Learned How to J-turn

To J-turn – drive in reverse, yank the wheel to initiate a turn, the vehicle spins 180 degrees then continues driving in the same direction, but facing forward.

Listen for the clapping at the end *bows* ;)

To be clear, this is like a baby J-turn… note how the instructor is operating the gear shift for me.

Do it alone without coaching, now it’s impressive.

At the completion of the turn the car was so discombobulated it went into limp mode, how anti-climactic.

Learned during a BFGoodrich tire test event at Mosport, and that’s a 2015 Ford Mustang.

Read my review of BFGoodrich’s all-new g-Force COMP-2 A/S tires here.

Above is what the video looks like.

 

 

Testing BFGoodrich’s g-Force COMP-2 A/S Tires

BFGoodrich invited me to Mosport racetrack to test their all-new tire, the g-Force COMP-2 A/S.

But while listening to the morning’s press presentation my breath sucked in, “oh no, A/S stands for All-Season, how did I miss that?”

Okay I know exactly how – when reading the invite email, “Keri, we’d like to invite you to the track…” my eyes glazed over everything after “track”.

But this was a problem, because how can I endorse an All-Season tire when I’ve been putting them down for years, both here and at the paper?

Then the spokesman said 2 things that won me over:

1 – they said an All-Season tire really means 3 seasons, “it’s not a snow tire.” Agreed 100%
2 – before sending me out, they gave instructions on how to cheat a tire test

In the hundreds of press events I’ve attended it’s rare to hear such honesty. Day is off to a good start.

Test #1 – Braking

Floor it to 70 km/h, then stand on the brakes and measure which tire brought me to a stop in the shortest distance.

Super fun to do, super erratic results that tell me nothing. It’s not the tire’s performance, it’s because the driver (me) braked all over the place, so can’t rely on results when the tester was so inconsistent.

Test #2 – Wet Autocross

Toss 3 identical Audi A4s around a wet autocross course while riding on the 3 competitors – Continental, General and BFGoodrich.

Continental – didn’t hold the corners as well as BFGoodrich
General – the most fun because they slid all over the place; this is not a compliment
BFGoodrich – grippiest, and I executed my smoothest lap on these. Winner

Test #3 – Dry Autocross

Floored 2015 Ford Mustangs around a dry autocross course. Same set up as Test #2 – identical cars, around the same track, riding on 3 different brands.

And guys my skills are improving, I’m getting smoother!

Watch:

General – sliding around again but less funny than the wet track, these grip poorly
Continental – better than the Generals, but…
BFGoodrich – I was able to get back on the throttle the quickest with these because the grip was already there. Winner 

So BFGoodrich’s g-Force COMP-2 A/S won. And their price point is right in line with their competitors.

They come with a 70,000 km warranty, are on-sale now in 32 different sizes, then 52 sizes by Q1 of 2016.

I’ll leave you with the same thing I always tell you…

Don’t cheap out on the ONLY part
of your car that touches the road!


 

 

Arty Mustang Photos

Last week’s car was a 2015 Mustang GT.  That was very yellow.

The Mustang engine note is one of the best out there, a good deep growl I’m surprised doesn’t get copied more often.

“Ground speed“… what else would it be?

Apparently it’s a reference to a movie I’ve never seen, still eye roll.

Although the Mustang has a reputation of a “guys car“, women have been behind its creation its whole 50 years. Wrote a column about it.

The toggle switches are neat eh.

Ford is bringing back hard buttons, gone is all that touch nonsense.

Blog tag = Mustang

 

 

Trying out Ford’s Virtual Reality Room

This is Ford’s main Virtual Reality lab, in the world.

How it works:

Before even a prototype vehicle is built, it’s presented and analyzed to find fit-and-finish errors, quality control issues, aerodynamics, ergonomics, visibility and design flaws. Just about anything the customer will experience is replicated here.

For example – the fuse door on the new Mustang would have hit the dash when opened, so that was altered before the car went into production.

Soon as the helmet went on, my instinct was to reach out and try to touch the car.

I know *typed with rolling eyes*

Why oh why didn’t I take a photo throughout the goggles?

The red cameras are the the ones that track your movements.