Teaching Coworkers "J" Turn

So I am in Minnesota with my boss and 2 coworkers and snow is on the ground and I perform a few power slides into the parking lots using the hand brake in our rental Kia Sportage.

They like it so I proceed to show them a proper J turn (the snow allows it to be done at lower speeds) and they loved it. And I have to do it again. We are all cracking up and I do one more power slide into the parking garage entrance.

I report into the wife later on the cell phone and she questions my age (46) and my bosses (48). Coworkers are 26 and 35 years old.

Do you still do crazy car stuff? Do you still laugh when you can do a sweet burnout? Neutral drops? Power slides? What else am I missing?

Sort of related, I got my youngest brother a CB radio for Christmas with a PA speaker for his beater Prelude. Hours of childish fun talking to people as we drive past.

I'm 23, but whipping e-brake donuts in snowy parking lots is just as fun now as when I was 16

My most recent hooligan moment was a a powerslide around the verizon while their manoger yelled at me. I was pissed they wouldn't honor my phone insurance.

Eeek no neutral drops... Had a friend of mine break a band in his trans doing that in high school.

Hold brakes, build revs, release brakes.

I've calmed down a lot... something about too many tickets...

There's a big intersection (three lanes each way in both roads), and the right turn I usually take is about 115 degrees. I have found that I can easily keep the speed limit (45mph) through the turn going from my right most lane into the middle lane of the other road without squealing tires or anything.

Otherwise, I just always have fun rowing through the gears so I'm not accelerating while bogging the engine. I have found it in my best interest to have fun with momentum instead of outright velocity... It's easier to stay out of trouble that way.

My '80 Turbo Trans-Am become "the donut machine" at the first snow of the year.

Shawn

Turning 30 in a little over a month.

yep.. still like driving like a teenager in the snow. isn't that what Wal-mart parking lots are for?

Winter Driving practice? learning out to correct a spin out? regardless of the fact that one purposefully put the car into that state

No neutral drops, replaced too many universals...

BUT! Just this morning coming to work the end of my street is a sweeper, not really a 90 degree corner. So of course I have to power up in second gear and drift around the thing with the tail slightly stepped out, headlights facing the inboard curb. Unfortunately my wife rides with me and ooches and eeks everytime. "Aw c'mon, I gotta know what's under there, it's a traction test for the next 25 miles".

Yes, it's 5:50 in the morning, I'm not really awake but yes, I still giggle like a 13 year old girl.

Dan

My wife complains all the time about my winter driving, because I'm having fun and she doesn't quite grasp what my level of car control is all about. Still, two notes of humor:

1) Doing a simple e-brake turn in the middle of an icy intersection to reverse my direction back to a house I passed to this day is a story re-told by my mother-in-law, who was in the back seat at the time.

2) My wife has the e-brake turn into our driveway on a snowy day down to perfection, and is now showing off her sKiLlZ to her co-workers in the lot at work.

Almost 44, and no signs of keeping all 4 wheels pointed in the same direction.

Just the other day I was running late for work and there's a big T-junction with lights. I could see that the lights were green in the distance so I knew they were going to change soon, all the cars had already gone through the lights. So I dropped it from mid 4th into high 3rd, accelerated hard towards the lights and did an awesome tripod corner through the junction. The lights turned yellow just as I passed through them. Take that stupid traffic lights!

Also when I was at university there was a particular parking spot I'd always slide into if there were free spots on both sides, because it was a nice fresh parking lot on a steep slope. I noticed that over time those side spots were free much more often

Another trick I like to do when I'm driving the Sammy is to make the 90-degree turn into the gravel parking lot at work hard and with a hint of brake, then transition to gas and drift through the parking lot Just a slight drift so I don't kick up gravel on the cars nearby. the security guard doesn't seem to mind that as much as when I go through there quickly with the AE92.

Come on, who doesn't act like a 12 year old in lots of white fluffy joy!?

A while ago my DD started making this awful moaning sound coming from the rear wheels and only the rear wheels. So I'm thinking it's my parking brake. I remove all the components back there, but the sound hasn't gone away. I'll eventually put the stuff back, but I still crack up every time I scare the E36 M3 outta passengers by jacking the p-brake handle while going around a bend on the highway at (ahem) 70 mph.

That's one of the fun things about winter in Minnesota...you can do all kinds of things in a snowy parking lot without worrying about wearing out your tires.

