When did you realize you sent it a little too hard?

In reply to Junkers :

Yeah pretty much a good summation. Luckily endurance racing gives you a lot of chances to redeem yourself.

Oh Lord where to start:

There was the 85 mph tank slapper pitched over the bars on the lake road (after ignoring the three big tank slapper before that)

The infamous pull the hand brake at 70 mph in my mothers Pinto (multiple 360s)

So stocking with race track stupidity I tried to pass someone on the out side in a 3rd gear left right bend for 4th place overall.  The other driver was a bit slow in the left hander so I decided I could go round the outside and dive under him going into the right hander. Unfortunately someone had gone off there and dragged a bunch of gravel onto the course. It ws late in the day so I could see all the gravel off line until it was too late. I went roaring through the dirt throwing even more gravel onto the course as well as scattering the cars behind us and came spinning out on to the front straight in front of everyone...............I still managed 6th place.

Going through the 7,8,9 at Hallett I ran wide out of 7 hit the curbing in 8 (and it's off camber there) I couldn't get the bike slowed down and turned in. 

Ended flipping the bike over the front wheel and was knocked out long enough they stopped the session. 

Young and dumb in my 89 M3, hit the kink at the top of third ( about 85mph)  gear.  A four wheel drift ensued, right up to the edge of the pavement.  Grabbed fourth and carried on.

There was a time I noticed a forklift seemed to have a lot of body roll if you cornered too fast.

Then I realized forklifts don't have suspension.

For Ricky Taylor, it was probably right before he hit the brakes.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

i'm with MattB on this one.  pretty sure fidelity101's post could have a /thread behind it.

Yeah, in my story I was basically just being a dumbass while fidelity101 is out there Dukes of Hazzarding his RX7 through the woods.  That man doesn't need a stool. He can just sit on his balls.

Slicks and street tires do not make the same sound when they let go. Pulling gavel out of the bottom of a viper is a humbling experiance. Better then hitting a wall I suppose. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

i'm with MattB on this one.  pretty sure fidelity101's post could have a /thread behind it.

It was rad as all hell but it wasn't too far.  He made it through the stage and his suspension wasn't rammed through the towers 

I don't remember hearing the "ow....  OWW...!!" afterwards.  Kept rewinding to the jump part before the video ended I guess.

When the brake pedal goes to the floor and the car doesn't notice, you sent it too far. Now, I don't think Fidelity's post is a thread ender, cuz they didn't crash or break the car too much. That was the Right and Proper amount of send and was quite impressive (OTOH that clip of Pitor prettymuch shows waaaayyyy too much send). I figure if there's Too Much send, you might not have the best ET on that stage.  When, say, you think you can take the chicane at the back end of PIR wide open, cuz you're on the Yokos and not the rally tires, and going in, you become aware that maybe you can't: 

 " So, are we in trouble?" 

"yeah, perhaps.." 

"Do you happen to know where the timing gate is?" "I think it's riiiight over there, no, there. Stop spinning so I can point it out dammit."

"Clean run. Totally planned that."

Caught air on my motorcycle at a railway grade crossing, trying to beat the train.

I won but it was f---ing stupid to put it mildly.

I don't *try* to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to provide amusement for speccies with cameras, but here' the *other* time my boneheadedness was captured. If you find yourself using That which is Not Road as Road, you may have sent it too far.

"Oopsie-daisy, did you say 90 right?"  "Um, yeah."

"Ah. Well, OK then, lessee here.."

"Maybe we should trade seats." "Nah, we're good"

​​​​​​

In reply to Jay_W :

As someone who treated the roads of Southern Nevada as their own personal Isle of Man (especially the Red Rock scenic loop) I am thankful no one every got video of my motorcycle riding antics.  More than once I cleared an entire 6 lane intersection about a foot off the ground at 100mph. I thought nothing of it at the time but if there were videos of it I'd probably shat myself watching them.

I think the operative word is realize.................back then it would have never registered.

Had always been told to jump on the brakes hard at the initial braking point going into a turn. Was starting to feel pretty confident in that. Got passed by a GT-R at VIR in my E36 M3. Noticed he was braking real early going into T1. Probably about 600 feet out. Well before the 5 marker. I had been braking about the 4 marker and thought, I can reel him back in no problem if I hit them just a little later. Foot to the floor until the 3 marker. Jumped on the brakes harder (and quicker) than ever... and the car did not slow down.. much. Enter ice mode... I think. If I had know that was a thing I would have known what to do. Instead, went off (unfortunately not straight... also something I didn't think of in the moment) and sort of slid in the grass on the left side of the right hander until I brushed the tire wall. Enough to knock the metal valve stem, among other things on the car, off the left front wheel. 

When the first thing to hit the water was the back of the outboard engine. 

Yacht wakes in the intercoastal get rather large and a 15' Bonito apparently lands transom first. 

gearheadE30 said:

One moment in particular when I suddenly realized I wasn't as good a driver as I thought at age 16 in my E30: ran out of opposite lock trying to save a slide on a highway off ramp and proceeded to beach the car in the pile of drainage stone at the bottom of the cloverleaf. That car taught me a lot about lift throttle oversteer, and about showing off...

