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Old 03-15-2010, 12:03 PM   #1
ricochet
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Default An Education on Ice

An Education on Ice
Ryan Douthit vs. John Haugland in head-to-head Impreza action.
By Ryan Douthit, Driving Sports TV



Watch the video at drivingsports.com

There's been some debate on the "YouTubes" regarding my ability to handle a car on ice. Recently, Subaru gave me an opportunity to put these critics to rest by reviewing my techniques with a bona-fide expert in the field.

My mentor would be none other than John Haugland, an instructor at the Norwegian Winter Rally School in Norway, where he has had such star pupils as Petter Solberg and Richard Burns, among others. Our classroom would be a custom-built ice-racing circuit, along with a set of various Subaru Impreza models.

Now, keep in mind, the techniques we're covering today are specifically for competitive driving only. You really shouldn't be yanking the handbrake as you enter the local school driveway. Not cool.

Let's get right to it. According to Haugland, the number one problem for drivers is braking. Too early, to late, too soft, too hard, these are all bad. Entering each corner with the correct speed is critical unlocking each corner's ideal exit speed.

On cars like the Subaru STI, all cornering should be performed under power, where the front-wheels pull the car in-and-around the turn. This is done by dialing the DCCD to a manual, front-bias and disabling the VDC. Dial it back with too much rear-bias and the tail is going to come around too aggressively and send the car into a snow bank.

Of course, just entering a corner too hot can also result in a similar predicament as most cars will simply keep sliding forward: a situation I find myself in quite often while testing on snow and ice. For this, John suggested tapping the handbrake to assist in rotating the vehicle-- this has always been my personal favorite. (Note: unless you're driving an STI, you will need to depress the clutch when pulling the handbrake, or you could damage your center differential.) Getting the car repositioned, I could then move back to power.

A more advanced technique is left-foot braking.

Though tricky in practice, it's pretty simple to explain how it works: simply keep the throttle engaged and gently apply the left foot to the brake. This shifts weight to the front of the car, which gives the tires more bite while steering. As Haugland points out, most drivers don't have enough sensitivity in their left feet to put this to good use without a lot of practice.
With the instruction portion out of the way, it was time to test what I had learned, to see if I was ready to graduate. For my final exam Subaru provided a pair of Impreza 2.5i's. Me in the blue hatch, and Haugland in the white.

Off the line I ceded the first chicane, there was no way both our cars could fit side-by-side going through it. And, considering the man's experience, I figured he'd be quicker off the line. He was, but he didn't get too far ahead.
Through the first lap I was running a couple car-lengths behind when Haugland either made an error-which I consider unlikely-or he just let me pass on a wide corner to keep the race more entertaining.

I took this advantage and ran with it, I maintained my lead for the rest of lap two and the first half of the final lap, refusing to give him a passing opportunity. Then, in the penultimate corner, I entered too hot and pushed the corner wide. Haugland took advantage of my error-only we didn't have quite enough space for both cars to fit. But what does that matter to an ex-WRC driver?

He made the car fit. And, coincidentally, took out my side-mirror and crumpled a few panels in the process. Maybe it was his way to remind me that I should have applied the brakes sooner in that corner?

We both charged to the finish, swapping paint as we entered the final turn.

I was victorious, but just barely. I'm pretty sure Haugland was being nice and giving me an advantage. But, I'll take this win, thank-you-very-much.

With both of us laughing uncontrollably and surveying the damage to the Impreza, I asked Haugland he was just waiting for me to make a big mistake to make the pass? He replied, "I was pushing with everything I could. I saw the gap on the inside and just went for it."

So does this mean I have potential to drive in the WRC? To this Haugland laughed and replied, "Oh, absolutely!"

Regarding the Imprezas damaged in the making of this film: they were water damaged cars that had a date with a crusher shortly after our adventure.
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Last edited by ricochet; 03-15-2010 at 12:08 PM.
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Old 03-15-2010, 12:03 PM   #2
ricochet
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Old 03-15-2010, 12:23 PM   #3
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pretty cool!
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Old 03-15-2010, 12:38 PM   #4
08GRSTi
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STi grille @ 5:20?
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Old 03-15-2010, 12:51 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by 08GRSTi View Post
STi grille @ 5:20?
Good eye.
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Old 03-15-2010, 01:50 PM   #6
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OK wait. Did he start in a STI? And all the clips are of the WRX sedan? The last part is clear on the cars but the first part, what did he use the sedan wrx or the STI? Good video just confused.
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Old 03-15-2010, 02:10 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AtomicFrawg View Post
OK wait. Did he start in a STI? And all the clips are of the WRX sedan? The last part is clear on the cars but the first part, what did he use the sedan wrx or the STI? Good video just confused.
Thought about going into that, but figured it wasn't really necessary for the narrative (and only NASIOC guys would notice, anyhow.)

