Tips for a very soon to be RX-7 (3rd Gen) driver

[chrisBoid]

Hi all,

as I will be driving my RX-7 very, very soon, I was wondering if anyone had some useful tips or advice to keep me from wrapping myself around the closest tree (aside from driving carefully mind...)

thanks

Chris.

[davefrith]

my 2 p

Be careful on wet roundabouts!

Be Careful on roads

Be careful all the time

No, its fine really, easy to get used to, make sure you have decent tyres is essential

Dave

[<--rYaN-->]

i wouldnt take it out in the wet until your 100% used to it, its easy enough to lose traction in the dry!

[JayDee]

I think these cars get a hard time about their handling.
As long as everything is in good condition/good quality eg. tyres, suspension, alingment etc you have a great handling car, BUT it must be treated with respect, ie don\'t just floor it mid corner, or brake and keep your imputs as smooth as possible and you will love it.
I was out in a highly modified RX with ohlins suspension, uprated diff, big wheels tyres etc and the speeds this thing corners at is unreal but the best part was how neutral it was and how it could be controlled by just the accelerator.

Jason

[Andyp]

my tip would be to come and see me as I wanna see ya car

[Matt]

I had mine for 3 weeks and it spun off a round about at 30mph! in the rain, i didnt think it would spin out so easy, but my rear tyres were quite worn.

[johnf]

Depends on whether you\'ve driven rear wheel drive before.

The only thing I would suggest is that you show the car the respect it demands.

[hillery69]

Thats true got mine out sideways in the rain a few times when I first got it. The RX is such a good drivers car you just have to get used to it!

[AL3X]

I\'ve only had mine since saturday and last night I had to change my pants when i got home from work!! It was hammering down with rain here and as i went to exit a round-a-bout at about 30mph i slung it sideways bigtime, i managed to get it back but it scared the absolute crap out of me. I don\'t know how careful you guys are but i was driving like a granny on a sunday as i\'d read all the stuff on here about being careful in the wet and i still lost it, plus the tyres on the back are 265\'s and deep tread. Still its good to get the adrenaline pumping aint it!! The guy in the car with me thought it was great fun till he turned to see i\'d been replaced with a ghost that looked similar to the geeza that was sitting behind the wheel 2minutes ago! He then quickly realised i hadnt meant to do it, and held on tightly for the rest of the journey!!

[Matt]

the same thing happened to me but i spun and crashed. how did u manage to get out of the spin?
was you accelerating in 2nd gear.
People have told me to glide it round the bend rather than give it some throttle

[AL3X]

As soon as it started to slide i eased off the throttle and gave it reverse lock as it started to to straighten up i brought the wheels back straight so it didnt start snaking the other way. I think all the practise of driving sideways in the snow payed off!! All my eyes where fixed on was the island in the middle of the road with a bloody great bollard in the middle of it, if i\'d hit that I would have caused some serious damage. The curb alone would have trashed it as i\'ve only got about 5inch ground clearence underneath.

Sorry to hear you crashed yours i will definately be rolling round them from now on.

[Big Ads]

Diferrence between front wheel drive and rear, Front wheel drive you can get away with flooring round corners because the wheels are "pulling" round the corned and are also steering you, rearwheel drive you are being "pushed" in a straight line (unless you got 4 wheel steer)so the car will go into a spin if you try to push too hard, best way to corner in a rear wheel is to be at the speed you want to be at before you enter the corner, keep it level going round and then floor it as you straighten the car out (after the apex on the corner and when the car starts to feel balanced again), especially when you\'ve got 280 horses trying to turn those wheels.....

feel free to correct my driving skills if I\'m wrong (I still drive a front wheel drive car)

To get it out of a spin give it opposite lock from the way you are spinning, do not hit the brakes or accelerator until you are going straight again....

[Matt]

thanks, i paniced when it happened and didnt know what to do it started to snake then it just spun and i braked and hit the kerb damaging my bumper very badlry but lucky not the intercooler.
cheers for the help

[J4P RX]

keep it level going round and then floor it as you straighten the car out

Definatly dont floor it.  Apply the throttle gently untill you know what its doing.  Even a bit of semi throttle in 2nd a couple of nights ago was enough to get the back sideways taking a very shallow line.

Be careful in the wet, mine wheelspins in 3rd in a straight line

For those looking for some practice it might be a good idea to go along to the next Option Drift Club practice day.  Its not on again for a while now though but are held near silverstone.  Obviously the idea there is induced oversteer around a course but its a good way of getting to know what the car will do, how much it takes to let go and control it.  I will post up some details for the next one nearer the time.

Cheers
Lee

[bnaellis]

The wider the tyre the easier it aquaplanes in the wet. In  general jap tyres are awful in the wet compared to UK ones.

rgds