Here's some info (way long) and a good link... (archive)

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My first driver's school was at Road Atlanta about seven years ago. I learned so much! I can't say enough about spending the time and money for a good school.

An extremely important concept is traction. Well, of course, but the fact that tires that are at the limit of turning traction have nothing to give for braking traction or accelerating traction. And, tires at the limit of braking or accelerating traction have nothing to give to turning. Let's do some simple math. 100% of traction to braking=how much to turning? 0! Now if braking is at 90% then 10% is available for turning. 50% braking, 50%turning. Get the idea? That's why you brake hard (100%) in a straight line. As you start to turn in you start to let off the brakes. Think of the brake pedal as a steering lock. If your pushing hard on the brake pedal, don't turn; as you start to let off the brake pedal, start to turn. At the corner's apex, you smoothly accelerate and track out (ie straighten the wheel).

The other concept that could save your life is weight transfer. More weight=more traction. If you brake, the car's weight goes forward onto the front tires. If you are accelerating, the weight goes to the back tires. So, let's say you're cooking through your favorite freeway ramp and suddenly you decide you've OVERcooked it. The average (read learned to drive from high school wrestling coach) driver is going to get off the gas and onto the brakes. OK, well we were already traveling near the tires traction limits. All the howling from the tires let us know that. So off the gas and onto the brakes. The car's weight goes forward onto the front tires. More weight=more grip (likewise, less weight=less grip). So now the front tires have more weight and the rears have less. The front tires grip more the rears grip less and the car starts to rotate about its polar axis. Yep, it's going to spin! We were using 100% of the available traction for turning and asked the tires to do more by asking them to brake also. If we request >100% traction there will be a loss of traction. What should the driver do instead? Smoothly remove his/her feet from EITHER pedal and concentrate on steering the front end of the car around the turn ("Smoothly" because suddenly removing your foot from the brake pedal has the same weight transfer effect as braking). The car will decelerate on it's own and at some point regain enough traction to allow the driver to control the car.

Some people will tell you to stay on the gas hard in a slide. Well, if you're a pro race car driver this may work for you, but the average driver will hook spin the car if they stay on the gas in a slide. You see this on "World's Wildest Police Chases" all the time. The guy's going 110 MPH through a curve, but is going to keep his foot planted even though the car is sliding. The rear end hangs out (oversteer). The driver counter steers into the slide (correct response, BUT he stays on the gas instead of getting off both pedals). The car slides sideways which scrubs off speed. As the car slows down a bit the rear wheels (still trying to accelerate, but spinning instead) start to gain traction. OK, let's say this was a left hand curve. He was turning left, started to slide to the right, the rear end drifted out even further so he counter steered to the right. What happens? As the car slows down, the rear wheels hook up and finally start to push the car again. But, the driver has counter steered so the front wheels are pointing hard to the right. There is a sort of sling shot affect as the car that was rotating counter-clockwise spins violently clockwise (a result of the front wheels pointing to the right and the rear tires pushing the car). Once in a spin, the general rule is clutch in and lock the brakes. This stops the car from wandering all over the place as it spins and lets other cars have a prayer of missing the spinning car. It's still out of control, but hopefully traveling in a straight line.

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