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Driving fun continues with guest drivers

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  kenhoeve 
#1 ·
This car is just the gift that keeps giving. Maybe I was getting slightly comfy and the initial shine had worn a bit, but two things fixed that right up these past few weeks. First, car in 10/5 track setting. Every day is the day I think, yes, I can crush that corner. Right now. Second, let your friends drive! It is so much fun to get the surprise reaction and feedback that is raw and unfiltered without bias. Every single one (except my buddy who now has the 2015 911 turbo, but even he liked it) is really taken aback and genuinely gets so excited about the suspension and driving experience. I was at an Indian Princess dad's gathering this past Saturday, and when they saw my car out front they actually made me take them for a hot lap around the block. They were shocked Volvo had made the car, even knowing what a Polestar was.

Probably the most fun was this past weekend on Sunday when I had my buddy Ryan test drive. Ryan is a mountain biking buddy (insane at dual slalom) and total car nut who has spent a significant amount of time in the automotive industry whether in the 4x4 or aftermarket performance field. He has also spent a lot of time on track testing cars with aftermarket parts (unlike me who has only done motorcycles on track). I knew it would be fun but I wasn't completely ready for him to floor it off the line at the very first stop and hook it left while at 100% throttle. Apparently this is one of the tests he has for vehicles because he used to do that with his modified STi often on the way to work. The test is whether he has to lift the throttle in order to avoid hitting mailboxes. The P* passed. He said a 2013 BMW M3 he drove would go into the mailboxes, but that is a power issue. Anyway, we headed to the neighborhood industrial park race track that runs counter clockwise and has 3 wide open turns out of 4. Things escalated quickly. Ryan is so confident of a driver he broke loose in the very first corner, but in a different kind of way that surprised me. What he did was something I've seen in videos but had never tried, he sidestepped the brakes hard while simultaneously hitting the throttle hard at the point when he wanted to hook the turn. There was so much weight on the front I had never felt the balance of the car go to the rear like this. With some slight squeal the front was still on a swivel while the rear shot us out of the corner as the car just refuses to lose grip. As close as I have felt to it being rear wheel drive like some of our old cars but with gobs more grip. We also did a curvy stretch where I encouraged him to test the car in composure with quick left to right transitions. He was really impressed, and with a huge grin said, "This car is like a video game, it just does everything perfectly."

And with that, quite a bit of fun and a new respect for what this car can do that I hadn't even tried. Pushing the car a bit on the street is much easier after that. And also, guess there is no options on the super sports it's a must have on this.
 
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#2 ·
Thank for sharing.

Ok, who else immediately went and looked up what an Indian Princess dad's gathering was? Still guessing. Best guess is a bunch of dad's of Indian Princesses gather to commiserate about how they got to that point in raising said princesses? :)

Surprised to hear the WOT turn trick at what I'm guessing was 1st or 2nd gear at that point. There is a lot of torque to the wheels at that point. I know when I was doing that on the track on what I'm guessing was a wider, larger radius turn, I had to modulate the go peddle to avoid wheel spin and understeer. What was the speed when the turn was hit?
 
#3 ·
Ha. It's just a social club thing where Dads plan group activities with their daughters like camping, etc.

The trick is still having brake applied when getting into the throttle. Speed wasn't much more than 30 or 35. It takes all understeer completely out and really makes it feel almost like the rear will swing, but of course, it does not.
 
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