Best ESC Settings for Road Course

[Mini7]

Stock 2017 PP GTi
So I have a question: even after switching ESC off by holding the button for 10-seconds, I’m still feeling the brakes/ESC intervening. Part of it is trail braking into the apex and lifting my inside rear tire. Taking curb also gets the wheels off the ground and is the biggest culprit. My first session at VIR I brainfarted and forgot to switch ESC off and that absolutely smoked the brakes on track.

I also want my VAQ diff to lock up faster so I can go to gas quicker heading into the apex of corners. I would like to maintain ABS if possible. My right foot will act as traction control.

Most of what I’ve read is for the drag strip. HPDE folks, what do you advise?

 

[SRoads]

buy a miata...


I believe GTIs only go into ecs sport mode not full off. Only the R goes full off from my understand. You can use a tool like vagcom to increase the rate the diff clutches engage, you may be able to change your long code to give you a full off ecs setting (I believe I have seen a thread on it), you would have to use the search function.


I would recommend as you didn't include your "mods"...Better pads, fluid, and better tires. Of which people will recommend depending on how much you would like to spend. I would recommend for a dual purpose car...ferodo ds2500, ATE type 200 has worked well for me and economical, and michelin's PS4s (used RE-11s in the past they we're great). Most of my experience comes from Roebling which isn't too hard on brakes, a little from Summit Point, CMP, and a fair amount of AutoX. You can also get RS3 brake deflectors to help with cooling.


https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?9078617-Mk7-Golf-R-brake-cooling-for-tracked-car

 

[Mini7]

My track prep is the following: Pagid Pads, SRF Fluid and Michelin PS4. Otherwise my GTi is stock.

 

[SRoads]

My track prep is the following: Pagid Pads, SRF Fluid and Michelin PS4. Otherwise my GTi is stock.

I'd start looking into vagcom mods then... Swaybars, a performance oriented alignment(esp in the rear), and Ground control camber plates set around -1.8 to -2 deg front camber made a huge difference on my Mk6. In my experience I have never seen a stock mk6/mk7 3 wheel on track, have you seen if staying off the curbs has any affect?


They way your tires are wearing will give insight.... you may have hit the max of what a stock car will give you or you could be aggressively over driving the car...without more data the speculation is endless. We could go with a simple shock swap with or without an MSS spring kit(it would be the only spring kit, I would spend money on) or go to 11 with expensive coilovers to get more out of the car. I have done both 3K adjustable coilovers and $1300 good shocks/sways. I got 85-90 percent the performance of the 3K AST coilovers for half the money.


or buy a cheap used miata track rat...

 

[jmason]

See my sig line for mods.

I concur that you need to use vagcom or similar to fully defeat ESC. I can run Summit Point (1:30 lap time) without turning it off and not feel much of an effect. On the other hand, ESC was very intrusive at NJMP Thunderbolt (IIRC), even in sport mode. I didn’t try fully disabling it because I had an instructor with me.

I seriously doubt you were lifting your inside rear tire. I have a much stiffer setup and that doesn’t happen. Even if it did, you would feel ABS, which you can’t defeat without removing a fuse, which would also kill the airbags, so I’ve heard.

 

[SRoads]

wavetrac was an epic upgrade in my mk6...

 

[Mini7]

https://youtu.be/3G2QnKKULTU

The last incomplete lap was my fastest at VIR.

 

[Mini7]

I have recently purchased the RS3 air deflectors. But haven’t been back to the track yet with them.

This is my back up track car and don’t want to go the full monty just yet. I understand that my alignment is compromised for the track and I’m getting tire roll over. More camber will give me the front end bite I need.

Right now I’m trying to figure out how I can limit the electronic interference from the nannies. I have found the improved diff lockup video from DAP. I want to limit/stop the brakes coming on when going over the curbs.

I do not want to switch ABS off.

 

[Mini7]

See my sig line for mods.

I concur that you need to use vagcom or similar to fully defeat ESC. I can run Summit Point (1:30 lap time) without turning it off and not feel much of an effect. On the other hand, ESC was very intrusive at NJMP Thunderbolt (IIRC), even in sport mode. I didn’t try fully disabling it because I had an instructor with me.

I seriously doubt you were lifting your inside rear tire. I have a much stiffer setup and that doesn’t happen. Even if it did, you would feel ABS, which you can’t defeat without removing a fuse, which would also kill the airbags, so I’ve heard.

I was told by another driver that I’m lifting a wheel. I would have liked to have seen video of that myself. Stiffer front spring will prevent the inside rear lifting when trail braking into the apex. I can feel the ABS kicking in on the uphill esses at VIR.

 

[Mini7]

wavetrac was an epic upgrade in my mk6...

A mechanical LSD is a magical thing. I put an OSGiken into my Cooper S and it made huge improvement to acceleration out of corners.

 

[jmason]

I was told by another driver that I’m lifting a wheel. I would have liked to have seen video of that myself. Stiffer front spring will prevent the inside rear lifting when trail braking into the apex. I can feel the ABS kicking in on the uphill esses at VIR.

I stand corrected.

 

[00Zero]

All the VCDS you need to know should be in the links below

XDS and PP diff settings

ECS full off

starting vibration reduction, i don't know if this is needed for track work, i remember somewhere someone slaying the Clubsprot s this was set to weak instead of normal.

