Safer Driving Tips - **PLEASE READ**

The key to getting the best from your car is being smooth and balanced.

You have to boss the car, not the other way round.

Your inputs, whether it be steering, accelerating or braking should be smooth, progressive and balanced including your gearchanges if you are driving a manual.

Drive to the conditions and to your abilities. The trap with this car, is that it can make you feel like a driving god, when you are infact a mere mortal, because it's so easy to drive fast.

Think of places on the road where there are likely to be areas of reduced grip. Roundabouts, exits to petrol stations, shaded areas on the road from trees (microclimates) manhole covers, overbraiding, expansion joints on bridges, the bridge themselves, especially on motorways as they tend to freeze much more easily as there is no ground insulation, concrete road surfaces,white lines etc.

If you see standing water at speed (like on a motorway) then there's a chance you may aquaplane. This is where the tyre can no longer disperse the amount of water its being asked to and a layer of water builds up between the tyre and the road surface, and you literally "plane" ontop. If this hapens then come off the gas and hold your wheel tight and try and keep you car in a straight line.

Take time to allow your tyres and brakes get up to operating temperatures. When on long runs on the motorways (especially in the rain) be aware that when leaving the motorway on the deceleration lane, your brakes might not be as efficient if you haven't used them in a while, so allow extra time for stopping. Brake progressively, ie apply a small amount of pressure to get them to start biting, then increase the pressure for good solid progressive braking and as you come to a stop, ease off.

Cornering. Always follow the rules that you should be able to stop in the distance you can see on your own side of the road. If you are on a narrow or single track road, then half that distance.

Make sure that you enter the corner at the correct speed, ie have all your braking done before entering the corner and

d r i v e through the corner, on a balanced throttle.

A good guide for speed is your limit point or vanishing point. This is the point in the distance where the two sides of the road meet and you can't see any further. As you approach the bend, the limit point will usually be coming towards you, so you need to slow down until it is at a constant. As the bend opens up, so can your throttle, but do so progressivley and smoothly. Floor it (especially in an auto) and you could easily find yourself backwards in a ditch. If you are taking a left hand bend, then position your car out towards the offside of your lane. If taking a right hand bend, position yourself towards the nearside of your lane. It helps give just that little bit of extra vision through the bend. Also think about looking laterally (to your sides). Look at telegraph poles, they usually follow the path of a road. Try and anticipate where the road is going, and plan and give yourself enough time to react to a hazard.

Try and have your wheels straight before giving it some proper beans.If you find yourself barreling into a corner too fast, try and get as much braking done before turn in, and then give the car some gas. This makes the back end sit down giving grip to the rear and steering to the front. If you brake, then you'll plough straight on as your front tyres will be having too much asked of them and understeer straight on into the only solid object you can see.

When overtaking, be aware that when moving out, you may lose traction going over the centre white lines in the road.

So instead of flooring it and then moving out, position yourself behind the car infront at a sufficient distance so that you can see infront,check your mirror, then move out into the oncoming lane to see clearly infront. Have a good look for junctions and other hazards ahead, check and see if there is a stop over gap infront of the car you're about to pass if it's safe to go, then go, if not come back in.

An auto will *not* suddenly kickdown. It will only kickdown if you ask the car to. Find a piece of flat road and experiment to find the kickdown point with your car, get a feel for it. In autos, MANU mode is good to use although it will (in a TT) still kickdown but you have to floor it to the kickdown switch to acheive this.

In a TT, be aware of your no1/no2 transition point. This is usually ~3600rpm-4000rpm and if you are mid bend then you may find yourself in trouble, especially if you are BPU. The transition from 0.7bar to 1.2 bar can be full on.

Skids are in 9 cases out of 10 caused by the driver, going too fast for the conditions, or asking too much of the tyres. Braking too hard, or cornering too hard will cause a skid, and so can fluid such as deisel or ice also cause a loss of traction. If you find yourself in a skid, steer into it and come off the gas slightly (not completely) otherwise you may suddenly find grip and go into a pendulum and swing your back end back and forth. Hard to get back under control if that happens.

