to ABS or not ABS

[Tessie McMillan <tessmc@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is an interesting thread, especially with regards to track driving.

I have ABS on one of my current cars (the sedan); further, the ABS can be 
invoked or disengaged. When I took my first driving schools, I remember doing 
threshold braking exercises with and without the ABS engaged -- the point 
being to get the feel of doing it both ways. After that I drove a late-80s 
911 at the track, no ABS, for a few years (I do recall once driving off 
the end of the straight down at PIR during a time trial, but I think 
lack of oxygen to my brain more than lack of ABS had anything to do with 
that one), and I've driven a few other cars at the track or in autocross, 
including: mid-90s Mustang -- what a pile of junk that was and it braked 
like gorilla snot; different early 70s 911s without ABS and various engine 
configurations, a ProFormance school Neon race car (no ABS), early to mid 
80s Audi Quattros with ABS, a BMW 325 racecar (no), a 944 S2 racecar (no, 
I think), a series 4 Spider ... don't recall ABS on that one... a Saab 93 
turbo (yes), a 356 with steel drum brakes (er, Noooooooooo), a couple of 
new Golfs (yes), a few other cars I can't remember, and now I'm just 
driving my clunker sedan late 80s Quattro at the track (with ABS). So 
that's a mix of cars with and without ABS, and a mix of front and rear 
wheel drive, plus front engine and rear engine, some street tires and some 
track tires -- all different kinds, and, trust me, different driving 
conditions. 

That said, I swear by all that is holy, no matter what car I drive, for 
me the process of threshold braking is the same in ABS or non-ABS. I keep 
that little egg under my toe and squish the h*ll out of it. Perhaps I'm 
all caught up by adrenalin, but I do not feel the ABS kicking in under 
strong braking on the track. (I leave ABS on these days; I figure it's 
there for a reason.)

That said, I'd keep ABS, if it were me. For street driving, where the 
unexpected is more likely to happen. I personally have a tendency not to 
tinker with original equipment that is intended for safety. I remove 
things like cruise control when it happens to get in the way of an 
anti-sway bar.

I'm curious what other track drivers with ABS have to say!

Tess
(who currently isn't driving ANYTHING and hopes that will change soon)
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