Marius B

Yes, absolutely. But just the motorcycle near-incidents on steel grating or "machined" asphalt, where it feels like no grip at all, also taught me that even when you "feel" the grip is gone, there may be a lot of it left, if you have the confidence to lean on it. But I agree, the feeling is scary the first few times – and ever after, come to think of it. ;-)

PS: In my previous post I could have mentioned that cars seem to get less understeering with increasing speed. Even the TTQ can be made to understeer at low speeds. But it is not unthinkable that the TTQ's are so delightfully neutral at medium speeds that they tend towards unwanted oversteer in some high-speed situations. Maybe the mods will be the better solution for all-out racing, while the old chassis is the most fun on public roads (except autobahn stuff)?

cbobgo

someone proposed as the cause of the rear end problem? Think this originally came out of Scandanavia somewhere.

- Bob

Marius B

Even in low gears there's very little braking power in this engine. High speed problems means high gears, where engine braking torque to the wheels will be minimal. Not likely to be source of problems.

THE BLUE ROACH TT

I have been around mexican highways for quite a few years now, taking advantage of lightly enforced speed limits with what I think is an interesting bunch of cars, and every one of them
at 'cruise' speeds above 90 mph. What I mean is, you get used to speed on a public road, which is a serious issue, you are not playing at being an amateur racing driver, in a closed race track. A public road forces you to be totally humble about what you can manage at speed in a particular car, day, road, etc.. The thing is ,the more you do it,
the more you get used to it, and then and only then you can quicken the pace of your high speed errands. Cars are stable up to some speed and after that you have to cool off, and if you really like the ride, you search how to improve both, you and your car. It is a long and sometimes
scary process. I think that in the U.S.A. driving
at high speeds every time you are on the road is next to impossible if you want to stay out of jail or loose your coveted driver license. It would be interesting to share high speed driving experiences with TT owners that can do that every they hit the road, so it can become clear that every car has a way of behaving at high speed and
as Mario Andretti said once, you overcome the car
limits and handling quirks and tricks.

LarryTT

Back home in NY I have to reduce my speed by 20mph. It really is horrible! One of the reasons I enjoy spending so much time in CT!

Larry
180TTQ

Sinisa

I did 240 km/h (145 mph) today, and I am afraid that Peters is right.

Perhaps this phenomenon applies to 225Q models?

LarryTT

Peter has a 180TT, not a 225TT. I don't know if he is a Q or a FWD though. I am a 180TTQ.

Maybe I am just used to driving fast as I have been racing cars for 10+ years. I really do not feel any instability in this car at all! My truck at 90 feels unstable, but I expect that!

It could be the pavement and the wind conditions also that has a major impact on the road feel. From what Peter described and how mne explained it, thte wind could NOT have come from behind, that would have been Category 5 Hurricane conditions to have caught and passed him! I am sure it was a cross wind that may have hit as he hit a dip in the road and it shook him up. I have not felt anything like that in 4800 miles of driving my TTQ.

Larry
180TTQ

Peters TT

Hi LarryTT,
You're very blessed not to have felt the totally out of control feeling that I had. Checked weather
conditions for that day, Monday 1/03/00 at 13:00. Wind gusts through the Grapevine were avg. 30-60mph. Yes it might have been a crosswind, but it sure felt like the rear end lifted up quite nicely.The road condition during the section I was driving is very smooth, no dips. Four lanes wide.Long descending straight.Don't know the steepness of the grade.
Didn't do any heavy braking during incident, just let off the gas and played it cool. Heart was beating in my ears. scary.
My TT is a 180Q with 3000 miles. And you know what? Despite this incident, I would never get rid of this car. I truly enjoy driving this brilliant piece of machinery. I'll just keep the speed down on windy days.

Peter
180TTQ Silver

Marius B

60+ mph gust of slanted headwind could be what happened.

Lee

The TT does get light over 140. Then again in my opinion, the TT has always needed 3 things; (1) more downward pressure in the rear at speed even if it means that god-awful spoiler. Somebody somewhere please design a better one and soon, (2) lowering, it leaves the factory sitting higher then most sports cars, and (3) the suspension upgrade, which if you read the recall notices carefully is not designed to make the car 'stable at high speeds' but rather to reduce lift-off oversteer at high speeds. The TT is not unstable, it's just that the average driver is not prepared for the tail swinging out when they suddenly take the foot off the gas at high speed. So if you have to slow down suddenly, grip the wheel and be prepared to countersteer. Apart from that, my six-speed TTQ is one of the best sports cars I've driven as it takes off, feels and handles like my superbike. Enjoy.