Did he have stability control turned off?

[208vette]

^^^ This

Stability control won't allow excessive wheelspin while the vehicle is in a straight line.

My favorite mode in mine, when appropriate, is 'competitive driving mode'. Lets you spin the wheels, a lot if you prefer, yet still kick in stability control if you start getting too much out of shape at speed. I have not tested the limit of it, nor do I intend to.

 

[Carmudgeon]

A BMW M4 is rwd and has a lot of horsepower so it's the same thing, which is the crux of the problem.

BMW has turned M cars into pony cars, lots of power, lots of weight (extra charge for the "lightweight" variety), automatic transmissions, which don't make them as appealing as before.

As for the mo-ron in the video, the sad fact is that being a car enthusiast doesn't necessary make one a driving enthusiast. Fancy cars and endless mods don't make one a better driver, and many have no interest in becoming one. The results are predictable.

Attend a track day, or other HP driving event, and the guys with the best toys reveal themselves to be the worst drivers, overestimating their own talent, and refusing to listen to the instructors.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

A BMW M4 is rwd and has a lot of horsepower so it's the same thing, which is the crux of the problem.

Right but it's essentially impossible to do this in a straight line unless the driver has turned off the relevant electronic nanny.

.... Fancy cars and endless mods don't make one a better driver, and many have no interest in becoming one. The results are predictable.

Attend a track day, or other HP driving event, and the guys with the best toys reveal themselves to be the worst drivers, overestimating their own talent, and refusing to listen to the instructors.

So true. It's all about how much can they increase HP via tunes, methanol injection, and catless exhausts. Very very few explore something as simple as adding a mechanical LSD, bigger brakes, and driving schools. It's all about 0-60 rather than learning how to become a better driver. That takes too much time.

 

[IndyIan]

Wrong. If going in a right hander and the rear end start swinging to the left, the ESP will apply (among other things) the right rear brakes to pull you back on track.

It would be interesting to see the programming and modelling on ESP systems. It has very little information to make its decisions on when you think about it. I only really have time on our Outback in snow and gravel around 30-40mph and as far as I can tell it just brakes the front outside tire and kills power when you start getting fun drift angles while on the throttle, and it often does it a bit late after I've already counter steered which isn't really helping anymore, and just makes you prone to snapping the other way if you over counter steer.
In your example, on many cars with good tires on pavement ,the inside rear tire may have nearly no weight on it at all before the back end comes around, especially if the driver has already chopped the throttle mid corner... IMHO there's nothing good ESP can do with the rear brakes at that point, I'd think the best strategy would be to lock the outside front tire and let off any brakes on the rear. I have seen ESP do some weird stuff on a CTS-V at autocross too, like alternatively locking the inside front tire while under power in a slalom... He eventually just shut it all off and learned to drive smoother and faster and had more fun than fighting the nannies.
I read ESP works pretty well on a track in some cars, but is that for every car on every surface? I don't know. I have a bit of experience at autocross and no one fast I've ridden with keeps the TC or ESP active because it gives slower times, and kicks in to late, or just kills the power and takes forever to disengage. For new drivers with faster cars it is a good to leave the nannies on, as just the power cut alone when things are getting squirrely, is a good thing to let them regroup and get back to smoother driving on the racing line.
I think once ESP is fed road and obstacle information from onboard cameras or radar, it will have alot more information to run better models and make better decisions. The final step is taking over the steering which should make silly crashes like this Hellcat one, very hard to do if you tried. But I think the legal barriers to this are a bit too high yet.

 

[Pew]

Traction, stability control, and ABS are horrible for the track too. T/C will cut the power while S/C will try to engage the brakes and keep the car going straight like how you explained with your Outback - which is fine for normal driving, but a big no-no (and scary!) for the track if you want the car to leave the track the same way it went in. All three will burn up time and brakes.

 

[atikovi]

In your example, on many cars with good tires on pavement ,the inside rear tire may have nearly no weight on it at all before the back end comes around, especially if the driver has already chopped the throttle mid corner... IMHO there's nothing good ESP can do with the rear brakes at that point,

Not sure how it works exactly, but had one incidence where it prevented a spin-out. Taking a cloverleaf off-ramp in a Pontiac G8 on a wet road. In the middle of the curve I get on the gas and feel the tail starting to swing out. ESP kicked in and prevented the spin.

 

[IcarusLSC]

I'm surprised how easy that pickup flipped over!