There's an old saying for drivers (and it's usually trotted out when your favorite driver has had an off) that goes "In order to know where the limit is, one mu

There's an old saying for drivers (and it's usually trotted out when your favorite driver has had an off) that goes "In order to know where the limit is, one must occasionally cross it." Usually drivers are going to test that limit in an area with less risk, for example a corner with lots of paved runoff. But small factors such as the ambient wind changing direction, or the sun coming out or going behind a cloud, can affect grip enough that the limit changes enough to catch a driver out. In these cases there's usually warning, that the car very slightly stops responding as exactly to your inputs as it was the lap before. However the most common scenario for a single car shunt is when the driver is testing the track limits; for example riding 3 inches of his tire over the kerb instead of 2, or using up the edge of the track to where the tire is now on a painted line rather than bare asphalt. In these cases there is often no warning, the car just steps out.