Its been snowing in East Lothian today so I nipped out towards East Fortune airfield at lunchtime to play Much to my disgust the snow didn't extend that far but since I was there and the gates were open I nipped on for a few seconds as it was wet/mushy. I spied the farmer at the other end of the air field in his tractor. He probably wouldn't take too kindly to a petrolhead nipping onto his land to rip up the tarmac so I only had a few stabs at 2nd/3rd gear drifts from an access road onto a nice wide taxiway.

My first attempt was very ambitious and I gave it far too much throttle to break away at the top end of 2nd gear. The car gathered massive momentum and despite full lock and an attempt to moderate the throttle the momentum was assuring a full 180-degree spin.

Here is the surprising thing though: I shat myself! I was in the middle of a massive runway with nothing around and even if I somehow ran out of tarmac it was just grass I

 

Loss of control = Fear.....................I'm suprised it took you this long to work it out........

Edd

 

[QUOTE=Saxo Boy,Mar 3 2006, 01:41 PM] Therein is my thought for today. Fear is induced in this instance through a lack of control. Consequence is not the determining factor like I would have thought it would be. The feeling of not being in control was more fear inducing than knowing that a mistake in one environment was many times worse than another.

Whether I have a healthy fear of the right thing or not I don

 

Well that kind of goes without saying but I had always assumed that loss of control in an inconsequential circumstance wouldn't have the same effect.

If you could not be hurt in any way by being punched I would have thought you'd not be bothered by anyone that punched you even if you weren't in control of the situation. They can thump away all day for all I would care.

 

I like to think of it as a hit n' run


You are probably right - there must be a degree of pre-programming going on here. As soon as the brain puts car + loss of control together it comes up with crash/physical pain/financial pain.

 

there is an airfield near me and I spent about 2 hours over Xmas in the snow having fun... posted the pics a while back.

it was great fun and taught me loads... however you think you are fully in control and then without notice the back has gone My best trick was a 360 and carried on driving

Airfields are hard to come by these days and I was chased off later it was Boxing day so there was no activity and its only used for parachuting at weekends.

 

yeah ridedrive day on airfield was initially daunting but we followed a step by step rather than straight away spin the car at 60mph round a corner.

Good suggestion is to take the car and drive around in a tight circle gradually getting faster and faster. you will lose control but not move that far. I think it is the loss of control whilst moving in a direction fast that causes the fear.

After you have done the circles move into figure 8 mode going faster and faster until you lose the car again - this time you will further..

It's only after that point that I did anything stupidly fast / backwards / sideways and by then was warmed up as such and didnt feel the fear,

Letting my instructor have a go did scare the hell out of me - not that I was worried he would damage the car, more that I thought I was going to die in the process

 

I think I'd really enjoy a proper airfield day where I don't have to worry about a crazed farmer and his shotgun. Room to experiment is crucial to learning the outer limits of a car and I feel I've taken things as far as I can on the public roads. I like a first gear drift on the odd quiet roundabout but advancement beyond that is too risky.

 

Back in my old Army Days you could ask the Commanding Officer at Abbingdon Airfield in Oxford if you could have a blast on it. He regularly gave permission on a Sunday afternoon etc etc.

Had the MGF at the time so fun but not THAT much fun! ;-)
Beat running round it with a Bergen though!

Edd

 

Off for an airfield day there in a few weeks, had to pay though

As for learning pure car control, Don Palmer takes some beating, he's taught me loads and it's applicable to all kinds of cars, not just the S2000.