"Jan Schmidt" <jschmidt@kumc.edu> asked:
> I was wondering the other day, if the 2-gen dsm cars did so well in gs at
> nats ,would the 1-gen cars do equally well? Or is there wheel, chassis,
> suspension,power differences that would handicap the 1-gen? I know that the >
1-gens are a little lighter!
I had an opportunity to drive a pre-95 DSM in anger at last year's Detroit
Season Opener, as my car was sidelined with a (suprise!) blown clutch. A friend
of mine lent me his car, and we 2-drivered it.
I took it out around the block before the event started, and my first impression
was very good. When the boost came on, it was like the Hand of God had reached
out and given the car a shove. It was impossible to determine in that little
test if the car really was faster in a straight line than mine, but it sure felt
like it! It was also a little easier to see the outer corners of the car,
although there was less headroom, so my helmet was cranked over a couple of
degrees.
Once we started racing though, it all went to hell.
Firstly, you could measure the lag in that car with a calender. Stomp on the
gas, count to 3 and then the car would start moving.
Secondly, the pre-95 has this funny engine-RPM-speed-determined variable-effort,
variable-ratio power steering system. Once you get over about 3500 RPM the
steering effort spikes, and at the same time it takes more steering wheel travel
to get the same amount of steer angle. I discovered this little "feature" in the
middle of a medium-speed slalom. Imagine my suprise when I had to turn the wheel
progressively more and more to negotiate the same turns, the effort to do so
increasing all the while! It was impossible to stay ahead of the steering, so
the turns got later and wider the deeper into the slalom you got. Yick.
I've never been so mad at a car in my life. Needless to say, we didn't do very
well. :(
I've had a couple of pre-95 owners call me out on this observation, telling me
that they've never had this problem, or that it was a quick, transient thing
that went away too fast to be much influence on times. All but one has since
recanted when they ran a course that put the car into the "problem zone" and
they too got to experience the joy of an uncontrollable car.
I think a pre-95 car might have done well on the North course this year, but
that slalom leading into the grandstand turn on the South course probably would
have eaten the car for lunch. My best guess is that a pre-95 would be faster on
some courses, and undrivable on others. YMMV, of course.
DG
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