So as I mentioned in the new member forum, I don't consider myself a particularly skilled driver. The F type V8S looked and sounded too good to resist, so here I am driving 500hp on city streets, wondering how long before I send my car's rear end ahead of its front.
What I would really like is for some input from all F type drivers on their experience with the car, and to hear your advice on how to drive it. How much can I press on the gas pedal off a stop light? How much do I push it on a turn? Does it handle 65mph on a ramp? Or will that be my ticket to the afterlife? No? Hospital then?
Do I ever floor it? I maybe went up to 4k rpm off a stop light yesterday, and I felt the rear wheels go left-right-left-forward(ish).
So... help me survive and enjoy the car.
What you say may or may not be subjective, but I'd appreciate if you said it anyways.

 

I would encourage you to go to a driving school. The BMW 2 day M school is excellent value for money. Try that one. And no you should not floor it at least not indiscriminately. There are times you can (e.g. Straight line on a dry surface with perfect traction), but generally you want to squeeze the throttle not floor it. Get a feel of the road and the car and manage the power to the traction.

 

Thanks for the input. I've been wanting to go to driving school for some time, but I was never serious about it. Guess I never had a strong reason till now!

 

How do you feel this car is on curves? The guy at the dealer warned me of pressing the throttle on the turns, and some car reviews complained about the weight distribution. Relative to say the M3, does the V8 need to be taken slowly on a curve.

 

Leave traction control on

It's fine to floor it as long as your front wheels are straight. Problems happen when you are mid-corner and either brake hard or floor it. In either case there's weight transfer and lost of traction in the rear. That's when you get in trouble.
Find an empty road w/ no cops and people. Make sure the front wheels are straight. Floor it all you want. The traction control will kick in a bit but then it's fine, you'll just rocket straight after a little wiggle. As a general rule of thumb, brake and gas in straight line and you'll be fine. Of course this is assuming normal, dry conditions. In the rain or when the surface is very slick, you'll need to be more careful. Traction control can only do so much Generally you do want to be smooth with both braking and gas...but it's more fun to just floor it sometimes

Not sure how much the BMW driving school is but autocross is a good, cheap option. Tons in the bay area. PCA, Lotus, BMW, SCCA, etc. Very safe, just choose a good organization (don't do ones in parking lots, good orgs have them at airports on really wide fields). You'll learn your car and it doesn't really matter if you spin, just empty field and soft cones.

HPDE track events. Pick a track like Thunderhill, lots of run off room. More expensive ($300 vs $50 compare to autocross). Plus the risk of damage is very real, even in the beginner group. So you can buy track insurance but it's expensive ($700 for $100K agree value).

So I would do a few autocross. I *might* be doing one this Saturday with PCA. Not sure if you are a member or if you have/had a Porsche.

 

I would strongly encourage you. And make sure you do a two day one so you really consolidate the skills you learn with some high speed full lap driving.

If you own an R model you get the first day for free. The Jaguar 2 day program is $2395 which is probably the least expensive of these programs ($1850 for R owners). While this may seem expensive remember it is fully comprehensive. They don't make any profit on it and if you crash you don't pay anything.

My write up of my M School experience here:
http://f10.m5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=788997

 

I’m with Stealth, a good driving school can work wonders.

I am considering signing up for one of these courses at Sonoma Raceway next Spring since I live so close.

Jaguar Performance Driving Academy | Jaguar USA

 

I'm a big fan of high-performance driving schools and have been to several. The one I learned the most from was a C6 Z06 3-day intensive course at Spring Mountain Motorsport Ranch in Pahrump, NV. Even with traction control, it is very easy to lose control of a 500+ HP car, especially when it weighs in at 3200 lbs, considerably less than the F-Type R Coupe or V8S convertible.

 

You can safely drive the F pretty aggressively. As others have said, with a lot of torque available from low RPM you will get the best results by being to firm but smooth with the accelerator. Sometimes it also helps to start off in second and not first. Either way, the car can launch smoothly yet brutally. You'll only really get a loss of traction from a dig if you hammer the gas and even then the car reigns it in pretty well.

As for cornering, the car likes them. Sure, it's not Cayman/Boxster balanced, but it is so much quicker and for me, so much more fun. I do consider the stock P Zeros to be a limiting factor, at some point an upgrade to say Michelin PSS will further enhance the cornering ability, but the limits are high and you have to be pushing it before the rear starts to come out - and even then it's progressive and controllable.

I agree with others that a driving school is a great investment, but you can start to explore the car in other ways (quiet curvy back roads on a Sunday morning) and start to get a feel for what it can do.

 

hardwired - great question. Thanks for asking and thanks to all that have responded. I'm a novice with HP sports cars and this has been a concern of mine as well. I do plan to take a driving course ASAP after delivery.

Further input is appreciated.

kjamo

 

If you're not ready for an autocross or budget prevents driving/performance school or if you're just interested, here are couple of resources:

1. amazon - $13, secrets of solo racing:
that will get you started and amazon will show related books/videos.

2. youtube videos like these: https://www.youtube.com/user/iRacing...driving+school

talks about braking, lines/apex, etc.

Even though the above is about "racing" it's 100% applicable to non-racing performance driving.

 

You can put your foot fully down on the pedal at the lights. Do it. Its fun. You will get some wheel spin and possibly some smoke!

Hard to put the F-Type sideways with all the locks etc. Its not a Ferrari after all.

As Shift recommended, keep Traction control on until you get comfortable with the handling and the power.

Do the Jaguar Performance day if you can. I'll be there on the the Friday next year at Sonoma, hope to see some of you guys there too.

 

When I got my first Jaguar XKR 175 I could not believe the torque and power, it demanded a lot of respect. Ease into it and have fun.

 

Join a car club like Northern Cal. Audi Club for about $40/year. They put on track weekends several times per year. At those track weekends, you will be paired with very experienced track driving instructors who will guide you through the track usually with an emphasis on spirited but smooth driving. The first 3 or 4 of these weekends, you will have an instructor with you and will move up in the groups from beginner to where you'll be in the car on your own when your skills are sufficient. And you can use any car, it doesn't need to be the make of the club.

I did this with So Cal Audi Club (with my Pantera, no less) several years ago and still go a couple of times per year. (Next month I'm taking my XKR for the first time to Buttonwillow Raceway in Bakersfield with this group). There are a couple of events at Sonoma every year as well. These weekends are around $400 and they will provide you with a helmet. It's fun, you get to meet some very nice people, and it's a real confidence builder with regards to your driving skills.

(pic below from my first experience at Buttonwillow, probably 4 years ago)