Drill Station 4 : High[er] Speed Sweeping Turns

Walkthrough

From the start, accelerate in a more-or-less straight line toward gate 4. At gate 4, you want to be to the right if possible, but not if that means you'll be pointed to the right.
At gate 4, you need to turn-in to the left and get the car set for the long, sweeping turn from gate 4 to gate 10. You may be still accelerating through the beginning of this corner, or you may be maintaining speed. In any case, keep the car balanced and don't overcook it. Drifting is fun, but it's slower than maintaining traction.
As you approach gate 10, you're going to have to turn a little more sharply as you head toward gate 11. If you turn in late for gate 11, you'll be set up poorly for gates 12-13, and you might lose the rear end as you turn at gate 11. I usually slowed just a little between gates 9 and 10 to allow me to turn more sharply as I headed toward gate 11.
Try to make the transition between gates 10 and 11 a smooth one. You can see what happens if you're not smooth from several of the video clips. Jerking the car around in the 10-11-12 part of the course can easily unsettle the car and make the spectators happy.
If you made the 10-11 transition well, then you should be well set-up for gate 12 and you should be able to accelerate slightly. If you didn't get set up well for 12, here's your chance to scrub a little speed and correct things before they get too bad.
As you head toward 13 and 14, it gets a little tighter, so you're gonna have to slow down. Your line will depend on the capabilities of your car. Whatever you do, keep it smooth, and try to make your adjustments small.
As you round gate 14 and make the transition from turning left to turning right (keep it smooth!), you'll be able to begin to to accelerate as you unwind the steering wheel.
Since timing stops at gate 16, you want to accelerate as much as possible as you head toward that gate. By heading toward cone 16a, you'll be able to widen your arc a little and go a little faster. However, if you do this, DON'T get off the throttle until you're done (or mostly done) turning. If you get off the throttle at gate 15 when you're turning hard, you'll spin.
After gate 16 (and you're going straight), jam the brakes and slow down for the stop box... dont hit any of the cones (they are 2 sec penalties!), but you don't have to worry about the fastest line through the stop box since the timing has already stopped.

Video and Pictures

s4.gif (26KB)
Drill Station Map (details)

ErikSweepers-InCar.jpg (27KB)
ErikSweepers-InCar.mpg (15MB)

In car footage from my car for the sweepers station - Kris (instructor) is riding shotgun. At this point, I had the line pretty much figured out, but I was still being pretty conservative with my speed.

AlfredSweepers.jpg (27KB) AlfredSweepers.mpg (16.0MB)
You can really hear Alfred's TurboXS RFL blow-off valve in this clip. It and the exhaust sounds show he was a little too "binary" with the throttle - the instructors must have worked with him a on this issue, because he got much smoother as the day went on.

BrianSweepers.jpg (23KB)
BrianSweepers.mpg (16.8MB)

Here's Brian really cruising through this station. I think he was drifting slightly as he rounded gates 9 and 10, or at least he had some decent slip angle working there. You can hear from the exhaust noise that he does a good job of only making small throttle adjustments in the middle of the corners.

ErikSweepers.jpg (25KB)
ErikSweepers.mpg (16.7MB)

Here's me going through this station. I could have taken the first big corner (gates 4-10) a little faster, but I didn't get setup correctly on the transition between 4 and 5. After 10, though, I went through pretty well.

JamesSweepers.jpg (22KB)
JamesSweepers.mpg (14.3MB)

James with a good run through the station - I think at the very end he lifted off the throttle a little too much between gates 14 and 15, which made the rear get a little loose.

RichardSweepers.jpg (26KB)
RichardSweepers.mpg (9.3MB)

Here's one of the instructors, Richard, driving his Grand Am through the sweepers - he spun twice on his last run, and here we go again. That's "ruthless Bob" on the camera...

ShawnSweepers.jpg (28KB)
ShawnSweepers.mpg (12.4MB)

Here's Shawn with arguably the most entertaining run of the day. He almost saved it, but much to the spectators' joy, he didn't :-)

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Last Modified Fri May 23 2003 19:46:42 PDT

s4.gif (26KB) Drill Station Map (details)	ErikSweepers-InCar.jpg (27KB) ErikSweepers-InCar.mpg (15MB) In car footage from my car for the sweepers station - Kris (instructor) is riding shotgun. At this point, I had the line pretty much figured out, but I was still being pretty conservative with my speed.	AlfredSweepers.jpg (27KB) AlfredSweepers.mpg (16.0MB) You can really hear Alfred's TurboXS RFL blow-off valve in this clip. It and the exhaust sounds show he was a little too "binary" with the throttle - the instructors must have worked with him a on this issue, because he got much smoother as the day went on.
BrianSweepers.jpg (23KB) BrianSweepers.mpg (16.8MB) Here's Brian really cruising through this station. I think he was drifting slightly as he rounded gates 9 and 10, or at least he had some decent slip angle working there. You can hear from the exhaust noise that he does a good job of only making small throttle adjustments in the middle of the corners.	ErikSweepers.jpg (25KB) ErikSweepers.mpg (16.7MB) Here's me going through this station. I could have taken the first big corner (gates 4-10) a little faster, but I didn't get setup correctly on the transition between 4 and 5. After 10, though, I went through pretty well.	JamesSweepers.jpg (22KB) JamesSweepers.mpg (14.3MB) James with a good run through the station - I think at the very end he lifted off the throttle a little too much between gates 14 and 15, which made the rear get a little loose.
RichardSweepers.jpg (26KB) RichardSweepers.mpg (9.3MB) Here's one of the instructors, Richard, driving his Grand Am through the sweepers - he spun twice on his last run, and here we go again. That's "ruthless Bob" on the camera...	ShawnSweepers.jpg (28KB) ShawnSweepers.mpg (12.4MB) Here's Shawn with arguably the most entertaining run of the day. He almost saved it, but much to the spectators' joy, he didn't :-)