Aquary

I'm taking my 08 GT3 autocrossing tomorrow for the first time.

It's all stock, and I'm wondering what settings of the various electronics would be ideal. I assume PASM should be in Sport, and the "Sport" should also be activated.

Owners manual says when Sport mode is on, the TC goes in to a mode w/ less "intervention". So I'm wondering if I should leave it on, or is it still better to turn it off?

ChrisF

My thoughts:

Autox is about learning the car in a safe environment. If you're on a typical autox course, it should be a giant open lot with nothing you could hit even in a spin. If this is the case, turn all nannies OFF. You will get to feel what the car is really doing and likely even spin. I believe getting the experience of the car spinning in a safe environment is invaluable.

As far as PASM goes, I would suggest it's surface dependent. If it's bumpy, leave it on normal mode. If it's glass smooth and has a lot of grip, sport or firm.

Get as much seat time as you can and most of all, have fun!

audipwr1

Chris you ever do the alameda PCA AX? I haven't auto crossed in a decade, but it looks huge and close by, and may also a little drift action as well

globed

If you have any 1st gear turns, which you should with high speeds in gears and low torque on GT3, then take TC/SC off. Otherwise it'll kick when throttling out of tight corners and slow you down. Even more important, it will be boring as sh@t. Practice rev matched shifts into first gear as you will bog in second gear if the corners are tight.

ChrisF

I gave up most autox about 10 years ago. I occasionally still do practice days for fun though. I just couldn't rationalize spending a whole day standing around waiting for 3 or 4 45 second runs. I'd rather spend a day at the track doing 5 x 20 minute sessions

ngng

Whenever I have a student ask me about traction control I ask them how they generally drive. If all you know is traction on, it's worthwhile to continue to drive with traction on until you keep kicking the TCS on. When that starts happening, consider reevaluating turning it on or off. Everything should be progressive. For a seasoned driver that is used to controlling the vehicle, when you expect the car to do one thing with TCS off but the computer is doing another, that's another story

Aquary

Thanks - this seemed like good advice, and since I've only driven it on the street with the TC on, I decided to leave it on and see if it was a problem. At the entrance to the first straight on my first run, I got into the throttle a little too quickly (in hindsight...) in first gear, and the tail went completely sideways and I had a nice tank slapper going for awhile. I couldn't tell that the TC did anything at all. So I worked on doing a bit better with my foot activated traction control for the rest of the runs, and had no issues after that. But I never turned the TC off.

We were on smooth cement, so I did put the PASM on firm and turn on "Sport".

Biggest takeaway, as always, is that what matters most is placing the car on the right line, going fast where you should be going fast, and slow where you should be going slow! Suspension/electronics settings are very secondary to that other stuff...

It's been 15 years since I've done any real autocrossing, but I enjoyed it - will try to get out more in the future.