The use of traction control can be debated for years and years, and many members seek to either drive with it off, or fit an aftermarket system such as RLTC. My opinion is, that TC is there for a reason, otherwise MR T wouldn't have spent the money that they did on developing the system. Yes it is crude and can (on occasions) be too intrusive, bit it's also a guide that perhaps you've overcooked it and need to slow down. I drive with mine ON except at a junction where I might need a bit of power to pull out. I have experienced, first hand the over intrusiveness of the stock TC at junctions, and IMO it can on occasion intervene to the point of being dangerous; for example at a junction on a hill turning right but at all other times, I drive with it on.

For those members with NA's that don't have ABS fitted, then you might find on occasion that you need to steer whilst braking heavily to avoid a hazard and you'll find your wheels lock up. Cadence braking may help, but it does take alot of practice to acheive. Cadence braking is the practice of releasng your brakes on and off during a front wheel lock up. You brake, your wheels lock and you skid. On a wet road this is the worst thing tht can happen to you especially if there is a hazard in front. By releasing your brakes for perhaps half a second and steering then braking again, then releasing etc etc might just help you avoid hitting that hazard. As I've said it takes lots of practice, and it's hard to convince your brain to release the brakes when you want to stop.

Mostly, it's down to common sense. You can't drive these cars flat stick everywhere, but there is no reason why you can't enjoy your car during the winter months, just respect the car and the conditions.

NB: This isn't a definitive guide, but examples of how you can, with a bit of practice and care, get more from your car, safely and I would recommend using these tips, whatever the conditions. Be safe.

good read! A couple of things I would have overlooked!

I'm thinking of getting in a skid pan day too to get in some practice!

Good Write up

Limit / vanishing points are good to learn. Easy to scare passengers round the twistys. Nice write up.

Good post Doug

Thanks dad.

I think I was aware of most of that, but it's a useful reminder Doug

- One question though - what's "overbraiding"??

It's the strips that they sometimes use between a repair and the road. It's like a rubber/tar mix that is poured in lines to seal the repair. Slippery when wet and a bikers nightmare.

Good read and timely reminder too. Thanks Doug.

Excellent post Doug & very well said.

Now with days getting very much colder & icy night's + mornings take much extra care arriving to your destination a little later rather than earlier is much better take care all & drive safe & let there be no more Supra road incidents throughout this cold time of the year.

It's the strips that they sometimes use between a repair and the road. It's like a rubber/tar mix that is poured in lines to seal the repair. Slippery when wet and a bikers nightmare.

Ah that stuff. I didn't realise that it was anything other than tar. Cheers Doug

Can we sticky this please? I haven't logged on in a couple of days and I would have missed it if I wasn't bored at work... this needs to get as many eyeballs as possible IMHO - took the supra out last night and it was a bloody nightmare

It's already stickied.

Good read - well done that man:thumbs:

Excellent write up - thanks.

Some i knew & some i didnt.

With the TC thing i would just say be consistent i.e drive with it off all the time or on all the time unless you can stick to strict rules like Doug does (Off at a junction). I prefer off as i have got use to how the car will react with it off & had experienced a scary power cut pulling onto a dual carrigaeway with it on.

Take my advice. Like me, put your TT in the garage until next April.

Excellent write up - thanks.

 

Some i knew & some i didnt.

 

With the TC thing i would just say be consistent i.e drive with it off all the time or on all the time unless you can stick to strict rules like Doug does (Off at a junction). I prefer off as i have got use to how the car will react with it off & had experienced a scary power cut pulling onto a dual carrigaeway with it on.

Did it to me once, that was it, haven't turned it back on again for 4 years since. Give it the respect it deserves and you will be fine. Putting it away for winter, unless you really can't afford to keep it on the raod, is criminal.

Useful read Doug

thanks

Lx

Good post. And i really am a driving god. Dont ruin it all by telling me its the car and not my skills.

Good read,As i have had to use oposite lock twice pulling out of junctions this week . thanks Dug

Really good and if I may say so *caring* tips. thank you Class one.

Good shout Doug, its that time of year where we start loosing them. I hope all accident dont result in anything more serious than a bit of busted metal.

its a very good write up,unfortunatley the driver of an old jag had not read it

prior to crashing into the rear of my mondeo and wrote it off.Thank god it wasn't the

supra.

good point...cheers...

Good Read. Cheers for that Doug I've seen lots of bad crashes this past few weeks. I'm gonna take it easy & hope i don't get caught out...