I hit the marbles - most likely road salt as it was winter & there was snow on the ground - on a clover-leaf heading to work in my 88 Jetta. 

I saw the woman I'd just hurried to pass drive by me about the time I hit the 180* mark, but somehow managed to get it into first, not get stuck in the snow(crappy all-seasons), and get the car to rotate the rest of the way around. 

I caught back up to her & passed her(again) as soon as we'd merged onto the interstate. 

I always wondered what she told her coworkers about the encounter. 

akylekoz said:

Young and dumb in my 89 M3, hit the kink at the top of third ( about 85mph)  gear.  A four wheel drift ensued, right up to the edge of the pavement.  Grabbed fourth and carried on.

 

Ah yes, the "I meant to do that" maneuver.

Full incar.  Not nearly as impressive looking as the GIF. 

BMX race practice at an ABA Gold Cup qualifier. People taking videos (before phones could) at a step jump. Buddy Mike Savage and I were hitting the jump in sequence each time around and while Mike is an awesome jumper I was really fast but not so great a jumper. One lap Mike hits the jump and does a perfect look back while I follow right behind. In the air, looking down and back, the moment comes where I realize I hit it a little too hard.  I see the full landing area and there's no way I'm going to hit it, a flat bottom landing is inevitable and I'm now about 8-10 feet up in the air. Did everything right, pitched the bike and tried to roll on impact. Not a scratch on me and no bike damage but the sudden stop was too much, broken spleen.

In reply to Jay_W :

Is that the hood scoop from a 280ZX?

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

I hit the marbles - most likely road salt as it was winter & there was snow on the ground - on a clover-leaf heading to work in my 88 Jetta. 

I saw the woman I'd just hurried to pass drive by me about the time I hit the 180* mark, but somehow managed to get it into first, not get stuck in the snow(crappy all-seasons), and get the car to rotate the rest of the way around. 

I caught back up to her & passed her(again) as soon as we'd merged onto the interstate. 

I always wondered what she told her coworkers about the encounter. 

That reminds me of another one.  Getting on the highway on a cold but dry winter day in the Jeep.  Took it easy on the curvy on-ramp, then went WOT from 40-ish just after the last curve.  Snow tires held on just fine.  Got to about 60 as I hit the beginning of the merge zone.  Had a clear spot, so started to move over.  And failed to notice that while the on ramp was pretty clean, the entire highway had a 1/4" or better layer of rock salt on it.  As soon as the back tires hit the right lane, I was at 60, WOT and pointing straight for the median.  Tail just snapped right out.  Wound in full lock, chopped the throttle and proceeded to snap straight (with a little throttle right as it grabbed) and landed perfectly into the left lane (of 3). 

Definitely one of those "yep, I totally meant to do that" moments.  Of course, the best part was looking in the rear view after I got straightened out (still doing 50 or so) and seeing all of the cars behind me that had slammed on their brakes in sheer panic and were now packing together way back there as I continued on like everything was fine. 

Sitting at a stop sign, I can see the kid in the ..corrola? in front on my looking in the mirror at at 308 (when it was still running and had a 600ish hp supercharged v8)  behind him so he does his best burnout heading across the intersection and up the hill....and by best I mean...5ft? :)  A few cars pass and I decide move briskly up the hill closing the gap to the toyota  as he rounded a a turn at the top.  I thought I knew the road well and rounded to turn again at a brisk pace and rolled the throttle open and was now closing very fast on toyota the the tach goes from like 5k to 8k revlimiter..what the???I backed off the throttle and pressed it again, redline again...what did I break? ..No it was just that the car was airborne nearly completely closed the gap and was going...oh 30+mhp fast than the car in front with no way to slow down.....had about 10-15 feet when I got tires on the ground and brakes back and tires hollowing as I locked them up scaring the E36 M3 out of myself and the poor kid in front of me because I'd decided to drive like the bigger jackass.  And that is why its important to observe all posted signs.

Lime Rock - Off the line, on the exit of turn 1 Big Ben headed to the S's.

My 1st realization is when I noticed, the back of the car was in the front and the front of the car was in the back. That happened in a short millisecond.

The 2nd was when I hit the tire wall backwards, and a wave of the foulest tire water ever flooded in thru the open window.

Minor damage to me and car. Dream that I was going to be next greatest driver destroyed tho...

Pic not me but taken at same spot, same effect.

I was looking at a tire wall the other week wondering if you could drill holes in the tires to keep them from accumulating water. Looking at the picture above, I think the water actually helps serve to dissipate energy during a hit.

In reply to ShawnG :

It might very well be but I didnt do that mod, it came to me with that item.  

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

I was looking at a tire wall the other week wondering if you could drill holes in the tires to keep them from accumulating water. Looking at the picture above, I think the water actually helps serve to dissipate energy during a hit.

Some places in the world you have to drill them out to avoid creating the mosquito breeding ground from hell.