I know this is going to sound dumb, but please bear with me. It's been literally decades since I had a front-wheel-drive car (SAAB Sonett II), and I've completely forgotten the differences in handling. I don't have my car yet--R56 on order--so I can't practice with anything, but what exactly do you do when you get in a bad cornering situation? My husband says to lift, yet a racing driver (and owner) I know says to keep on the power no matter what. Which is it???

Like I said, this is a dumb question, but I really want the answer...

 

Difficult to provide a definative answer. Depends on the situation and the car, e.g in an MCS R56, power in, it will hold - in a normal car keep it smooth, hope for best. Even my wife tells me she can "feel" what is required, beofre it happens! (no gaurentees)

The R56 MCS will give you plenty of torqure steer in 1st an 2nd gear if you put your foot down, you get used to it, can feel twitchy though under fullacceleration only)

In snow and on ice it's not great, drive and steer thru 1 set of tyres (tires) m+ not good.

 

In a FWD, for the most part, the car will react the same whether you lift or stomp on it (unless you've put in a bigger rear bar, then you might get some lift throttle oversteer.) It will understeer.
There's no such thing as 'no matter what' - it all depends on the situation. The difference being if you lose traction accelerating in FWD, you continue going in the same direction, if you lose traction accelerating in RWD, you swap ends.
Take it easy, and gradually increase your speeds to see how the car will react. Ideally you'd take it on a track or autox course to see how it responds at the limit.

 

This was my first front wheel drive and originally I had no idea how best to drive it. When you get in a bad cornering situation? I guess it all depends on the situation. If you're understeering, the car not wanting to turn, adding throttle will only make it worse while letting off the gas will help. If you're oversteering, the back wants to come around, letting off the gas may not the best idea and possibly giving it more gas will help.

The thing that helped me most is going to a driving school. Not so much that they teach you what to do but more that you spend time in situations like that but for the most part at a safe level. One that I know of is Phil Wicks.

 

Did you get DSC in your car? It'll help in some cases no matter what you do.

 

general rule of thumb, in ANY car, never just suddenly lift off the throttle unless you know what it will do

If you are understeering, let off, if you are oversteering (unlikely as one mentioned unless you put in a stiffer rear bar), let off, but in each case, do so smoothly and you'll be fine.

 

I have to agree with those that say whatever you do, do it smoothly and gently.

In snow I have swapped ends by letting up too fast. But then in snow you can use the e-brake to break out the rear to set up for corners, but thats another thread

Mark

 

You let off while oversteering . On a fwd car, in an oversteer situation, getting on the throttle will bring the back end where it belongs. Letting off will just cause it to come around even more. When understeering, letting off is correct as it will transfer more weight to the front wheels, thus, giving them more grip.

 

Just watch the Italian Job... it's all about the E-Brake with FWD.

 

Something I read earlier... if you feel the rear wheels losing traction in a FWD car, press on the gas - it should shift the weight of the car to the rear and give them more traction. And if you feel the front tires losing traction, let off the gas.

This is kinda different from RWD where in a turn you can step on the gas to get the rear tires to slide (torque steering I think it's called?)

I'm still going through the same learning curve after having driven RWD BMWs for about 10 years. I could slide a Z4 through a turn without slowing down but I haven't quite mastered (or have the confidence for) such maneuvers on the MINI yet.

 

You're right, I wrote that very early this morning, must not have been thinking all that clearly. You will want to lift, eventually, to slow down, but throttle is what you need to get the rear end settled first, you are correct, my bad. . .

 

Seems like a simple question but the answer is not simple. The simple answer is that a driver on the public highway should never get into a situation where this question needs an answer. But that is not always possible. Here is a qualified answer.
The objective is to get the nose of the car pointing in the right direction and then apply power in order to pull (FWD) or push (RWD) the car in that direction. The one fault I have with the MINI as opposed to the mini is that the current car was manufactured to drive like a RWD car. American drivers usually do not have the first clue on driving an oversteering car. A perfect example was the Corvair. Americans apparently prefer to plow off the road head first. Generally speaking, backing out of the throttle on either FWD or RWD causes the car to start turning around the center of mass ( the engine) Professional racing drivers spend a lot of time learning how to balance throttle, braking and other factors to get it right. One statement on some of the previous responses was be smooth and that is for sure. Sudden changes of any kind upset the balance of the car and have disastrous results. The best way to answer this question is to go to a drivng school and practice with someone who already knows the drill. Saves time, is a lot safer and can save tons of money.. Oh, its a lot of fun too.
No I am not a professional racing driver and this is just my opinion so I hope no one gets bent out of shape over my comments. Feel free to correct any errors.

 

That is called power sliding not torque steer. Torque steer is what happens when a torquey FWD without LSD tries to rip the steering wheel out of your hands under heavy acceleration.

 

Yes, ThomB, I ordered both DSC and LSD on this car.

