Thanks for the replies.

FYI I was in 3rd before turning into the roundabout.
I've had the car since February but would have liked to have done some more spirited driving in that time rather than commuting. I don't for a second believe I am a good driver in a rear wheel drive car. This is my first in 13 years of driving. I've been on a couple of corporate track days and had some fun in VXs and Caterham's but no real training. My tyres are the standard Bridgestone's all round. Fronts were replaced in April but rears are the same as were on the car in Feb but have at least 3mm on them. Personally I have done about 6k miles on them but as I say, usually in stop/start traffic rather than country roads

I think a track day would be worth the investment...

 

Tyre pressures checked? At this time of year less heat will get in the tyres. Could have been some sort of liquid on the road too.
Check the basics out and make sure you don't lose too much confidence. If you are scared every time you get in the car, you're going to be even more likely to crash it.

 

That's almost certainly part of the problem. When the Bridgestones get that low, much of the 'stickiness' of the rubber compound has gone and they certainly don't grip as well. Always best to change with 4mm or even 5mm remaining IMO.

Adding to that, some roundabouts are simply very slippery for a number of reasons, including the amount of diesel spillage, the road surface quality, cambers and so on.

 

A track day will allow to "explore" both the car and your own abilities in a relatively safe environment, although it won't really translate to the road.
Why not come to Doni on Sat 15th Dec for the PJL memorial day? (link in my sig).

If you want to learn more about car control then Walshy's Carlimits day would be a great start (http://www.carlimits.com).

Like you this is my first RWD sports car, in my youth I've driven a number of FWD "hot" hatches. I think we all like to think we'll be able to flick the back out control a power slide round the roundabout, but the reality is some way off that.

Don't let the incident shake your confidence just learn from it, then take it on a track and see what a capable car it is. I don't know the roundabout in question, but I seriously doubt that the cause was diesel, leaves or your tyres, it was simply down to the inputs you gave the car in the prevailing conditions. Like you said no damage done and something to learn from.

 

I thought that on my old tyres, but the insides were considerably more worn, poss cos the previous owner had done a lot of motorway miles. Plus, the alignments was out. I had 2mm left on the outside of the tyre, and nigh-on slick on the inside shoulder, which was causing some interesting moments! Worth a check. Also, theyres get harder when they get low (I don't know if this is a change in compound, or there's just less flex cos there's less tyre), but maybe this is a contributing factor.

Hope that helps a little,

Chris

 

I'm the first to argue against people who want to blame the tyres, but 3mm is about as low as you want to get with Bridgestones.

Sounds like you were just going too fast to be honest, and underestimated the slipperyness of the road. There's no reason to think traction control would have helped, and you managed to not crash or spin so your car control can't be too bad.

 

I don't think enough people point the finger at the shockingly rubbish road surfaces we are forced to drive upon everyday. I can think of several roundabouts local to me that either have a broken up top layer, or it's silky smooth from constant lorry use. Neither are acceptable especially when you consider just how much money we pour into the Governments coughers in road tax every year.

Not knowing this roundabout, I can't comment on the road surface, but its sounds like a busy roundabout which gets a fair bit of use by lorries, so smooth road surface and/or diesel might have been a factor.................or your just a rubbish driver

 

Jamie, did you forget the tags:
[soapbox] ... [/soapbox]

 

3mm is too low for the bridges, get them changed ASAP, this combined with a rough road surface and the intermediate conditions is the reason the back end stepped out sooner than you would expect.

People should be considering replacements as soon as they get under 5mm and should have sourced them by 4mm. The compound is harder from 3mm and below and it's quite common from the people who have lost it in the wet for their tyres to be at that level.