Hooning around in any car is the automotive equivalient of a whoopie cushion.

My Lovely Wife already has the "passenger side brake assist pedal" installed on all of our vehicles which goes into full blown pleaseslowdown/stop/watchoutforthe kids/lights/car in the Winter.

Yes, I act like a teenager in the snow at times. I'm 40, and take what little pleasures I can whenever possible.

And.....we are expecting 3-5 inches of snow tomorrow...

I'm 32. Still have fun like a 16 year old, though with more discretion and skill.

The stock boost gauge on my turbo T/A is three lights in a bulge on the hood.

1 lights all the time, 1 lights at 2lbs and the third lights at 7lbs.

I was giving one of the cashiers a ride home one night, she asked "what're those lights for?"

My wife says "Oh E36 M3, now he's gonna show you!"

It's a goal to see how long I can keep all three lit! They really shouldn't have put them there

Shawn

Shucks, I'm over 60 and I still enjoy driving on the slippery stuff. I planned to do a 4+ hr drive to north VT to visit my daughter. So I put my Blizzaks on and cruised up in a snow storm. I asked my SO if my driving made her nervous. She said "No, you know what you are doing". So on Sundays, thru Jan and Feb I go ice racing.

I grew up in South Ga driving dirt roads. One of my greatest memories is my Dad teaching me at 12 to do a burnout in 1st and 2nd in his 71 Vette on a dirt road - the first time he let me drive it. I still have a couple of favorite dirt roads that have some nice curves and good visibillity so I can get sideways rally style. And the e-brake turn NEVER gets old.

When I was in college I took two friends to show them how much fun my 323 GTX was on said dirt road and didn't quite calculate up that the extra weight in the car would cause a wider arc at my usual entry speed. According to the tire tracks the left rear was IN the outside ditch. Good thing I had 3 others tires pulling us out of it. I'm more careful these days, especially with passengers!

Snow?

I kept my mostly used up RE01Rs from autocross season on this fall so I could do that sort of thing on dry, level pavement. My colleagues lurv it when I pull into the back and snap a crisp 180 degree NASCAR style burnout, then back into my space.

I was ALL about the J-turns in my rear-drum-brake Civic days, but since I got the M3, and particularly after a couple seasons of autocross, I'm addicted to power-on sideways.

I have a beater 99' Dodge Dakota for the snow stupidity. Kumho 8-ply real live truck tires hook up a little better than optimal for pure fun, but when you actually need to go someplace in sh1te weather, they're money.

(and I'll be fitty next summer, and still driving like a C-U-Next-Tuesday)

pete240z wrote: Do you still do crazy car stuff?

Mk2 Golf + new Winterforces on the front + old, choppy Traction T/As on the rear = lift throttle oversteer.

As in, turning into a parking lot in 2nd gear and about 1500rpm, you can spin the car by letting off of the throttle.

Last year:

Flawless reverse 180-into-2nd gear turnaround. I parked in the front of the lot when I got back so I wouldn't disturb the tire marks...

I live on a Culdesac here in CO. The first year we lived here, My F-150 always did donughts before pulling in the driveway. My wife would see the circle tracks with them exiting into our drive and protest "Now everyone knows it was you" I replied, "Babe, we have lived here for 6 months, they already knew it was me.

She does still hate the Rockfords when we exit the driveway.

I may not have the xperince or resume of those on here (I'm 37 for another month) but I see no slow down in my delight of a powerslide, doughnuts, a smokey burnout or even a quick wheelie on my dirtbike. It still makes me giggle like I am 15 becuase its still fun.

im getting pissed off this winter driving out 00 exploder as it has the "auto engage" 4wd. I dont want to strain the system in the car, so im well behaved in it (other then the unintentional 4 wheel drift when i found some black ice at 3am the other night O.O )

My favorite one was a few months back coming home from the autocross in my mustang cobra. I only live a short highway hop from the site, so i had the V700 victo's on and there is a cloverleaf exit where i live. WELL, this ricer civic comes up tailgating me and i decide to lay into the turn and use the Rcomps capability, ricerboy must have though "If some Mustang can do it I must be able to". He was quickly proven wrong, VERY wrong, and almost smacked the guardrail.

Related: may death find the guy who coupled the e-brake to the ABS system on my company Dodge Stratus.