Oversteer - your experiences?
Discussion
Hi all
I am interested in how many PH'ers are comfortable and confident with oversteer, if so where you learnt it, what in and how often you let the back end come out?
I’ve had my e46 M3 CS (my first proper performance car) for 6 months now and am really starting to get a feel for the car and have massively improved in every aspect of my driving getting smoother all the time. I’m really starting to get the itch for learning to oversteer. I blame the Chris Harris videos!
I can feel the car wants to do it, the handling is so sorted on the M3 and by all accounts its one of the best cars for the job.
I did a lot of karting when I was younger and am very comfortable with oversteer / drifting etc in a go-kart. I worked on a go-kart track for 3 years and we used to spend hours on wet days drifting around with inch perfect precision feeling like driving gods. However unsurprisingly doing it in my 1500kg+ 340bhp+ pride of joy that I saved for years to buy is proving a completely different ball game!
Recently I was lucky enough to attend VMAX which was very wet all day. Bruntingthorpe in the wet is very slippery and watching a number of drivers doing massive drifts round the corners was absolutely awesome. I refrained from trying it myself as it was my first time at VMAX and one of my main objectives was to not hit anything or make a complete cock of myself
I did however exit the bottom end on the last run at 70 – 80mph in third – really pushed it out of the corner and it did step out but I caught it and kept my foot in so I am confident I can do it.
So the other night (1am), obviously being July it was pouring with rain and I decided to try to have a go on a very large roundabout on the way home. DSC off, came onto the roundabout, after watching Harris’s absolutely brilliant ‘How to drift’ video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2Vt3ybz0t0 that I was too progressive on the throttle so when it did step out I was going too fast then I did the classic lift off and just made a bit of a mess of it to be honest! Despite being a very big deserted roundabout I was alarmed at how quick those dreaded curbs came up as well. I’m not sure my super grippy Michelin Super Sports help either.
The Car Limits tuition looks like the perfect solution; the only problem is I live down in Cornwall and its bloody miles away
So as per start of post just interested to hear other people’s experiences:
Are you comfortable and confident with oversteer?
If so where did you learn it and what in?
How often you let the back end come out?
Really just to get a feel for how hard it is and am I the only numpty who isn’t comfortable with it yet.
Thanks a lot
James
I am interested in how many PH'ers are comfortable and confident with oversteer, if so where you learnt it, what in and how often you let the back end come out?
I’ve had my e46 M3 CS (my first proper performance car) for 6 months now and am really starting to get a feel for the car and have massively improved in every aspect of my driving getting smoother all the time. I’m really starting to get the itch for learning to oversteer. I blame the Chris Harris videos!
I can feel the car wants to do it, the handling is so sorted on the M3 and by all accounts its one of the best cars for the job.I did a lot of karting when I was younger and am very comfortable with oversteer / drifting etc in a go-kart. I worked on a go-kart track for 3 years and we used to spend hours on wet days drifting around with inch perfect precision feeling like driving gods. However unsurprisingly doing it in my 1500kg+ 340bhp+ pride of joy that I saved for years to buy is proving a completely different ball game!
Recently I was lucky enough to attend VMAX which was very wet all day. Bruntingthorpe in the wet is very slippery and watching a number of drivers doing massive drifts round the corners was absolutely awesome. I refrained from trying it myself as it was my first time at VMAX and one of my main objectives was to not hit anything or make a complete cock of myself
I did however exit the bottom end on the last run at 70 – 80mph in third – really pushed it out of the corner and it did step out but I caught it and kept my foot in so I am confident I can do it.So the other night (1am), obviously being July it was pouring with rain and I decided to try to have a go on a very large roundabout on the way home. DSC off, came onto the roundabout, after watching Harris’s absolutely brilliant ‘How to drift’ video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2Vt3ybz0t0 that I was too progressive on the throttle so when it did step out I was going too fast then I did the classic lift off and just made a bit of a mess of it to be honest! Despite being a very big deserted roundabout I was alarmed at how quick those dreaded curbs came up as well. I’m not sure my super grippy Michelin Super Sports help either.
