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Showing results for tags 'Handling'.
Found 2 results
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Having spun off quite a few times at track days and while sprinting I was wondering if anyone had come across a driving course that may be worthwhile. I believe they have a skid pan course at castle Coombe that may improve my lack of skill to recover, anyone tried it ?
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So I have done about a few miles since picking her up on Sunday and a few things I have noticed so far are mainly to do with the handling. Around town and at civilised speeds the car is perfect. However, if the red mist does descend and you end up pushing the car towards motorway speeds I have the fight of my life to keep it in a straight line. The car is all factory parts, built by an engineer and bought off a family than used to run a Westy race team, and this was the "civilised road car" as they put it. No expense spared and I have every confidence in the car. My first thoughts were bump steer but now thinking it could be a camber/toe in issue? I was on the motorway all the way home and it was fine up to 70mph, but any faster than it seemed to be hunting to escape the lane. Lots of tiny, minute inputs to keep it in a straight line. My other half who was following thought I was texting on the phone as it was that sort of messy. I own a full on V-Twin race bike which is very difficult to ride on the roads, but riding this compared to the Westy is a breeze, which is a worry. I have owned huge horsepower cars since I could drive so its not so much the travelling at speed, more of the stability at speed that is an issue. With trees, lampposts, other vehicles and my other half sat next to me, its not something I would want to go wrong. The car has IRS and Gaz coilovers all round. Running 15" minilites and Toyo Proxes (brand new). 3.5 Rover V8 running around 270hp from BPI Engineering. The other thing that surprised me is that there is no real sensation of speed (although I'm prob just too used to bikes). The sound of the car is epic, in fact some would say quite sexual and I would never get tired of it but having a fairly linear torque curve you only realise you are going fast when the crazy handling kicks in. So... as much as I love the car, what is the point in having a car that is not much use over 70mph?..... The other anecdote as to the speed, I followed a new XKR-S on the way home (550hp at 1700kgs) and he wanted to play, this thing was brutal, but I kept up ok. My initial thoughts were due to the differing power to weight ratios I should have been all over him like a rash, but not so.... Mixed thoughts in the first week thats for sure... any ideas to tame the beast guys? Thanks in advance, Stu
