Whats causing spin out?

[Where's my car?]

So After spinning out at the 2008 speed festival, i've been trying to figure out every cause to my spinning out. JUst wondering if anyone has knowledge of the cause. Im wonder if it is:

1.I turn the wheel to hard/far
2. Traction control is on ( watch a video of a guy driving, car infront of him spun out, and he said "Prob had his tranction control on) i don't know..
3. Tire tread was horrible
4. car just oversteers
5. debris on floor

Any ideas??

[Lil bastard]

My guess is any one of #s 1,2,3, or 5. Or a combination thereof. Could be other things as well such as alignment, tire pressure, etc. Could also be those Chrome Grills...

But, these cars do not have Oversteer built into them. Just the opposite, they understeer with the factory setup and tires for safety's sake.

[racer_d]

I must have missed the part where you explained the spin out. They can happen for a number of reasons.. usually it is operator error Please tell us a bit more (or a link or something).. thanks.

[Lil bastard]

Originally Posted by racer_d

I must have missed the part where you explained the spin out. They can happen for a number of reasons.. usually it is operator error Please tell us a bit more (or a link or something).. thanks.

Agreed - I took #1 to explain Pilot Error...

[Where's my car?]

Yea for sure it is always driver error, but there are other contributers too. My first time. I took the turn which was approx 100 degrees at about 60 mph, power slid a bit, then tried to correct it and spun out. bleh.. i really think something kept me from correcting the slide other than just driver error.

[racer_d]

100 degree corner in and of itself is fine... since you don't mention the length of corner to indicate if 60mph was too fast or if your technique was off, or what was before or after the turn... if you stayed on the gas or lifted.. or tapped the brakes.. or turned too sharp..

The more details in which you can explain the scenario the better equipped we are to help you along.

In the end, you are balancing your car on 4 small tire contact patches. Each patch is, in all likelyhood, no larger than an 8.5x11 piece of paper and more likely, much smaller. Think about it... 3000lbs and only such a tiny amount of contact with the road. How you manage that contact is important. Transfering weight from back to front to side to side...

re-reading, I do see this: "powerslid and tried to correct it"..

hmm.. so the car was oversteering? Was it oversteering immediately upon entering the corner? half way through? just the tail end? What were you doing to correct it.. playing with the throttle? steering? hit the brakes? What were the conditions of the surface? smooth? rough? concrete? pavement? was there any banking in the corner? was it too your advantage (on camber) or banked away from you (off camber)? or both? What are the conditions of your tires? Same brand/type front and rear?

[OldBlevins]

I spun out last fall at Driver Skills day, much to the surprise of both the instructor in the car with me and myself. Some other instructors asked me what happened and I told them, "too much speed for that much turn". But I also had just switched to new All Season tires and they hadn't been scrubbed in yet, and I was running them at slightly high tire pressures, all of which may have been a factor. Either way, driver error.

So - what kind of tires do you have, what kind of shape are they in, and what air pressures are you running?