I'm not a real racer but I was reading other posts about people that raced in their TLs and many of them say that they turn the VSA off before they race. What does that do if you are just racing on a straight path? Does it give you better performance? I might sound dumb in asking but I would like to know for when I get into my first real race.

Thanks.


2002 silver TL-S
spoiler
remote starter
non/Navi
35% tints on front, 5% on back 3

 

When you stomp on the pedal the VSA keeps the wheels from spinning too much. So when you turn it off, the VSA will not try to do traction control or try and stop the wheels from spinning. Thats why you trun it off when racing, to gain that .1 or .2 sec edge. JMO

 

From what i understand you are suppose to turn off traction control due to wheel spinning. People with the newer vettes gripe about traction control.

 

I'm no racer myself, but it seems counterintuitive to turn off VSA and risk spinning out during launch... unless VSA is too conservative and won't let you get to the edge of your tire's grip limitations.

 

This is true to some extent, however VSA does apply the brakes for you to control the wheel from spinning thus slowing your launch down. VSA off will provide wheel spinning but to a racer who knows what they are doing they can minimize the spinning and get a better launch then one who has the brake applied to the tires (VSA on). This then of course comes down to if you are a experinced racer or not ( VSA can help more on people who are not as experinced and the other way around). If traction control helps then people would put it on their drag cars.

 

Ah I see...

 

I would have to believe that Funny Cars and Pro Dragsters boasting 6500 hp must have some form of traction control. Unless the drivers must have very educated right feet!

 

No traction control there, they have wheelie bars and it is rear wheel drive with oversized slicks, so it doesn't have the problems our front wheel drive cars have.

 

Not to object but I surely don't think that wheelie bars have anything to do with controlling wheelspin.

 

Sorry don't know why i put that in there. But the bottom line is rear wheel drive cars well launch better even with wheel spin in it because all the weight of the car is going to the back during a launch.

 

Believe it or not, E55 AMG launches better with ASR/ESP ON..... by turning ASR/ESP OFF, E55 loses about .5 - 1 sec when accelerating hard from standstill......VSC not only applies brakes when wheels are spinning, but also retard timing(cut fuel)if braking alone is not enough.

However, I found that VSC on TLS actually allow a bit of wheel spin before TCS cuts in.... so, I would rather leave it ON then turn it OFF, even when racing....

Andy Kuo

 

It is the set-up on a RWD....a RWD pushes...rather than pulls a la FWD. Also cars with that much power use slicks...which are heated up and when heated up properly are like glue. The wheelie bars prevent the front wheels from getting shot into the air and causing the driver to lose control. The other benefit a wheelie bar gives is that weight remains evenly distributed by keeping the front down.
A wheelie bar on a FWD is set-up to gain my traction...the wheelie bars have no lift...and act as downforce generators..preventing the car from rebounding onto the rear suspension, which would cause loss of weight over the drive wheels.

 

I personally turn mine off....because it is ultra aggressive in shutting down wheelspin...I would rather have a bit more wheelspin than bog at the line...it's harder for an auto to recover from a bogged launch than it is for a stick.

 

VSA should give you a better launch. VSA can control spin many times quicker than you. On an average of 10 starts VSA will get a better time than your feet, but your feet might get the best time of all 10 starts. To used VSA make sure you punch the gas and let VSA do his job.

 

I went to the track last Friday and found that the best launches (and resultant 60' times) were achieved by lowering the tire pressure to 26psi and turning VSA off.

The VSA system works perhaps TOO well when controlling wheelspin. It allows a little bit of spin initially, then you can feel the power fall off bigtime... I was cutting 2.7 second 60' times with VSA on (a little worse with VSA off -- LOTS of wheelspin).

I'm gonna play around with different launch techniques tonight if the weather holds up and the track is open.

 

You should be getting about 2.3~2.2 60' times.

 

Sure, RWD utilizes weight transfer to enhance traction in conjunction with slicks. But all of this does nothing when considering 6500hp being propelled to the rear drive of these cars. Notice when a dragster leaves the line, you see a cloud of blackish dust, sometimes trailing the vehicle down the length of the track. That ain't exhaust smoke, that's clutch dust. Without a fine-tuned multi-stage clutch, you'll be lighting up those tires all the down the 1/4 mile.

 

Yeah...but that's pure drag cars....no resemblance to a street car at all...

 

Uh.....I've been referring to drag cars all this time...weren't you also?? with your statement regarding wheelie bars??