[Homeless]

I lost control on a frozen over gravel road on the way to work last week. My wrangler is rwd and the back end started sliding out. I thought it was weird as I was only doing about 30kmh. I corrected it then the back end went out the other way. The jeep eventually hit dry road and I went straight into the ditch, good thing I went straight in and not sideways or I may have rolled it. Also good thing I was in a jeep, put it into 4wd and just drove right out.

I'll tell you one thing though. Scared the hell out of me, man was my heart thumping.

 

[Samgotit]

Coolio calls it drifting.

 

[scompton]

I've only lost control of a car twice. Both times in snow at less than 5 mph. One time I slid though a T intersection and hit the curb. Fortunately there was no other traffic. The other time, the snow was just too deep for my Honda Civic. I tried to drive though a drift. It lifted all 4 wheels off the round. On the back side of the drift, the car floated over to the curb. Since I was 100 feet from my house, I decided to leave it there.

My first couple of years driving, I drove a real wheel drive Datsun that did fish tail a lot. The only time it caused a real problem was when two dump trucks came around a curve when I was fish tailing. I had enough control to chose hitting the snow bank on the side of the road instead of the trucks.

The worst I've ever seen was a friend of mine. I was following him to his apartment. He went around a curve, and when I followed around the curve, his car was totaled. Someone cut him off and he jammed on the breaks. Unfortunately, he was on black ice and spun out. He it the end of an unfinished card rail backwards and it opened the driver's side of the car like a can of sardines. About 1 food of the front fender was the only part still attached and the guard rail was about 6 inches from his body.

 

[oqvist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanielCox /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hydroplaning can be caused by worn tyres but it's also caused by going too fast in the first place.

Watch a F1 race where they are still on slicks tons of hydroplaning

It sucks because you really can´t do anything until the tires grip again. If you skid on ice you still can actively do something about it.

I am not an aggressive driver in real life only while simracing so I haven´t been in much trouble luckily. The reflexes I built up during my simracing have definiatly helped me at times though. Volvo 740s is really not built for scandinavian winter conditions that´s for sure. On the other hand real fun

 

[mrarroyo]

Only when drifting, but it is controlled.

 

[cheemo]

Glad your ok!

 

[MCC]

I lose control occasionally during Iowa winters, but I'm always able to recover just fine with no issues. There are times that it will take over 50ft to stop at 20-25 mph.

 

[vcoheda]

happened once driving in snow. slammed into the guard rail. luckily no one else hit me. i was fine. the car was a bit beat up.

 

[appophylite]

Driven through snow, rain, water and ice since I got my license. I've had the car slip on me all the time, but I haven't lost control of it yet...

 

[dazzer1975]

the car slipping is a loss of control, unless you intended it to slip (by slip I presume you mean skid?).

You mean you have been able to stop or regain control without causing any damage to you or others etc.

 

[notmuchcash]

My car has no weight in the tail end, so it can get quite difficult to regain control in a slide on snow. It also doesn't have traction control, ABS, or anything else to make winter driving less difficult. My first tim driving in the snow, I found out that hitting the brakes in a slide just serves to spin the car around. Luckily that was in a parking lot.

I once was on a road that was a wide S-curve, the tail slid out because I took my foot off the gas. I reacted correctly that time, put my foot back on the gas and counter-steered. I slid through the first part of the s-curve, but over corrected and ended up sliding through the second part as well. Drove away like nothing happened. I'm sure it would have looked amazing if I had meant to do it.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Only once when I hit a patch of black ice. I spun around about three times and went into the ditch. Someone with a 4x4 pulled me out and the only damage was having to have a tire remounted because a rock got wedged between the tire and the rim.

But I'm usually very cautious and take it easy when it's raining or icy.

What helped a lot was when I lived out in the middle of nowhere. There were all sorts of dirt and gravel roads everywhere, so I used to take the car out and would force slides in the dirt. Nothing that fast (maybe 30-40 MPH) but you learn how and when a skid begins, how to get out of it and not to panic.

 

[fenixdown110]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homeless /img/forum/go_quote.gif I lost control on a frozen over gravel road on the way to work last week. My wrangler is rwd and the back end started sliding out. I thought it was weird as I was only doing about 30kmh. I corrected it then the back end went out the other way. The jeep eventually hit dry road and I went straight into the ditch, good thing I went straight in and not sideways or I may have rolled it. Also good thing I was in a jeep, put it into 4wd and just drove right out. I'll tell you one thing though. Scared the hell out of me, man was my heart thumping.

You countersteered correctly through the first fishtail, but then got overconfident that you have the situation under control and got lazy to do a countersteer followup in the opposite direction. Glad to see you're alright though.

You can lose traction at any speed. Speed isn't really the most important factor, although it tends to make losing traction easier. I've purposely lost traction through turns at speeds of only 30 mph.

Drifting and power sliding are two different things. Power sliding is unidirectional. The car loses traction, but slides in a straight line. Drifting is when you maneuver the car through a turn while not having complete traction throughout. This can be a simple curve, hairpin, or even a complex 'S' shape(inertial drifting). Both are not easy and should not be tried unless you know what you are doing. I've been in a few ride-alongs that resulted in crashes and sometimes near death experiences.

 

[chesebert]

only once, on icy interstate and my rear-wheel-drive car fish tailed. Lucky, I regained control after 15sec - scared the $hit out of me and felt like an eternity. No matter how many times you practice in a video game, real life fish tail is scary.

I need more practice with Need for Speed.

 

[oqvist]

no arcade titles like Shift won´t help you just learn you bad habits... Richard Burns Rally gets no better practise then that. Get a decent wheel and have a lot of fun with it.