Norm Peterson
corner barstool sitter
Seems like you had the right instincts - as far as you took them. No flame intended, but you got caught out by your own initial success, thinking that once you caught the first spin that was the end of it.I previously wrote how as a kid I would use wet parking lots to practice on. But, your question brings to mind another incident that happened much later in the 80's. I was on an expressway with a speed limit of 50, but I was headed to work and a little late. I was probably going around 65. We'd had some rain but the pavement was mostly dry with just patches of moisture, not even puddles. I was headed straight when all of a sudden I felt the rear go. Didn't take my foot off the gas, just corrected with the steering. Everything seemed to be working fine the rear started back to straighten out but then instead of stopping continued swinging around the other way. Before I knew it I had pulled a 180.
You have to be ready for the snap-spin in the other direction. This will generally overshoot past "straight ahead down the road" even when you're really on top of the situation with your steering the other way. But what you do when the first spin stops spinning needs to be just as instinctive as catching the initial tailhappiness.
In this little clip taken from a video of a wet track day session a few years ago, look for the nose to first over-rotate toward the left exiting the corner and the much smaller wiggle that follows where the car passes through 'straight' and just a little toward the right, and finally back to straight. Yup, I got a little too greedy with the loud pedal, and yes I'd turned the TC off just like I do for all of my track day driving (and most of my street driving as well - it's downright ineffective at doing what it's supposed to do).
Norm
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