Damn! Fun in the wet again!!

[AJI]

the clutch dip technique is not one I would reccommend to be honest.... the first reaction in a RWD car to control a skid is always the steering... followed quickly by progressive release of the throttle pedal.

To fire the clutch in will take all the power away from the rear which also takes away engine braking and can lead to the car becoming more unbalanced.

In an oversteer situation to keep a little power applied is always a good thing.... this ensures the weight is not forced to the front of the vehicle and the rear tyres still have an amount of weight acting over them (relatively speaking of course).

 

The Supra was advertised to have a 51/41 front to rear weight split. But I have always questioned this. To take moment diagrams about the rear and front axels I'm sure the front is much heavier than the rear when you consider the engine placement.

It always seems much easier to jack up the rear compared to the front also.

This is the main reason why supercars have engines in the middle.. in order to get the perfect weight balance.

 

The Supra is by no means a bad handling car in both wet and dry. You just have to drive it properly.... and by that I mean keep it balanced. The TT's especially have more power than the traction can handle in the wet and it all comes down to balancing the throttle input to the amount of traction you have available.

 

If you want to see what the Supra is capable of then I fully reccommend an airfield track day.... nothing to hit... you can go out onto the track and drive like a complete hoon. Always better to try things on a track than on a public road.

[martin_a]

The Supra was advertised to have a 51/41 front to rear weight split. But I have always questioned this. To take moment diagrams about the rear and front axels I'm sure the front is much heavier than the rear when you consider the engine placement.

It always seems much easier to jack up the rear compared to the front also...

 

...If you want to see what the Supra is capable of then I fully reccommend an airfield track day.... nothing to hit... you can go out onto the track and drive like a complete hoon. Always better to try things on a track than on a public road.

 

I assume that's 51/49? As you say with the length of the bonnet, even if the engine i placed towards the rear of the compartment i'd find this hard to believe.

 

The clutch bit was used with the other things you mentioned, particularly steering. This was a professional driving course so i can only go on what they were teaching us at Knockhill. The thought process being that sudden lift off and the huge amount of engine braking that can generate could be just as harmful as stamping on the brake.

 

Cars like the 205 GTi got no end of people in trouble with lift off oversteer so i guess they were trying to counter this.

 

The advice wasn't to dump the clutch just to press it slightly, keep some of the engine with you and allow a steady recovery rather than a violent "snap back" as the inexperienced end up sawing at the wheel and fish tailing off down the road.

 

Personally i thought it was a good technique with a bit of practise you could recover most slides, bring the clutch back up, get back on the accelerator and get the car around the corner.

 

m.

[AJI]

sorry, yeah that is supposed to be 51/49

[chilli]

ahhh actually the more I think about it, replaying it in my mind I think I tend to lift off on the throttle part way and try to steer into the slide enough to at least hold it and adjust the part throttle until it comes back inline. I don't totally dip the clutch or step off the gas.

 

I think I'm thinking of if it's gone past the point of no return, then it's clutch down and wait for it get back under control (i.e. working the wheel and brakes as best you can).

 

My clutch is kinda on/off anyway so it's either throttle control or disenguage the clutch altogether...

[Muffleman]

Ah hell, all I know is I pulled out of a junction on the way home this evening, snaked the back end up the road and drove off with a stupid grin on my face

 

Damp I like, its ice I'm NOT looking forward to

[AJI]

one thing I will admit is that the Supra is pants in the ice and snow ! those wide tyres do nothing when they can't touch the road surface.

I took mine out on the snow in the first year of ownership and even the smallest slides take ages and ages before the back end finds any amount of grip to pull it back in line.

 

Also what I forgot to say in the last post is that a big part of the traction and how it is applied to the road is done via the LSD. If you don't already have a LSD then this would be a great mod if you want to improve handling.

 

But I know what you mean about getting a RWD car to snake along the road I seem to be doing it on a daily basis !