# Startup Defaults



## daihard (Feb 15, 2004)

I may be totally off, but don't the modern Formula One cars have traction control? I remember an argument about whether or not FISA should ban it because it helped the drivers too much.

I've read Terry's posts on various different topics in forums including this one. He sure seems to know what he's talking about.


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## Pinecone (Apr 3, 2002)

daihard said:


> I may be totally off, but don't the modern Formula One cars have traction control? I remember an argument about whether or not FISA should ban it because it helped the drivers too much.
> 
> I've read Terry's posts on various different topics in forums including this one. He sure seems to know what he's talking about.


Thanks.

I will be posting a new thread later in this forum about DSC use. I have finally figured out what has been bugging me about all these people wanting it off and the difference between this car and what they are used to.


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## HUMMM 3 (May 10, 2003)

jjprusk said:


> However, there are many back roads with fairly sharp turns that I drive and I want control of the car. And being the Northwest, it often rains which makes the sharp, slow turns lots of fun - but DSC kills this by shutting down the engine.
> 
> I to live in the Northwest (Seattle area). I often ride a bicycle on the backroads you may be speaking of. I wonder how you would handle the situation of blasting around a blind corner with the rear end hanging out and be confronted by several cyclists in your lane and an on coming logging truck in the other. This happened last year with a guy driving a Porsche. Those of us on bikes ran off into the bushes (just scratches and scrapes). The Porsche got a rear fender seriously crunched by the trucks rear tires. Fortunately the truck wasn't hauling a load of logs or the guy might of been killed. Although we all left our names and addresses with the drivers, none of us has heard another word.
> 
> The moral: If you drive fast on backroads, know what is ahead of you and, if you can't see ahead, slow the f*** down. :nono: Personally I reserve that sort of driving for Montana, Wyoming and Nevada where you can see for miles. (Radar detectors work better in the wide open spaces.) Of course the best option is save it for the track.


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## daihard (Feb 15, 2004)

Pinecone said:


> I will be posting a new thread later in this forum about DSC use. I have finally figured out what has been bugging me about all these people wanting it off and the difference between this car and what they are used to.


Sounds great. I look forward to it. :thumbup:


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## jjprusk (Mar 12, 2004)

*Racing use of Traction Control*

Many race cars use traction control, such as F1, Champ Cars, Daytona Prototype, etc. In the Daytona Prototype I drive, we've only just begun to test and tune the traction control. From my limited knowledge of DSC specifically, it has much more control than a typical racing setup for traction control. For instance, DP traction control measures the differential in wheel speed from front to back and applies a test to this differential. When the differential reaches a threshold, traction control applies a "cut" to the engine by varying the timing and/or other engine management methods and decreased the power until the differential comes back to the desired range. There is no braking. The decision making part of the traction control is based on a 3 dimensional matrix which determines when to make the engine cut, how quickly to ramp-up the amount of engine cut, and the total amount of engine cut. It is quite tricky to get this correct as too much cut at the wrong time will put you in a wall (I've experienced this personally) whereas too little doesn't help much.

BTW - from everything I've been able to gather, the real goal of traction control isn't to make the car faster (as it doesn't and if anything slows the car down slightly), but to allow the driver to drive at the edge more consistently and allow the drive to deal with the racing situation rather than worry about the traction circle at all times.


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## daihard (Feb 15, 2004)

jjprusk said:


> BTW - from everything I've been able to gather, the real goal of traction control isn't to make the car faster (as it doesn't and if anything slows the car down slightly), but to allow the driver to drive at the edge more consistently and allow the drive to deal with the racing situation rather than worry about the traction circle at all times.


To the best of my knowledge, I believe you're right. I think the key here is "consistency." By allowing the driver to concentrate on dealing with the "racing situation," driver-aid such as traction control will eventually help you get the best performance out of the car more consistently without making human errors, thereby giving you a better chance of finishing the race (and winning).


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