Almost wrecked my Esprit

[cschriks]

Yesterday It was raining a little and at some point I took a right turn on the freeway. Halfway through the corner I accelerated the car to about 40mph. 5 seconds later the car had turned more than 180 degree now facing the cars behind me. Has anybody had a similar experience? What exactly happend and what can I do to prevent the car from breaking out? It was a scary moment!

[Vulcan Grey]

Yesterday It was raining a little and at some point I took a right turn on the freeway. Halfway through the corner I accelerated the car to about 40mph. 5 seconds later the car had turned more than 180 degree now facing the cars behind me. Has anybody had a similar experience? What exactly happend and what can I do to prevent the car from breaking out? It was a scary moment!

Keep good tires in the rear! Most important.

No sudden wieght or power transfers in the wet!

When you accelerate or brake while turning you have to transfer the weight from one side to the other smoothly. The Esprit has all of its mass in the center (none in the front) and therefore we say it has a low polar moment of inertia. That means that when it spins, it spins faster than a front engined/rear drive car or a front engined front drive car.

Brake in a straight line up to the turn, brake progressively, don't suddenly hit the brakes hard in the wet (or ever) because you'll transfer all the weight of the car to the front. This unloads the rear, making it very light, and reducing the balance of grip in the rear. Since all the grip is now in the front, where the weight is, the rear tires will try to slide past the fronts (causing a spin).

When accelerating, do it smoothly and make sure that the weight has had a chance to move from the front of the car to the rear. That way you have the most traction for putting the power to the ground. But with wide tires, and a light car, and a sudden rush of power due to the turbo, it is easy to overcome the grip (pressure loading over the contact area of the tire) in the already slick rain.

If you read above, you should understand that wide tires have less grip in the rain and snow.

Something to remember for the dry: The Esprit has no weight in the front, so to get a good turn in response you have to transfer more weight than normal to the front of the car. That means a quicker harder stab at the brake will help you turn faster. However too quick and too hard will upset the balance and cause a spin...

[fflyingdog]

Very well put.......... through bitter experience? ....................Me too

[DBredS4]

ditto all before.

Also bear in mind the tyres have stiff sidewalls and they don't 'squash' very much when cornering.

Most saloon cars have fat, floppy bendy sidewalled, tyres that will 'give' as you turn thus giving you a feelling of the work they are doing. The Esprit tyres have no 'give' really and rely on warm and dry tarmac to perform. In this case the lateral 'G' will allow you to feel the tyres give but at speeds you wouldn't dare in the wet.

Therefor they will give up there grip in an instant in cool and wet conditions.

Also, the turbo'd cars particularly the SE/S4/S4s have a bit of turbo lag in 2nd gear. You were in 2nd gear, weren't you? Well, it is the same old story 'I was in 2nd gear coming round a corner in the wet.....' unfortunately. all that boost and torque in a short space of time.

Drive her like Miss Daisy in cold and especially wet conditions and you should be fine. Keep her below big boost levels (especially in 2nd) and don't be tempted to give a little bit of 'GO'

OK, I know its no fun!!! But you will get from A to B which is the aim of the game.

Cheers and take care

Dom

Edited December 6, 2005 by DBredS4

[slade]

that happened to me once. Nearly died. forget about the car.

I drive VERY carefully in the rain in my Esprit. More careful than my grandma, but she ain't too careful

slade

[Vulcan Grey]

I've only spun the Lotus twice... both times in the rain/snow.... both times on the racetrack.

Here's a couple of pics from one of those times

The pictures don't show it but it was freezing cold that day, partial sleet. And there was standing water in every braking zone and through every turn.

I had just bought the car, a few months before, learned how to drive a manual transmission in the Lotus too. And at this point I didn't even know how to heel-and-toe yet. The car was new to me and had completely bald rear tires, and ok fronts (talk about a difference in grip balance). I spun entering a corner called Kamikazee (ka

[Guest teigan]

i hear this story over and over. it's somehow never happened to me, and i drive like gene kelly when it rains. last rainstorm, i went to an empty parking lot and tried to do some controlled slides. i got the car to skate, but the spin was under control. maybe we should all practice spinning on purpose, because i'm guessing panic is part of the problem.

[molemot]

Sliding cars about is an art to be learned and practised off the highway. Having said that, the first time I got a car to slide was an MG TC in 1967 driving up Sheen Lane towards Richmond Park! I enjoyed it so much I went back for another go. Then decided it needed some finesse so spent a fair time sliding about a muddy field. Alfa Romeo Bertone GTVs slide beatifully, too; very controllable. Esprits are like Esther Williams : Dangerous when Wet! You need a very light foot; after you've survived the first attempts, it gets slightly easier. In the dry it clings on For Ever, but when it does let go, it takes a maestro (and not an Austin one) to stay out of the scenery.

[Jonathan]

Same thing - too much power slippery road - Loss of traction usually sideways.

Best remedy is to really feather the throttle or keep it constant (even deceleration can upset the balance and weight on the back wheels as the CG moves forwards).

This proves most accidents are an act of consiquence - I thank Chapman that your car and MOST importantly YOU are OK and it was only a scare (and a good scare) some people have this happen in a less fortunate set of circumstances !

Anyways, I recomend a tutor day which is my next thing on the Esprit.....so many of the advanced police drovers I work with say a skid pan day can improve your ability to control the car immeasurable - its the skill to correct when something goes wrong automatically and not have to think...

Ensure the car is well maintained tyre wise and avoid the rain if you can - if you can't drive the car like its not a supercar anymore.

[lince]

Always remember to be very gentle on the power even when it

[Toua]

I drift my car in the snow everyday now since its been snowing. Ill post some of my pics of me in my civic drifting sideways!