For the time attack guys, Traction Control on or off?
 

I know I know it's supposed to be completely off when we're racing (and during open days that's exactly what I do because it's fun to slide around), but when I compete in Time Attack I'm finding that I get better times with the traction control on and VSC engaged.

With it on, my turn in speed on big corners is much better

With it off, my time through the multiple low speed corner sections is much better

Overall, I get better times (on each track I've been on) when I leave it on but is that just inexperience on my part? I've only been tracking for 3 years now and up until this past season it was in a FWD Integra. Am I limiting myself by leaving it on? I'm on Ventus V12 EVO's fyi.

I think most guys do the pedal dance, turning off ABS and all traction control.

You should be faster with it off, as there is no intervention/braking being done to slow down wheels. Chances are, at those big turns where you are faster with it on,, your brain is telling you it's "off" so you take it a little bit slower because you are scared.

How do you know you are faster or slower? logs?

When I compete all of the time info is taken from the mounted transponder.

And honestly I think you might be right, I distinctly remember that going through my head mid corner lol. Any tips as to how to work around this?

It means you need more seat time.

TC actually cuts ur power. So ya .....

<-keyboard warrior

Nothing about VSC will make the car mechanically faster around a corner. You are simply more comfortable knowing that it's on and willing to dive deeper at the entrance. It's simply mental. Your tires have a limited grip threshold but they are progressive and predictable when you begin to exceed their limit. Early on I committed a couple sessions to exploring VSC and quickly realized that it is nothing like some of the PTM systems now available in higher end cars and in fact many factory race cars. It is extremely intrusive and unpredictable when driving the car beyond what the system is designed for.

I was curious about TC last year (normally track with it off) and so I left it on a few sessions. One of faster guys in my group told me he noticed I had slowed down in corners, so it's definitely a noticeable change in speed. You can feel when it intervenes.

Personally I never thought it destabilized the car or anything like that, but everything felt artificial. I was just flooring the throttle mid-corner and there was no rotation at all (and barely any acceleration). Very strange feeling. I turned it off again and never looked back.

Pedal dance does not turn off ABS AFAIK.

Honestly if the stability control isn't bothering your intended driving then keep it on. As you progress it will eventually become obvious it's interfering with how much slip angle you're trying to achieve.

Traction control is something on an NA car that may only be useful in the rain. On a high power FRS, traction control is more useful. Now on our car we use the Hydra EMS to tune the traction control for each gear independently as I have found this to be critical when trying to go faster with TC. Now on our car and the Hydra EMS we can turn all stability control off but still run programable traction control but I don't believe you can on the factory ecu.

If you're driving right, there's no way it's faster with TC/VSC on. If you're running faster laps with it on, you're making mistakes that the ECU is protecting you on.

+1. The OEM TC/VSC is super intrusive on any setting besides "off."

I keep pounding this drum around here: learn to drive your car without your electronics. Make mistakes and learn from them.

This is not a GTR, the electronics WILL impede your performance.

Thanks for all of the advice guys, I'll be sure to keep it off in this upcoming season and progress that way. I have a feeling it's the mental/fear/no fear aspect that I need to get over (and obviously improve on some techniques as well).

Just to clarify I have driven with it off at the track multiple times (open days) its just when I was doing time attack I was pulling slightly faster time overall so I'd leave it on for that when the laps counted.

Use the pedal dance; the 5 second hold does not fully remove the nannies and electronics.