Hi Guys,

I need some advices on how to control/handle the car when slides or spins. I started to track my 03 Z base this year, and had 5 track days so far. I spun almost every event with different reasons, I used to afraid to step on the gas when car slide, and it ended up with spinning every time. so I started to try to step on the gas on Saturday’s event @ NJMP lightning, I had couple good save but spun at the last session. I have my video link attached (sorry, I post to Chinese website, just jump to 2’45), so my question is, I stepped on the gas a little earlier after the uphill turn and turned out the sliding, I hesitated half sec. and tried to step on the gas to save it, but it was too late. I was wondering in this situation, do you think is possible to pull it back from sliding if I stepped on gas right after the car slides?

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTkxODMzNjAw.html

 

You need to attend a driving school. They can teach you lots about car control. A cheaper alternative might be Paul Frere's "Sports Car and Competition Driving".

 

You need much faster hands and a lot more seat time.

 

I totally agree it will takes tons of time to learn how to control it and why my instructor can dance his Z in rain while I cannot handle even one slide. I am sure I made mistakes in the videos that I am not aware of, I will greatly appreciate if you can kindly point out the mistakes or what’s the correct way to handle the car in my situation.


Thanks for the advice, how would you do the throttle?

 

I thought about it, but I don’t know if one day training is worthy than 5-7 DE events?

 

looks like you have a bit of understeer

 

I wasn't talking about the one day kind of schools. I was talking about:

http://www.bondurant.com/

I still recommend Paul Frere's book as well. That has been a bible for high speed driving for about 50 years.

 

Not sure, but do you know if you touched the curbing on your right? If so, that might be the reason for the spin.

Those painted surfaces were very slippery in the rain. Running over the paint even in a straight line, you could feel the tires slip.

 

Stock suspension, no tuning for camber or toe. Only stiffen cusco front sway bar. Tires are 245 all around RE11 with cold 32 psi front and 31 psi rear. You are right the car has a bit of understeer, safer than oversteer in the rain, but not sure why you bring this up?

 

I didn’t. I stepped on the gas at the same time after the turn for lap1 and lap2. Maybe the car is a little bit faster or I stepped on gas a little bit deeper than lap1, and that’s what I think to end up with the spinning. I searched some spin videos in Youtube just now, as Beta said, if I countersteered faster without half sec. hesitation, it may worked or may not.

 

Just ordered the book, thanks for recommendation!

I live in NJ, I used to search driving school nearby, there is a well known one in upper NY, however when I saw the videos the students post, it didn’t make me confidence that I can learn something that I cannot from the track day.

 

You can try the Bertil Roos school, which is based at Pocono Raceway. They have a multi-day program thar includes training in a skid car.

 

I'm not a pro driver, but noticed when I changed my tires that it made a HUGE difference...previous tires would slide more easily, yet more controllably I could just feather the throttle and drift pretty easily. The new tires stick like glue, but when they let go, they let go real fast so it's harder to control the slide. (Nokian Zline tires, awesome grip rain or dry, just need to get used to the grip limits...)

 

I'm a noob driver as well!

One it's wet obviously, not the best situation for the tires. Second what gear were you in? Looks/sounds as if you are riding in 2nd along with that slight turning down hill section may have cause that slide.

Either way that scenario could of been on the streets and for it to let go that easy is scary!

 

Me too, thanks KornerCarver

 

Sticky tires definitely will improve the result on dry road, my 245 RE11 is almost made 2 sec faster than 275 NT555 @ NJMP Lightning. And Compound tires will be even better, however more sticky the tire is, less response time to notice the tire is up to its limits by hearing the creaming sound. As a novice, it will be dangerous and not good for learning. On the wet road, it’s totally different, I cannot comment since I failed at my 1st wet road experience….

 

Thanks! will take a look

 

Correct me if i'm wrong but it sounds like you're just not sure exactly what you should be doing in order to control the car when the back steps out. This is off topic but it helped me no end, its a DVD called The Drift Bible by Keiichi Tsuchiya and it goes into great detail about the different ways to control your car, from doing simple doughnuts to controlling braking oversteer at high speed. OK it is mainly for drifting but if you understand why your back end steps out then you're halfway to being able to control it. I agree with Kornercarver, going to a race School will do you no harm at all. The more seat time you can get the better.

 

Hey Sams, I watched that Drift Bible twice, and it's hands down the best drift video! Keiichi plays with the throttle when the car slides, I did step on the gas a bit but late, it seems can only make the consequence worse...so I was wondering if I stepped on the gas right after car slided can recover it? While after Beta's advice, I think counter steer faster without that half sec hesitation may be better? Anyway, seat time is the key!

 

I don't think giving more gas would have helped, I think too much gas is the reason you spun. To save it you would have needed to let off the throttle and counter steer right when it stepped out, and then started giving gas again right before you straightened out. In the video it appears that you noticed it stepping out fairly fast considering it was wet, and it's harder to feel it come out in the rain. If you watch the video closely, when you counter steer back to the left(right after the back end steps out) you get to a point where YOU can't physically turn the wheel enough/or fast enough and you hold the wheel in place for a split second, then you let go and the steering wheel spun wild and you slid off the track. Cars naturally want to straighten out, if you get oversteer and let go of the steering wheel the car will do most of the work for you. So right before you got to the point that you couldn't turn the wheel anymore(because of human arm design flaws) you should have let go and caught the wheel after it spun 1/2 to a full rotation, depending on turn/how much over steer. It's something you'll have to play with and something you'll learn from experience.