Quote:
Originally Posted by BugKiller
I agree with driving a manufacturer or track owned car at events if possible. The instructor's know them best and risking your own hardware is not "prudent."
At the Russell event described above I warped my front break disks by pulling over to think through what I was doing wrong on entering one turn and leaving my foot on the breaks ($1,800 repair later). Also, the knuckle-head that spun out twice was luckily following me both times. If he had been in front, "bad things" might have happened to my car (on wait list 17 months to get it).
Russell had track prep'ed Mustangs to lease and I would pay the extra if I wanted to take such a class again.
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I've had cars spin in front of me dozens of times. In most cases it's not difficult to avoid hitting a spinning car in front of you for the simple reason that, in most cases, you can stop at a shorter distance than them.
Tires can only deal with one force at 100%. Anything more and it has to distribute it's gripping ability. Their tires are dealing with multiple forces, spinning and stoping, while your tires are only going to deal with one, braking. So as long as you have good situational awareness, you merely have to brake in a straighter line to avoid a spinning car.
However, there are some cases where avoiding a spinning car is difficult:
There is debris on the track that increases your stopping distance
The spinning car has sticky enough tires and a light enough chassis to make their stopping distance significantly shorter even while spinning
There is oil, water, or fluid on the track
Your tires have already overheated
Your brakes have already overheated
Your brake fluid has boiled
Your brakes fail
They hit another object that decreases their speed enough to make their stopping distance shorter than yours even while spinning.
They were going a significantly slower speed when they started the spin compared to your speed.