Takumi drives for Fed Ex

Drifting a Big Rig with trailers

I kept waiting for some "E"s

"Well his truck jackknifed, turned completely 'round. He was headed down backward 'bout the speed of sound. And what happened next, eye-witnesses say, he had his head out the window yellin' CLEAR THE WAY!!!"

Ahh, my question was answered in the article. I thought it looked like his rear trailer brakes were locked up.

Good on him for keeping that whole situation under control.

Northern California is a E36 M3show right now.

amazing ability there. I hope that FedEx gives him an "attaboy" and a fresh pair of pants

Thats in my neck of the woods. The UPS and FedEx drivers up here a crazy(good). Once on HWY 70 a UPS truck with two trailers pulled out in front of me while I was riding a SV650 and he did not slow me down once.

Fun stuff. Nice job on holding that, the physics of those multi-trailer trucks are not clear to me and I don't know how the heck you'd do that particular stunt.

We had one around here that wasn't quite so lucky. Big freezing rain storm on Monday and one of the double FedEx trucks ended up parked in the guardrail. Apparently 10 trucks ended up stopped or stuck - if this is where I think it is, there's a good hill that probably was just too slippery to climb. Then the cars started hitting them - the first SUV to slam into a semi had the cruise set to 75. The FedEx truck collected a Taurus that went over the guardrail. Taurus driver went to the hospital.

So, props to the pros here, but good lord people. Seriously, what was the closing speed here?

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Having watched some you tube videos I'd say the closing speed was Russian.

Oh, that's the "God brake" technique. Tak learned that one after Bunta smoked him on Akina one night.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

I'm thinking that Taurus driver might just lose both lower legs. The entire LF wheel well is sitting where your legs go. That had to have been a bit painful.

Is there a link to the video that doesn't have to be processed through malware-ads.com?

One of the things I find myself thinking about is, how do you do a scandi-flick while towing a trailer? Is it the same as running no trailer but with specific timing, or is a different technique entirely required?

It's entirely academic, of course. I've found that my trailer tips long before it slides.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/zXr1F5kwDHE

Top-voted comment on YouTube video: "Add some initial d music!!!"

https://www.youtube.com/embed/tNveMjoSxp0

Click both. You're welcome.

4cylndrfury wrote:

Well done.

Ironically enough, I think Takumi got a job as a delivery man after high school.

In reply to Knurled:

You can juggle the trailer around a bit with the trolley brake.

These guys with the tandems and triples are good. I was at a show where a retired CF driver was displaying a set of triples he restored. A couple guys were talking about how they couldn't be backed up. The old man fired up his tractor and backed up all three trailers halfway across the fairgrounds around a curve.

That was a heck of a tofu delivery.

In reply to Wall-e:

When EvanB and I went down to Tennessee to pick up, err... "Kyouko", we saw a few people in formation going the other way double-FLAT-towing vehicles. Think Escape flat towing an Escape that was itself flat towing an Escape, through the hills along I-65. Our response was, basically, "BOTC, we salute you!"

Either skillz we respect, or ignorance we're glad we're not sharing the road with.

I flat-towed a GTI home with an Impreza 2.5RS. (Hi Jerry!) The experience was a bit like people have described warfare. Long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of excitement. I still strongly recall one looong highway interchange where, at 65mph, I had that Subaru countersteering for about half a mile because the Volkswagen was pushing the back end out, and I didn't DARE slow down... in any car you power out of problems but we're going too fast... need to slow down we're going too fast! but need to give it more throttle...

Knurled wrote: I still strongly recall one looong highway interchange where, at 65mph, I had that Subaru countersteering for about half a mile because the Volkswagen was pushing the back end out, and I didn't DARE slow down... in any car you power out of problems but we're going too fast... need to slow down we're going too fast! but need to give it more throttle...

That's always a fun one. Happens in rallycross too sometimes. "There's a 180 coming up at the end of this slalom... I should start slowing down for that. But I can't slow down much because I'll lose the rear end if I come off the throttle too much or even think about brakes but I also can't do a 180 at this speed."

In reply to Knurled:

Any time you're towing something with no brakes there's a chance to get the heart rate up especially with similar size vehicles. I'm surprised you don't see more of those chains of used cars upside down.

Keith Tanner wrote: Fun stuff. Nice job on holding that, the physics of those multi-trailer trucks are not clear to me and I don't know how the heck you'd do that particular stunt. We had one around here that wasn't quite so lucky. Big freezing rain storm on Monday and one of the double FedEx trucks ended up parked in the guardrail. Apparently 10 trucks ended up stopped or stuck - if this is where I think it is, there's a good hill that probably was just too slippery to climb. Then the cars started hitting them - the first SUV to slam into a semi had the cruise set to 75. The FedEx truck collected a Taurus that went over the guardrail. Taurus driver went to the hospital. So, props to the pros here, but good lord people. Seriously, what was the closing speed here?

I had a DOT inspection today and this particular crash came up as I was chatting with the trooper. The Taurus driver had the cruise at 75, in the fog and the ice. Had no idea what was ahead of him. From Wisconsin, you'd think he'd know snow.

I would love to see someone backing up a triple. I can't wrap my head around how. Skills!

I can't see anyone backing up triples more than a few trailer lengths if everything was straight when starting.

I can back a pup pretty good with a long tongue even. I don't get very far with doubles.

rslifkin wrote: That's always a fun one. Happens in rallycross too sometimes. "There's a 180 coming up at the end of this slalom... I should start slowing down for that. But I can't slow down much because I'll lose the rear end if I come off the throttle too much or even think about brakes but I also can't do a 180 at this speed."

That's the way early RX-7s (before 1981 when they made the handling more weenie-proof) drove... they were very chuckable but if you were chucking, you stayed on the throttle or else you'd be backing off the road. In understand 911s were this times twenty, throttle is life no matter what the car was doing.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/BrePIvGjRes

Don't. Lift.

In reply to Knurled:

Awfully good driver in an awful car.