Learning to race?

[The mOBSCENE]

I am starting to get more into the whole "racing" fashion as my truck keeps getting quicker and quicker with each new thing I do to it so I just want to help others out and possibly be helped out with some things.

If you have any suggestions or links about proper functioning of a vehicles while racing or definitions of racing terms or anything, post it here.



I will start. This is for the manual's out there.

The following is a beginner's approach to learning how to double - clutch. This technique allows downshifts from higher speeds without any synchroniser wear. This is VERY important if you ever want to drive really quickly and keep your transmission intact for extended periods!

The Easy Way to Double-Clutch
By Jeff Krause.

Double-clutching is the proper way to downshift at speed without placing excessive wear on the transmission's synchronizers. This allows you to select a much lower gear without the tell-tale lurch you normally get when the clutch is let out after downshifting.

When downshifting my BMW M5 from 4th gear to 2nd at 50 mph, I need to raise the engine speed from 2200 rpm to 5000. To prevent excessive synchroniser wear, the clutch is depressed and the shifter is moved to neutral. The clutch is then released, and the gas is depressed to bring the engine speed up to where it needs to be for the lower gear. The clutch is then depressed again and the shift lever moved into the lower gear. When the clutch is released the second time, the engine is already turning the proper speed . While this sounds complicated, it's easier done than said, and only takes about a second.

To better understand how the process works, a little background on transmission fundamentals will help.

A typical transmisson has two shafts, one connected to the engine through the clutch, and one connected to the rear wheels. There are usually four to six sets of gears on these shafts and they are selected with the gearshift lever inside the car. When changing gears, the clutch is depressed to disconnect the engine from the transmission so there isn't any stress on the moving parts. Since the output shaft is permanently connected to the rear wheels, the only way to match the speed of the two shafts is to use the throttle to adjust engine speed.

Once the engine is turning the right rpm, both shafts will be turning the same speed, and the gear lever will fall into gear WITHOUT using the clutch! (Although most of the time you are shifting too fast to be that accurate)

EXCERCISES

1) With the car idling in neutral, slowly step on the gas until the engine is turning 3500 rpm. Do it again bringing the rpm's up more and more quickly until you can give the pedal a quick stab and have the revs stop where you want . As you shorten the time allowed to match revs, you will notice it takes more throttle. In fast driving, you will be shifting so fast 4 will take full thottle! Now try matching revs at 4000 rpm.

2) Find a deserted road, and maintain 40 mph in 4th gear. Now shift into 3rd, and see how many rpm's the engine speed increased. At this speed, the difference won't be very much - maybe only a few hundred rpm. Go back into 4th gear. This time put the clutch in, push the lever to neutral and let the clutch back out. You are now coasting with the clutch out. Raise the engine speed to where it will be in third gear. Quickly push the clutch in, select 3rd gear, and let the clutch out. There should be no perceptible lurch if you accurately matched revs. Try the same thing at higher and higher speeds. As the road speed goes up, the speed difference between gears will go up as well. When going from 5th to 3rd a highway speeds, you may end up within 1000 rpm of redline. The easiest way of determining your maximum downshift speed is to watch the tach and speedo as you are shifting up at redline. If you shift at redline from 2nd to 3rd at 60 mph, subtract 10 mph, and that becomes your effective maximum downshift point for 2nd gear. If are within 10 mph, you are better off staying in the higher gear.

HEEL-AND-TOE DOWNSHIFTS

This combines double-clutching and braking into one event. Place your foot on the brake as far to the right as you comfortably can. While braking, roll your ankle so you can catch the left edge of the gas pedal with the right edge of your foot. If the pedals are too wide, try placing the ball of your foot on the brake, and the heel on the gas (This is where the term heel-and-toe originally came from). Now try gently slowing down and downshifting. With practice, you can brake hard and downshift in one smooth motion. This will prevent the wheels from locking when the clutch is let out in the lower gear, and you will be ready for a burst of acceleration coming out of your favorite corner!

Copyright The Driver's Edge 1997

[TEKNIC]

Originally Posted by The mOBSCENE

This is for the manual's out there.

If it doesn't concern manual transmission vehicles, then it doesn't belong in this thread.

Anywho, how to drift without using e-brake like a noob:

Clutch Kick Drift
1. Enter a turn at a speed too high for the vehicle to handle (if you do not drift, your vehicle should experience understeer at this speed).

