Little Too Much Hp

6

68/70Vette

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Jun 19, 2008
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Location
Torrance, Ca.USA
I was driving back to LA from Edwards Air Force Base. Leaving Edwards, west bound, on Rosemont Ave, I stopped at a mini-mall for lunch. It was a sunny but cold January day. My tires would have been cold when I finished lunch. I rolled about 300 feet and entered the one ramp to the Antelope Valley Freeway. I was listening to my radio and my mind was in another world. I entered the freeway behind a tractor trailer going 55 mph (?). I wanted to go around. In my rear view mirror a car was coming in the lane I wanted to pass the tractor trailer. Rather than wait, I decided to just go. In my day dream world, what I did was appropriate for my Daily Driver 1997 200 horsepower, 3900 pound Thunderbird...I gave a sharp left turn on the steering wheel and floor boarded the gas pedal. However I was in fact driving my 3400 pound, 580 rwhp 2008 Corvette (A&A Supercharger). The car began a violent fishtail. My windshield came within about 1 and 1/2 feet of smashing into the trailer's rear edge. Yes, I had traction control on at the time, but I was told that the supercharger will overwhelm traction control.

Certainly my experience is not unique. I was talking with a Ford GT40 owner (mid engine supercharged). His Daily Driver was a 20 year old Volvo station wagon. He was exiting a parking lot, wanting to make a left hand turn...a car was approaching and he didn't want to wait for the car to pass..he just instinctively did what was normal for the Volvo.. he made a hard left hand turn with the steering wheel and stomped the gas pedal. A really bad behavior for the GT40. The GT40 just jumped ahead and made a 360 spin out. The on coming car came to a stop. In relating this story, he said that ...if I've got this correct...that about 40% of all the Ford GT's have been destroyed in accidents because of loss of control.
 
similar experiance here..... after driving and getting used to my C6 and its brakes I almost wrecked my Mustang. :shocking:

More than once I had to go straight and missed my turn because I expected the brakes to be as good as my C6 brakes.....

having two (or more) very different cars can be dangerous..... :lol:
 
I've done that so many times.... I keep telling my passenger (once I perform CPR to get their - and my - heart pumping again) that I'm practicing pirouette driving skills....

just a word to the wise, don't have clothe seats when practicing with passengers

360s that I remember:
1962 Buick skylark - accelerating gently onto a freeway, onramp covered with ice, freeway bone dry. I did the same thing you did... got a bit ambitious with the throttle. Car went around, then onto the freeway perpendicular to the traffic. The car skipped down the freeway rather than rolling (whew), then died.... fortunately, other drivers were paying attention and I didn't get hit....

1976 Skyhawk - coming around a reverse banked corner, spun out, ended facing the other way in the emergency lane (next to the fast lane).... my only thought "My mom is going to kill me" it was her car, I'd had my license maybe a month

1981 GMC pickup, lifted. Same as first situ, only I went all the way around and performed a perfect 360 (it's why I suggest no clothe seats - passenger was not impressed and broke up with me right after that.... she stank anyway, so no biggie)

many others

2006 GTO, accelerating from a light... all the way around, traction control on, and I wasn't really on it.


what gets me most often is this one. I go to pass someone on a straight, nail the throttle like I do in my normal DD- wait the 5 or so minutes it takes to get up to passing speed, then go around. In my Corvette, or my blown SBC Buick - I don't know how many times I about ran square into the back of the passee


good times... thanks for the reminder :)
 
Born in '44, so bought my first car, after college, .mil, and job settled down, a '60 vette with 283 and powerslide, and power WINDOWS, a RARE option for a vette of that era....my buddies all gave me shit over the P/W option....

so that was in '66, wrecked it in '67, into a phone pole....bent the frame badly....still owed like 450 bux on it.....

next car was a Pontiac Catalina 2 dr hardtop and fastback window....Caddy Firemist RED, and a rolled/pleated interior....had the 8 bolt Kelsey Hayes aluminum brake drums on it....

Anyone need know anything about old Ponchos....drop me a line, and if I dunno the answer, we get ahold of Ron Johnson of Potomac Pontiac fame....

was a old friend of mine for near 20 years....he quoted part numbers off top of his head, FAR better than any NCRS type.....

:devil:
 
SuperBuickGuy said:
what gets me most often is this one. I go to pass someone on a straight, nail the throttle like I do in my normal DD- wait the 5 or so minutes it takes to get up to passing speed, then go around. In my Corvette, or my blown SBC Buick - I don't know how many times I about ran square into the back of the passee
Click to expand...

I'll never forget the first time I switched bikes with one of my riding buddies. I had been riding my 1985 Honda Interceptor 500 for about a year, but had not ridden any other street bikes up to that point. For its day, it was a pretty quick little bike with 55hp and 400lbs of curb weight. My buddy hopped on my 500 and I hopped on his Honda VFR800. He was in the lead and eventually we came up behind a slow moving tractor and needed to pass once the road was clear ahead. Scott down shifted to pass and I followed suit, only I downshifted 3 gears as I normally did on the 500 and grabbed a handfull of throttle. Imagine my surprise as I almost stuffed his bike up the back of my own bike's tailpipe! :shocking: The 800 was almost twice as powerful as my 500 and probably only needed me to roll on the throttle for the pass...

Fun times! :noob:
 
Years ago it was allowed to take bikes on the towpath of the C&O Canal, built by Geo. Washington, runs parallel to the Potomac River north of DC, SO, I was driving a buddy's bike along the path, hit a mud puddle, bike plowed over on the right side, I woke up with a giant spider about a inch from my nose,

Larry runs up upon hearing the engine quit, and this geyser of water go up in the air.....my entire right side was covered in mud/muck.....

:cussing: we managed to get the bike started again after some fiddling around, and got outta there....:amazed:
 
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