stumbo

Hi to all, been away busy.

Scared my self silly the other day. Getting sooo used to the grip and cornering ability I overcooked it. I just love the ability to plant the accelerator mid corner, she pauses then goes like a rocket in what ever direction your steering. I've been playing with over steer for a while now. Going out on quiet wet nights, finding bumpy greasy corners and from a slow speed getting the back out, small amount of opposite lock and hey presto, lots of fun.

But, the other night, on a corner I've driven a hundred times. I was not intending to play, but was pushing along. Back end stepped write out, my correction over did it and before I knew it I was fishtailing in a exaggerated fashion (45 degree offset angle) down the road, before I got her more under control.

Didn't touch a thing, but remember watching lamp post sailing past the front bumper about 1 foot away.

Bit of a wake up call that. I need some track time.

PaulW

Getting on I-95 in Greenwich, CT in an unfamiliar corner, with my business partner just putting on 18" wheels/tires on his 98 A8 that I bought for him.

The rear end broke loose (never did that before in a quattro) it went back and forth then kissed the guard rail.

Pushed the front end in about 1", the insurance company gave him all new buckets for the headlights, didn't even break the bulbs.....he sent me the old ones.

Good thing we're best friends (it doesn't hurt that he lives in NY and I live in IL sometimes)

Glad nothing happened to your car.

pw

WClark

He runs a rally school but what really happens is that he teaches you to drive on low traction surfaces.

ryoung

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that needs to become instinctive is to add more throttle when the rear end gets loose. This transfers weight back and helps the rear tires regain grip ... as long as you stay off the kick-down button.

Since the last thing you want is for the transmission to change gears, this is where driving with Tip also helps. The hesitation between gear changes momentarily takes weight off the rear tires and makes a bad situation worse. BTW, the transmission in the '04 A8 does not allow gear changes in high g corners. Perhaps Audi took note of the Tiptronic comment in one of my three 3/12/01 posts -- the Good, Bad, and Ugly!

Does your A8 have ESP? At least on the street, this is exactly the situation where it helps.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/a8/msgs/3262.phtml">S8 First Impressions -- The Ugly</a></li></ul>

stumbo

But if I am in that situation, I sometimes freeze on the trottle.

Having said that, for some time now, since BMW 325 fun I've been using the trottle. Its part of my favorite thing on the 8, she breaks away but with enough trottle she seems to find super-glue to put on all tyres. Slight 4 wheel spin then like an arrow.

I was also in TipTronic. No ESP (good or bad on 99-02's ??, already thinking of an S ).

I did wonder aboiut deisel, but I think I was just half asleep and not prepared.

stumbo

Where is Tim O'Neil's ..... US ? &gt; I'm in the UK I'll find a skid pan here

WClark

Yes, he is in the US. He rallyed in Europe for years as well as the US before buying a very large tract of land in Northern New Hampsire and building a private rally course and school. Very highly regarded and written up in almost all the US auto magazines at one time or another.

Being in the UK though you must have easy access to many similar schools either there or on the continent.

I took the 2 day rally driving school a year ago and because of the Sept 11 events our class was very small so I ended up with the equivilant of 3-4 days seat time and classroom because there was no sharing of vehicles. He teaches left foot brake technique for controlling weight distribution which is very effective - and also how you get the tail out on purpose, which was not your problem, then using throttle and steering to straighten it out on FWD and AWD - but using the brake on the current Audi is limited to a couple seconds of throttle and brake before the throttle shuts down. Fortunately, I learned this last winter that is enough time to recover control if you have gone a bit over the traction limits or maintain control if you sense you are about to.

ryoung

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is infinitely better than a common reaction of the inexperienced driver, with is often to lift ... at which point the driver will be able to look straight ahead and see where he's been.

IMHO, ESP is a very VERY good thing on the street. In those situations where you just barely step beyond the capabilities of the car, for whatever reason, ESP keeps the car under control, and the flashing light in your peripheral vision reminds you to slow down. And on the track, you can turn ESP off, where overuse would cook the brakes.

BTW, if you weren't in the U.K, I'd ask you to join us on the track at Mid-Ohio next year!