Is there a skid pan around where you can learn how to control your car properly? I know there are driving courses out there, but i know the theory of what to do when you loose the rear end, i just need practice

 

Not sure about Sydney, but there's a really good one in Shepparton (ie. 2 hour drive from Melbourne).

I'm sure there has to be something like that in Sydney as well ... Naishou may be able to help you.

 

There's plenty of rainy days and car parks, but if you want to do it legally I'd suggest a course with HART at the old St Ives Police Driver Training School.

 

You could get to a few motorkhana's for some fun. Contact the Mini car club in NSW, they seem to organise lots of them on tarmac and grass.

Otherwise, contact your state CAMS office and ask for details of the Motorkhana state panel representative.

Chris.

 

There are plenty of places to practice in Melbourne. I found one last night in Hawthorn. Came round a left hander at my usual 60kmh, but this time in heavy rain. Touching the wet tram tracks in these conditions makes for a great experience, especially with aged S02s.

After a 120 degress lose I then slid sideways down the road for about 10 metres. Fortunately I managed to correct it and got heading in the right direction without even stopping/stalling the car. A few rather lurid tail wiggles and I was back on my way. My biggest concern was that the cars I had overtaken going round the corner would not be able to stop in time and would collect me. However, they were their usual staid driving selves and I am sure had a great chuckle.

Methinks defintely time for new rear tyres.

 

O K.......
u drift around corners while theres traffic around in the rain.
hmmmm.......
got balls u do.

anyways. I think i might try the mini scene. But it might be a bit embarrasing if i get beaten by a mini, then find out hes got like a b16a in the engine bay.

 

But it might be a bit embarrasing if i get beaten by a mini, then find out hes got like a b16a in the engine bay.

You'll probably get beaten by a few Minis, and then find out that they are just the base ones (ie. without the supercharger). On the skidpan it's all about the skill, and very little about the car. You'd be surprised to see what cars are 'kicking butt' in motorkahamas.

Still, that should not stop you as at the same time you'll probably beat a lot faster/expensive machinery. Also it's all about fun ... you don't see many egos at these events.

 

Not quite Mike.

I can assure you my incident was unintentional - the last time I did something like that was around 10 years ago. I was, however, pleasantly surprised with the way things panned out incident free. I knew as soon as I started spinning there was little risk of me hitting anything other than the kerb, however, I was concerned about drivers behind me not being able to stop.

BTW, this was around 8pm so there was little traffic on the road.

As far as skidpans go, I concur with David that DECA at Shepparton is very good. However, I must say that the S2k performs very poorly through cones on a wet skidpan. It understeers very heavily and I found it impossible to get an anywhere near decent time.

 

I stumbled uppon this piece of information today by accident ... might be just what you were after:

"Stage 2 - Sept 17, 1/2 Day at Eastern Creek Skid Pan $149

Courses run by Auto Motion Australia and ex-GTP and current Konica driver Aaron McGill. Contact him on 4872 2622 for more details."

However, I must say that the S2k performs very poorly through cones on a wet skidpan. It understeers very heavily and I found it impossible to get an anywhere near decent time.

I found the S2000 good there ... mine only understeered when I had too much entry speed, or got on power too early. It probably comes down more to the driving style than the car itself. I had the S2000 there good 3 - 4 times and I was usually one of the quicker cars there.

I still think that in an S2000 around there I could beat most of the cars as the S2000 has a pretty good balance of weight, power and sized for 'dodging cones'.

ps. Do you still find your S2000 to undesteer? I remember going back a few years that you had a fair bit of it.

 

Understeer isn't really an issue in the S2k any more David as I don't drive it that hard any more.

I get my kicks on the gokart track nowadays and am learning the finer points of kart suspension tuning. The biggest challenge is having the cojones to go flat out through corners but I'm slowly getting there.

On the other hand maybe that is why I had my spin the other night - I have been getting pretty aggressive with my turn in.