A&Q about Lotus
Q:
OK, everything worked out fine, but I would like input from others on this.
I'm driving into work today, turned a corner (right hand turn) I drive everyday, there were wet leaves that some jerk blown onto the road. Dense leaves and the front end stopped grabbing, so the front started to slip left out of the turn. I slowed down a bit, which caused the back end to slide left a bit causing the car to correct into the turn. Seemed good. But then the front wheels came off the leaves and the rear jerked left as the front wheels bit into the road pulling the front end right into the turn. I then turned the wheel a bit left and hit the gas a little. The car stopped slipping and then straightened and slightly slipped right on the rear, but then all was good.
Any better way to handle this? Of course I had one second to do all this, but still, I'd like to know.
A:
i normally close my eyes, say a quick prayer, apply full thottle and hope I end up going my intended direction.
A:
The time you have to react seems to diminish the slower you go because teh cause and outcome are so close to one another in time.
Provided that you are not about to run off a cliff or hurt yourself or others I have found that it is best to stay on the gas (the amount depends on situtaion and feel). Without the force of the rear wheels to push you forward all you will have to manipulate the cars direction is momentum. The same holds true for motorcycles.
The snap you feel is acceptable provided that it was not big enough for you to lose control or to start fish tailing. Smooth traction breaks become less disruptive and more seamless to the forward motion the faster you go (with the approprate handling - the objective is to keep heading in the desired direction).
A:
Originally Posted by zen garage
i normally close my eyes, say a quick prayer, apply full thottle and hope I end up going my intended direction.
I've heard some apply the same technique to sex.
A:
Originally Posted by MethodX
The time you have to react seems to diminish the slower you go because teh cause and outcome are so close to one another in time.
Provided that you are not about to run off a cliff or hurt yourself or others I have found that it is best to stay on the gas (the amount depends on situtaion and feel). Without the force of the rear wheels to push you forward all you will have to manipulate the cars direction is momentum. The same holds true for motorcycles.
The snap you feel is acceptable provided that it was not big enough for you to lose control or to start fish tailing. Smooth traction breaks become less disruptive and more seamless to the forward motion the faster you go (with the approprate handling - the objective is to keep heading in the desired direction).
I would tend to agree except I had no front end traction at the initial moment, the front end was snapping out, not the rear. That's what confused me initially. It was like massive understeer followed by fishtailing as each set of wheels hit the leaves.
Perhaps no reaction at all would have resulted in a neutral recovery. Anyway, keep on reacting. I'm certainly no expert driving a rear heavy mid-engine car.
A:
It sounds like you handled the slide correctly. You can't really learn how to deal car control by reading a book or forum, but it helps somewhat in understanding the principals - you really need seat time so that your response is a reaction done without needing to think. A mid engine car rotates so quickly (which is good) you don't have time to think "do I need more or less throttle?". I encourage everyone to take their car to a track, autocross, or even a wet parking lot so you can experience loss of control in a safe(r) location. Cars today have such a high performance level that loss of control happens at a much faster speeds, and therefore you have even less time to react. This is why I feel you can learn way more in the rain at a track than in the dry.
The initial understeer you experienced is best handled by reducing the throttle. You can also try easing up on the steering wheel (i.e. not turning as sharply) until traction is regained. The problem with this solution is that when you lift off the throttle weight is transferred to the front the car -- you want this to regain traction on the front wheel, but this also removes traction from the rear wheels. When they hit the wet leaves, they will slide - at that point you are now in an oversteer slide and throttle is your best friend (assuming this is not a power-oversteer slide, which it sounds like it wasn't). Don't stab the throttle, but squeeze on a bit more power - if the road is very slippery, this may just mean maintenance throttle (i.e. just enough throttle to remove the drag the engine is exerting on the rear wheels).
Hope this helps.
-RWarden
A:
RWarden: I agree you can't learn from reading a forum, but I've driven enough in bad weather (snow) with another mid-engine car, that I've had quite a bit of seat time. But, this was very strange experience. I wanted to know if my general attack was correct. Thanks for confirming it. I thought it was as things recovered very quickly, but...
A:
Originally Posted by MethodX
I've heard some apply the same technique to sex.
Oh God, that could be embarassing. Not that I'd know.