We actually started the instruction portion of the day in a WRX then moved into the STI.
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Old 03-15-2010, 02:22 PM   #8
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hehe OK =)
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Old 03-15-2010, 03:01 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ricochet View Post

On cars like the Subaru STI, all cornering should be performed under power, where the front-wheels pull the car in-and-around the turn. This is done by dialing the DCCD to a manual, front-bias and disabling the VDC. Dial it back with too much rear-bias and the tail is going to come around too aggressively and send the car into a snow bank.
everyone seems to think this is what the DCCD does. this is incorrect.

the DCCD determines the amount of lock in the differential between the front and rear wheels. when the DCCD is in full lock the front and rear wheels must all spin at the same speed. when the DCCD is fully unlocked all the wheels can spin at different speeds.

just thought id clear that up. but that is still awesome none the less.
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Old 03-15-2010, 04:34 PM   #10
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^^That's pretty much how it works, but the dccd can never be 100% locked or unlocked (open), at least on '06+ STI's. However, I'm almost certain that the dccd in the 04-05 models allow a fully open diff in manual mode - due to the fact that it's 100% electromagnetically controlled (i.e. no mechanical helper lsd to intervene like on the late models).
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Old 03-15-2010, 09:08 PM   #11
801_STi
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yeah i think its 90/10 on 04/05 and 60/40 06 07 not sure though
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Old 03-15-2010, 10:24 PM   #12
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Must have missed the debate.

Anywho, it looked like fun. I like the body panel nomming snow banks. I enjoy that kind of surface, good mix to where you need to read the surface but also enough grip so you're still having fun and not putting around at 5mph-10mph. It's hard for me to consider it ice driving unless it's on a lake though. Maybe they should have hosed the whole course down before hand. Then again, pure ice is easier to drive on then that type of surface as ice alone is very consistent and predictable. It just would have been an insanely slow race unless you guys were running studs or WS60s or something.

What tires were used for the exhibition?
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Old 03-15-2010, 11:16 PM   #13
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looks like a blast!
Cheers on the PA t-shirt, don't mess with the cardboard tube samurai
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Old 03-15-2010, 11:45 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 801_STi View Post
yeah i think its 90/10 on 04/05 and 60/40 06 07 not sure though
Are you referring to the torque split? If so it's 35/65 on 04/05 models and 41/59 on 06+ models.

It gets kind of iffy - as in "I'm not really sure" - from there. I believe in AUTO mode, all model STI's might have the ability to transer 50% of the power to the front wheels if needed (maybe, I apologize if I'm incorrect).

In manual mode the torque split stays fixed (35/65 or 41/59) regardless of the setting (even lock), it's just the amount of initial lsd torque applied to DCCD that changes (more lsd torque keeps the front/rear wheels moving at similar speeds while less lsd torque allows wheel speed to vary more front/rear).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Back Road Runner View Post
Must have missed the debate.

Anywho, it looked like fun. I like the body panel nomming snow banks. I enjoy that kind of surface, good mix to where you need to read the surface but also enough grip so you're still having fun and not putting around at 5mph-10mph. It's hard for me to consider it ice driving unless it's on a lake though. Maybe they should have hosed the whole course down before hand. Then again, pure ice is easier to drive on then that type of surface as ice alone is very consistent and predictable. It just would have been an insanely slow race unless you guys were running studs or WS60s or something.

What tires were used for the exhibition?
This is a very good point. It looked more like mud/slush driving - I didn't really see any ice.
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Old 03-16-2010, 02:59 AM   #15
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When we started the day, it was mostly ice. However, as the sun warmed things up (it was unseasonably warm that day), it got pretty muddy. By the time we did the versus battle the course was about 60% mud, with still a good amount ice on the far end (outside camera view.)

Tires were studded, with the expectation that we would be driving on ice all day.
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Old 05-07-2010, 05:00 PM   #16
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I did donuts on the ice last time we had snow here. The neighbors kids came out and cheered loudly afterwards.It was fun..The kids across the way, had just learned to drive.Maybe a 2.2 is in their future.
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Old 06-12-2010, 10:21 PM   #17
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I love winter driving When can I get a job like that?
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