have you ever saved your butt with your drifting skills?

[lagcisco]

just wondering, anyone ever been in a bad situation where you think if it werent for your drifting skills, you might have not still been alive avoided a wreck?

maybe like if you were driving in rain and you had to avoid a crash all of a sudden or something.. blah, dumb question, yes i know.

[Drift Future]

I have been able to come back from a possible spin several times in the rain. I live in the NW where if you have a rear wheel drive vehicle (especially with a 2 way lsd) you have to expect it. But I have to admit that after it's under control I feel like it was fun. haha

[Buddyworm]

Nope. But I do know a girl who messed up the rims on her Jeep because the tail came out on her during the rain. Could have countersteered easily but noooooo, she let go of the wheel instead. Hahaha

B-Wurm

[lagcisco]

let go of a wheel? i would have held on to the wheel at least to brace myself for the impact, then again that might be a dumb idea..

[DoriftuEvo]

There've been a couple instances. I'ts such an awesome feeling when you save a potentially terrible situation. I've had to avoid someone running a stop sign, losing it in the snow with bald tires...losing it in the rain with bald tires. I should get new tires.

[Spy001]

ive never initiated a drift in order to get out of a situation, however when i had to avoid a car a few days ago in front of the grocery store and ended up in a slide my experience helped me avoid the curb and end up where i needed to be.

[godigy]

Originally posted by DoriftuEvo
There've been a couple instances. I'ts such an awesome feeling when you save a potentially terrible situation. I've had to avoid someone running a stop sign, losing it in the snow with bald tires...losing it in the rain with bald tires. I should get new tires.

U can say I saved my *Censored**Censored**Censored* during the rain when my rear tires was tring to play a game with me.

[Craftsman]

I've countersteered out of a hydroplane countless times...

I've drifted into accidents more than out of them though... CRAP...

[Mary EL]

Avoiding accidents ...

Yes, I have "drifted" out of accidents several times. I had a '77 Trans Am, which would do the following:

In rain, it would slide staight thru the stop sign/red light (couple of times) - no accidents, just a lot of embarrassment.

In snow, it got sideways very easily, so I was careful. However, in one panic stop in light snow, I braked and it started sliding around. When it reached 90 degrees, I released and let it straighten a bit, then brakes again with the same result. I was slowing down, but running out of room. While it was still sideways the second time and still going to hit the car in front of me (which had no brakelights), I ended up deciding to let it go to almost 180 degrees around, released the brakes and staightened the wheel relocked the brakes and slid past the guy backwards. We ended up window to window, so I said "hi" and then the traffic behind me let me turn around. No contact - yay! It was stressful, though, and the mind works strangely under pressure. I couldn't put it in first gear, and I could't figure it out until I looked down and realized I had a coke in my right hand, and I had to actually look at it and put it down before I could shift. I didn't even spill a drop...

Another time, "bridges freeze before roadway - what does that mean?" Well, I found out. A very tall railroad bridge, about 5 lanes wide total, I wasn't going too fast, but the rear wheels lost traction. Sliding, corrected kind of hard. Uh-oh, now going twice as fast at the other concrete wall, corrected harder. Sliding around, what to do? Choices are: 1) let off the brakes and hit the passenger door and possibly hurt my passenger, or 2) stay on the brakes and let the back end keep drifting around, hitting the concrete wall and knocking it off (like the drift crashes). Very passenger safety-oriented, I chose to let the back end get hit (it was close). It ends up I MISS the back end, drift around to backwards, straighten it out and lock up the brakes again, sliding off the bridge backwards, where the grip returned and I stopped. Whew! Nearly bought that one. I thought maybe I was just not driving well or something, so I just drove on, glad that there was no one else on the bridge. I know better now. Later that same night, a semi jack-knifed on the bridge, and slid into it so hard that they had to get a huge truck to pull him back out. He was wedged into both walls in a V-shape. Next time, I know I should report it. It was odd, the bridge was like ice, but the surrounding area was not slippery at all.

So, driving gets exciting sometimes, but knowing how to drive goes a long way toward avoiding bad situations.

Anybody else got some exciting adventures?

[Parry]

Oh my head...

if that is knowing how to drive I would hate to see what you regard as incompetence. Overcorrection, smashing the brakes while trying to recover from an ice-induced slide...you're a goddamn hazard.

[DomLee]

No, I've never used my drifting "skills" to save my own butt.

I've kept my eyes open and been aware of numbnuts drivers around me though. Had a few close call emergency situations where I've manuevered my car around other idiots...

That is more beneficial than "drifting skills".

[Sideways Spanky]

Hey, I thought he was pretty good to be able to keep his car from contacting other cars during that situation.

Anyway, last summer I went on a road trip with my wife. As we passed through Arkansas, I think it was the Ozarks, and I took a mountain road at an only slightly illegal 120mph. Anyway, Jane was back at the hotel and I decided to test some of my skills in the Supra. To make a long story short, I hit a dirt patch at over 100mph and began to skid. Had I not been practicing drifting for the past year, I would have probably careened over the flimsy metal guardrail and fallen off the mountain. Somehow I was able to countersteer and use the throttle to guide myself over a curb and onto the dirt embankment. I ain't got the mountain skills of Takumi yet.... It was really a moving experience. Nothing like a main course of adrenaline with a side dish of near-death to wake a guy up.

The Damage: A completely screwed front bumper and a shattered left headlight.

[Mary EL]

Hey Parry, give me a break !!

I never said I was an ace driver in those days, that was before "drifting" even existed. Plus, I just happened to buy a (used) monster car in college to learn how to drive. It was a good choice, though - it taught me a lot. What it did on snow led to controlled sideways skids at 70mph on dry pavement. Ask my poor little brother, he wouldn't ride me with me anymore. I don't ever drive questionably with a passenger, but he dared me to take a corner at 70, so I did it. It was cake, 5 lanes wide with dirt and grass off the side, so it was not dangerous or anything. I made it in 2 lanes, exactly where I wanted to go. He got mad at me, so I didn't do that with him anymore.

I didn't even know how to drive with a clutch when I bought the car, but I was "damn-determined" to learn how. I used to drag race it at college, it never lost. It was stock with a 4-speed hurst, Pontiac 400 engine, headers and dual exhausts. I did give it to a race-car garage for 3 months while it was getting the headers, but I told them they couldn't bore it out or anything. Who knows, it came back very fast...

So, now it's retired in a barn, and I have driven an econobox for years now. Funny, it's a FWD Corolla. It has been sideways a couple of times for accident avoidance, but I never pushed it. I was stunned for how it performed, though - it's a nice solid vehicle and I trust it a lot. Since then, I have worked for GM (their test tracks are HUGE) and now work for an automotive supplier, so I get to drive new cars occasionally. The GM training to get a proving grounds license is pretty good, too. They do evasive maneuvers and we got to drive on the "gel" pad - it's an asphalt area covered by some substance that when they put water on it, it is like ice.

When I heard about drifting a few months ago, I was really interested. I do want to try it, so I am looking for a RWD car right now. I went to RSR in Chicago last month and liked what I saw.

And Spanky - I'm a GIRL !!

[Sideways Spanky]

Whoops. My bad.

You work for GM??? Do you ever get to work at any of the test tracks or drive at them? What kind of degree do you have, and what kind would you need to test the cars for a living? That would be so awesome.

[CrazyHawaiian]

Have had a few incidents in the rain and regained control as a natural reaction. Kinda tripped me out because I dont consider myself a good drifter but I guess I learned something ...