Electronic Stability Program is a mandatory feature on all new cars these days. It uses a computer algorithm to help the driver control the vehicle in tricky situations. The way it does that is by applying the brake on the wheels that are losing traction. The ESP keeps doing that until the sensors tell it the car has regained its composure. But there are limits to the abilities of the ESP.

To explore this limits, and to see what big an effect this system has in the real life in the first place, Autocar’s Steve Sutcliffe took a Lamborghini Gallardo to an empty runway and tried to simulate ESP-engaging situations. This is sort of scientific stuff!