vRS 245 on track

[Gumby]

I took my 245 for it's first track day today.

"you what? In a new car?!"

yes, since that's what it's designed for and one of the reasons I bought it. Plus having things like lap timer and the boost/G gauges I think that's what Skoda had in mind

Anyway, I'll start by pointing out that I've only done two track days before in my old Fabia vRS, so my observations are based on those things. 

 

First things first, the power. There is a lot of it and i found it very easy to keep up with the faster traffic (BMW's, Clio cups etc.). That's not meant to sound like a boast btw, just an observation.

I only had to let a few faster cars past and I found a lot of people were letting me past them. In the Fabia with that level of traffic, it would be me with my indicator on most of the time. 

 

Then we come to the grip/traction. The track was wet and slowly drying out as the day went on. Still being a new car, I left the traction control on. Had it been dry and I probably would have turned it off, plus I'm still getting used to how this thing behaves so didn't want to take things too far. Anyway, it did flash when exiting a couple of corners. The diff however made a huge difference. You can really feel it pulling the front end into line when you're understeering. It's disconcerting at first but once you let the system work it's very good. 

The DCC in sport mode was also very good with minimal body roll.

 

What about stopping? Well, i was impressed with the 245's braking ability on the road and it's still good on track. I did get ABS a few times, mostly because i left it a bit too late, plus the wet track. They didn't feel spongy at any time either. But hey, they are sports/road brakes not full on race ones!

 

Finally, comfort. It's good, I didn't feel any muscle ache at all, and the driving position is very good when wearing a helmet. I could still move my head around without banging it on the roof.

 

so to sum up, it's an awesome car both on road and on track!

Edited 20 November, 2017 by Gumby

[nidza]

For the future experience, you can't really turn the ESC off completely in this car. It will just let it go enough that you can try to save it yourself, but it will very quickly interfere.

 

Track is a perfect place to test it, as you have plenty of room for mistakes.

[Jaco2k]

1 hour ago, nidza said:

For the future experience, you can't really turn the ESC off completely in this car.

 

*cough* VCDS/OBDeleven *cough*

...but you have to turn off not only ESC but also XDS if you really don't want any electronic interference.

I guess on a car with the trick diff, it makes even more sense to turn XDS off.

[zei20t]

that diff will transform the car, especially on the track.

 

the key is to let the car drive itself out of turns, it will straighten it self up when you stomp on the throttle. there will be a balance between understeer and the actual direction you want to travel, however my FWD with mechanical diff has no aids, I'm not sure how much interaction the active stability has. I remember on my mk2 vRS, it would reel me in when the car felt like it was about to go sideways and brake that inside wheel a little.

 

removing all aids via programming will make it a more interesting drive

[Gumby]

7 hours ago, zei20t said:

that diff will transform the car, especially on the track.

 

the key is to let the car drive itself out of turns, it will straighten it self up when you stomp on the throttle. there will be a balance between understeer and the actual direction you want to travel, however my FWD with mechanical diff has no aids, I'm not sure how much interaction the active stability has. I remember on my mk2 vRS, it would reel me in when the car felt like it was about to go sideways and brake that inside wheel a little.

 

removing all aids via programming will make it a more interesting drive

yeah that's the feeling I got. You've just got to let the diff work. At first it felt like it was the TC/ESC working away, but then I realised the light wasn't on and there was a mechanical sound coming from the front. 

next time ill have it in 'ESC sport mode' and just keep the throttle pinned

[OliR]

21 hours ago, Gumby said:

I took my 245 for it's first track day today.

"you what? In a new car?!"

yes, since that's what it's designed for and one of the reasons I bought it. Plus having things like lap timer and the boost/G gauges I think that's what Skoda had in mind

Anyway, I'll start by pointing out that I've only done two track days before in my old Fabia vRS, so my observations are based on those things. 

 

First things first, the power. There is a lot of it and i found it very easy to keep up with the faster traffic (BMW's, Clio cups etc.). That's not meant to sound like a boast btw, just an observation.

I only had to let a few faster cars past and I found a lot of people were letting me past them. In the Fabia with that level of traffic, it would be me with my indicator on most of the time. 

 

Then we come to the grip/traction. The track was wet and slowly drying out as the day went on. Still being a new car, I left the traction control on. Had it been dry and I probably would have turned it off, plus I'm still getting used to how this thing behaves so didn't want to take things too far. Anyway, it did flash when exiting a couple of corners. The diff however made a huge difference. You can really feel it pulling the front end into line when you're understeering. It's disconcerting at first but once you let the system work it's very good. 

The DCC in sport mode was also very good with minimal body roll.

 

What about stopping? Well, i was impressed with the 245's braking ability on the road and it's still good on track. I did get ABS a few times, mostly because i left it a bit too late, plus the wet track. They didn't feel spongy at any time either. But hey, they are sports/road brakes not full on race ones!

 

Finally, comfort. It's good, I didn't feel any muscle ache at all, and the driving position is very good when wearing a helmet. I could still move my head around without banging it on the roof.

 

so to sum up, it's an awesome car both on road and on track!

 

the 245 has boost & G gauges? that's interesting to know  

[themanwithnoaim]

1 hour ago, OliR said:

 

the 245 has boost & G gauges? that's interesting to know  

they look like this

[Ant-Vrs]

I've took my vrs around nurburging this year and it was amazing I hardy got took over and on the straights I was leaving alot of cars but mines stage 2 330bhp and 520nm of torque 

[Magget]

On 21/11/2017 at 15:23, Ant-Vrs said:

I've took my vrs around nurburging this year and it was amazing I hardy got took over and on the straights I was leaving alot of cars but mines stage 2 330bhp and 520nm of torque 

Ant a bit off topic but what tyres are you using? I'm on 320hp currently and I'm looking to go either Yoko ad08r (245) or possibly Michelin PS4S (245) before I go for any Is38 upgrades. 

I currently run 235/35/19 Dunlop SportMaxx RT2 which are good but just not up to the task when really pushing.