2. Turn your wheels into the turn and stay on the throttle.

3. At this speed, your vehicle should start to experience understeer. When this happens or right before this happens, clutch in, but stay on the throttle.

4. By clutching in and staying on the throttle, your engine will now rev up to high rpms. As soon as this happens, dump the clutch, causing your rear wheels to break traction.

5. When you feel the vehicle’s rear end kicking out, immediately countersteer the wheels to face straight with the road. Your vehicle will pull in the direction of the front wheels, as long as the wheels are still moving. Keep on the throttle. If you press the brakes or let off the throttle because your vehicle is in an extremely oversteered condition, you will spin out or leave the road.

6. When you wish to straighten out your car, after completing the drift, let off the throttle smoothly and straighten out the wheels as your vehicle kicks in line behind the front tires.


Oh, and 1 more...

7. Stop pretending you're faster than Teknic.

[Cincy~Keebs]

Why dont we petition to start an automobile thread....





This guy that lives across the street has like 2 Toyota Supras, A Mitsubushi Eclipse, a V12 BMW, and a Mazda RX-7

Ill try to find the old pictures I took of them.

[TEKNIC]

Just to state the obvious, and to make sure we're on the same page here, cars are really cool. In fact, there's at least something to like about pretty much any car out there. If you want to change your car, there are some absolutely fantastic ways to mod a car to make it meet your needs or fulfill your dreams.
However, in racing, we focus on a very particular part of the whole vehicle system. When we make this one element work better, the whole car works better. It goes faster, it handles better, it lasts longer, and generally becomes a more efficient platform. The one part that we work on is making the driver better.
The point here is that making a car faster through modding is a great discipline that ranges from the casual enthusiast's desire to have a fun-to-drive machine all the way to the level of the PhD "aerodynamicist" that is hired to make Michael Schummacher's Ferrari the best in the paddock. However, ultimately the driver must be able to drive that modded car at its potential limit, otherwise the combination of driver and machine will never realize its true potential.
So what in the world makes me a person to listen to on this subject? Well, I've had some experience in this sport, and I've been around it for quite a while. I participated in amatuer sportbike roadracing series across the country as a teenager, and have attended a number of driving schools, including the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Arizona.
What I intend to do with this thread is focus on some of the basic concepts that will allow you as a driver to take that ride that you have worked on so hard to its true limit of performance. I'll give you all a look at things like seating position, brake application, throttle usage, oversteer, understeer, weight transfer, driving line, energy management, rolling momentum, rate of turn, departure angle, and so forth.
Today I want you to focus on base skills a driver needs to be successful in the sport of motor racing. Certainly it helps to have good reaction times, to be physically and mentally fit, to be intelligent, and to have a passion and desire for the sport, but ultimately the main skills a driver needs to be successful can be traced down to the following three elements.

1.) An ability to concentrate and focus on the task at hand
Probably the best example of a driver exhibiting amazing powers of concentration was the late Ayrton Senna. Here was a guy who would regularly remember oil pressure readings to three digits all while driving a Formula 1 car at its limit. There were all kinds of stories about how Senna, when meeting up with a few of the teams that he raced with in the lower Formulae series, would be able to recall the designations of the various tire compounds or part numbers that he used during his races a decade earlier. That incredible level of concentration is what made his drving so devoid of mistakes or miscues. As with any great driver, he possessed all of the main skills a driver needs, but his levels of concenration were perhaps the most impressive.

2.) Acute and exceptional car feel and car communication abilities
Jeff Gordon fits the bill here, although I hate to say it. Gordon's success is due in large part to his ability to "set the car up" by feeling where the car is lacking. Doing that well in a 3,500 pound softly sprung car with 800hp and no grip going 180mph is no easy task, and yet more often than not Gordon is up to the task. You will rarely see a driver like Gordon "overdrive" his racecar. He will find the limit and keep the car on that limit of adhesion without exceeding or backing off of it by simply feeling what the car is telling him. That car communication is critical to maintaning a car at its limit and it allows a driver to have finer sense of car control.

3.)Visual skills to look where they want the car to go
My favorite example of this skill is undoubtedly factory Corvette C-6R works driver Johnny O'Connell. Watch Johnny with in-car-camera on any race coverage, and you will see a guy that leads the car with his eyes. Even when it appears that the cr is sliding and might be on the verge of a moment, Johnny's eyes will not leave where he wants the car to go next, which is down the racetrack. You'll be hard pressed to ever see a driver of Johnny's caliber looking at what he doesn't want to hit, and yet that is really what most drivers that are new to the sport do all the time, especially when the car starts to slide. We call this tendency to stare at what we don't want to hit Target Fixation. One thing for sure, when driving a car you go where you look.

