AlwaysInBoost

Posting this for a friend to get some unbiased feedback...

Car is a C5 with stock suspension on new 285/35/18 RS3's. Intermediate/advanced level driver with 14 days under his belt, several of them in the wet. First time on summit main, second day of a 2 day event.

To set the video up; there was an oil spill at T9 prior to this session. Spill was cleaned up and oil dry put down. It had just started to drizzle before his session started, track is damp but not wet and it was the first rain of the day. Video starts pretty much at the beginning of the session. First lap he gets thru section fine. Second lap is when the off happens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwx1A...ature=youtu.be

LIttle to no damage was done to the car, but the idea is to learn from this incident so it doesn't happen again. IMO it looks & sounds like too much throttle was applied before the wheel could be opened, causing the rear to step out. faster hands may have been able to save it, but coming on the throttle slower probably would have avoided it.

I know there are people on here with thousands of laps on this track and can probably break this incident down frame by frame. Curious what the pros think...

RX-Ben

he should have felt the disconnect between where the car was heading as compared to where he wanted it to be heading (which should coincide with where he was looking). He also should have felt the rear start to "lighten up" as traction disappeared.
I can't see the steering wheel, but he should have been at full oppo with probably a mix of moderate (if headed in the right direction) and full throttle (to drift the rear, keep the car moving and let the fronts steer) to try to restore order/avoid the wall. If you let off/give up, like this, the car will go when it settles and not necessarily in the direction that you want.
A lot of "listening" to the car and then feeling out the situation is needed or else you will end up going in the wrong direction, like this. He seems to have stopped being involved instead of working to fix the situation.
Things get out of hand quickly in the wet as there is much less time/distance/room for error between traction and no control - so you always need to be anticipating this situation out of every turn. This is why driving in reduced traction situations can be a bit tiring. Slightly damp is the worst as oil is brought up but not washed away and the available traction is not consistent.

jvp

Summit Point, aka Slippery Point is a handful when it's raining, and Turn 9 is the worst part of the track. There's a teeny camber bump in the middle of T9 that I suspect he rolled over right as he got on the go juice, and that upset the car enough to cause the tail to step out.

I agree with you in that he was a bit too aggressive on the accelerator for that spot on the track (in those conditions). I'm not sure faster hands could have saved it though, specially as the front slid into the wet grass. Generally, once that happens, you're going off.

spazegun2213

Agreed, with the bump there in Turn 9. That plus the throttle position caused the car to become upset, and with the rain, the tires gave up the ghost.

that being said, I cant speculate on faster hands or anything that would have saved the car because I cant see the hands, or the wheel position or anything of that nature.

Glad you and the car are ok!

travisnd

Start of the video, first lap, he drives off line around the oil slick/oil dry. Then on the next lap he goes right through it. Lesson? Don't drive through oil and oil dry in the wet.

I'm always yelling at my students "GAS GAS GAS!!!" through that section of track.

VatorMan

He needed to be on his original line and not the preferred line at that time. Not much you can do after the rear steps out-track and grass are wet-so you go for a ride. If you notice-he was following the GTR and it steps a bit-but was able to recover with it's AWD.

PaConehead

I agree - Turn 9 is tricky under good conditions and the bump and camber add to the excitement. So factor in residual oil and rain, you have conditions that won't tolerate much throttle - or give much warning that it's going to break loose. In hind sight, he had the better line on the first lap - although not the preferred line he avoided the oil.

PA Z06

Mark I will send you a great video of an instructor driving my car for many laps in the rain at summit