VSA on track days?

[cyirush]

Been thinking about taking my FL5 to the track and am curious what you guys do about the VSA?

I’m a pretty experienced track driver, but am wondering if it’s best to leave all or some of the safety systems on for my first time in this car on track? Does +R mode turn everything off?

I am always worried about excessive wear on the rear pads wearing because the car brakes one of the rears to help turn in. Am I right that you have to do the pedal dance to disable that?

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[J_D]

Leave it on at first. When you are more comfortable turn it off. Personally I do HPDE for fun and I just leave it on, as there is no track insurance where I live.

I have had a situation in a high speed corner where the car became unweighted and the rear decided to let go. I credit VSA and not my pro skills for keeping me shiny side up.

 

[thatonedaveguy]

Keep it on until you're highly comfortable with the car on the track. The ass of this car is loose as hell.

 

[BuntaTypeR]

If you’ve ever driven an old school FWD car, you know the raw feel of managing traction entirely on your own. VSA will just feel like it's holding you back and killing your momentum. In theory, anyone who actually knows how to drive a fwd car hard will be faster with the assists turned completely off. Disable it and run 80%. When your tires are warmed up, run 95%

 

[tezzasaurusrex]

I race exclusively with VSA full off (pedal dance). I find the car behaves unpredictability at the limit with the assists. Even with long press in +R, agile cornering is still active, still grabbing brakes as the VSA sees fit, and I end up cooking the pads. I have customers however who swear they are faster with the assist still on. All I can say is what works for me, and we have the fastest FL5 in the country.

 

[cyirush]

Thanks, everyone, for the replies.

All my track driving has been in either an old 911 or a Lotus Elise. Very different dynamics than a FWD car.

I’m happy leaving VSA on at first. My concern is with cooking the rear pads.

Can you do the pedal dance to disable the brake vectoring but still keep VSA on?

Edit - I think @tezzasaurusrex has answered my question (pedal dance is full off).

 

[alSpeed2k]

I think you'll know when you need to turn it off. The first time I took the car to the track I left it on initially. As I got faster I found it really intrusive. I am also used to RWD/AWD (S2000 CR and 911 C4S).

Yes, VSA is still on in +R mode. Having to do a full pedal dance each session is kind of annoying.

 

[CG13]

Pedal dance is the way to go.

I can’t feel anything useful from a safety perspective with the systems on when driving on track. If you spin this car, it’s because of really poor inputs or really poor conditions. I have spun in the rain, I’ve missed braking points and nearly went off track, I’ve had a few dicey moments with poor throttle and steering inputs in good conditions with cold tires. I can’t see that the VSA or traction control stuff would have helped in any case. What it does do is apply brakes, hold back traction, and generally make the car harder to drive smoothly.

I moved from an Evora GT to the FL5 and cooked my rear brakes in one weekend with long press in +R, before I knew pedal dance was available.

 

[J_D]

VSA will definitely slow down a fast, skilled driver. I will say it does do magic when it comes to recovering if you do something bad à la spin

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