Traction Control / Active Handling

SkyMan 08

· #2 · Feb 26, 2006

wakebord99 said:
Hey guys,

I wasn't able to find any info about the availablity of Traction control or Active Handling. I mean Honda Accords and Hyundia's come with this stuff.. am I to understand that I should buy a sports car w/out these critical options??

don't need or want either, know plenty of people that have traction control and they all hate it...besides accords and hyundias are not even in the same class.... so why are you comparing?

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Skip

· #3 · Feb 26, 2006

wakebord99 said:
Hey guys,

I wasn't able to find any info about the availablity of Traction control or Active Handling. I mean Honda Accords and Hyundia's come with this stuff.. am I to understand that I should buy a sports car w/out these critical options??

Don't need no stinkin traction control. Seat of the pants drivin I say. Now sometimes those pants might be afilled up but still seat of the pants drivin. Just keep the top down no one will notice. Skip...:thumbs:

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wakebord99

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 26, 2006

Ok, perhaps none of you have actually driven a car to it's limits on the street. I had a Corvette Z06 w/the competition mode traction control. This allowed you to get the car sideways but if you got yourself into trouble it brought you back. I know you'll all say.. "well if you could really drive you wouldn't need that". Not always true.. everone makes mistakes, and it's always good to know you have that backup. Besides.. who here had driven a solo 1 event in the rain w/out active handling.. I have. No fun with your brand new car..

And for the question about why i'm comparing a Hyundia or Honda vs the Sky.. because neither of the for-mentioned are sports cars.. yet have this sports car feature..

So i'll ask again.. does anyone know if Active Handling will be available?

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CarJunkie

· #5 · Feb 26, 2006

wakebord99 said:
Hey guys,

I wasn't able to find any info about the availablity of Traction control or Active Handling. I mean Honda Accords and Hyundia's come with this stuff.. am I to understand that I should buy a sports car w/out these critical options??

Redline will come standard with GM's version of it.

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nighttripper

· #6 · Feb 26, 2006

Skip said:
Don't need no stinkin traction control. Seat of the pants drivin I say. Now sometimes those pants might be afilled up but still seat of the pants drivin. Just keep the top down no one will notice. Skip...:thumbs:

What's wrong in a few SKID marks, don't need to traction control.:lol:

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CdnSkyGuy

· #7 · Feb 26, 2006

active handling is not available on the standard Sky...I had always thought that Traction Control was standard though...It would be good on that car in the winter but turned off all summer.

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wakebord99

Discussion Starter · #8 · Feb 26, 2006

nighttripper said:
What's wrong in a few SKID marks, don't need to traction control.:lol:

Absolutely nothing. And honestly i'm not really interested in the Traction control w/ 177 hp. Come in handy when you throw on a turbo and add it up to 300 hp though. My main statement was about the active handling.. and that stinks they won't make it available.

They should make it part of that 1500$ handling upgrade:banghead:

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Mallard

· #9 · Feb 26, 2006

wakebord99 said:
Absolutely nothing. And honestly i'm not really interested in the Traction control w/ 177 hp. Come in handy when you throw on a turbo and add it up to 300 hp though. My main statement was about the active handling.. and that stinks they won't make it available.

They should make it part of that 1500$ handling upgrade:banghead:

I'm with you on this one. I'm a big fan of stability control systems now. (It's my job)

The Solstice GXP comes with "Stabilitrak" so you could probably expect the Sky Redline to do the same. After that maybe it will trickle down to the other models.

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CdnSkyGuy

· #10 · Feb 26, 2006

$1500 handling package??? I never heard of that yet

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SkyMan 08

· #11 · Feb 26, 2006

CdnSkyGuy said:
$1500 handling package??? I never heard of that yet

i think he is confused with the Miata's handleing package just to bring it up on par with the Sky and solstice...
I will repeat traction control is more of a pain in the butt than a help.

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Mallard

· #12 · Feb 26, 2006

SkyMan 07 said:
I will repeat traction control is more of a pain in the butt than a help.

But stability control will save your ass.

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wakebord99

Discussion Starter · #13 · Feb 26, 2006

SkyMan 07 said:
i think he is confused with the Miata's handleing package just to bring it up on par with the Sky and solstice...
I will repeat traction control is more of a pain in the butt than a help.

Nope not confused.. Do a build your own Sky on Saturn's web site.. you'll see what i'm talking about. The price is obserd.

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-Tj-

· #14 · Feb 26, 2006

I wonder if Stabilitrak will end up being a major pain in the butt when you try to drive the car at its limit. According to one page (link at the bottom) Stabilitrak comes in to help keep the car from drifting wide by applying the brakes on different wheels individually.

I've watched some automotive programs with some pretty top-notch drivers racing around a track, and when it came to this kind of system, they usually ended up turning it of where they could, or complained about it interfering with their driving.

If it's gonna come standard on Redline, I hope they give the driver the option to turn it off temporarily.

http://www.acarplace.com/brands/gm/gadgets.html

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KappaMan

· #15 · Feb 26, 2006

GM announced a while ago that ALL of their cars would be equipped with active handling by 2010 or something like that.

The anticipated-but-not-yet-announced SKY RedLine is expected to have active handling standard, just like the Solstice GXP. I understand it is modelled on the Z06 operation (normal mode, traction off, competitive or competition mode, or ABS only active handling off).

