[M!]

Since there were quite a few questions on the gearbox, etc, i must admit that the lack of a clutch pedal sometimes worries me. there is this lack of control that sometimes slow me down...

In a manual car, i was taught to ease of gas, (ease of brake), and clutch IN on a skid or oversteer, for instance, until the car regains composure.

(In an automatic, it is just backing off the gas).

In a CC or DS, what do you do on emergency situations? besides backing off and easing off the gas or brake in various situations?

i am assuming except on an emergency stop you don't pop into N on a CC DS, right?

this is one reason why i want to go to the maserati driving course...

 

[RickBullotta]

First of all the stability control system does a pretty good job. Drive your car hard on your favorite twisty road with and without stability control on, and you'll see how often it kicks in without you knowing!

Secondly, backing off is not always the best way to wrestle a car back under control. There are plenty of situations where getting *on* the acclerator can be effective for getting it back on track.

In any case, I'm planning to do the 2 day course at Road Atlanta to learn the "official" tricks and techniques of how to drive this particular car up to its potential!

 

[maserati of minneapolis]

Personally I think the Maserati set-up is great. Having driven these cars in all kinds of road conditions - dry, wet, snowy, icy, I have a lot of respect for how it is set-up.

Indeed, the Maserati system is pretty unique among sports car manufacturers. Here is some words from Paul Flickers, Vehicle Chief Engineer for Maserati.

"Skid control systems employ high-speed computer technology and extremely fast hydraulic systems designed to reduce torque to individual wheels and braking wheels in pre-programmed sequences to help bring sliding cars back under control.
Many of our rival manufacturers simply use slightly modified off-the-shelf skid-control systems and fit them to their vehicles.
Maserati does not do this. The Maserati ESP system has been exclusively designed to assist drivers across a range of driving abilities.
Maserati insisted that its ESP should not interfere with the enjoyment of a skilled driver, but it should still allow every driver to use the full capabilities of their Maserati.

This decision also meant some level of electronic reassurance for people who may be daunted by the race-bred power of the 4.2L V8 engine.

This system is continuously operation, and its parameters have been designed to include assistance on dry, wet and even icy conditions. The engineers built into the system a special winter driving setting to help owners get through snowy conditions that otherwise would require all-wheel drive.

Maserati's ESP has been developed with a more sporting focus than the ESP technologies of a similar name in use by other car companies. The Maserati system has been formulated on the assumption of a certain level of driving enthusiasm and passion."

Here is a simplification of the rest of the message from Paul;

In Sport mode the system will allow the car to skid sideways by up to six degrees in a corner.

For track days or in confidently skilled hands, the driver can turn the ESP off completely. This means there is no electronic assistance for active safety, and the driver will be relying on pure car control and chassis engineering to drive quickly.

Even at this level though, the Anti-lock braking system is still operational (as is the rev-limiter) to help prevent the wheels from locking or skidding. This is an aid to help the driver retain steering control even under emergency braking.

- Mark

 

[CCPotenza]

In a manual car, i was taught to ease of gas, (ease of brake), and clutch IN on a skid or oversteer, for instance, until the car regains composure.

First, I can't imagine why you would do this .... the clutch in part. Seems to me that the sudden loss of engine braking (which would start to occur as soon as you lifted off the gas) would actually increase the forward, straight-line inertia of the car and exacerbate the yaw, making it harder to pull out of the skid. (There is one benefit of clutch in, however .....if you do lose it and go backwards, you don't stall the motor and flat-spot your tires.)

Second, you're that good of a driver, that you can process the logic fast enough to coordinate your right hand, left foot and right foot in a split-second as a way to keep yourself out of a spin? I've seen people in autocrosses break or dislocate their thumbs as they get caught in the spokes of a spinning steering wheel during a spin-out. Can't imagine how someone can have the composure to instinctively shift into neutral under those kinds of conditions unless they were actually trying to cause a spin and were prepared for such a sequence.

I'd suggest you head out to your area's largest mall at 6 AM on a temperate, dry morning and use their large, empty parking lot as a place to get comfortable with your car's MSP. Push it hard into turns and break it loose. Yank the wheel, cause oversteer. Find your car's oversteer/understeer point. Light the tires up with MSP off, then try it again with it on.

I think you'll find that the Maserati MSP is better than all but a couple of hundred humans.

 

[M!]

...Can't imagine how someone can have the composure to instinctively shift into neutral under those kinds of conditions unless they were actually trying to cause a spin and were prepared for such a sequence.
...

sorry i didnt even bother reading the whole thing you wrote.
clutch in does not mean shifting into neutral.

 

[RQ]

Here is an easy way to remember (from someone who's done a lot of spins on tracks):

"in a spin, both feet in,
when in doubt, both feet out"

(refering of course to cars with a clutch, but applies all around)

 

[M!]

thank you RQ!

 

[MikeA]

RQ
What do you mean by 'both feet in'? Can't be clutch and accelerator, since that would fry the engine. So you must mean both clutch and brake pressed in. I have to disagree. I think the way that good drivers get out of a slippery back end is to do two things:
- steer into the skid
- use the accelerator as necessary to straighten the car out

That said, while I have the steer in part burned into my instincts, I still seem to always slam the brake on when I loose the rear end. This is usually the wrong thing to do, especially the 'slam' part. I suppose that judicious use of the brake can be beneficial. Just hard to be anything other than binary when my mind is dealing with a skid. On a track day at Thunderhill I went into a skid, and did my usually steer into it and brake reaction, and I was just about to go off the track when I tried the accelerator and was able to drive out of the skid.

Could be that there are multiple schools of thought on how to handle a car with a loose rearend - I am not sure. Kind of like the religious battles that seem to go on concerning whether a CC or manual tranny is the best. For the record, I am solidly in the CC camp after getting used to my car.

Hey, maybe I can keep two flame wars going with a single post!!!!!

Mike

 

[Steeldream]

In a spin both feet in refers to the situation where you've completely lost it and are reviewing where you've just been rather than where you're going.

You want the clutch in so that there's no power adding to the problem and also so that you don't stall the engine. You want the brake in in hopes that you can bring things to an uneventful conclusion.

On the other hand if it's "just oversteer" and the back end is loose give it opposite lock and stay on the gas. that keeps the front end traveling in the right direction from the steering and the power to the wheels gets the back end under control and moving "forward" instead of sideways.

 

[MikeA]

OK, makes sense. I was thinking about the rear end sliding out, rather than a complete spin.
Thanks.
Mike