Almost dead in my 2000..

Yes, but they weren't *that* high. I'll bet you hit the brakes hard at the same time you jerked the wheel over. That's a guaranteed spin.

Sign up for some track instruction. In a car as well balanced as a Miata, the proper responses may seem counterintuitive, so you need to train your reflexes to do the right thing without thinking.

Of course, there's no substitute for situational awareness and a healthy dose of paranoia. Keep track of all the cars around you, and assume they're all out to hit you. Your goal is to make that impossible by being unhittable. Predict their trajectories, and keep your options open. It's pure defensive driving.

I was thinking that I must have hit the brakes but I have no memory of it...

That's good and bad. In most traffic situations going wrong hitting the brake as a reflex will save you from ramming something but as you just experienced it's not always the case. Still I think it's much better to have the brake reflex to perhaps work on than it is to not have it.

I remember when I was taking my driving lessons there was an incident one day, after having perhaps 7 or 8 lessons, where I was doing about 30 mph on a city street and this kid decided it was a good idea to cross the street. Without even thinking I braked hard and even managing to beat my instructors foot to the pedal. Afterwards I felt pretty sure I was on the right track to one day becoming an okay driver.

As Lanny suggests it's a good idea to get extra driving instructions. I think that is something all people driving should do from time to time since a lot of stuff is not something you train in everyday driving. Just the reaction of a car when doing a full emergency stop is a chock to many and some people even let go of the brake when they feel the kickback from the ABS meaning they use a longer brake distance than they should.

Kind regards Bruno

After 34 years of driving, especially having owned an RX-7, you probably have an intuitive response not to jerk the wheel and hit the brakes at the same time. If you didn't, this would have happened long before now in your other vehicles. Maybe you did this time, maybe not, you'll probably never know.

Glad you made it, by the way.

You mentioned new tires. What type are they? I have found a miata on slippery tires to be one of the easiest cars to spin out, though I have only done so a few times in a miata and that was on purpose in a parking lot. Anytime someone drives my car I warn them that it can switch ends quite suddenly, especially with over 200 hp. I also usually put on the 5-point harness when I am the passenger, heh.

Finally, while track instruction is a great idea, I also know of at least two local driving school graduates and regular autocrossers/racers who have left their miatas totaled after wrecking them on Lime Creek Road. Sometimes shit just happens.

Pat

Yikes! Glad to hear you weren't injured. The traffic on the GSP can be horrific.

Higher tire pressure will make the sidewalls stiffer and give you a smaller footprint on the road. It's a real possibility that caused your spin.

And didn't you Joisey folks get the same nasty wet weather last Friday that we did here in Eastern PA? That could also have been a factor in the situation.

Iva & Belle.) '90B Classic Red.) #3 winkin' Miata

I hit the road before the rain.. holed up in PA with an old friend and cruised right past Blackburg VA (decided to see an ancestors grave in GA) right after the shit hit the fan. I've made the NJ Tampa run round trip 3 times in 7 weeks now...don't ask.

Almost certainly tire pressure. In my case many years ago driving a rental I noticed when going round corners the back of the car almost seemed to bounce round corners and threaten to swing out. I first thought I might have a flat but it wasn't the case and it was only when I checked tire pressure at the next garage found they where 40psi. I imagine that this sort of bounce would be highly inconvienent when doing any sudden changes in direction.

Basically, those are hot race track pressures -- fine for precision handling, but only if you know what you're doing and have a lot of experience with those pressures at the track or autocross.

-- Larry

Well here's what has really botherd me about this.... I have been driving a long time...34 years. I have owmed am MG, Triumph, Capri ('73), several Volvo's, 3 BMW motorcycles and an airplane. I live and breath safety whenever I do anything I consider acceptable risk.... I have taken Motorcyle Safety Foundation classes every two years, did the CLASS course at Watkins Glenn (on my bike), I have my instrument rating etc etc etc... I always used to wonder how guys with 30,000 flying hours would run out of gas or VMC in IMC conditions while flying and now I have a much clearer idea of how that all happens. I was once again beginning a trip from NJ to Tampa something I have done several times during the last 2 months.... i was thinking about a lot of things.... I lost my situational awareness... I must have tapped the brakes which started the high speed slide and spin.. I knew enough to turn in the direction of the spin and remember hitting the brakes to not hit the divider... I also think I'm going to keep the laptop off the passenger seat..... I saw a documentary once about the Blue Angels. One of the scenes has the pilots reviewing a practice session and they critique each other... and when someone screws up... and they know if they did ... the first thing they say is.. "I'm just happy to be here." Well I feel the same way and I wanna learn how to not do that again.

As I pulled away from the toll booth and accelerated to

Let's see, you were rapidly accelerating, then some one cut you off. You quickly flick to the right and probably let off the gas or even hit the brake. All this weight shifting can cause the back and inside tires to have less traction than usual. Add this to the rapid turn and deceleration, it's easy to imagine your car losing traction. The right thing to do would probably be either to quickly slow down or quickly turn, but not both; there's not enough tire adhesion. This is anti intuitive and I doubt I would have done better on a split seconds notice.

However, your tires PSI may be a bit high. I keep mine around the low to mid 30s. Not that I think this would have save you from a spin out. Glad you're alright.

.... I lost my situational awareness...

I think you hit it on the head here. We all have occasion to get mind clutter and get a little out of touch with our surroundings, that's just dangerous. I agree with Lanny, it's all about defensive driving. I think riding motorcycles growing up has really helped me on this. I drive the miata (and any car for that matter) the same way I rode, assume people are not going to see you and have your escape route ALWAYS ready for every situation. Do I slow down every time somebody might pull out in front of me, heck no, that would make me dangerous to traffic behind me and tend to make the person pulling out / over more likely to go ahead and go but, always have the escape route in mind.

I too am glad you made it! Chris

Every single time for the last twenty-five years I got new tires, they always overinflate them to 40 or so pounds. I have no idea why the professional auto repair industry is so fond of overinflating tires by sixty or seventy percent, but the fact is they are. It's right there on the door sill what the manufacturer's recommended pressure is, but even though it says right there to use 26 psi, you get 40 psi anyway. Naturally your car handles all noisy and wrong.

Not only that, but even when I take it in for oil changes, half the time they do the same thing. I really wouldn't have expected them to mess with the tires during a $25 oil change, but I guess they're motivated by the desire to give extra-good service so they fiddle with the tires as well. And they overinflate them by sixty percent. And this was at a Mazda dealership, where the factory service manual is right there on-line.

So every time you let a garage mess with your car and it's out of your sight for a minute or two, make sure you check the tire pressure afterwards.

Well anyway, when you make it to Tampa, at least you won't have to worry about any accidents at speed, because every f***in road in f***in Tampa is f***in backed up all mother f***in day long. &^#$%^&@#$%#*, &^%#$!! &^%$%$$%^&!!!!!

yrs WDK from Lutz

Do you work on your car? Do you know of a shop around here?

When I would have service done to my plane... oil change etc... I would always do the run up then shut down and get out and wait for the oil to pour out the bottom of the engine... never did.. but gave me piece of mind. Once I had a standby vacuum pump put in (if u fly ifr u want this) and the very next flight my vac pump failed.... so,,,, nothing ventured is nothing ventured.

That's funny, because I was down there at the end of March and I saw a Miata crunched into a guard rail. =:O There was a lot of traffic, tho...

miker