Tail happy?
 

I've owned my FRS for just over a week now.

Am I doing something wrong? This car has a reputation for being "dorifto" tailhappy and yet I had a much easier time getting my bone stock 1990 240sx to kick out it's rear end.

Even with all the nannies off (SHAME! BAD DRIVER, BAD!) in a "controlled" area, It's still difficult to get the car to oversteer - short of dumping the clutch or ripping the e-brake.

It almost feels like the traction and yaw control are never actually off. What's the trick? I can't even get it to kick out on wet round-a-bouts in second gear.

Before I get shit for being a wanna be drifter or something, this is my 11'th car in 12 years of driving. I don't think I'm a great driver, but I'm not bad either. I'm just surprised how composed this car is unless you REALLY push it.

you hit a turn hard enough with the nannies off on stock tires, you'll lose the rear end. I did it on my test drive :bonk::bonk:

"hard enough" being operative term. The threshold on this car seems quite high.

This car is ridiculously easy to slide. Dry or wet. It's just that it lacks power so it's not that obvious around on the street. It's also very happy to lift off over steer as I found out by accident the very hard and painful way....

Remember, low power low torque, you can't just drift it with the gas pedal. You need to upset the balance first.

Take it to the track.

For the record, I'd never drift on public roads. empty parking lots and the odd industrial area are an exception though.

There's no road tracks near me (less than 5 hours). There's an oval track some of the drifters organize on but I'm not really into it tbh. I am just rather suprised how high the limits of this car really are.

I think there is a general misconception about the FR-S being 'tail happy'.

The FR-S has neutral balance when it approaches the limits of grip. This means in steady state cornering at the limit of the tire's grip, the car will neither oversteer, nor understeer. This neutral balance allows a driver to choose to oversteer and hold the car in an oversteer state. The neutral balance gives the car a large window where it can be controlled at the limit between cornering at full grip and completely losing grip from the tires.

When reviewers say the car is a good drift car, they probably mean it can be 'easily' controlled at its limits or in a drift as opposed to it having no grip at the rear end.

The S2000 was notorious for having a high tendency to oversteer but it was also more difficult to control at the limit. This is probably one of the big reasons you don't see many high level competition S2000 drift cars. Tail happy? Just a bit. Drift car? Not really.

Anyways, back to your FR-S. I'd say the best way to get sideways is to get the weight transfered to the outside of the car first with the tires loaded up and then give'r to get the back end out.

Just to cover my own butt. If something bad happens I cannot be held responsible for your actions.

Also, worth mentioning, the BRZ is noticeably more neutral than the FRS due to the stock suspension differences. The FRS is more tail happy, although, the limits of this car are still surprisingly high for street use.

Test Drive?
Where did you test drive? Long Beach Speedway?

11th car in 12 years... Buy a Prius. Also if u want to drive the car like that take it to an autocross.

Thank goodness--or we'd have an 86 (and more of the FR-S variety) off the road, backwards in a ditch on a daily basis. lol

The is definitely loose--at the limit (AutoX, DE etc) in stock configuration.

I've had the tail out a few times, mostly on accident. Just recently while leaving a petrol station as I was turning I must have planted my foot down in second gear and the back of the car spun out until it faced the way I wanted to go. It was amazing how controlled it was. I had all the aids on.

You need to use the momentum of the car to you advantage. If youre hard on the gas at the same time as the weight of the car is shifting, It will for sure go sideways. If you wait until the apex to hit the throttle, the weight of the car has already settled on the outside wheels and the car (most likely) wont break loose.

I'm not sure how you manage to keep traction in the wet however, I have drifted circles around large roundabouts going maybe 50kph in the wet.

Speed and momentum, don't clutch kick it unless you know what your doing/alone in a safe area, same with the handbrake.

I suspect in the upcoming years will see many handbrake threads. :bellyroll:


Even then, i don't recommend this to anyone, no matter how much track experience and driving experience you have, oversteer is another level, period.