Audi 4kq VS. Subaru (short, true story)

[RM]

I just thought the list might find this interesting, even though it happened
a few months ago...

I live in Reading Pa. and drive every weekend to Scranton to coach a kids
ski race team. The trip is about 1.5 hours long, an hour of which is on open
highway. Normally I take my Jeep Cherokee, as I have tons of gear, race
gates, skis etc. and really need the extra room. This particular day I
jammed everything into my trusty 87 4kq, as it had snowed about 10 inches
the night before and it was still coming down lightly when I left. I hate
the jeep in the snow, so it stayed home.

My quattro is equipped with 195/50/15 Pirelli winter ice tires, so they are
less than perfect in several inches of snow, compared to the Blizzaks I used
to have. The turnpike was snow covered in the left lane while the right lane
had sections of wet asphalt and snow in the middle. I clipped along the
passing lane at 55mph, while SUV's and lesser cars lumbered along at 40 to
my right. Once on Rt. 81, about 10 minutes from the mountain, I found the
road to be in similar condition. Again, I was tooling up the passing lane,
however a Subaru Outback was ahead and about to slow me down. Since there
were no cars in the right lane, I jumped the snow channels and attempted to
pass him on the right. This didn't suit the Subbie driver and he attempted
to keep from making the pass. He won the race, as I couldn't get around him
before coming up against a slower car. I tucked in behind him and followed
him at a safe distance. He picked up the pace to about 65mph and I stuck
with him. After several miles, Rt 81 splits into three lanes, with the left
lane bearing off just as the highway turns right and uphill. About 2 miles
before the 3 lane split, most of the highway was wet, with mounds of snow in
the middle, hence our fast pace. As we passed the exit, headed uphill and to
the right, the 'sccobie-doo' had almost completed passing an 18 wheeler,
while I was just beginning to pass it. The problem was that it seemed that
the snowplows had gotten off at the exit and the remaining stretch of Rt. 81
was entirely snow covered!

My first suspicion of a problem was when I saw the subaru begin to
oversteer, just to the left of the 18 wheeler. Then I drove into the thick
snow at speed, rounding this corner and with a nose in on trying to pass the
big truck. The next thing i saw was the subbie completly go around right in
front of the truck, shrouding my car with plumes of snow and leaving me
virtually blind. All I could think was that the truck driver was going to
slam on the brakes, jack knife and crush me against the rails. Knowing no
one was behind me, I hit the brakes hard, hoping to scrub enough speed to
get back behind the truck. The Audi slid nice and straight, just enough to
get me out of immediate danger. The truck driver was very smart by not
hitting the hooks himself, he just kept moving. The next thing I had to deal
with  was that I was still clipping along at a good pace and was drifting
towards the guard rail. The Audi worked with me and through some gentle
coaxing, the car gained traction and the paint was saved. At that moment I
looked to my left just in time to see the scoobie-doo careen down a mild
embankment, up the otherside, launch over the on-ramp and back down the
other side.

It wouldn't have been easy for me to learn of the drivers fate, since the
next exit was several miles away, and there was no way i was going to back
up knowing that i could be involved in another situation. I figured since
there was a field on the other side of the on ramp, he probably didn't hit
anything. Anyway, I got to the mountain, and after extracting all the ski
junk from my 4kq, i was heading across the parking lot when I saw the subaru
that couldn't handle to turn, pull in to the lot. With the exception of mud
all over the paint, and grass and dirt wedged in between the tire and wheel,
it seemed the subbie escaped a real bad wreck. The driver probably needed a
diaper change though. I don't know if it was one of my co-workers or just a
ski customer, I just kept walking, snickering to myself ;-)

R.Mair