"Chairman Kaga" (mike-mckinnon)
10/11/2016 at 17:52 • Filed to: None
2
31|
"Chairman Kaga" (mike-mckinnon)
10/11/2016 at 17:52 • Filed to: None | 2
| 31 |
Where’s the corner, the hill, the corkscrew that should have eaten your lunch, yet you somehow, miraculously survived?
I was taking my old ‘05 Saabaru (Cobb Stage 2, various bits of turbo plumbing, Wilwood brake kit, STI short shifter, Dunlop Direzza tires) down Blacksnake Road in my hometown of Hot Springs Arkansas. It was night, probably 10 or 11, overcast, and the road was wet with drizzle.
I’d been driving this road since I learned to drive. My dad thought it had everything I needed to learn about car control, and I did in in a 1983 VW Rabbit with a 4-speed manual. So driving the road in a good car made me... overconfident.
I overcooked !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and very nearly ate tree . The entire series is pretty complex, between the corkscrews and elevation changes, plus the surface, the narrowness, and the fact that if you drop a tire off the road surface you’re scattering leaves and pine needles. It’s normally tons o’ fun. This time, not so much. I was able to slow down enough that when the tires regained a smidge of traction I was able to clutch kick the thing around the corner. Actually, I probably just panicked and was saved by divine intervention, because I don’t recall having any control whatsoever.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
So. Where did you almost die, and what did you learn?
Dusty Ventures
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 17:56 |
|
Oh lordy have I got a list...
|
Chairman Kaga
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 17:58 |
|
Here’s the entire road, or at least the portion I’d burn.
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.5150745,-93.0970389,1736m/data=!3m1!1e3
jkm7680
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 17:59 |
|
Highway on ramp. No streetlights, no reflective anything and lots of gravel on the shoulder. It was a sharp on ramp as well, I almost didn’t turn in time.
|
Dusty Ventures
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:00 |
|
Also, insert obligatory “take it to the track” comment here. All it would have taken us an oncoming car, stalled car, someone doing the same as you who hadn’t made the corner, or someone out walking their dog and this story would have had a VERY different ending. Just sayin.
|
Chairman Kaga
> Dusty Ventures
10/11/2016 at 18:02 |
|
So the final five words in my post? Your response is my answer.
Takuro Spirit
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:04 |
|
Some highway near my parent’s house.
Back BEFORE there were warning signs in the median and a reduced speed limit, there was just the crossings, and some stop signs.
I went back a few years ago and took these. Basically there was once a STOP sign at the first crossing, then another at the intersection ahead.
Approaching this at ~70mph in my 1977 Firebird when I was 18, I didn’t understand WHY there was two stop signs when there were also crossing signals....
About here I realized why
And about here IS WHERE I LANDED
Honestly thought I was gonna die. All four wheels off the ground, locked the brakes in midair and held on, expecting my old rusty POS to crack in half upon landing.
Drove home slowly and curled up in a fetal position promising to NEVER take that road again.
Biggus Dickus (RevsBro)
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:07 |
|
There are two in SE mines or a on MN 60 that I took waaaay too quickly for a first pass. First one was a surface change, second one I came in to hot and went wide (a truck and trailer came by 10 seconds later)
RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:11 |
|
Latigo Canyon, but Malibu in general has plenty of Darwin award opportunities.
https://goo.gl/maps/JnvZ8PuTv7p
notsomethingstructural
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:13 |
|
Wet leaves. In a minivan. On a left hand turn that was only slightly wider and slightly less downhill but I had still been over 200 times. The rain kept the leaves from blowing under the guardrail and eventually they just piled into the road. Wasn’t even speeding. Went left, swung the whole back of the van almost totally sideways, countersteered it to hell which was fun because there was an even sharper corner back to the right - you jump the inside of the corner its a 15' cliff, you slide off and you’re in the wrong lane of traffic at the best, hit the guardrail on the far side at the worst. Again, this was in a Chevy Venture going about 20.
