[s-cars] Darwin Awards, was: Rolled a //M Coupe Thursday

[Theodore Chen]

--- Russ Panneton <russ at s-cars.org> wrote:
> I liked the reference to "driving the car as it was intended."  I had no idea
> BMWs were supposed to be flipped and wrecked.
>
> ;-)

of course.  that's why the Z3 chassis still used the semi-trailing
rear suspension from the E30, even though the E30 had already been
replaced with the E36 (which is much less tail-happy).

looking back at the way i drove in the last decade, especially when i
was just out of college, i'm amazed that i made it through in one piece
and never wrecked a car.  some of my friends were not so lucky.  i also
remember the first time i drove on a track, full of attitude.  i thought
i knew how to drive, but my first weekend at the track showed me how
wrong i was.  like eric, i've also had students who had the same attitude
that i did when i started.  i don't get upset about it because i can
look at them and see myself 8 years ago.

90 in a 25 is more than just "aggressive" or "spirited" - it's criminally
stupid if you don't know what you're doing, and the fact that your
friend crashed speaks for itself.  res ipsa loquitur.

i'm not going to take you to task for your attitude, because it wasn't
so long ago that i thought the same way, but i'd definitely urge you
to go to the track for such adventures.  one of the things you will find
is that driving on the track is so much better than driving on the street,
that driving aggressively on the street seems pointless.  street driving
just doesn't compare at all.  it doesn't mean i don't drive fast on the
street or take ramps at high speed, but i'm more aware of my capabilities
and my skill level is higher than it was 8 years ago.  you really should
try a driving school, something like the thunderhill street school if you're
in the SF bay area.

-teddy


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