Im taking it easy for the rest of winter...

"MountainCommand" (MountainCommand) 12/26/2013 at 12:31 • Filed to: christmas miracle

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Christmas eve, i shot my ego in the face. Not purposely, but indirectly, though it was completely my fault. After multiple 'learning' sessions in snow covered parking lots recently, i had a boost in confidence and understanding. Yeah, not so much i guess. This is how close i came to breaking my car. Luckily i learned without much consequence, and saved me from a potentially expensive repair.

Driving home Christmas eve, and a severe snow squall moves through. Honestly it was about the worst ive had to drive through. Visibility was so bad that i had turn off my normal lights, and run with fogs only. (luckily i wired my fogs in to be run alone, without any other lights, and without a doubt that saved me on the back roads.) Maybe 5ft visibility, and the road was covered. So your only point of reference becomes the edge of the road where the grass or rocks begin.

This was not where i lost my ego. For 98% of the drive, my ego was increasing. I got through the worst weather id ever driven in that car, and now im pretty much home free. 2 more turns and im good.

So on the 2nd to last turn, i decided i might try and make a little e brake slide.... now before you yell at me, this is a backroad in the middle of nowhere and the only thing i can hurt is myself and my car. And well, i took that risk. Except i didnt even get to pull the ebrake, because i entered the turn in 2nd gear, anywhere between 10-15mph, (Remember there is 1/2inch snow on the ground) and suddenly understeer took over.

Just at the point of the apex, i was understeering into the curb and a decent rate of speed...

The green line should have been my 1st and only option. But being me, i wanted to make it interesting. And thats exactly what i did. The other problem, i neglected the fact that this turn is also a downhill, so gravity wanted to pull me into the curb all along. I thought gravity liked me. Not that night.

So with my wheels at the angle you see in the above picture, i figured i really only had one option. attempt to stop. So i start on the brakes at about 50% and i keep sliding, and then im on that pedal like im trying to kill a spider. full on. Abs had its first workout in a while. And after probably the longest 3 seconds in my life, the car stopped. Embarrassingly i forgot another rule: when in spin, both feet in. I stalled.

Immediately i whip open the door and upon inspection i am overcome with joy. I didnt hit the curb!! I was only a bout 2 inches from having to fix many, many parts.

My heart was racing. It was the most helpless feeling because i knew i couldnt do anything to stop it from hitting the curb. So in those 3 seconds, all i could think of was all the parts i was going to break.....

But i didnt, and now i can laugh. Laugh at my own stupidity. And i will chalk it up to a lesson learned. Im just happy i didnt have to come on here and say "hey guys, i broke the lude...."

What i learned:

-DO NOT take turns that fast in conditions such as the above, just 'for fun'.

-I need more practice in a controlled environment.

-FWD was useless (thats a bit subjective tho)

-Never to put my prelude in that amount of danger again. There was no life danger, so it would have all been a monetary loss.

If you must hoon in the snow, remember to think through all your variables. I forgot a few critical ones, and it nearly cost me. As for me and my snow hooning, im laying off it for a little bit.

$kaycog > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 12:37

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Lesson learned without any damage. That is good.

Takuro Spirit > $kaycog 12/26/2013 at 12:41

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I was going to say the same thing.

This is how we learn. At least there was no damage, but the lesson is still there.

RacecaR > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 12:41

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You got lucky, and sounds like you learned something from this.

And not to be pedantic, but a curbed road is not a backroad out in the middle of nowhere. In my area, a back road out in the middle of nowhere has ditches or fields on the side of it, not curbs.

Rico > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 12:43

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What kind of tires do you have? I'm glad you didn't hit the curb. I would've been more afraid of not seeing what was coming around the turn since you said the visibility was so bad.

$kaycog > Takuro Spirit 12/26/2013 at 12:44

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We think alike.

#ohhell

HammerheadFistpunch > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 12:44

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I remember several times of curb knock learning. . You are fortunate to not have to deal with it to learn the lesson of knowing where your wheels land in a snowy turn. FWD will always be of no help in turn in in low mu. All FWD does it give you additional traction accelerating linearly, but in turning the front weight bias will always bite you. With a front bias AWD car like a Subaru, you can usually cure it with power on, but with FWD, more power is just more plow. EDIT: having moved onto to a vehicle of much greater toughness than my subaru, I enjoy winter hooning much more know knowing that curbs feel more like small potholes and less like expensive damage.

NinetyQ > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 12:46

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I found myself in a similar situation last night. Took a turn a little too fast and started understeering in my FWD '96 Grand Prix. Hit the brakes, but that just locked the wheels and made it worse (no ABS). So the most prudent course of action seemed to be not to brake at all and just keep the wheels rolling and turned. I drifted into the other lane before getting straight, but thankfully there were no other cars.

Glad your car made it out safe! Although if you were going that slow, you may not have had any real damage. Maybe slight curb rash. Either way, a close call can bring things into perspective.

