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      06-27-2013, 03:54 PM   #113
OC3
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Drives: 2013 M3 E92 Jerez Blk DCT ZCP
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: SoCal

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I tracked in MDM mode during first 12 months & 30 track days, then went DSC off 13 months & 25 track days ago.

When I switched to DSC off, what started happening was, the car would frequently oversteer before apex. Found out pretty quickly that the reason for it was due to turning in too early ("pinching the corner") while going in too fast. Being a novice, and despite having heard that you need to look further down the track, as soon as the track started bending, I was turning. And, especially at decreasing-radius corners, that mistake, which while in MDM mode would be masked or corrected by the computer so that the novice driver wouldn't even notice that he or she is making a mistake, would immediately translate into the car going into oversteer. I wound up getting a lot of practice doing counter-steer/corrections. It also made me think about what was causing it, which evolved to the realization that, conversely to me doing it unintentionally, turning in early is what drifters intentionally do to rotate the car (initiate drift). Same dynamics, but unplanned versus planned.

After that was realized & fixed, and I started getting faster, now the car would be oversteering after many apex. I had learned to turn in later and to get on the gas before the apex, but after the apex I was not consistently unwinding the steering wheel and heading out to track out. In fact, many videos would clearly show the steering wheel still turned substantially ("pinching the steering wheel") - i.e. the front tire angle was pretty much in parallel with the inside edge of the curving track. Well, getting on gas with steering wheel at that kind of angle resulted in lots of big oversteers, requiring massive corrections. And, again, while in MDM mode, things like that would be corrected by the car's computer, but the driver would be very aware [not of the fact that the computer saved the car from big oversteers/spins, but of the computer cutting off the gas (& applying brakes). And, as you get faster, this 'lag' (which feels like everything comes to a standstill or are in slow motion) gets longer and longer.] Anyhow, with DSC off, all those dynamics come to the surface, requiring you to think about what is going on, learn and adjust. And, I realized, when I was tracking out while in MDM mode, I wasn't truly tracking out where you can get on full throttle and feel the g-force pushing the car to track out; but rather, I was basically steering my way out to track out.

In any case, MDM is fine if you just want to enjoy your time out there in a relatively safe manner. But, after that, if you go DSC off, wow, it's a whole different array of sensations and interactions with both the car and the track. A fuller experience, one might say.
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