R8 Gordini on Shannons

I can relate to quite a few of those comments. I can guarantee that you can slide a standard R8 on wet bitumen in Perth at 20 mph. Slow motion barely says it. Plenty of tread but 135-15 Michelin ZX tyres, 14 years old. The trick to not rolling it is not to hit anything sideways. I wouldn't dare lift off the loud pedal when sliding. Perth roads can be very slippery.

More power and more grip? Dunno from personal experience but there are some good Youtube videos out there with R8 Gs at speed on bitumen. Axles swing wildly......
This is what happens when you hit something sideways...at 160 kmh...

Spec C crash 2_resize.jpg
 
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I doubt you will find lift off oversteer in a RE Renault (at least). They start to oversteer immediately (on throttle) when you show them a corner. They are however progressive (at least the low powered cars I have driven). Lift off and they self correct.

Different story in low grip conditions (snow, water, etc), when the rear end is going to dance around on throttle and you have to catch it if you can using both throttle and steering. On lift off it will probably overtake you.

It is a different story with FWD Renaults. A R12 or 17 (the cars I can talk about from personal experience) will understeer if you're slow but will happily oversteer if you brutalise it a bit, but with a lot of warning in the form of body roll.

A 205GTI will snap oversteer on lift off. If you're a bit delicate, you can feel it trying to go before it happens, but it's a much more narrow window and you have nearly no body roll.

With a 12/17 you feel the roll. That'll let you know when you're oversteering and you can deal with it. It is a slow reacting car.

With a 8/10 you feel the back end going almost instantly, but you can control it.
Never had the slightest trouble with 205s, 405s are the one for massive lift off oversteer. 205s can be unstable at speed in a straight line though. If you get into trouble with a 205 it will be the low geared heavy steering, even the PAS has 3.3 turns. Fixed with the Sis and especially the Citroen VTS.
 
I can relate to quite a few of those comments. I can guarantee that you can slide a standard R8 on wet bitumen in Perth at 20 mph. Slow motion barely says it. Plenty of tread but 135-15 Michelin ZX tyres, 14 years old. The trick to not rolling it is not to hit anything sideways. I wouldn't dare lift off the loud pedal when sliding. Perth roads can be very slippery.

More power and more grip? Dunno from personal experience but there are some good Youtube videos out there with R8 Gs at speed on bitumen. Axles swing wildly......

Nothing quite like 14 yo rubber to make life interesting

I remember doing a phenomenal recovery on a damp roundabout when testing a 504 well known to me ( we had sold it to the little old lady who now owned it ). She hadn't done many miles and the tyres were probably the ones we'd put on 18 or so years before

This was with mild acceleration at about 30k in an otherwise very sound car

I will never drive with tyres more than 5yo. Not worth it - even with my phenomenal driving skills :) and general knowitallness I have no idea of whether somebody is going to make a murder-suicide attempt in front of me in the wet

A "lose" at 30 k is embarrassing, but salutary

Andrew
 
Or a rigid rear axle. I spun around an AU falcon just taking off at the traffic lights turning right so next to nil speed. Crap tyres, road was wet and off camber. Did a 360 and continued on.

Graham, you may not have had problems with the 205 (nor did I, because I chicken out when I feel it coming) but I have seen a lot of videos on youtube of people who did have a bit of trouble.

As for the Mi16 maybe I didn't feel it, but it seemed a lot more stable than the 205 when pushed into corners. Or maybe I didn't push hard enough. Either way, if I wanted to go fast somewhere risky, of the two I would prefer to be in the Mi16. The best handling "normal" (I say that because I don't consider the 205 normal, whatever that is, and the 205 is a pretty damn good handler) car I ever drove by miles.

But the 205 feels like it is warning you the moment you dive into the corner "Hope you know what you're doing, buddy". All these years of ownership and I am still scared of that car. Maybe because it is the fastest to react of everything I have driven.

One surprising car was the NK BMW (2000, MY 1970), sedan, which was a very well handling car. Didn't manage to drift it even in the wet. Very surprised. Great handling but you could feel the weight of the car. Lots of roll, slow reaction, but sure footed. Very neutral. Maybe something to do with its constant camber rear end, who knows?
 
Big loses in Mi16s both at wet racetracks and on gravel autocross tracks. Managed to pull out by keeping the boot in it. The VTS is probably the best handling car I've driven. There is a very tricky corner at the Deniliquin Autocross Track. Got it right twice the last time I was there, never got it spot on at any previous time.
 
Maybe, maybe not. I expected somewhere just north of 40k but I haven't seen the car up close. What has happened here in WA is that some people lost their income and are struggling, others have saved a lot because they can't travel so they have a lot of money sloshing around and one sign of that is house prices going up again. I imagine the situation is somewhat the same elsewhere so I don't think lack of money is the culprit. I suspect it has something to do with the car and I imagine whoever bid on it had a good look up close and factored in what they thought the cost would be to bring it where they want it to be. Still, a good price I think.
 
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That was my old beast. I purchased it in 2003 and sold it in 2014 to a lad in Vic. The car was never fully resto'd just tidied up in places.
Nothing wrong with "tidied up" IMHO! You SOLD it? Eek. Great photo with Bob Watson.
 
I prefere tidied up because your not scared to drive them. Wish mine was just tidied up.
You'll drive it I'm sure. I've been careful with ours since it was painted of course, but once it has a couple of road chips and a very minor scrape you'll be more relaxed. The first couple of years are the worst. My biggest shock was discovering that the scenery reflected off the bonnet, but you'll not have THAT problem! :)
 
You'll drive it I'm sure. I've been careful with ours since it was painted of course, but once it has a couple of road chips and a very minor scrape you'll be more relaxed. The first couple of years are the worst. My biggest shock was discovering that the scenery reflected off the bonnet, but you'll not have THAT problem! :)
Bob told me reflections off the bonnet were a real problem. Every shinny surface forward of the driver in mine is mat black. Even the chrome around the instruments is mat black.
 

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