This question has also been raised on the german board in light of an increased spate of accidents due to the change in weather.
I my opinion there are three distinct factors that need to be addressed:
1) Date of manufacture of the car
- 93 and upwards cars had different rear suspension geometry to try and take the bite out of the handling
2) What do I do if the back end starts to come round?
3) What do I do when after correcting 2) I experience snap oversteer?
1) To be honest I'm pretty certain the upgraded suspension didn't change a single thing due to the fact, that they added more power and torque to the motor at the same time.
This offset any gain to be had through the increased traction if you ask me! Maybe Toyota should have fitted a fully adjustable setup from the get go?
2) What I and others have used in the past is to give it a squirt of power
(no turbo!) to try and reduce the rotating force and aid rear wheel traction.
This is only useful as long as you are not on ice or aquaplaning! In both these cases you must immediately declutch and steer like a mofo to get the car back online
- the thing is to be quick.
.
.
.very quick!! Fortunately the MR2 gives a very good feedback on whats happening at the rear even if there are very few warning signs
3) Snap oversteer
- the thing that caused professional testers to claim the MR2 was dangerous and not a car for the public.
It's true even a few race drivers were unable to regain control of the MR2 after the rear had lost and regained traction and so went into snap oversteer.
That said you can regain control as I found out while overtaking driving 100 km/h.
I pulled over to the right to switch back into my lane only to feel the rear left try to overtake me
My first instinct was to take my foot of the gas and steer against the slide.
It worked for a short time until the rears found traction and started pushing the car forward again.
Because the fronts were now opposite lock it was equivalent to trying to take a 90 bend doing 100
The rear end started sliding again but this time in the opposite direction.
Thankfully I had the wherewithall to try and give it a bit of power instead
- not to much just enough
- and then to use the steering wheel.
The rears gained traction pushed forward and then i used the wheel to turn the car back on line in a controlled manner.
This all takes place in a matter of seconds and must be practiced.
I would like to know what experienced racing drivers say to this though
Is it a technique generally used for twitchy mid engined cars?
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