DeerHunter

After a 30-year drought, our fine city finally has a road course to call our own (Castrol Raceway). I went to the last HPDE of the season today with my S6 and had a lot of fun, enjoying over 100 minutes of track time. As a sampler, here's a video of me chasing down a C6 Corvette Z06:


I was able to similarly pass a variety of Porsche 911s (including an 'S'), Mustang GTs and a much-modified Evo X. For a big, heavy sedan, the S6 really acquitted itself well. Here are some random observations:

• The Comfort Seats are not really designed for this sort of work. Even with the bolsters fully adjusted, lateral support was so-so.
• The Pirellis are very vocal. In my video, you can hear them squealing almost non-stop. That being said, they do stick well and actually exhibited little wear at the end of it.
• The motor is a giant-killer. Very few cars could outpull me on the straightaways. I kept even with both Z06s out there, gained on several 911s and even a BMW 1M.
• The brakes were wonderful - no fade whatsoever and good modulation. I just wish the pedal was firmer.
• I ran the car with ESP off, mostly because the collision alarm went off every time I followed a car down a straigtaway. Other than that, it didn't appear to interfere with the fun in any meaningful way.
• The S6 is very stable under trail-braking. I could brake deep into a corner without upsetting the chassis.
• As you would expect, the hot tip is to add throttle early, well before the apex. Let the AWD and Sport Diff do the work here.
• Shifting manually didn't work for me, as the box didn't really respond as quickly as I would like. After experimenting, I pretty much left it to shift itself, which it did well (except for not being in the right gear for a few corners).
• After about 15 minutes of hot-lapping, power drops noticeably. I'm not sure whether it's the engine or the transmissions that goes into a safe mode, but when it happens the fun's over.
• The car is thirsty. I blew through two full tanks of gas, getting between 5 and 6 mpg
• I think I was able to blow away a lot of preconceptions about how a big heavy sedan can hustle around a relatively tight track

I might think of something else later, but I'm beat. It was 30C and sunny today and I was out for pretty much the hottest part of the day.

gpj111

Curious.. what kind of rpms were you pushing on average? any unexpected under steer?

GermanGarage

Love this video.

Tell me, how was the car in corners? The tire noise is indicative of understeer -- was it manageable? Did you get the tail to ever swing out, even slightly?

gatorguy7

Now you just need to get the rear sway bar upgraded and then track it again.

subterFUSE

I just love the sound of the S6 engine. It's such a deep and powerful sounding engine.

DeerHunter

Thanks all. I've no idea about the average rpms, but if you want to analyze things, you can see the tach in the video. It stayed in the meat of the powerband in all but a couple of corners and seemed to shift at or near redline.

Understeer, as with any Quattro, is the dominant trait. Keep in mind that understeer is the balance of the car at or near the limit. The limits are still incredibly high, which is why it can hold its own with much better balanced cars. It's critical to use the strengths of Quattro - stability under trail-braking (which allows you to brake harder and deeper into a corner) and traction (which permits you to start accelerating long before any FWD or RWD "competitor").

In my video, you can see that I didn't lose much, if anything, on the straights (and this is against an approx. 3,100 lb sports car with 505 hp) and gained a lot of ground at corner entry (under braking) and some at corner exit (using my superior traction). Mind you, I'm not naive enough to suppose that I couldn't go faster than an S6 if I was given the reins of a Z06. Driver experience definitely played a part in this little episode.

I never got the tail to wag, but I was often able to achieve some semblance of a four-wheel drift at the corners seen at 0:38, 0:51 and 1:07 in the video.

S6Express

Very nice! Thanks for posting that vid.

Dr99

I'm really glad to see someone using this car to it's full potential. I keep seeing people on forums with comments like "why would you want to take a 4000lb+ car on a track?", often as if everyone should have a dedicated track car. The truth is, there are a number of reasons from my POV:

- Learning the limits of the car - the track is the safest place to find the limits
- Even as big as it is, it's still a very capable sport sedan
- Why wouldn't you want to tap into and enjoy all that horsepower that you paid for?
- Modern technology doesn't always make 4300lbs feel like 4300 lbs
- It's just damn fun


I attended the AMG Academy this past weekend and we drove the SLS, C63, SL63, CLS63, and even the new 4 Matic E63 around the track. The E was a hell of a lot fun, especially with its combinatin of power and grip out of the corners. I imagine the S6 would be very similar.

cagambler

I'm glad your city has a track, but if I were on it in my $80,000 car, I'd wish it were a track that had more run-off areas like Buttonwillow, Thunder Hill, or Portland instead of so many concrete barriers.

I may follow the comment of one of our group who said months ago something like "the S6 is an elegant car and I intend to drive it that way".

DrCondor

That was a ball, and thanks muchly.