Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

Hi
I want a low powered RWD car that will overstear progressively at low speed.
So something with really rubbish grip, which I know will mainly be down to the tyres.
Something to play about with on empty wet roundabouts/airfields at 20mph.

I thought a Morris Minor would be good for about £1000
Have just noticed that you can pick up an E30 BMW 316/318 for £500
would this be progressive in the way it lost grip. As I remember having a E30 325i years back and this was not predicable.

Have you lot got any other ideas.

Cheap -Slow -RWD-Progressive. Thats the spec

Thanks
Steve

Danny B

Ford Capri ?

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

yeh Danny hadn't thought of that
Thanks
Steve

MattW

If you can find a decent one:
Chevette
Mk 2 Escort

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

Found one Mk2 Escort on autotrader
Given that Mk2 were rwd I take it that the classic Mk1 (mexico type shape) was also RWD? There is one for sale at about £1000. What do you recon I should pay for one?
Thanks
Steve

Olly

I cut my RWD teeth in a Capri. (2.8 injection)

Lovely long wheelbase (ie progressive), cart sprung back axle, quick rack. Many an enjoyable hour was spent looking through the side window on lonely wet roundabouts, and it was one car that I never actually spun or crashed.

Still got it actually. Pity I restored it to concours and am now frightened to use it.

Moggy Minor could be fun.

MattW

yes mk1 is rwd . Price - who knows, try getting a copy of classic car mag or one of the Ford specialist ones.

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

thanks for the thoughts lads
Moggy or Capri are top of the list at the mo
Steve

IanWatson

low powered rwd (ie Chevette) isn't a recipe for oversteer fun.
You need something with enough grunt to loose traction at the back under power. The only way I used to get my Chevette sideways on tarmac (wet or dry) was the lift-off method, which defeats the point, I only started to learn about power oversteer with my old 325i Touring.
I'd seriously reconsider the E30 route (tyre/pressure seemed to make a HUGE difference with mine), at least try a 2.5is with the LSD - it's hardly a Chimera on the power front and there is always a market for them. Buy private and sell on eBay and you might even make a quid or two finding out!

mn_angrybeats

Lose you mean

Get yourself an AE86, oversteer on demand and from only a 1.6 engine and 120hp, needs to be revved but drifting is easy...........take it thats the sort of thing your looking for...?

Danny B

No he means Loose as in "Loose weight"
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...q=loose+weight

mn_angrybeats

Educated like me in Birmingham ?

what would scooby do

As mentioned above - long wheelbase is required for progressive sliding - I recommend a rover SD1

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

Yes am looking for nice drifting at 30 on a wet roundabout -playing around with the right foot as it were.

Not so much I am doing 70 or what ever.. and then I find myself in a hedge backwards.

So long wheel base is a must?

Steve

Olly

I'm no Simon de Banke here, but a long wheel base car is just easier to control once the car is actually sideways: the sliding back end has a longer arc to scribe than with a SWB car, is less twitchy and is easier to catch.

IMHO a more powerful RWD car is easier to break traction, get sideways and control than a low powered car. You can still do it at lower speeds though, just lessen the grip levels.

How about a nice 2 litre Manta?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Volvo 340, or for go for an estate (240?? ) for super long pendulum wheelbase

Add a pair of Road Champ tyres to the rear for perfectly stupid slip-slide oversteering action in the wet

CraigMac

old shape nissan 200sx ?

plenty on autotrader for around £1000

dome

Vauxhall Carlton or Senator 3.0. Although I'm biased cos I've got one...
Or you could do worse than an old 2 litre Sierra. Buy one for a couple of hundred quid and then throw it away once you've wrecked the rear quarters..

Dracoro

Mazda MX5?
Mk1/2 escort?
Old lotus 7 type car?

Bascially you want something light too so that you can 'play' with it. Something heavy may have so much momentum when the back is out that you might not catch it. Takes more to get the back out too on a heavy car. However there are exceptions to the (loose) rule here.

Anyway, you don't need much power (esp in a light car) to get the back out if you know what you are doing.

CrisPDuk

From personal experience, give the BL range a miss, the dodge suspension & twisty shells make them very twitchy once sliding & the slow racks make them hard work. I would go with Dome & try a 2L Sierra, I've got a 4x4 meself, and if you put 40psi in the rears you can get that sliding nice & predictably.
Cheap RWD Escorts & Capri's that are actually safe to be used on public roads are getting few & far between these days, although I can vouch for the fact that Olly's Capri is a laugh a minute on anything other than bone dry tarmac

Plus, just thought, another advantage the sierra has over the capri is the ability to stop if it all goes a bit Pete Tong, Olly's motor's stopping distances are comparable with something Cunard would normally operate

skiddus_markus

Run 10 psi on the back tyres on any rwd and the **** will be out on every bend.

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

;.Thanks for all the ideas.
Sierra sounds good.

I enjoy driving cars on the limit of their grip in a safe and contoled way.
Not necessarily things that just go fast. Although at 300bph or what ever scoob, if set up right is a joy.

I find that most of my enjoyment comes from slower speed B road stuff. Most of my recent experience has been more fwd/awd orientated - so therefore a bit more understear orientated. Bit rusty on rwd at the mo - so want something I can sling about in a delicate contolled way ( if that makes sense) and then dump after a year - though owned lots of rwd back in 80s I am a bit out of touch.
Thanks for your input
It is what hopefully the full spirit of scoobynet is all about
Ta
Steve

16vmarc

Id go for an E30 Beemer.

47 NAT

What about a Granada Mk1, 2 or 3

Nath

easyrider

Opel Manta or MK1 Cavalier-2.0L ones preferably,they were better than the Capri i had for tail out times

mn_angrybeats

Get one of these

damian666

What about a Nissan Silvia??

RWD, Turbo 1.8 - should be a laugh!

Damian

MGJohn

wwsd wrote:

>>As mentioned above - long wheelbase is required for progressive sliding - I recommend a rover SD1<<

Not for the inexperienced ... the V8 version that is. Twenty years since I regularly drove one and really scared myself more than once than ever I've done in any other car. Did not lose it though.... just scary when exploring ...

Cart rear springs Marina or Ital still around for peanuts. 1.3 and 1.7 versions..... much more predictable .... for those lacking experience, at first ALL rear wheel drives are predictably unpredictable ... Drive one and you'll see what I mean...

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

Hi John
I had a supercharged MX5 untill I sold it recently. It was good fun but was lowered on Eibachs with big fat tyres on it. It was superfast gokart that gripped like it was glued to the road. When the back went it skipped out. It didn't lose grip progessively, the thing was so stiff it litteraly seemed to hop round bends if you see what I mean. Probably down to set up, always felt like a better track car.
I never really pushed that hard most of the time as I felt it would be too much of an unpredicable handfull if it really went. Despite owning the above it is the only RWD that I have owned in recent years so want to get a good feel for them again.

So I take your point about the SDi, it dosen't sound like what I am after. I want something that I can drift about in that will lose grip in a progressive manner and that you can play around with at relatively low speeds. The opposite of my isane MX5.
Best wishes
Steve

MGJohn

Steve,

Know exactly what you mean by "skipped out"... hops even .. Typical of any car with a Kart type set up.

Anyone who saw the big Rover V8s in action in the BTCC back around 1982 when they won it would probably say that they can be progressively drifted....... well those did anyway but, like many competition versions of road going cars, very little in common except exterior appearance...