No word on the naturally aspirated version getting active handling.

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wakebord99

Discussion Starter · #16 · Feb 26, 2006

-Tj- said:
I wonder if Stabilitrak will end up being a major pain in the butt when you try to drive the car at its limit. According to one page (link at the bottom) Stabilitrak comes in to help keep the car from drifting wide by applying the brakes on different wheels individually.

I've watched some automotive programs with some pretty top-notch drivers racing around a track, and when it came to this kind of system, they usually ended up turning it of where they could, or complained about it interfering with their driving.

If it's gonna come standard on Redline, I hope they give the driver the option to turn it off temporarily.

http://www.acarplace.com/brands/gm/gadgets.html

I'm not 100% on the Stabilitrak persay, but every car has a way to turn off all forms of traction control and active handling so that they can dyno RWHP. The "Competition Mode" of the vette, which basically did the same thing, but allowed you to get the car's ass to kick out a fair amout w/out interfearing was perfect IMO.

When your playing on the street, or on a track where you could total your car w/a mistake I would strongly recommend keeping these features active. Remember, these are professional drivers, on a closed course that there are no walls to be seen. Maybe a grass patch, or sand trap.

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SkyMan 08

· #17 · Feb 26, 2006

wakebord99 said:
Nope not confused.. Do a build your own Sky on Saturn's web site.. you'll see what i'm talking about. The price is obserd.

i stand corrected, that is something new on the list, when i built mine it was not listed... HMMMM

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Mallard

· #18 · Feb 26, 2006

-Tj- said:
I wonder if Stabilitrak will end up being a major pain in the butt when you try to drive the car at its limit. According to one page (link at the bottom) Stabilitrak comes in to help keep the car from drifting wide by applying the brakes on different wheels individually.

I've watched some automotive programs with some pretty top-notch drivers racing around a track, and when it came to this kind of system, they usually ended up turning it of where they could, or complained about it interfering with their driving.

If it's gonna come standard on Redline, I hope they give the driver the option to turn it off temporarily.

http://www.acarplace.com/brands/gm/gadgets.html

Depending on the system and how it's tuned, some systems may feel intrusive. However, most people that complain about not having a "full off" feature have never learned to drive with the system, or have never been timed with it on vs. off, in my opinion. A manager at Opel put down the challenge to his drivers and to the press to lap Nurumburg faster with the stability control system off vs. on. Not one person could do it. The car was faster with system on.

Having driven a lot of systems, with a RWD sports car you still have a lot of freedom to hang the rear end of the car out while still having the saftey net of the system. Stability control does something that no driver can do; apply a yaw moment to the vehicle in order to hold a certain amount of vehicle yaw angle. Controlling each wheel individually is the closest to defying the laws of physics that you'll ever get. No driver can match the ability of the system, not to mention it's safer.

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KappaMan

· #19 · Feb 27, 2006

Mallard said:
Depending on the system and how it's tuned, some systems may feel intrusive. However, most people that complain about not having a "full off" feature have never learned to drive with the system, or have never been timed with it on vs. off, in my opinion. A manager at Opel put down the challenge to his drivers and to the press to lap Nurumburg faster with the stability control system off vs. on. Not one person could do it. The car was faster with system on.

Having driven a lot of systems, with a RWD sports car you still have a lot of freedom to hang the rear end of the car out while still having the saftey net of the system. Stability control does something that no driver can do; apply a yaw moment to the vehicle in order to hold a certain amount of vehicle yaw angle. Controlling each wheel individually is the closest to defying the laws of physics that you'll ever get. No driver can match the ability of the system, not to mention it's safer.

I have heard of the Opel challenge. I can absolutely assure you that personally, I am faster in a '04 Z06 with the system OFF vs. standard(w/ tractionoff) or competition modes.

There are things that the system cannot take into account (like the hump at Grattan raceway, or the keyhole at Mid-ohio, or the off-side of the hill at Waterford Hills, or the crest at Road America), where the car needs to be very "loose".

I can't account for why a system-on might be faster on the 'ring, unless maybe the drivers were driving a car that was "borderline stable". With the system on, the driver, even experienced ones, may be more comfortable pushing the car harder around the "green hell" with the system on. There are many areas on the 'ring that are totally unforgiving - you don't get a second chance if you screw up.

I doubt I'd ever get a chance to, but I'd love to take that Opel challenge - I bet I could figure out how to get the car around faster with the system off.

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wakebord99

Discussion Starter · #20 · Feb 27, 2006

KappaMan said:
I have heard of the Opel challenge. I can absolutely assure you that personally, I am faster in a '04 Z06 with the system OFF vs. standard(w/ tractionoff) or competition modes.

There are things that the system cannot take into account (like the hump at Grattan raceway, or the keyhole at Mid-ohio, or the off-side of the hill at Waterford Hills, or the crest at Road America), where the car needs to be very "loose".

I can't account for why a system-on might be faster on the 'ring, unless maybe the drivers were driving a car that was "borderline stable". With the system on, the driver, even experienced ones, may be more comfortable pushing the car harder around the "green hell" with the system on. There are many areas on the 'ring that are totally unforgiving - you don't get a second chance if you screw up.

I doubt I'd ever get a chance to, but I'd love to take that Opel challenge - I bet I could figure out how to get the car around faster with the system off.

This sounds about right..

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