Benzed92 > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 12:47

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Did almost the same thing a few years ago, tried to e-brake slide and my thumb slipped off the button. Careening towards a very similar curb it was too late to stop, and too late to downshift so I pinned the throttle and prayed for boost. When I finally got it the car rotated and pointed my the direction I wanted to go. Rooster tails out the four corners of my car and inches from the curb it was the longest 3-4 seconds of my life.

Klaus Schmoll > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 12:52

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See if some club or something offers emergency manoeuver traing near you. They usually don't cost much, are fun, and prepare you for situations like this.

BTW, they would have taught you to ease off the brakes and open the steering a bit so that the front wheels can do some actual steering instead of just sliding forward in a straight line.

Takuro Spirit > $kaycog 12/26/2013 at 12:52

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MARRY ME AND MOVE TO UTAH

$kaycog > Takuro Spirit 12/26/2013 at 12:53

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Why ruin a lovely friendship?

Takuro Spirit > $kaycog 12/26/2013 at 12:54

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Because I am a male. It's in my DNA to ruin things.

$kaycog > Takuro Spirit 12/26/2013 at 12:56

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See? We think alike again!

N60sdm > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 13:11

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Nice prelude though

MountainCommand > RacecaR 12/26/2013 at 13:12

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the curbed road was our development. To get there its all back roads in the middle of no where.

MountainCommand > Rico 12/26/2013 at 13:13

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Bridgestone Potenzas. i forget the model number, but they are just okay, apparently.

MountainCommand > Klaus Schmoll 12/26/2013 at 13:14

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Most of them are a good couple hours away from me unfortunatly. And if they are closer, they are never advertised. I guess i gotta look harder.

And my dad was telling me to try doing that next time. Less steering angle, then its possible to regain some conrtol, and or brake in straight line rather than braking while turned.

Rico > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 13:20

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Ah Potenzas are supposed to be pretty good, I guess the snow got the best of them

offroadkarter > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 13:28

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locking the brakes isn't exactly the best option either, I'd say you got really lucky. Usually when my car starts to under steer I either let off the gas and wait for it to catch, or try to induce over steer to correct it, although that last bit is hard when you have a FWD car.

also, I want some snow back

MountainCommand > NinetyQ 12/26/2013 at 13:29

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I guess unconsciously i knew i didnt have a ton of speed, (obviously too much for the conditions) but it was enough to where my brain made the decision to continue braking to attempt to slow any impact.

No abs would have been much scarier im sure. Especially if your not expecting it. Thats what made this whole thing scary. I didnt expect this to happen.

MountainCommand > HammerheadFistpunch 12/26/2013 at 13:33

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Nice video! Good editing! And fwd is not my preferred winter driving platform, thats for sure. But its all have at the moment, so i will deal accordingly.

Also, curbs pose a potential for body damage (since im lower), so along with mechanical, it could have been very bad.

MountainCommand > Benzed92 12/26/2013 at 13:34

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dang! Thats a save. awd can be helpful, thats certain.

HammerheadFistpunch > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 13:35

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I know that feel well. crap crap crap crap crap!

MountainCommand > offroadkarter 12/26/2013 at 13:37

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yeah, fwd ruins the appropriate responses to this situation. Id say it was quite a bit of luck too.

And no more snow. I cant take any more salt. The rocks on the road make so much noise in my car i cant even listen to my cd. I gotta move south....

MountainCommand > Rico 12/26/2013 at 13:39

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They are pretty much new as well. I guess its a lesson not to completely trust your tires.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 14:28

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When in doubt, gas it out! :)

Benzed92 > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 15:50

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Yessir, awd was the only thing that got me out of that one!

ZiptieMcBumper > Rico 12/26/2013 at 17:31

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They may work for other people, but I have NEVER had good results with all season Potenzas. Can't recall the model numbers, but I've had 3 sets on 2 different cars and they couldn't handle anything - rain, light snow, dry pavement, etc.

RE-11s on the other hand...

JGrabowMSt > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 19:37

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I hit a patch of black ice on my way to dinner tonight. I turned the wheel, and the car noped, and continued straight. THAT was not fun. No harm though...damn winter...

Nice save though...hopefully you never have to again

MountainCommand > JGrabowMSt 12/26/2013 at 21:30

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black ice is even scarier since you totally wouldnt expect it. I had some expectation for lack of grip. You probably did not.

Hopefully never again, at least not in a car i car a lot about.

JGrabowMSt > MountainCommand 12/26/2013 at 22:59

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Nope, that shit totally got me by surprise...glad I went through intense training behind the wheel. In complete honesty, if I had no professional training behind the wheel, I probably would be sending the car to another body shop tomorrow.

If you have the time and can afford it, go for every driving course you can. Defensive, racing, rally...go for all of it. After I graduate and I have more time on my hands, I plan on taking some over, and going to some new ones, and if I can squeeze the funds, maybe even Bondurant. There is absolutely no substitute, and it will make you as prepared as possible.