Peters TT

Greetings everyone. Has anyone driven there TT at triple digit speeds for more than 30 seconds? I live in LA and was cruising through the Grapevine and experienced an incredibly scary loss of control, sort of like I was literally flying in the air. I was driving on a descending straightaway at around 100+, and I believe a strong gust of wind caught me from behind. Lifting me up and swerving left and right. Thank god I didn't crash and that the other cars on the road were not close. So beware fellow TT owners. Our cars are not as stable as we believe. I still love my TT though. It's definitely the coolest car on the road. I've never received so many thumbs up, smiles, gaping jaws, and finger pointing from driving a car before. I'm sure everyone out there agrees. And congrats to Brad Willis for getting his beloved TT back.

Andy W

Audi are spending millions on the recall for just for PR purposes!!

DieTTmar

I own my TT 180FWD now for two months and several times i have had the chance to drive mexican highways. IMO the TT is not a car that you can drive slowly. So each time i'm driving over 200 km/h, sometime (Mexico City - Acapulco) i have the needle on 230 km/h. I never have notice any problem with the TT (have now 5000 km droven with it).

AkRascal

The fact that you were "descending" would have, of course transferred some weight to the front. You make no mention of braking, nor were you on a curve, so this is not the typical braking into a curve lift off. Wonder how strong the tail wind was. I had the opportunity to drive my TTQ at sustained speeds in excess of 100mph for many miles on fairly rough road and had no experiences similar to yours. Although I did have to learn to deal with the weight/power shift into and through corners. Well glad you were not hurt. Maybe you would care to go back and attempt to duplicate the incident so as to help us figure out what happened... nah probably not 8•)

Carl

A strong tailwind would lower the apparent wind speed over the car, reducing the lift effect, no? Same reasons why planes take off into the wind, not with it.

LarryTT

I have driven my 180TTQ at triple digit speeds for an hour at a time without any ill handling problems cropping up. As Ak already pointed out it could have been the fact that you were going down hill for an extended period of time and maybe you lifted slightly and it felt like the car got loose. I have driven in similar situations and have not felt this sensation.

Larry
180TTQ (top speed 128mph . . .so far)

mne

and its unsettling at least. Feels like the car is floating and light... high on its suspension, kinda skimming across the pavement. Doesnt do it everytime and I'm inclined to think its cross-wind influenced. I doubtt any wind caught up with you from behind and overtook you at 100+mph. That wind woulda had to been gusting WELL over 100mph to even catch you, and LOTS more to overtake you. I think at those speeds unspoilerd the car is light and if crosswinds are gusting at 15-50mph or so it contributes to additional lift by getting under the car. Soon as I experienced it I got off the gas right away and felt the car settle back in and get "heavier" feeling as it slowed down. Its a very scary and helpless feeling allowing the car to coast back into its stable-feel-speed from that kinda velocity, but you dare NOT touch the brakes at those speeds/conditions to help it slow down faster. I spent week one time decelerating from 138 to 85... in those situations time indeed does stand still.

Brad Willis

Someone I know has driven his/her TT at over 140 mph twice. This is against my recommendation because those speeds are both dangerous and very illegal. From what I understand, the TT felt very "light" at these speeds, and not at all "pinned down". Obviously this is a combination of aerodynamics and light rear weight distribution.

If I were going to drive at those types of speeds, I would want the spoiler, despite the less attractive appearance. However, for everyday U.S. driving, the non-spoiled TT should be just fine.

Marius B

Some thoughts:

"Stable" is what we want in a car designed for safe, undemanding transport, with no pretense of fun in the handling department. Usually such a car would be rather soft and massively understeering, being able to absorb bumbs without jolting the car off line, even at high speeds, and NEVER turning more than the driver intended, especially on a straight piece of road. Besides, these cars will tell eager drivers to chill it, in VERY loud language, using messages like severe roll and scrubbing front tyres, but NEVER jiggling the bum about, because that is the scariest body language in the book.

Now, in an extreme sports car, we want a firm chassis that will point where we point it, meaning if we point it sideways we would like it to keep pointing that way, not nosing back to straight ahead on its own. The downside, obviously, is that if a road bump takes advantage of the taut suspension and manages to yank the car sideways a bit, this car will need competent driver assistance to get back in line. Of the many cars I've owned and driven, only the best ones would give me such hairy moments from time to time.

About wind: most cars get a bit of lift with speed. A burst of tailwind would just reduce relative windspeed, giving better grip. So, if a burst of wind played a part here, it would have been headwind, most likely at an angle. But keep in mind, even if it was a strong gust, your rear grip may have been to reduced from 95% to not less than 90% of low-speed grip, meaning you no dramatic loss of grip, you still had a lot of rear grip!

About cross-wind sensitivity: I noticed a very experienced german motor journalist comment that the TT was even less sensive to cross-wind than the Boxter.


Marius
50 and 225

mne

and may well have contributed to my particular case. I've noticed even in city driving at posted speed limits this car can be outright squirrely on undulated pavement. Streets which have a high center crown in the middle of the car and lower, uneven trenches where the wheels ride. I think our interstate highway system suffers the same fault. Perhaps not as noticeable or severe but can influence a car more at extreme speed. Its akin to the sheer panic I felt the first time I drove over a bridge with a steel grate road surface on a motorcylce,the first time at speed. Thats the same exact feeling this car has on undulated road surface. And sometimes you make the transition from smooth to undulated on a highway and you never saw it coming and all of a sudden this car is floating all over and yet its all you can do to get it back down to a speed that plants it firmly on the pavement again and hope you dont have to make any abrupt or extreme steering corrections. Road surface (even unobserved imperfections) will be a hell of a lot more of an influence than wind on a cars behavior at speed.