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Old 05-13-2014, 08:58 PM   #38
CSG Mike
 
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Join Date: Jul 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ddeflyer View Post
Yeah, maybe I shouldn't be calling it a tank slapper since that implies a much stronger and longer duration back and forth.

What I am referring to started well before I was to the berm. Specifically, a little after I passed the apex I added some steering input (I think I was trying to get myself back into the seat better and basically bumped the wheel as I tried to lever back into the seat) to the left. This brought the rear end out a little and the VSC activated. At this point it brought the rear back relative to the direction of travel or even slightly to the left. At this point I am just a foot or two from the berm, and either the tires just caught hold and pushed it back right or the VSC tried to damp the oscillation and started it going right again. Either way, the end result was that the rear stepped out that half foot or so needed to get off the berm and start the spin. All I knew at the time was that instead of a damping oscillation it just kept going. I went to straight but it was too little too late. I didn't even realize at the time that any tires had dropped until I saw the video.
What you experienced was slip angle. Maintaining slip angle is the fastest state of cornering.

It's what people are referring to when they say that they feel like the car is "floating" when I drive, and that my steering inputs seem to have no correlation with what the car is doing.

At a basic level, your steering inputs shift the direction of the front of the car. At a more advanced level, your driving inputs shift the thrust angle of the car.
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