How do you tackle a good road?

  • Thread starter savage388
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savage388

savage388

1,701
United States
Johnstown PA
SAVAGE_388_
It seems im always hearing about people bombing mountain roads and such and ive tried it a few times but for me I just cant grasp it. Ive taken my parent little Suzuki and always had a ton of fun. With my car though it's just boring, I cant feel the behavior of the car at all, it just turns and sticks. How hard is it normal to push the car on when driving for fun? 6/10ths? 7/10ths? I do know the limits on the car are way higher than I'd like but the grip to power ratio seems appropriate now.
 
Mountain roads ? I usually tackel them by sticking to the speed limits to prevent flying off the edge... and I don't cut blind corners.
 
To remind everyone, we cannot discuss speeding or racing, per the AUP.

I suggest finding the most controlled environment available to see how and when your tires let go. I've found a rainy day is a pretty good way to discover your car's handling manners while sparing rubber (and reducing your velocity)...though grip is obviously different! For a RWD car -- you drive the Camaro in your avatar? -- it's especially important to familiarize yourself with how your car reacts to wheelspin considering the variables involved, including differential type (open/LSD). One of the last mistakes you'd want to make is overcorrecting for "peg-leg" wheelspin that wasn't really going to develop into a slide.

IMHO, exceeding the limits is the best way to understand them. As you become comfortable with what the car does when it misbehaves, you'll feel more confident pushing it a bit. Just be (relatively) smart about it. :)
 
Wolfe
To remind everyone, we cannot discuss speeding or racing, per the AUP.

I suggest finding the most controlled environment available to see how and when your tires let go. I've found a rainy day is a pretty good way to discover your car's handling manners while sparing rubber (and reducing your velocity)...though grip is obviously different! For a RWD car -- you drive the Camaro in your avatar? -- it's especially important to familiarize yourself with how your car reacts to wheelspin considering the variables involved, including differential type (open/LSD). One of the last mistakes you'd want to make is overcorrecting for "peg-leg" wheelspin that wasn't really going to develop into a slide.

IMHO, exceeding the limits is the best way to understand them. As you become comfortable with what the car does when it misbehaves, you'll feel more confident pushing it a bit. Just be (relatively) smart about it. :)
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Im aware of our aup, but that's actually part of my topic, with the little four banger I could basically give it all it had heel toeing and going full throttle as much as I could without ever exceeding the 65 mph limit around here. With my camaro a similar pace would be stupid and reckless, it scares me a little how high the limit is to be honest. Is that normal? It's got an lsd and 275 mm Goodyear eagle f1s all around if that gives a little perspective.
I do enjoy the rain quite a bit and have gotten familiar with the back stepping out to the point it's all muscle memory, so that's covered. I do just want to drive for fun again, it's the whole point of having the car I do.
 
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savage388
Im aware of our aup, but that's actually part of my topic, with the little four banger I could basically give it all it had heel toeing and going full throttle as much as I could without ever exceeding the 65 mph limit around here. With my camaro a similar pace would be stupid and reckless, it scares me a little how high the limit is to be honest. Is that normal? It's got an lsd and 275 mm Goodyear eagle f1s all around if that gives a little perspective.
I do enjoy the rain quite a bit and have gotten familiar with the back stepping out to the point it's all muscle memory, so that's covered. I do just want to drive for fun again, it's the whole point of having the car I do.
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Not leaving enough grip to react to something unexpected is still illegal.

But, if you're in a safe environment then it's quite easy to test the grip if the car.

If you go through a turn and it doesn't do anything, then the next time go through faster.
Eventually it'll start to slide the tires.

It's not an Elise, even with sticky tires it'll let go.;)
 
True the grip has to go away somewhere, I think I get the idea of what your guys are saying, I was just wondering if I was missing idea of finding a good driving road completely and was too focused on the car and not the road.
 
I tackle them in a very disappointed and bored manner, because every curvy piece of road here has the speed limit set at about 2 inches an hour. I rewatched the most recent TG special set here, got to the part where they talked about stupid American speed limits, and thouhgt "I know that feel bro".

Speaking of, their editing the video so the speedometers said 55MPH all the time kind of reminds me of this site, now that I think about it. I don't usually speed that much (see sig for reason) but compared to other car forums I've been on, our policy on discussion of speeding & street racing is somewhat... draconian.
 
White & Nerdy
I tackle them in a very disappointed and bored manner, because every curvy piece of road here has the speed limit set at about 2 inches an hour. I rewatched the most recent TG special set here, got to the part where they talked about stupid American speed limits, and thouhgt "I know that feel bro".

Speaking of, their editing the video so the speedometers said 55MPH all the time kind of reminds me of this site, now that I think about it. I don't usually speed that much (see sig for reason) but compared to other car forums I've been on, our policy on discussion of speeding & street racing is somewhat... draconian.
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It's there for good reason though, this is a very large global forum and as such things vary between country to country so it falls under the blanket of keep it legal to be safe.
 
I found some roads down south this past week where you could legally push your car pretty well. The one known as the Devil's Triangle had a speed limit of 45mph which was more than enough to have fun, I've never seen so much 180 degree, off-camber, switch backs before, but it was a ton of fun without ever breaking any laws.

But what I do when presented with a nice road is think about how hard I can legally and safely push the car, then dial it down by two or three clicks so it's well within reason. You should always err on the side of caution with twisty roads, you'll be way less likely to have a massive accident.
 
What Joey said.

Alternatively, try to remember a few nice sections then recreate them with cones in an empty lot somewhere.
 
I like how the thread is angling for some sort of illegal-y stories of entertaining hijinks; but by definition of being a thread on GTP the most you can say is "I have the most fun following ALL THE RULES! :)"
 

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