Fuck leaves and pine needles.
Rainbow
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:20 |
|
Can’t remember where it was exactly. Somewhere near Dahlonega, GA. I was driving the Escort and came to a stop behind some traffic. I was watching the overloaded S10 in my rear-view mirror, and it just wasn’t slowing down - the driver was texting. And coming in hot at like 70mph. I started rolling forward and honked, partly to warn the other drivers ahead of me and also to, hopefully, get this asshole’s attention. I saw him look up, do a double-take, and lock up his brakes. I’m not sure how his crap stayed in the bed, but he did manage to come to a stop. I was nearly touching the car ahead of me and he was so close that I couldn’t even see his hood through my rear window. I probably had an inch to spare on each end.
But yeah, I learned that one day I’m gonna be squished by a teenage douchebag hauling scrap metal and there’s nothing I can do to avoid it.
Future next gen S2000 owner
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:22 |
|
I smashed my face off of the handle bars on a snowmobile going a bit fast over a hill. Helmets are good things. I almost dumped that same snowmobile into a running river in mid-January about 10 miles from nowhere going over a different hill. Another time..................
Decay buys too many beaters
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:24 |
|
Right where the pin is dropped
This is part of my “suspension tuning route” I’ve taken it enough to feel confident making stupid choices. Well, I was out on my supermoto (doing supermoto things) and took this corner at my normal pace, but a 2 or so inch deep pothole had formed right on the riding line and I didn’t see it with all the shadows. I hit it HARD with my front wheel in a pretty good lean. Still don’t know how I held it, but I know there was a car coming the other way. I noticed it right before I hit the pothole and just after I realized there was nothing I could do to avoid it.
Edit, I learned to prerun familiar roads, and never ride beyond my line of sight
Brickman
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:25 |
|
I never think of Arkansas having steep hills/mountains like that.
Im an observant driver :) However I did make a u turn into fresh limestone by a substation and buried my s10's wheels to the hub about 6 years ago. A lot of fwd / reverse and dumped the clutch to get out of there. Possibly the reason why my release bearing went out a few years ago :P
interstate366, now In The Industry
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:27 |
|
A certain back road in the middle of nowhere. The speed limit on it is 55, it’s about as wide as a bathroom stall, and none of the curves on it even have advisory signs. I went into a section of esses at about 60, not knowing they were esses. I started to slow down, but not quite enough to be safe. Between the third and fourth curve. I saw an oncoming truck between the trees. Slammed on the brakes and somehow didn’t fall in a ditch or hit the truck. I leaned closer to the ditch because, well, if i’m going to wreck, might as well just wreck my own car instead of two. The lesson here, kids, is just because a curve isn’t posted doesn’t mean it’s not there.
DipodomysDeserti
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:28 |
|
When I was in college I worked late and lived in a suburb north of Tucson, AZ. By the time I got off work, the streets were empty, and I basically had the I-10 and my neighborhood streets to myself. I was 19, had a streetfighter style SV650, and no fear of death. I used to top that bike out every night on the freeway on my way home. I went to school full time, was in a pre med program, and worked full time. I was very stressed out, and this was my way of releasing stress. This was very dumb of me, but I just wanted to give some context.
I was carving through my unlit desert neighborhood at about 11pm. I made a left at a high rate of speed through an intersection (as I did every night). As I hit my apex through the turn, my rear wheel completely lost traction, sending the bike spinning out from under me. I slammed into the ground and proceeded to spin through the intersection, the bike’s headlight flashing me in the face periodically as we spun together. I came to a stop when I slammed into the bike which in turn had slammed into the curb. I immediately jumped up, adrenaline pumping, and couldn’t believe I was ok. I tried starting the bike, but the engine wouldn’t fire. I then remembered that it had a fuel cut in case the bike went down which required you to turn the bike off and on (it was a FI SV). I had gear and a helmet on, and my only injuries were a nice burn on my arm where my leather jacket (a pretty expensive ICON) had ripped, and a very bruised up leg and shoulder. The next day I could see that a bunch of glass and dirt had been swept into the center of the intersection. I’m guessing there had been an accident earlier the day before. When my rear tire hit the debris, it lost traction. I cooled off my riding from then on out. Well, I got hit with a very expensive ticket on Mt. Lemmon, then I chilled out.
