Hey everyone,
I have a question here. I have read alot of posts where people are talking about driving in the twisties. How fast does everyone drive in the twisties? I am just curious because I do like 40-45 on the side street twisties and I think that is fast enough. Too many cops around here looking for promotions!

 

You're right, that "ordinary" twisties should be enjoyed at more or less legal rates of speed. There are some twisties, however, which are remote, with no side streets or driveways, few or no cops, and little or no traffic, on which some of us wind it up a bit more. Well, a lot more.

And then, for those times when you just can't help yourself any more, there's the race track.

 

then there are highway on/off ramps (cloverleafs) which can be quite fun.

 

True, but watch out for those decreasing radius turns found on some freeway ramps. Can be very troublesome if you are at the limit when the turn radius tightens up.

 

yeah, the one i take to get to work everyday tightens up right at the end, just before the straight away. this is pretty common with the ramps around here.

 

Hehe, right by the state line there is a seldom used frontage road that has a serious tight S curve with height changes in it as well. The speed limit odd enough is 40mph. I did it at about 60 and it was some serious fun, 60 is about the fastest I would feel safe taking an 8 through it, can't believe the speed limit isn't more like 25.
Bad thing is it isn't a very long s curve

 

I have a flyover I hit every morning that is fun, there's always a lot of cars though so I never really get to light it up, some times I have a clean shot and as it is a very gradual curve I get to enjoy it, nothing is more fun than lime creek though, we drove that this weekend and it's the closest thing to a vehicular rollercoaster I've been on so far :D

 

I think if you really want to get a feel for the twisties, ask some motorcyclists where they go. Here in Ohio there are plenty of country roads that the 8 loves to be wound out on. The route 555 is a favorite of many. But the problem is, in some places you have to really watch for Amish Buggies. If you are up to a trip, there's nothing better than slaying the dragon at the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee line.

As far as how fast you should go through a curve. I say, practice and pay attention to what you're car is doing. If you are familar with delayed apex turns, do that, but don't cross the center-line. Practice Practice Practive and don't outdrive your ability. Check out some websites and talk to people and learn how to really take the curves. There's so much more to it than just turning the wheel and shifting the car. It's what the 8 is made for and there's so much on how to make a correct turn at optimal speed that I can't begin here. Surprising, if you have a PS2, get a copy of Grand Tourismo 3 or 4 and take the liscense tests, it is surprisingly accurate on how to correctly take a turn. It will give you a feel for the basics at least.

 

Double the posted speed limit.


That's what I was doing on the Dragon... Had a hard time keeping up with a female board member in the green car

 

I've done the dragon twice on my bike. I'm really itching to get to do it in the 8. It's about a 8 or 9 hour drive for me though. I think I can do it on a 3 day weekend.

 

I've got some fun country farm roads by my house that I routinely get up to 80-100 on depending on the section of the road. I usually do a slow first pass making sure there's no farm equipment or activity going on, then come back again with speed. Some of the roads /had/ to be designed by engineers that enjoyed driving, as there are banked corners, dirt road run-outs in case you have to bail, etc.

 

Everyday, right before the turn into my division(the only division there because its not in town) there is a nice big S curve. 85-90 and as i exit out of the turn its steadily apply brakes to enter my road. Beautiful handling machine. i usually pick a line and hold it all the way throiugh the curve and she doesn't even attempt to act like she needs to get off that line to make it through at that speed. Unreal...

 

i think i know where you are talking about. over by the lakeview parkway (or whatever its called) mall.

 

Lime Creek was awesome!!! I'd drive down again just to enjoy those twisties!!
And we went around 50 mph on a 15 mph suggested curve, 70 mph on a 55 mph suggested curve. Man it was fun!!!

