u ever lost it on a roundabout?

[Dave_GTI16v]

hey all, have u ever lost the backend while speeding through a roundabout, im not a boy racer but some idiot was driving so close and reving up at the lights, so i floored it, i was lucky i didnt spin out, but it was 50/50, cant remember the speed but it was over 70 and the skid noise was very loud, it sh!t me up, so im gonna try n be more patient from now on. i feel completely stupid aswell

[Golfgal]

not a roundabout no  

[LostBok]

I wouldn't say "lost it" my old 205 used to "drift" around roundabouts most of the time... my dad's Omega had a slight issue with accelerating out of roundabouts where the back end used to snkae out quite a lot, but always very controllable (i.e. back off when you find yourself looking out the passenger window to see where you're going).

Golf Mk3 cabby, even on stock suspension drifts around roundabouts pretty well, but lolls around a bit as you straighten up and accellerate out of them... Gonna get new springs 'n dampers before trying too much more of that... just trying to save the money now... could be a while!!

The key to not losing the back end completely in a FWD car is keeping steady on the throttle... if you back off the throttle on a FWD car, you'll put it backwards into the first lamp-post <<LB scratches frantically for that photo of a friend's 205XS with interesting "dovetail" in the rear bumper - hoping to illustrate his point>>... or at very least end up with the back tryign to overtake the front.... never got that far on the Golf - mine seems pretty evenly balanced...

[tinman]

rather embarassingly, i lost the 16v the day it came back from WagenWheels.

it was a bit damp out, and i decided to do a bit of opposite lock. hey, the nissan used to opposite like a babe, i hadnt found the limit of the mg on cornering at that time, so what did i have to lose in the Golf?

but so i put my foot down gently reached 30 and at this point decided - "No, better not try what i'm thinking". followed closely by the thoughts "oh sh*t oh sh*t oh sh*t" as the back of the car overtook me. and then to add insult to injury - it stalled.

thankfully the roundabout is very big and there was no one in front of me.

[Blue MK2]

i can take small roundabouts at 40mph without noticing any drift/skidding . Coilovers work wonders

[Andy_T4]

I guess that all depends on your definition of 'lost it'!  I have debated this at length with 2 separate police officers who have had the dubious pleasure of entering a roundabout from one side, as I have exited sideways from the opposite direction!

They both deemed 'lost it' as the rear wheels not following on directly in line with the front wheels, in the same direction that you are travelling.  I consider 'lost it' to be the rear wheels not following the front, but only if you either a) didn't expect it to happen, or b) expected it, but can't recover it without the intervention of lady luck!

Taking my definition, I 'lost' my first 2 cars (1.3L Metro & MG Metro) on several occasions.

Since the fitment of coilovers my Mk3 VR transfers body roll into slide, allowing me to achieve some delightful angles on roundabouts!  

I had a 4x4 cossie a couple of years ago, and I used to enjoy turning left flat-out from the right-hand lane at one particular roundabout, and drifting sideways to the exit at an angle that allowed me to look backwards in the direction I had come from, and see the shocked faces of the front-wheel driven boy racers who had to back off to complete the same turn  

[Fielder5757]

Only on purpose And im not a boy racer, In my experence a boy racer wouldnt know a good slide if it jumped up and killed them

[Veedubgt18v]

yeah i have in the damp, firestones are shocking tyres. it used to be that i wouldnt go into a roundabout at more than 20 for fear of losing it. once i was used to it tho it was fun feeding in 180 degrees of opposite!

[blakheet]

coilovers = drift, stock = losing it. Coilovers are great, as andy said they enable really controlled slides compared to standard suspension where it goes from body roll to back end into a bush in about half a second.  and yes, i do enjoy getting the back out round roundabouts.

[Fielder5757]

Since i got my toyos, OZ hydras and my geometory re-aligned my cars been like glue on the road, Not a lot of sliding unless i hit things at 60+