SL55/63/65/R230 AMG: ESP – learning tool or crutch?
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 287
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From: Central California Coast
2004 SL55, 2005 E500 Wagon
ESP – learning tool or crutch?
It’s raining again today in California. Rain on the roads is kind of like powder on the mountains, so I was out playing on the twisties in my SL55. This car is the first I’ve had with traction control sufficiently non-invasive that I leave it on most of the time when I’m playing. I got to thinking: am I learning to be a better driver because I am fairly unafraid of overcooking it coming out of a turn and therefore I find out where the limit is with more accuracy, or am I getting to be an insensitive clod who just boots it and lets the car sort it out? I think it’s a little of both, but the balance is towards making me a better driver. Gentle as the ESP is, if you really put your foot into it, the car calls a halt to the festivities in a pretty violent and unpleasant way, where if you’re just over the edge, the car is restrained, and your line isn’t affected much. That means that you want to creep up to the edge, and if you go over and the traction control moderates things a bit, that’s OK. DO that enough, and you get a pretty good idea where the edge is.
It’s a little like ABS. A long time ago, I experimented in a 911 with how hard I could brake with various steering inputs and weight transfer strategies without having the ABS step in. It taught me a lot, and it didn’t cost me a set of tires or cause any excursions into the off-road greenery.
In either case, I’m sure you can let the automation lull you into a sense of mindless false security, but used right, I think it’s a good thing.
Jim
It’s a little like ABS. A long time ago, I experimented in a 911 with how hard I could brake with various steering inputs and weight transfer strategies without having the ABS step in. It taught me a lot, and it didn’t cost me a set of tires or cause any excursions into the off-road greenery.
In either case, I’m sure you can let the automation lull you into a sense of mindless false security, but used right, I think it’s a good thing.
Jim
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Joined: Feb 2004
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From: Arizona
SL55AMG, Ferrari 348, Ferrari Testarossa, Ferrari F40, Ferrari Mondial t, Ducati 916, Indycar
As you can never really turn the ESP off on our 55s I think that it is a great safety tool...and a bit of a leash. I don't think that it will make you a better driver. When you are driving a car that you must control everything...or else....that's when you become a better driver.
