I recently has a prang in my My1999 UK scoob.

I attacked a sharp left hander in 2nd gear (whilst accelerating), suddenly it started to over steer so I turned into the slide to correct and nothing happened.
The car just pirouetted into a lamp post.
Consquently I'm now driving round like a granny.
Which is a shame since I love my car.

Can anybody tell me what I should have done in this situation?

Or has anybody been in a similar situation?

Any general comments?

 

Go Slower. Sounds like it should have understeered there. You were probably a bit unlucky.

TBH though, controlling oversteer does take practise so there is a big difference between turning into a slide and actually being in control of the car. Practice on track to get your confidence up again. Not much to hit at some tracks.

 

generally if you slowly come off the throttle and slowly, you'll be able to correct your wheel to match without penduluming/catapulting the opposite side. But when I say slow, I dont mean wait till its all over, I mean, slower than if you would in a situation by most drivers caught unaware - that is, sudden lift off...

As N1 said, you'll get a better feel with a few flicks around a wet pan

Oh yes, of course - slow in fast out in an AWD car, not the other way around.

 

Book a day with Andy Walsh @ Carlimits.

By the end of the day you will know why it happened and more importantly how to corner at much greater speeds.

Did this in Aug with SIDC, going to book another day before xmas.

http://www.carlimits.com/

 

As above,

I really recommend Andy Walsh days. I have done 4 now in my old Elise and the Scooby and it really is good to learn in safe environment first.

As for controlling those situations, only hints i have is keep looking in the direction that you want to go, as you tend to turn the wheel where you are looking, and really keep applying opposite lock. Its surprising how much lock you do need to apply to get the car straight again. I also tend to left foot brake all the way through corners and apply throttle on the exit. Once you take your foot off the brake during a corner or apply throttle you are changing the weight and force when cornering and in fact create understeer.

Cheers

Ash

 

www.graham-walsh.com/carlimits/carlimits.wmv

 

Evening,

Cool thats the preview vid from Andy's DVD,that left hander is tricky as well.

Anyway that link is from my mate Grahams site who i did a few of the driving days with. Here's a link to some of the pics from the day.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/asherssite/walshindex.html

Cheers

Ash

 

you mention you were accelerating. if it oversteered and you suddenly lifted off the gas then that would make the oversteer even worse.

you could always ask the expert himself
http://www.carlimits.com/forum/

there another preview video out as well
http://www.dpmracing.co.uk/bendingtherules01.wmv

 

Not necessarily at slow speeds. Lift off oversteer requires weight transfer to the front. 2nd gear tight corner would be quite slow.

You should have lifted off in a controlled manner and at the same time turned into the slide.

If it had happened at higher speed, there is unlikely to be much you could do, because to be honest, you really need some instruction if you can't figure out what went wrong.

 

The biggest mistake people tend to make when a 4wd starts to drift is that they steer in to the slide as you would in a rear wheel drive car. If you do this in a 4wd car and power on whilst on opposite lock, as the front wheels grip the car will turn violently the way you are steering. So, if your 4wd car steps out sideways maintain a balanced throttle a neutral steering position and technically the car should come back in to line.

 

wish i knew that before i slamed into a foot tall kerb (and cleared it landing on the other side of the dual carrageway facing on coming traffic ) fooking everything suspension wise and costing £1019 (cheers scoobyclinic) + wheels

 

ditto! Wish I had known that before hitting the curb, bouncing back into the road headlong into an oncoming RS Turbo and then both smashing into the side of a pub - two right offs! Mine was a MY98 UK Turbo...ooops. I also drive like a granny nowadays!

 

Sorry! I meant write-offs - in fact I meant right write-offs!

 

Sorry I'm a bit late into the discussion but the reason "nothing happened" is because even though you applied some opposite lock it would have been far too late. The car had obviously got to such an acute angle that it's momentum was going to make it spin regardless.

As soon as the car starts to slide you need to start feeding in proportionate amounts of opposite lock. Too much too soon and the car will "tank slap" and spin the other way. Too little too late and... well you know the rest.

Just as importantly when the car has started to pull back out of the drift you want to start proportionally feeding off that opposite lock. Inexperienced drivers tend to do this far too late and will consequently also "tank slap" and spin in the opposite angle to the drift.

The best and possible the most fun you'll ever have in you car is at UK D1 practise drift day. You spend an entire day in a huge, wet, open car park learning to drive sideways. Instructors are also there to help.

 

Nice bit of info that.

The STi Type R I used to have was a handfull... too much for me, perm 4x4 next me thinks...

 

Agreed 100%.

It's a steep learning curve when you've spent your life in RWD!

I'm finding that less than half of the opposite lock used in a power on RWD slide is appropriate for my WRX, as stated when the front finds some traction it can make you look a pillock if you've got too much opposite lock/power applied.

Simon.

BMW Rallying.com

 

Stupid question but did u take ur foot off the brake, I know that instinctively u will have that foot planted but if so you won't be able to steer the car. Just a thought!

 

yesterday I put on too much gas on a roundabout I use every day and the back just swung out. In 15 months the car has never done that, always understeer into one kerb or another.

I turned into it and came off the power but not altogether. The car did tank slap a little but straightened out.

Should I not have turned into the slide? would that stop the tank slap?

 

I've only had my car a couple of days and I've not much 4WD experience so obviously I'm not an expert at driving these things.

I can't believe how well they turn in, I don't have an understeer problem at all and I love driving it sideways, but it's different to what I'm used to (BMWs, 'Power band' very different too)

Sounds familiar , I'm getting it out of line on purpose, then trying to have a half lift and a 'correct', then lighting the ****** up with neutralish steering to drag it around. I think my 'tank slappers' are down to too much correction and recorrection with the steering , I'm finding it challenging .Would you not have 'spun' without the steering 'correction'? How far out of line was it?

Do 5 doors 'turn in' better than 4 doors? (Narrower front track? The wings look narrower so I wondered?)

Simon.

BMW Rallying.com

 

you lifted didn't you, and probably braked? thats why it went round, you got sideways, but then made it even worse.

its physics...if the rear slides its cause the centre of gravity is too far towards the front of the car, if you lift or even brake you're only adding to this inbalance. best thing if the rear goes is to apply some throttle in 4wd (in fact, with fwd just jump onto full throttle), this will bring the centre of gravity more towards the rear and settle it down. by all means use a little steering correction, but if you use too much when the rear finds grip you'll have over corrected and the car will 'snap back' on you.