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RE: I Rolled my BMW: Would ASC+T have helped?

Charles:  I am sorry to hear that this happened and am glad that you are ok.

Digest:  I have been very pleased with the Rocky Mountain Chapter BMWCCA
Driver's schools and the emphasis put on safety, and training of drivers
related to fundamental car control.  Skidpads, including slide correction
and both feet in are taught and experienced, as well as braking and slalom
exercises and these are conducted before you ever get on the track.  We have
had an excellent safety record.  IMO, these should be taught/reinforced at
every school to novice and expert alike.

With all the slamming of ASC+T that has taken place on the Digest, I believe
that this option is a very desirable one for dealing with precisely this
kind of occurence.  Sure it isn't the most performance enhancing option,
however we are supposed to be performance driving and *not* racing at these
schools.  At our driving school this spring at Stapleton airport, the first
run group was faced with snow and wet track conditions.  During our
familarization laps, with an instructor driving, I was riding in an E30 325i
that spun coming into a left hand kink that went over a small rise, and was
covered with runway paint markings.  We were traveling at about 70 mph
looped 1.5 times before coming to a stop.  It happened so fast that we
didn't really realize what was happening until it was over.  Stupidly, our
helmets were in our laps, not on our heads (since we were not supposed to be
going fast).  First run group out in my 94 325is, same location, as I went
over the crest at about the same speed or slightly higher, the rear of my
car lost traction and started to slide out to the right, before I could make
any correction, the ASC+T was on, the slide was slowed, and gave me time to
correct the skid and then recover, allowing me to proceed with no spin.
Several more times in the next few laps the same scenario played out for me
at different points in the track. At the same location, an E36 M3 spun as
did one or two other cars.  In other locations other cars spun.  None of the
cars that I heard about that spun were equipped with ASC+T, some had LSD,
some were open. 

A similar scenario to the one that was described by Charles occured with me
and my car outside the boundaries of the driver school: fast corner, high
rate of speed, little runoff room, (maybe a little red mist for me), sand on
the corner right in my line, car gets out of shape and oversteers on to the
shoulder, ASC+T on, I drove out of it . . .

Now I know these situations are not directly comparable and by themselves
are not evidence that ASC+T would have helped Charles at the Bridge, but I
believe in both of these situations, that without ASC+T, I would have lost
control of the car.  Because I have seen the value of ASC+T at the driver's
school, I think it is a worthy option for performance driving, and besides,
when you don't need it, it isn't there-I never saw or felt it come on later
in the day in the dry and there was no difference in speed/handling in the
dry with it on or off.

Regards
Brian Bowden
Fort Collins, Colorado

94 BMW 325is (Missed yesterday's hail storm :)!!!!)
95 Jeep Grand Cherokee (Sadly, not so lucky :()