Fwd: Snow Report from inside the Q

[loren01@ix.netcom.com (Scott Bermes)]

>The sleet started yesterday about noon.  By 6:00 p.m., about 4 
>inches of snow on the ground.  Wind at a steady 20-30 m.p.h, gusts 
>reported at 50.  Snowed HARD all night & the wind increased.  By dawn, 
>between 10 & 12 inches in accumulation, drifts, in places, over the 
>hood of the car.

>In the area where I live, gravel roads far outnumber paved roads and
>the country is flat.  Snow blows for miles--until it hits the fences 
>alongside the roads and begins to drift.  This ain't no suburb, if you 
>know what I mean.  About 200 yards from the driveway, hit a drift that 
>I couldn't see [wipers couldn't keep up w/ the blowing snow] until it 
>was too late.  Top of drift was over the hood but, thankfully, drift 
>was thin, only about 3 feet across. No problem. Remaining road to 
>nearest paved / plowed road approx. 6 miles and blanketed w/ snow up 
>to mid-calf [got out to help a lady stuck in the ditch in a new peeJ]. 
> Bottom of car dragging every inch of the way.  Nary a problem.  Truly 
>lost count of the pickup trucks abandoned along the way.  BTW this 
>snow is that wet heavy s***, not the light powder.  Hard to believe it 
>can drift like it does.

>The point to all of this is that, at least sometimes, we quattro
>people have to be reminded of the greatness of these cars.  My 89 100 
>Q is an old warhorse.  Lifters sometimes talk amongst themselves, temp 
>guage will take a rest every now and again while the other guages 
>work, the nearest Audi dealer is a d*** to work with, and high speeds 
>are a stranger to this car.  BUT, when the ducks fly south and the 
>wind picks up, she knows what to do!  Don't get me wrong, I love 
>reading about the high HP tricks [BTDT: Mopar's 426, 340-6, 
>etc.,etc.,] in some of the Q's you guys run [in fact, still looking 
>for the right TQ to play with] but even bone stock these cars have 
>some bitchin' ability.

>Never been to snow driving school [loved your article about Colorado, 
>PDSQ] but here is my real world $.02 for driving where plows haven't 
>been:  MOMENTUM is your friend; use the gears God gave ya and stay
>away from the brakes [they barely work anyway after miles of drifts]; 
>keep a scoop shovel and dry gloves in the trunk--yep, sometimes even 
>plow horses need a shove to get moving.

>Sorry for the wasted bandwidth, but wanted to relate a story about why 
>some of us pilgrims drive a Q.

>Thanks,

>Bruce

>89 100q that could use new show shoes


Bruce,

Your story sounds similar to the adventure Ms. Curella DeVille had with 
her early model quattro in "101 Dalmations".  It's the great scene 
where she is chasing the truck with all the dogs in it, and she the 
chase is on mountain roads. Yes, she blows through 6' snow drifts and 
countless other snow related obstacles.  Those parents out there who 
have seen the movie 200 times know this scene.  Again, I like to think 
its an early Audi quattro, circa 19__??!!, but never the less, 
something 4x4's could only dream of.

Scott
89 200tq