The Car Limits tuition looks like the perfect solution; the only problem is I live down in Cornwall and its bloody miles away
So as per start of post just interested to hear other people’s experiences:
Are you comfortable and confident with oversteer?
If so where did you learn it and what in?
How often you let the back end come out?
Really just to get a feel for how hard it is and am I the only numpty who isn’t comfortable with it yet.
Thanks a lot
James
For once, the answer to a PH thread is: MX5!
I've had RWD cars for years, they make up the majority of my car ownership, however some of them would be plain nasty to "steer from the rear": my current Merc and my 735i for example.
I really got to grips with oversteer in my wife's MK2.5 MX5. The nice thing about such a car was that it squirreled around at low speeds, and only really when you tried. Driving it in very heavy snow and ice was quite an experience. I remember teaching my wife how to control oversteer in it during such an occasion, guiding the car gently, not doing anything sudden etc. and we both came to really enjoy investigating how the car would respond.
As a result, I'd strongly recommend learning in a safe, low-grip environment like a skid pan. The speeds are cut right down and you're very unlikely to come an expensive cropper.
I've had RWD cars for years, they make up the majority of my car ownership, however some of them would be plain nasty to "steer from the rear": my current Merc and my 735i for example.
I really got to grips with oversteer in my wife's MK2.5 MX5. The nice thing about such a car was that it squirreled around at low speeds, and only really when you tried. Driving it in very heavy snow and ice was quite an experience. I remember teaching my wife how to control oversteer in it during such an occasion, guiding the car gently, not doing anything sudden etc. and we both came to really enjoy investigating how the car would respond.
As a result, I'd strongly recommend learning in a safe, low-grip environment like a skid pan. The speeds are cut right down and you're very unlikely to come an expensive cropper.
My first cars were a series Land Rover (so RWD most of the time and X-Ply tyres) and a Volvo 340. I got used to oversteer as soon as I started driving.
I quite deliberately bought a Vauxhall Omega 2.5 V6 a few years ago because it was RWD and once the TC was turned off, it was great fun to drift around roundabouts.
A selection of Subaru Imprezas I've had have understeered terribly unless provoked into oversteer, in which case they've given great easily controllable drifts. Huge fun actually.
I now have a triumph Spitfire, so I'm still used to oversteer (usually at inopportune moments!).
I love oversteer. It's just great fun, although in my youth I did learn that sideways around a roundabout in front of the BiB wasn't my finest idea...
I quite deliberately bought a Vauxhall Omega 2.5 V6 a few years ago because it was RWD and once the TC was turned off, it was great fun to drift around roundabouts.
A selection of Subaru Imprezas I've had have understeered terribly unless provoked into oversteer, in which case they've given great easily controllable drifts. Huge fun actually.
I now have a triumph Spitfire, so I'm still used to oversteer (usually at inopportune moments!).
I love oversteer. It's just great fun, although in my youth I did learn that sideways around a roundabout in front of the BiB wasn't my finest idea...
When I first got my Sierra, (after my fiesta and escort), I had my first "Whoa! WTF) moment. After that I played in the snow, and generally always had some fun at least with my red cars after that, to varying degrees, from Driving God, to Oh my f
king titty Christ, that was close to the bloody ditch!
king titty Christ, that was close to the bloody ditch! The trouble with oversteer is that it is really addictive. Like you, I used to kart a lot - Rotax Max, and I bought a Caterham as it was the nearest thing I could get to a kart on the road when I had finished racing.
The 7 is brilliant at oversteering, and it is really predictable if set up well.
Here are some pictures from a blat the other weekend through Cheddar Gorge
and the big one.......
Yeah - I like a dab of oppo !
The 7 is brilliant at oversteering, and it is really predictable if set up well.
Here are some pictures from a blat the other weekend through Cheddar Gorge
and the big one.......
