By Bob Bondurant (5/5/2001)
One day, at the Ford Proving Grounds in Naples, Florida, I was doing some hot laps with dealers in a Ford Thunderbird as part of a driving demonstration. We were doing 70-mph, four-wheel power slides through some corners and everybody loved it.
Ford's chief engineer for ABS, Rob Eaton, offered to show me how ABS really works. I thought I knew how it worked. I knew I could stop quickly with it. I knew I could stop while turning to avoid something.
As it turned out, I really didn't know what else it could do.
Eaton taught me that ABS also will correct a slide around a corner. With the engineer riding along, we went through a corner at 70 mph. In the middle of a power slide through the corner, he told me to jam on the brakes. I looked to the left and to the right. There were grassy areas to the left and to the right where I figured I would end up when I ran off the road. I figured the rear brakes would lock up and spin me around.
I got on the brakes anyhow, steered where I wanted to go, and brought the car under complete control. The ABS straightened the car out of my power slide, which had turned into a slide, and brought me to a stop. I couldn't believe it.
On the next set of corners, the engineers told me to go too fast, put the car into a deliberate understeer situation (front-wheel skid), and about three feet before we were to drive off the road, to stand on the brakes and steer the car where I wanted to go. The ABS brought me right out of the slide and to a stop.
I was so impressed that I used the ABS the rest of the day during the hot laps. I now do that as a normal demonstration to Ford dealers, to our students and to anyone that I have a chance to demonstrate ABS.
Practice the technique for yourself. Wet down a large parking lot or other area and drive in a large circle. As you start to accelerate around the circle, the car will understeer and you will get a front-wheel slide. Then, get on the brakes. You'll feel them pulsate. Then, all of a sudden, the slide will stop and you will track around the corner the way you want.
Try it several times; try it with a rear-wheel slide. You'll be amazed. If the rear won't come out, lift off the gas quickly while turning. The weight will transfer forward. Then floor the gas and the back end will slide out. Maintain the slide a little bit, and then get on the brakes. You'll feel the ABS working.
As far as safety goes, ABS is the best thing that has come along in the history of the automobile. It's good enough to keep a few tricks hidden from even the most experienced drivers.
Bob Bondurant, racer and entrepreneur, owns and runs the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix, Ariz. For more information on classes and schedules, click over to www.bondurant.com or call (800) 842-RACE (7223).
