boy did I learn a lesson tonight

[Bob Lob Law]

Take it to a big empty parking lot to learn that, it's a much safer environment. These cars aren't hard to drive sideways, just need a little practice.

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[Yorkshire_OH]

 

[Paul McWhiskey]

I drove mine everyday for the first two years. Gradually moved from normal to sport+ then to track over those two years. All on the street. I actually prefer to drive with the nannies off. However, I know my limits for keeping it straight and do not race on public roads. Spent plenty of time on very lightly travelled roads learning. I think that far to many get behind the wheels of performance cars nowadays over estimating their driving skills and sometimes have disastrous results.

I am amazed that so much power is available to anyone with a heartbeat. Might be OK except that some of those have deficiencies in the brains department. I am looking forward to eventually getting out on a track with an instructor to learn more about controlling my car at speed. The learning should never stop. Like baseball, basketball, golf, shooting, or any endeavor, if you ever think you are so good that there is nothing to learn you aren’t very far from a lesson.

I applaud the OP for trying to learn something new. Sounds like consideration was given to other peoples safety. I also agree that a controlled track is by far the best choice to learn at. There is a limit to how much one can teach themselves because we don’t know what we don’t know. My personal opinion is that the nannies can be more of a problem than a help if one doesn’t know how to handle the car. Kind of the too many cooks in the kitchen situation. But, to each their own.

I also believe that professional instruction can help develop a driver and do it much faster. Although the outlay of cash can be substantial, the savings on damage repair and vehicle replacement, not to mention injury or loss of life, can be even greater.

 

[mindo389]

To the OP: No harm, no foul. As a teen, I had a '72 Mustang, a large body car, and I learned how to control tire spin and fish-tailing in empty wet parking lots, then on wet roads. It was a far different car than the S550. My '83 fox body was a fun car to push its limits, and handled great, but it too was a different car because of its size and driveline. I suppose, maybe with age comes wisdom, but I haven't pushed my '15 as hard as the OP did. Not saying I haven't done some... lol. As Dirty Harry said, "A man must know his limitations."

 

[WItoTX]

LOL, yeah, no, it's definitely the tires.

 

[MAGS1]

I also believe that professional instruction can help develop a driver and do it much faster. Although the outlay of cash can be substantial, the savings on damage repair and vehicle replacement, not to mention injury or loss of life, can be even greater.

This is a great point. One of our local tracks offers these types of courses, for anywhere from newly licensed drivers to those with many years experience. It’s a bit pricey for a 1 day class (+\- $500 last I looked), but well worth it IMO, especially here in the northern climates where we get snow. They put you in a skid car and practice all kinds of recovery scenarios. I did it several years ago, now that I have a newly licensed driver in the house I’ll be signing him up for it and may also do it again myself just for the practice in a controlled environment.

 

[MAGS1]

I’ll quote a line from Top Gun: Maverick. Not exactly the same scenario but I think it fits: “It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot”

 

[agmattocks]

"... you never had your car... Granny shiftin' not double clutchin' like you should..."

 

[Mikepol2]

...Your Foxbody also had a solid axle...

Bushing deflection in the IRS almost certainly contributed to OP's experience. I got used to slide correction in my solid axle 97 Cobra, then got caught off guard with the wheel hop and pendulum-swinging ass end when I bought a 2003 Cobra with the IRS. Replaced all the control arm and diff rubber bushings with urethane and it was like night and day, much more control. Plenty of options for OP to do something similar with his car.

 

[blankman]

If you get the wheels spinning and are sucessfully keeping the car straight at low speed, your goal should be to back off enough to get the wheels to hook. Dont pile on more and more and more.

you really pushed your luck going for more and more at increasingly higher gears. That kind of wheel spin at higher speeds is harder to control and theres nothing to gain and everything to loose. You’re not wrong to want some practice but that was obviously a bad call to try that at those speeds on the street in conditions like that.

As Mavisky says look for a closed course like an autocross to practice. The skills you gain in the dry will translate to wet events, and yea most all clubs run in the rain (as long as lightning isnt an active threat). Learning to handle little slips and slides in the wet can be really rewarding, but in a straight line pushing it in the wet and going for speed just aint worth it.

This is completely get. I wasn't pushing for more speed or anything. More of an understanding of how the car would handle the wheel speed. I honestly don't think I had gotten over 10 or 15 mph as I was more concerned with trying to keep the vehicle straight while attempting this. But it definitely translates into me wanting more knowledge about how the vehicle handles in these conditions. Especially when I plan to goto wider tires and a summer tire as opposed to the a/s that are on it now.

 

[WildHorse]

I didn't realize there was a professional driver / instructor on the forum. Could you impart some of your experience or wisdom of driving in wet conditions that could help me out or maybe some instruction on what to expect of the vehicle in said conditions? Possibly how the car will react and what my reaction should have been in the same conditions? I am always looking to learn with every vehicle I drive. It would be much appreciated.

Nice sarcasm.
Sure.

Wanna fuck around in the rain, get dedicated wet tires.

All seasons = compromise
HP summer = prioritizes dry performance
Winters = obviously
Rain tires = hard to find, but doable

Take a high performance drivers course
They'll teach you brake/throttle/steering modulation. Cause frankly sounds like you need it.

 

[NightmareMoon]

This is completely get. I wasn't pushing for more speed or anything. More of an understanding of how the car would handle the wheel speed. I honestly don't think I had gotten over 10 or 15 mph as I was more concerned with trying to keep the vehicle straight while attempting this. But it definitely translates into me wanting more knowledge about how the vehicle handles in these conditions. Especially when I plan to goto wider tires and a summer tire as opposed to the a/s that are on it now.

ok good, well if you're just spinning at 15mph and the car is shifting to 4th you're basically doing a burnout (except too wet for a burnout)

Keep it shiney side up and have fun, just not too much fun

 

[Zrussian13]

Pushing the s550 hard in the rain is fun. The car is too predictable on dry pavement. The magic happens on summer tire in the rain. Just saying....

 

[blankman]

Nice sarcasm.
Sure.

Wanna fuck around in the rain, get dedicated wet tires.

All seasons = compromise
HP summer = prioritizes dry performance
Winters = obviously
Rain tires = hard to find, but doable

Take a high performance drivers course
They'll teach you brake/throttle/steering modulation. Cause frankly sounds like you need it.

Im not sure what you think is sarcasm. Im seriously intent on learning this vehicle in all conditions. All my previous cars have been lighter, shorter and not as wide. My c5 has more HP to the wheels than this vehicle and is lighter, yet I never drove it in the rain or on the track in the rain. Im serious about any inputs you might have about what I did was all wrong. Like I said I'm trying to learn how this vehicle handles in all conditions and situations. If you have any input on what or how i should've handled things i am more than happy to take a look into them.

 

[blankman]

Pushing the s550 hard in the rain is fun. The car is too predictable on dry pavement. The magic happens on summer tire in the rain. Just saying....

This is exactly what I'm trying to learn. Currently on a/s tires and I'm trying to learn how the vehicle handles not so well conditions. Especially when I will be going to a straight summer only tire next year. Took the car out on a thunderstorm night when nobody was on the road , with the nannies off. It was definitely a different car in the dry vs wet.

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