sideways for the first time
 

Took a turn tonight I used to take in my civic around 50, and I let it out into 2nd a little too soon/quick. caught a nice little slide even with DSC on (im scared to turn it off, lol). caught me way off gaurd being a RWD noob and all. luckily nothing traumatic happened, just gave my passengers a little scare. the 8 will take my old civic through the turns any day of the week, it's just interesting how different the characteristic are...be advised if you're in my situation!

Did you downshift while in the corner or something like that?

Was it a 90 degree turn. If it was, none of my friends civics can make that at 50. The 8 sure as hell can though!

I came in in 3rd at about 50 and i downshifted in 2nd with the intent of getting back on it once i was back on the straight and narrow...but i was a little early and it stepped out a bit. i've only had my 8 for 4 days, so i'm still feeling it out you know? i was under the mindset of my friend's sti which is a manual (my civic was not) as it was the only other car i've really pushed. but it's clear now that that's a car that can be shifted in the turn. everyone's gotta learn somehow.

it is a 90 degree turn, but it's from a 3 lane road onto a part of the intersecting road that's almost 4 lanes wide, so i can swing out and reduce the radius. don't worry, there wasn't a soul in sight. it's only reckless if someone else sees you do it :D

You should never downshift while going into a turn. Always downshift (to 2nd in your case) before turning in. Shifting while turning means that you're going into neutral for a fraction of a second, which at that speed is enough to throw you off course.
You will always get better control in the lower gears. You must just rev up to maintain speed, and in the 8 it's not a problem.
In rally driving, it is not unusual to shift right down to 1st gear before taking a sharp turn, definitely so in a hairpin turn.

.. or if you do shift during a turn make sure you're rev matching pretty well, otherwise when you let out the clutch it's almost like pulling on the handbrake ..

Did anyone tell you the engine should be broken in gently for a minimum of 500 miles, while a 1000 mile break in is more routine? There's a break in procedure outlined in the manual.

i have 600 miles on it already

600 miles in 4 days ... you must love your car :D

I do this all the time, however mine is in the upshift, I like to do it around corners. Never had a problem with control because just as easily as it slides, it comes right back where you want it to. I did however take my car in recently for a 7,500 mile tire rotation, and the wear bars are already showing on the ones that were on the rear. And yes I do this only on wider turns as I would hate to clip a curb.

i do love the car. very much :D

once the break in period is really done (im keepin it under 7 as much as possible for the next 400 miles) i'm gonna do an autocross and spin like a top lol.

I LOVE doing clutch-kicks in higher speed cornering...............Driffffffffffft!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

epitrochoid,
do you live over by ucf? im in winter park

sure do, if you got time, come out to fusian on university and alafaya. bunch of people are meetin out ther. look for the ti gray 8, ill be there till probably around 10.

Try your first time sideways going down a hill at 25 mph in 3 inches of slushy messy snow on a two lane highway with a 18 wheeler skidding in your rearview mirror right towards you. Then have nothing traumatic happen...and then yes, you can come talk to me.

Did I mention this was with LM-22's on my car?

* > snow

damn i love Florida :)

If you're going from an auto Civic to a manual RX-8 and sliding into corners with passengers aboard in your first four days of ownership, you are headed for a big accident, man.

i had 600 miles in 4 days :D

ever heard of lift off oversteer? sounds like that's what you did, a nice trick to get your understeering 8 to start sliding, assuming that you will be correcting and thus resulting in a power slide while slamming back on the gas.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you would do a lift off oversteer in a fwd car, not in the rwd RX8. If a rwd car is understeering, you would apply more throttle to correct the understeer, not lift off, although the latter would be the more natural reaction.
Epitro will need some time to adjust to rwd driving coming from a Civic (auto on top of that) as fwd and rwd cars behave very differently around corners. Rwd is more difficult to master.

Lift-off oversteer can apply just as easily to RWD - power oversteer is only a choice for RWD! ;)

If Epitro is shifting while cornering - then he isn't anywhere close to mastering FWD cornering, never mind RWD cornering! I would highly recommend a performance driving school - he's got a LOT to learn, since he doesn't even know the very basics of performance driving.

Regards,
Gordon

You're quite right, but why would you lift off oversteer a rwd when you can power oversteer it? Don't you just love it when you push down the throttle and feel the rear end sliding back in line?

the civic would slide with a lift off, but it wouldn't keep sliding as the only thing to keep it going was it's inertia. there wasn't any power there to keep the rear out

You should also be careful with new tires on the car until the manufaturing resist is worn off the tires. That can cause skidding in even mildly aggressive driving. Just something to think about, and you should get to know the car a little before you start racing it around. Save you trouble in the long run.

To initiate a drift. Power oversteer is great for low speed, but in a high speed corner unless you've got massive horsepower is just going to cause the car to push (at least if the car is at all prone to understeer). Letting off the gas will transfer weight from the rear to the front, resulting in a loss of traction in the rear (and the rear end stepping out). Kinda like left foot braking.

Incidentally, here's a pretty crazy video of a civic SiR (fwd) doing actual drifts. Purpose built car, but still very impressive.