Alan S

Hi everyone, I am tracking my S8 this coming Friday at Donington Park, in the midlands of England.

I have raced many times, but have never driven an automatic car on a track. I was wondering if you experienced A8 & S8 track drivers could offer me some advice. I have experimented with the Tiptronic and it seems to give a higher performance upchange if the car is left in Tiptronic. However, the down change seems to be too late if you need to power out of a corner.

Do you guys use the tiptronic on the track?

If so do you allow the car to do the upchanging?

Do you downshift through the gears under braking to have the correct gear selected for drving through the corner, or will this spin the wheels (and possible the car?)

I would appreciate any advice for taking the car on the track.

As stated previously I will also be using my Porsche 993, so will let you know how they compare in lap times and handling etc.


Thanks as usual.

Alan S

docmusolf

I do this by just repeatly down shifting the trans is slow to shift usually 1-3 seconds so you can sequentially shift the gears all at one time instead of taking a gear then the next. Just make sure that you get to the right gear before you finish braking or you will not like the way the car bogs down. Upshifting is a pain for me because it seems that I shift at the same point as the car does so it ends up in shifting me up two gears in stead of one. Usually really irratates me. So it is probably a good idea to left the car shift itself to the next higher gear. You will be amazed at how well the car does. I have driven many 930s on a track over the years nothing newer than a 85 though. The differnce is amazing. It will not have the speed in the straights that the 993 does but you will make up your time in the corners because you can carry more speed through phase two and phase three than you can with the 993. Most imporatantly the car likes trail braking it helps rotate the car.

Brent

ryoung

On track, I always put the tranny in Tip mode.

I (almost) always let the car handle upshifts. The rare exception is where the tranny might up-shift in the middle of a corner. Rather than badly upsetting the car and possibly initiating a spin, I'll upshift early. At <A HREF="http://www.audipages.com/on_track/grattan0.html">Grattan</a>, the S8 is at full throttle from the exit of T10 in 2nd gear all the way to T1. If I let it, the 2nd-3rd upshift would occur near the apex of T11. This is a blind corner and scary enough as is, so I upshift before turn-in. I pointed out this problem to Audi in '01, and the '04 D3 A8L now has a feature that will not allow shifts up or down at high g loadings. [Did Audi listen?]

I always downshift with the Tip under braking. The Tip has a great feature which you may not have discovered ... for at least a brief period of time, it queues unused downshifts. The 2nd downshift will occur as soon as speed drops enough to avoid over-revving the lower gear. Braking in 4th gear for Grattan's T1, if I hit the Tip downshift button twice quickly, I'll be in 2nd when I get back on the gas.

With Quattro on a dry track, you can't get enough power down to spin the wheels. Especially with the S8's lower gearing, you'll probably find that 1st gear is too low and that you'll exit even the slowest corners in 2nd gear. Rather than risk spinning the car, you'll find just the opposite ... the S8 understeers in full throttle corner exits. See the dynamics in <A HREF="https://forums.audiworld.com/a8/msgs/36145.phtml">Weight Distribution Revisited</a>. This is the exact opposite of your Porsche, where too much power on corner exits can break the rear tires loose and initiate a spin. With the S8, you'll definitely find that you can get to full throttle earlier in each corner.

Another advantage of using Tip is that your left foot is free and available for left foot braking. When my brother (a Formula car driver) drove my <A HREF="http://www.audipages.com/on_track/Midohio0.html">S8 at Mid-Ohio</a>, he left foot braked for every corner. The S8 responds well to trail braking, and as the left foot comes up, the right foot goes down, for smooth and quick transitions from brake to throttle. Frankly, though, I'm not very good at this. It takes a lot of practice to teach your left foot what your right foot already knows. Also, I have trouble reaching the brake pedal with my left foot; the pedal's too far to the right. My brother has much longer legs and seems to have less of a problem.

One last thing - tire pressures. With the Michelin Pilot Sport, I've found that my S8 is best balanced with 47 psi in the front and 46 psi in the rear. These are hot pressures, to get there from cold I started with the pressures below, though this will vary slightly from track to track.

........... Left ..... Right
Front .... 38 ....... 42
Rear ..... 40 ....... 42

Needless to say, the left front tire takes a beating on a clockwise circuit and heats up the most, and handling is a little strange for the first lap or two until it does.

Have fun, and I'm looking forward to a track report when you get back!

ryoung

I have exactly the same experience. If I try to upshift at redline, as often as not the car upshifts also, and now I'm up two gears ... bummer. I miss the active participation, but I have to admit that the Tip handles this just fine on it's own.