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Both Feet In

I saw a few replies to the question "Why both feet in in a spin?" and did
not see the most important reason.

When you have screwed up and have put yourself in the position that the rear
end of the car is going faster than the front of the car and it is obvious
that you aren't going to "catch it", you want to apply both the brake and
the clutch because:

        1.      To continue along the line of your momentum.  All tires are
now locked and slidding accross the surface of the track (or street).  You
will continue in a straight line, although the car may be spinning on its
axis.  This is almost in all cases better than the following.

        2.      Avoid Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  At this point, all four tires
are slidding accross the surface of the track.  However, if the brakes
aren't locked, at some point, one or two of the tires are going to grip, and
you will rocket over to an unknown point in the universe, usually where you
do not want to be (tire walls, armco, corner workers, etc).  Further
evidence that you don't want this E Ticket ride, are the people who are now
behind you and are trying to drive around you WITHOUT HITTING YOU AND YOU
WANT TO HELP THEM NOT TO HIT YOU!  (This assumes that you aren't circle
track racing in which case they are trying to hit you and you want to make
it harder and, well, nevermind)

        3.      Apply the clutch so that after spinning in circles and
watching people come around the last corner, make awful faces when they see
you and sawing at the wheel to avoid hitting you, and you finally come to
rest in the grass, you can make a graceful OK gesture to the corner worker
and return to the fray with a little less dignity.  You lose much more
dignity by sitting in the grass with a stalled engine.

To emphasize how wild Mr. Toad's Ride can be, remember the racer's rule:
When someone is spinning in front of you, if their wheels are turning (they
aren't locked), aim FOR THE CAR and keep your foot in the gas, because they
aren't going to be there when you get there.  You don't know where they are
going to be, so don't even try to drive around them.

This little rule has kept me from harm several times when I have done
something stupid, like spinning at Road American in the Kink at 100+ mph and
only hitting a pylon.  

Hope this helps,

Bob Turnage
88 M3 club racer
74 2002
86 528e
83 Diesel Suburban (go ahead and hit me)