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Sure looks like simple driver error to me. You can see that at the 17-second mark, he's starting to turn in while he's still braking. So the rear tires are unloaded while the car is changing direction, which naturally caused the rear to come around. He probably had PSM turned off as well, because it should have been able to catch the slide. Can't see his center console buttons to know for sure though. (EDIT: Yep, you can see the orange "PSM off" icon illuminated on his tach. I missed that initially.) I feel sorry for the poor car, because I don't think the driver learned anything here. Shame.
Sure looks like simple driver error to me. You can see that at the 17-second mark, he's starting to turn in while he's still braking. So the rear tires are unloaded while the car is changing direction, which naturally caused the rear to come around. He probably had PSM turned off as well, because it should have been able to catch the slide. Can't see his center console buttons to know for sure though. (EDIT: Yep, you can see the orange "PSM off" icon illuminated on his tach. I missed that initially.) I feel sorry for the poor car, because I don't think the driver learned anything here. Shame.
PSM on the RS cars is not something I would turn off casually. However, the tuning of that system on the GT cars is rather non-intrusive (which also means that it may not be able to "Please Save Me" in all conditions). Given the very short window for a correction in this case, I'm not convinced that it would have prevented the spin.
While JWW's personality may not be to everyone's taste, he is rather skilled and experienced on track. It's easy to criticize someone's driving after an incident, but it may simply be just as he said (too much speed on tires that are not up to temp). Mid-engined cars are wonderful at changing directions, but once they let go they are the most difficult to recover. That and lack of PSM and cold tires is a tough combo.
PSM on the RS cars is not something I would turn off casually. However, the tuning of that system on the GT cars is rather non-intrusive (which also means that it may not be able to "Please Save Me" in all conditions). Given the very short window for a correction in this case, I'm not convinced that it would have prevented the spin.
While JWW's personality may not be to everyone's taste, he is rather skilled and experienced on track. It's easy to criticize someone's driving after an incident, but it may simply be just as he said (too much speed on tires that are not up to temp). Mid-engined cars are wonderful at changing directions, but once they let go they are the most difficult to recover. That and lack of PSM and cold tires is a tough combo.
Why turn it off in the first place - is it for “youtube cred”? If it isn’t very invasive and can help, seems wise to leave it on. I don’t know much about track driving but it is hard to imagine any kind of car intervention saving the spin.
This video got me thinking about spinning in a PDK car. Once you know you aren't going to save it, the standard advice on a manual transmission car is "both feet in", .e.g push in the clutch and push in the brake. In a PDK, what's the standard advice? Push on the brake, and try to put the PDK in neutral by pulling both paddle shifters in? Or is the PDK smart enough to do that? I'm hoping to get some responses based on experience (PCA instructors, for example).
As far as the video, the driver seemed to acknowledge it was his fault, due to pushing too hard on cold tires.
Yeah, that was very little input. That may have caught me too.
I'm going to make an FAA determination here. The speed was a contributing factor. The PSM being OFF was also a contributing factor. But, I suspect the culprint was the left side tires were touching the painted surface. And, while the front was weighted during the braking proceedure, he initiating a turn. Then, the front left tire transitioned from an an area of less grip to more grip, causing the rear to come around.
JWW is a very good pilot, but he's a touch over confident here. Difficult to draw conclusions without seeing the brake / throttle trace... but my guess.. High speed + slightly too much trail (easy to do) + DSC off + mid engine = the rear coming around very quickly. At 10/10th's most mid engine cars are a bit edgy, this is a good example
The damage is minimal vs what it could have been. The rocks did a great job... He was lucky.
I didn't watch the whole video, but I did see the part where he acknowledged Mag wheels and PCCB. Gravel is very effective at slowing a car (didn't hit the wall), but it is also very effective at damaging PCCB rotors (well over $20k for a new set). A good reason for choosing iron rotors in my book - this would not have damaged them (and whether or not the PCCB's were damaged in this case, they certainly could have been).
He had to have been still on the brakes for the car to start spinning as soon as he started to turn in. Wow, barely off center and then gone. The car barely had a chance to start to take a set. Those tires had to have been cold to basically have no grip in the rear like that. Well, a lesson for us all, unfortunately at someone else's expense. I would like to believe if PSM was on, it would have applied brake to the right rear in time and caught it, or made it catchable for an experienced driver. As has been mentioned, JMW is a very good driver and knows how to get around the ring quickly.
He did, by the way, mention at the end of the video that he pulled both paddles in to go into neutral.
Last edited by lovetoturn; 09-11-2023 at 07:56 PM.
I assume the software HAS to be smart enough to NOT let the transmission drive the engine backwards. I'm not saying take the chance, but unless they think their cars never spin, they would account for this.
09-11-2023, 04:38 PM
