Had my first Spin today....... Any Advice?

[Driftlimits Performance]

You need to spend a day here being taught in a controlled environment!

http://www.driftlimits.co.uk/

Best experience day I've every done
Serious driving, serious cars.

They want you banging the limit opposite lock!

[John145]

Try not to be too harsh! Dude admitted the mistake and the circumstances in which it happens and is looking for advice on how for it not to happen again.

[jasongtr]

Try not to be too harsh! Dude admitted the mistake and the circumstances in which it happens and is looking for advice on how for it not to happen again.

at least he is in the position to ask and not hurt, got to admit, the receipe was not a good one that was going to end well

[HughesR1]

Whilst I don't approve of messing about with other cars on the road, its a good idea to find a big open space and get used to how your car handles (Preferably a track such as Bedford etc)

But on the driving side, I find it easier to learn the dynamics of an MR car in the wet as understeer and oversteer are both exagerated before reach silly fast speeds.

The mistake most people make is having the opposite lock on for too long. The relationship between throttle position and amount of lock is critical, make sure you release throttle and unwind the steering swiftly but smoothly. (More so in an MR2).

Only my 2 cents but seems to work for me in my Elise and MR2's

[HughesR1]

Also, I did think I saw Chris Harris making a pretty handy video for noobs. I know its an FR car but the principles still apply, but be much quicker in your case

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2Vt3ybz0t0

[Road_Rebel]

I have managed to lose the back end before on the apex of a round about with traffic all around me at only 20 or 25mph with the slightest gain throttle just to keep my car going forward.


Luckily it was only a small flick and it was recovered



this was when i was running 205's on the back and i assume there was oil/diesel there but still.

Was very surprising to say the least. I will never forget that experience and will always take it steady in the wet.


This is a major issue i find with these cars, I think they give little warning before they let go of the road

[Danbob]

Thanks for some of the more constructive comments, that drift limits experience looks very interesting, might look into that when my bank balance is a little healthier.

As I mentioned earlier this was supposed to be a thread about how to correct in a MR spin. Not an opportunity to get on your high horse about my driving.

To correct some of the earlier comments, this was on a very long slip road, the other car had not come out specifically to over take me, he started off at the lights on the roundabout to my right and the two lanes on the round about both feed into the two lanes on the slip road, I was accelerating up the slip road up to motorway speeds anyway regardless of the other driver, the other driver would not have been inconvenienced by my actions in any way, and I predict that this spin would have happened whether he was there or not, simply because of the angle of the corner and the fact that you have no choice but to accelerate at that point! Also although I stated it was ‘wet’; I’d like to elaborate that it was ‘lightly drizzling’ and therefore the road was damp, now I know that any water at all dramatically changes how the car handles and will therefore be more careful, as far as I’ve read so far Toyo T1R’s do not perform well in the wet, so perhaps some Rainsport 2’s might be best next time.

This is not my first turbo’d car, and although I’ve not owned any other RWD cars I have driven plenty, none of them mid engined though, and the same situation in almost any front engined RWD car would be entirely different, which is why I was asking on specific advice on correcting an MR2 from people who had direct experience of it.

I have already taken the car to a track day, the car was built as a cheap project for the sole purpose of a sprint two weeks ago, the car was finished and Mot’d the day before the sprint and I won its class on the day so was fairly happy with the handling then. This was on a dry track however on grippy flat tarmac and the car handled nothing like it did yesterday morning.

Anyway I’ll obviously be more aware on that road and in the wet in future and I’m not going to let it put me off the car, I see it more as a challenge to master than a problem. I look forward to the next sprint or track day, hopefully it will be a wet day!

[jasongtr]

nice response

[Chloke83]

These cars can be "twitchy" to say the least an iirc the Rev1 tends to be more of a bar steward than the other ones.

I have lost the back of mine in both the snow and the wet, not really doing anything drastically wrong either. The snow was pretty obvious, too much throttle, wrong gear, back end goes. Was only doing about 15mph at the time so slid round and stopped with no damage done. It was on the road to my house as well so not too many cars around to hit.

In the wet was a totally different experience. I had driven from South West Germany, though Belgium and the top of France and then onto Crawley without any problems at all. The whole way it had bucketed it down and the car stayed glued to the tarmac. Literally the last road before i turned into my street and the back steps out completely. Luckily (god knows how) i managed to correct it and not enter into snap oversteer. My other half nearly sh*t herself though and i must admit i was a little shaken. Cannot really recall what i did but adrenalin and natural instincts took over and i managed to get it going straight again.

At the time i was doing about 40mph and this was a slight uphill bend, it was raining quite hard and as i neared the crest of the hill i felt the back go. It felt like i was sliding at a 90degree angle but in reality it would have been a lot less.

The other half span it 180 on the way back from work once. I get a telephone call telling me she has "crashed the car"!! First thought is jesus how much is this going to cost me, second thought was is the other half alright

Anyway long story short was she gave it too much beans on a roundabout and WHOOSH ended up facing oncoming traffic. Didn't hit anything and no damage done. Not exactly what i would call a "crash" though.

She hasn't driven it since either, she now calls it the "devils car". Then again she is used to driving her Peugeot 1007