Q: “When trying to correct for big oversteer, at a certain point I can’t rotate my hands any more, as my arms are already crossed. While experimenting on a skid pad, I found that the car will “correct itself” if I let go of the steering wheel (really just holding on very loosely) and let the wheel turn under my hands. Is this a good way to catch big oversteer? Or should I try to go hand-over-hand and always have at least one hand with a good grip on the wheel? Letting go of the wheel seems almost too easy, and works most of the time, but I also feel like I’m losing control in some way when I do it. Also, if you have any more thoughts that would help us with how to best use a skid pad for training, I’d love to hear them.”

A: While I’m not a big fan of ever letting go of the wheel, I understand that it works – at times. It’s the times when it doesn’t work that worry me! The good news is that it would be an extremely rare instance where you’d need to put that much counter-steer in while driving on the track so that you’d need to let go of the wheel to correct itself. I’ve done what you’re talking about on a skid pad, but I can’t ever think of a time where I had so much steering input in when driving on track that I needed or wanted to let go of the steering wheel.

When on a skid pad, I’d suggest practicing as much as you can without ever letting go of the wheel, as it’s not ideal to practice something you don’t want to do on the track.

I did answer a question about a plan/curriculum for a skid pad training program here: https://speedsecrets.com/q-how-do-i-use-a-skid-pad-to-be-a-better-driver/