Yeah - I like a dab of oppo !
AnnuityAdviser said:
Tried it earlier in a Zafira cdti 150, in the wet. Result - Horrific understeer due to heavy diesel powerplant and ample torque
Isn't that Front wheel drive?OP - I'm fairly comfortable with it on track, but don't really indulge on road.
I've had oversteer moments, but there's too many variables on road to make me feel comfortable with it. It's that difference between a little slide, and that snap of oversteer which could be catchable on a track and just take you a little off line, and that same snap which on a road could be into a kerb, or into another lane.
I will say that as I've gained a little experience with the car on track, oversteer on the road does worry me less than it used to.
For me it was in my old s14 200sx that gave me my experience, i started in the wet in a deserted car park & as i got used to sliding it i would do it in the dry aswell but thats heavy on the clutch & tyres.
I enjoyed sliding it around alot & an organic clutch only lasted me 8 months! i can only slide it out of junctions & i like alot of space because it can go wrong but i never hit anything in four years, i am a complete novice though i only slide it in first & second gear, i would love to master it at high speed.
In my cerb if the backend slides out i naturally dial in opposite lock, but i respect the cerb more as it bites harder & its a handful in the wet, in my 200 i would slide it everyday, its all very childish but i love the feel of a rwd car wagging it tail.
I enjoyed sliding it around alot & an organic clutch only lasted me 8 months! i can only slide it out of junctions & i like alot of space because it can go wrong but i never hit anything in four years, i am a complete novice though i only slide it in first & second gear, i would love to master it at high speed.
In my cerb if the backend slides out i naturally dial in opposite lock, but i respect the cerb more as it bites harder & its a handful in the wet, in my 200 i would slide it everyday, its all very childish but i love the feel of a rwd car wagging it tail.
cerb4.5lee said:
For me it was in my old s14 200sx that gave me my experience, i started in the wet in a deserted car park & as i got used to sliding it i would do it in the dry aswell but thats heavy on the clutch & tyres.
I enjoyed sliding it around alot & an organic clutch only lasted me 8 months! i can only slide it out of junctions & i like alot of space because it can go wrong but i never hit anything in four years, i am a complete novice though i only slide it in first & second gear, i would love to master it at high speed.
In my cerb if the backend slides out i naturally dial in opposite lock, but i respect the cerb more as it bites harder & its a handful in the wet, in my 200 i would slide it everyday, its all very childish but i love the feel of a rwd car wagging it tail.
Had a manual s14a, one of the slipperiest cars in the wet ive driven on boost. Pita when youre just trying to make progress tho.I enjoyed sliding it around alot & an organic clutch only lasted me 8 months! i can only slide it out of junctions & i like alot of space because it can go wrong but i never hit anything in four years, i am a complete novice though i only slide it in first & second gear, i would love to master it at high speed.
In my cerb if the backend slides out i naturally dial in opposite lock, but i respect the cerb more as it bites harder & its a handful in the wet, in my 200 i would slide it everyday, its all very childish but i love the feel of a rwd car wagging it tail.
Got the back out in my E34 whilst driving like a dhead trying to show off to a bird in a Rover 200 (Joys of youth eh).
Scared the st out of me (and her), managed to keep it together and felt like a smug bd for the rest of the day. Looking back im surprised i wasn't having the car dragged out of a ditch.
Think i need more practice
head trying to show off to a bird in a Rover 200 (Joys of youth eh).Scared the s
t out of me (and her), managed to keep it together and felt like a smug bd for the rest of the day. Looking back im surprised i wasn't having the car dragged out of a ditch.Think i need more practice
VinceFox said:
Had a manual s14a, one of the slipperiest cars in the wet ive driven on boost. Pita when youre just trying to make progress tho.
They are a little bit tricky to judge when the boost comes in, but it was a great tool for having some fun in, still my fave car that i have owned!I Used to have fun in my mates rwd saff cossie aswell but i did clip the kerb once in his, he wasnt happy!!
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