176 replies to this topic

[LazyDonkey]

I see your point about track/driver days, but to me thats finding the (car/driver) limits on cornering etc on track....if walshy/elliott shove some diesel down on the surface you are driving on then i stand corrected.....I don't recall ever hearing they do, which is my bugbear when everybody calls 'carlimits' when a car gets stacked.

IIRC walshy used to do that, be the other users of the circuits complained

Since my first KH day ive gone from scaring the sh** out of my instructor when i was violently sawing at the wheel to try and "correct" a slide, to now actually provoking and kinda almost holding them on sprints and autotests Even if i don't catch them every time it now means i know not to over-react when the car moves a wee bit...........which is invaluable on the road.

yes a skid pan is ideal for learning how catching a slide, but the training most people recommend will generally improve you driving and not just focus on resolving the 1 in 10,000 experience of hitting a diesel slick. And lets be honest these are mid engined cars which are never going to be that easy to catch anyway ! Surely it's better to learn how to ensure that you dont unsettle the car, and you go quickly without any undue drama ?

I've spun twice at knockhill, both times in the wet and both due to me getting my ambitions and capabilities mixed up. I was simply doing too much and asking too much of the car at the same time. Those thoughts never leave my head when I'm in the VX in the wet and i dont think thats a bad thing. If everyone on this board went to a training day tomorrow and saw just how quickly a small slide , left unmanaged or undealt with can turn into a spin then i think the newbie cull would be a lot less severe next time around.

I'm taking the VX to work tomorrow - no doubt i'll stack it now i've said all that

Edited by LazyDonkey, 09 December 2009 - 11:02 PM.

[G-Bob]

christ sake who draw number clock wise

Generally left handed people!

[G-Bob]

One thing I must say is that when it comes to slippy weather season, make sure you have plenty of tread on your tyres. Since I fitted the arch-filling kumhos I've not been able to get some slide even when trying. Tried to burl my car round to the right in my empty work car park and just ended up turning REALLY fast and ended up almost sitting in the passenger seat! I am such a Chav!

[jules_s]

I see your point about track/driver days, but to me thats finding the (car/driver) limits on cornering etc on track....if walshy/elliott shove some diesel down on the surface you are driving on then i stand corrected.....I don't recall ever hearing they do, which is my bugbear when everybody calls 'carlimits' when a car gets stacked.

IIRC walshy used to do that, be the other users of the circuits complained

Since my first KH day ive gone from scaring the sh** out of my instructor when i was violently sawing at the wheel to try and "correct" a slide, to now actually provoking and kinda almost holding them on sprints and autotests Even if i don't catch them every time it now means i know not to over-react when the car moves a wee bit...........which is invaluable on the road.

yes a skid pan is ideal for learning how catching a slide, but the training most people recommend will generally improve you driving and not just focus on resolving the 1 in 10,000 experience of hitting a diesel slick. And lets be honest these are mid engined cars which are never going to be that easy to catch anyway ! Surely it's better to learn how to ensure that you dont unsettle the car, and you go quickly without any undue drama ?

I've spun twice at knockhill, both times in the wet and both due to me getting my ambitions and capabilities mixed up. I was simply doing too much and asking too much of the car at the same time. Those thoughts never leave my head when I'm in the VX in the wet and i dont think thats a bad thing. If everyone on this board went to a training day tomorrow and saw just how quickly a small slide , left unmanaged or undealt with can turn into a spin then i think the newbie cull would be a lot less severe next time around.

I'm taking the VX to work tomorrow - no doubt i'll stack it now i've said all that

Yeah, we both know we are singing off the same hymn sheet...and from either end of said hymn sheet we are both talking sense

I thought about this this afternoon.....hows about a 'mythbusters' day where we actually get/hire an acre of tarmac and dump a few gallons of diesel in the middle of it.....just to see whether one or two of us can 'actually' drive through it without hitting the backround hedges/armcos.

Should be interesting

[rsg]

I thought about this this afternoon.....hows about a 'mythbusters' day where we actually get/hire an acre of tarmac and dump a few gallons of diesel in the middle of it.....just to see whether one or two of us can 'actually' drive through it without hitting the backround hedges/armcos.

Should be interesting

Hire Turweston

I hired it not long after I got my VX to "see what it will do". It pissed it down on the afternoon I had, but I had to do something REALLY stupid to get the rear to swing out, I was slaloming at 50 - 60mph down the runway and being pretty brutal with the steering and throttle.

You could give them a ring, not sure how they'd feel about about a load of diesel on their runway but the next couple of weeks are meant to be dodgy weatherwise

[Seb.F]

Not far from me that isn't

[zaff]

Do runways have more grip than the average road as they are designed to stop big aircraft as fast as possible?

