Snow day

[Matt]

I'll start off with this; I have been to advanced driving schools, autocrosses, and the like. Nothing throughout my driving experience has aggravated me more than this... Until tonight. There is a street corner by my house that I always try to catch on my way home. During the summer, it's an awesome turn if you catch it right. During the winter, it pisses me right the heck off.

Last week, with temperatures in the 50's and the snow mostly melted, I decided to remove the winter tires (General altimac arctics) and reinstall the summer (Potenza) tires and rims. "I'm gonna get you next year, corner. This I promise." I had given up. I told myself I would never drift this corner correctly. I don't know if it was my turn in, bad apex, or just the street light at the outside of the corner that was making me nervous enough to not give it my all. I would literally circle the block 5-10 times just to practice. Never got it. This is the route (black) highlighted with a (red) streetlight.


As you can see, its a rather odd-shaped corner, with a VERY intimidating street light.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff274/mattc119/Untitled-5.png

Last night, we got another 3-5" of snow on top of a 1" layer of ice. Back on went the winter tires, and I was off to run some errands. The roads were slick, but the snows rule. I am on my way back, listening to the radio a little bit here and there. It was dark out, and I was feeling pretty relaxed, not aggressive, just relaxed.... Until I got to "the corner." "Fuck it" I told myself, "this is the last chance I'll get this year. I'm going for it."

Was driving at about 40 mph. Turned waaayyy to the outside, pulled the e-brake juuuust enough to lock up the rear tires, then let it go. By this point, I was travelling completely perpendicular to the road I was on and my back bumper was touching the the snowbank on the wrong side of the road. Shit. I'm gonna hit this snowbank. Hard. I knew this was a bad idea. "Too late now," I said... so I gunned it.

I drifted this corner flawlessly. Bumpers barely touched the snowbanks a total of three times, before, at, and after apex. Zero understeer, zero overcompensation, I mean flawlessly. I have never been more excited, and I'm sure anyone within a 3 block radius heard me shouting. I know this sounds like a stupid little story, but it has been a highlight of my driving experience. Just thought I'd share. Thanks for reading.

:roundel

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Great story. Glad you didn't eat it.

[gr330zhp]

Hah! Cool story Matt!

I love it when something fun like that happens behind the wheel :)

[pyreguy]

I was at the edge of my seat reading that and cheering for you at the end! Great writing Matt.


Sent using alien technology and Tapatalk

[gr330zhp]

I was at the edge of my seat reading that and cheering for you at the end! Great writing Matt.


Sent using alien technology and Tapatalk

:rofl Soooo true

[Rovert]

haha I know that feeling! Once you get it....you can feel it every time. That's what's so awesome about BMW chassis. It's just like riding a bike...you are unsure of how it'll feel but you know it can be done. You try, but you are too timid so you loosen the training wheels more and more to balance but once you take them off, commit, and go hard...you'll never understand why you stayed upright! But the feeling has been grasped and you don't have to use faith no more because it's real!

Just don't go doing it everywhere in public because most public surfaces are uneven, unpredictable with debris so every "slide" will be different compared to if you were at a controlled track that is highly maintained and predictable. There's one corner near my place which is a steep uphill with a very tight 25MPH corner. In the rain I used to turn off DSC and ASC and come at it in the torque band of 2nd gear. At 30MPH I'd go into it, wait for the front tires to bite and settle while rolling onto the throttle aggressively until the tail goes out. Most everytime I could nail it...even my friend was following me one day and I hit it while waving to him from my side window, LOL. But one night I hit that same corner, did the same thing, but something wasn't right as the tail swung out. The rear tires hit something more slippery and I was going to full countersteer lock. Full lock didn't help and I came around sliding sideways and inwards to the corner. Then I felt a bump and a stop while looking downwards at the hill now. Luckily the bump I hit was the rounded curb of which is why I always did this "stunt" because of that margin for error. Lesson learned. I don't do that anymore because of the inconsistencies of public road surfaces....haha.

Snow though, is way more predictable!! Slippery is slippery!!! Haha. The only road inconsistencies that can get you are potholes and bumps. LOL. I prefer playing in large parking lots then. Sometimes I'll use a speed bump to unbalance the car so I can play at a lower speed.