On 4/23/2002 at 4:52 PM Joel M. Sciamma said:
>Bradford,
>
>>> And I thought the left foot was only for the clutch. :-) I was taught
to
>>> never use the left foot for the brake.
>>
>> ---------To Which I Say---------
>
>The basic point of ABS is that you can steer while also braking hard and
>this is to be praised.
Exactly - turning hard, especially in the wet....
>However, I'm not a fan of ABS on road cars because it often spoils the
>brake
>feel and recent vehicles are setting a very early threshold for triggering
>the ABS which is extremely annoying in damp conditions. Braking is an art
>and ABS, as currently implemented, is diluting it. Over-servoed pedals are
>an absolute pox which has stopped me buying a few cars.
>
>Ditto traction control and automatic stability control. All these toys
>render already rubbery and distant chassis even more remote and beyond the
>drivers full control. They add weight, purchase cost, increase maintenance
>costs and are one more thing to go wrong.
Yes yes and more yes. I hate all that crap to be honest. I remember
beefing a friend's range rover into a small stream when I was racing it
against a dirtbike, because the stupid ABS fired up and aside from the
distraction of the lousy pulsing (this was years ago and I had never felt
that before) I couldn't get a slide happening to approach the stream
correctly - so we went flying right into the opposite bank and snapped the
crappy plastic air dam off. Never happened to me without abs....
Really, I think a lot of it has to do with what you were brought up with.
Im almost 39 now, and have been driving fast off road as long as I can
remember - like with dirtbiking, driving off road IMHO gives you excellent
training to learn haw to actually control a car, not just point it where
you want to go, be you on dirt, sand, snow, or pavement wet or dry. That's
why I love watching rally (me and about 12 other Americans) because those
guys can make a car do exactly what they want it to do in any condition.
Schuey may be the fastest guy in an F1, but I'd bet Makkinen would trim his
ass in a rally. Although to be fair, Schuey has unbelievable car control
and inhuman reaction time.
b
Bradford Schmidt
Bradford Schmidt IMC
http://www.bsimc.com
845-708-9082
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