nyc863 wrote:skid pan report.
although I have racing experience am not a drifter. did a wet skid pan session for fun, and to see. To be honest it was a little frustrating!
The other cars were the usual collection of high torque rwds: amg, bmw m, lexus and a camaro zl1 etc.
The “problem” I had was too much rear grip and light weight. Anyone planting it in a c63, on a wet concrete pan, would instantly have a slow motion heavy pendulum. My a110 from low speed when booted even in wet would squat and grip and add speed which would create understeer almost immediately.
Got it to break loose without gaining unwanted speed with a left right flick technique but then 1st gear would run out of revs - and very easy to get a fast pirouette. Not coordinated enough in the five or six 3 minute attempts to find the paddle and change to 2nd where there is more throttle control. Starting in second had a twin issue of yet more grip time when you boot it, and then the dct might go back to first anyway a little later. (track mode esc off).
The coaches were frustrated, at first they did not believe traction/stability control was fully off, and I was frustrated but because corona they were not allowed fo jump in and show me how beautifully it can be held all around a circle or figure 8
It was surely my lack of talent but I will pretend it was the setup (low speed wet pan) is not ideal for finding the edge in a mid engined car with low polar moment of inertia? yeah thats my story.
It's interesting to come back to this post. I visited
http://www.centregravity.co.uk/ today to get them to have a look at my geo, and swap it to something possibly closer to the various Life110 options, based on their assessment of the car.
They started with the basics - right down to tyre pressures, tread depths, checking ride height etc. Then a short test drive to look for anything obviously amiss (eg wheel off centre, car pulling to one side), before discussing what I'd noticed and wanted out of the car. We'd both noticed a problem with understeer - it's been increasingly annoying me as I've hopped from my BRZ to the Alpine and back. I found the Alpine while it initially turns quickly, very quickly then starts to push or understeer. All you can do is wait to get steering lock off before eventually getting on the power. They also noticed the steering was fidgety.
On checking everything it was pretty much as expected, close to the OE numbers on their system, although it had "sunk" a bit to the right - apparently most cars settle on the drivers side, especially if primarily driven 1-up. Their observation was that the significant amount of rear toe-in contributes to the understeer (preventing the rear from rotating), while the front toe-out makes the front nervous. We discussed options and they suggested something similar to the Life110 "Sport road" setup - I'm on OE suspension and springs and it's a Pure. So basically remove most of the rear toe, and change the front to a smidge of toe-in, rather than toe out. Negative camber was increased marginally from OE. After a long time adjusting everything and making sure it was just-so, they did another road test to check they were happy with it (this isn't a jolly, they have lots more exotic stuff in than Alpines and everything is captured on a dash cam), and came back surprised how different the car felt. I can share the printouts if anyone is interested.
It also got weighed - ~1130kg with a full tank of fuel and their alignment kit on the wheels (which they estimated about 12kg). Probably had another few kg that could be lost - mats, tyre gunk etc, but I'm fairly happy with that. Diagonal cross-weights were good too.
I came home the pretty way, and I'm inclined to agree with the "transformed" assessment. It's a fantastic improvement. The understeer has gone - the back is now lively/playful (especially on the greasy roads at the moment) so you can steer on the throttle better and it does feel more stable in a straight line rather than diving after every little bump in the road. This also seems to have improved steering feel mid bend too.
The only question they had was around front caster - the design of the wishbones means this isn't adjustable, and they were irritated they couldn't get the L/R sides closer to equal. Looking at the french forum where there are some geo printouts, this seems a common problem, but it would be interesting to hear from anyone else who has had a full alignment what your caster looks like and whether this is a known issue with Alpine.
So back to the quoted post - I wonder if geo isn't helping you, and some small but important modifications might help with a similar session in the future? In particular the rear toe causing excessive understeer (and tyre wear!)
I read this forum with interest but don’t have much to post as the car isn’t getting used much at present.
