On the request of lhoboy in another thread, here's how my drive day panned out yesterday.

We decided to have a boys day driving through the beautiful Yarra Valley ranges, to the northeast of Melbourne, stopping first in the lovely country town of Marysville and then pushing on through a superb piece of twisty mountain driving called Acheron Way (also known as Reefton Spur).




There were 6 vehicles including my own. All other drivers were Ferrari owners, although two elected to bring a Golf R and a De Tomaso Pantera, whilst the others brought a Dino, a 308 and a 355.











It was a VERY wet day, but we had a great time. I put the Jag in Wet/Snow mode, and put the spoiler up - the car felt really planted and agile, and I was quite impressed given all the stories we hear about tail-happy F-Types. I felt the rear end step out ever so slightly a few times before the traction control grabbed it, but it was just fun, not frightening (as can be seen from the top photo, if you come off this road, you are going to hit something for sure).

We stopped for a stretch and a drink (just one!) at the pretty Reefton Hotel. After the Ferrari boys had all engaged in the obligatory "my cars better than yours" banter (and, I might add, all complimented me on what a beautiful car the F-Type is ), we all prepared to depart.

The Reefton Hotel is on a bit of a side road - to exit, you drive out and turn left or right on to the main road, as seen here... (These are just dry weather photos from Google Street View)







We were all leaving and turning to the left. For the pictures that follow, all you guys remember, we drive on the left side here (read "the correct side" if you're driving a Jag ).

As you can see above, the road has a small curve to the left, where it crosses a bridge. The DTP turned on to the main road, where upon the driver gave it the beans. Unfortunately, the combination of the wet road, the slight curve placing the front wheels slightly offset, and the massive torque of the DTP immediately put it into a huge fishtail. He got it across the bridge before putting the front left nose into the guardrail.







It didn't end there, though.

He bounced off the guardrail, skewed out in to the right lane, straight into the path of an oncoming 4WD complete with bull-bar, doing about 80kmh!

The guy in the 4WD managed to take some evasive action, putting it on to the shoulder and just clipping the right front of the DTP. Unfortunately, he lost all ability to stop it at that point, and plough straight in to an embankment in front of him. Luckily he was uninjured, as was the DTP driver who almost certainly would have been killed if the 4WD had hit him head on.

The final results...








The DTP was driveable (though the repair will be expensive), but the 4WD will probably be a write-off as the whole front end was lifted and twisted.

Remember to take advantage of your traction control and wet/snow/ice setting, chaps!

 

wow! glad everybody is OK. For our Dec SF Bay Area drive (when we had 10 F-Types) our original plan was to go through some twisty backroads much like this. But it was wet and we didn't feel it was worth the risk. Just one little mistake on a cold, wet, off-camber turn and you can get in serious trouble because of such little run-off room. Ended up on a more boring freeway cruise but will save the backroads for drier days.

 

I love wet weather driving, though - you have to really feel your car, and think, think, think!

Another interesting comment from yesterday. I had the active exhaust on, and gave it a serious nudge along a couple of straighter sections. The DTP was trailing about 300 meters behind and when we got to the Hotel stop, he said, "that Jag sounds incredible, and the fact that I could hear it above the noise of the Pantera really says something!"

 

Superb, thanks for sharing, looks like a great day, apart from the mishap of course.

Shame about the DTP and I'm sure it impacted everyones day, but thats life I guess.

Scenery and road looks amazing and great to hear that you got compliments on both the looks and sounds of the Jaaaag.

 

I love a good story (even if it ends sadly). Thanks!

 

When I saw the first picture of the yellow Pantera and combined that with the fact there was rain and wet roads, I thought to myself, that is one brave soul. I learned my lesson in my Pantera on a wet track at Sonoma Raceway after spinning out twice on one lap at very low speeds. Putting that big V-8 right above the rear wheels with all that torque and no such thing as traction control spells disaster on a slippery highway. However, a similar fender bender happened on a drive I did a couple of months ago to a brand new BMW M5, so crap happens.

And while the Ferrari guys were making all the claims, your car was far and away the quickest one of the group in the picture.

 

Today I spun up both rear tyres on a wet road with an air temperature of 4C. Summer tyres do not like lower temperatures, even with the traction control on...

 

Yep, that's pretty much an every day occurrence for me these days where normal is about the same daytime temp you reported, even with semi-judicious throttle use. I can easily avoid it, but one has to have a little fun. I do like the fact that the system allows a little of that before it steps in.

 

The same reason I prefer a 6 speed is the same reason I leave the DSC/DTC systems turned off. I want to dance with the car, not the computer.

 

Hmm . .. I think you put too much emphasis on my use of the term "little." Actually, it allows you to hang the tail out quite a bit, to the point where it commands your immediate attention. I disagree with turning off the DSC in this car on the street. It simply makes no sense in addition to being completely unnecessary.

 

Yes, I concur. DSC around town is there not just for your safety, but the pedestrians around you as well.

 

Foosh, I couldn't agree more. Two days ago on my way into work, temperature slightly sub zero C, and still cold tires, I made a left turn onto an uphill grade on a major road from a side street and gave it a hair too much throttle before I had fully completed the turn. The back end came out, I counter steered slightly, and eased off on the throttle, and she came right back in a controlled manner. I don't think the little light for the DSC ever came on on the dash, though I obviously wasn't staring at it, so it could have. Even if it did, it was very unobtrusive, and gave me plenty of leeway to screw up further before it would have become intrusive.

Contrast this with a few days earlier in my XF in some light snow. Winter mode on, TRAC DSC to allow a little slip and still when the back end started drifting slowly out on a left hand turn up a hill, the DSC cut in so heavy handed that it snapped the back end back into line and practically stopped my forward progress on a slippery uphill. Much more scary situation. I'll take the F-type's approach to DSC over this every day and twice on Saturday.

If you think the XF's approach is the way all DSC systems work, then I could understand advocating for shutting them off. However, to do so without first getting to know the F-type's DSC approach before shutting it off, is plain silly. It gives a great degree of leeway, and having experienced just how fast the back end can get away, I want the added comfort of knowing that it will step in if I'm not an F-1 driver: especially on a public road.

 

Duprey26,

Thanks. It's useful to hear that your experience corresponds to what I've found with the F-Type. The DSC was far more intrusive on all of my other cars, and I was more inclined to turn it off, but only occasionally on warm, dry pavement.

The F-Type's system provides the driver with much more latitude, before intervention, than any I've experienced. I've also wondered whether that might get many in trouble, but I do like it, and it nicely fits the character of the rest of the car.

 

Do you consider dynamic mode dsc on or off?

 

On. 95% of the time, I'm in dynamic mode.

 

Great story and pics. I have to learn more about my DSC in the XF before I become a similar statistic.

 

Was that the route you were talking about, Mark?

 

Yep, that is the same route that I was referring to, just anti-clockwise to avoid the Black Spur morning peak hour!

 

Good plan (as long as we don't encounter any ambitious Black Spur overtakers coming the other way!)

 

We will have had our fill of the twisty bits by the time we get to the black spur, so should be in cruise mode to allow for some of the less patient.