That’s the only time “of shit, I might die” has actually gone through my head while driving.
LongbowMkII
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:29 |
|
Got two. A blind right hand hairpin corner on US 50 west in West Virginia. I was in the Supra. Snow/slush was just starting to fall and overconfident and pushed it straight through into the other lane. Learned a bit about understeer right there. Got lucky.
Second was a bit closer to home. Had a couple long routes coming home from HS using the country roads. A KY country road is often about 1.8 lanes wide. Another blind right hander and a white Hyundai showed up. Dove right with my foot suddenly off the gas the rear end drifted just a bit. Dunno how close it got, within a foot I’d bet. It would have been a cool moment in a movie or maybe if I was in control.
Learned to take it from 8.5 to 7.
TheTurbochargedSquirrel
> Dusty Ventures
10/11/2016 at 18:36 |
|
How many items actually have you behind the wheel of the car vs the times some crazy driver decided that the Left 3 actually looked more like a left 5?
DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:38 |
|
Thankfully this is my only one, but here it goes. I was out driving on some back road when it started to rain. By now it was dark and I was driving on a unfamiliar road. I was on a perfectly straight stretch going about 60mph, on a slight incline. I crest the incline and right in front of me was a left hand turn very similar to the one pictured, although less elevation change, much better pavement and slightly larger radius. I slammed on the brakes (ABS) and trail braked hard into the corner and managed to over-steer significantly, In a FWD car no less. I was able to catch it, but with the closing radius the back wheels wound up in the ditch.
It was a cheap car so it ended up being totaled all though the damage really wasn’t too serious for what it could’ve been. One popped tire, messed up bumper and huge dent in one of the rear doors from the end of the ditch I hit that stopped me.
Also just to salvage a little dignity the cop who came by was genuinely impressed with how long I held the skid (like 100ft I think) and only gave me a ticket for driving to fast for conditions :)
I Will Always Be The Honey Badger
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:44 |
|
Dead center of map is a 90 degree turn. On gravel. Banked, but not too much. Of course I thought my GT mustang could take the 40 mph corner at 80. Somehow, I didn’t flip the car. Just overcorrected exiting the corner and pirouetted into the farmer’s field.
thebigbossyboss
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:45 |
|
Oh somewheres between Edson and Entwhistle Ab.
https://goo.gl/maps/fDcr2wKx9222
Corners?? NAh. Corkscrew? LOL. Nope. Highway 16 around 9 pm driving back from Prince George BC East bound. Dry blowing snow. Some tractor trailer passed me.
That was the longest I’ve gone with driving on the road without actually seeing any road. Good gravy. I was sure I was gonna ditch because I had not seen any road in such a long period of time.
When I finally saw a piece of the road I was in the middle of the westbound two lanes. Jesus that was terrifying.
The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:52 |
|
It was about 10:30pm on a tuesday night, just finished raining so the road was very wet. I was driving a 2007 Nissan Frontier (V6, RWD) with an empty box. I was doing about 80kph at the time, the turn says 60kph. I got on the gas to quick and the back stepped out.
I over corrected, I think the left front wheel dug into the ditch and caused it to roll. It did a full roll, hit a tree (doing 70kph-ish), then did a half roll and landed on the roof. I open the passenger side door enough to get out. I don’t remember the next part clearly.
