Friday, February 25, 2005
Thursday, February 24, 2005
I also came across this article that you might find interesting. At least, I did, since it helped explain shit to me that I didn't understand like what the fuck a final drive ratio is. Well, kind of. It sounds like final drive ratio depends on what gear you're in, since according to the article final drive = axle ratio * gear ratio. Data sheets tend to list just one "final drive ratio" spec, so I don't know if this is final drive for one gear, if it's actually the axle ratio, or if they can somehow keep final drive ratio constant over gears.
Confusion aside, I do like the fact that the article has me doing some (simple) math to understand how all this shit fits together.
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Confusion aside, I do like the fact that the article has me doing some (simple) math to understand how all this shit fits together.
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I think I'm slowly getting the hang of heel-and-toe cornering. I think it'll be awhile before I can mix in double-clutching with it -- right now I have to keep the clutch in while I'm rev-matching (you can also do this with regular downshifts, but it's not as good as doing the rev-matching with the clutch pedal out since, as I understand it, not having it out doesn't bring one of the shafts up to speed).
I don't know how much this will help on your car with normal every-day turns you encounter since your gearbox has much closer ratios, but it's nice when I can do it right and fly through something like a 90-degree turn with the car in gear. Otherwise, I either have to slow down to where I'm nearly crawling since there's an unpleasant kickback when going into second if I'm moving too fast or I have to leave it out of gear. Of course, it'll be useful for any time I'm making a turn that requires braking, but regular left- and right-hand turns are the ones I hit most, and I'm sick of taking them so awkwardly.
The thing that was really holding me back was I wasn't sure when I should be doing the shifting. I realized that the exact timing of it doesn't matter, just so long as I'm in gear before the turn is done (otherwise I'm defeating the purpose) and what I'm doing follows the cardinal rule of "don't upset the balance of the car" (right before I test that balance by taking a fast turn).
I know it's pretty obvious -- the balance thing -- but for some reason just realizing why I'm doing all of this really helped things click.
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I don't know how much this will help on your car with normal every-day turns you encounter since your gearbox has much closer ratios, but it's nice when I can do it right and fly through something like a 90-degree turn with the car in gear. Otherwise, I either have to slow down to where I'm nearly crawling since there's an unpleasant kickback when going into second if I'm moving too fast or I have to leave it out of gear. Of course, it'll be useful for any time I'm making a turn that requires braking, but regular left- and right-hand turns are the ones I hit most, and I'm sick of taking them so awkwardly.
The thing that was really holding me back was I wasn't sure when I should be doing the shifting. I realized that the exact timing of it doesn't matter, just so long as I'm in gear before the turn is done (otherwise I'm defeating the purpose) and what I'm doing follows the cardinal rule of "don't upset the balance of the car" (right before I test that balance by taking a fast turn).
I know it's pretty obvious -- the balance thing -- but for some reason just realizing why I'm doing all of this really helped things click.
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Tuesday, February 22, 2005
I keep forgetting: do you guys have a scanner? If so, I need that one picture you have of me. You know the one I'm talking about. If you don't have a scanner, I need to borrow that picture from you sometime.
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Monday, February 21, 2005
This is that thread I was talking about. It's pretty amusing. As it turns out, that kid is some 20-year-old dipshit who for some reason has $50K to blow on a car. Also, there are for some reason a bunch of posts missing in that thread from a guy who goes by "ff." He's another guy who's kind of a dipshit (but at least one who kinda knows what he's talking about) who really has it in for BMW in general and ZHPs in specific. He used to drive Bimmers but now has an S2000, so, you know, that's not horrid, like getting an automatic ZHP or something.
Also, here is that FWD/RWD comparison article I was talking about yesterday.
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Also, here is that FWD/RWD comparison article I was talking about yesterday.
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So after I saw that NIN was playing Coachella, I went to the site. Looks like a new album soon, there's a new double disc "spiral" in 5.1 and Closure is out on DVD. Woopie-shit.
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