Any words of wisdom as to what has worked for you as far corner entry, exit, etc? I have been working to cure understeer on my 996 twin turbo.

 

slow in, fast out. when entering corner, always do all your braking before. slowly squeeze the throttle on the exit out of corner. it's really no different than other cars but just more important to exercise this technique. you have more weight in back, which is good since your rear is more planted. use the gas to keep the weight in the back and never lift off in mid corner or your backend will swing out since that rear weight is behind the rear wheels.

you can lower your rear tire pressure a little to say about 36-38 psi instead of the recommended 44 psi to reduce some understeer.

 

I have heard that trail braking deep into the corner to plant the front end helps to reduce understeer as well on rear engine P cars, any thoughts?

 

too much stress on the front tires trying to brake and turn at same time. more important to keep weight in back where traction is needed.

 

Trail braking is fine for a 911. In fact it helps make up for the rear weight bias at entry in some corners. Now threshold braking and trail braling at the same time is another story.
Some people confuse threshold braking into the turn with trail braking.

tw

 

Not only slow in fast out, but smooth; really smooth braking and increasing the throttle smoothly will greatly help you better control the Turbo it also will lower your lap times

 

All excellent points. In particular, I have found tire pressure makes a HUGE difference as noted by DJantlive (don't forget to adjust the PSI when you go home). Moving from M3s, I have found that the TTs need an almost gentle more "feeling the car smoothness", or it's off the track in a nanosecond. Love the challenge! And some anti sway bars are a cheap and helpful addition to. It's a great car to develop driving skills. Balancing the car BEFORE the turn is key.

 

I'd offer that you set your tire pressures for max grip (with a pryometer and camber adjustments), then focus on the skill aspect to fix the understeer. It sounds like that is your plan.

On the skills side, i HIGHLY recommend getting some extra time on a wet skid pad. Slowly squeeze the throttle and pick up speed until the front end pushes. Then lift, hard, let the back come around a bit, then turn into the slide, nearly full lock, and add throttle. Once you get this down, it should be pretty frustrating and fun at the same time, head back to the track and you will find that the point at which the front give way, is totally natural to you and you'll feel it coming before it happens. Your body (if your eyes are up like they should be) will naturally plant the fron end with the right load. You'll also know when too much is on the speedo and be much safer near the limit.

What should happen is as you brake, squeeze up to threshold, hold it until you are close to the right speed for the turn. As you reach turn in, dial in the steering and ease off the brake. once the steering is set at the point you need for the turn (i know your not adjusting it mid turn), add throttle. Too much and you push, not enough and the back wants to come out. once you are doing this every turn, every lap, it probably time for some chassis adjustments to fine tune it. Otherwise, you might fall into the trap of correcting the car before the driver is capable of getting everything it has to offer.

I hope that was helpful?

Best of luck out there, and keep the shiny side up!

Cheers,

Trevor

 

Good advice....until his braking, turn-in and throttle begin overlapping each other, he's best off working on technique.

What alot of people forget is that trail-braking and "slow-in" are perfectly compatible together.

OP - also, don't shy away from track days in the rain, they can turn out to be some of the most educational times you have on track.

 

Agreed. Just pointing out that if he tries to learn a technique but doesn't have tire pressures set correctly and consistently at every track event, he'll constantly be trying to figure out what to do.

I am a fan of practicing trail braking from very near the beginning as well.

I think too many people think it can only be done at the limit.

 

Live2shift,

Not knowing your driving style makes it hard to tell you exactly what will work best for you. As mentioned, trail-braking works well to gain some front grip on entry, but is usually done to help control an ill-handling car. One thing that has not been mentioned was using ride height adjustments. If you need more grip on entry try going one complete turn down on the front, more grip on exit while applying power try going up on the rear.

Your PSS9'S also have rebound adjustment which can be a very effective tool for handling, don't be afraid to try it. Just make sure you start a set-up sheet to keep track of everything you did and how it effected the car. It's a great way to learn, and, you need to know how to get back to where you started from for the drive home.

P.S. only do 1 change at a time until you are very familiar with all the changes and what they do for your car.