Woman killed in Ferrari crash on Victorian road

Turn into the understeer. Your slip angle will decrease, and you gain traction again very quickly.

 

VIC country roads have an 80kmh or 100kmh limit, either speed is enough to start sliding in a tight bend, especially if you hit a damp patch, piece of bark, gravel, etc

Most fatalities in Aus are single vehicle accidents, where the car hits a tree rather than another car. The issues that cause them to leave the road include fatigue or a sudden loss of grip. Rarely is speed the sole factor. We need better driver training.

Ferraris are prone to another problem - aged tyres. Low mileage cars are driven on 10+ year old tyres that have plenty of tread but no grip. Just walk around any gathering of FCA cars and check the date codes - it's scary.

 

Local paper today talking about 21 deaths over the past 2 weeks of school holidays using the same old 'speed and alcohol contributed to many' line BUT further down, it stated 5 of the incidents were shown to involve excess speed... So the majority were for other reasons (not stated). Frankly I think I attention would be the number one factor these days.

 

Poor driving is the number ONE reason, I see it EVERY day .

A cop tapped on my window at the lights to inform me he had to do 80 kph to catch up to me in a 70 zone ..... he was like 50 metres behind me so big deal, he sped up to 80 in a 70 zone to catch me and use the "power" he has to straighten me out

I thanked him and said to watch out for the traffic he had to negotiate back to his car , then rolled the window back up and called him a **** ................... then within 30 secs some clown roars past weaving in and out of the traffic with not so much as a siren tweet or light flash

 

I want to hear from Ian! Thanks anyway.

 

Don't look at mine!

 

Front wheel drive, or rear wheel drive?

 

Looking for any relevant evidence, eg drugs etc. Routine to search the car thoroughly before it is taken away. If it was a commodore they would have been looking through everything in the glovebox too.

 

I'm still waiting for Ian to answer

 

Gizzi nailed it, what more can I add?

When I started with the Lola, it had a spool diff, which means no differential at all. All that car did was understeer...
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Yeah....well, you said the mistake people make when they're understeering is that they hit the brakes making it worse....I'm not too sure about that in this case.....weight transfer to the front....ABS....makes a big difference.

 

^^^^ this! Drive to the conditions (which is what most Europeans seem able to do).

However I don't think we should be speculating about what the driver did/ didn't do - for all we know they might have swerved for a kangaroo/ cyclist/ someone or thing else obstructing their path?

 

you momentarily straighten your steering wheel Pete. In effect, you turn in the direction the car is sliding.

The front tyres instantly regain grip, then you turn into the corner again.

On unfamiliar windy roads, it's a good idea to turn in to a left hand corner a bit early, to give yourself extra room for recovery. Right hand corners you don't have to worry about oncoming vehicles.

 

No, because tyre grip decreases exponentially with slip angle. Once understeer starts, you can't generate any more grip from the tyre.

You can brake hard while turning with ABS, but only before the slide starts.

 

here's a chart for you. Note that beyond 10 degrees slip angle, grip drops away quickly and is gone altogether at 20 degrees.
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I agree, I'm just making the point that the driver wasn't necessarily speeding.

btw a German driving license includes training in car control. Not sure about other EU countries.

 

Oh well, I don't agree. Anyway, from what I've seen with 360s, oversteer is more likely.

 

Next time there's a driver training day, go to the skid pan and drive faster and faster around the circle. Try turning in harder to induce understeer, and then straighten a little, and you'll feel it grip up again.

 

I'll have the red tyre.

 

Oh FFS

 

Is it just me or does it look like they not only ripped the door off the Ferrari to gain entry, but it appears that the removed the entire dashboard??

Second photo posted above...

S

 

You're right. That's what I should have said.

 

Well, now you're just being a DH.

Forget what happens on a race track or skid pan...what happens on the road? You're going too fast into a TIGHT corner with a 360 and you get understeer....what happens when you lift off? You get weight transfer to the front and therefore the tyres grip and you get more turn in. If that happens too fast, you end up with oversteer due to increased turn in and lighter rear end. Add ABS and braking into the mix and that oversteer situation gets even worse. Have any of you guys actually TRIED this or are you just theorising? I've done it....I do it....it's what happens.

 

Now that you drive a Porsche, how would you know what understeer is?