Did I do the right thing?

Soldato
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Hello all,

I was on my way with my Mum driving to Decathlon in Nottingham last night in the wet when I approached a smallish roundabout on Bilborough Road outside the Nottingham Buisiness Park heading towards the Nuthall roundabout for those of you that know it. I was in the left hand lane with a car behind me and I entered the roundabout at approx. 20mph, turned in to the right keeping to the left hand lane and at the point where you are about to accelerate out of the roundabout I felt my front tyres starting to slip, instantly followed by the rears sliding. I had NO grip whatsoever on the road surface.

The car started to point to the right, whilst the car started sliding to the left and the curb. I reacted by easing off the accelerator and I touched the brake for a split second whilst attempting to turn the direction I intended to go. The car bit the road again and I carried on in the direction I was supposed to be going.

My question is, did I react in the right way? What would have happened if I had hit the brakes in a panic? I drive a S reg basic SEAT Ibiza so nothing special.
 

Pug

Pug

Soldato
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well, the fact you didnt crash says you did the right thing in the siuation... ;)

whether its technically the right thing to have done, i'll wait for the OCUK crash investigation team to confirm ;)

(If you'd have stamped on the brake without ABS you'd be in the kerb probably (depending on speed and distance to kerb)
 
Caporegime
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Braking would have unsettled the car, you would have probably got out of the situation by just letting off the accelerator (quite why you were on it at that point i'm not sure). Letting off the accelerator in a FWD car would drop the weight on the front giving you a bit more traction.
 
Soldato
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I wasn't actually pushing down on the accelerator, I was just keeping it at a steady point to keep the car going at it's current speed.

The point the car lost traction was just about the point where you would expect to press the accelerator to move away from the island.
 
Man of Honour
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If you hit the brakes you would have probably come to a halt quickly but not necessarily facing the right way. All cars behave differently in these sorts of situations so it's best you find out what yours does the hard way. You need a wet/greasy roundabout and a night when no-one is about and basically find out what happens by chucking the car about.

Example: my Anglia (rwd) vs my friends old FTO (fwd). If I come in on a wet roundabout on the limit or if it's greasy I let off and the car straightens out. Brake lightly and it does the same. Nail the throttle and the car spins round and I'm facing backwards. In the FTO if he comes in on the limit and lets off the car oversteers, likewise if he brakes it does the same but worse. Nail the throttle and it understeers, so he has to be careful and maintain his line and throttle.

Practice makes perfect but if you can predict what effect your steering and braking is going to have in a situation it will give you more confidence and control when that need arises.
 
Caporegime
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A little dab would have helped the front end grip this probably stopped the front wheels sliding.

However more likely was that you hit a lot of built up rubber,due to the recent heatwave, that would have been like ice in the rain, the car slid until it reached normal, non-rubber- covered road, and then regained grip
 
Man of Honour
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sounds like last night was a bad night for cars, one of my mates had a blow out on a roundabout and ended up smackin the curb bending his rear axle i think he said and my other mate was nearly hit by some tool in his flashy sports car thinking he could speed round a round about and losing it and ending up in a bush.
 
Man of Honour
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I'd have applied light throttle to balance the car out, and some opposite lock.

You were ok as the speeds were low. Jumping on the brakes is usually bad.
 
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