Losing control of high powered cars

[Drollic]

What's the reason for people loosing control of high powered rwd cars specifically under acceleration, on dry roads, and in a straight line? I understand whilst cornering, in the wet, or on a very uneven surface etc. I ask as just yesterday, an m4 (at least I think it was) completely binned it on the m42, armco preventing it from hitting my car as I was travelling in the opposite direction. Whilst it all happened really quickly and I couldn't fully see all vehicles at the given moment, it looked like it was under acceleration with the rear overtaking the front. Perhaps for good reason, I've no idea. There's always videos online of accidents (the lambo recently) whereby it all goes horribly wrong under circumstances where you think, how does that even occur with the various electronic aids?

 

[Drollic]

I think its down to the driver giving too much gas, which spins the rear wheels and they loose traction, then because they don't have enough skill they essentially are in a skid, a slight movement of the steering wheel will force the car to loose complete control, again because the driver doesn't have the skill to control the skid.

I was under the impression the tc would kick in to prevent the skid though. If one of the rear tyres has lost its traction relative to the other side, you would think in a straight line it wouldn't be enough for the rear to start trying to overtake the front end? Perhaps the steering input from the driver is making things worse?

 

[Drollic]

@Housey

That M4 video you posted is exactly what I'm referring to, and pretty much what I witnessed with the accident although the acceleration would have been at a higher speed (there could be more to it of course). He's already moving in a straight line before probably WOT on a dry road in a straight line. I'm more interested to know what actually causes it. Is it just the slip and lack of traction on the one tyre with the other still gripping? I get the driver may be inept at controlling the throttle etc, but what causes it so much to override electronic aids. The m4 video posted is nothing out of the ordinary and plenty of people will do similar things in similar conditions and it's fine. It's not like planting your foot on the floor coming off a sharp bend in the wet on a cold day.

 

[Drollic]

The thing is, lift off oversteer shouldn't occur hardly at all in a straight line as there's barely any steering input. The inertia should just load the front end fairly equally I'd think.