Ok, so I understand why people were saying what they were about Lime Rock. Once you get the turns/apexes right, and hit the slight banks just right, the track is so exhilarating.
Turn three was the hardest to learn; what they call a sacrifice turn. But once you master that, you're setup for hammering it into and out of turn 4 onto the back straight (which is not so straight) into the uphill, and a good third of the track. The scary down-hill before turn 7 into the main straight was actually pretty easy for me to learn. And the car's willingness to save your arse even with ESC off, helped that. I can't tell you how many drivers of M3s and Corvettes were braking into turn four and seven in front of me and spoiling those turns. More on that later tho.
The big bend, the double turn 1 and 2 was the hardest for the car to cope with tho. And really at the heart of why I say Polestar got the 10/5 recommendation spot on.
So onto how the car faired. I started the day out with an instructor in the passenger seat. I could tell between my track rust, nervousness and braking when I should be setting up for a turn and motoring out of it, running the car in auto-sport mode, and forgetting to turn ESC off... he couldn't wait to get out of the car. I couldn't blame him either.
The next time I went out for our 20 minutes, I had the suspension on 10/6, ESC off. And everyone was on a tear. I was getting passed a lot. I just didn't have the turns right yet. And pretty much everyone in front of me (primarily those one or two gen old M3s and Vets) was pulling away from me in turns one and two. The car was really understeering and plowing a lot. I was keeping up with everyone with comparable performance the rest of the track, except those two main turns off the main straight. (there were a lot of guys with either a lot of power or stripped lightweight cars they trailered in and I could not come close to hanging with them)
After feeling like a novice from my time with the instructor, to the plowing & howling tires towards the end of the 2nd time out, and the massive sidewall scrubbing of the tires I found after coming in to the paddock, I decided to sit my third set out and took pictures. And started thinking this may be my last time with the Polestar on the track; I did all those mods to the AMG to make it do well on the track, so maybe I should keep it instead of sell it. My options were to either go softer in the front, which I quickly rejected, or go stiffer to the recommended setup. And wow, did going from 6 to 5 in the rear work magic!
So the last time out...
- after thinking about the track's turns for a few hours and locating all the tricky bits in my head
- running higher starting pressure (38psi) from the get go
- running the dampers on 10 front 5 rear
- about 2 hours of cloud cover cooling the track and air (our tires do not like a hot track!)
... everything came together.
The same silver M3 (one or two gen old) that kept braking into the key turns was right in front of me as we went out that spoiled the fun for me last time out. But this time he let me pass him with a point-by in one lap (my car was as fast as his in the straight and why he probably felt he shouldn't let me pass; but he was piss'n me off in the turns!). I came upon an orange Vet (one or two gens old too). I don't really know if he was babying his car or just couldn't drive. But I was hounding him for four or five laps. (So much so that the corner worker that was working the up hill stopped by after it was all over when I pulled over to adjust [soften to 12/8] my dampers after realizing I left them on track hard ... and said "I have to see what you have in this thing". I said "it's totally stock!" He pulled my rear trunk down to look at the badge and saw the blue square and said "Oh, it's a Polestar!". And nodded, knowingly. And then we talked a little about it. It felt great to get confirmation from someone that sees every level of performance car that there was something to it and special about this car, and it was in no way a poseur. ) Every time I made room for a faster person that I gave a point-by to, I'd quickly catch back up to him. But he wouldn't point me by. And he too was braking into the fastest turns.
Finally he pointed me by, and I was gone. Within a lap I was at the end of the main straight when he was only coming onto it off the hill. After that only a Caterham and a lightweight something old caught up with me and one or two others with massively higher power/weight ratio. I was sooo hooked up with the car; and the car was sooo hooked-up with the track. Weight transfer and car rotation was just perfect. The troublesome turns one and two were still not perfect. Still had a bit of howling from the tires towards the end. But it was a lot better ...a LOT. We could however really use more negative camber as was suggested, and/or harder sidewall tires, also suggested, both spot on.
One thing I have to bring attention to is the brakes. You wanna slowdown from 120mph into a right and are coming in a bit hot ... just push more. I literally thought I was out of brakes. But then discovered I had more range, used it, and it felt like I was running into a wall. The brakes really are incredible. I came into the paddock and the guy I was there with with told me my brakes were smoking; he tried to take a phone pic -lol. He said, "that's a good thing" ; good in the sense I was really making use of them. Unfortunately I think I developed a hard spot in one or more disc. I get a pulsing now under braking on the road!
Oh, and don't try to adjust your front dampers within an hour or so after coming off the track. They are literally burning hot. And don't go to full hard and try to turn it back; you might seize at full hard; I almost did. The glove the corner worker mentioned above gave me to try to save my fingers prevented me from being able to get torque on it to turn it. So I had to muscle thru the pain, and the burn with bare fingers. I have a nice blister on my thumb. The left side was a lot hotter than the right side.
I wish I didn't sit that 3rd of 4 rounds out. I would have had time to try 10/4 or 9/4 on the suspension. But likely, the big different 6 to 5 made, 5 to 4 might have been a very noticeable change and one too far. Still, hope someone tries it. I suspect I'll get out there again this year and may get to do it. (I only worry about going too far and having the tail wag out on me; 2 spins and you're done for the day!
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Hope that's everything I wanted to touch on. I'll post more if I realize to forgot anything.