Firstly, thanks to Miles for arranging this day...it was extremely well organised and despite me turning up 45 minutes late, I didn't miss one bit of the action! Also, great to see some of you again and meet some new faces too.
So, what of the day?
I've got to admit I have done this sort of thing before - lots of times! In fact, I've done a similar thing in my M3, M6, C63's and 911 Turbo so I was very interested to see how the GT-S stacked up (and whether my skills had improved). It does get immensely easier with practice (although you never seem to look any better as you just push the limits harder!) but I'm pretty sure the GT-S ended up being the very best balanced car I've had of the lot (as I think I mentioned once or twice on the day....sorry, I was just very impressed with it!). This surprised me somewhat as on the road it tends to feel big and heavy (which it is) so I wasn't expecting it to behave in such fluid manner.
Some of my previous chariots would be a lot less responsive and therefore harder to get under control when the back breaks away (C63, I'm talking about you), others would be hard to get into a slide in the first place (M6, you understeery old barge) and others would be very snappy (997 Turbo, pendulum is an understatement).
But the GT-S....well, that would start by pushing the front wide just a tad before the back end finally broke loose....a great trait to have on the road. And then it was the way the back end broke away that impressed me....it was so smooth and progressive without any lurching from the body. The steering is quick enough to catch (unless you misjudge the kick plate and respond by turing the wheel in the wrong way....thanks Chris for posting the pics of me getting it very wrong
) and then the cars ability to hold a slide with various dabs of throttle was very satisfying. Because it's so smooth and progressive, it's quite easy to control (unless you're really provoking it to beyond the limits of physics) and pretty much after the first couple of attempts I was managing to get the steering full onto its opposite-lock stops. Getting full opposite lock and dabbing the throttle to hold it is something that I've rarely mastered consistently in any other car yet in this, I was able to do it virtually straight away. As I said before, the car felt so fluid in how it would go from opposite lock one way to the other.
This balance must be a consequence of the layout - front-mid engine, transaxle gearbox and rear-biased weight distribution combined with a long wheelbase (no doubt one of the reasons for it being so progressive and predicable)...whatever it is, this is one chassis that could handle a lot more power given that it's virtually impossible to get the back end to break away in the dry - if they made a GT with an extra 100bhp and 100lb/ft it would be a very fun car to use on roundabouts!
I had such great fun I think I've now got to do it again - for anyone thats got the bug and is interested in something similar, theres a course call Driver Development Programme (
Click - DriverDP) held at Prodrive's facility in Warwickshire where you do all these wet-surface activities (except kick plate) and for a whole day, inc. hospitality, it costs £350 (dare I say this would help you drive quicker than a DMS upgrade lol)!
