Another Scary moment at Spa - Sideways at 110mph through Blanchimont 2

So the OP was the instructor in the clip?

I do have to ask, why did you reach for the steering wheel? Was it something you've been taught to do as an instructor (if so, why? Interfering with a driver in such a situation seems strange, especially when I'm struggling to see what you really could have done at 110MPH with one hand :D) or just panic setting in? ;).
 
Housey said:
I can tell you for a fact he knows a hell of a lot more about driving a car on a race circuit than you my friend, be it sideways or not. I base this on the fact I know Maxx, have used his excellent training skills............and your posts in this thread.
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And thats from Mr 'Brooklands Drift King' himself :)

Maxx
 
Joshy said:
So the OP was the instructor in the clip?

I do have to ask, why did you reach for the steering wheel? Was it something you've been taught to do as an instructor (if so, why? Interfering with a driver in such a situation seems strange, especially when I'm struggling to see what you really could have done at 110MPH with one hand :D) or just panic setting in? ;).
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Yes,

I've lost count of the number of spins I've saved with one hand (seriously), well into double figures and maybe even 3 (lots of opportunity over 20 years). Most drivers are just a bit late reading the slide and so would be late correcting. If they were really quick they might be able to save it but I can generally read it really early and just a little bit of opposite lock saves the day. It's partially that I am in the passenger seat and can feel the back of the car more as dont have to share my senses with the wheel etc. etc.

I also often tell the driver that I will reach over and guide the steering, just to show them the line. The idea is they relax their grip and I just guide them.

One guy in a Caterham mis-understood and as I reached across on the approach to Clearways he took both hands off the wheel ... he also forgot to brake and I ended up holding it in a drift round the outside of Clearways with one hand ... could prob only do in a Caterham though :)

Maxx
 
Good training for this sort of thing is the 'Car Limits' courses run by ex F1 Test Driver Andy Walsh.

One of the exercises involves taking a corner at a speed which will send the car into oversteer (about 80-85mph in an Elise). Just before you turn you take both feet off the pedals, place one finger on the left hand spoke of the steering wheel and turn into the (left hand) corner and as the back steps out you control it with the one finger on the wheel.

It takes (quite) a few go's but pretty much everyone manages to do this in the 1-1.5hrs Andy spends on it with you (across 4 drivers).

Maxx
 
Much respect to you then :).

I admire anyone who is able to think so clearly in such a situation to be able to correct it. My one and only spin at speed resulted in my body going completely blank. I knew what I needed to do logically to get myself out of the situation, I've read about it a thousand times on the internet but I could not for the life of me will my feet off of the clutch pedal and brake and my hands to move the steering wheel from anywhere other than fully opposite lock . I couldn't imagine sorting it out as a passenger in any case :).

My thinking has always been if you don't correct it as a matter of instinct and you have to think about it you're pretty much stuffed.
 
That Elise spins on itself pretty quick!

Guess he just lifts slightly off the throttle as the suspension compresses onto the front through the dip and unweights it causing it to spin like a top?

Being a FWD pansy I have been quite lucky, when I went onto the dirt at Lodge at Oulton I just had it slightly sideways and it pulled straight and at Cadwell when I had cold rear tyres and damp track at Barn I managed to have it sideways and see-sawed a bit at the wheel but didn't get into a big tank slapper, just once each direction.
 
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Berger said:
That Elise spins on itself pretty quick!

Guess he just lifts slightly off the throttle as the suspension compresses onto the front through the dip and unweights it causing it to spin like a top?

Being a FWD pansy I have been quite lucky, when I went onto the dirt at Lodge at Oulton I just had it slightly sideways and it pulled straight and at Cadwell when I had cold rear tyres and damp track at Barn I managed to have it sideways and see-sawed a bit at the wheel but didn't get into a big tank slapper, just once each direction.
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In the 2nd video posted earlier at Combe?

Yes, a couple of things caused the initial oversteer but it was the lift that caused the spin.

There is a bump on the apex, quite a substantial one and when you go over that the front get light first then as the back goes over it, it gets light also. Fronts not a problem, just a hint of understeer but the rear being under power caused a momentary loss of traction which gives way to wheelspin as the tyre re-makes contact with the surface. May have got away with it in a N/A car but with the Supercharger charging up it makes this worse as you also get an extra dollop of power.

Neither spin was of any real concern as it happened at the apex of the corner so the car heading down the track and there was a lot of room on the exit.

Maxx
 
Combe is particuarly bumpy, pretty much everywhere. If you look at the right hand side of the video I show the 'vertical acceleration', it's never static.

The Data-logger was centrally mounted so the accelerometers don't really show how much the bumps effect the rear of the car. You can perhaps see the bump/rise better in the external video at the end.

Single or 2-way dampers won't really damp these type of bumps, for that you need 3 way dampers which have a setting for 'fast bump'.

Maxx
 
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