360 in a C5

**jackmac** · 10-21-2007, 02:42 AM

We were out to a local 1/8 mile track for a little club event. One of our members has a '98 A4. He turned off the Traction Control for a run and in a nano-second spun that thing 360 and almost hit the safety wall in the other lane but did not. After cleaning off the seat and changing his shorts he asked why that happened. Nobody knew for sure so here I am.

Does shutting off the TC put the car in a non-posi mode?? The only thing I could come up with was that all the traction went to the right rear and that's what pushed if around. The track had been used the previous day by quite a large number of racers and probably had a good surface. His car is stock with street tires.

Any thoughts? Did he maybe just freeze when it started to go and couldn't keep it in a straight line?

**NemesisZ06** · 10-21-2007, 04:15 AM

Im not sure what went on but turning off traction control does not turn off the posi unit. You might want to post this question over on the www.corvetteforum.com You might get your answer over there.

**KyleLs1** · 10-21-2007, 09:07 AM

my guess would be that the ass end kicked out, and instead of correcting the steering the right way, he turned the wheel the other way and did a 360?

!driver mod

But without being the actual driver, who's to say for sure what happened

**jackmac** · 10-21-2007, 05:59 PM

Thanks for the input folks.

As you say, without more information on driver input we can't be sure. I checked some other sites to see about the Traction Control and the respondee was correct, the TC integrates the ABS, throttle input and some other systems to help when the wheels start to slip but does not take out the posi-traction.

Thanks again.

**ATCharming** · 10-21-2007, 06:06 PM

tc doesnt do anything with the posi unit. it just limits the power being sent to the wheels when they start to spin, so if you turn it off and you hit the gas, the wheels will spin until they grip or until you stop hitting the gas. so turning off tc, he probably spun the wheels too much, the ass end kicked out because torque doesnt completely evenly distribute to each rear wheel, and he probably just could not correct it.

**ATCharming** · 10-21-2007, 06:06 PM

if your wheels are spinning like crazy, its like walking on ice with regular shoes, you really have no control of which direction your going.... thats why you gotta be careful with turning off traction control if your not an experienced driver, cuz u could end up in a mess liek that