Plowing?

[kthacher]

Just got back from a day at the track. Quite cool conditions - 10C or so. I found the car to be plowing on some corners a lot more today than I can recall. My first track days were in even cooler conditions. I played with tire pressures, but the issue did not go away. My front tires are a bit of a mess, and are being replaced in a couple of weeks. There is still a decent amount of tread, but certainly not like new. Can tire condition explain this behavior?

[OEMplus.com]

Either that or you are going into corners too fast... Scrub off more speed before you get there and hit the gas earlier on the way out...

[harrison]

The R8 is set up for the rear to plow out first. Your front tires must be wasted.

[Garyhun]

What do you guys mean by "plow"? Not heard this term before. Unless you mean losing grip and going straight on as opposed to be able to turn in?

[kthacher]

What do you guys mean by "plow"? Not heard this term before. Unless you mean losing grip and going straight on as opposed to be able to turn in?

Correct - the car wants to keep going straight as opposed turning in. To me it's now happening at speeds that are too low

[Garyhun]

Correct - the car wants to keep going straight as opposed turning in. To me it's now happening at speeds that are too low

Unless you're unloading the front end through heavy acceleration (or something else to totally unsettle the car beore turning in) I'd say Harrison has it with front tyres being wrecked.

[KfabR8]

Plowing:
1) Front end push
B) Understeer
III) Scary

[kthacher]

Plowing:
1) Front end push
B) Understeer
III) Scary

Yep scary - that's how people hit trees and/or tire barriers. I brushed one yesterday and got away with a couple of minor cosmetic scratches, and nothing else. Thank god for braking power

Other than that though, as the converts know, there is NOTHING that compares with tracking this car. I took along a co-worker and he was still shaking with excitement hours after we were done. I think the grin on his face is going to last for weeks. Me too. I got a ton of laps in yesterday, and once I adjusted to the limits re this plowing thing, I had an amazing time.

The corner that gave me the scratches is particularly nasty. A few weeks ago, a guy in a Corvette came in hot, went light and actually got airborne. Hit a two part guard rail in the gap, and split it in two. Blew the front window out of the car, tore out a rad, etc. He was back out yesterday with the car glued back together. Shows the power of the drug that is tracking.

[Europrice]

If you are understeering into corners that previously you could carry more speed into your front tires may be getting to their limits. Some tires as you get down to the end of their lives you get down to different compounds which may have more or less traction. Also you can overheat/cycle tires to death. My RA1's turn blue when they get down to the end of their lives, basically the rubber has been heat cycled so many times it gets hard and useless. Traction starts to go quickly and then the cords show up shortly thereafter or I just give up because I'd be better off on street tires.

When you run into those situations when tires start to go carry less speed into corners and if you want play with trail braking to get the rear to come around a bit and put more weight on the front tires to make them adhere better at the beginning of the turn. Once you get the car set get into the gas and see what happens. The car may go right back to pushing through the apex and out of the corner, but if you got the car to set well and you have enough power to overcome traction at the rear you'll end up teaching yourself a lot about making it through a corner fast even though you may be taking the corner slower than you usually would. It's nice to be able to play with techniques without trying to be at the limit of entry speed, never hurts to have tons of power on tap either to play with.

[ianerrid]

Just got back from a day at the track. Quite cool conditions - 10C or so. I found the car to be plowing on some corners a lot more today than I can recall. My first track days were in even cooler conditions. I played with tire pressures, but the issue did not go away. My front tires are a bit of a mess, and are being replaced in a couple of weeks. There is still a decent amount of tread, but certainly not like new. Can tire condition explain this behavior?

..two countries separated by a common language ;-)