Do Focus RS's have Traction Control..?

Dup · 26 Mar 2007 at 13:33

Jonnycoupe said:
Press car with some mad geometry. Take a look at Evo they have totally changed there option after driving the road spec car. Its as settled as any other car with 18" wheels.

Hmmm. That sounds interesting. Sadly, they're still out of my reach as they were a limited run. CTR is still top of the list.

Virdi · 26 Mar 2007 at 15:04

Goliath said:
No, just your right foot

The only electronic driver aid is ABS, as mentioned there is a Quaife LSD as a mechanical aid. In addition, boost is limited in 1st and 2nd gears.

Ok - Thanks

However, what's the 'Traction Control' type of light that flashes up on the dash then..? When you kinda nail it?

Thanks

Hawk Tuah · 26 Mar 2007 at 15:14

Sargeantpepper said:
Surely this is only an issue if say the car came on boost round a bend?

Most use I have for it is pulling away.

PMKeates · 26 Mar 2007 at 15:15

Dolph said:
Actually, the vast majority of FWD hot hatches use standard TC and ESP systems, the only ones currently that have an LSD are the Focus RS and the Renault megane 230 F1 edition, afaik. The Mazda 3MPS has a electronic diff thing, but that's slightly different.

I'm fairly certain the Mazda3 MPS has a TorSen diff

cymatty · 26 Mar 2007 at 15:22

Jonnycoupe said:
Press car with some mad geometry. Take a look at Evo they have totally changed there option after driving the road spec car. Its as settled as any other car with 18" wheels.

True but Evo's rating of the car goes up and down like a yo-yo with every RS they drive. Seems there are as many bad ones as good ones.

Dolph · 26 Mar 2007 at 15:26

PMKeates said:
I'm fairly certain the Mazda3 MPS has a TorSen diff

Looks like you're right actually

Goliath · 26 Mar 2007 at 15:45

Virdi said:
Ok - Thanks

However, what's the 'Traction Control' type of light that flashes up on the dash then..? When you kinda nail it?

Thanks

"when you kinda nail it" is the clue - it's the change-up light

Fr0dders · 26 Mar 2007 at 15:49

Jonnycoupe said:
Press car with some mad geometry. Take a look at Evo they have totally changed there option after driving the road spec car. Its as settled as any other car with 18" wheels.

Evo's theory is they setup the press cars for track use

the idea being that when put on the track to compare against their competitors, the lap times would be better so the car would appear faster

unfortunately it backfired on them, as the testers took the cars out on the road and found it horrible (understandable really,)

the customer cars had no such setup and as posted above, evo found the RS that actually made it into a mass production, a much better car

Jonnycoupe · 26 Mar 2007 at 15:56

Indeed, that was my understanding of it, rather than some good ones and some bad.

I know for a fact my car is a nightmare when it had too much toe out, bump steer is very severe too, especially on the inside lane of a motorway :eek:

Proper tracking and its like a different car.

DreXeL · 26 Mar 2007 at 16:46

Jonnycoupe said:
I know for a fact my car is a nightmare when it had too much toe out, bump steer is very severe too, especially on the inside lane of a motorway Proper tracking and its like a different car.

Where did you get your alignment set up Jonny? I want to get mine done, but I'm not sure who to trust to get it right round here.

I'm considering taking it to Powerstation, they did wonders with the Scoob.

PMKeates · 26 Mar 2007 at 17:00

Dolph said:
Looks like you're right actually

I think a mechanical LSD are the only even remotely useful ones, too. My car has an electronic mini-semi-LSD, and it's rubbish as an LSD replacement

The ADB (Automatic Differential Brake) is useful, but doesn't work anywhere near as well as an LSD, IMO.

Hawk Tuah · 26 Mar 2007 at 18:32

PMKeates said:
I think a mechanical LSD are the only even remotely useful ones, too. My car has an electronic mini-semi-LSD, and it's rubbish as an LSD replacement

I think my viscous one works perfectly well. It may be low tech, but it still does the job.

PMKeates · 26 Mar 2007 at 18:33

Bug One said:
I think my viscous one works perfectly well. It may be low tech, but it still does the job.

Sorry, when I meant mechanical I pretty much meant non-brake pulse related

Simon · 26 Mar 2007 at 18:37

Pah, even Rover turbos had a proper Torsen diff as standard.

Main benefit was the massive improvement in traction out of corners. Awesome things, don't know how a 200+bhp fwd can go without one to be honest

Alibaba99 · 26 Mar 2007 at 18:39

MrLOL said:
Evo's theory is they setup the press cars for track use

the idea being that when put on the track to compare against their competitors, the lap times would be better so the car would appear faster

unfortunately it backfired on them, as the testers took the cars out on the road and found it horrible (understandable really,)

the customer cars had no such setup and as posted above, evo found the RS that actually made it into a mass production, a much better car

The press cars were really still development vehicles and as such the parameters of the diff hadn't been signed off. As most of the Ford test team were keen track drivers it had a rather track biased setting.

Simon · 26 Mar 2007 at 18:44

Alibaba99 said:
The press cars were really still development vehicles and as such the parameters of the diff hadn't been signed off. As most of the Ford test team were keen track drivers it had a rather track biased setting.

Pretty sure that EVO drove another FRS after the one that made them change their minds and they found it to be as bad as the original press car.

I think they dropped it half a star for that.

Lopéz · 26 Mar 2007 at 18:47

I went out in a Seat Altea diesel yesterday which has traction control (wtf!?) and it makes for a very unpleasant driving experience if you are pushing on.

Jonnycoupe · 27 Mar 2007 at 12:30

DreXeL said:
Where did you get your alignment set up Jonny? I want to get mine done, but I'm not sure who to trust to get it right round here.

I'm considering taking it to Powerstation, they did wonders with the Scoob.

Protyre in Bristol have an awesome machine, the guy was pretty keen to get mine spot on to what i asked for whilst i was under the car watching. But i dunno how good that setting spec was

Powerstation may well have some ideal settings, whiteline also list some specs, a street setting and a track. You can change the charateristic quite a lot with toe such the way the honda suspension has quite significant toe curves with compliance bushes.

At protyre i went with parrallel fronts and 0.6 toe in at the rear to keep the braking stabliliser setup with the wheel with mopre grip toing out more to control any yaw. My front is fully poly'd so not much deflection.

No undue tyre wear so far and the car is pretty stable on a motorway, and isnt too much toe in at the rear to kill the tyres/prompt oversteer whilst also getting the to rotate.

DreXeL · 27 Mar 2007 at 12:44

Cool, thanks mate. I forgot about Protyre, yeah they have a fantastic setup. I think I'll pay them a visit then :cool:

Do you think I should go for similar settings to you, bearing in mind I'm not poly'd (yet

) ?

Jonnycoupe · 27 Mar 2007 at 13:43

Yeah i cant see much harm, its pretty much the ITR setup (although they have stiffer front bushes)

Maybe see if you can find the Civic VTi std setup just to compare and pick something in between. Only issue with parrallel like that when your bushes arnt as stiff is you will get more toe in under power along motorway etc, shouldn't be too bad maybe just a bit more stable than you want, but its better than toe out that just makes the car feel so loose.

Its nice to get it setup from a known setting though even for benchmarking and good to check camber. Mines 1.5 degrees allround at the mo so atleast im reassured everything on the chassis is as it should be.

Do Focus RS's have Traction Control..?

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