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07-12-2007, 12:38 PM
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Yellow Group
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Join Date: Dec 2006
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I love skidpads -- and I think they can be useful for drivers at all skill levels. Just have a passenger screw around with the throttle while you counter-steer -- or play around with your parking brake -- while you try to keep the car from spinning with steering alone! But if you have the chance: take it. Besides, it's just plain fun.
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07-12-2007, 04:29 PM
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Inches from disaster, millimeters from ecstasy.
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,124
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I once had a PCA club racer with over 50 wins to his credit tell me that the single most valuable exercise he ever did was spending a hour on a wet skid pad. What one should be learning classically is the effect of throttle vs steering in terms of balancing the car on the edge of adhesion.
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07-12-2007, 05:15 PM
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Administrator
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Rochester, NY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TailWagger
I once had a PCA club racer with over 50 wins to his credit tell me that the single most valuable exercise he ever did was spending a hour on a wet skid pad. What one should be learning classically is the effect of throttle vs steering in terms of balancing the car on the edge of adhesion.
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Winter Driving here is the NE can do the same. I have spent many hours in empty parking lots refining technique. Iced over seasonal and logging roads can be used too.
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07-12-2007, 05:18 PM
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Super Moderator
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Apple Valley, MN
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JimLill
Winter Driving here is the NE can do the same. I have spent many hours in empty parking lots refining technique. Iced over seasonal and logging roads can be used too.
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Frozen lakes work well too, just watch out for the icefishing huts 
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07-12-2007, 09:40 PM
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Defender of the Porsche Faith
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: MA
Posts: 3,022
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Quote:
Originally Posted by curious
I love skidpads -- and I think they can be useful for drivers at all skill levels. Just have a passenger screw around with the throttle while you counter-steer -- or play around with your parking brake -- while you try to keep the car from spinning with steering alone! But if you have the chance: take it. Besides, it's just plain fun.
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Jeez  I thought that was my point about learning throttle steering your car on a wet skid pad. 
To all others who mentioned winter driving as a car control exercise I totally agree. That's why I ice race with BMWCCA. Learned to use the e-brake that way.
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07-14-2007, 10:43 AM
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Yellow Group
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 409
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I was just pointing out a few of the ways by which skidpads can remain challenging even for advanced drivers!
But there *is* an art to countersteering. You know this, Lobo, but for the wider audience... Lots of folks are marginally too slow to dial in opposite lock and far too slow to dial it back out. As a result, they get more oversteer than they otherwise would have gotten (countersteering is one of the few inputs that should be immediate and abrupt), they then over-correct, and have to deal with fishtailing. Having someone work the throttle while you counter-steer is a great way to develop a better feeling for how to correct properly.
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