[s-cars] Kids and cars

[Joe Pizzimenti]

Mark,
I was driving my F-150 the other night in pouring rain at 50mph on the
parkway when I come upon a construction zone that apparently didn't have
adequate drainage. It was dark and I couldn't see that there was about 20"
of standing water for about 200 feet. Knowing what I know about driving,
skid control and hydroplaning from both on road and on track experience, I
was able to keep the 5000+ lb truck straight.

Shit happens. It's better to be prepared and trained to handle it as an
instinct than to shut down and panic because you're not ready for it.

Joe

On 10/12/05, Mark Strangways <Strangconst at rogers.com> wrote:
>
> My point here, and I am really holding back, is why do we have to learn
> how to drive out of a bad situation. They can be avoided well before they
> begin.
>
> I am not saying that the instruction of high performance driving skills
> are not an asset, far from it. The thread has focused on what car to get to
> survive a hit, or now, how to correct the car from a skid or hydro plan.
> This is all well good, but my money and time has been spent getting my child
> to understand why shit goes bad in the first place and to make sure she is
> not there when it does go bad.
>
> Kids need to know when things are going south, so they can save
> themselves. Your child may own a tank on wheels, but that ain't doing
> nothing when so idiot is behind the wheel that the car she / he is a
> passenger in. I would think my daughter knows enough to tell that person to
> pull over and let her out.
>
> This to me is more important than the car she drives (which is a 1988 190E
> POS). It isn't pretty, it isn't overly fast. But it's big enough and heavy
> enough to stay on the road in traffic.
>
> (going back to lurk mode now)
>
> Mark
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Taka Mizutani
> To: Mark Strangways
> Cc: calvinlc at earthlink.net ; s-car-list at audifans.com
> Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 8:59 PM
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Kids and cars
>
>
> The Skip Barber teen course or something similar is required attendance if
> you can afford it.
> Learning the right techniques and not learning bad habits will pay huge
> dividends down the road.
>
> I can't even count the number of times that I've been able to avoid
> accidently because I was able
> to draw upon past autocross and track driving experience and I don't have
> that much of that kind
> of experience.
>
> I know that being able to handle a hydroplaning car at 45mph in a heavy
> rain with the car getting
> loose and having a car do a 270 literally less than 5 car lengths in front
> of me, all this happening
> at the same time, would not have been possible had I never spent time
> doing auto-x and track events.
>
> I know that having this experience, I was able to avoid major damage to a
> rental car on an icy road
> (crunched the grille and nothing else, super lucky). Those are only two
> instances.
>
> Taka
>
>
> On 10/12/05, Mark Strangways <Strangconst at rogers.com> wrote:
> It's about time someone talked about training vs. surviving a crash...
> I have been holding my tongue for a while now.
>
> Mark
>
>
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