Don, our education on brakes and how they really work come from the same
source, racing.  My experience was limited to a couple of days of classroom
and two days on the track to get my novice license (which I never used in
competition).That was a real eye opener on two of the dynamics of handling a
vehicle at the edge of performance:  What really happens when you put on the
brakes and second, throttle steering or how to learn to keep your foot in it
when you over cook it going into a corner.  I can only thnk of a couple of
times on the highway that any of this paid a dividend but then maybe,
because of the experience, I've avoided a lot more bad situations.  As for
hand brake turns, I think I still have a couple of trophies I picked up in
Autocross with my Spitfire, back in the late '60's :).
And does any of this apply to a Vanagon? Damn straight it does.  With the
weight distribution, high center of gravity and marginal braking capability
the limits are far closer than in a conventional car and especially closer
than cars like my '90 T-Bird daily driver.  And all this conversation has me
thinking more than usual about going to 15" wheels on the next tire change
and adding a Big Brake kit to the front.