 

i cant wait to see what kind of twisties i will encounter on my road trip next month. some of the local mazda owners have put together a road rally to minnesota. last year we went to missouri and had a blast. i cant wait becasue this year we will have about 12 teams and huge gathering of minnesota mazda owners to greet us at the finish line. the rules of the rally include not being able to use interstate roadways to reach your destination which allows us to drive on the curvier country roads. i cant wait to see what kind of roads norhtern wisconsin and SE minnesota has for us :D

 

Depends on the road as to how fast. I drive (and ride my GSXR1000 & RC51) on mountain roads in SC/NC/GA & TN. Hwy 178 in SC/NC is posted 55 mph with some VERY tight turns. In this case you are doing very well to do the limit in the turns.

 

Let's say a clover leaf onramp has two lanes and most of the slow cars are in the inside lane during the turn leaving the outside lane open, would you guys take the outside lane and pass by everybody on the turn? Would you do this everyday hehe...

 

if it was open, YES. absolutely.

 

So thats how fast we were going!!! J/K I actually looked down on one corner and realized that it was a 15mph corner and I was doing 55. Didn't seem like we were going that fast since I was just following the person in front of me. I think if you find a really good "twisty" road, there will more than likely be no cops. Just by looking at the road that we took and Dazy is talking about this is what I saw:

1. No shoulder - AT ALL...gravel on the edges of the road and guardrails on some corners, but absolutely no shoulder

2. Blind corners - no way to see what was coming toward you, and no place for anyone to park where they wouldn't get hit.

3. Narrow roads - just barely enough room for two cars to pass each other.

4. Few or no turnarounds - there would be no place for a cop to turn around to pull you over.

5. Trees lining the road - even if the officer could pull off the road and have room to turn around, he or she would run the risk of getting hit by an oncoming car as you could not see past the thick trees that lined the corners and the whole road.

 

^^^ Amen!! I don't know about you Aggie, but I'll admit to being scared on a few of those turns. It's tough holding onto the steering wheel with one hand and two fingers (since the other fingers are holding the walkie talkie) and shifting at the same time. I remember quite a few times calling out "hard left" to only have to drop the walkie talkie and practically do a U-turn while driving down a hill so steep that it felt like the first dip on a rollercoaster, and as I rounded that U-turn I came face to face with a big fat Texas dooley hauling *** and crossing over into my lane. Of course all of that was happening behind the scenes. All everyone else heard on the radio was a short silence and then me coming back on saying, "Holy ****!!" Whoa, I get butterflies just thinking about it. Keeping in mind what Aggie said with NO SHOULDER and the road is lined with trees. It was IMPOSSIBLE to see what was coming up ahead on those turns. I CAN'T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN!!! DD

 

^^Hands-free sets would help.
To those of you who did it with DSC and TCS on, turn it off sissies.
Neither of my cars have it.
Can't wait for the next meet.
Fun road. That is all.

 

If I'm in my car alone I usually take the cloverleafs at about 55...the radius is tight enough so that the lil hanging monkey on the rearview mirror is almost horizontal. The G forces make me a bit uncomfortable though...imagine what the F1 drivers go through.

 

Sort of. If you go down 165 heading west and turn south on the west side of 94 heading towards the place with the military museum... It's on the otherside of the interstate compared to the mall.

There's also a place we used to call "Ultimate Road" when I was in HS that's a side road off a side road off of HWY20 out west a ways. It's straight but has a serious grade to it that drops into a valley, coming from the east it literally looks like the road disapears. If they don't know about the drop it completely freaks people out at night. I think it would be really easy to get some serious air on that one, trick would be not hitting a tree when you return to earth.

38 heading north out of racine is fun for a bit but too busy. Wood road heading north from Parkside is fun for a little bit, not as much as it used to be but still fun to take at 80+.

Did greenbay to Racine once in a little over an hour.... passed a state trooper at some unknown speed (speedo in mustang was pegged) he didn't pull out.

 

ok, i know where you are talking about. those frontage roads are pretty awesome becaseu there usually arent any cops or much traffic on them. i remember one time when i was on my way to work i was getting on the highway heading south from hwy 50 and i noticed traffic was backed up to the intersection so i went around onto the frontage road (by congo river) and i was doing about 90 while the people on the highway were sitting still becasue of an accident. im sure they were jealous i was moving and they werent.

 

i would make a horrible F1 driver because they would have to clean vomit out of the car after every race.