100 replies to this topic

[Rosssco]

Turn into it and deck the throttle.... thats the exact advice given to me by the lunatics in Italy

 

Carabinieri escap techniques?

[Tolksee]

how is the mx5 ?

 

I love it for what it is! Makes me smile in the sunshine with the top down, and it makes me smile in the wet with the FR layout and the LSD allowing easily controlled and very recoverable powerslides!! ;-) ;-)  And by jove it's awesome fun in the snow in a deserted industrial estate.... Plus it's got a heater that actually works.

 

But after 3 years I'm starting to miss the surge, power & whooshes of a Stage2 turbot.

 

Techieboy, yes I would actually put Racelogic TC at the top of my mods list if I got another Tubby. Followed by an LSD.  Shame VXs never came with LSDs, they really do make the most of power out of corners. After driving with one for years, I'd miss not having one.

 

Steve, thanks for your wise words. I know my crash was started from too much throttle & torque on a greasy road...

[Gedi]

Buy a racelogic traction control unit. Mine has saved my car on 2 occasions in icey conditions.

[P11 COV]

I really can't understand where this 'accelerate' crap comes from. 

  Drifters.

Are peeps getting confused with the driven wheels, I often heard it said, and by BTCC drivers, that if you lose the back end in a FWD car you floor the throttle to pull it straight. Make sense to me but not in a VX!

[jonnyboy]

This is realistically the only thing even heros are going to do in a real world panic situation. Its easy to type into a keyboard that you will plant the throttle and generate a huge arc of oversteer like a fast and furious out take but back here in reality backing 50% off the throttle and keeping the front wheels pointing the way you are going is the best most people will/should manage.

I really can't understand where this 'accelerate' crap comes from.  There are two immediate reactions required when traction is lost/the car begins to rotate.

 

1, Steer into the rotation, 2, back out of the throttle.  You have to regain traction.  You don't do that with the throttle open.

 

"In a spin, both feet in, if in doubt, both feet out"

 

[P11 COV]

how is the mx5 ?

  Followed by an LSD.  Shame VXs never came with LSDs, they really do make the most of power out of the corners..

Not necessary in a well set up car.

[Zuber]

I really can't understand where this 'accelerate' crap comes from.  There are two immediate reactions required when traction is lost/the car begins to rotate.

 

1, Steer into the rotation, 2, back out of the throttle.  You have to regain traction.  You don't do that with the throttle open.

 

"In a spin, both feet in, if in doubt, both feet out"

 

Just to clarify point 1. If back end swings left, I steer left right correct ?

[jameso]

Nod

[Zuber]

That's a relief.

 

That seems the natural thing to do. So when I kept seeing people mention it (elsewhere), I started to wonder if I was supposed to do something 'unnatural' (hence keep banging on about it) and so it meant the other way

Edited by Zuber, 14 June 2013 - 04:12 PM.

[oblomov]

Buy a racelogic traction control unit. Mine has saved my car on 2 occasions in icey conditions.

Me too, not ice but just freezing cold with salt on the road.

[dw1]

Driver training as everyone says and welcome back Tolksee On the YouTube clip, you will see my rather messy 'save' and me explaining what happened, due to lack of talent and over correcting it. Whilst I managed to save it (phew), it was me who put myself in that position in the first place, if Id not done such an overreaction in the first place I wouldn't have needed to have done so much work at the wheel it could have been a far less dramatic and less frenetic thing. It could have been handled with a lot more finesse. On the upside, learnings driver training did help me stay on the track, just.   The reality is I overreacted to the back end breaking away, I over corrected the steering by putting too much opposite lock on. I also eased off a little bit too much throttle.   Combine the overcorrection and too little gas and as the car slows down suddenly, it starts to grip at the rear again, by which time the steering is pointing too far left, due to the overcorrection. So that means the car gets sudden traction and starts spearing to where Im steering i.e. the left towards the Armco. Its a classic situation where you see someone break traction one way and end up spinning the other all due to over correction in the first place.   Also if you look at my head movement I have stopped looking down the track and started looking straight at the Armco (I even remember doing this thinking ooh Im heading towards the Armco). As I start to correct the fishtail, with the car slowing down I begin to regain control and my composure as you see me refocusing on the track and looking in the right direction. I should have been looking down the track towards the exit the whole time as that would have helped me.   I suspect if that had been a higher speed bend I would have definitely spun or gone off the track. A good learning experience and helpful to review it afterwards. Theres so much to learn in becoming a better driver, thats part of the fun.

Edited by dw1, 14 June 2013 - 09:04 PM.

[Claws]

There is no hard and fast rule of exactly what to do. I've had a play about on a skid pan in an Omega, at low speeds, circa 25-30mph, the best thing I found was to steer into it, lift off then dip the clutch. It is pretty violent and not pretty looking but the car straightened up right away and the car lost a load of speed in the process. Would not recommend this for any higher speed driving. For getting a wiggle on under acceleration, ease off smoothly till traction is regained. Loosing the back end going fast mid bend...far too many factors, you will most likely crap yourself, instinct will take over and you will do 'something'(hopefully a smooth lift and some steering input... good luck Sir.

Edited by Claws, 14 June 2013 - 08:56 PM.

[Bumblebee]

I've had couple of scary moments under acceleration where the back end flung out. Luckily I managed to catch it, Im no driving hero but I did whats mentioned above i.e ease of and it came back in

Edited by Bumblebee, 14 June 2013 - 09:05 PM.

[MrSimba]

Think the Walshy days I did taught me that A: I was crap! & B: if it all goes 'Pete Tong' let go of the wheel!!! Coming off a high grip road surface in the wet onto normal Tarmac the car started to let go and I relaxed my grip on the wheel le the car compose itself again and carry on! 100% sure that if I'd added any input into the situation it would have been S S S F..... Car limits days should be mandatory with every VX purchased!

[jameso]

Had two pretty big slides at Bedford Tuesday, one of which at 70mph, didnt actually need to counter steer, just took some lock off and didnt grip the wheel too tight like Simon said and car sorted itself out (no throttle turning in)

[Tolksee]

 

 

how is the mx5 ?

  Followed by an LSD.  Shame VXs never came with LSDs, they really do make the most of power out of the corners..

Not necessary in a well set up car.

 

 

May not be necessary, but definitely beneficial for most on-road applications IMO.

 

No matter how well set up, for most cars without driver aids, in a slow tight corner, hit the throttle and it'll naturally p*ss away the power spinning up the wheel with the least grip (the inside wheel). Add a Torsen LSD and it'll always give power to whatever wheel has with the most grip. For me, on the road day-to-day driving, powering out of T-junctions and the like, I constantly feel the benefit of an LSD in the MX-5. 

 

I do however understand that in the Elise/VX, Lotus chose not to add an LSD for safety reasons, spinning up one wheel rather than spinning both and creating a slide in a Mid-engined car - hence when Lotus did start offering Elises with LSDs, the LSD pack came with mandatory Traction Control....

 

Oh and what is SSSF?!?? 

Edited by Tolksee, 14 June 2013 - 09:30 PM.

[Goosenka]

sh*t sh** sh*t fcuk

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

Final bend at Anglesea.  Most dangerous corner on the track as if you spin you're going into the wall.

 

Almost every lap I was breaking traction at the rear, kept my toe in and rode it out.  If I lifted I'd be in the wall so had no choice.

 

Maybe in different situations you need different reactions, not sure but this is what I thought you meant.

 

Here's the pic to prove it anyway, toe in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Umaar lifted

 

[Bumblebee]

Nice pic

[Gedi]

Car limits days should be mandatory with every VX purchased!

 

We got them free with new cars back in the day