Well after tonight I'm thinking I may need to look for a different car. Ok I was coming home and the temperature was pretty cold (I'd say 38'). I get to a stop light, light turns green I go accelerating normally. I shift to second around 18-20mph and as i come off the clutch and reapply the throttle my rpms just increase like I'm out of gear. So, I re-clutch and make sure I'm in second and I was so I release the clutch. Now I do not know if I still had throttle on and applied too much or what but when I got into gear my rear end came out which never happens even if I redline first and rip into second. So I counter stear and fly into the other lane so I steer the other way (I'm completely out of control at this point) and fly off the road. I went up a grassy hill and almost hit a house. The damage is pretty significant: top has a hole in it (I have no idea how this happened) and the door and rear fenders are baddly dented all over. I really have no idea what caused this and I've replayed about every scenario in my head trying to figure out what went wrong because I have never been this out of control at such a low speed. I looked at the road and there are no tire marks at all which also baffles me being that I was spinning out of control. The only thing I can think of is maybe my tires were frozen and my problems going into second caused the tires to spin and me to lose control. Either way, I'm lucky that no one is injured and tomorrow I'm going to have an interesting day with my insurance company and the people's yard I messed up. Sorry for the long post.

 

Hi mate. I'm so sorry to hear about your 'off'. I know what it feels like. I had a similar experience In my S. (played all the scenarios in my head a thousand times!).
I have a post presently on the UK S2000 owners forum. Check it out, it may help with an answer.
It's titled, "Has anyone else noticed...?"

Again, sorry to hear about it mate. Don't get rid of it. Just rebuild it, and make it even better than it was before. That's a better way of looking at it!

 

I'm sorry about your mishap.

I really hope you weren't on S-02s.

 

Glad you're OK. You mentioned there were no skid marks, perhaps you hit a patch of black ice which caused the initial strange RPMs with no motion and then you caught dry pavement and got launced into the weeds.

 

Sorry to hear about your missfortune, but it sounds like you caused the rear tyres to momentarily lock up by pressing the clutch in (while in 2nd), letting the revs drop and then re-releasing the clutch (probably too quickly) ie. compression-lockup. Because your revs were too low for the speed you were traveling, the rear tyres momentarily locked up when you engaged the clutch while the engine revs rose to match the road speed.

That's at least wha tit sounds like and the sliprier (ie. colder) it is, the easier it is to cause a compression-lockup.

Again sorry to hear about what happened.

 

Sounds fishy to me. You must have done something, the car just doesn't fly out of control by itself.

At 38

 

The car can fly out of control. What has happened to me is the following. Apply to much gas before fulling releasing the clutch. This causes the clutch to slip. Rpms go way up almost feels like your wheels are spinning but they are not its your clutch not catching. Then you let off the gas thinking your tires are spinning bad then reapply the gas.....whoooooooo hooooooo the clutch catches instanly and you are way out of control and the rear end kicks out at a rate that is so fast. For Me I did this twice but both times by applying the brake instead of trying to correct thru steering saved me. I did this twice probably the first month of ownership. Since then I learned and no more slowly easing out the clutch while revving the engine.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. With such a hard spin out of control it is better to apply the brakes then to try to correct thru steering.

Glad your ok!

 

Im sorry for your accident. Hope everything works out well.

People here arent very well informed on tires. Yes the S02s are not meant for racing in the winter. Yes the S02s are not meant racing in pouring rain. HOwever, everyone here thinks that they turn to buttered glass when it gets cold or rains heavy. I drove my car all winter in NYC with snow on my S02s. (never when there is actual snow on the ground). I drove when it was 25 below 0!!!! I drove in downpours. IF you drive normally shifting low, and sitting in 6th gear in anything over 36mph, youll be just fine. THe tires are cold, but still have enough grip. YOu might have hit an oilpatch or something and coated your tires. Did you take your car to a car wash?

 

glad to hear you are ok, and no one was hurt, but if all you have for damage is a dented side and torn top, and the people's lawn, then you probably wont have a totalled vehicle, insurance should cover your car, it will be a few thousand dollars worth of damage

 

One thing you didn't mention: was the road you were on when the spin started a straight road or did it have a curve to it?

When the weather is cold, and S02s aren't gripping, whether you're going straight or not makes a big difference. Others have gone into why the S02s can break loose in this situation. Basically it all boils down to whether the car's rotating (the nose is swinging left/right as part of a turn). If your car has no rotation to it at the time (you're driving straight), then the tires will simply spin and maybe step out a bit. However, if you're in a turn the rear end will come around. Deliberate spin maneuvers start the car in a hard turn before breaking the back end loose for precisely this reason.

It's kinda like pulling the handbrake when going straight (the car simply stops) vs pulling it when turning (the back end comes around).

Do you remember if the road you were on was turning at the time?