Have you been bitten??

[OZCarrera3]

Have had my 911 for nearly 9 months now and even thoughI've driven it pretty hard (well in my terms) on some of the most challenging roads in Qld, I've not yet even gone close to experiencing the 'infamous' 911 tail wag. Not that I'm looking for it on public roads, but there has been such a history (myth?) of the pendulum efftect that I'm amazed that I haven't even had the slightest scare as yet (i.e. mind you, I've been on a skid pan where it was clearly evident - of course).

How many of you have had the 'experience' and lived?

Maybe I just need to get on a circuit and try at 11/10ths?

[n8marx]

I am not at all proud of this but I was in fact bitten by my 911.

I was heading home from a softball game turning into my own neighborhood for crying out loud. Not exactly an unfamiliar road. Turning left across two lanes of traffic my old, bald, hard tires broke loose and the tail swung out violently. I managed to correct it somewhat only now I was travelling in a different direction than intended. Not to worry though. The retaining wall stopped me. That's right, plowed her into a retaining wall at around 40 mph. The damage wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. The retaining wall "gave way" when I hit it dispersing a large amount of my kinetic energy.

$11,000 of the insurance company's money and two months later she was back in action, in better shape than before the crash too. With new tires.

If your tires are old or worn out replace them. You need all the grip you can get.

[svandamme]

yep
first day i got her
wanted to take go through a corner that's really really tricky
so decided that 100 on the speedo was fine
but forgot it had miles, not kilometers on the speedo

so i went in that corner about 50% faster than my intention
scared the living **** out of me , managed to remeber that braking is bad with a 911, so i hammered the loud pedal and came out of it pretty sweet, no flipflopping or spinning...

i probably did pull a stupid face, but my passenger didn't notice as he was busy pulling a stupid face of himself and by the time he recovered, i said, something like "yep, engine in the back... kinda tricky" in a normal tone of voice...

but it did scare the **** out of me...

[azasadny]

It happened to me once so far and I've had my '74 since 6/2002. Last autumn, I was driving a little too fast, went around a corner and hit a slippery patch of cement (water and leaves) and felt the rear start to come around. I remembered to hit the accelerator instead of the brake and the car straightened out. It was "fun" but I don't want to do it again any time soon...

[DonDavis]

My old '71 w/3.0 got loose on me once. I got caught out when it started raining. I was turning left onto an on-ramp and I goosed it a little to see where the "breaking point" was. I found it pretty quick. Easy recovery and a gentle ride the rest of the way to my garage. I never got it loose on dry pavement.

[old_skul]

Get into a driver's ed course with PCA. They'll put you on a track, and if it rains, you'll probably experience it at least once.

Public roads are a bad place to try 11/10ths. If you must, try a wet parking lot. Just drive in a circle - briskly - and then tighten the radius, sharply, and lift off the throttle at the same time. You'll understand.

[svandamme]

Originally posted by DonDavis
I never got it loose on dry pavement.

i know just the corner and just the speed to do it

[fintstone]

If you go into a tight corner or turn at high speed and let up on the gas abruptly in the Apex.....you will do a 180...guaranteed.

[OZCarrera3]

Mark,

Couldn't agree with you more. Haven't tried more than about 8/10ths on the street (probably a bad idea anyway) and have done a wet skid pan where things happen in a sort of predictable manner. What I am I am keen to know is how many times people have been caught out by 'unfamailiar circumstances.

Appreciate your comments though.

[Paul Franssen]

Originally posted by svandamme
i know just the corner and just the speed to do it

Stijn, I suggest you send that as an attachment to
federale.politie@belgium.con

[Carl Bauer]

Yippie!

[MFAFF]

Stupidly got caught out by the damn thing understeering under braking...well it was that or hit the damn guy......

Early morning, deserted French road.....all of about 30mph approaching a right angle right hander......There he was standing urinating in the middle of the road.

The wall was there and inviting and I kissed it with the LHD front fender.....

Never seen man run so quickly with his kit still hanging out......
He did 'hang' around.

The insurance however was A1 and repaired the car.

I still avoid old men urinating in the middle of the road..might damage that paint work.

[svandamme]

Originally posted by Paul Franssen
Stijn, I suggest you send that as an attachment to
federale.politie@belgium.con

correction : koninklijke.marechausee@nederland.nl

[OZCarrera3]

MFAFF - awesome story. Watch for the urinating man!!!

[rvanderpyl]

I think the reason that people don't experience the infamous Porsche 'waggle' so much today is because tires are so much better than they were when the cars first came out.

My 68 came with something like 175/70 stock. Those would have been bias plys. Now it has 225/50 and 205/50 radials with far stickier rubber. It's hard to make the rear end go, even when I want to.

Not to mention that an awful lot of those baaackwards expedition reports came from road testers who were trying to proof how big b*lls they had and lost it when it turned out they wern't as big as they thought.

You can still loose it as people have mentioned, but mostly in poor road conditions, or on track where you are pushing far harder than on the road.

[smokindav]

If you are expecting the tail to step out and are ready for it, catching it is really no big deal. It's when you aren't pay attention that the thing can come around.

Just keep expecting it and correct as soon as you feel it start to slide. No big deal. Oh, one more thing, don't lift.

[ValveFloat]

Never been bitten on the street, but I have lost count of the autocross gates I have entered backwords.

[GrindingGears]

I got bitten twice in my dad's '72 T when I was in high school. The first time was really really scary, high speed, luckily there was a really wide dirt shoulder I ran into. The second time I was making a right turn, I had stoped at the light and just got on the gas too much and spun it. It had just started to lightly drizzle, so I blame the oil on the road I didn't stall the car out the second time and avoid one of those 6 inche high center medians/curbs.

I have yet to lose it with the SC. I hope when I do, I'm in control. Ahhh shiet, did I just jinx myself.

[OZCarrera3]

Hmmmm, valve float, there's something else to try for!

OOOOHHHH, NAHHHHH, too many revs and $'s required.

[}{arlequin]

I've been pushing my car every chance I get. Mostly on the track and other than a slide, I've kept it in check.

BUT... recently on a wet road it bit me a little... I was going ab. 60mph (middle of third gear) on a right-hand curving onramp. Haven't been there in a while and forgot that the curve is longer than it appears. Thinking the curve is about to end (ie. trackout) I'm really on it. Since it was nighttime, I didn't see the curve WASN'T ending until I was way too fast for the curve. Still on it, turn the wheel sharper to the right and the rear got loose (wet road) and it's swinging out to my left.
Now I'm at a 45 deg. angle, staring through the windshield at the wall that used to be on my right. Counter steer to the left, overcorrect and now the tail swings way out the other way to my right. It's too gone already, but I counter steer the other way. Now I'm at an exactly perpedicular angle to the road, head on with the wall that should be on my left, but the tail keeps swinging until I'm travelling backwards on the road I was trying to enter.
Not really fantasizing that I could keep it going straight backwards at such a speed, I attempt a j-turn. Didn't really work and my passenger side rear bumper tagged the wall. It was kind of graze, but from the inside it felt violent enough that I thought I had serious damage.
Turned out all I lost was some paint, gained a few gray hairs, and a bit more experience. Lucky for me, no one was on the road, in front nor behind. I'll post a pic later.
I'd like to think some of my attempts were the reason I didn't smack anything any harder at a worse angle, but I'm not really sure. Wish I had a video of it, though.