Pullin a Mad Donut

[zinkie13]

The other day it was a little wet outside and I decided I would have a lil fun w/ my Q and turn off the traction control. Well I went into the local high school parking lot and thought I would just show off for a second. It was really wet so it whipped around pritty easily. After i stopped i noticed my car would not move. Turns out it shut off completely! I was scared out of my mind when I couldn't get it to start back up or get the key out. Then i realized i didn't have it in park. Any ideas why the car would have shut off like that?

[corn322]

that's the automatic unfun system. if your car detects you're having too much fun in it, it shuts itself off.

[Eswift]

it is conceivable in a donut to cut it too tightly, while at higher RPMs...the tires may suddenly regain grip, shoving the RPMS way down, stalling the engine.

it is also possible to come out of a donut in reverse, and in an automatic car in drive (no clutch to put in) the engine dies readily.

[forecast]

how much gas was in the tank? Less than 1/4? You might have lost fuel pressure as fuel moved away from the pump.

The back end of the car will spin about the front end in cases like you describe and the back end will enjoy much higher G's than the driver

[AZhitman]

If you can find a suitable location and a "traction-reduction compound", the Q will pirouette around nicely... The heavy tail really gets to whipping around, such that it will begin to "pull" he car backwards off the pivot point...

[zinkie13]

Actually i almost had a full tank of gas........and i'm pritty sure that i didn't regain any traction...it had been raining all day and still was....but it is possible that i was going in reverse at the end of the donut

[Eswift]

its not hard to get going backwards in the fine acrid rubber mist, i have experienced it myself...

[Jesda]

Something about thrashing a car where things just seem to shut down...

I was driving my Mazda 929 at about 40mph when suddenly a fire truck pulled out into the street and the pickup truck in front of me stopped abruptly. I hit the brakes, turned to the right, flew up a curb (got the front end in the air for a bit) and slammed the car into someone's yard.

I hit the gas to get out and noticed that the car shut off. Turned the key back, turned it forward, and I was well on my way as if nothing happened.

*shrug*