Skid control

[Izo Azlion]

Very much so agreed.

I wish I had, tbh, I'd have enjoyed it

[HDi fun]

The only problem with such training is that it's not enough just to train and receive a certificate of arbitrary competence.

What really needs to happen is continuous practise to refine the art of slide control and to keep your skill honed.

[DaveyL]

I have to say I reckon I have an above average chance of recovering from a skid. I dunno if it's just the term though but I haven't a clue what countersteering is.

When you say skid I guess your talking about oversteer skids. Understeer skids used to be an every day occurance. I've lost the backend once, (I've only ever driven a FWD car) and I have no idea what I did but I corrected it. Doing 70 between two big walls so good job really. I am looking to go on a skid course though.

Dave

[Prince]

You can't say whether you can actually control a skid or not unless you've actually experienced it. Everyone of us can sit here talking about counter steer. It's happened to me once..but I didn't think 'oh s**t counter steer, counter steer!'. I just acted and then everything was ok.

[HDi fun]

To DaveyL - for clarity, please define the average chance of recovering from a skid.

[DaveyL]

Originally Posted by HDi fun

To DaveyL - for clarity, please define the average chance of recovering from a skid.

did you have to pick up on that. Of course, there is the saying that according to drivers, everyone is above average as no one will admit they are bad. But if you look at average John Doe, i'm not sure he would always know what to do in a skid. I find I know generally what to do, although would like to do a skid course.

And whats countersteering? Is that steering into the skid?

Dave

[HDi fun]

Countersteering is the technique you'd generally use if the car is oversteering ie. the rear end is starting to ovecome the tyres' lateral grip, causing the front to turn in more tightly.

Basically, in this situation you'd unlock the steering slightly to maintain your chosen cornering radius; although there's a hundred million other things that apply as well.

Suddenly releasing the accelerator in this situation can send the car into a full spin, always modulate steering and pedal inputs gently. This is especailly important with a FWD car. FWD generally exhibits understeer when the limits are approached but if you do encounter oversteer you have to be very sympathetic with the controls. The Peugeot 205 GTi's were prone to lift off oversteer - the 1.9 was renowned for its tail wagging ability.

Yet other cars from the same era could be cornered so hard that an inside rear wheel would leave the ground with seemingly no effect upon cornering balance!!

The Golf GTi MkII was good at this.

[DaveyL]

Yeah, my mini will cock a leg when you ride her hard... Cheers for clearing it up, I know what it is, I just never heard the term before. I wouldn't mind finding out what i'd do, but like I said, only been in that situ once so in the future, who knows...

Dave

[HDi fun]

Some training can be useful. I'll reiterate what I said before, it's practise and rehearsal that makes things more intuitive. Unfortunately for all of us, we can't go around provoking the car into stability compromised situations in the interest of practise.

If you fancy a taste of the silly stuff try Ridedrive - http://www.ridedrive.co.uk