What advice for a 1st time Cerb owner
Discussion
I know its a long way off before I buy a Cerb, but Ive been trailing through salvage yards and seen way too many TVRs all banged up and in need of a warm garage and some affection.
It seems that this is down to two possible things:
1) People with too much money wanting a fast car under the illusion that they are a good driver...usually proven wrong
Or
2) TVRs are a savage beast that demands 100% attention at ALL times otherwise it will tear your head off
Question is:
For someone contemplating Cerb ownership, what advice would past/present Cerb owners give to make life as pain free (and heart attack free) as possible???????????????????
Ta
Scott
It seems that this is down to two possible things:
1) People with too much money wanting a fast car under the illusion that they are a good driver...usually proven wrong
Or
2) TVRs are a savage beast that demands 100% attention at ALL times otherwise it will tear your head off
Question is:
For someone contemplating Cerb ownership, what advice would past/present Cerb owners give to make life as pain free (and heart attack free) as possible???????????????????
Ta
Scott
jagdpanther said:
You'll never have a heart attack moment if you remember one thing.
The throttle isn't digital.
Im not quite with ya?
i.e. you don't need to use full throttle everywhere. I can probably name most of the times i've pushed the throttle to the floor in 2 and a half years
My "100 yards sideways waiting to hit something solid " lesson, some three years ago, basically taught me to never have a heavy foot, on anything than a perfectly dry road.
To this day, in a race between my car & my Transit van to the local garage & back "in wet conditions", the van would win every time
To this day, in a race between my car & my Transit van to the local garage & back "in wet conditions", the van would win every time
Having come from RV8 TVR territory the thing I noticed about the Cerb is the way the engine revs fly up very quickly and bring with them massive amounts of torque very suddenly.
When driving my old Chimaera in the wet say, you'd have big torque instantly at 1000rpm and you'd have to take care not to lose the thing if you put your foot down.
In the Cerb you don't get that instant torque from nothing, but suddenly at about 2000ish I spose, the engine picks up and really gives it to you: enough to make it an issue even in good conditions. i think it could be very easy to put your foot down just a bit too much and then find you've bitten off more than you can chew. I guess the advice to give is not to get carried away and complacent when driving these machines.
>> Edited by big_treacle on Friday 26th May 15:22
When driving my old Chimaera in the wet say, you'd have big torque instantly at 1000rpm and you'd have to take care not to lose the thing if you put your foot down.
In the Cerb you don't get that instant torque from nothing, but suddenly at about 2000ish I spose, the engine picks up and really gives it to you: enough to make it an issue even in good conditions. i think it could be very easy to put your foot down just a bit too much and then find you've bitten off more than you can chew. I guess the advice to give is not to get carried away and complacent when driving these machines.
>> Edited by big_treacle on Friday 26th May 15:22
I suppose driving anything RWD with over 150bhp you have to take a little more care...my car isnt the most powerful in the world (188bhp) but I had a brown trouser moment on my way back from CITP. Completely lost the back end and was fast heading for a 15' drop into a field!! Luckily the weight of the car swung me the other way (afer opposite lock) and nearly span me 360 before it began to snake and level out.
Since talking with TVR owners (who seem to be calmer than Impreza drivers for example) I have realised that you should never get anywhere near the limit of your abilities or the cars for that matter especially on the public highways!!
Anyway back to Cerbs:
So oversteer is rapid and one needs to be on the ball all the time is one crucial pointer for a newbie then?!
>> Edited by jagdpanther on Friday 26th May 15:38
Since talking with TVR owners (who seem to be calmer than Impreza drivers for example) I have realised that you should never get anywhere near the limit of your abilities or the cars for that matter especially on the public highways!!
Anyway back to Cerbs:
So oversteer is rapid and one needs to be on the ball all the time is one crucial pointer for a newbie then?!
>> Edited by jagdpanther on Friday 26th May 15:38
jagdpanther said:
Anyway back to Cerbs:
So oversteer is rapid and one needs to be on the ball all the time is one crucial pointer for a newbie then?!
Oversteer can be rapid but they'll understeer happily enough as well - it's down to throttle control and steering angle. You need to be on the ball when making progress but a Cerb is very driveable in normal traffic too.
To paraphrase the manual: it a fast car so if things go wrong you'll need to react very quickly or it will get messy.
My advice would be to get some driver training and if you've come from a front wheel drive car, even a powerful one, get used to how different rear wheel drive can be.
I'd agree with what the other guys said. I got a Cerb after owning lots of fast RWD cars, but they were nothing like as quick as a Cerbera.
For a while I used to get a little bit despondent after reading posts here about people getting 400HP out of their cars. It left me thinking, am I just a slow driver that these guys are always talking about big HP and driving their cars at 7k revs everywhere? I just can't do that on the road.
Then I realised, just drive it how you want to, fast or slow, but be careful. I don't really look at the rev counter much now, I just drive. I find I can scream past 3 cars at once and not ever go over 5k revs. They are *that* fast.
Full throttle only really gets used on the track now
The odd open road blast through 3rd gear at full throttle still makes me shake with excitment/fear, even after 3 years
For a while I used to get a little bit despondent after reading posts here about people getting 400HP out of their cars. It left me thinking, am I just a slow driver that these guys are always talking about big HP and driving their cars at 7k revs everywhere? I just can't do that on the road.
