Car almost bit my head off today

[Michael999]

I was in a bit of a hurry on my way home today, wasnt speeding, just pushing the car a bit more than usual and not cornering very slowly.
I got to a left hand turn at lights where afterwards the speed limit goes up.
I start to take the corner quickly as the light goes green and i start to take the corner, i see that there are no cars to my right so i decide ill give the car a bit a poke and see how much grip ive got.

I lose traction, go sideways, more, more, and then regained control and went on my way.. with a greatly increased heartbeat!

I spose i should have been expecting it, but im not used to a car with this amount of power behind it.
Gave me a good scare though!
Im just glad i didnt decide to try that when there were cars where i slid into..

[Ausmpower]

These cars have a 50/50 weight split front to rear.......... "nearly bit my head off"?

These cars are way too easy to control in power over steer...... 1/2 a turn of opposite lock, hold the power in and sit tail out for as long as you like........Try a Porsche and see how you fair...... Someone say PENDULUM??

[Yiorgos]

Wow, you must have given it heaps of stick for you to lose control. I try to push my car, and not once yet have I ever lost control of my car. Maybe I drive like a granny though, who knows.

[Michael999]

it was a 90o turn from stationary, i just wasnt expecting it to step out, and with a road island and a sign approaching the side of my car i was scared :P

ill have to have a play with the car on a clearer road sometime.

[rob101]

i thought this was going to be a thread about worn hood shocks and falling bonnets.
so glad i replaced mine :)

[Michael999]

LOL, well once i started my car with the bonet open, and it slammed down so hard it could have bit my head off :P

[Yiorgos]

Once I was tinkering under my bonnet and it was a windy day and the bonnet fell down with my head in it.

So you can say that it had literally bitten my head off :P

[Tiger]

I think you need to buy new tires.

[nixter]

Try a Porsche and see how you fair...... Someone say PENDULUM??

Actually that assumption is ancient history. I own a 1980 911 and it's easy and fun to control during oversteer. The problem you speak of is comes from a time when porsches had incredibly short wheels bases.

n

[filip00]

aaah....the beginning of drifting...i suggest you be very careful trying to boost your car sideways, because you can end up smashing several cars if you do it in the street.

for the beginners, i suggest waiting for the rain or snow even, and find an empty parking space and then practice, practice, practice. if somebody is interestingin learning drifting, i advise downloading "Drift Bible" by driver Keiichi Tsuchiya. there are lots of drfits shown tehre, how you initiate them and control drifts.

good start, take care ;)

[Macv]

oo oo, sounds like fun! ;)

[SnakeyesTx]

"This much power" o_O What did you drive before this, a Morris Minor? :D When I bought mine I told people "Well, this car is definitely at the limit of take-off and power that I would find acceptable" since I adopted the second of two ways of getting somewhere. You either get there first and risk breaking something, or you get there looking good :p

[Michael999]

My old car was a Volvo 1979 242GT.
When new it was 140bhp, it has since gained nearly 100kg from LPG tank, stereo, and a spare tire (not stock), On LPG it has lost considerable power.
It was really quite slow :P

The 535 however seems hugely powerful in comparison, and im still learning how the car behaves.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=P6000
Those are the current tyres on my 535, heaps of tred on them at the moment.

[CharlesAFerg]

LOL, well once i started my car with the bonet open, and it slammed down so hard it could have bit my head off :P

The trunk has attempted this multiple times... sneaky bugger.
It's a hungry beast. That can also be applied to the 3$ per gallon 15.6mpg...

[Mr Project]

It all depends on your frame of reference....I grew up driving first-gen RX-7s and rear-engined Corvairs. Often on gravel roads. Those are cars that will bite you! Allowing weight to transfer from the back to the front by lifting the throttle or touching the brakes while turning, at or past the edge of adhesion, usually resulted in the car trying very hard to leave the road tail-first. :)

The E34 with it's long wheelbase and lots of road-hugging weight ( :) ) is stupidly easy to control. I tried, sometimes pretty hard, and never could get very out-of-shape, even in the rain. It's just a car that you can bring waaay out and bring right back with very little drama. Great moves for a big cat.

[rob101]

Actually that assumption is ancient history. I own a 1980 911 and it's easy and fun to control during oversteer. The problem you speak of is comes from a time when porsches had incredibly short wheels bases.

n
i always thought they were a bit hard to gather up after lift off oversteer. but that is true some of the one of the 60s had ridiculously short wheel base.
PS about the corvair, their suspension was crap. but since it is an american car. you'd expect that:p
PPS michael don't lie we know you loved it;) i've done this a few times and gotten used to it. probably saved my life one night in the wet when a toyota echo i was drive decided to really "bite my head off" but i caught her.
having that happen in the bmw is not scary. in the echo: definitely scary.

