U/S skids vs O/S skids

[James]

Removing the cause in all cases is paramount and the first thing you have to do. In a braking skid, its possible that you will enter a 4 wheel skid, in which case the only thing you can do is remove the cause (stop braking) and steer in the direction you wish to go. If you understeer through braking then yes, dipping the clutch on its own will have no effect. Stopping braking and then dipping the clutch might, but dipping the clutch, as has been mentioned, is not the usual way of going about town. Just remove the input that caused the skid, be it acceleration or braking (or steering sometimes).

[VinnyP!]

Oversteer here would push the car wide and there would not be sufficient road space to do it. I always equate my comments on here to road driving, so will therefore always relate my comments to road driving! I think my two ways cover road driving well, handbrakes and oversteers will work but not without an extra run off area to facilitate it!

Inducing oversteer is only really a technique that you'd use to control a understeering car not one straightlining in "terminal understeer". It might not push the car wider than the understeer but in reality the only reason to use it over one of the techniques you mentioned is to correct a car which is running wide and try and get a higher exit speed, not something that is in anyway a priority on the road I 100% agree. Also Roadcraft AFAIK doesn't mention any of these so again not one for any road based advanced driving forum.

Just a couple of things understeer caused by braking is rare unless you lock the front wheels, (If you have locked the front wheels get off the brakes as you usually would) in a turn it tends to tighten the line at first then you get oversteer.

All of these are ways of correcting a skid if you have room to do so. If you have so overcooked it that you are not turning at all but going headlong into a bush then anchor up and try to lose as much speed as possible before the impact. If you have abs a small steering input is good. If the car spins, if you were going to crash anyway it's not making things worse it surprisingly helps lose speed. Brakes can lose a lot more momentum than a cornering car or one on a trailing throttle, a 1g cornering force is hard to manage most cars can easily exceed that under braking. Fortunately it's rare to have really overcooked it on the road to the extent that if you do it properly you won't get round, that's why we are here. Advanced driving day one lesson one only drive so you can stop in the idstanc eyou can see to be clear. Follow this and it's unlikely to happen to you except in genuine freak black ice or really serious mechanical failure.

In my own car, when I am on my own I do a lot of left foot braking on the road, but it's not a valid technique and I accept that, however in controlling understeer its a lot more effective than either of the listed methods and would use a lot less of the road. My usual work car cuts the fuel so its a waste of time and not something I'd use in that anyway. However as Mr Mcrae once excellently put it understeer should never happen and is an amateur accident, I hate it, but being an amateur it happens to me if I am not careful.

[7db]

In my own car, when I am on my own I do a lot of left foot braking on the road

ooh goody. Can I come and watch?

[VinnyP!]

ooh goody. Can I come and watch?

I'm very shy but for you I'd make an exception if in exchange you let me be your ballast before the weather gets too cold for a softy like me.

[James]

Im interested by left foot braking - all I can see is that whether you use your right or left foot, the braking will have the same affect. I suppose you are talking about being able to apply some momentum at the same time as braking in order to lessen the chance of the wheels locking up.

Left foot braking is something I can do, but poorly. I don't really feel comfortable with it as I rely on a quick response from what I am used to. I do not believe I could ever replicate my braking efficiency with my left foot, no matter how much practice I put in.

[VinnyP!]

Im interested by left foot braking - all I can see is that whether you use your right or left foot, the braking will have the same affect.

With the usual don't try this at home warning. I doubt it would make any difference if that red Vauxhall is yours since that will almost certainly cut the fuel when the brake is applied, it's a shame because it would help no end in a car like that.

So given you are in a car with a less nannying management system there are significant benefits over right foot braking. It has 3 different uses depending on the driven wheels although the effects of 2 are similar and by far the most useful. In a fwd even though the front brakes are much better it is like having a brake bias valve attached to your feet so you can adjust how the brake force is distributed front to rear. This means you can keep the car neutral by balancing under/oversteer at will up to and including the point of locking the rear wheels before the fronts if that is your kind of thing. On a 4wd car (like mine) it means you can control how the power is distributed betwen the front and rear wheels in the same way, it's like adjusting the diff in mid corner to suit. With a rwd car (discounting the BMW max power gang who find it so useful for doughnuts) it is less useful but can, if you know what you are doing, trim the car slightly, American oval drivers for example use it. I suspect it is to keep awake, but probably they do it mostly for the off shoot reasons which apply to all the cars, namely it is quicker since you don't have to move back and forth from throttle to brake and you can keep the engine on song and on boost if its a proper car.
I thought I knew what it was all about until I spent a few days up the M40 with a certain Penti Airikkala at his driving school. He is a big fan of using it on the road and makes a pretty good case, he points out the reaction time benefits and how it lets you brake with a lot more control mid corner which is where the little surprises can often fall fom the sky.

[poweroversteer]

You lot are pedantic as hell! On that note i'd like to say thr correct term is feint motion.