Accidental drift..., and how Need for Speed saved my life... Options

[CAMAricer]

This is NOT a story of street racing...more of me being temporarily stupid. So read the following and DON'T do what I did. REPEAT: Don't be stupid like me.


So there's this off ramp that I take when I head home from work. It veers off the freeway and makes a wide turn onto the surface street that runs perpendicular to it. Now the length of this off ramp is about a good 1/8th (maybe a bit more) of a mile and when you exit the freeway, you're going at 65MPH (the speed limit). Now, most people who exit, slow way down to 25-30 MPH to make the turn. Then as you exit the corner, you find yourself climbing up hill...so those who slow down to 30 MPH need to accelerate again because they are now trying to merge into the surface street traffic which is going at 35MPH (speed limit).

I normally take that turn at 55 MPH. I drive through this exit everyday and know exactly how fast I can go without screeching my tires (over a period of 3 months, I've slowly inched my way up). And that speed is 55 MPH. The best part of it is that as I exit the corner, I'm now coasting around 40 MPH ( slowing throughout the corner) and can easily merge into traffic without ever having to step on the gas.

Well...

The other night, I exited as I normally would (at 65 MPH) but had a slower car in front of me. Remember that 1/8th mile stretch I mentioned before? Well I figured I could pass the guy on the right and then quickly merge over back into the my lane, slow down to 55, and make the turn as usual. The first part went as planned, I easily moved around the guy and made my way back in front of him. The second part didn't go as planned. I'm in an ST (READ: drum brakes). I was still going 65 and tried to slow down to 55 but I miscalculated and ran out of road. By the time I was braking, I was already entering the corner at ~60 MPH. SCRRRRRRREEEEEECCCCCHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For a brief moment, I felt the car do something I never felt it do before, it made this weird movement to the right. I immediately (almost instinctively) tapped the gas and countered steered to the left, and for about a half of a second, could feel my car sliding before regaining traction and "righting" itself again.

Fortunately there weren't many cars on the road at the time and I managed to stay within my lane the entire time. But when I pulled up to the next red light, my face was blood red with embarrassment (I could feel the other drivers just staring in my direction).

Anyways, to cut to the chase. Had I not played Need for Speed and gotten used to countering steering/etc, I might have spun out and rammed into a wall/car/barrier.

Yes it was a stupid thing to do (try to pass someone before a tight corner at a high speed) and very stupid thing to do in my car.

So lesson learned...I'm not going to gamble with my life like that anymore. Next time a slower car is in front of me, I'm going to just ride it out behind him.


(BTW, I know the idea of drifting in a FF car is hard to believe, but I think I accidentally loaded all of the weight to the front wheels of the car when I hit the brakes right at the beginning of the turn, then as I left off of it and back onto the gas, it was enough to induce the slide. Well, whatever the case [@$$ dragging or not], I won't be trying that again).

[CAMAricer]

Yeah, I admit it wasn't a bright idea to pass a slower moving car but it was a two lane exit so I didn't have to speed up to pass this other driver (he was going slow enough for me to just pass him at my coasting speed).

But it got me thinking, I need to take some driving classes...like the ones that teach you what to do if you ever get into a jam (like spinning out of control in rain/snow, etc).

The other night (again, while driving home at night from work), I was driving at a slow 45 MPH on a 55 zone and I spot some figures moving in the dark in front of me. It was weird, almost looked like people, but not quite. Then as I was approaching closer, I spotted the deer. It was almost off of the road (I had already let off the gas) when suddenly ANOTHER stupid deer came WALKING on to the road right after it. I had to slam the brakes and swerve to the side just a bit to slow down. It wasn't that close (maybe 30 feet from impact), but if you ever had been in this situation before, you'd know how scary it is to think you'll have a deer flying through your windshield in a matter of seconds. Stupid deers nonchalantly walked off into the bushes afterward...

Stuff happens, and you never know when you'll find yourself in need of making a split second decision to avoid disaster...