Mid-engined Lotus track spin! What, why, how?

#midengine #spin #lotus

Should you use kerbs or not? If you do, the corner arc is greater so you can carry more speed through the corner. But the kerb will often upset the car, and in the wet kerbs can be slippery. So, should you use them or not? It all depends on the kerb, your car, and you. Here's an analysis of me deciding whether to use the kerbs or not...and the answer in this case was 'not'

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[ISpinUWin]

Great vid - I love to watch spins and ooops videos (if safe and no damage of course). I also post up spins I have witnessed or participated in - although without and tutorials. ;) thx for posting and keep safe out there!

[mphgt]

Haha, nice work. You sure need quick hands in a Lotus Elise/Exige (or pretty much any mid engined car) to keep it under control (kind of) when the back lets go. Your summary is right. Too hot turning in to left hander and then you decided to press on with entry to the right hander despite being off line, hence a 2nd too sharp weight transfer, clipping kerb and there you go. Well done on smashing down on brakes to keep it off the wall most importantly.
I find that rear tyres are critical to keeping a Lotus happy on track. If they're not the right tyre and also relatively fresh (not heat cycled out), then they hang on well. Otherwise they're very unpredictable. There's a video on my channel somewhere of the back snapping sideways for no reason I can see at all, thanks to AD08R tyres that were past their prime!
Like your work, keep it up!

[warmachine_]

I spun my mid engine manual car on the road during slippery conditions and hit a pole. I need to learn how to not spin it. Thanks for the tips

[jonathanknight]

Great filming and editing to clearly show the issue. I would have believed you had you said you did this intentionally to illustrate the point. ;-) It did look like some ripple on the first curb upset the car, the correction from which compromised the line too much to negotiate the second curb without a lot of difficulty. Thanks for the instructive AND candid video.

[robbyg]

Excellent video again Robert, and excellent display of driver awareness and skill.

I don't have either your experience or aptitude in this area by a large margin, I do have some experience with icy conditions, just not sure how well they translate since the ice slows everything down a bit.

The correction after T1 was exceptional.

In my experience on snow for instance, waiting to see feedback from the vehicle of the steering correction is often too late.

Often it would be a quick dose of opposite lock without the car seemingly doing anything at all, then back to a more neutral steering angle to meet the back-end.

But with the grip of the tarmac, who knows where the car would end up.

All in all, great job and great save.

[anbu]

DK in his old video demonstrate that for MR and RR car, the driver need to catch it immediately unlike in FR car.

[MiniLuv-]

If you are going to go off-road, you of all people should know to drop your tyre pressures! :)
How you kept it off the armco is a miracle. Locking the brakes should have washed off rotational motion of the vehicle, so was that why you locked the wheels up at that point?

[stephenramlochan]

Hey can you do a video on the “pull pal” or sand anchors in general.

[feralmr]

28 years driving mid engine, I still spin out if pushing too hard. Though I will state it is not snap oversteer, that's a internet myth. Driver error. But it's fun AF.

[a]

Looks like the Lotus have little margin for error... But that is to be expected of a small light mid engine car ;)

[Teecastermaster]

You tried to cheat to the apex on t1, which you came in to shallow compromising your line into T1, then you added more lock to get it to bite thus initiating understeer, you then added more brake to adjust and caused an oversteer moment. If you had just admitted defeat at that point and didn't try to hit the apex of T2 you would have been slow, but you wouldn't have spun. Since you had already caused a polar moment after T1, you had already unsettled the car and had basically no chance of catching it with how aggressively you turned into T2.
Next time try braking deeper into a T1, and only add steering in one fluid motion, try not to take bites at the corner. In short wheelbase cars like the Elise, these 'bites' cause small upsets to the cars balance thus making it more likely to induce oversteer at the limit. Mix that with the polar moment of inertia of these little guys, they are very hard to catch once they start to go. The Kerbs basically had nothing to do with your spin, they just amplified an already compromised line and technique.