Could/would you drive your car without driver aids

Soldato
Joined
21 Jan 2003
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Northamptonshire
I sure do,

I like to use what i call the Stig mode in Mustang GT, turns off Stability and Traction control, dont believe it impacts the ABS though.

Havent been using it recently though :( Cold P-Zeros with a bit of damp on the ground = tail end happy :D
 
Soldato
Joined
29 May 2010
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Tampa, Florida
All the people getting in their cars and 'turning off TC' so they can drive to the shops... are you trying to prove a point to yourself or others?

I get this same thing on my bike, "Why do you need all of those electronics?" because it allows me to get to the edge and not die, which makes it more fun and a hell of a lot safer. "I'll just turn those off anyway if I got a new bike" then you're an idiot. It doesn't make you a 'rider/driver' by turning them off on the road.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
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159,534
All the people getting in their cars and 'turning off TC' so they can drive to the shops... are you trying to prove a point to yourself or others?

It's just internet bravado, I can't believe any of them can be bothered to switch the TC off before popping out for milk.
 
Joined
4 Aug 2007
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Wilds of suffolk
Hadn't considered before but could have interesting insurance connotations at some point.
I don't believe yet that anyone asks "do you turn off the inbuilt driver aids that are standard in this model" but you can imagine if it became a thing.
Punter : "yeah I turn off traction, stability, ABS, everything in fact"
Ins Co : "ok, thats an extra £500 a year please to cover the increased risk vs the assessed risk based on the systems being there and active"
 
Man of Honour
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21 Feb 2006
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29,300
It's just internet bravado, I can't believe any of them can be bothered to switch the TC off before popping out for milk.

First thing I do after starting the MX5, dry or wet, without fail. Force of habit as I like sliding. Tax Evader used to do the same in his CSL too. Some of us are very spesh. To be fair when I am in the MX5 I tend to be going for a blast, not to buy milk.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Nov 2006
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23,712
I don’t see the point in turning it off on the road. But then equally, having seen what happens when things go wrong, I don’t push the car to its limits on road. There are just too many variables.

I mean look what happened to DannyW...
 
Soldato
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13 Nov 2006
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23,712
I think that's an overstep. Do you know that he was driving too fast for the conditions, or that he had driver aids turned off?

No, I didn’t imply that either. But my point was that things can go wrong. Using an exmple of a member was to make it seem closer to home because most people never think it’ll happen to them.

Perhaps I wasn’t clear but that’s what I meant.

Chris Harris is probably a better driver than most on here yet he still managed to have a prang recently. Nobody is immune.
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Oct 2002
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26,810
Location
Boston, Lincolnshire
My Celica has a hydraulic rack, cable throttle, no abs, no airbags, AD08r's and a mechanical AWD system. Add stiffer rear anti roll bar and even with 4wd can still be a handful putting the power down in the wet as I nearly found out leaving Caldwell Park at 7pm on Sunday night!

Even a simple thing that every car now has which is ABS you learn to modulate your foot better and adapt without.

As for the OP. The Alfa was a handful because it had no mechanical LSD. A common upgrade which transforms the car. Back then they were special now every dog has one. These have made the biggest improvement over any electronic aid of the past 15 years.

The old 04ish Astra was laughed at because of its terrible torque steer but after being in one with a rebuilt M32 with quaife they have the cornering to go with their grunt.
 
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Man of Honour
Joined
21 Feb 2006
Posts
29,300
I think some of you have lost perspective on what these devices offer the driver. It seems to me that some of you are in fear of turning them off as if all of a sudden you will have an unstable, unwieldy and uncontrollable car when this is isn't the case. Most of the time, even when you think you are going quickly the things you can turn off do nothing for you. Cadence braking for example is something I had to unlearn when ABS arrived, something that had saved me more than once before the arrival of ABS. Having had a TVR with over 300bhp and no safety measures and a chassis that was at best, unruly, you also have an appreciation for what a right foot does, same with my GT3 which only had ABS.

For 95% of the time in my R8 I leave it on and go drive, but on the odd occasion I want to control the back end with my right foot because it's fun and can be done at slow speeds without any risk to me or other motorists. At Curborough I had to turn it off in the dry as it kills the traction when a bit of slip is fine. In the wet I left it on as frankly even with it on it was slipping and sliding all over the place. At Donington and the Ring I also leave it on as having that safety net at those speeds makes total sense and in fact it saved me late on last year down the Craners at Donigton when I lost concentration and the back wanted to come around. Clever systems sorted it. That was time to park it and head for the pub.

With my wife's MX5 I enjoy getting it sideways because it is so easy and controllable. It's why I take it to Oulton drift days, skids are fun. If you have limited RWD experience then fair enough, but turning off TC for any competent driver should be zero issue if you are paying attention. I also don't live in a built up area and can drive on roads with good vision and no one else around. If you live ina built up areas then I can understand why you might think "why would you turn it off".
 
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