[InjuredAgain]

This video has got me all giddy with anticipation of getting my ED. I don't recall seeing it posted here, but apologies if this is a repeat.

From what I can tell, that's an ED rolling on the stock wheels. The driver obviously knows the course and does an excellent job of hitting his lines and has excellent situational awareness as well. I'm really impressed by the level of grip he gets with those narrow tires, and how balanced the handling seems to be. It doesn't seem to be affected by hitting the curbing, and transitional handling appears to be very composed.

I didn't push it very hard on my one and only test drive of a used ED, but since this will be replacing a Miata, I'm also thinking I'm not going to be missing out nearly as much as I had thought. I showed the video to my wife. I'm sure she now thinks I pulled a fast one on her, and convinced her to go for the ED because it's more fun to drive than the Miata. It might be!


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[TheDoctorPhil]

Awesome video! Thanks for posting! Now I wanna see a video from inside the ED...

 

[InjuredAgain]

One of the European members will have to accommodate us and get a video! There's probably just one good lap's worth of full power availability but that would be one heck of a fun lap.

I've found the factory alignment specifications and they're designed with extreme rear stability in mind. There isn't the typical level of adjustment available so I'll be talking to my alignment shop to see what they think can be done. The problem seems to be that front camber isn't adjustable and is basically set near zero, while the back is set at -2 degrees. Without knowing the exact camber curve, I'd think about a -1.5 degrees up front would be a good starting point, without lowering. Custom camber plates usually aren't too difficult to fab up if that's what's necessary.

 

[Miss Mercedes]

I reckon they turned off esp as I saw it lose a some traction but the car plowed on anyway. I bet the driver and their passenger has done this before! I loved the lap!

11 minutes is not that bad either considering the lower top speed of the ED.

Looks like you lose kickdown mode, but otherwise keep the rest of the power.

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/f170/nurburgring-nordschleife-smart-ed-51394/

 

[InjuredAgain]

It looks like they had maximum power throughout the lap, or at least I didn't see any areas where they had a free run and seemed to be much slower than anywhere else. And you're most likely right about ESP - I'd be pretty surprised if the stock ED allowed that much cornering speed and didn't panic at sudden transitions like the entry and exit of the carousel. That really tossed the Smart a bit but it stayed very composed and I didn't see any braking invention or anything.

Wow, I'm really dying with anticipation at getting my Smart. These next five days or so are going to be a killer.