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Old 10-18-2006, 10:04 PM   #12
MNBoxster
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Posts: 3,308
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfectlap
I tell this to my lady friend every time I'm doing my horrible job of being a passenger.
YOU DRIVE WITH BOTH HANDS!
Its an easy habit to pick up. driving with one hand at 12 o'clock or one hand on the shifter (when you aren't shifting) is a great bad habit to forget. It screams novice driver.

Get in the 9 and 3 or 10 and 2 o'clock habit and you'll find you start driving differently. Also shuffling the wheel(sliding your hand away from 9 and 3 during turns) is a bad habit too that will carry over when you decide to take some high performance driving instruction.

What is the benefit? First you can't feel what your right side suspension is doing if you have your right hand on the arm rest or shifter. Most motor vehicle accidents would be avoided if the driver had one extra second of reaction time when travelling over 55mph. The Boxster especially has EXCELLENT steering feedback that will give you a heads up early warning before the car has pivoted/turned. This is important to you because although the Boxster is typical mid engine neutral/responsive it's also infamous for having a very ABRUPT "moment of polar inertia" where the car crosses line of max rear end grip and just violently breaks away from you losing all ability to control its direction. SCARY, don't pass up on the extra wiggle room by having your hand on shifter.

a very disciplined 9 and 3 o'clock driver JUST narrowly avoiding a track crash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLXIyiCfTmo
Hi,

I agree with you 100%. Especially if you have the 3-spoke wheel. The Palm Pads are in a perfect 10-2 position and it's easy to take a turn without shifting your hands at all, just pivot your arms at the shoulder, your elbows will cross and touch, but the car will track perfectly around a corner. This will give a big improvement to Auto-X times.

This was a habit I picked up when I was racing Formula Fords. Developing this habit will definitely increase your feel and focus to the task at hand...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99
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