Are there any downsides of "death turns" (taking 25 mph turns at 40 or 45 mph)?

Mostly greater tire wear. More suspension wear if the roads are rough.

It is my understanding that the yellow cautionary speeds for turns are not speed laws, but recommendations based on worst handling vehicles and incliment weather of the area.

 

i tend to take most turns at a high speed. with 90k miles on my car, i have yet to have problems. I want to replace my shocks and springs... but i've always wanted to do that.

my tires are usually driven on mustangs and other heavier muscle cars. it corners very well. 45 orange is 60 to me. and 25 orange is about 45 to me.

 

I found I couldn't take any turns above the recommended speeds until I installed Brian's BTplate. Now I can take them at higher speeds. But I still wouldn't take a recommended 25 at 40-45. The chance of rollover is too great. I wouldn't do it in a Prius. I wouldn't do it in an SUV. Not even sure I'd do it in a Tesla (if I owned one.).

 

rollover? at 45? in a prius that wont' let you get sidewards if your life depended on it?

you would have to be trying pretty hard to roll over. you would probably :faint2: if you were riding passenger in my car. I can't wait till i get the front tower brace.

you're right, the bt tech helped a lot. it stopped the car from rolling "to a point".. which is wonderful.

 

Down sides???? Potentially expensive negative effects???

Think about it . . .
They don't call them "death turns" for nothing.

 

Never heard the term "death turns". Isn't it standard to add 60% to speed advisory signs.

 

I used to roll into turns pretty good too till I crawled underneath and got a peek at the front lower control arms. Good lordy are they small & thin. I've seen stronger on go carts. Have you seen them? I no longer roll into corners like its a Corvette. Plus the stock tires will probably kill you. Toyota never had hard cornering in mind when they built this little car. But what they built it for is almost perfect...The ultimate urban commuter.

 

Laughing my nice person off at the SUV/pickup truck that thought it was cute to tailgate instead of passing me for the past half mile. Usually I change lanes to get tailgaters to pass but sometimes, if I know the curve, I just keep it on cruise control and watch the show.

Bob Wilson

 

What's the worst that could happen? probably this. I know the original post said "assuming keeping control", but that's like planning your finances starting with "assuming I win the lottery."

 

suspension wear and tire... drivetrain and engine won't take a hit on this...

anyhow i take turns at 25 to 35 mph.. and it's pretty fun... tires screech .. some yellow lights go on... and i feel the tires switching over the outside treads...

 

Sunday morning took a 50mph turn @ 80mph...no fuss, no drama! car stuck and held up much better than i had anticipated!

no cars, no people, or anything for that matter in at least a 2mile radius (except for the surrounding street signs and markers etc.)

:thumb::thumb:

 

I had a mate on his motor-bike who was being chased by four hoons in "super-car" through mountainous regions.

The hoons made all the corners but the last one...

Also had a work mate whose brother worked in the Mains Road Dept computing those advisory speed signs. According to Jim, it was all based on the characteristics (inclination etc) of the road, assuming the coefficient of friction between car and road was 0.

I was told this in the early '90s so things may have changed and it is probably different in US of A.

Cheers
Warwick

 

On of the first things I noticed about the Prius, it does not drive like a BMW in turns. I am still pretty new driving the Prius, but for now, I have no desire to take a 25 mph turn at nearly twice the rated speed. It is not that I think it will flip, but it certainly does not hug the road or steer like a BMW. I think it will slide. I do have the stock tires, and I did inflate them to 42/40. Think about it, you want your tires to have the least rolling resistance, it might affect sideways as well as stright ahead.

 

At least in the crowd that I hung around with as a "yut," a death turn
was a turn that either had a decreasing radius, or had a distinct apex
between entry and exit sections of constant radius.

Our favorite fun-time activity was tearing up the rural roads in
Ballamer and Carrol counties north and northwest of the city on our
Honda and Suzuki "bikes." I think we imagined we were sweeping the
field at the Isle of Man TT.

The old-time roads featured turns that may have followed the settler's
cow paths and were anything but smoothly laid out. When we were on
unfamiliar ground, we learned it was best to proceed with caution as
there was no knowing what lay beyond a tree masked curve or sudden
rise or fall to a one lane bridge over a creek.

Even when the road was familiar, there could always be some small
change that was potentially deadly; loose sand or puddled water from
yesterday's shower. Much more dangerous would be an old Ford or
John Deere tractor dragging a hay wagon or manure spreader slowly
along.

It didn't take us long to figure out that the real racers had it right;
brake hard before the turn, set up on your line, power through the
apex smoothly, then grab a handful of throttle to rocket out, engine
screaming through straight pipes, cows bellowing in fright, herds of
sheep bounding and boiling like a stream at flood to the far end of
their field.

Although we had some close calls, it is incredible that we never ended
up slammed into a stone wall or tree, or lying broken in a rocky
stream bed.

It would be fair to say that those were the days, and you can never go
home again... suburban sprawl and all, not to mention a fully
developed frontal cortex.

Burbling along on Fat Bob dresser just wouldn't be the same.

 

With good tires the car will hug the road quite well. Not sports car like but enough to have fun. Taking corners are nearly double the recommended speed is not too tough to do most of the time. I regularly travel a very twist highway and I love leaving people in the dust or hanging with BMWs and such. It's funny because most of the time it comes down to driver skill and courage more than it does the kind of car you're driving. Unless you get two skilled drivers and one is in a Prius and the other in a Corvette/Miata. lol

 

:high5:

+1000000000000000000


Same thing doing laps at the track.

EDIT: I'm also inclined to post this:

I also forgot to ask what kind of FE you guys are getting doing the twisties? I'm getting 38ish?

 

ok ... zombie thread, re-incarnated ... but i'll bite. I do Prius turns with anticipitory driving in mind. No the Prius won't corner at double the posted speed as my porshe would. BUT ... get enough gravel ... oil ... ice, etc on the twisty mountain curve, and BOTH cars will end at the bottom of the mountain ... and you never know for sure if/when conditions are not going to be as you expected.

.