Then I realised, just drive it how you want to, fast or slow, but be careful. I don't really look at the rev counter much now, I just drive. I find I can scream past 3 cars at once and not ever go over 5k revs. They are *that* fast.
Full throttle only really gets used on the track now
The odd open road blast through 3rd gear at full throttle still makes me shake with excitment/fear, even after 3 years
you should be ok upto about 2k revs, after that you need to really concentrate even in very good conditions
The day after i bought mine i was goin along a dual carrageway with a friend in his lotus at the side of me, both put the foot down(yeah i know it was daft) and the torque brought the back end out and about wrote off both cars....doh but i managed to correct it before anything happened, i came from driving an m3 so was used to driving rwd but the bmw was nothing compaired to the cerb the rear end come out much easier and quicker than the m3
The day after i bought mine i was goin along a dual carrageway with a friend in his lotus at the side of me, both put the foot down(yeah i know it was daft) and the torque brought the back end out and about wrote off both cars....doh but i managed to correct it before anything happened, i came from driving an m3 so was used to driving rwd but the bmw was nothing compaired to the cerb the rear end come out much easier and quicker than the m3
I find the Cerb realy good to control.
It does break loose at the back end pretty easy, but compared with other RWD cars i've driven I find it pretty easy to control once it does go.
All good fun!!
Sometimes it does catch you out at high revs in the wet though and gives you a bit of a scare!
I was accelerating this morning in 4th (not even at full throttle, and when it got to about 3 or 4k revs the back started to go at about 80mph!!
It does break loose at the back end pretty easy, but compared with other RWD cars i've driven I find it pretty easy to control once it does go.
All good fun!!
Sometimes it does catch you out at high revs in the wet though and gives you a bit of a scare!
I was accelerating this morning in 4th (not even at full throttle, and when it got to about 3 or 4k revs the back started to go at about 80mph!!
Best lesson i ever learned was on the test drive of my car--- slightly greasy offcamber road and i pushed the gas down halfway in 2nd,, backend violently flew out to the side, i lifted off and it snapped back and i smacked my head on the door, this was in rushhour traffic with a cyclist next to me, its probably the best thing that could have happened to me in hindsight, ive driven a diabalo and viper and allsorts and though i was being careful...lol
Things tend to happen very quicky at times in the Cerb, you cannot just get in it and think..`i`ll just give it some to that roundabout`--as before youve had the throttle down for more than a second, you are actually at the roudnabout and carrying far more speed than you thought you would be.
The only advice i would give with the Cerb is Squeeze the throttle, just a bit and see what it does--then squeeze some more, if everything is still looking good--then you might just be at halfway on the pedal...lol
oh and one more thing-- dont concentrate on looking at the speedo....
Things tend to happen very quicky at times in the Cerb, you cannot just get in it and think..`i`ll just give it some to that roundabout`--as before youve had the throttle down for more than a second, you are actually at the roudnabout and carrying far more speed than you thought you would be.
The only advice i would give with the Cerb is Squeeze the throttle, just a bit and see what it does--then squeeze some more, if everything is still looking good--then you might just be at halfway on the pedal...lol
oh and one more thing-- dont concentrate on looking at the speedo....
Two things:
1) The throttle goes both ways so if summat starts happening on heavy gas, feather it a bit and don't go from full on, to full off. I've never found a car so easy to move the tail around on AND recover.
2) The only unexpected bits happened when my rear Bridgestones were cold
. At these times they are like greased glass so be aware of the state of your tyres before you start pushing them.
Otherwise it's fun, fun, fun and Daddy can stick his T'bird up his a**e !
>> Edited by Mr.Cerbera on Friday 26th May 22:37
1) The throttle goes both ways so if summat starts happening on heavy gas, feather it a bit and don't go from full on, to full off. I've never found a car so easy to move the tail around on AND recover.
2) The only unexpected bits happened when my rear Bridgestones were cold
. At these times they are like greased glass so be aware of the state of your tyres before you start pushing them. Otherwise it's fun, fun, fun and Daddy can stick his T'bird up his a**e !
>> Edited by Mr.Cerbera on Friday 26th May 22:37
Mr.Cerbera said:
Two things:
1) The throttle goes both ways so if summat starts happening on heavy gas, feather it a bit and don't go from full on, to full off. I've never found a car so easy to move the tail around on AND recover.
2) The only unexpected bits happened when my rear Bridgestones were cold
Otherwise it's fun, fun, fun and Daddy can stick his T'bird up his a**e !
Top saying!!
Ive noticed the throttle feathering on mine with it being so big with typical luxobarge suspension if you lose it and jump off the throttle it tends to whip round
It seems like there is pretty much only one rule...dont get too lairy
kevin63 said:
Scot, if you make sure the tyres have plenty of tread as soon as you get it and that will help alot, you seemed fully switched on to me so i am sure you will be ok driving a Cerby, (but not mine) just start off very steady for the first few months.
Hahahahahaha
In all truth I dont think I dare take a fellow PHers Cerb out for a run just incase I make a hash of it....Its someone elses P&J and theres no way I could bring myself to take the keys away from them!!
When I first bought them Jagdpanther I would find an open stretch of road and have a lot of fun, but I dont do it now as Ive realised that any car deserves respect so when I finally do buy a Cerb....I will be pootling along for quite sometime before I even attempt to be half quick
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