Wraith40k Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 How do you drive this car? Mainly how do you corner in a well balanced AWD? In all seriousness I have had a RWD car, break in a straight line, accelerate out after the apex, and a FWD car: break late straight line, and light acceleration out. So how do you do it in a subie? a friend is telling me to straight line brake some (much less than normal) then hold the gas on through the apex (so the AWD can do its magic). Is that right? currently I am still new enough that I am going way slower than I could through the corners, but I find myself breaking late into them, and then it is hard to get back on the gas and hold a line through. I think I am doing something wrong. Any good articles on driving AWD? Any experienced autocrossers out there that can help? I am in a 5eAT, and I rarely sportshift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadAndy Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 Release clutch, stab gas pedal, turn steering wheel, pray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wraith40k Posted March 11, 2005 Author Share Posted March 11, 2005 Release clutch, stab gas pedal, turn steering wheel, pray. Sweet! I am in an automatic, and not really religeous, so it is even easier than I thought! (Stab gas pedal, turn steering wheel). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canis Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 From what I've experienced driving at Sebring International Raceway, you brake straight (light trail braking for the more experienced drivers), stay in boost and commit. It's a little unnerving, but you've got to commit to the turn and let the car surprise you as to how well it handles the turn. What I mean by commit, is once you're in boost in the turn, any significant change in throttle (or heaven forbid hitting the brakes) will drastically upset the balance of the car. Do you have any clover leafs by you? Good practice is to hit some on-ramps at speed and try varying throttle position mid-corner. Drastic variations will cause severe over or understeer, while gentle, controlled variations can be used to alter/correct the line of the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadAndy Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 Do you have any clover leafs by you? Good practice is to hit some on-ramps at speed and try varying throttle position mid-corner. Drastic variations will cause severe over or understeer, while gentle, controlled variations can be used to alter/correct the line of the car. I noticed that the first time I really got on the gas on our clover leaf ramp.....It's amazing how keeping it steady through the ramp was awesome but if I suddenly let off the gas or tried giving it to much at once it would start to get squirelly. I love this car!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 Driving a car is just all the understanding of how to put all the tires to use.. just think of the AWD has both the abilities of understeering from FWD, and as well as the oversteering from RWD.. it's just something you need to feel from the seat of your pants. You will have to get use to the car on its own. There isnt much of a rule to AWD cars because the different types of LSDs are used. Some are "understeers, add more gas" kind of cars while others are opposite. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrMerl Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 With AWD think Slow In and Fast Out (fast/safe street driving). Give more gas as you unwind the wheel vs RWD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wraith40k Posted March 14, 2005 Author Share Posted March 14, 2005 From what I've experienced driving at Sebring International Raceway, you brake straight (light trail braking for the more experienced drivers), stay in boost and commit. It's a little unnerving, but you've got to commit to the turn and let the car surprise you as to how well it handles the turn. What I mean by commit, is once you're in boost in the turn, any significant change in throttle (or heaven forbid hitting the brakes) will drastically upset the balance of the car. Do you have any clover leafs by you? Good practice is to hit some on-ramps at speed and try varying throttle position mid-corner. Drastic variations will cause severe over or understeer, while gentle, controlled variations can be used to alter/correct the line of the car. that explains what I have been feeling. I have an unbanked long sweeaping curve on my drive to work each morning, and i can take it at 80-90 miles an hour, but if my line 'wasn't right' it seemed like there wasn't anything I could do to correct it. Tried it this morning and with just very minor changes I could alter the line. I was 'overdriving' the car (too much input), or underdriving (not using its abilities) depending on your perspective. 10 years in a civic did a lot of damage to my driving habits... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 just whatever you do, dont lift the throttle too fast, not only the car will pitch slightly forward from the engine braking and thus cause the weight transfer that starts off lift-throttle steering, but the remaining torque that the LSDs have will transfer the torque to the rear wheels to help the car rotate more. THAT'S MY WARNING TO YOU. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxx Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 which if timed corectly can be great on an auto-x course..but it takes lots of practice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wraith40k Posted March 14, 2005 Author Share Posted March 14, 2005 just whatever you do, dont lift the throttle too fast, not only the car will pitch slightly forward from the engine braking and thus cause the weight transfer that starts off lift-throttle steering, but the remaining torque that the LSDs have will transfer the torque to the rear wheels to help the car rotate more. THAT'S MY WARNING TO YOU. Keefe Thanks for the warning- I am not going to do much 'crazyness' as of yet... I am way too new to the car (and the car too new) to have that level of confidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Pimp Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 This is how to drive a Subaru http://www.shimmysideways.com/Portals/1/TTTVideos/Subaru%20Related/RallyJapanAutoX.wmv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramall2 Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 I've never raced (though I'd like to try it sometime) but I definitely recommend finding somewhere to really test the limits of the LGT. I found a "no traffic" half loop and could really play around. It's great to feel how the car reacts in various situations--simple turn in, applying throttle out of the turn, letting off the throttle while in a turn, how it drifts, straightline braking capabilities, etc. The LGT just gives such confidence IMHO--it's so easy and predictable to whip around, and drifts so nicely. With AWD, there's never a fear of the rear end breaking loose radically when you step on it (though certainly you can get it to break loose). Wherever you go, just make sure you don't get in a situation where you "drift" into a curb and cause some serious damage. Still, it's not only a total blast, but testing the limits in a safe environment let's you know what the car can or can't do in an emergency situation as well. I suggest testing it out in dry and wet conditions. Oh yeah, and JP where did you get that video of me on my "safe" track? Seriously, on a track or an autocross, will you always have a lot of drift like that if you're doing it right? I remember seeing one of the autocross champs (eastern something or other) a long while back on a little cone course and the biggest thing is he hardly made a peep through the course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 Heck, my car is still new too, but this is probably the best place to learn safely: http://www.salazar-racing.com/images/765web.jpg Easiliest (and safest) way to gain confidence with the car is going to a local autocross school. Not only that they will teach you about driving your car in particular (as the instructors such as myself know), but you will know more about how to deal with ANY car and bringing your knowledge of driving any car to a higher level at public road speeds (for starters). If you need a listing of such schools, you can either PM me or check around http://www.scca.org for info about solo2 driving schools. There's other schools as well for such high performance driving. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 which if timed corectly can be great on an auto-x course..but it takes lots of practice The cool thing about the lift-throttle steer on our cars is that the power that the motor is still producing gets transmitted to the rear wheels. The effects are more pronounced in an AWD than say a FWD car. For a RWD, well, they can just mash on the gas some more to get the rear end to come "out" more (provided the front tires are still in good grip range). The REALLY cool thing about lift-throttle steering in autox is when you carry a WHOLE lot of speed and then you just load up the front tires with just the right grip and steering input (dont overdrive the front tires), the car will drift as if someone just threw an anchor out on the front wheels and the front end starts to "drag" in speed (aka speed differences from rear tires vs front tires). When this happens, the back ends starts to catch ground over the front tires. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxx Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 yup 2 years ago we had a course that was perfect for it a constant distance slalom into a 120 degree left it was absolutely beautiful i wish i had pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.