My friend got an Evo8 recently. And I was driving it, we were out on these backroads, I was going a little to fast. There was this spot where my road merged with another, and a truck with a trailer came hauling along, i didnt slow down because it looked like the truck was going really fast, I was doing around 60-70. the recomended speed for the turn was around 30. turned out the truck was going slower than I thought and just as I was about to come out of the turn I had to slam on my brakes to avoid rear-ending it. the car lost traction and started drifting to the left. next thing I knew it had snapped around and we did a 180 and ended up down a hill a little and off on a dirt road.
My question is, besides the obvious go slower answer, how could I have done that better and stayed in control. I see a couple possibilites. when I went around the turn the tires were not squeling at all, so when I used the brake it through everything of and the front started sliding I think. I was wondering if I hadnt of counter steered would I have been fine, should I have let off the brake at that point? basically once you feel the car is going what do you do to get it back into control?

 

Well, since you aren't accustomed to the car, it's hard to do this, but if you know how to threshold brake (even on corners), you would have known how much to brake without locking up and losing traction. The problem is when you're going around a corner and start to lose control in an AWD car, the only thing to really regain traction is a little throttle. Letting off the gas will make the rear pitch. You said you think the front was sliding, so when you let off the gas it probably brought the rear around with it... a nice 4 wheels out of control.

I don't know how close you got to the truck, but maybe instead of braking, just ducking into the other lane or the shoulder (if there was one) would have worked better.

 

You're right. You were asking the front tires to get you through the corner, then you suddenly asked them to also slow you down. The tires only have so much grip...and you were using almost all of it to corner. When you hit the brakes, you exceeded the total grip they could cope with, and the front tires let go.

Do a search for "friction circle." This is one of the most fundamental concepts in high-performance driving. Then read about "dynamic weight transfer." If you don't understand these two concepts to the point where it's 100% instinctive, you shouldn't be cornering hard.

Once you think through this stuff, the obvious answer will be "don't brake while turning." However, sometimes you will be in the middle of a corner and something happens. Maybe a car spins in front of you or a deer runs out onto the road. Now you HAVE to brake in the corner. The thing to do in these situations is to straighten out the wheel and brake hard. That's the only hope you have of stopping the car without spinning off the road. And if you DO go off the road, at least your wheels will be pointing straight and you'll have some control over where you end up. You're far less likely to roll the car if you go straight off rather than slide sideways off the road. Also, you'll be better protected if you slam head-on into a tree rather than get hit in the door.

Emre

 

Thank you for you help, I had thught that I should have gone off to the side later, but that was later I will diffently do more research on this.

 

This website has a lot of good information

http://www.turnfast.com/

 

Yep, been there done that. It's easy to spend hours thinking of the best way to react, but when you were in the car, you had less than a second. That's my biggest support for autocross and performance driving schools, it teaches you safe reactions to most situations like this. Of course, it takes a lot of time and practice, but you eventually make the right decisions second nature... then you ride shotgun in your friend's car and almost die and wonder how he could be so stupid

 

as mentioned above knowing the cars limits has more to do with you being a better driver so right off you were at a disadvantage in the new car. second most high performance tires will not give you much warning when they will go from holding to slipping. kinda of the nature of the beast they hold better but when exceed the limit they let go completely. some people like the squealing cheap tires it does give some warning and can keep you out of trouble. but then again you will never be as fast if you dont have more traction. even prof drivers have to learn the cars limits in order to push it . thats why they track test ,with areas of run-off so when you find the limit and then slip over by chance you dont end up. at the END. I am not knocking you for having fun in the EVO but really you should not be driving at 100% of your comfort level in a car you dont know , you will have no reserve when something like this happens. try and save the full sport mode for open clear safe roads or at the track. then drive 80% sport mode when you want to have fun but have traffic issues to contend with the extra 20% margin will save your Behind when something or someone does something and then you need all 100% of yours and your cars ability. we all live and learn hopefully you did more learning on that day. the brakes on these cars are phenomenal and I would have just slammed on the brakes hard to scrub speed before the corner then you could have been on the gas or at least had neutral speed when you entered the corner. its always better to get your braking done before the turn so you can spend you time in the corner driving and on the gas looking for the fastest exit. if you always think in these terms you will have more fun and less problems to overcome. enjoy

 

You hit a 180 because you were powering through the corner and when you hit the brakes you moved your weight distribution from the rear tires to the front tires. This unloaded the rear and centrifical force dictated the rest. Lesson: don't brake in corners. Solution: Corners - in slower always equals out faster. Also, watch out for trucks.

Cody

 

Most commonly used phrase in racing schools. Abbreviated "slow to go fast"

 

Not to be an *** about anything but I think you better get a couple more years of driving experience under your belt before you try any of this go fast stuff again. Judging (relative) speed and position is perhaps the most basic skills you need in (performance) driving and it looks to me that you're lacking those. By mid turn you should've realized that the truck was going slower than you thought and you should've slowed down then but instead you kept gassing and had to jam on the brake the last second in order to avoid contact?

And to answer your question, after you braked hard and the tail started going sideways, you should've counter-steered and moderately apply the throttle, but be ready to correct steering again because those tires will catch and you're going to have to act quick.

Better luck next time, but like I said, you better slow down and really learn how to drive first.