"Poor_Sh" (ar4x)
06/18/2018 at 19:28 • Filed to: autocross
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"Poor_Sh" (ar4x)
06/18/2018 at 19:28 • Filed to: autocross | 1
| 5 |
Like it says, no video. But, I thought I would give my thoughts, impressions, and maybe a funny tidbit or two. Weather was mid 80s, with a good breeze, if that matters.
This was diesel and HILARIOUSLY spilled black smoke everywhere!
We start by doing follow-the-leader laps to learn the course. I’ve been here 4 times before, so it’s really just reacquainting myself while feeling the Porsche out. But, going slow and with traction control on (because no reason to spin on practice laps) did NOT prepare me for my first run. I slid straight through a cone on a big sweeping right and very quickly learned an adjustment I had to make. This thing goes sideways like it was Formula D! Granted, the limits of grip are way better than the Mustang had and it doesn’t pirouette like the Mustang. It slides sideways rather than spins unless you really lose it, so I actually recovered a bunch and just lost time rather than ruining the whole run.
I had mostly really good times all day. Every clean lap came in between 1-3 seconds faster than my best Mustang times. I FINALLY beat the best times of both my friend’s WRXs (2015 and 2012 I think), which was really my secondary goal. My first goal was to learn the limits of this car, and boy did I. I completely spun on the slalom once when a cone was way out of position. I skidded through a hairpin when I braked too late. And, I went from 1st to 4th by accident and did half the course in 4th rather than 2nd... that was embarrassing and the only time I had a passenger.
A trio of corvettes.
But, as always with autocross, I had a ton of fun. I did 15 runs, and if you negate the spins and such I was very consistent. I’m also 100% sure I should have gotten at least a second off my best time twice, but once they forgot to stop the watch, and the other time there were 2 cones out of place in the last station (drive a circle around 4 cones) which I lost time on but still came 1 second behind my best. I am not happy about that, but it leaves room to improve for next time!
Some of the other cars there.
So, what could be better? My tires are definitely a huge limiting factor. The fronts were already somewhat broken in given the marks on them from when I bought it, and overall I think they just don’t have as much grip as the Sumitomo HTR Z III tires I had on my Mustang the last autocross. For the record, the Porsche has Goodyear Eagle F1 tires. The brakes also didn’t bite as hard as they could I think so better fluid could probably help, and of course pads. Obviously, my complaints about the tires and brakes in comparison to the Mustang might also be offset by how completely different the cars are. And, I’m not going to do fluid and pads anytime soon since I just bought the thing recently and don’t want to dump too much more into it so soon. Maybe next year.
As always, my driving could of course be improved, and I will work on that at the next autocross! Thanks for reading.
LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com
> Poor_Sh
06/18/2018 at 20:34 |
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You get a practice run?! Not in my region. Glad you are enjoying the car, it is on my automotive bucket list.
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Poor_Sh
> LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com
06/18/2018 at 21:05 |
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This isn’t SOLO or any club, in fact it’s technically a DE school so you’re not supposed to post times online. They do up to 4-5 practice laps following an “instructor”, they take care of the cones (for the most part), and the course times average about a minute and a half so it’s pretty big. It costs more for all this, but you get unlimited runs in about 4 hours and don’t have to work or anything so it can be worth the trade-offs.
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Poor_Sh
> Poor_Sh
06/18/2018 at 21:09 |
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Figured I’d put this here in case anyone is interested in a quick comparison between my old Mustang with different tires and my Porsche. I can’t post actual times, but the vertical lines are 5 second differences. The major outliers are spin-outs or avoiding broken course stations.
Probably shows more skill advancement than anything.
Arrivederci
> Poor_Sh
06/26/2018 at 13:58 |
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The brakes also didn’t bite as hard as they could I think so better fluid could probably help, and of course pads.
Porsche brakes are funny - they don’t feel like they’re working well compared to other cars, but in fact are rather superior. The trick? You really have to press the pedal harder than anything else you’ve probably ever driven. I’m genuinely serious! F or whatever reason, Porsche doesn’t boost their power brakes nearly as much as any other manufacturer I’ve driven.
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Poor_Sh
> Arrivederci
06/26/2018 at 14:51 |
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Noted, thank you!