Paulie
Car is better now after some bad luck. Was the last car in a four vehicle pile up on the 405. Almost had it stopped before hitting the rear end of a Titan. His rear trailer hitch caught my front end right at the front edge of the hood. Shattered the radiator support and pushed the rad. to the engine. very mild impact with no air bag. Only good thing is I put in a Koyo rad. and the Tourenn front end I wanted since i first saw it. Weird thing was that when the ALB kicked in it felt like I was on ice and just would not stop.
Looking forward to CS in Dec. Have the new SPL A-arms and SPC rear links and Koni Sports with a M-Workz alignment to test out.

 

Huh. Really? I ask because I have been told by a couple of instructors (NASA, which is who I do my DE's with) that if you have ABS, use it! In other words, drive hard into the corner, and then slam on the ABS, letting it modulate the brakes.

Is there a better way to maximize your brakes into the corners?

 

A sure way to cause instant understeer and prolonged understeer. Unless the ABS software is tuned specifically for road racing (the old CompTech NSXs had that done), OEM ABS software is tuned to make the car understeer a lot and be slow to release.

 

I had Mike, the head instructer for Group 3 NASA drivers, do a few laps in my car at WS big track. He was very smooth on the brakes and only engaged the ABS once causing him to think something was wrong with my brakes.
Slamming on the brakes even with ABS upsets the balance of the car into the turn.

 

Its a way for "instructors" to "teach" threshold braking without actually having to teach threshold braking

I don't have a problem with telling people to use their ABS... what I have a problem with is that both posts have described being taught to "drive in hard and slam on the ABS". With or without ABS, this is a disaster waiting to happen. #1 - you're letting the car's technology be the substitute for good technique... #2 - what are you going to do when your ABS stops working, or you have to drive a car without it?

SLAMMING anything on a road course is NOT good technique, and its even poorer instruction in my opinion.

Smooth and steady... don't upset the car. Work on compressing your braking zone. Concentrate on your brake ending point. Use the most brakes you can without getting into the ABS, but in the shortest amount of asphalt as possible. Keep the ABS there as your back up only.

 

OK, I will keep all this in mind at next weekends track event at Pueblo. Thanks for the advice!

Dave