Master this basic set of skills and drivers can then branch out and develop the more advanced skills required to go faster and run smoother. The great thing about driving is that just about everybody has that main skill set to some degree, it just takes practice to make those skills more efficient. It's learning what and how to practice that means the difference between success and failure, and that's really what I'm typing all this for.

[The mOBSCENE]

The sad thing is, I just basically re-read everythign that I have already learned in a daylong driving school two years ago. :P

[TEKNIC]

Don't worry, more to come. I'm gonna make periodical updates. I just have to be in the right mood to type that much... But I intend on passing on as much of my knowledge as possible. I also will sticky this, because I feel like it.

[Dynastar197]

Originally Posted by TEKNIC

Don't worry, more to come. I'm gonna make periodical updates. I just have to be in the right mood to type that much... But I intend on passing on as much of my knowledge as possible. I also will sticky this, because I feel like it.

Good idea.

Believe it or not, I will be looking at this pretty intently. A buddy of mine is fortunate enough to have a pops that just purchased a garage. He's getting out of the polo business and is starting up a classic/custom restoration shop if you get my drift. Also, my buddy is HOPEFULLY purchasing an E30 BMW (mid 80's 3 series) complete race car on monday. Needless to say, he's going to have a racecar with a complete garage and access to profesional race tracks in the southeast. Naturally, I'll be there with him.

On the other hand, I eat, sleep, dream, and piss cars 24/7 365 but dont have any past experience with racing excpet for what I have done on the street. I am interested in all the technicalities of track racing. So please feel free to tell us everything you know. It will be appreciated greatly.

[The mOBSCENE]

Here is a slight tip for learning DOWNSHIFTING if you are not too quick in the head.

Get a small piece of paper (notepad size) and take your vehicle (manual tranny as always) to the red line in each gear and make a note of the speed you are at. Tape this somewhere in your sight that you can glance at quickly without distracting you too much.

With this information you can now figure out the lowest gear you can downshift into at a certain speed.

As an example, from what I can remember, my truck hits the red line in second gear at around 47-52mph (I think). In other words, downshifting into 2nd gear at 47-52mph is not recomended because not only is it a big hit on your transmission, but it is also almost pointless. Take your redline speed from that gear and subtract it by about 5-10mph (depending on your situation) and you will have a nice speed to downshift into that is worth it and not bad for your tranny. So for me, I try not to downshift into second gear if I have reached past about 43mph. After about 43mph, I'll just take it to 3rd gear.

10 mph less than redline is usually the minimum. Otherwise more time is wasted shifting than in the lower gear. -Tek

I hope that I wasn't too confusing and this is actualy helpful.

Also, it is very important that you get your RPMs up to a reasonable speed before letting out the clutch otherwise you will tear up your tranny pretty badly.

[TEKNIC]

Yesterday, I was having a conversation about turbos, and the person I was talking to was basically clueless(Mr Pan). Now if there's one thing I know better than anything, it's building turbo motors. So listen up, Pan. I'm only gonna say all this crap once.

First of all, You need to know your math and physics of air pressure and density. Study this for a minute:
B= Boost Level you desire
AP= Atmospheric Pressure(14.7 psi)
IPD=Intercooler Pressure Drop
Pco=Pressure out of Compressor Housing
Pr= Pressure Ratio

Pco = B + AP + IPD
Pr = Pco / AP

Di= Density after Intercooler
R= Constant = 53.3 degrees Rankin
PIT= Post Intercooler Temp = rougtly 130 degrees F

Di= (B + AP) / (R * 12 *(460 + PIT))

Mf= Mass Flow Rate
DCI= Displacement in Cubic Inches = cc / 16.387
RPM= RPM you want the Boost Level at
VE= Volumetric Efficiency = 90% or .90

Mf= (Di * DCI * RPM) / (2 * VE)

AAT= Ambient Air Temp in degrees Rankin
CIT= Compressor Inlet Temp(in Rankin) = degrees F + 460
CIP= Compressor Inlet Pressure = Rougly 14 psi
CMf= Corrected Mass Flow Value

CMf= (Mf * SQRT( CIT / AAT)) / (AP / CIP)

