I'm really glad that you're all OK, and that everyone involved in recent accidents on the UK board has not been hurt too badly.....


Another good reason to be careful is that you can drive the 'S' at higher speeds than normal cars without realising it 'is' quicker.

For example there's a long sweeping dual carriageway near me that has a tight bend in it, that's always in the shade and covered in the usual wintery wet slime. Driving our A190 (yes I know!) that has every electronic stability device on it known to man, to a point where I feel it's as fast as safely possible, resulted in a speed around 60mph.
Doing the same in the 'S' 10 mins later I felt reasonably safe at just over 70 mph some 15% quicker!

The 300zx Twin Turbo we used to own was even worse, and you could easily cruise that at 130mph (on an autobahn) and comfortably hold the wheel in your fingertips, such was it's refinement.

However the salient point is, that if you are not used to high performance rwd drive cars (aquaplaning aside!) is that they rarely give much advance warning of impending doom, and that you will always be travelling quicker than you think when it happens, than otherwise.

The 'S' is the only car that I have ever driven that doesn't seem to exhibit much warning understeer (if any) before the back gives way, it's the price you pay for instant steering responses.


Please, please take care out there...............

 

I think it was, it was also very dry and warm in the video, but driver dived in went light and braked, with slingshot results.

 

I've got a gut feeling that a lot of problems may be down to inappropriate gear. Third gear is very flexible in this car and well usable all the way to to mid 90s. On of the things I do when circumstances permit is practise real high rev gear changes from 4th to 3rd. and 3rd to 2nd. They're the gears you'll be using on the wriggly bits. You need to be able to get the change down totally smooth and seamless. I often practise doing this even on a straight bit of road. Done properly, you can get up and down the box without upsetting the balance of the car at all which is more than half the battle IMO. You need to be entering right handers well over to the left and left handers over to the right to take the best line and if in any doubt you need to dropping a cog as smooth as silk before you enter the bend.

A combination of too high a gear and wrong line is the cause of a lot of problems I'm sure. Half the fun of this car is using the gearbox anyway.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by stevedrakeuk
[B]This is honestly why I think trackday, airfield days and race schools are so valuable. I think minor twitches can be multiplied in to major incidents due to shear panic. (ie: lift off the throttle and slide helplesly in to a field!) If

 

Iain, I'm pleased you and your passenger are OK.

These postings are quite worrying and I wonder whether there is anything else contributing to these accidents other than "driver error??".

I read on another post that the S had trouble keeping up with his friends MX5 cos the tail was "all over the place" when he tried to accelerate.

Is it too much power and not enough weight?

Will the suspension springs delivery dampeners make any difference if they are not removed?

I'll be taking delivery of mine in the next month. I feel like keeping it garaged until the spring whilst I keeping my MX5!

 

Can I get a copy of that video clip please please please,

Could someone send it to rob@187.co.uk and I can stick it on my web server.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by g1gut
[B]Iain, I'm pleased you and your passenger are OK.

These postings are quite worrying and I wonder whether there is anything else contributing to these accidents other than "driver error??".

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by g1gut
[B]These postings are quite worrying and I wonder whether there is anything else contributing to these accidents other than "driver error??".

 

I am interested to see said video as well - Pete are you going to make this available ?, or in light of it being removed the first time around, should we be PM'ing people with email addresses if we are interested ?

EDIT: Also have just read the above thread on delivery spring dampeners - can I check for these myself ? hadnt even thought about this before.

R.

ps - would like to see just how fast the driver was going, and how quickly the breakaway happened.

 

I will put it on the ireallywanna server and put a link to it for everyone. At least some good will then come from the poor guy's unfortunate experience. If it saves one UK owner from causing death or injury to himself or to others, it is a worthwhile thing to do.

We're not talking about prurient interest here, we're talkin about saving lives.

And, yes, I do feel that strongly about this issue. We must have had well over half a dozen UK board members going off in recent months and we need to do something about it before someone is killed.