How to be fast with front wheel drive car

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by Dave.0, Jun 8, 2017.

  1. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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  2. Redbeard

    Redbeard JCW: because fast is fun!
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    Yup. I learned the lesson about the electronics well in my R56. At Streets of Willow (CW) there were two corners I could actually early apex and it would set me up for a faster exit than if I ran the RWD line. The only reason I could get away with that was the LSD up front and the stability control pinching the inside rear wheel.

    I had plenty of Corvette, EVO, & STI drivers ask me what mods I had on my R56. I just shrugged and replied, "It's stock and on street tires." They never believed me. Hankook R-S3s are (or were) really great street tires to use on the track. I think I left a review in the MA library at some point. So, good tires do matter.
     
  3. Crashton

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    Seat time is the key. Get thee to the race track & learn. I good driver in a carp can of a car can embarrass plenty of lesser drivers in much much better cars. It's big fun when a young gun come overs with a look of bewilderment asking about, what special tires are you running, what mods do you have & in my case, how old are you?? :smilewinkgrin:

    Some good advice Picard gives. It's a shame one has to fight with the nanny's in modern cars. I'm convinced they make a car slower. You have to learn to live with them, but after 2 years of GTI ownership my German nanny still pisses me off on occasion. I've never been a left foot braker, but even if I was nanny cuts the throttle if I try it. In a nutshell, smooth is fast, works for me.
     
  4. Redbeard

    Redbeard JCW: because fast is fun!
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    When I was still autox'ing my MkV GTI (with DSG) I had tons of people telling me to put it in Manual mode because it will shift in a bad place otherwise. I left it in sport. When I was on throttle I was ALWAYS in the sweet spot of the power band and off throttle I was getting good amounts of engine brake. No left foot breaking in that car though.

    There were plenty of folks unhappy with the system but it was unfounded in that instance.
     
  5. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    I like the parts about TIRE's are the most important part. Wider the better for a larger traction patch. Most people do not understand that.

    Look at a STANCE car and you will see they only have 1 finger for a contact / traction patch if that. :lol:

    See below: This is cool why....:mad2:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    MINI FAIL

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Redbeard

    Redbeard JCW: because fast is fun!
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    Hey, Hellaflush and lowriders aren't my thing either but I can respect the time and effort it takes to get them fully built. None of those guys build for going fast.
     
  7. Crashton

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    I don't autox & haven't done a track day in the GTI. I do have to agree that in sport mode it appears to always be in the right gear. On my favorite back roads it is great. I believe in sport mode nanny also gives me a longer leash before going all nanny on me. That alone makes me use it on the fun roads

    Redbeard it's interesting you went from a GTI to a MINI & I went from a MINI to a GTI.
     
  8. Crashton

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    Stance I don't get it. They do it for looks, but they render their cars darn near undrivable. If standing around a parking lot with all the other guys who stance their cars is your thing, go for it. Heck I'd rather have fun driving a challenging road, but I'm odd that way.

    A couple of years ago I came up on 3 very stanced Honda's who were probably coming home from a show. They saw me & I guess they figured they'd run & leave me in a cloud of dust. It was funny, the road wasn't rough, but every little bump had their cars jumping & hopping around. I thought they were going to hop off the road at any minute. I followed for a mile or so & when a passing zone arrived I dropped a gear & flew by. Got a bunch of one finger salutes from them, yep I was number one that day. :D
     
  9. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    Its ok we understand.........you had a senior moment.:lol::lol::lol:
     
  10. Crashton

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    Yep sure did & loving it. :D
     
  11. Zapski

    Zapski Well-Known Member

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    I have heard that somehow it is better for drifting. I guess with that little rubber touching the ground, it would be. Some people go so far as to remove the springs and weld the shocks in position to achieve that level of lowness, again originally for drifting.
     
  12. Crashton

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    I'm a fan of the original kind of drifting. Driving a rally car sideways. :arf:
     
  13. vetsvette

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    #13 vetsvette, Jun 9, 2017
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  14. Redbeard

    Redbeard JCW: because fast is fun!
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    No. Just, no. Go look at actual drift cars. No stance/hellaflush there.

    Rally cars are awesome.

    If you can catch a pro-drift race in person I recommend you do. It's really fun. Something​ is lost when you see a short YouTube video of it.
     
  15. Crashton

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    This is an old fart talking.... Rally cars are going as fast as they can. Drifter's are just going sideways & not as fast as they can. Rally cars are built to go fast, drift cars are built to go sideways not fast.

    It would be interesting to see a match race of a drift car vs a rally car around a track.

    Just this old farts .02 worth. :D
     
  16. Redbeard

    Redbeard JCW: because fast is fun!
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    Proof that you haven't actually seen any pro-drifting. Most of the guys who started running in the D1GP in Japan are in their 60s now. Now they run the series from behind the scenes. ;)

    http://www.d1gp.co.jp/

    Also check out the US series: http://www.formulad.com/
     
  17. Crashton

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    You are correct no Pro Drifting for me. I'd still put my money on a rally driver beating a drift car around a real race track or better yet a rally stage. :arf:
     
  18. MrBlah

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    I really need to get better about left foot braking I'm going to make it a point to do it more when I autocross
     
  19. AAONMS

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    Haven't tried to left foot brake in the MINI. Assumed it was like my previous GTIs and R32 that cut acceleration if both gas and brake were applied at the same time.


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  20. MrBlah

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    r53 does not cut power, I experimented with it as soon as I read that article
     

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