[Mr Project]

PS about the corvair, their suspension was crap. but since it is an american car. you'd expect that:p

Well, it was the 1960's...hardly a pinnacle of American suspension engineering. :D But to be fair, if you study the suspension of the 'late model' 1965-69 Corvair, it's a pretty nice setup. IRS with trailing arms and an adjustable toe link plus and upper and lower control arms. The nice beefy axles on these cars also served as the upper control arm. Very adjustable, good camber movement through the travel, and simple execution made for a much better setup than the swing axle design that made the 'early' models infamous.

[nizmainiac]

i have to agree, it is stupidly easy to drive, you can ask it to do almost anything no matter what the weather and it just eats it up, i could almost compare it to my nissan pulsar gtir with 4wd and 280 bhp that was the same , whatever you threw at it , it took it and then some:)

[rob101]

Well, it was the 1960's...hardly a pinnacle of American suspension engineering. :D But to be fair, if you study the suspension of the 'late model' 1965-69 Corvair, it's a pretty nice setup. IRS with trailing arms and an adjustable toe link plus and upper and lower control arms. The nice beefy axles on these cars also served as the upper control arm. Very adjustable, good camber movement through the travel, and simple execution made for a much better setup than the swing axle design that made the 'early' models infamous.
thats right i thought they had swing axle rear suspension, weren't they the inspiration for "unsafe at any speed?"

[Ausmpower]

Actually that assumption is ancient history. I own a 1980 911 and it's easy and fun to control during oversteer. The problem you speak of is comes from a time when porsches had incredibly short wheels bases.

n

No not really....Ever driven a 911 turbo? or how about worked 996 twin turbo (2002)??

Yes the 996 4wd but don't let that fool ya! traction control off and 700 hp is NOT controlable in power oversteer........ Trust me.... 0-100 in 3.5 T/C on and 7 with T/c off......T/C on the traction control is power limiting hard all the way into 4th gear.

Even a Boxter S is a pos in the wet and Porsche quote a 50/50 weight split on those.

Your 911 was only 200 hp new, the Boxter S is 280......The stock 996 4x4 TT is over 400hp.

[Michael999]

Okay well it scared me since it was the first time ive seen my bmw lose traction at all, wet or dry!
Ive only been driving one year, so this is all very exciting :P

[Paul in NZ]

you must have given it a big footful.I find that the weight of the 535 plus 235 tyres,plus lsd,the rear end sticks like glue,even in the wet.You have to deliberately try to break it loose before it will.Make sure your tyre pressures are right

[Ausmpower]

I love driving in the wet......... All the drifto action you want without maxing out the tyres!!

Turn in.... Squeese on the power, pause let it come around a bit, 1/4 turn opposite lock and away you go! (note: NEVER in Traffic!!)

maybe BMW invented 'torque' drifting with the M30's.... no need to rev the crap out of it, 3000 rpm in second and feather the throttle around peak torque (4000)....

Does anybody else's LSD drive like a locker with the power on?

[filip00]

man i wish i had an LSD in my car...i could be drifting any way i want. without LSD you cannot make donuts and you sure can't make long drifts. one wheel has to eventually get up for a sec, get loose, spin all the way, while the other is stuck on the ground, without any power. open diffs suck ass :(

[Mass535Love]

I kinda did the same thing too.

It was a rainy day, I was at a full stop and I had to do a U-Turn at the light. I decided to have a little fun drifting around the corner. I get the green arrow, I check for traffic in the intersection ( there was plenty waiting for their lights, IE spectators ) and it was clear so I pull out, turn hard and give it gas. Well I did what I intended and then some. Before I know it I'm at 90deg and go to let off the gas so I can complete the 180. Well before I know it I'm going past 180 so I decide, well I might as well do a 540 now, so I stomp on the gas and now I'm facing the center of the intersection again, where I had started, kept going and voila was facing in the direction I wanted, 180deg only it ended up being 540deg. LOL I was so embarrassed as I drove off. It wasn't my intention of doing donuts in a busy intersection. Luckily I was smart enough to check that it was even safe enough to do this. I made sure I was the only car going through just incase I did screw up.

I drive my car in the winter so I do get to play around in parkinglots in the snow. Thought I could pull this off hahaha. Bet all the people waiting were like. "Oh My GOD! did you see that ass? He just did a donut in the intersection. Why isn't there ever a cop when THAT happens?" hehe

Heh and I complain about Massachussettes drivers.