Lateral G load in an S4
Thanks in advance.
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This is a VERY good point.....sure 928's pulled mid to upper .8g back in the day....but with the advancement in tires and specifically WIDER tires....they can pull far more....a skidpad is a mediocre test at best...since it is a fairly tight circle that you just drive around nonstop.....the G's any car could pull in a shorter turn is much higher.....for example Car and Driver tested a bunch of sports cars around Laguna Seca...the GT3 won with the best lap time...& I think its "transitional" G forces were about 1.69G.....I remember the Honda Civic Si was 1.55g.....
After riding in the Beast with the setup & tires you have.....I would guess you could pull around 1g on a skidpad & probably at least 1.5G peak in transition....
After the autocross on Sunday.....I was quite pleased with my 100% stock suspension S4 with just wider-grippier tires.....a great feel.....of course if I had your setup I could have shaved several seconds!!
After riding in the Beast with the setup & tires you have.....I would guess you could pull around 1g on a skidpad & probably at least 1.5G peak in transition....
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The reason for the question is that "transition" is the point I want to stay away from. Far Far Away. The Pony Express has a fairly slow canyon to go through and I've only been able to run 130 - 135 average through it. Now in the 160 mph class I must step it up. A 160 average through the gap would just hit 1.15 G of lateral force in the tightest of turns. If I take the known G load of a stock S4 I know I will be safe. If I know what some of the track guys run I can better judge how fast to go in excess of the stock figure. I'm not excited about experimenting on race day. I hope this helps explain why I need the info to adjust my course notes.
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The reason for the question is that "transition" is the point I want to stay away from. Far Far Away. The Pony Express has a fairly slow canyon to go through and I've only been able to run 130 - 135 average through it. Now in the 160 mph class I must step it up. A 160 average through the gap would just hit 1.15 G of lateral force in the tightest of turns. If I take the known G load of a stock S4 I know I will be safe. If I know what some of the track guys run I can better judge how fast to go in excess of the stock figure. I'm not excited about experimenting on race day. I hope this helps explain why I need the info to adjust my course notes.
The skidpad test is mainly a measure of mechanical grip. If you have the aero equipment to produce any downforce, very little of it is measured in these tests, which are on a 300' diamater circle. If you can find the space to run larger circles and have something to measure, you may be able to get a better number.
Yeah, I know, that's really useful.
http://www.roadamerica.com/images/maps/ra_map_2006.pdf
Turn 01: 1.52 G's @ 74 mph
Turn 03: 1.57 G's @ 60 mph
Turn 05: 1.26 G's @ 49 mph
Turn 06: 1.33 G's @ 52 mph
Turn 07: 1.29 G's @ 76 mph
Turn 08: 1.23 G's @ 53 mph
Carousel:1.44 G's @82 mph
Kink: 1.55 G's @ 101 mph
Canada: 1.55 G's @ 67 mph
Turn 13: 1.20 G's @ 82 mph
Turn 14: 1.56 G's @ 66 mph
The graph's x-axis represents 4 miles and is in feet, and the y-axis Lateral G's. Red is G's, and Green is MPH.
The car is an 89 GT with Bilsteins, 600 - 400 springs (..I think), Devek front sway bar, 11 x 18 Kinesis all around, 285 and 335 tires, and weighs in at 2900 lbs.
The car is an 89 GT with Bilsteins, 600 - 400 springs (..I think), Devek front sway bar, 11 x 18 Kinesis all around, 285 and 335 tires, and weighs in at 2900 lbs.
11" fronts as well? holy moly
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Also you need to be able to factor out the lean of the car and tilt of the corners to get true readings. For example the end of the carousel falls away and 13 is on camber for a good chunk of it. For every degree the car leans and track is from level it is a difference of .011 on the readout.
Very cool software and the interface is really nice though, great tool for comparing your car's laps.
Do you have a G-tech......they can be found on ebay for around $300 or less....or even better a GPS datalogger like swaybar has......but the G-tech will work.....that way you could test on some corners at a track to see where your limits are....gives you an excuse to take the beast out for a DE while the G-tech records all the cornering forces..... 1.15g doesn't sound all that excessive to me for your setup....but the beast isn't super light either.... A quick jaunt out to Reno-Fernly should answer the question for ya! I'll hook up my cheapo G-tech the next time I'm at the track to see what it pulls....
http://www.g2xpro.com/faq.htm
Now that I've re-read this, I'm sure driver-error has something to do with it too!

The best portion for sustained on the posted chart would be foot-marker 12,500 to 15,000 which represents the Carousel, where the GT sustained between 1.20 and 1.44 G's through it. For comparison, my Z06 sustained slightly higher, and did a max of 1.51 G's; both at the apex which is approximately the middle of the rumble strip.
With the software, I can blow-up any portion of the track; so instead of looking at 21,000 feet of track in a chart with virtually zero resolution, I can look at 100 feet of track with lots of resolution and curve definition. Maybe I'll do that with the Carousel tonight and post the screenshots.
Those were astute observations/comments; do you drive or hang-out at the track?


