Well it's attributed to those things, and a whole lot more.

A LOT MORE right down to how the driver loads the tires with the brakes and the steering wheel on the way into, through, and out of the corner.

 

Driver skill can negate a lot of good engineering.

The grade-school basics of steer-tire contact and torque management was more on point for my input.

Ive got a build going myself, so understanding the concepts of mechanical operation are what interest me. "Driver's skill" will increase with actual driving, but Ill have to wait until my car is finished before I give any fruitful input on that.

 

What a sec all this discussion on the matter and you don't actually know if the car understeers because you have never pushed it? OMG don't spend another dime on anything but track fees!

Seriously man you don't even know what questions to ask until you get a couple of events under your belt. Like others have said the best set up in the world can be nullified by a bad driver and the run blown by the first corner. Likewise any old hunk of crap with a good driver it in can turn some impressive times. You think this baby is fast?

Yes sir that is a 85hp monster with an automatic so yes you can race with an auto no problem. The only mod to the car is grand am GT sway bars but he smokes far better cars and it takes his class at every event because he is a damn good driver that knows how to get every 10th out of that POS.

Your car is great so leave it be and start working on the driver. Pick this book up to get you through the winter Then get out on the track as soon as you can in the spring. Good luck!!

 

It's gonna take a little more than a book to get me through this winter..
But thanks for your help anyways!

 

This owns. lol

 

OK do you have an extra 300 bucks and a good internet connection? Then pick up a go here: http://cmsracing.com/

Jump in the driver development program, the fun series or the historics to get started. There you will learn how to approach and attack corners, trail braking, left foot braking, when not to shift and a truck load of other things that transfer to the real world exactly as they do in sim world.

It would be nearly impossible for me to understate how much good racing with these guys has done for my real world track experience. And best of all once you have your gear its FREE!

 

Live for Speed, Assetto Corsa, iRacing and Project Car are other Simulators. The last 3 require more modern computers but Live for Speed will play on pretty much anything.

 

Nahh we have an iRacing league and it doesn’t take a ton of computer to run it. Anything not bottom of the line that is less than 5 years old will pretty much run any of the sims we use. Keep in mind these are not games full of flash and glitz. These are simulators designed to have accurate physics and vehicle dynamics. The writers don’t put anything in them that takes extra power and you have plenty of settings to turn things like shadows off to ease the load on older computers. I raced on my old XP box that was a P4 with 1024 of ram and it worked fine.

For sims most of our big leagues run rFactor which is from around 2005 and will run on anything really. I think you can still buy it from the link there. The historic league uses GTR2 as a base for Power and Glory 3 and it is also pretty easy on resources. (It is also a fantastic mod if you enjoy spending your Sunday nights in a 1965 Cobra) Both those programs have really good physics and are very realistic. You can get all the software needed to run for 25 bucks except for the rFactor 2 league which is about 80 now. But once you have a wheel and the software seat time is free.

IMO if you are stuck on the wrong side of the mason dixon line like me there is no better way to spend the winter than running with the guys at CMS.

 

I suggest stop worrying about all of this stuff. Just sign up for an autox in your local region. Let them know you are a novice. Take an instructor. See what it's like and how you like it. Understeer isn't really something to worry about.. it's just something you learn how to prevent from experience. Autox is a very safe event

 

there is also events at Pontiac,MI for auto x events

 

Just read through this, did anyone ever ask what diff was in the S60, ie a locker or spool?

Lots of good information in here, but a diff can make a car evil if it was set up for drag racing.

 

It's funny you mention that cause I was looking at that wheel and wondering if I should buy it every day for about a week, but I decided to spend the money on go fast parts instead

Also, my car has a 3.54 gear with what I believe is called trak-lok, definitely not a spool - car is a dd

 

Insert face palm here... Brian I’ll never forget the very first autocross I went to and a young man named Steve came up to me and asked if I wanted some help today. In 65 seconds he changed everything I ever thought about go fast parts and performance cars. If you have a minute let me explain.

In the autocross club I run with we have several guys that are available to partner with first time drivers if they want help. With years of running Camaros if a new driver has any sort of muscle car I am the coach for them. I help them get their car ready, walk the course with them and show them the ropes. They ride with me in the first run group, then I ride with then in group 2 and unless they do something dangerous usually don’t say anything. I might suggest a different gear but the first event is not the time to explain steering technique or what a late apex corner is.

After 3 runs riding with me and 3 runs with them driving their car what is the first thing every single driver asks? What did I do to my car to get it to go so fast…. Sometimes they listen but more often than not the emphasis always comes back to fixing the car. In those cases I ask if they would mind if I drove their car for a fun run and that gets them every time.

You see it was pure genius on Steve’s part when he told me at my first event that he had never even ridden in a Camaro before and would I mind if he took it on a fun run. On the same track, with a driver that had never driven anything that big in his life, he took 4 seconds off my best time. I was so shocked I don’t know if he asked to run it again or just went round and got in line but the next lap was 6 seconds off my best time.

That was a stock 95 Z28 with all-season tires and it was plenty good to learn car control. No matter what the car is it is still all about the driver. Want more proof? LOL fast forward several years and lots of events with the same 2 drivers in a very high performance Miata and guess what? Steve had never driven a V8 Miata before.… and sure enough he took over a second off my time!

It makes no difference at all what car you have it's still a drivers game. I'e put over 16 grand into my car to give it performance and specs your F body can't even dream of but you know what? The best thing I ever did to make my car faster was letting Steve drive it...

Just sayin...

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I guess I should be a little more specific.. If I get my car to the track this summer, it might only be once or twice. I don't just wanna not buy parts because it might hurt my times at the track, I want to have fun on the street without the track being my main focus.
If I get to auto cross it then I'll deal with it then. Thanks for your input though, I really would like to get an instructor when the time comes