Hey batboy I just got my pics back and I'm going to be showing them to my buyer and then hopefully we'll get this wheel deal overwith..... If your car is still in the shop next week, I will have time to go and check it out.

-Dan

 

Just echoing some of the stuff already said but if you drive a "sportscar", you should learn vehicle dynamics. This is best done by reading a book and there are many out there, from the most basic to ones that delve into it in depth. After you have an understanding, put this into practice by applying what you have learned. This is best done at a race track. The more seat time you get, more you will appreciate how the car responds to your input. And your input should always be SMOOTH.

 

I've sat in a type R cornering at 40 mph
On the other hand, I've spun out in an F-body by merely gassing when it on a puddle, going at 5 mph. RWD has lots of nasty surprises for the FWD driver...

 

I'm currently reading the Mazda RX-7 Performance Handbook.

I also bought two other books but can't remember the names of them. A good informative (if rather light in technical specs) read.

 

EvilPenEvil, that was a nice original post. I myself have only driven FWD cars, and it was a good to read someone elses honest experience with a high powered RWD light sportscar. Awesome post.

 

My FD is the next great thing for me comming from a '93 Mustang with way too much horsepower. Going from massive low end torque to a turbo, talk about weird. Right in the middle of the turn is about where the damn turbo decides to kick in and rape your rear tires.

If you get those stock rims off and put a good set of 17's on it, massive difference in cornering.

Most of all you need to be absolutly confident with your car so no matter what it does you naturally react in the right way to save both your car and your ***.

Like a rabid dog, never show fear and you get that way through pratice. At the track, on the street, the more you drive the car timid, the worse it will get, until you do get into a serious accident. The performance that landed you in the flower bed is also available to help you get out of worse situations. Like a right angle turn by spinning the rear tires to avoid an obstacle. Sweet trick that saved my *** many times.

So my suggestion is to find a place to get nasty without consequences until you are familiar with all the possible situations that you might get yourself into and pratice getting out of them. Until you do that, that place where you don't feel comftorable as a driver is where your next accident will happen.

You will know when you are then the first time that you loose control, gain it back and it looks like you meant to do it. Drive that car like a 5-dollar hoe on nickle-night and you will never regret it!!

 

Anyone know where I can find a HUGE parking lot?

 

Hey, try cornering in the FD at 120 MPH! Turn 8 at Willow Springs (big track) is a good place to try it out. The nice surprise from RWD is more acceleration on corner exit, but it takes careful application or you'll lose it.

-Max

 

I am not organizing such an event, but it seems like it would be fun and useful to do a "skidpad Saturday" at a track (some tracks have skidpads on-site) or even a big parking lot sometime. With the skidpad, you would have an opportunity to drive the car at and over the limit and learn how it responds to various inputs without much chance of crashing or going off-road. You would learn what the car feels like at the limit. It would also be a good opporunity to tune the car for maximum grip (sway bar settings, spring swaps, etc.). You could also learn how the changes affect the feel of the car at the limit.

Since you could only have one car on the "track" at any time it would probably be best for a small group, but it would probably be pretty cheap to do.

How many of you guys would be interested in a skidpad event like that if someone offered one in your area?

-Max

 

Sounds like autocross, except more seat time than 5 minutes/day.