adc
08-11-2003, 01:51 PM
Allright, for all of you that really wanted to know what a ZHP can do at the track :), here are my impressions after yesterday's driving school at Summit Point.
First of all I'll say I don't consider myself a hotshot (used to, but now I'm older and know better). I did a track day last year in an E36 M3 and so I'll run some comparisons with that.
- It's more understeery than the old M3, courtesy of an even more staggered setup (225/255). That of course makes it more forgiving since you can always scrub some speed if you let it do its thing. But it also means you need to coax it a little more to cause it to rotate nicely through some corners. Bottom line: I didn't care.
- It has a little more pitch, roll and lean due to softer springs. I was not bothered by it, since the upshot is a more comfortable street ride and excellent bump absorbtion.
- Excellent brakes. At my skill level they were perfect and I could not say they were better or worse than the M3. Not sure at a higher skill level...
- Less low end torque, but a murderous upper range. From 6k RPM on up it moves absolutely brilliantly. The 00 M Coupe I was chasing would walk away initially, only to be reeled in at around 90 mph. For rapid progress, downshifting is a must.
- Less snappy transition to oversteer. This made the car easier to control. Maybe experienced track hounds would be bored to tears by the slowness of its responses, but I liked this trait better.
- Badly needs a LSD. When really scooting I could hear the tires chirping in some corner exits which never happened with the M. I might look into one later on. Oh BTW I disabled the first level of DSC, but not the second (I thought the second one acts like some electronic version of LSD).
All in all, I had a blast. The no-braking exercise was a real eye opener, spoiled only by that tense moment when the annoying S4 in front of me screwed up and hit the brakes :). Skidpad was a blast - I am now starting to get the hang of controlled oversteer (of course I can only control it for 2-3 seconds right now :), but it was great fun anyway).
I chose to drive the course in 3rd gear because the engine is fairly new and I didn't want to have some nasty surprises. Even driving in 3rd, in a car that's likely somewhat slower, I was able to gain about 2-3 seconds compared to last year. I attribute this to the extra track time and the less edgier responses of the ZHP which for average guys like me makes it easier to control.
Next time I'll pump up the front tires a little more: at 35/40 I thought they were a little soft.
Cars that I passed included M Coupe, modified Audi S4, modified RX-7, modified 2002. Cars that passed me included WRX, Evo 8, M5, highly modified Golf VR6 and a lightly modified Audi A4 (!). This taught me that driver matters a great deal (the A4 was down in power and maybe handling but still faster) but only up to a point: the M5 was passing me on sheer power/grip alone even though his line was extremely bad.
If I were to pick a track/fun car today, it would be the Evo 8. That car was WAY faster than everything else in my group, fact confirmed by my instructor as well. I was very impressed.
These are my honest opinions here: I am not saying they are undisputed fact. I ask those of you with more track experience to look upon these statements with patience and kindness :).
That's all I can think of right now, but if you have specific questions ask away...
adc
03 330 ZHP
PS: Some people wanted pictures of clears on Imola: sorry I don't have better pics, I didn't have time to take others...
First of all I'll say I don't consider myself a hotshot (used to, but now I'm older and know better). I did a track day last year in an E36 M3 and so I'll run some comparisons with that.
- It's more understeery than the old M3, courtesy of an even more staggered setup (225/255). That of course makes it more forgiving since you can always scrub some speed if you let it do its thing. But it also means you need to coax it a little more to cause it to rotate nicely through some corners. Bottom line: I didn't care.
- It has a little more pitch, roll and lean due to softer springs. I was not bothered by it, since the upshot is a more comfortable street ride and excellent bump absorbtion.
- Excellent brakes. At my skill level they were perfect and I could not say they were better or worse than the M3. Not sure at a higher skill level...
- Less low end torque, but a murderous upper range. From 6k RPM on up it moves absolutely brilliantly. The 00 M Coupe I was chasing would walk away initially, only to be reeled in at around 90 mph. For rapid progress, downshifting is a must.
- Less snappy transition to oversteer. This made the car easier to control. Maybe experienced track hounds would be bored to tears by the slowness of its responses, but I liked this trait better.
- Badly needs a LSD. When really scooting I could hear the tires chirping in some corner exits which never happened with the M. I might look into one later on. Oh BTW I disabled the first level of DSC, but not the second (I thought the second one acts like some electronic version of LSD).
All in all, I had a blast. The no-braking exercise was a real eye opener, spoiled only by that tense moment when the annoying S4 in front of me screwed up and hit the brakes :). Skidpad was a blast - I am now starting to get the hang of controlled oversteer (of course I can only control it for 2-3 seconds right now :), but it was great fun anyway).
I chose to drive the course in 3rd gear because the engine is fairly new and I didn't want to have some nasty surprises. Even driving in 3rd, in a car that's likely somewhat slower, I was able to gain about 2-3 seconds compared to last year. I attribute this to the extra track time and the less edgier responses of the ZHP which for average guys like me makes it easier to control.
Next time I'll pump up the front tires a little more: at 35/40 I thought they were a little soft.
Cars that I passed included M Coupe, modified Audi S4, modified RX-7, modified 2002. Cars that passed me included WRX, Evo 8, M5, highly modified Golf VR6 and a lightly modified Audi A4 (!). This taught me that driver matters a great deal (the A4 was down in power and maybe handling but still faster) but only up to a point: the M5 was passing me on sheer power/grip alone even though his line was extremely bad.
If I were to pick a track/fun car today, it would be the Evo 8. That car was WAY faster than everything else in my group, fact confirmed by my instructor as well. I was very impressed.
These are my honest opinions here: I am not saying they are undisputed fact. I ask those of you with more track experience to look upon these statements with patience and kindness :).
That's all I can think of right now, but if you have specific questions ask away...
adc
03 330 ZHP
PS: Some people wanted pictures of clears on Imola: sorry I don't have better pics, I didn't have time to take others...