 

Sounds good, Deb. Now get your friend the race driver to set you up with some track time and some lessons. You'll be loving this before you know it!

 

Eh, well, depends on why you perceive you are in danger. If it is bad weather out, you must slow the car down, there is no possible way to regain control in a slide situation without the wheels going slower than they were.

our mini's engines are very lightweight and hm, have this sort of direct connection to the gas pedal. I take my foot off the gas, it vacuums up fast and slows down if I my car is at a higher than 3k rpm. Other bigger cars do not do this and you must brake. It is as if our cars have so little inertia whether in overall weight or in engine speed, I am not sure.

Dry weather I have noticed that 205 all season falken's do not have enough grip to contend with my ability to drive a car fast. I would suggest, barring bad weather and wet condition safety, that the mini needs 225 tires. I dont think these fit. My point is that the car can so easily break free of the friction force that it makes explaining how to power into a tight turn kinda difficult.

Another thing is racing. racing people do not change gears without a significicant speed difference on a turn. They hold the gear if possible. a right angle turn, well of course you must match the gear to the speed you lowered the engine to. In general, they keep things smooth and none of this hollywood bs shifting and hearing the engine roar around a turn.

They also drive on a perfect track. If a bird takes a **** on the track, they stop the race and clean it off. That sort of perfect. A racing person on a track keeps it on a higher gear than any normal person would and keeps the gas on. They dont stomp the gas on a turn, they want to live. They do keep the speed on a turn much higher than most anyone would. I have been practicing keeping it in 3rd gear on side streets making right turns. It is difficult but the car glides around them better. dump to 2nd and you can easily have your tires break free and lose time on the turn even though it feels cool to get the power.

In a bad cornering situation you are kinda screwed. you already screwed up, now you want magic to rectify your car's path. Electronic steering doesnt really help this much if you are used to racing for cash like I have done (on the street) with regular rack and pinion hydraulic asisted steering. you feel it less, the tires easily turn much more than you wanted them to, and they trip over themselves and the steering wheel wigs out. I have dsc/lsd too, it happens then even. Basically, my opinion is to keep in gear, lighten the gas but give it gas. The throttle is kinda electronic as well, this will also make it hard to feel whats going on. fun right? I think the best way to handle a situation is to learn to keep this low geared mini in a higher gear on turns so you arent wondering how much gas you need. You will be already light on the gas. I typed a lot and I am having trouble explaining how I do it. hm. there is no rule though. Telling people to power through it ='s death most of the time. Keeping steady and controlled power will right the car into position. The reason people are in bad cornering situations are mostly due to road hazards popping up or other cars. that's not the same advice as you get from a guy who has a hard on for speed/racecar driver. I guess I just keep cool and keep the power. Focus on steering People do not steer properly and do not have good reaction times. There are very few people that have the reaction time necessary and concentration to keep a mcs going smooth and fast on a turn. I think most people's "bad cornering situations is due to wigging out and the wheels get all wobbly.

 

Go to some autocrosses and/or driving schools once the car comes in. You'll have a blast AND learn to be a safer driver!

 

Oh, believe me, I do autocross already (in a BMW), and will be taking the MINI to them as soon as she's broken in. Unfortunately I'll be missing the local BMW driving school this year, as I won't get the car in time (I don't think).

 

There's always a Phil Wicks school, or similar.

 

It goes where you point it... usually.
High performance driving school and skidpad/ track time do wonders.
p.s.: don't pay attention to my sig.

 

I just looked at the club calendar--I CAN go! It's a month later than I expected--plenty of time to go through the break-in miles (which would only take a couple of days anyway). I thought it was going to be early February.

 

I took the SKip Barber 2-day course. The instructors describe something called TTO, which stands for Technical (can't remember the middle word) Oversteer. That's when you've turned the wheel but the car does not (understeer), you let up suddenly on the gas in that OH ***** moment, the weight of the car transfers to the front wheels and they suddenly grip. Since they were turned too much, the car now follows and turns too much -- go from understeer to spinning out oversteer.

The instructor there (Bob Greene) describes the proper technique to avoid the bad turn situation as a steering wheel on a string. The string is attached to the bottom of the wheel and has a loop at the bottom that goes around your gas pedal foot. As you turn the wheel the string is pulled up and pulls up a bit on your foot. As you leave the turn you right the wheel, the string loosens and your foot goes down on the gas.

Accelerating or decelerating uses traction. If you want all the traction for tracking (getting the car to go where you want), you should be neither on the gas nor the brake. On their skid pad excercise, they told us if you're in an oversteer situation (where the back-end tries to get ahead of the front) to get off both the gas and the brake, control the skid and only once that's done use the pedals. That said, they told us that if you go beyond 90 degrees, there is no hope of steering, so slam on the brakes.

 

Remember the track creedo:

In slow - out fast.

In fast - out backwards.