Notable session :
AA. 16 laps at the track, but not as aggressive as 20 laps on the OE open diff.
BB. Very nice in the rain when traction control responded late.
CC. Very useful for when climbing up those "mount/slope" driveway entering my home or other places. No more dummy loss of traction with 1 wheel in the air.
I better post video example, easier to understand but his condition is more extreme than mine as his angle of approach is wrong for such car.
Minute 12:20 to 12:38
Explaining CC first - In Indonesia and more so Jakarta, it is common for homes to be made above road level as prevention of flooding into the house.
However, many architect/developer when designing the slope angle of the driveway never use low ground clearance car like MB or Bimmer as reference.
They use common low cost SUV which are tall and short or near as long as W212, so such BAD driveway slope design as seen on the Utube is not uncommon.
Explaining BB - Better azz control in the drain when a kick-down resulted in traction loss for the near 1 second ESP took to respond.
The engine & tranny was overshooting by near 2,000 RPM from that loss of traction.
I recalled my modded MK2 1983 Supra RWD under the same condition would at the least wiggle its azz rather wild, albeit no more than 200HP at best but 300KG lighter car
and on Pirelli P7. The MB is on Pilot Sport 4 which is one of the best tire in the wet, I must admit.. albeit it went over-spinning
Explaining CC - Very hard to throw the car azz with this ATB Diff or even loose traction with ESP off and while cornering on proper no sand tarmac.
On straight line take off from toll booth even with dry and partial wet ground ( from booth operator HVAC condensation drip ) , the stability is great.
This makes the car much safer. Its like probably an E550 down to E350 level of azz ease of control at 1st gear WOT on not so sticky ground.
On super tight horseshoe U bend back roads like below, where I marked as red zone would be tough for open DIFF, the ABT power/traction transfer to tarmac is awesome for these scenario.
On narrow roads where I need to do full lock steering U turn, the ABT also shows its worth when I throttle quite hard between max right steering to straight steering transition.
I really like it and is so worth the price from safety and comfort stand point, disregard track use.
This British made ABT is more suitable for road use than those track oriented clutch based LSD so I read.
No clutch to maintain. Oil is standard MB Hypoid, no need special LSD oil.
, I tried using dyno mode at the track and could not get the tires to be over powered by the engine, granted I was in 2nd gear as lowest gear , but was 4,000ish RPM during those corners
where I tried to turn using the car azz.
I find the engine torque curve is not suitable for azz wiggling unless at 2,000 to 3,500 RPM, pass this RPM its a flat curve. Its a city car power profile.
For some reason I also strongly believed that even traction controlled being OFF with dyno mode, the throttle management of my car is COMFORT/POLITE oriented.
It will be useful too for dyno mode that the throttle is a polite one since the rollers on the dyno meter may not grip well by too rough a throttle input.
BTW
My cousin has that Corolla GT/Trueno in early 80s, its quite fun to drive and azz swing rather easy being a RWD and Toyota supplied tires were crappy during those days.
The user names (both posts preceding mine), the writing style of confirming what was already said, pointing out the obvious, complimenting the wise choice, and offering more help... To me it screams Artificial Intelligence. Not quite ready for the Turing Test.
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
