

I didn't think about it last night, but the speeds are a factor too. The car oversteers more at higher speeds, so you're seeing more oversteer on the track than I'm seeing on the autocross courses. When diving into a SLOW corner it's really pretty easy to get the car to push. Hahaha, it has to be easy, because I had to adjust my style a little to prevent it.

Are you running any kind of wing?

 

I usually adjust to a new car in a couple runs, but the S2000 took longer. Two things proved difficult. I'm a habitual late braker, and at first I had trouble transitioning from riding the ABS in a straight line to turning in under trail brake without inducing massive understeer. Then, as soon as I got that sorted out, I started having trouble putting power down on corner exit. For a long time I thought I was just having trouble modulating the throttle well enough, and I even thought about modifying the throttle linkage to produce a longer pedal throw, but thankfully, with help from Evolution, I learned that it was my timing that was off rather than the way I was modulating the throttle. Since then I've actually modded the car to increase it's resonse to throttle inputs, so that just shows how hard it can be to seperate driver issues from handling issues.

I autocross on S02's, so if you're running R compound tires your situation may well be quite different, but if you are threshold breaking right up to turn-in, and then transitioning to trailing brake, only to be greeted with massive understeer, you may just need to alter your timing a little. During threshold breaking in a straight line there is so much weight being transferred to the front tires that they're on the verge of overloading and sliding. Any turn-in at all will start them sliding, becuase you're already using all the available grip. Start your breaking just a little sooner, then ease off a little just *before* you turn-in. Once you start turning in and breaking at the same time and still have grip, it's easier to balance the two forces as you continue to turn in. It helps to do the same kind of thing when getting back on the throttle at corner exit. If you start unwinding the steering just a bit before you start applying throttle, and get into power-on cornering smoothly, it's easier to balance the forces through the rest of the corner. Just allow a little more time at the transition points that are causing problems. ("To go fast, you have to know when to go slow." ) With practice you may find that you can leave less time between the initiation of steering and throttle/brake inputs, but you have to get it right before you can practice doing it right.

NOTE: We are talking about autocrossing here, not techniques for the street. Threashold breaking followed by heavy trail breaking is not something you normally want to be doing on the streets, because sooner or later you WILL make a mistake, and it's rarely pretty.

 

wow thanks for that info im gonna check out that evolution school

 

[QUOTE=RED MX5,Sep 28 2007, 07:37 PM]Start your breaking just a little sooner, then ease off a little just *before* you turn-in.

 

Not yet. I might make one this winter.