I don’t remember if I called my mom or 911 first, I think it was my mom. I see someone across the road trying to communicate with me. The home owner pulled his truck in front of my flipped truck with his 4ways one. I think he called 911. He bought me some water to drink. My mom arrives 15 minutes later, a police car is all ready there. Once my mom is there the police officer starts talking (I was not 18 yet). The typical questions: Have you been drinking? No. Doing drugs? No. Speeding? I think I was doing 80, but I don’t recall much. I tow truck shows up, rolls it back over. I get what I had coming for me. The ticket & charge. I don’t remember the ticket, but the charge was under stunt driving. I had it reduced in court to a minor offense, it was Failure To Stay in Lane.
TahoeSTi
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 18:57 |
|
Don’t lift.
Learned that on this road in the winter....and tend to re-teach myself the same lessons yearly https://goo.gl/maps/t6fP7QhwCLE2
|
Dusty Ventures
> TheTurbochargedSquirrel
10/11/2016 at 18:58 |
|
At least a good half dozen from when I raced Vegas to Reno
|
Dusty Ventures
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 19:01 |
|
I’m glad you’re smart enough to learn that lesson from your moment. I’ve known many people who could have identical close calls a hundred times over and learn nothing until it did finally end differently (and some not even then).
Bourbon&JellyBeans
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 19:15 |
|
I was 16. I was making a left hand turn from the street with the median. Being the novice driver I was, I sat there timidly watching as traffic rushed by. There were several cars making a right onto the street I was on (from the left if you look at the picture). I saw them turning and thought I was clear to the left. So I stuck the nose of my car into the intersection just in time for a Jeep to clip my front end clean off. I broadsided the Jeep and totaled it. My Honda survived (it still ran and I drove it into the shoulder). If I pulled a little farther forward and the Jeep was able to hit me on my driver’s side, I wouldn’t be typing this. The Jeep was going about 60mph and would have plowed into the driver’s door of a 1998 Honda Accord. I’d have been a goner.
|
Dusty Ventures
> The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
10/11/2016 at 20:38 |
|
If you’d kept the charge you could have had a great pick up line. “Me? I’m a stunt driver.”
Berang
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 21:36 |
|
I actually have video. Lesson: Don’t drive on hardened 10 year old tires in the rain, around an off-camber blind corner.
shop-teacher
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 22:02 |
|
I live in the Midwest. What are these hills of which you speak?
Nick Has an Exocet
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 22:33 |
|
I was doing my normal commute in my 2011 Lancer Ralliart during February of 2012. It had snowed and was still snowing when I got a call (halfway to work) that I didn’t need to come in until later. So I found an open lot, did a bunch of snownuts and continued on my way. When I got to this on-ramp, I thought: yeah, I can drift that. Well, about halfway through the corner, just as my brain started to think “we’re doing iiiiiiiiiiiiit”, the back started heading for the front. In what seemed like slow motion, I yanked the hand brake, cut the wheel towards the spin, release the hand brake, stabbed the throttle, backed off, and came out full 360 from where I started and continued on my way as if “yeah, I mean’t to do that!”.
thatguy1
> Chairman Kaga
10/11/2016 at 23:11 |
|
I was a young dumb kid. Although I have already had decent experience with backroad driving in my e46 323, I went on a road I wasn’t familiar with at night and learned about understeer the hard way when I didn’t expect the curve to get as sharp as it did and the hill to go down as sharp as it did. Some of the paint from the car I drive to this day is on that guardrail. Just scraped it, no major damage, thank goodness.
Never drive even moderately quickly on unfamiliar roads at night.
|
Chairman Kaga
> Brickman
10/12/2016 at 09:28 |
|
Arkansas has some seriously great roads. These days I drive them more to appreciate the scenery than to dust apexes, though. Too many slowpokes, old folks, tractors, loose cows, deer, or neighbors stopped in the middle of a 60 MPH highway to exchange biscuit recipes.
I’m in Austin now. The Hill Country is similarly awesome, but too many cyclists to really enjoy.