Interesting, how did the regen pedal effect braking performance and turn-in?
Photography by Tom Suddard and Andy Hollis
While we’ve made it to the halfway point, the light at the end of the tunnel is still pretty far away for the Tire Rack One Lap of America Presented by Grassroots Motorsports.
Having more experience on track at NCM Motorsports Park allowed Andy to focus more on how the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N handles at speed.
More specifically, Andy notes that the car turns in remarkably well, though its overall heft puts noticeable strain on the 275-wide tires in steady-state cornering, of which there is plenty at NCM. It's just a patience game as the car grinds its tires off as the driver desperately waits for corner exit, where the Hyundai instantly leaves the corner, presses you back into the seat, and you forget all about the mid-corner waiting game
But that higher seating position takes some getting used to, as even the slightest bit of body roll can make it feel like the car is going to tip over, even though it's not. Tom and Andy both reported a weird pogoing effect, particularly in NCM's infamous Deception corner.
Andy, who took to the track first, used around 30% of the charge, while Tom used closer to 35%.
One of the biggest factors impacting the energy usage was that Andy used the car’s regen (Hyundai calls it the “N Pedal”), while Tom didn’t.
Despite not initially liking the sensation of the regen system, Tom plans to try it again after seeing the benefits to both brake temperature and battery state of charge.
In an effort to cut down transit times, the team decided after leaving NCM to use non-Tesla 800V fast chargers, that, despite their reputation, have been reliably charging the Ioniq 5 N in 15 to 20 minutes every 120 to 150 miles.
These chargers also have an added benefit that’s well-suited to One Lap: Better food options.
Perhaps not surprisingly, One Lap can be hard on cars.
At least one major incident resulted in a One Lap ride being unable to continue, though word is the driver was already shopping for a new car.
You can’t let your guard down during transits, either, as one Mini struck a deer during their transit.
(Andy notes that it’s not uncommon for 8 to 10 cars to drop out of the competition.)
Now, at the midpoint of the week, Tom and Andy are in the mid-30s overall with the Ioniq 5 N. The Porsche Cayman of Salil Shukla and Chris Mayfield currently lead overall.
SuperK, which has been dominating at nearly every event, is clawing its way up the leaderboard after a poor performance in the wet skid pad at Tire Rack HQ.
Interesting, how did the regen pedal effect braking performance and turn-in?
It's just very abrupt, so I was finding it easy to upset the soft chassis unless I was really careful lifting off the throttle. It means the car turns in great and wants to rotate, but that's not always what you want on track.
I've enjoyed the ability on the eGolf to tune regen via the side-to-side regen adjustment, or just slapping it into 'B' mode for full one-pedal.
i thought the Hyundai's had flappy paddles to adjust regen?
It does! I'd been running with it adjusted to zero, but after getting used to it I'm now comfortable (and faster than Andy 😎 at VIR) running at level two out of three possible regen intensities.
One other theory we have for the difference in battery usage is that on heavy, straight braking zones in One Lap, I tend to just hammer the ABS after initial brake application and let the computer do the braking. I know some cars will disable regen and use only the friction brakes during "emergency" braking, so that might be what's happening.
Tom looking very cool in that last picture modeling the new GRM Columbia Corner Work Hat.
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