Yup - it's all good.
Originally Posted by
Brandon J
However, even a small improvement on the street makes the difference between hitting someones bumper or having one foot of cushion space.
When I teach at CCA and PCA skills days, one of the drills is a threshold braking drill. I'm sure you've seen and done it - basically practicing a panic stop. We do straight line at first, then put in a turn after several runs. Point is to get familiar with the abilities and feel of the ABS.
It's pretty interesting to look at the common mistakes - there are two. The first is that novices tend to release the brake pressure as the car begins slow - fail to maintain full pedal pressure until a complete stop. This of course increases stopping distance. 
The second common mistake that when asked to turn the car under braking ("collision avoidance"), they tend to release some braking pressure during the turn then re-apply pressure as the car straightens out. Again increasing the stopping distance.
Speaking of modulation (I agree with your points there), it's interesting to observe the improvements in the newer ABS systems over our cars. The newer systems seem to have a much faster ABS modulation rate. For the driver this means less chatter in the pedal and I suspect faster stopping times.
PS - I want a Tirerack sponsored track day!!! Sounds like fun. Pretty nifty that your E34 can run with an E39 M5. Done quite a few laps in the right seat with those and they are no slouch. Impressive torque and straightline speed...
Bellevue WA
90 535iM - not much stock remains. 3.7 liters, ported head, cammed, 3.73 diffy, M5 brakes, MAFed, yadda yadda yadda
86 Porsche 951 - Track Toy
Reply With Quote