Remember boost is not horsepower. Boost is just a measurement of how hard the turbo is working to force air into the engine. When an engine cannot flow any more air into it, the boost must be increased to force it in. Maximum boost is determined by the tuning as well as by the engine's internal components. It is the responsibility of the car owner and tuner to take steps that will ensure that the increased boost will not harm the engine. TUNE TUNE TUNE !!! Intercoolers are a good start. Much like a radiator for the incoming air charge, the intercooler cools the intake air charge to temperatures closer to ambient, condensing it and allowing you to fit more into each combustion stroke. This also helps in reducing combustion temperatures (bad) and helping prevent against detonation (also bad). Stock units from the junkyard can usually be had for between $25-$75. New units can range from $400-$2,000. The intercooler upgrade kits that are designed to mount in the factory intercooler location are enhanced in overall size, flow capacity and cooling efficiency well over the capability of the stock units. There are diverse opinions about the advantage of air/liquid intercoolers versus air/air intercoolers in drag racing applications. Some say there is no advantage over air/air and they also say if there is an advantage it is offset by the added weight. The real facts are that other than a small additional weight factor, a proper application of an air/liquid intercooler will increase power much more than enough to offset any additional weight and will always yield superior performance over an air/air unit. And, sometimes the additional weight is needed for ballast and this disadvantage is erased. To understand why air/liquid intercoolers are superior for drag racing, consider that the cooling medium in an air/air intercooler is the ambient temperature of the outside air at any given time. If we have an engine running 30PSI boost pressure, depending on compressor efficiency, the discharge temperature will be approximately 400° , with an ambient temperature of 90° F. Assume that you have an air/air intercooler that can give 90% effectiveness at over 100mph and less at lower vehicle speeds. 90% at the above condition will give a temperature out of the intercooler of approximately 120° F., and higher temperature out at lower speeds due to lower cooling and velocity across the surface of the core. Additionally, you are leaving the line with a hot intercooler caused by heating during burn out.

Now, consider a drag car using an air/liquid intercooler circulating ice water. The pump is turned on before the burn out and when you leave the line the charge temperature will remain more stable throughout the run and charge temperature can actually be much lower than ambient temperature, depending on the size of the intercooler. A properly sized air/liquid intercooler could easily give a charge temperature of 60° (on a 90° day!), which would be 60° lower than the air/air unit. This reduction in charge temperature not only gives a significant increase in power and torque, but also allows the use of more aggressive ignition timing for even greater increases in power. Water injection systems reduces air charge temperature on turbocharged engines, with or without intercoolers, and increases air density resulting in additional horsepower and torque. On engines equipped with detonation sensor controlled ignition systems, it will maintain maximum spark advance even on low octane fuels. Now pertaining to OUR Street Ran Cars...Here is what legendary Tuner and World Record holder of 18 Land Speed Records, Bob Norwood says about Liquid to Air Intercoolers :
"Why the hell would ANYONE who is running under 20psi or 500hp put that on his car ? It's NOT needed and is total overkill !"

Now lets talk turbo. You always hear T3 this T4 that. So what does all of it mean? It all has to do with the specifications of the turbo. The T04E-Turbo is larger in external dimension and has a higher efficiency at greater pressure ratios than the T04B. Several compressor wheels are available in the family, Including the 60-1. There are two different turbine wheels used, Stage 2 & 3. This family of turbos can fitted with either the T3 or T4, Turbine housing. The T3 turbine housing has an integral wastegate port. Compressor inlet is either 3" or 2.75" and the outlet is 2". It is available with a water cooled or non water cooled bearing housing. Turbine housing A/R ratios are .48, .63, and .82. Larger A/R ratios are available for the T4 turbine housing. The T04E/T3 Hybrid-Turbo is typically used for high flow drag race applications where little time is spent in the 2000-4500 Rpm range . It can be configured to flow over 850 CFM and support over 580 HRP. It works best at boost levels above 14psi. The TO4E/T3 Hybrid-Turbo for any application up to 900-CFM/550+HRP. These units are built to match individual customer needs and applications. HD steel thrust bearing standard, Full circle thrust bearing can be used. So, what is the difference between TO4E turbos and TO4Bs? They are related. The "E" and "B" signify different families of compressor wheels. Each family was optimized for certain applications. One family is not better than the other. In some circumstances, the "E" may perform better than the "B." In other situations, vice versa. The key is to choose which wheel works best for your vehicle's needs. The difference between an "on-center" turbine housing and a "tangential" turbine housing is similar. The "tangential" turbine housing differs both in form and function. The housing sits off to one side, similar to that of a snail shell. The other difference is that to connect an exhaust down-pipe, a V-Band flange-and-clamp assembly must be used. This setup sometimes proves to be more convenient for race applications. The "tang" housings are 4 to 5 percent more efficient in flow. Neither the "on-center" nor "tangential" perform better than the other. The decision to use one over the other should depend completely upon the installation of the turbos in the engine compartment. Ceramic ball-bearing turbos "spool up" faster than a normal turbo. The ceramic ball-bearing design reduces the frictional loss that occurs with a conventional floating bearing-and-thrust system turbo. The ceramic ball-bearing design allows the turbo to accelerate much quicker, thus decreasing spool-up time. In most cases we have found our ceramic ball-bearing designs require 50 percent less energy to drive the turbo.

