This Friday I am planning to go to the Dragon's Tail (which is a wonderfully twisty road that joins N.Carolina and Tennessee. Anyways, I have driven the Dragon's Tail in my Civic Si and my Evo (which has all the usual handling mods). I am very comfortable driving both of these cars there.

My question is, this Friday I am planning to take my stock 2008 S2k with 11k miles. I have heard horror stories of snap oversteer and the like from the S2k. I do plan to leave the VCS (or whatever it is called) on. With the VCS on, will the car still display snap oversteer? I am not going to be driving super fast, but at the same time don't want any nasty surprises....

Thanks

 

The only time I have found an S2K to be snappy is on lightly damp road. In the dry, or full wet it does what you would expect.

Even then the oversteer is not snappy. Where they can get snappy is when a driver, after losing the tail in the normal way, applies far too much opposite lock. With the light very direct steering this is very easy to do, & will cause the tail to snap back the other way. When too much opposite lock has been applied, & held too long, the snapback is often so quick that the driver has no chance of catching the thing. Exit backwards into the scenery usually follows.

Your S is a very different animal to the Civic, or the Evo, & requires a somewhat different driving technique to either of them, but it is still a car, requiring similar skills. If you are a competent driver, & come up on it's limit progressively, & you'll have no more trouble with it, than any other car, but a lot more fun, once you are there.

 

What you're referring to is VSA and it's saved my ass on a few occasions while on the Dragon. That said, one's carelessness can override even the best technology, so stay within your limits and stay in your lane at all times. All this "snap over steer" business is simply an error on the driver's part, not the car and you'll find it to be more prevalent in 1st gen AP1s as they had a rear bias in the suspension setup. Your 08 has a slight front bias. What tires are you running? This is going to be the biggest contributing factor (other than YOU) regarding how much and often VSA may engage.

 

My recommendation after driving my modded AWD (Subie) and S2K on the Dragon is that its no place to learn your car, but is a very safe place to have fun. As long as you are not attempting to reach your cars limits and take it easy, the roads are very clean, safe, and friendly to new drivers that take their time and enjoy it. The roads around here in Cinci are much more perilous in my opinion.

Don't attempt to reach cornering speeds in your S that you did in your Evo right away, most likely the Evo is faster. Laying on the power inside corners is actually more possible at the Dragon in RWD due to the huge camber on many of the corners, just take it easy. If you get a chance outside the Dragon to try to get the rear to break loose under power (VSC off) or just swinging it around, try it out to get the feel of it. I find all the horror stories to be over blown and the S is a very friendly car in caring and experienced hands.

Have any pics of your car collection together?

 

 

Thanks for the tips. I will be taking it easy on the Dragon. I am not one of those wannabe drift guys who enjoy sliding and crossing the double yellow. I just didn't want any big surprises. My 08 has 11k highway miles. I've never really driven the S2000 in a twisty environment. I have had RWD cars before (Fox body 5.0 liters so I am familiar with oversteer). The tires on my S2000 are the OEM Bridgestones, but I am not sure of the model number. The tires on my Evo are Falken RT615k Azenis along with a full coilover suspension. The Civic Si also has Falkens along with H&R springs.

I do not have a photo of all three cars together, but maybe that will be a future idea for me (LOVE photography with my Nikon DSLRs).

Thanks for the help and I'll keep that VSC on!

 

Sounds like you're good to go and ready for a really fun experience

 

checkout the Cherohala Skyway while you are down there if you have time. I was just there this weekend.

 

VSA correct in the 06 and up. Don't turn it off please. Learn the car slow at first and then pick up the pace. Try this first go through the dragon without using the brakes. Its not that easy and you will learn the car very quickly. Enjoy the car on the dragon.

 

28 south of 74 is really really fun too

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/35.3716398,-83.5041265/Franklin,+NC+28734/@35.3098213,-83.5173937,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x8859251b3c34 1e5b:0x7d6abd5c00dca225!2m2!1d-83.3815429!2d35.1823171