Disable traction control

[abuch47]

Lol so that's what happened yesterday with the burst water main. Was tail happy as **** at super low speed and revs with traction on.

 

[Harli]

The one thing I do like about those Euro's compared to my Redline is they are not just an on and off system, they can be switch down in increments which means I can shut them down a little to allow the car to spin and slide a bit more before the computer intervenes without having to go all out and turn them completely off.
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If you press the TC/ESC button in your redline twice it enters competitive mode which loosens the settings and allows for some controlled sideways fun. Of course, as discussed by others, this may not be safe on public roads.

 

[Holden17]

@Holden17 aquaplaning is a bitch and nothing much can be done as your tyres contact patches float on a layer of water. As such, the tyres can’t interact with the road so ESC or TC can’t help much other than cut power if it recognises the condition as I expect it would.

As I expect ESC/TC would recognise aquaplaning it would cut power so using cruise control should cause no advers conditions. In a non ESC/TC vehicle, maybe you wouldn’t want to use cruise control in conditions where aquaplaning would be a high risk.

If you’re lucky, when aquaplaning, you’ll quickly loose enough speed plowing through the water with no throttle that the tyres will again make contact with the road and thus traction can be regained. Hopefully the car will be lined up with the road at that moment you regain control, hopefully, so not sure what if anything ESC/TC would do at that point as all should be OK.

I also had an aquaplaning incident many years ago where the car rotated about 5 degrees at speed on a freeway. It was a heart in mouth moment in an old non ESC/TC vehilcle. Quickly went off throttle and once the tyres made contact, it was just to continue to drive on after making a small steering correction, heart pounding away. If the car had rotated more, I think I’d have been in a world of hurt. The lot could have been avoided by slowing down like a number of other vehicles were doing in that section of road, but,... young and dumb...

As to the questions about crash stats with ESC/TC vehicles, have a read of the ESC and TC wiki which will also define the basic difference between the tech.

PS: I should add, ESC/TC/ABS can’t alter the laws of physics. You are as dependant those small tyre contact patches of around four hands in total (in most cases) to control the dynamics of a 1800kg vehicle.

Cheers for the detailed response Skylarking...your heart in mouth experience including the 5 degree rotation is incredibly similar to my experience. I can honestly say I didn’t feel I was anywhere near pushing the limits for the conditions but it was a great lesson in ‘always expect the unexpected’ when behind the wheel...complacency was my mistake...it was a 10km highway trip to Bunnings at about 8pm, raining quite steadily. I had only 30mins earlier driven in one direction with cruise control at 100km/h and was returning in the same manner when at about half way without warning I was veering & floating for that second or two...certainly caught my attention in a big way...also had one of my teenage daughters with me at the time which made it all the more scary when I reflect on how it could have ended.

But overall on the TC topic, some people obviously have more experience & talent behind the wheel than others, but I respectfully suggest that anyone who deliberately turns off TC to feel more in control on public roads is a bit like the fate of the ‘talented swimmer’ who doesn’t need to swim between the flags or be fearful of rips etc....just my opinion (and yes, we all have one )

 

[White Swan]

If you press the TC/ESC button in your redline twice it enters competitive mode which loosens the settings and allows for some controlled sideways fun. Of course, as discussed by others, this may not be safe on public roads.

Does the competitive mode turn down the TC & ESC or just the TC?

 

[lmoengnr]

There is a section of the Calder Freeway near me that always has 'standing water' when it rains...
Have aquaplaned there a couple of times, the trac symbol flashes in the DIC, then cruise control disengages due to a wheel speed mismatch.

 

[Anthony121]

Does the competitive mode turn down the TC & ESC or just the TC?

It will turn down the ESC. Press and hold TC button for 10 seconds to switch both off.

 

[3rspecB]

It will turn down the ESC. Press and hold TC button for 10 seconds to switch both off.

Competitive Mode also relaxes TC when steering wheel is pointed straight, for Launch control enabled Manual trans Redlines, this allows a little wheel spin on take off without killing all the power.

 

[PeteSS]

No, it’s a legal requirement that the system always default to ON at every vehicle start.

The fact we can even relax traction or stability control settings, or even turn them off completely in some cars, was fought for by the manufacturers or performance cars (otherwise track days in your performance car with all the nannies stuck permanently on would be rather boring - important part is track days).

But if you always drive with TC off on public roads, one would have to ask why you prefer it off and how you drive in those cases?

By all means have as much fun as you want on a race track but keep in mind that public roads are a shared resource with all sorts of people of varying skills on the same bit of black. So proper driving manners should be observed at all time...

And it may be that stability control actually saves your life when you are tired behind the wheel and some other idiot has a micro sleep and comes into your path. When you need to swerve hard, the difference with having TC/SC on or off may be the difference between life and death, even more so if you are tired behind the wheel.

I think allowing people to turn off TC (via a switch) is a good idea. i was once bogged in sand in my BMW, and would've still been there if i couldn't turn off the TC.

I don't think turning off TC is as dangerous as maybe turning of the ESP/stability control, or whatever its called. My VF wheelspins at will as I'm guessing the tuner couldn't be bothered re calibrating the TC after all the engine mods. The ESP still functions properly, and cuts in as soon as the back steps out.

I turned the ESP off once in this car. Never again

 

[Skylarking]

Yes @PeteSS there are situations where TC needs to be turned OFF on road cars and stuck in sand is one of them. In such a case you press the button when needed. But having it OFF while driving on public roads is not the intent of the TC off switch which is why it always defaults to on on start up. I have read some cars also deafult the TC back ON after a while of being OFF.

I'd expect that if the road authorities see a statistical shift where too many people are wrapped around a tree with their TC OFF, at some stage don't be too surprised if buerocrats then jump in with new cars simply lacking such an TC OFF switch (or the OFF swicth is GPS fensed for race track use only). In such a case, bogged in sand would result in a tow out... but who knows the future, we might all be using Johny cabs soon

 

[chrisp]

I do question the sensibility of the location of the traction control button in the VF Commodore. I noticed that my wife had been hanging on while I was driving and she had inadvertently been pressing on the traction control button while holding on to the centre console. Unbeknown to me, I was driving without the traction control!