Now you need to pick out a wastegate. Most kits come with the Turbonetics Delgate Wastegate that only handles up to 13psi. Also known as a Delta-Spike. Meaning, these things DO and WILL cause "Boost Spike"! However a NICE upgrade is the Tial line of .38mm or .40mm .46mm wastegates. And the Tial does not have much “Boost creep”. It is practically eliminated. That means it hits boost sooner than your average wastegate. Simpy put...It's just a superior wastegate than most. Selection of the correct size/model wastegate is dependent upon several variables. Bolt in compatibility: The 38mm and 46mm gates are made to be direct bolt in replacements for existing wastegates as well as custom setups. The 35mm gate is dimensional equivalent to the Turbonetics 35mm delta gate with many features not found in the delta gate. The 46mm gate is a drop in for the 930 Porsche turbo cars. Flow capacity: Contrary to popular belief, larger higher HP applications do not necessarily require the largest wastegate available. The lower the boost pressure you are gunning for the larger your wastegate needs to be. An engine/turbo combination that is set to 25+psi has a smaller wastegate flow requirement than the same application set to 7 psi. This is because the wastegate is used to lower the boost not raise it, the lower the boost pressure is set the more flow the wastegate must allow. The spring: TiAL wastegates are not adjustable. To change the boost pressure at which the valve opens requires changing the spring within the wastegate. Springs range from .3 Bar to over 1 Bar are available. The most common way to select your spring size is to pick a pressure rating that is a couple tenths or a bar or a few psi lower than the boost pressure you intend to operate the turbo/engine combo at. This way a boost controller can be used to adjust the opening point of the wastegate and help you fine tune to the exact pressure that is desired. This also allows adjustments to compensate for changes in atm pressure, altitude and temperature, which will all effect the way your wastegate does it's job.
Mounting the wastegate is one of the most overlooked areas of boost control. In a perfect world you would select a mounting location for our wastegate that allows the gate equal access to all cylinders or rotors. This promotes equal exhaust port pressures between cylinders/rotors and avoids mysterious tuning problems resulting from uneven exhaust port back pressures. Another aspect to keep in mind is the high velocity of the exhaust gas inside the exhaust manifold, sometimes exceeding 800ft sec. Gas that is traveling at such high velocities will not easily make 90 degree turns of zero radius into the wastegate inlet. Remember Newton's second law, "bodies in motion tend to stay on motion". That particle of air is not particularly inclined to make a 90 degree turn and 800ft/sec. It must be persuaded to do so by giving it a gentle radius and easy access to the exhaust flow. Simply welding the gate to the side of a tube may work in some cases where the manifold back pressure is thru the roof, but in modern high efficiency turbochargers the pressure inside the manifold can be quite low and special through should go into wastegate runner geometry. The penalty for poor gate placement and poor gate runner design is having to use a larger gate. Does that mean with internal wastegates you could use non-equal length turbo manifolds because the wastegate is on the turbo instead of the manifold? Yes you can use Non-Equal Length but, no...it's not the best suggestion. "Equal-Length" gives you less chance of "Boost Creep" than say non-equal length...With ports matched and using the EXTERNAL wastegate which is usually designed to be centered and and NOT on runner 1. This is just a more efficent design and creates much better flow to the turbine. These are also lighter being Stainless Steel as opposed to Iron and "Hi-Ductile" Iron designs. It also has to do with what kind of wastegate you use. The Delgates that come standard with most kits, tends to fail and cause boost creep. Although their Race-gate is an excellent design. I would always recomend the Tial line of wastegate products. However...having an INTERNAL wastegate...of course your SMOG legal. BUT.....As greater exhaust is put out, the internal wastegate actuators begin to lose their effectiveness because the amount of exhaust flow to be bypassed is now beyond their intended operating range. Because of more exhaust flow being greater than the valves capacity to discharge. So more exhaust flow is directed to the turbine and additional boost is created, which is called "Boost Creep". "Outlawed Boost" can now happen due to the volume of exhaust energy now being created. This is BAD...Nothing like : "Whoa I set my MAX psi to 7 and all of a sudden I am hitting 10!" This is Outlawed Boost Creep. This can be controlled by an excellent Boost Controller such as the Blitz SBC-DC or the Apex-i AVC-R and the new HKS EVC. These units have what's called "Pass and Hold" – This is a safety function that allows the operator to set the amount of boost decrease in the event of any over boost. Warning is in both visual and audible. The new HKS EVC uses microprocessors in the head unit, solenoid and LCD cockpit display. Instead of sending electricity down the wire to and from each unit, binary code is sent, much like a computer network. The end result is a boost controller that's smaller, faster, and much more precise. No matter..This will, and does happen...A cold winter day, and you can bet your bottom dollar your going to have some spikes NO matter what you use. Keep that in mind. So they each have their +'s and -'s (equal and non equal length manifolds) another way to look it would be. The manifold and wastegate work hand in hand ! Manifold pushes the exhaust gases. Wastegate controls them or how much gets to the turbine. Equal Length with a good Tial .35mm (or even bigger for you REAL DRAGERS) wastegate is the ultimate "Race" setup. For you Internal guys, going with the Non-Equal length and internal wastegate is quite ok...Just not my personal opinion for the best setup suggestion. But it works and your legal for those states with strict SMOG laws.

