Crusty Old Shellback
Registered Member
Hi all, I had a little fun this weekend and thought I'd pass along my experience as well as get others to chime in on theirs.
Here's the situation. 2012 R Spec. Conti Extreme Contact DW tires w/ 1500 miles on them. About 10 miles of twistey mountain road with no one in front of me.
I was taking my daughter and some friends up to a mountain cabin this weekend and had decided to take the R Spec. Glad I did. Once off the main road, the road is a nice smooth twisty 2 lane road with a lot of turns, elevation changes and switchbacks. Good place to have a little fun. So on the way back after dropping off the girls, I headed back home on about 10 miles of the road. I dropped the tranny into 4 gear and kept the RPM's between 2500 and 3200. This seemed to be the best spot. Not to harsh on the power applying, not too low to be lugging. I didn't push the car to the limit but still had a lot of fun.
Here's my impressions of my drive. I had a blast. I never pushed it far enough for the TC nanny to kick in. But I was working the car. The car turned into the turns smoothly, very controlled with minimum body roll. In the transistion turns, or schakane (sp) as some would call them, the car handled the transition of direction change comfortably. Very little body roll and was very predictable. I had no problems making the turns. Overall I was impressed with the handling.
With keeping the car in 4th and the RPMs up where I did, the power was somth. No quick acceleration when I didn't want it due to a lower gear. I was able to pull out of the corners nicely with easy throttle manuplation. The brakes also worked well. There were only a few really tight corners where I had to get hard on the brakes and they worked just fine. No brake fade.
Now I understand that this is no sports car. But for a big luxury sedan, it handled itself very well. I think if others would just try it, they'd be impressed. I had not had the R Spec on this road before so I am not sure how well it would have handled it with the Birdgestone S04 Pole position tires that originally were on the car.
I also got to drive the road at night. I had to go up and pick up the girls at night and once again took the car. I basically did the same thing, 4th gear, 2500 - 3200 RPM's. It was a bit more intense doing it at night with the high beams on but still fun.
If you want to look up the road I was on, it is called Mil Protrero Hwy up near Fraizer park, Ca. It's the route going up to Pine Mountain Club. It's also called forrest route 9N05.
Here's the situation. 2012 R Spec. Conti Extreme Contact DW tires w/ 1500 miles on them. About 10 miles of twistey mountain road with no one in front of me.
I was taking my daughter and some friends up to a mountain cabin this weekend and had decided to take the R Spec. Glad I did. Once off the main road, the road is a nice smooth twisty 2 lane road with a lot of turns, elevation changes and switchbacks. Good place to have a little fun. So on the way back after dropping off the girls, I headed back home on about 10 miles of the road. I dropped the tranny into 4 gear and kept the RPM's between 2500 and 3200. This seemed to be the best spot. Not to harsh on the power applying, not too low to be lugging. I didn't push the car to the limit but still had a lot of fun.
Here's my impressions of my drive. I had a blast.
I never pushed it far enough for the TC nanny to kick in. But I was working the car. The car turned into the turns smoothly, very controlled with minimum body roll. In the transistion turns, or schakane (sp) as some would call them, the car handled the transition of direction change comfortably. Very little body roll and was very predictable. I had no problems making the turns. Overall I was impressed with the handling.With keeping the car in 4th and the RPMs up where I did, the power was somth. No quick acceleration when I didn't want it due to a lower gear. I was able to pull out of the corners nicely with easy throttle manuplation. The brakes also worked well. There were only a few really tight corners where I had to get hard on the brakes and they worked just fine. No brake fade.
Now I understand that this is no sports car. But for a big luxury sedan, it handled itself very well. I think if others would just try it, they'd be impressed. I had not had the R Spec on this road before so I am not sure how well it would have handled it with the Birdgestone S04 Pole position tires that originally were on the car.
I also got to drive the road at night. I had to go up and pick up the girls at night and once again took the car. I basically did the same thing, 4th gear, 2500 - 3200 RPM's. It was a bit more intense doing it at night with the high beams on but still fun.
If you want to look up the road I was on, it is called Mil Protrero Hwy up near Fraizer park, Ca. It's the route going up to Pine Mountain Club. It's also called forrest route 9N05.
I have found the car to be quite controllable at high speeds through these turns with very little body roll, given the weight of the car and the purpose for which it was designed.
However, when I am alone, my long-term memories of fast cars take me back to the day! 
But when I'm alone, that may be why the factory bridgestones were wore out at 18K. 
