[Guest]

I had a question... Now I know the GTO wasnt really made for winding roads and moutain driving... but " thats where the best races occur here"... anyhow my question is this ... I am use to japanese cars ... where in a turn i can brake/downshift w/healtoe... and pound the corners while overeving the hell out of the motor.
... but this is where the problem lies...

Now when i healtoe and downshift, If the motor comes close to redline while downshifting the back chirps and slides out .. so then I have no choice but to drift and overpower the turn..If I break harder then downshift I can grip the turn but I lose major speed = worse time... I really think I could get a better time if I could grip drive every turn except the hairpins...

Anyone got any suggestions on a better way to use the torque to grip drive?
PS I guess i could also take out the 20 pound speaker box in the trunk LMAO.. :willy: arty:

 

[fergyflyer]

Where's Groucho???? He's our resident canyon expert. As far as I know, the GTO just makes way too much power for the size of rear tires we have. Your best bet would be to roll the rear fenders and got to a larger rear tire to balance the handling. Also lower entry speeds and roll on the power just past the apex. That was how I ran my Z28 in the canyons, not oversteering till I had passed the apex and then not hitting the gas just rolling the power on to a controlled oversteer. The rear end is better in this thing than it was in the Z28 about following the front. Also you don't need to be as high in the rev range to get max torque, so try keeping 3500-4500 rpms through the corner for more control over the rear end with the gas pedal.

 

[Groucho]

Where's Groucho???? He's our resident canyon expert. As far as I know, the GTO just makes way too much power for the size of rear tires we have. Your best bet would be to roll the rear fenders and got to a larger rear tire to balance the handling. Also lower entry speeds and roll on the power just past the apex. That was how I ran my Z28 in the canyons, not oversteering till I had passed the apex and then not hitting the gas just rolling the power on to a controlled oversteer. The rear end is better in this thing than it was in the Z28 about following the front. Also you don't need to be as high in the rev range to get max torque, so try keeping 3500-4500 rpms through the corner for more control over the rear end with the gas pedal.

Expert? Menace is more accurate. :rofl:

Like the Fergmeister says, the GTO is a dream to throttle steer. That LSx torque is a Godsend, and with a little bit a practice and few puckered sphincter moments you'll see that it's pretty easy to flick the nose around in a curve with judicious use of the go-fast pedal. Like the man advises-- keep your revs up and resist the urge to stuff the beast into turns-- the GTO is a heavy, heavy car and takes too damn long to brake / snap thru the apex. In other words- drive smart. Using aerogeek dogfighting terminology, the Holden is a classic Boom-n-Zoom car, not a knife-fighter.

I'm about to do some pretty heavy mods to my Holden- Yellow (adjustable) Konis, F&R sways, full-house polyurethane bushings-- and all these goodies really should help the pronounced body roll and nose-down-caster-squashing braking attitude of the stock car. All the underpinnings in the world, however, can't mask the physics of the situation: The Monaro is a heavy-assed car. Supposedly, the poly caster bushings really help alleviate some of the braking blues...I'll letchya know in a few weeks when I have mine in.

 

[Guest]

Ya atm i got stock 17'' rims and the stock american hot rod tires on it :willy: .. I took the back carpeting out to remove the spare and accesories and found that my LS2 has got a frame stiffener in the trunk aswell as a strut tower brace in the front..

Im thinking of running hawk pads all around w/slotted front rotors and steel braided front brake lines .. to kill my brakefade...
Eibach springs to kill the rear dip... also thinking of shocks .. dunno yet tho stock seems ok so far .... its 50/50 tho...
Also ordered 19'' ..8.5 luff M1s so i can jam pimped tires..


Tonight i ran mountain without my 50 pound speakerbox and spare in the trunk.. the rear end dipping was farless and cornering was a lil'better.. I also left it in 3rd gear the whole way with slight healtoe and dropping it into 2nd for slight periods.. and my time boosted way up...

avrage time on my mountain is 18-22 mins.
tonight I ran a 10.8
fastest I have ever ran the mountain was 8.1 being the 6th fastest person on the mountain out of aprox. 50 good drivers.
fastest time was 6.8 by a japanese friend in a 420HP sti.. he is still king of the mountain and a club leader here.
with practice and some new mods .. i hope to break my record at 8.5 arty:

 

[Subdriver]

Now when i healtoe and downshift, If the motor comes close to redline while downshifting the back chirps and slides out ..

