Re: Got sideways for the first time!

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@cisco.com>]

Jeryd writes: 

> Now if I could only find a nice place where I could practice the 
> sliding safely, (and legally) then I would be in heaven, 

There is -- it's why most enthusiast car clubs have track days.  True,
there are places on most racetracks where you may be worse off getting
sideways than you would be on the street -- the looooong drop off to
driver's right at the exit of turn 6 at Laguna Seca is one that always
intimidated me into going slower than I probably could. :-)  But in
general, you'll have instructors showing you where it's safe and where
to tiptoe, and better still, giving you demonstrations of how fast you
can *really* go through each part of the track.  

Even safer and cheaper for starting out: find a local autocross.  The
speeds are lower but the perceived pace is much quicker, because the
corners come closer together -- there's literally something happening
*every second* on a typical autocross course.  And if you overcook it
and the car loops completely around, you're likely to injure nothing
more than your dignity and maybe a couple of orange pylons.  

The truth is, there's no better way to find your car's limits (and to
extend your own) than crossing them from time to time.  Getting the car
sideways in a controlled environment -- and doing so repeatably -- will
train you to notice the signs that the car is *about* to get sideways,
just before it breaks away rather than just after; that in turn will
give you the time to reel it back in safely and controllably.  I can
think of half a dozen times when my track experience saved me from being
involved in somebody else's accident, because I was able to make
emergency changes in direction and keep all those changes intentional.

Most club track days cost a lot less than a ticket, and a *heck* of a
lot less than paying for all the sheet metal if you'd made contact with
that F350.  And best of all -- they're screaming great fun, even more
fun than you're probably expecting them to be.  As the commercials used
to say, "Just do it."

 -- Scott Fisher
    Sunnyvale, CA