[CrookedRacer]

Today I was attacking my fourth and final run and I was making a hard right-hander which required hard breaking.

At some point in the braking zone, the brake pedal became very firm, as though there was a block of wood behind the pedal, preventing me from pushing it any closer to the floor. But the brakes weren't working as hard as they should have been. I ended up pushing and scrubbing though the turn, eating up all sorts of time.

It didn't feel like fade- I've felt that before, which feels more like the pedal just letting go, and going more or less to the floor. This was different.

It is possible that it was fade, and that the pedal was already to the floor. But I don't think that was the case. This was definitely something that felt like the car wasn't doing what it was being asked to do. I didn't enjoy that feeling.

For the rest of the run the car behaved normally. But the damage was done. No help on my final run.

One fellow competitor suggested it was my fluid boiling. But it's just an autocross, so I have a hard time believing that. Admittedly I haven't changed my fluid since I got the car, and I have 13k miles on them. So I suppose that's possible.

Another said it was probably "ice mode". I had never heard of that. I have seen a few people on this forum mention that their FiST went into ice mode on a run, but not much explanation for it.

I did have my ESC fully off (not sport mode). And I will certainly be changing my fluid before NASA's OktoberFast track day at VIR in October. (And I have a fresh set of pads ready to put in if it's looking like the ones I'm running are not going to survive the whole weekend)

Does "ice mode" exist in our car? If so, how do we avoid it? If not, what else might have caused this awful behavior?

 

[razorlab]

Sounds like ABS

 

[CrookedRacer]

Well if so, that's two things I don't like about this car because they're too "smooth".

One is the rev-limiter, which doesn't really let you know it's going on.. I just wish it would pulse like everyone else's does. Instead it stops perfectly and quietly at the highest RPMs for a couple seconds, and then dies down to the secondary redline, feeling like the car is dying or something. Just give me a redline, and let me know when I am at said redline.

If this is ABS, well, I felt no pulsing of the pedal... Maybe this system is just too smooth. The worst part is that it just wouldn't give me any more braking until I had cleared the turn. ABS that I have encountered in the past vibrates but doesn't stop you from braking hard when grip returns.

 

[razorlab]

yea most of the time it's the pulsing but sometimes when there is a lot of slip it does that rock hard pedal thing. Hence why some people call it "ice mode" My 04 WRX did that constantly on track, it was annoying as hell.

 

[Cligedy]

I don't have an answer for you, but two FoST drivers had this exact same thing happen at our last autocross. They both said it had never happened before, then they both had it at the same event. Electronic driving aids still seem to be terrible for autocross.

 

[F1ST]

I've had the same thing happen. Very stiff brake pedal during a very similar situation. All i can do is confirm this happens. No idea what it is.

 

[ryst]

If anything I bet the Fiesta racing ABS module in this thread http://fiestast.net/threads/frpp-stuff.1776/ would prevent that from happening (assuming it works with the FiST, McRib should find out soon enough)

 

[Mightymango]

If anything I bet the Fiesta racing ABS module in this thread http://fiestast.net/threads/frpp-stuff.1776/ would prevent that from happening (assuming it works with the FiST, McRib should find out soon enough)

That would not be legal for street class though.

It is the ABS getting confused as the transitions make the system unsure of what to do. My evo does it if the rear lifts under hard braking and turning and Trevor's Focus did it to me at an event as well, hard braking and turning.

 

[F1ST]

Hard braking and turning sounds exactly like the situation I had. Also there was a report of a FiST on 2 wheels at one of our events. Unsure if it was me and at that spot or another tuxblack FiST driver.