If your tires "chirp" when you let the clutch out, then you aren't matching rpms on your downshifts very well. The goal of toe/heel downshifting is to match the engine rpms to the rear wheel speed in the lower gear so that when you let out the clutch the suspension is not upset. Additionally, the downshifting should normally be done while you are braking in a straight line, meaning that even if you don't match revs correctly the rear shouldn't "slide out". As you turn in, you want to have the car in the proper gear for the turn so you can play with slip angles using the throttle as well as the steering wheel...

Trail braking into a corner is another story altogether.

If you really want to learn how to drive fast, I highly recommend a professional driver's school such as Skip Barber, Jim Russell, etc. They aren't cheap, but they are the best investment I've ever made. :cheers

 

[Guest]

Well in my Civic i was the 3rd fastest person on the mountain ... but ... this is rear wheel drive now.. totally different line/weight/and driving style...

Im driving it a lot with the GTO now so im trying to figure out shifting/line/weight/understeer ect ect...

I guess the more i drive it ill figure it out in time ... just wanna be faster quicker :willy: ... also I was into SCCA for like 3 years here and took a few first place high scores in the Drift session here when i was driving my Civic..=).. :willy: arty:

 

[Groucho]

If you really want to learn how to drive fast, I highly recommend a professional driver's school such as Skip Barber, Jim Russell, etc. They aren't cheap, but they are the best investment I've ever made. :cheers

As soon as I get my suspension kit complete, it's off to a NASA HDPE I go!!!

I'd really like to do one of those schools...and I live only ~40 minutes or so from Buttonwillow. It's on the list of Stuff I've Gotta Do!

 

[Whiteshadow]

Driving a FWD car vs. RWD car is way different.

I also went from a Civic to the GTO. My car made a little north of 200whp on the motor, and I had the suspension of the car... well lets just say it was expensive for triple-adjustable shocks.

I had the car setup so that the tail was really happy, it was really easy to break it loose on the track. And like you, I was beating everything out there at the autocross tracks. Didn't matter if it was really wide open and high speed, or if it was short, tight, and tecnical. It was too easy.

But first off, why are you downshifting soo early that you are hitting rev limiter and the tires don't catch up? There is a point to having that rev-limiter there, so you aren't blowing up! That is why your tires don't catch, and the back end starts to dance.

The GTO is good at getting the back end to drift around a corner, but if you're getting it sideways on corner entry, you're doing something wrong. The GTO pushes like no other. I remember C/D tested the car, and said they were TRYING to break the back end loose at the track, and couldn't get it to come around. It just doesn't like being steered with the throttle unless you do a little work first! (Caster/Camber/Toe settings, I have a great setup if you would like to know!)

Anyways, I guess the biggest thing to get used to with your new car is the power of the motor. You don't need to drop down to the lowest possible gear for the corner. The LS1/LS2 has enough torque that it's faster, and safer just staying in the current gear. I know when you listen to the sound of the motor it doesn't seem that way, but trust me it IS faster, unless you are really low in RPMS.

Practice!

 

[Guest]

that applies to every aspect of racing, practicing is the best teacher, regardless of what anyone tells you!

 

[Guest]

that applies to every aspect of racing, practicing is the best teacher, regardless of what anyone tells you!

TRUE THAT !!!!!

ever since I got the GTO all my friends have been talking all kinds of trash ... but not one will actually lay green and race me....they are pretty much " all show no go"..."all mouth..no action"... all good tho.

Ill keep practicing... and even when everyone is ragging on me .... Ill be the first across the finish line...

"""Let up for a second.. and thats where you will finish"""

PS. I never said I ever hit the Rev limiter.. =)... I just said I came close ...about 5G or so.. :willy: arty:

 

[Subdriver]

As soon as I get my suspension kit complete, it's off to a NASA HDPE I go!!!

Careful... HPDE's are known to be addicting. I started with DEs and look what happened to me. :lol: