Profpointy
Legendary Member
I've mixed feelings on that. With a modern car, you've got to be driving like a total twat to get into a skid in the first place, and if you are taught what to do, there's quite a temptation to explore
the limits of the car.
Back in the day I had a '68 Cortina on East German cross ply tyres and I got used to sliding it round corners, admittedly at low speed, and totally in control. In due course got top quality Goodyear radials and it was much better, but of course, I went a bit quicker and was soon able to reach the limit of those too. A while later it failed the MoT on shock absorbers. I was cross about this nonsense fail until I drove it on the new ones - it felt like a Ferrari in comparison to the old shocks. I think you can see where this is going - a while later I had a modern diesel van, albeit a modest Maestro and again I drove it at the limit as I had before. However by this point I was going a bit quicker and found I wasn't as clever as I thought I was, and got into a tank slapper and put it through the
hedge, thankfully without involving anyone else. At first I analysed how I'd mis-handled the skid, or more to the point, mis-handled after successfully catching the skid, then I realised, the real cause was getting into such a pickle in the first place,
and whilst there was youthful folly involved I did learn my lesson which is not to drive like a twat.
OK granted skid handling may be of help on snow, you really shouldn't be anywhere even close to sliding a car outside a motorsport situation on closed roads/tracks, so it's at least arguable that training for a skid kind of normalises the idea that it's somehow OK.
