Civic Type R bad handling?

[andymx5]

Ok, this is an honest question not intended to annoy CTR owners.

Do they have Handling Issues or was this driver a muppet?

I was heading to the South Coast cross country on the ZX6R and had just made it back onto the fast road after Salibury.

There is a short bit of Dual Carriageway just before a series of corners and a CTR has used this to overtake a load of slow moving traffic. He is doing around about 110mph as I cruise up behind him.

I decided not to overtake as cars should be faster around corners then bikes and I don't want to get in the way of his fun!

Well, half way through the bends, he decides to brake from around 100mph to 60 mph. Which, despite being 2 seconds behind him, forces me to overtake him on the bend as you can't brake whilst cornering on a bike.

What's the verdict? Is it that CTR's don't handle at speed or was this guy being a tw@t?

[rsvmilly]

Sounds like he'd scared himself.

[andy mac]

I was under the impression the CTR's were pretty damn good in the handling department. Never driven one, but as far as I am aware, the CTR is faster point to point than the Focus RS, (cos of the track orientated quiffy () differential. Apparently its not too hot on bumpy roads, etc).
.

[saxo-stew]

id put that down to the driver. the ctr is pretty good at high speed.

[Andymx5]

Fair enough! It's shame to see someone that scared of their car though!

[havoc]

Handling limits of something like a CTR are very much down to how smooth the driver is. Could be one of a few things:-

1) He'd spooked himself by the apparent speed he was approaching the bend, and panicked.

2) He'd managed to unsettle the car (clumsy gear change, clumsy feathering of throttle perhaps), and at the ton over-reacted and braked.

But generally, yeah, the guy sounds like a nob who's just bought it after driving a shopping trolley for years, and doesn't realise what it can do - have been out with a number of people like that. CTR's have LOTS of grip and poise.

[dougal]

I had one for about a year, I had a Scooby turbo before that and in the dry I would say that the CTR had higher grip levels before break-away, but the Scooby was more forgiving and adjustable mid bend, ie you had to slide the Scooby to go round a roundabout as fast as the CTR. On very bumpy corners or in the wet this was reversed.

High speed cornering was very stable, if a little bouncy on the limit, maybe this freaked him.

[Don Veloci]

If the muppet braked mid bend like that and the car remained stable it sweems to indicate that the CTR handles better than I thought. I'd guess a standard civic might have ended up in a mess.

[Andymx5]

Good Point! I didn't get a chance to see what happened to it afterwards but I couldn't see it in my mirrors after I finshed cornering... I assumed it stayed on the road!

[SteA]

Unmodified, the handling is actually pretty good, always feels pretty smooth when I drive the father in laws, especially on fast corners. The guy sounds like a prat and probably lucky to keep his car in one piece braking on a corner like that

[ninjadave]

The ones I've played in were all friends so I didn't get that close to the edge, but they aren't half bad - they aren't exactly the best things on the road though, they're too tall and roll too much to make me feel happy they can corner well.

I think he just scared himself trying to keep you behind him.

On the other hand, I'd prefer him to slow down and force you to overtake in a non-too-nice-a manner, than to get into the corner too fast, starting a spin he wouldn't have controlled and end up with you lodged in his door panel... lesser of two evils.

Glad you came out alright though.