My 2 cents…

Start w/ practicing oversteer (both throttle induced & TTO) in a less powerful, less expensive car.

Not exactly the same, but gives you the right flavor.

I have a highly modified Miata and it’s fairly simple to induce push, power oversteer, TTO and 4 wheel drift. Practice in a wet, deserted parking lot.

On the road, if you find yourself entering a corner too fast, don’t panic lift approaching the apex, and definitely don’t hit the brakes. Pretend you are on ice, ease off some and cut as wide a turn out as you can. Be prepared to modulate the throttle back on to push the rear end down and get a bite.

Why practice with another car? I thought I was a pretty good driver until the first time I floored the Cobra. I got power oversteer, followed by TTO…all within 3-5 seconds. If I had been on a public rode, it would have been ugly.

Voyager, interesting comments, thank you.
 

so does this mean you were not even entering a curve just flooring the car, presumably in a straight line in a controlled area and you still got power oversteer and a TTO spinout? Jeez what type of force did you apply to the foot pedal, was it all the way to the floorboards or just a continuous graduated pressure. I would think your tires would have spun immediately and given you a heads up that something was about to happen? Not having the car yet I have not experienced endeavouring to plant the foot pedal on the floor and I am not too sure I want to try that after reading your experience. Can you elaborate some more, this is fascinating for me and I am really thankful for you bringing up this point. Did you have an auto tranny?

Cheers, John, AKA, tin-man

Nice post Tom and thanks.
 

This is great stuff and is very helpful and is now assimilated. BTW what's YMMV, I am not too good at acronyms?

Cheers, John,AKA, tin-man

John,

Yeah. I came across a brand new building complex being built in the forest, outside of town. Halfway completed, absolutely deserted. I figured the huge parking lot behind the complex was the best opportunity to open up my Cobra for the first time and see what Keith Craft had built me.

From a 25 mph roll in 2nd…pointing dead ahead…floored it, After a couple seconds of sound and fury, I was at the other end of the lot. Could smell smoke, but didn’t really see any. Slowly looped around & tried it again. Same deal…was thinking this isn’t so bad. Figured I’d give it one last shot before moving on. This time a gassed it a tad too soon (wasn’t exactly pointing straight). I got a second of sound & fury, and then felt the back end powering by. Immediately lifted and turned into the slide, but the rear end didn’t seem too interested in staying put. Even after lifting, the back end kept sliding (hoping?) as I exited the parking lot sideways and looped around in the dirt.

Other than some dust in the car, nothing damaged but my ego. I did learn my lesson.

It really does say “respect me or I will kill you”.

Bob

YMMV = your mileage may vary (aka. You may get different results than me)

Every time I read this thread I ask myself if I really have the stones to own a Cobra. My experience with a TTO spin-out was many years ago in a 150 HP Datsun 2000 roadster with hard tires, a roll bar, and no seatbelts. Same length wheelbase as a Cobra as I recall.

It frightens me to think of what I might do in a vehicle with 3-4 times the TQ and HP.

Ahhh, my Datsun 2000....
 

I owned a Datsun 2000 as a youngster. I can tell you that it was much harder to drive safely than my Cobra. BTW, I, too, spun my Datsun out because of TTO. It came on much quicker, and was harder to anticpate, than my Cobra. You simply could not brake in the corners with that car.

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...datsun2000.jpg

tin-man,

YMMV = your mileage may vary

Tom

Look familiar?

http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/pict...pictureid=5425

[QUOTEWhen, yeah, when I finally get my Cobra I want to have as much forewarned knowledge on this subject as I can retain, in addition to going to the Bondurant Driving Schools in Phoenix to get seat time and advice. One of my biggest concerns is what happens when the Bowler 4R70W auto tranny does a down shift and understanding the subsequent affect it will have while driving. If this causes a TTO, then I be F***** big time, thus my request for understanding.
][/quote]

Asking for help and knowledge is good,but without seat time, you can never really know...With that said,you have the right approach going to the Bondurant school, I highly recommend it.There you will learn where the limits are and how to deal with them once your past them.You will learn more there or any other driving school in one day than you can possibly learn on a computer in a lifetime..They will teach you when to upshift/downshift/brake and apply throttle and more importantly, when NOT TO!!!!!!!!!!!

Once you go thru a school, best adivse is to find your local Autocross club and go at it....Slower speeds and a controlled enviroment and you will safely learn tons about your car and your ablility in it..........
been there, done that, at speeds over 100mph in racing situations...

David