It is where the driver gets his excitement past his skill-level.

The VERY reason that most of us should attend a high performance driving school, or join SCCA.

 

Main problem for spin outs is the short wheel base on our cars, the main reason GM put the computer controls in there.

 

Its not as cut and dry as everyone thinks.

when I did an autox event I spun out. while on a straight. my instructor (ex z06 owner) told me to gt on it. I did. Before we knew it I was spinning. traction control was on. I spun twice. had the brake hammered as soon as it started to spin. he count believe it happened so quick fast. in fact I'm still working on a remedy and have put a ton of money into it.

long story short, I did everything right and still came out wrong

 

I'll start by saying that I have had fast cars since I started driving at 16 years old and I'm 62 now so I feel I have a fair amount of driver skill. Never been on a road course but been down the quarter many, many times. I've only gotten in trouble with the Vette once and that happened when I pulled a holeshot, powershifted 2nd the car went sideways to the right just enough for the right rear tire to go off the road for 5-6 feet, once that happened it was over the right tire lost traction in the gravel and the left one grabbed spinning me around 180 degrees, went off the road and into a 2 ft ditch. Luckily for me it didn't damage the car much, a few small scratches on the bottom of the rocker panel that you have to get on your hands & knees to see. So sometimes its the road conditions that get em too. Just a little gravel in the right place can mean big trouble sometimes.

 

I agree with these previous two posts. I know exactly what happened and why. When the deer stepped out in front of me, I had two choices; hit it head-on and have it come through the windshield at me, or try to avoid it. When I lifted off of the throttle slightly, the weight transfer to the front end took too much weight off of the back tires.

It's straight racing theory, no mystery. I too have many, many years in very fast cars, but sometimes you find yourself in a no-win situation. If this were not the case, Nascar and Formula One drivers would never hit the wall or spin!!!!! Think about it.

DSTURBD

 

Honestly, you guys are making this way more complicated than it needs to be.

The "why' doesn't matter. Honestly - it doesn't.

All that matters is that you how to drive the car when things get out of shape. You do this by putting yourself into the position where the car gets out of shape and then getting the point of being able to deal with it. It doesn't matter whether you are doing a burnout, entering a turn, trying to dodge a refrigerator on the freeway exit or have just suffered a blow out.

All the theory in the world is no good if you have never actually experienced the events you are studying - or at least the aftermath. Spins, fishtails, slides etc.

This means you have to put yourself into the spots you hope to know how to avoid or drive your way out of in the future, in a controlled environment.

Get to that empty parking lot - put up some cones and get to know your car. Even an HPDE or AutoX is not the place to find out some of these maneuvers - as has been pointed out, if you get out of shape enough they may send you home.

Empty parking lot or advanced driving school are really your only 2 choices.

On track things can end up happening almost too fast to serve as learning experiences.

Skip to 7m20s in this video to see what happens when the clutch wont allow smooth shifts, the car gets stuck in neutral at 120mph and when it gets into gear it dies and you have to bump start on the entrance to a decreasing radius turn.

Had I not had the car out of shape on my terms before this event, I am not sure I would have been so calm dealing with the cascading events. The car wanted to snap around so fast while coasting it required a violent counter steer - no time to dilly dally - just react.

 

Simple.

 

No, you are not on crack. A good suspension helps with many variables that can result in a loss of traction and in consequence, control. A good suspension can mean better power to the ground more efficiently, better body control, lessened wheel hop, etc..

One thing I notice about a lot of people who do the see-saw spin outs, is they all seem to over counter-steer or snap from one side to the other too fast, and too far which throws the weight balance around too quickly and you basically lose any chance to bring it back to a medium.

Another thing is I think sometimes it is (if the environment will allow and your only goal is to save it) to just let the car understeer with minimal attempt at counter-steering the fish-tail. Often times you will be better off going off the road a bit or into another lane than finding yourself in an ice skate just going along for the ride and ending up who knows where!

When I had my Z06 with terrible tires, I had it kick out on me twice and it happened in a split second and on uneven road. All I did was let-off the gas and counter the slide by about 1/8 of wheel turn, and as soon as it was almost straight in the direction I needed to go, I lightly started to get back on the gas (a cruising speed amount) to transfer my weight back to try to gain traction again, and away I went. It probably helps that I have very quick reaction times and my heart does not "jump" until after the event, so I do not panic and make a bad move!

This is all just my personal opinion and I am no race car driver, so everything I just said could be all BS.

 

Practice...experience and knowing what to do when the **** hits the fan.....jeeeesz......stay within your personal limits and life will be good to you....

 

lolololol! This forum is great!
All this serious stuff going on and these 2 guys break it up nicely!

EDIT: now that I see my post I'm laughing harder!

 

funny is always good

 

+1

 

But then you never learn and increase your limits. It also gets boring never trying to push yourself and seeing how far you can really go...

 

The point is to do this learning in a place where you won't hurt yourself, your car, or others.

For example, a mountain road with a 3,000+ foot drop on one side is not the place to teach yourself how to push your limits. Neither is a street with a crowd lining the road, or on the road with other cars around.

 

VERY well put!

I think a lot of what we are seeing is that for he first time, stock 400hp C5s and C6s are becoming affordable to kids that have only driven fast cars in Forza and GT5. You get your first decent job that allows you to afford a $350/month car payment and instead of buying a Civic Si as your first "fast car", you buy a supercharged C5 for $18,000 that makes 600rwhp. And that kid either figures it out and becomes a great driver.. or he ends up on YouTube.

 

Well that should go unsaid. I did not mean you should just go blazing down any ole' street. Then again, I suppose I should not assume anyone has common sense anymore these days unfortunately.

I think he/she will end up on Youtube either way! Whether it be because he/she spun into a tree, up a hill, or just to show off their new-to-them high-hp monster!

 

I think the best place to do this at, is in front of a crowd at a Cars and Coffee shop.

 

Seems to be the common trend

 

It should go unsaid, but unfortunately some people have more money than sense, while others just can't resist a Cars & Coffee dare....

 

empty kmart parking lot that is shut down......or driving skills day at airport