Okay, have been waiting a while to try this. I took the 100hp for a couple of laps at Anglesey, just to see what it was like handling wise and explore a few different possibilities.

In the fastest bend on the national circuit the car actually felt quite well balanced, my partner stated that it felt twitchy, but to be fair though I was having to adjust steering input a little just to balance it, it did go round at a fair rate and seemed to close on a caterham (which surely couldn't have been driven that well) in the middle of school.

This was all well and good but it was in the slower bends that the 100hp really suffered. Its propensity to lift an inside front wheel really seems to be its achilles heel. As a result trail-braking as such really does go out of the window so to speak. The problem is that getting onto the brakes seems to cause the ABS to activate due to the inside wheel being in the air I guess which effectively means you ain't going to bring the rear into play as all it does is understeer. Don't get me wrong its not terrible and for such a cheap car it copes reasonably well, it is a shame though.

It seems that no matter what you do short of yanking the handbrake (which I didn't try) that you will not invoke oversteer. The only possibility of it is in the wet where you may be able to keep both front wheels on the tarmac and apply the brakes with some more effect.

I must admit after finding this out I do wonder why anyone would bother with ESP as surely it is simply a waste of money given that the wheel lifting combined with ABS stops any tail out antics anyway.

All said and done it was reasonable fun and it did perform quite well, not feeling stupidly slow. Through the one decently fast corner it was actually pretty good. The other thing though that let it down was the rubbish Eagle F1's. Great on the road, utterly useless on the track. I only did a couple of laps because I feel them starting to overheat which just made the understeer worse. A tyre with a stiffer sidewall would undoubtedly help I think, not that i'll be on track in the 100hp again.

trackdayqueen said:

I must admit after finding this out I do wonder why anyone would bother with ESP as surely it is simply a waste of money given that the wheel lifting combined with ABS stops any tail out antics anyway.

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Ergh :bang:

Great reading, nice to hear from someone who is obviously experienced in track days pushing the car to the limit.

My car was being pushed on the Qinetiq Track in Surrey, for the AI shoot - it doesn't have ESP - but there was the snake pass which I got really worried on, especially as a passenger of your own car

Not only was it raining, but it had leaves everywhere haha!

Still, I was really pleased with its overall performance, and the reporter loved it

Stu DemonD said:

My car was being pushed on the Qinetiq Track in Surrey, for the AI shoot - it doesn't have ESP - but there was the snake pass which I got really worried on, especially as a passenger of your own car

Not only was it raining, but it had leaves everywhere haha!

Still, I was really pleased with its overall performance, and the reporter loved it

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Totally agree, its a hoot on the road for sure and lets face it that's where 99% of people are going to use it. I didn't buy it to take it on track by any means but I just wanted to see what it was like in a safe controlled environment where I could consistently assess what it handles like on the limit.

I do wonder if this is why the 500 Abarth has ESP as standard as in a way its a means to mask the handling shortcomings of what is a fairly basic and cost-based chassis when really pushing on.

ooh interesting breaking news, went round the usual roundabout on the way to work this morning in damp/greasy conditions, lifted off the power and the back end actually came round! Wow!

Only a small amount of opposite lock required, so it is possible to get it to oversteer.

I do think though oversteer is limited to wet/greasy conditions.

Maybe the F1s have too much grip to allow the rear to break traction in the dry?

ThisBitterPill said:

Maybe the F1s have too much grip to allow the rear to break traction in the dry?

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Well the car is in a way a bit over-tyred. It's not though that the F1s have too much grip, its simply that the car tends to lift an inside front wheel when cornering which lessens the grip at the front thus stopping the rear coming into play.

To give an example the opposite happens in my integra type-R. It has a 22mm rear ARB, so when you turn into a corner quickly the front stays planted and the inside rear wheel lifts thus resulting in oversteer.

The way i normally get some over steer is to snap off the power mid corner which brings the back round in to a manageable drift which is good fun but obv not quickest way round, best way is to have sport mode off the cars no faster with it on just less controllable out of bends as the power just snaps on and off which causes under steer better off with it off so that the power can be fed in smoothly on the exit

Tom100hp said:

The way i normally get some over steer is to snap off the power mid corner which brings the back round in to a manageable drift which is good fun but obv not quickest way round, best way is to have sport mode off the cars no faster with it on just less controllable out of bends as the power just snaps on and off which causes under steer better off with it off so that the power can be fed in smoothly on the exit

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Wel yes lifting off as you turn-in is certainly the way to do it. Or to trail brake, though this only seems to have some effect in the wet or where there is relatively little grip.

I've actually got used to having sport mode on permanently and think you can sensitise yourself to the throttle, so I would find it less responsive and thus less controllable with it off.

The quickest way is to four wheel drift to the exit with the steering wheel straight as you pass teh apex. You need to be in the range of the tyre slip angle. With FWD and so little power and so much grip as in the 100hp feeding the throttle in smoothly really makes little difference because if you have got the car drifting you want to floor the throttle to pull the car straight. This kind of driving however does seem a bit beyond the chassis limitations of the 100hp.

trackdayqueen said:

ooh interesting breaking news, went round the usual roundabout on the way to work this morning in damp/greasy conditions, lifted off the power and the back end actually came round! Wow!

Only a small amount of opposite lock required, so it is possible to get it to oversteer.

I do think though oversteer is limited to wet/greasy conditions.

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I tried this once, even provoking it with the handbrake but to no avail, which I suppose is a good thing, makes for a re-assuring ride, you'll have to make a 100hp driver's guide for FF members