Car Control-How is it taught?

[Racingswh]

Great posts Todd and Brian.  I remember a vid from Larry in his 911 in the rain at Road Atlanta.  Car steps out big to the left and you know in the car it was way bigger than in the vid.  He just catches it and keeps racing.  No big deal.  That's feel, instinct, muscle memory ect.

All of us here reading about this and following this thread "get it".  We all know at least what we want to learn and why we want to learn it.  Some of us have developed skill sets that are far greater than others of us but in the end we all have a pretty good understanding of vehicle dynamics.

So it sounds like AX (Is it ok to just "mow down" the cones after the car starts sliding?), driving in the rain, seat time, karting possibly and my favorite "Ice Racing" are the ways for beginners to develop car control skills.  Alain Prost says +1 for Ice Racing as well! 

I will get Dad to try the first 4.  We'll see if he can AX competently before we get him out on the ice.    

 

[fasthonda]

hey steve (and others?) -- i'd be ALL OVER an ice racing outing!!!!!   i'll run my everyday car;  its a mazda 626, with over 211k miles on it.  its a V6, 5sp (same drivetrain as the probenstien).  she's bone bone stock, and i know it like the back of my hand!  i've got a set of used snows on it right now, and i'd go to a ice race track and try my hand without further urging!!!!!

i'm 100% serious!  who else is in?  (and i'll mount my camera up somehow in it, so i can share the results with the rest of the rtr forum members!)....

here's my trusty steed:



let's do it, men!

todd

[Brian Minkin]

Racingswh wrote:

So it sounds like AX (Is it ok to just "mow down" the cones after the car starts sliding?)

Cones are there to be mowed down if you loose control. I think my record still stands at 7 cones in one slide. Tell your Dad I am still waiting for someone to set a new record. I think I also hold the record for the longest cone drag. About 10 years ago at Hershey I got a cone in the 1st turn and dragged it around the complete course to the finish line. Rubbed a hole through the cone and got a bill for it as well.

[Brian Minkin]

Hey Tod,

Any signigicant story to go with the crunched fender?

[Hammerin Hank]

AMoore wrote:

I think most of us think of it as a garbage motorsport but drifting is all about car control.

Yep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms6F75Vg1...re=related

[fasthonda]

Brian Minkin wrote:

Hey Tod,

Any signigicant story to go with the crunched fender?

hi brian!

yep -- it goes something like this: christmas day, 2008, around 9:30 pm about 50 miles from home, a kamikazee deer decides to leap out directly in front of me (with entire family in the car). it was a small back road; there was oncoming traffic, and an embankment on the right -- no place to go! i braked as hard as i could, but in the 20 feet available, i might have gotten slowed down to 40 mph... CRUNCH! deer smashes the fender, headlight, grill, and hood. then proceeds to loop up and completely smash/cave in the windshield, and puts his hooves through a few inches (my wife freaked out at this point and wrenched her back; the only injury involving this crash!). deer then flips up and over the roof, and bounces off over the embankment. the car was smashed up pretty badly; i pulled over immediately and checked my wife and daughter out; they were shaken (wife's back was out, plus broken glass all over her). the 626 was still running; hood was buckled way up, and i didn't touch that! i knew once it was opened that there would be no closing it again (not without tools, anyway!). amazingly, the radiator was ok with no leaks, and i had enough lights to drive home. visibility out the windshield was really poor (when it smashed and caved it, it became 'crystal like' and opaque on the entire passenger side). i put my wife in the back with my daughter, and turned the heat WAY up (there were holes in the glass where the hooves came in, and it was blowing in cold air!!!). drove the rest of the way home, and the car ran fine! over the next few days, i sledge hammered out the fender and hood. glued and ziptied the grill back together, and glued/taped/zip tied the headlight back together (with fresh bulbs and repaired wires). practically as good as new! i did have to pay $200 for a new windshield (no way i could fix that! ha ha! everything else i fixed myself!) i only carry liability insurance on it; no comprehensive or collision, so it was all out of pocket. really pissed me off, cause i only paid $300 for the entire car four years ago; it really hurt to pay more than half of that now to buy a windshield.... its been a great car; i originally bought it for spare parts for the Probe, but it ran so good after i tuned it up, i decided to drive it til it broke, and then strip it. that was 70k miles ago!!! still going strong, and i'll out run all of y'all on that frozen lake!!!!

todd

[Brian Minkin]

Ouch...That is more story then I anticipated from the pic.  Glad to hear no one was seriously injured other then the dumb deer.  They definitely are a hazard on and off the track.

[betegh9]

Brian Minkin wrote:

Racingswh wrote:

So it sounds like AX (Is it ok to just "mow down" the cones after the car starts sliding?)

Cones are there to be mowed down if you loose control. I think my record still stands at 7 cones in one slide. Tell your Dad I am still waiting for someone to set a new record. I think I also hold the record for the longest cone drag. About 10 years ago at Hershey I got a cone in the 1st turn and dragged it around the complete course to the finish line. Rubbed a hole through the cone and got a bill for it as well.

..............And he did ALL that in the DRY......... totally OUT OF CONTROL!!

[betegh9]

Brian Minkin wrote:

Ouch...That is more story then I anticipated from the pic. Glad to here no one was seriously injured other then the dumb deer. They definitely are a hazard on and off the track.

SO!??............ WHAT'S UP WITH THE DEER? Did he/she walk away unharmed...... and won the battle against the iron, or did it become your trophy and you you have venison to eat for the next year? hock:hock::dude::dude:

[fasthonda]

betegh9 wrote:

Brian Minkin wrote:

Ouch...That is more story then I anticipated from the pic. Glad to here no one was seriously injured other then the dumb deer. They definitely are a hazard on and off the track.

SO!??............ WHAT'S UP WITH THE DEER? Did he/she walk away unharmed...... and won the battle against the iron, or did it become your trophy and you you have venison to eat for the next year? hock:hock::dude::dude:

i'm pretty sure it was a corpse laid out beyond the embankment.... after we got home the wife said 'we shoulda brought that deer home; at least we'd have gotten something out of the deal!' i guess at the time, i just didn't feel like beating around in the bushes for a body!!!!