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the guy who drove that car was pushing it beyond the limits of the car. there's a couple of owners since May 28th when they drove off the lot i wondered how long it would take before they get into an accident. the only reason for the rears to break loose without using the e-brake is when the tires lose traction on turn in and when it does break loose as you all know is very linear.
our test model has 1700 miles since the 28th of May. we've had people who have never driven a rwd car but we will also get people who have owned nothing but. we will also get guys that think they know how to drive but we we will get guys that really do know how to drive. usually we spot this when they set the position of the driver seat in relation to the tiller during our switch, but more so when they start driving a few miles. the enthusiast is very smooth with their steering and shift inputs and they'll revmatch along the way, while others are ragged and sloppy. when we do get a competent driver we never shut off all the aides but turn on VSC Sport and within a mile or two of getting used to the car, we have them take a hairpin turn in 2nd that has the tiller turned 180 degrees. then we hit a decreasing radius (right) turn in 2nd heading into an on ramp and this is where we ask them to turn in even more and get on the gas (5-6000rpms) and like clockwork the frs rear will slowly rotate about 10-15 degrees. from the enthusiast to even the guy with the civic manual we can see them counter-correct. we did this with a BRZ on the same turn and we got understeer, we actually had to pitch the brz left and quickly right to get the rear to slide. the third handling test is a medium speed bowl on ramp in 3rd at 45-50mph where they turn up and back in even more where the back will slide a bit on exit and we will see them correct a little when it does. the car is great teacher of rwd dynamics.
i have feeling the e-brake was used on this FRS just based on the condition of the rear tires, or a misjudgement of space. when pushing the limits of any car in a non-track enviroment you have to give yourself enough space for mistakes. also to those that argue that its only happening to the FRS because of the set-up, i disagree. at 7-8/10th you really can't tell the difference between the two, its only when you are at the limit when the understeer on the BRZ shows up and the looseness of the rear in the FRS. also, there are fewer BRZ on the road than the FRS and if you say its the age of the drivers, again i disagree. we get as many guys in their mid 40 to sixties buying the car as we do guys in their mid twenties to mid thirties.
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