After all the turbo work, You're still not really gonna have a safe tune with that "KIT" setup. The problem is with a 12:1 regulator (FMU), at say 10psi, it will add 120psi of fuel pressure to your base of 40. 160psi fuel pressure = not good for injectors. (based on say RC 310 injectors) Then at 15 psi you will have 220psi. Your average kit pump can't supply more than about 160. So, from 10 psi to 20 psi you will have the same amount of fuel. You could try and richen it by the afc,vafc route but these units are only relevant to rpm. You need a computer that can read boost. (AEM-EMS, Hondata, etc.) So you can get the extra fuel through the control of a big injector rather than crazy fuel pressures. With the standalone setup, and a 255lph intank pump and 550 or 720cc injectors you should be able to push 300-350HP to the wheels on pump gas. The only weak point is the stock sleeves. They can handle 300-350 but are very unforgiving at the least amount of detonation at that power level. Bottom line, with a standalone ECU 15psi shouldn't be any problem at all. Don't even try it with the fmu/vafc and stock ecu setup!! You will eventually BLOW the motor.

geh. That's all you're going to get out of me for now...

[The mOBSCENE]

Proper SKID CONTROL techniques.

There are two important factors to remember in proper skid control. Sight and NO BRAKES!

As Teknic somewhat stated above in one of his prievious posts, you should look where you want your vehicle to go. This is very important. You will follow where your eyes lead you. You can not walk perfectly straight while looking to the left or the right, same with driving. Find the path you want your vehicle to take and DONT LOSE SIGHT OF IT!

My second factor was to not use your brakes. I know that some of you may think that I am stupid and that you should use your brakes to slow down to get control of your vehicle, well you sir, are stupid. When you use your brakes, the weight of the vehicle shifts to the font of your vehicle which will send it into a harder skid to gain control of and when your tires finally grip, you are screwed. What you want to do is get off of the gas pedal. In fact, don't touch any pedals to be safe. Letting go of the gas pedal will even your vehicles weight out so that all four of your tires can gain control which will help you control your vehicle better. You have four contact patches on your vehicle, those are where your tires meet the road. The total area of the amount of actual contact between the four of your tires and the road equal up to about the size of a standard piece of notebook paper (the 11 inch by 7 inch size thingie [not exact measurments]). Having control of all four tires will give you control of your vehicle.

While looking at where you want to go and giving the traction you need back to your four contact patches, you also want to steer in the direction you want to go. This is kind of obvious but one would be surprised at how many people freak out, lock up and forget about this step.

If you follow these procedures correctly, you can sucessfully navigate a skid and come out of it clean and quickly to start your acceleration phase. This is also a nice technique to use when you are in a real skid on the road to save yourself from a crash, not just a racing technique. Reading this may very well save your life if you can remember to look, decelerate, and steer.