-Jonathan

 

[fretburnr]

Just to clarify, have you already coded to change the default behavior of the ESC button?

The coding change is under 03 Brakes / Long coding / Byte 29 / change to :
06 for ESC On / ESC Sport / ESC Off, or
05 for ESC On / ASR off/ ESC off, or
09 for stock

I have not felt intervention after making that change, though some users have reported occasional intervention. My experience with this has only been fast backroad use; I haven't been on track again since buying the GTI, though I've got an event in early August.

As an alternative, there is a possible setting to change it completely off:
https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?7055472-Temporary-ESC-defeat-with-VCDS-achieved but I have not tried this yet. Maybe that's worth trying on a session.


For other settings:

Many folks recommend turning XDS down or off for track use, in order to save brakes.
03 Brakes / adaptations / expanded electronic differential lock / change from normal to weak or off / 20103 security code if needed

To increase VAQ diff lockup, go to
32 Lock Electronics / adaptations / Acoustic measure, wiring logic / change to Increased Traction
You may want to go to Basic Settings and reset adaptation values after this change

I turned off the "hydraulic brake assistant" which amplifies your brake pedal pressure depending on how fast you squeeze the pedal; I prefer it to be linear as with every other car I've tracked.
03 Brakes / adaptations / Hydraulic Brake Assistant / change to Not Active

edit: looks like 00Zero covered some of this while I was grabbing things from my OBD11 history

 

[DAS_STIG]

Just to clarify, have you already coded to change the default behavior of the ESC button?

The coding change is under 03 Brakes / Long coding / Byte 29 / change to :
06 for ESC On / ESC Sport / ESC Off, or
05 for ESC On / ASR off/ ESC off, or
09 for stock

I have not felt intervention after making that change, though some users have reported occasional intervention. My experience with this has only been fast backroad use; I haven't been on track again since buying the GTI, though I've got an event in early August.

As an alternative, there is a possible setting to change it completely off:
https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?7055472-Temporary-ESC-defeat-with-VCDS-achieved but I have not tried this yet. Maybe that's worth trying on a session.


For other settings:

Many folks recommend turning XDS down or off for track use, in order to save brakes.
03 Brakes / adaptations / expanded electronic differential lock / change from normal to weak or off / 20103 security code if needed

To increase VAQ diff lockup, go to
32 Lock Electronics / adaptations / Acoustic measure, wiring logic / change to Increased Traction
You may want to go to Basic Settings and reset adaptation values after this change

I turned off the "hydraulic brake assistant" which amplifies your brake pedal pressure depending on how fast you squeeze the pedal; I prefer it to be linear as with every other car I've tracked.
03 Brakes / adaptations / Hydraulic Brake Assistant / change to Not Active

edit: looks like 00Zero covered some of this while I was grabbing things from my OBD11 history

Did these mods + pads/fluid/RS3 brake deflectors and my 312mm non-PP brakes were doing fine on what folks were saying was a "brake intensive" track. It was my first track experience, but I think if my non-PP brakes can survive with these mods, someone with the 340mm and that has track experience should be just fine.

 

[Mini7]

All the VCDS you need to know should be in the links below

XDS and PP diff settings

ECS full off

starting vibration reduction, i don't know if this is needed for track work, i remember somewhere someone slaying the Clubsprot s this was set to weak instead of normal.

-Jonathan

This is the kind of input I have been looking for, Thank You!

Just to clarify, have you already coded to change the default behavior of the ESC button?

I haven’t made any vcds code changes yet.

The coding change is under 03 Brakes / Long coding / Byte 29 / change to :
06 for ESC On / ESC Sport / ESC Off, or
05 for ESC On / ASR off/ ESC off, or
09 for stock

I have not felt intervention after making that change, though some users have reported occasional intervention. My experience with this has only been fast backroad use; I haven't been on track again since buying the GTI, though I've got an event in early August.

As an alternative, there is a possible setting to change it completely off:
https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?7055472-Temporary-ESC-defeat-with-VCDS-achieved but I have not tried this yet. Maybe that's worth trying on a session.


For other settings:

Many folks recommend turning XDS down or off for track use, in order to save brakes.
03 Brakes / adaptations / expanded electronic differential lock / change from normal to weak or off / 20103 security code if needed

To increase VAQ diff lockup, go to
32 Lock Electronics / adaptations / Acoustic measure, wiring logic / change to Increased Traction
You may want to go to Basic Settings and reset adaptation values after this change

I turned off the "hydraulic brake assistant" which amplifies your brake pedal pressure depending on how fast you squeeze the pedal; I prefer it to be linear as with every other car I've tracked.
03 Brakes / adaptations / Hydraulic Brake Assistant / change to Not Active

edit: looks like 00Zero covered some of this while I was grabbing things from my OBD11 history

Thank you guys. This has been really helpful.

I haven’t made any VCDS changes yet.

With the way I take curbs to straight line the uphill esses at VIR I believe I’m activating the brakes on the unloaded wheels via XDS.

Not sure whether I’m creating sufficient slip angle to make the ESC work overtime other than overdriving front end grip in a couple place.

Am I correct in thinking that XDS is likely causing the overuse of my brakes outside the brake zones?