So my dad spun out my Z today!

UNKNOWN_370

Dad needs private drifting lessons from Dominic Torretto.

DCNISMO

Your or his next insurance premimun will be a bit higher. Any wreck you can walk away from unhurt is a blessing. I'm your dads age, lost many friends driving old mustang, camaros, nova, chevelles back in the day before computers and VDC. Leave it on. I do and I used to slide my 66 mustang around many a turn on country roads. Or if it's off, go to a parking lot to learn the car dynamics without it before hitting the road.

ZInferno0248

Tell your dad not to feel bad, this happened to me leaving my driveway (I live in the country on a farm). I always had the VDC off in the past, it shuts the car down if you get any wheel spin (which used to annoy me). I hit the gas coming out from a roll, shifted into 2nd (the engine reached boost), hit some gravel, and the rear end came around ridiculously fast. I counter-steered and corrected, but let off the gas at the same time and the rear end swung out the other direction. By then, I hit the edge of the grass on the side of the narrow country road... grass is slick, no grab for the 2nd counter-steer. Slid sideways through the fence and ditch into my cow pasture

The ground effects on a Nismo are more expensive than you'd expect!

It's all better now, but I was on time-out for a month while the Z sat at the body-shop. I'm happy you guys are ok and the car isn't worse off. Blame driver error, VDC, conditions, religion or what-ever you want, it really doesn't matter... even when you think you know the car and what to expect, it can still surprise you. There is probably only two kinds of sports-car drivers: The kind that have crashed and the kind that are going to crash. The key is to learn from the experience and those of others.

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awkwardturtle

How the heck do you afford a 370z/insurance/gas at 18?! I'm having a hell of a time working out a Z into my finances, and I make a hell of a lot more than I did when I was 18.

Spikuh

Most 18 year olds don't have a lot of bills, so if he has been working a job consistently since 15 or so and saving all his money it is well within the realm of possibility. A part time job at minimum wage would still net someone around $20k which can just about pay for an '09 model these days.

Shamu

People typically run out of capability/talent far before a sports car like a Z does that why there is VCD.

Next time have dad take the car to an autocross or drift session. Much cheaper than sprining car and hitting hard stuff .

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Grant

awkwardturtle

Facepalm at me

KingZee

His post doesn't say a year anywhere actually

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cossie1600

So is it possible to get him to buy both of you a track day?

How come anytime there is an accident, it's always the VDC or the other person's fault? Could it just be driver's error for once?

wdkwang

sorry to see this happen

i will disagree with the others about keeping the VDC on. this car really isn't that powerful and vdc kills the fun. it's a sports car, drive it like it's meant to be. vdc stays off unless it's snowing/raining hard for me

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wilsonp

I've had mid-engine cars bite me before, fortunately I've always regained control in time - I think any sports car can surprise you when there is a sudden loss of traction. Experience driving in slippery conditions can help

I would make sure to have under the bumper cover checked in case any crush items are there that need replacing.

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brucelidat

Stories like this make me worry about turning VDC off when I go to the track since I am a newbie. Does it make that much of a difference?

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icormba

note to you: that sucks!
note to me: keep the VDC on!
note to your Dad: Awesome!

cossie1600

It all depends on how you drive. You drive poorly, VDC will kick on a lot. You drive perfect, it will still kick on way too much. If you feel comfortable without it, then you can skip it. Only you can determine if you need it or not. Please don't say how great the VDC is because you will be faster with the VDC off.

scottIN

Once you get accustomed to a car, you'll know the limits. If you're on the track, you have to decide if you want to run at 90% of the limit or 100% of it. If I'm out practicing in my kart, I'll run at 95% of the limit. In a race, it's 100%.

The interesting thing you learn (and anyone who has spent much time on a track knows it) is that you'll eventually know when to correct before you lose it. You get a sense of when it's going to slide, how it's going to slide and if you need to correct it before it does (sliding is not a bad thing - it's actually faster). It's hard to explain, but when you're driving at the limit you just know what's going to happen before it happens and you fix it so it doesn't happen (usually by a minute amount of steering input). But it takes time to learn.

Here's a good example. I'd say that I'm 'loose' in this photo, but chances are I just went into the corner too hot and the back end started to come around. I'm counter steering to correct it (and that's a TON of counter steer). I actually went past the limit, but was able to bring it back without spinning. When I had to correct it, it did slow me down and I wasn't able to use the whole width of the track, but it's better than spinning or driving it off. That's about a 70mph left-hander I'm in.