[techieboy]

Do runways have more grip than the average road as they are designed to stop big aircraft as fast as possible?

Going on the surfaces of all of the runways I've been on in the car, I'd say they have less grip than the average road.

[Crazyfrog (Fab)]

Do runways have more grip than the average road as they are designed to stop big aircraft as fast as possible?

Going on the surfaces of all of the runways I've been on in the car, I'd say they have less grip than the average road.

do they ............ ...........

[rsg]

Do runways have more grip than the average road as they are designed to stop big aircraft as fast as possible?

Going on the surfaces of all of the runways I've been on in the car, I'd say they have less grip than the average road.

This one was concrete, it wasn't exactly Heathrow

[NickB787]

Do runways have more grip than the average road as they are designed to stop big aircraft as fast as possible?

Yes and no

The concrete has more grip and therefore tends to collect rubber from tyres quicker than road surfaces, this is sorted at airports by cleaning the rubber deposits off regularly but old airfields will just collect more and more and once you add water to the equation they will be far worse than normal roads
(round and round you go )

Edited by NickB777, 10 December 2009 - 12:45 PM.

[siztenboots]

we always have this question at wet days at colerne airfield about "25" runway paint on the tricky left hander, just after suburu corner


http://maps.google.c...m...mp;t=h&z=17

Edited by siztenboots, 10 December 2009 - 12:50 PM.

[zaff]

The reason I mentioned it is Elvington airfield is considered to be very harsh on tyres. It is one of the reasons I dont fancy doing a track day there even though I only live 10 minutes away.

[Tail-end Charlie]

Too many drivers think they can jump into a VX220 and drive it like they did their Nova.

I drove my VX down snow and ice covered country lanes last year...

With Bridgestones on...


Behind a lorry...


Boy do I feel lucky to be alive

LOL. The other thing is, why is it always diesel, never petrol or oil?!? I'll be honest I think some of you lot are trying too hard. I've not had many drama's in mine, why? Here is a break down in my time in the VX220...

10% Defrosting/scraping/waiting to get into it. Can't have an accident if you're not moving!!

30% Tuning the radio - I can't stand to listen to rubbish. Not only does my lack of concentration cause me to drive more slowly and cautiously, even with my long arms the inconvenient position of the radio means I must lean to the left, causing a decrease in pressure on the accelerator pedal

40% Rubber-necking at women. Be they in cars, or on foot, who can resist a quick little look. Nothing wrong with a bit of heartbreaking while driving along!!

15% Thinking about how unlucky I am that I have to get up each day and go to work. With so much on my mind I have no time to imagine diesel on the road!!

So you see I only have 5% of my time to think about spinning, sliding, booting it etc.


My sympathy to the OP and its a shame that this thread has become a debate about diesel/crashes but all I can say is if its all down to diesel how come it is getting worse with the bad weather?

My personal opinion is people are just doing the wrong thing at the wrong time/place. It could happen to any one of us, I really do think its more about human error than the conditions.

[ChrisO]

We're all human, we all make mistakes. Its all part of the human condition! However. Lift-off oversteer. Throttle oversteer. Dont tell me the VX is a hard car to drive in the wet because it isnt. You just have to know what you are doing and have the right 'instinct' ready to save your car from the bush/lamppost/wall/lorry/armco/hedgehog but this isnt a hard thing to learn. Find a go-kart circuit, wait for a properly wet day and go karting! Invest in a PS3, the proper steering wheel (the Logitec G25) and GT5... it'll teach you the basics of car control at least. Track days! Find an airfield track day find the limit slowly. Once you know how to drive your car you'll find unsticking the back end of a VX takes ALOT of throttle and/or wrong driving. Sorry like, but there you go. Tom I seriously hope you get your car sorted. I've bashed mine (ABS in the snow - dont get me started on the ABS because Lazy Donkey will kick off, proper like) resulting in similar damage, new clam, crash box, lights etc. £4.5k to repair. Insane insurance premium afterwards. It's a kick in the balls but you'll appreciate your car so much more when you get it back.

[TankRizzo]

LOL. The other thing is, why is it always diesel, never petrol or oil?!? I'll be honest I think some of you lot are trying too hard. I've not had many drama's in mine, why? Here is a break down in my time in the VX220...

Petrol's not slippery is it?

Diesel is a lubricant...ooer. Petrol can be used as a thinner I think.























I'll go now.

[LazyDonkey]

ABS in the snow - dont get me started on the ABS because Lazy Donkey will kick off,