[rexav8r]

Wow, I only had time for a quick post before... I'm gone over night and WHAMM-O look at all the input here... !!!

I think Jack's last post was a BIG key.

As YOU get better with YOUR car and learn how to set the balance of THAT car, entering and exiting high speed turns, or rather rather high performance situations, you may WANT the car to oversteer or understeer more to allow you carry more speed into or out of a turn. Different setups for different applications. You can do that (set the balance) by transferring weight forward or aft with power and brakes which finally comes down to pressure applied on your tires. The suspension setup helps you direct how that pressure is applied to your tires.

I know most of that is pretty fundamental, but it's also very dynamic. Tires; their size and compound make a huge difference in your final lap time.

High performance tires can also be less forgiving. I've talked with several instructors who actually recommend that drivers new to big track speeds use lower performance or even street tires, to learn the performance capabilities of their car and let the car give more feedback before they get into a bad situation (over their capabilities). High performance or tires with more rubber/grip are less forgiving and might not give as much room for recovery.