Thanks. The main mistake was slowing down, followed by what appeared to be a panicked steering in the wrong (yet instinctive for a layperson) direction.
I know you're being general in your description, but he shouldn't have stomped on the gas, either; he should have held velocity or, depending upon the steering phenomena in play at that moment and the general handling idiosyncrasies of the car (tending toward understeering, tending toward oversteering, or inherently neutral), slightly accelerated gradually just to the point of grabbing the rear end again (start jokes... NOW!). Guys, you should have seen me at Le Circuit in Mont Tremblant, Quebec back in 78. I was the only guy to spin out, IIRC. I entered a corner at fairly high speed, but began the turn a slight bit too early (literally just a couple of feet), making me out of place for the proper line through that corner. So when I had to compensate by turning tighter at the apex, I was too fast for the radius, and I did the exact thing I shouldn't have: I let off the gas slightly. No sooner had my foot begun to move than I yelled to myself "Oh, SHIIIIII--" and started spinning around. Thank goodness I was going so fast that I was far enough ahead of the others that they had time to react and steer around me. You don't want open-wheeled cars touching rubber (draw a free body diagram and you'll see that it turns the race car into a skyward rocket). My instructor let me have it. I was so embarrassed that the rest of my laps on that lesson were way over time. So yeah, I know this one all too well. Been there, screwed that pooch. Respectfully, Adam Phillip Churvis President Productivity Enhancement > -----Original Message----- > From: Matt Quackenbush [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 9:24 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: what a crash > > Wow. I was going to provide a racing explanation, but it sorta seems > pointless after that most excellent scientific one. Awesome > explanation, > for sure. For the sake of further explanation of what exactly occurred > in > this particular incident, I am adding the following. > > There was speedy dry on the track that had not been properly cleaned > up. > Two cars prior, the cat dropped oil through those turns (1 and 2), so > NASCAR > put out the kitty litter to dry it up. The 00 car (the one that > wrecked) > entered the corner in exactly the same racing "line" as the oil dry was > in. > That is the "smoke" that you see come from the rear of his vehicle. It > is > actually just dust he kicked up from running through the oil dry. > > Once he hit that stuff, the chances of him not spinning were basically > zero. However, and this is where the "rookie mistake" came into play, > he > very well could have kept the car off the wall. As Adam explained, the > mistake was turning right to correct the spin. What he was supposed to > do > is lock the wheels left and stomp on the gas. Doing this would likely > keep > him from hitting the outside retaining wall, instead spinning down the > track. This motion would scrub lots of speed off the car, at which > point he > would be able to jump on the brakes and keep the car going straight > (essentially doing a 180 or possibly even a 360). > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:258085 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
