Thread: An Interesting illustration of Traction Control settings

Originally Posted by Duck's Guts

Nice country 'round them parts!

How was Cobberas Track & McFarlane Flat Track? Normally they are pretty cut-up & eroded at this end of the "roads open" season. I also consider them one of the harder 'main' tracks in this eastern part of the VHC. Any sections that you considered you would have difficulty driving back up again if you had to turn around?

McfFarlane and Cobberas weren't as hard as the Deddick trail was on Saturday, we had to recover vehicles 3 times due mostly to being on the southern side of the hill on the way out and it being a bit damp. We had 5 vehicles, 3 with winches so we were reasonably well equipped.
I reckon Macfarlane would have been about as difficult as Coberras on the uphill. We had to recover an older 100 series with no traction control or lockers on the bit in the photos.

Regards,
Tote

It is spectacular country. I did the Barry Way a couple of months ago in my Defender but was not impressed by the bare dirt camp grounds on the Barry and McKillops Bridge etc...

Just ran an extreme 4wd course this weekend (minimum requirement of AT tyres and underbody protection). On _very_ rough hill climbs and severe angles, you will especially notice the difference in car behaviour between Mud/Ruts and Rock Crawl. Cars with the rear eDiff show the difference to a greater degree.

Cheers,

Gordon

Hi Gordon,
I respect you greatly, but are you saying that TR overcomes driver incompetence? If not let's sheet the blame where it should be.

Best Wishes,
Peter

Originally Posted by Bushwanderer

Hi Gordon,
I respect you greatly, but are you saying that TR overcomes driver incompetence? If not let's sheet the blame where it should be.

Best Wishes,
Peter

Hmm - if by 'incompetence' you mean the term in its general sense, then no, it doesn't. You still need to know when to apply the various TR and other settings to get the best performance out of the car.

If you mean lack of 4WD experience in general (which I wouldn't term 'incompetence' as such), then yes, TR will go some way to overcoming that, providing you know how and when to use it.

Clear as mud?

Cheers,

Gordon

Originally Posted by Bushwanderer

Hi Gordon,
I respect you greatly, but are you saying that TR overcomes driver incompetence? If not let's sheet the blame where it should be.

Best Wishes,
Peter

TR is not a tool designed specifically for the inexperienced (also with reference to your "TR is for Knobs" earlier in this thread).

If you lift a wheel with TR off, you're not going anywhere without momentum, irrelevant of your experience! To me, it's like driving with open diffs.
In my opinion, in low grip conditions, selecting a TR setting is a minimum requirement, in the the same way as locking your centre diff in older Land Rovers.

TR overcomes driver incompetence in the same way as difflocks, long-travel suspension, mud tyres, low range gearing and a strong torquey engine.

One point about Rock Crawl - it is indeed all goodness, but runs the vehicles in very low gears which reduces the effectiveness of the quick-lockup traction control. Often you'll want to change up for less torque and thus wheelspin, so I select Command Shift to control the gears.