Feature: Training Wheels
August 1, 2005
The skid cars ride on outriggers that hydraulically lift their front or rear
wheels to reduce traction–either slightly or completely–and simulate slick
conditions. The driver steers the car in a figure-eight pattern while the
instructor plays with the traction–and the driver’s mind–to teach essential
skid-control techniques. When the front tires lose traction, or understeer, and
the car will not turn, you simply raise your foot off the gas, wait for tires to
reclaim traction, then steer in the direction you want to go. But when the rear
tires break loose, or oversteer, you must first “countersteer” in the direction
the rear is moving, then quickly steer back to prevent a skid in the opposite
direction. In any skid recovery, you learn to look in the direction you want to
go and to rely on your peripheral vision to view the rest of your surroundings.
Look toward the ditch, and that is where you will wind up.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Orange Peel-Outs: Though most Bondurant courses make use of new Corvettes and Cadillac
CTS sedans, previous-generation Mustang GT couupes still take the occasional thrashing. (Click image to enlarge)
To practice techniques specific to the Executive Protection course, we use
retired Ford police cruisers. On the first day, Parker has us practice forward
and reverse 180-degree turns. At moderate speed, it is surprisingly easy to jam
on the parking brake–which locks up the rear wheels–turn one way or the other to
spin the car around within the width of the road, release the brake to catch the
slide, and accelerate away in the other direction in a cloud of blue tire smoke.
When the car is stopped, the driver can throw it into reverse, stand on the gas
to gather some speed, then lift off the gas, crank the wheel in either
direction, shift into drive as the car is turning, and as soon as it is pointed
in the right direction, floor it.
This is enough excitement for one day. On day two, we practice “takeouts” using old police cars fortified with steel brush bars. The idea is that when bad guys pull alongside your vehicle–trying to shoot you or force you over–you nudge into their rear fender, then steer into it, and accelerate to spin them around. With practice, this technique works wonderfully–they are in the ditch or off the cliff, and you are down the road with minimal damage.
To complete Dukes of Hazzard—style crashes through roadblocks, you had better know what you are doing. For our practice, Bondurant drags out a junker car to ram with another, once in back and once in front to demonstrate the difference. Unless the bad guys already are shooting, the trick is to slow your approach so they think you are stopping, and then accelerate into the obstacle car just behind its rear wheel (the lighter end of a front-engine vehicle), which will spin it out of the way without causing major damage to your car. Hit it too fast, or on the heavier, engine-anchored front end, and you may end up with a smashed radiator, immobilized.
The itinerary for day three has us running the Mustangs around a timed autocross circuit in a coned-off parking lot; and then around a larger, faster oval; and finally on a full road course. Aside from being terrific fun, this also is relevant antiterrorist training. The more adept you are at driving safely on twisty roads, the better your chances of escaping less-skilled pursuers.
On day four, having learned the road course in Mustang GTs, we are turned loose by Parker on the same track in big Ford sedans. But we drive in the opposite direction we had grown accustomed to the previous day so that the roads are unfamiliar to us. Then Parker and another instructor initiate terrorist scenarios, approaching from ahead or behind and blocking the roads with their cars. This forces us to quickly decide on and execute the best escape technique: brake, accelerate, or 180-degree turn.
Years ago, as an overconfident novice, I regularly and foolishly challenged the limits of control. I was lucky to survive my youthful mistakes, but too many do not. At a minimum, skid control and accident avoidance training should be mandatory for all drivers, from beginners to veterans. By the end of the four-day course, with graduation certificate in hand, I was satisfied to have learned new skills that with any luck I will never find reason to use.
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