This T-shirts graphic sorta says it all
:
(occasionally spotted at our DE's even...
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Larry,
You're driving has come a loooong way. Seriously! And you should be happy with your progression. But unless your car has some serious handling flaws, given the AWD, R-comp tires, and other goodies already on it, IMHO, you should already be able to go thru corners pretty quickly. Unless you're already at the point (and I don't personally know if you are or aren't) when few cars either gain or pull away from you in the turns, you should be focusing on your driving, and not the driver aids.
That's why I highly recommend allowing someone else, with appropriate qualifications/experience in a car like yours, to drive your car with you in it. They will either confirm your suspicions that something mechanical is not right. Or they will show where the real "handling" performance envelope of the car really is. Data acquisition would be an even better way to compare driving results, but it is admittedly a signficant investment.
I know this has been rehashed over & over. But there has been alot of good discussion here. But even over on RL, there's a somewhat current thread about driving/racing coaches, and its interesting to note how many people, many of whom were already accomplished drivers/racers, learned to improve thier times buy signficant increments by simply learning how to drive better.
There are very, very few of us in the performance driving world who can claim to know all there is, and have nothing more to gain. We all have habits, techniques, fears, etc. that can be tweaked and improved. As long as we don't deviate from a safe, responsible approach to learning & getting better, it'll be good (and fun!).
As my last whack on the poor animal (
) I will suggest that your goal in the next DE or 2 is to observe the cornering performance of those around you. Assess how well you're doing in the corners relative to them. In fact, if you see someone gain on you in the corners, consider letting them pass, and then hold back on the straights, so that you can spend extra time studying what they're doing in turns
that is apparently working well.
If you can honestly say that you're keeping up with the better cars, then you can give yourself a hearty pat on the back. And only after that should you start considering performance mods & tweaks. And when you do, be specific about what you're trying to improve, and be able to understand and articulate why you think its deficient now.
Keep up the good work! (
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