Hello all,

I have been driving for a few years now. A Ranger, a VW, and yes, even a 76 pacer. But not till the past 9 months have I driven a performance car, my 944. I was just going through the older posts when I reread the one about the fatality. Can any of you guys/gals offer some pointers on driving safety, The best way to recover from a slide, spin etc... Obviousley Text is not the best way to learn these things, but I'd like to have a couple of things to think about. I have been wanting to take some classes, any suggestions in the Pheonix AZ area? I would still like some pointers from some of you porsche veterans, especially stuff that applies specifically to our cars. Thanks a bunch, Roberto

God bless

 

It will be very hard for anyone to teach driving without being in the car. The thing I would most worry about would be the other driver, always know what is around you. Watch your surroundings. Don't watch the front of the car, look ahead -look ahead- look ahead.When you steer, brake, change gear, accelerate or move the car in anyway remember SMOOTH don't jerk anything be SMOOTH. Get into a driver's ED. Find out about your instructor. Make sure you both have the same goal. One more thing, obey the traffic laws and keep the fast driving on the track. Make sure the people riding with you can help you instead of distracting you. Be safe and good luck.

 

Is this a tip: Don't brake while turning on wet pavement? The one time I spun out (180) I did that...now I always make sure to have some power to the wheels while turning. Is that the right way to do it?

 

Braking while turning isn't necisairily bad. Neither is letting off the throttle in a turn. You just need to know what it will do.

If you do either of these things at the wrong time, you can induce oversteer. But I do both of these things at times, and have yet to spin.

 

This might sound a little off to you guys, but I merely have a suggestion. During winter, when we do get an abundance of snow up here, the empty parking lots are great for skidding out those 180's. And though they were extremely fun, it also helped you train yourself to find control of your vehicle while you were skidding. So the next time it rains at night and the roads are very slick, find a big a** parking lot and have a little fun, just make sure you don't make a night of it, because I'm sure the cops would not agree with your excuse, even though it really kinda makes sense. And do it when the roads are very slick and there are no obstacles nearby, it be easier on your car. Snow works the best, I haven't recalled doing it on wet pavement, so mabey just try the snow for now guys, and I do know that winter is a very long time away!

I just thought I'd throw in a tip that I'm sure helped me out this one time I was driving on mountainous highway and was cornering this curve when suddenly the road was covered in mud,(there was a mudslide earlier), and without warning I was skidding out @ 60mph, yet somehow managed to regain control. It was so intense I had to pull over as my friend and I couldn't believe what had happened. Close call. These mountain roads are beautiful, but very dangerous.

 

Francesco944 makes a very good point. If you do it when it rains for the first time in a long time, the pavement will be very slick. This is a good time to do it.

One day when I was coming home, after such a rain, I took a corner at 30 that I can take at 40 in the wet under normal circumstances. What do you know, the rear end slides right out, and I am convinced that if I had not counter steered I would have entered the next corner sideways, and planted myself firmly in a tree.

 

Just trying to keep this thread going, most of you guys are probably aware of this but maybe one or two are not. One reason that the roads are slicker when it hasn't rained for a while is because for the first few minutes all the oil on the road is being flushed to the surface. Kinda obvious, but somtimes those things are the ones that bite ya.

 

Bob, yup as to the oil film rising up. Plus all the other crap that gathered on the pavement forms a slip surface.

The other junk on the surface probably makes your car act like big mud slides that can travel at 100's of MPH via only gravity due to the laminar flow mechanics - super slip or something like that.

In any event, the first rain is danger time especially on familar routes you thought you knew.