im 17 and i have a 05 black rx8 6 spd, and i took my car to a mountain road for the turns, i lost traction on a turn that has a sign for 20 and i was going 40, almost ran off the road, i drove with my frenn and wen he handled the turns his car felt heavy and was griping the road well, his car is less tuned in suspension, wen i drove my car felt light, he said i was probably not shifting the weight of my car properly.... it makes sense but can anybody teach me or tell me how to shift the weight of my car?

 

im sorry, but at 17 you shouldnt be driving that aggressively, at least on public roads. if you want to learn to push the 8, take it to sanctioned events, such as autocross, go to a driving school. the last thing you want to do at your age is get into an accident that is your fault. just to give you an example, i had an accident 3 years ago that just dropped off of my insurance, and my insurance dropped over 1000 a year, and im 30. at your age, an accident could add significantly more per year to your insurance, especially driving a sports car like the 8

 

yea that is true...... i should learn to handle it in a sanctioned event..... i just wanted to know wut i did wrong

 

nice first post

 

oh BTW what you did wrong is try and drive beyond your driver skill. Go to Skip Barber and then come back and ask us what u did wrong

 

ok guys, u proved ur point, i wont try to pull this stunt again, but all i wanna do is jus improve my driving skill, hearing it from people who actually have the same car as me and know wut their doing made me realize that, so thanks....but i still wanna improve my driving....i wont try this again, so what would u guys propose i do?? i just need someone to tell me the right thing, ive been trying to learn bymyself this whole time cuz no one understands wut i wanna do, so pls be harsh if u want, i just need to know the right thing..... yes i know dont drive like that in public and stuff, i learned that from that close accident, thanks fer putting it through my head cuz hearing from total strangers but them having the same car and a lot older than me helps

 

GO TO A SCHOOL, driving on the street will not teach you how to control your car. HIGH PERFORMANCE DRIVING SCHOOL

 

is that called schooling a n00b? :D

 

is yours a base 6sp? if so you wouldn''t have any traction control and really you shouldn't be driving the car at all until you are taught properly...it doesn't matter if you are going the speed limit you still have a good chance of spinning out...you don't want to find out the hard way

tell us more about your car...and also more about your location...I'm sure someone can recommend a good driving school nearby

 

lol red, thanks!

 

its called give the keys back to momy and daddy and tell them never to let you drive that car again until you prove that you know how

 

cmon now, give em a break. we were all young once. i gave him some advice, and he seems humble enough to take it and realize what he was doing was wrong. just because we may not have been able to get a car like the 8 when we were his age ( i know i couldnt, didnt get my lic til i was 20, and my first car was an 86 toyota pickup) doesnt mean we should beat him up because of it.

 

^ well said!

 

I agree with blue, seek out a performance school..

When I was young I was involved in over 10 collisions before I was 21.. and spun my car/cars atleast a dozen times.. and had numerous speeding tickets.. Even had my license suspended and drov for 3 years without one..

I'm a MUCH better driver now

 

note to self ... never get in guy's car

 

well, 15 - 21 is 6 years.. that's not THAT long to be in 10 collissions :p

 

I'm going to pick on the IM speak - please don't do it here, it's hard to read, and it doesn't do wonders for your credibility either.

Back on topic. Since you are 17, most HPDE schools won't allow you to run, but you might have better luck at a local autox, though they might require you to get a signed waiver from a parent to run. Go carts are an inexpensive and excellent way to learn performance driving in a controlled, safe atmosphere. Find a local cart track, and have a blast. Even the "amusement park" go cars are better than nothing.

"Learning to shift weight around"...I think I know what you're asking here. It's an amazingly complex topic, but for a novice driver, the first thing you need to learn - do not brake in the middle of a turn. Get your braking done before the turn starts, and accelerate gently through the turn. The rear wheels of the car actually push you through the turn, making the car more stable.

Go to Amazon and search on "performance driving" for some introductory books. Understanding the physics of weight transfer, contact patches, suspension movement, proper technique, as well as adjusting your own vision will help every driver.

Keep the aggressive driving to the track.

 

thanks guys, all these replies help me out, yes, i may be a noob, but i do wanna get better. Its kool that some u guys were hard on me cuz it does take that to pound it in my head cuz i really dont hear that from ne one else other than my parents haha, but thanks to all replies. yea i think i would have better luck in learning through go carts and then autox, cuz i looked at skip barber and those prices are up there haha thanks for helping me to go in the right direction

 

np. As long as you are willing to learn you will be amazed at the numper of people that would be happy to help out and teach you technique