RE: Porsche spin-out

["Ev Micou" <mdg36@domain.elided>]

scott- the best analogy i ever heard about driving the 911 series is that
it's like driving a sledge hammer--HANDLE FIRST!  ev

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-alfa@domain.elided [mailto:owner-alfa@domain.elided]On Behalf Of
Scott Fisher
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 10:23 AM
To: David Cuadra; alfa-digest@domain.elided
Subject: Re: Porsche spin-out


--- David Cuadra <cuadra@domain.elided> wrote:
> What exactly happened to this car?  Is a
> rear-engine/rear-drive layout a
> bad idea in such weather conditions?

Not inherently.  The rear weight bias is actually an
advantage in getting initial traction in bad
conditions.  It only becomes a problem when
inexperienced drivers make the classic mistake of
lifting in a corner, and that's when all hell breaks
loose.

"Lifting in a corner," for those unfamiliar with the
term, refers to the common, virtually instinctive
practice of going into a curve a little quickly,
thinking "hey, I better slow down" after you have
already started turning, and then either getting off
the gas or actually pressing the brakes.  This raises
the rear end of the car, changes the rear suspension
geometry, and in a rear-engined car, the weight of the
engine at the rear acts like a pendulum and makes the
car swing around.

There are a lot of things that can exaggerate this
natural tendency, including suspension alignment, tire
condition (including pressure, tread depth, and even
the nature of the tire itself -- many high-grip track
tires are downright dangerous in the wet, right,
Tess?), bushing condition, and probably more.

> A white 911S pulled up only a few minutes behind me.
> Now this Porsche obviously had no difficulties in
> the cold, wet twisties. What gives?

My guess is it's the nut behind the wheel.  One thing
you learn early on with a Porsche (or you trade it in)
is that the ONLY way to approach a corner is to brake
carefully in a straight line, then use power to pull
you out -- "slow in, fast out" is the absolute order
of the day.  I haven't driven a 911, but I spent most
of the weekend working on my '61 356, with happy
results (clutch cable replaced, throttle linkage freed
up, it now goes the way Dr. P and the Maestro
intended).  One of the things I have come to love
about driving the 356 is the way it feels when you get
a corner RIGHT -- it's as if the gas pedal is actually
a rheostat for a big electromagnet that sucks the back
end down farther the harder I push.

So I suspect that this driver got spooked by something
on the road or in the traffic, braked and swerved, and
the laws of physics took over.  Applying too MUCH
power in a corner can also, of course, result in the
horizontal pendulum effect, but it doesn't sound like
the driver you saw was doing that.  (And with only a
little over 80 bhp at the rear wheels in my 356, it's
not something I normally have to worry about...:-)

For the record, the last two cars I saw do 360s on
public roads in the DRY were a BMW 325i
(front-engined/rwd, but the sickle-shaped rear control
arms suggest a possible excuse) and a VW Jetta, both
on straight stretches of freeway at what appeared to
be the speed limit.  In both cases, the driver braked
hard and pulled the wheel at the same time, and the
car swapped ends before the driver could correct.
Since the Jetta is, like your 164,
front-engined/front-wheel drive, that layout doesn't
make the car immune from driver error.

As a final note: you'll never know what your car does
at the limit unless you put it there (and hopefully
bring it back).  The best, safest, and most enjoyable
way to do that is with high-performance driving
instruction, either through a private driving school
(Skip Barber, Bob Bondurant, etc.), a competition
driving school such as that held by the SCCA, or
through marque-club track events such as those held by
AROC chapters around the U.S.  AROO is having one this
Saturday, in fact, March 23 at Portland International
Raceway.  It's only ten hours from Mt. View, David --
come on up and join us!

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
.
Yahoo! Sports - live college hoops coverage
http://sports.yahoo.com/

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