Bad News
I damn near killed myself yesterday
What happened
If you go to the pictures you will see the group I was with. I was 2nd in line and we were going up mt. lemmon at 60-70 mph. I took the corner (trying to learn how to handle my car in corners) too fast. I was NEVER on the clutch. When I felt my *** end come out. All I saw was the side of the cliff, I panicked slammed on the brakes and turned my wheel. Which then caused me to basicaly fishtail/slide to the left I then saw the railing and of course i didn't want to hit that either so I yet again turned my wheel. This time I turned a half turn and ended up facing everyone who was behind me while i was in the middle of the lanes. Everyone went by. I thought my car died so i shut it off, turned it back on, it instantly started. I then turned my wheel to back up and that was that.

Problem was I was going too fast without knowing how to go into the turn correctly and rather then just easing into it like a drift i panicked and oversteered my car. Luckily the car nor myself was injured. I wasn't trying to learn how to auto cross on a mountain. I was trying to learn how to feel my car in a turn trying to be "one with it" so I could get used to it.

I'm also driving on nankang sport nsII tires.

Good News
pictures!

 

Been there, done that, Jen. Scary, ain't it?

Ever been to the mountain passes of West Virginia in late January @ +/-2 AM? I think the route # is 50, or 54, or something? I thought I was saving time and cutting a shorter path than the highways would take me.
Silly me.

 

very scary...thought i was gonna die. not like i purposely went out there to spin out or anything.
Nope can't say i have been to the passes of west virginia but i imagine it wasn't saving you time?

 

Here, let the king of RWD (and rotary) fishtail-related accidents tell you what to do next time.

step 1) if the tail gives way NEVER slam on the brakes and try to avoid tapping them. In a RWD car all the weight is shifted to the front wheels and the wheels with power going to them now have MUCH less weight to hold them planted and your *** will end up in front of you.

2) instead, try to ease off of the throttle position you were at when you broke into a slide, do not lift off to zero throttle, keep the momentum of weight balance, with MINIMAL understeer your car should step back in line and the car will find its grip and "snap" back into place with a little chirp of the tires

3) if you find yourself going around, and you've done 1/8th of a turn (45degrees or more) go both feet in (brake and clutch) and hope you just stop backward (like you did) only with your engine running and not stalling.

step 4) do NOT panic, if you're still alive, pull over to a spot away from the road, shut down your car, and step out to take a breather, if you feel dizzy, sit down and recline the seat a bit, don't start driving till the flushed adrenalin feeling is gone, may take up to an hour. Remember, this happensto the best of em and we've all made mistakes, ofrgive yourself and try to calmback ot a safe driving state.

I've sun around and stalled to a hault facing the wrong way once, then after learning about the clutch thingy, I did an additional turnound thingy and was in the wrongway again, onlythe engine didn't know the difference. After that, I have slid the tail out on mountain runs with a bunch of FWD cars much like you did, and scared the **** out of them, but I followed my own advice and never lost momentum (the only reson their cars stayed in checkis that FWD is more forgiving and they were on mostly race tires) I've also lost the rear and brought it backcountless times since just driving by myself. the last and final was when I killed my TII and that was sheer taking a line at i;s maximum possible limit and being forced to change my line I had commited to due to another motorist. Point is, I never learned from my mistakes as far as being a dumbass, but I leanred via knowing how to prevent the 180 degree spins. NOW I do drive carefully, I know I have 4 stories of misbehaving in this post alone but those days are over.

Also the meet looked fun (despite the fact that you seem to have heard about it on the cobalt forums and that mustang is a V6), I want to go to the pine mountain meet I go to every year again, but I don't think they're holding it this year.............

 

nah that's the group I FORMED. so no one talks **** to me lol. actually the talk of the day was how the hell i did it 'cause half of them couldn't see it. but thanks for the advice! it's so hard to know what to do when this is your first rwd.

 

Haha your friends lack identity, I mean, 3 Cobalt owners? Where'd you pick these guys up? A Chevy dealership service department? haha All kidding aside, it's cool that you're the boss. and short of that SR- 4, your car is the fastest one there.Your car handles the best definitely, they'll just never believe you if you tell them that now haha. Seems like a good group though, SS cobalts aren't that bad.

OH and no problem about the advice, I'm glad you're ok now, and now hopefully you can use this in the future.

 

i like the srt-4 that thing looks meaan iunno. and the rustang. and dude the cobalts are fast with those superchargers in em. if they are SS if they arent then screw that lol. but thats crazy there jen. but **** happens. and ya better listen to chris there as may his 87 turbo RIP!

 

all of the cobalts there except the bright red one that doesn't have a lip are supercharged. the red one that sits the lowest is my best friend he's the fastest. the other cobalt is just an ss, then the srt4 is turboed he was loud as hell 'cause he had straight pipes. the bike is fast of course, and the mustang was just a v6. but yeah i started this group basically hehe. and i did race and did beat the regular ss cobalt the others i can't.

 

u need a mazdaspeed 3 in the group to claim ur throne

 

lol yeah we needz mazdas lol