Crazy save on the motorway (Portugal)

[Module 79L]

Portuguese driver in an Audi A4 TDI (probably heavily modded) was coming from a track day with the slick tires still on when the road conditions caught him up in a somewhat tight right corner. The music in the video was from a CD that he had playing in the car, and as very often happens, was right on cue and very creepy in the way it related to the events. The CD was called Orbital Dance Mix 4 and the "quatro" that you'll ear simply means "four" (4), not some metaphysical or supernatural entity saying that the car was an Audi Quattro.

This is video was posted on YT 6 years ago but judging by the picture format (4:3) the original footage might be even older, maybe even analogue.

 

[Error7]

Not a good place to stop to change his underwear.

 

[kamkar]

/ me go out to the bathroom and look in the mirror and say " and that's why you should always keep both hands on the steering wheel"

 

[Module 79L]

Not a good place to stop to change his underwear.

Nah, he went out to check if he didn't have a flat tire. What he said when he got back in the car was "Ah, my slicks...".
A guy who was coming from a track day is probably used to situations like that.

If you notice since the beginning of the video, there's hardly any shoulder on either side of that motorway. That's because it was at a time when some free motorways up north were built without some of the requirements paid motorways have, like wide shoulders and wide turns. I drove there several times back then and it was hair-raising scary to drive at 120km/h in such a narrow motorway with such tight turns. One of those motorways, the A29, ended in a roundabout and the only warning we had that the motorway was ending was a row a blinking lights on either side of the two lanes, about 1 km before the roundabout. The first time I drove towards that end of the motorway was during the night and I felt like I was on an airport runway.

 

[Gibson99]

one other notable thing - real race tires almost never make noise while in a slide. it takes some time to get used to that if you've never driven on race tires before.

street tires make 2 sounds in a racing environment - a light, high pitched whistle/chirping is what we call "happy tire" sound, which means you're usually right at the limit of traction. but when you go past that, it's a harsh, loud, much lower growl/screech noise - similar to the sound you get when you lock up your brakes. that's "angry tire" sound. the bigger the tire and taller the tread blocks, the lower and meaner the sound will be. i once had a full size toyota tundra in a tail slide because some idiot pulled out in front of me while i was doing 55mph. that sounded like a pack of giant mutant wolves was all screaming (not howling) at me. even though it happened like 15 years ago, i still remember it vividly. and i SO badly wanted to run over the asshole in the mustang who was so invilved in her phone conversation that she didn't even look up to notice the huge truck sliding/screeching past her.

anyway!

race tires/slicks also have 2 sounds. there is no happy tire sound though. the first sound is all the gravel hitting your car that the sticky tires are picking up as you roll through the pits/grid/paddock/etc. the second sound is a faint hissing when you're WAY past the limit of traction, and it usually comes with a fair amount of tire smoke. usually, you never hear either of these since a car with real race tires is either built or modded so much, you wouldn't be able to hear it.

 

[old4570]

Did he take the clue ?

 

[kamkar]

I think the feeling of a tire on the limit are more of a clue, maybe cuz here we have a wide range or surface conditions and its only in the dry you start to get sounds.
For me i always associated that limit with the tire thread folding over, but it is more the tire starting to slide ever so little, but i drive with my butt and not my ears.

When you have that feeling, you really got to pay attention to things. i once drove 70 - 80 km in 1 - 1.5 feet of powder snow overtaking slow cars and snow plows, and it was a constant fight to keep the Opel strait.
And when i finally reached Aarhus i had to pull over as i felt weird and had chest pains from the long adrenaline and what ever natural drug trip.

 

[Module 79L]

Did he take the clue ?

Most likely. Who wouldn't, after a scare like that?

 

[Gibson99]

Most likely. Who wouldn't, after a scare like that?

Sadly, way too many people.

 

[kamkar]

There are only 3 things that scare me.
1. heights.
2. women.
3. Any government.

 

[old4570]

1. Not comfortable with heights ...
2. Women dont scare me , just confuse me too often ! ( )
3. Governments - ( VIVA Le revolution ! ) --- Need more of them ! ( No not governments )

 

[Rajagra]

Nah, he went out to check if he didn't have a flat tire.

Nah, that's what he was pretending to do. He was unnerved and needed a break before continuing. I think most people would do the same.
Odd thing is, he didn't seem to be pushing it. I don't hear him gunning the engine before he lost control. Even with slicks (which would only be a problem in the wet or on oil) he shouldn't have had a problem. Unless he was going a lot faster than it seemed.
He seemed to be overcorrecting like crazy, but credit where it's due, he avoided a crash. I don't think I'd recover from that great a loss of control, unless it was by sheer luck.

 

[Gibson99]

i don't know if you've ever been in a tank-slapper like that... often the wheel will jerk around on its own depending on the amount of caster dialed into the front suspension, and the best you can do is try to limit how much it rotates - often to properly correct you have to stop the wheel from turning before it gets to the stop because that will be too much correction. but yes, he definitely did a pretty good job of keeping it out of the barriers! probably scared the heck out of the guy he'd just passed as well!

 

[Rajagra]

I'm pretty sure the steering wheel was being moved deliberately by him, not the car. Probably doing rally-style full opposite lock stuff. (While braking hard!!!???)
I would have attempted far more subtle steering, and not braked at all until it was under control.
Only time I had a tank-slapper style event was in an old Lexus LS400. The gentle approach worked that time to recover, but it drove more like a barge than a rally car, so it doesn't really compare.

 

[SawMaster]

I've had to learn to 'shuffle steer' newer cars as my early driving days where habits set in were mostly in cars with no power steering and whipping the wheel around like that was almost normal driving I can't remember which car, but one I had was 5 1/2 turns lock-to-lock

Phil

 

[Module 79L]

Odd thing is, he didn't seem to be pushing it. I don't hear him gunning the engine before he lost control.

At that point he wasn't. You can clearly "hear" him slowing down for the left corner before the right corner where the car started sliding.

 

[Rajagra]

At that point he wasn't. You can clearly "hear" him slowing down for the left corner before the right corner where the car started sliding.

I know, so what on earth made him lose control? He was barely going faster than the other clunker cars. I don't think any make or style of tyre is so bad as to be the only cause. Maybe a flat tyre(s). But slicks would not have caused that.

 

[kamkar]

last week when i was shopping some one spilled some form of oil in the parking lot for sure, i almost fell on my ass when i stepped on it.

 

[old4570]

Actually - Racing tires - when they go off - they are horrendously dangerous and slippery ..
And we dont know what speed the racer was doing or how much load was on what corner of the car ..
And if he was running racing slicks that are past their use bye date ... ( ? )

We can not pin down the cause ( guessing ) but certainly we can see the result .

 

[Gibson99]

Yeah that's another thing... It's REALLY, painfully, stupidly easy to flat-spot racing slicks if the car doesn't have abs or it's disabled. This often results in the cords/belts becoming exposed. Then you have a weak spot where it can blow out at speed.

Also, many (most?) racing tires do not have steel belts in order to minimize unsprung weight, and as a result they're more vulnerable to punctures. That's usually not a problem on the track, but on the street? Yeah...