Late braking ABS

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

I have even worse news for us Walter Mitty racer types, apparently most of 
us can't even beat fully locked wheels on dry pavement with any amount of 
cadence or threshold braking or stab and steer, let alone beat our ABS. 
True threshold braking is very difficult indeed and generally on dry 
pavement with street tires lock 'em up and you'll stop sooner. It is of 
course a different matter if you have a few feet less braking room than 
it'll take you to stop, then the lock up routine is a wee bit pointless 
unless you have no road room either. To steer you must release the brakes 
so stab and steer apparently works best for most of us with any presence of 
mind in the "cockpit". Cadence or threshold braking is particularly 
challenging in those situations that demand it most, as in "holy je**s what 
the Hell is that guy doing???!##*".

Now, I rarely even invoke the ABS on dry or wet pavement, not being a fan 
of the holy sh*t style of driving fast on the street. However, on ice and 
snow I've been known to try everything including a little cross country 
front lawn mowing, sidewalk driving, and generally trying to keep the sound 
of crunching metal to a bare minimum. I believe in ABS ,especially in 
adverse traction situations and in emergencies where all your brain power 
should be concentrating on situational awareness, not how to minimize 
theoretical stopping distances, however I also am convinced by Road & 
Track's excellent article published some time ago in which they 
rediscovered what Audi has known all along, ABS doesn't work particularly 
well on some loose surfaces such as snow and gravel. It does work well on 
slippery surfaces such as hard packed snow, rough surfaced ice, or 
curiously enough sandy pavement, just enough sand to effectively provide a 
uniformly slippery but somewhat grippy surface. Wet and dry pavement is the 
most favourable ABS environment, only highly skilled drivers can come close 
to beating the computer ABS (guys like Ayrton Senna, or Michael Schumacher 
spring to mind).

  Of greatest interest to me was the finding that on glare ice ABS isn't 
very good at all. This accords with anecdotal sources as varied as my very 
skilled and experienced SAAB mechanic and some slightly loonie auto 
journalists, one of whom was prepared to swear ABS caused his test car to 
speed up on glare ice (sure buddy, check out the National Enquirer, they're 
always hiring). I too lack confidence in ABS on very smooth ice. After the 
R&T experiments on an indoor skating rink (quite close to some of our 
winter outdoor driving conditions) I am no longer convinced that locked 
wheels on glare ice are such a bad idea. Steering is often out of the 
question because the grip levels are very very low (sometimes rubber soled 
shoes aren't enough to give a standing person enough traction to remain 
so). As for racing drivers with no steering or nowhere to go, sometimes 
locking 'em up is the best way to minimize the damage.

So, I agree, ABS should have an off switch. However, the system should 
default to "on" every time you restart the car so as to protect against 
memory lapse. Sorry for the length of this post but shorter stopping 
distances AND better steering control are my two top priorities in choosing 
a car. Crash protection is very comforting but crash avoidance is closer to 
my heart and makes for a car that is more fun when just out for a drive.


Michael Smith
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
91 Alfa 164L, White, original owner

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