Frightening yourself

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Sat 16 Jul 2011 13:54
Frightening yourself - Bobbin Threadbare

Has anyone ever frightened the living daylights out of themselves whilst driving? I ask because the rain is hammering down here and I have been whizzing round in the Celica this morning and experienced a little...ahem...sideways velocity when taking a roundabout. The Mazda doesn't do this and I had to try very hard to make my previous car 'slip' as well. I didn't frighten myself so much as Mr Bobbin.

I wasn't afraid of driving in the snow over these past bad winters; it's just another condition to tackle, and rain doesn't bother me, but I did once petrify myself taking the M56-M53 sliproad far too quickly (never driven it before, been driving about 2 months, did not know it was that big a curve!!)

I bet some of you have got some hilarious stories (and possibly some sobering ones too)...

Edited by Bobbin Threadbare on 16/07/2011 at 13:55

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Sat 16 Jul 2011 14:15
Frightening yourself - tanvir

"Hmm... I think I'll try braking with my left foot."

".......OH GOD WHAT THE"

Thankfully no one was behind me. I was 18. Never did THAT again.

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Sat 16 Jul 2011 14:52
Frightening yourself - unthrottled

"hmm, I think I'll that try heel and toe trick"

[foot slipped off brake pedal]

Never did that again.

Then on a downhill stretch of the M62 I tried the Forced Assisted Draft gambit-basically tailgating a lorry in neutral with the engine switched off.

Sitting that close to the lorry, you can't see the traffic ahead. The lorry braked sharply-which I matched. But then the lorry sped up again. So I cranked the starter and the car wouldn't start!

Then I went into gear and tried to bump it. Nothing. By now I was doing about 30mph. Finally it dawned on me that by switching the ignition off completely and not restarting within 30 seconds the immobiliser had engaged. So I had to take the key out of the ignition, 'plip it', then put ity back into the ignition and finally restarted. 25 mph on a busy M62. Not a good speed.

Didn't use that fuel saver again.

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Sat 16 Jul 2011 14:54
Frightening yourself - bathtub tom

Passenger. "Is it true that cars with swing-axles like yours have really terrifying lift-off oversteer".

Driver. "I've never been brave/stupid enough to attempt it. There's nobody else on this roundabout, let's try it".

Loud screams heard from inside Triumph Vitesse.

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Sat 16 Jul 2011 15:19
Frightening yourself - corax

Got the back end out on my old Monza around a wet roundabout with not much runoff. Being a stupid cretin, I kicked down instead of holding it in manual override. The 3.0l straight six roared and I was going sideways trying to hold it, which I did, but then I changed direction into massive oversteer and bounced up the kerb to the horror of the other drivers watching me from the next exit. How I laughed as I continued to my destination.

That laughter was a bit hollow when I came out of the back door the next morning to find that the front wing of the car was about an inch higher than the bonnet line, due to the strut punching it's way through an extremely rusty inner wing. And that was the end of that.

:)

EDIT - Mods please delete repeated post. Thanks.

Edited by corax on 16/07/2011 at 15:21

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Sat 16 Jul 2011 15:19
Frightening yourself - corax

Got the back end out on my old Monza around a wet roundabout with not much runoff. Being a stupid cretin, I kicked down instead of holding it in manual override. The 3.0l straight six roared and I was going sideways trying to hold it, which I did, but then I changed direction into massive oversteer and bounced up the kerb to the horror of the other drivers watching me from the next exit. How I laughed as I continued to my destination.

That laughter was a bit hollow when I came out of the back door the next morning to find that the front wing of the car was about an inch higher than the bonnet line, due to the strut punching it's way through an extremely rusty inner wing. And that was the end of that.

:)

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Sat 16 Jul 2011 15:21
Frightening yourself - Bobbin Threadbare

I would also say that it isn't a good idea to drive a moped when you aren't wearing your glasses.........."I'll just park it better down here..." <falls into very spiky hedge while wearing shorts - ouch!>

Edited by Bobbin Threadbare on 16/07/2011 at 15:21

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Sat 16 Jul 2011 17:01
Frightening yourself - Dutchie

Made me think again about mopeds years ago now, as a sixteen year old my mate Nico as passenger skidded on a old cobbled street in Rotterdam.Moped and Nico (he was a big lad) on top of me. I was lucky nothing broken scrapes and bruises.:)Driving on a two lane carrrigeway in Belgian to Antwerp torrential rain and wind.The spray from the lorry covered the windscreen, wipers couldn't cope for a few seconds felt like eternity.Driving and blinded the missus wasn't happy.

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Sat 16 Jul 2011 18:33
Frightening yourself - johnnyrev

I was approaching slow moving trafficon the M27 uphill, so I didn't realise that the traffic had actually stopped until it was too late. My little Fiat had no ABS or particularly good brakes, so I had the choice of going down the hard shoulder or between two lanes of traffic.

I decided to go between the two lanes of traffic, which worked as the Seicento was so narrow! And shot straight out the other side of the jam, with my wife just then looking up from texting wondering what the fuss was all about. Very scary!

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Sat 16 Jul 2011 19:49
Frightening yourself - Alby Back

Circa 1975/6 bowling down Leith walk on our "racers" in the rain ( unusually enough it was raining in Edinburgh...) Came to the "Playhouse" roundabout, pal couldn't stop, artic coming round roundabout, pal drops his bike and he and the bike slither under the moving trailer and out the other side. He didn't speak much for the rest of the ride....walked a bit funny too until he'd changed.

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Sun 17 Jul 2011 10:01
Frightening yourself - Dutchie
Walked a bit funny? ;) I think I would with trousers full.
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Sun 17 Jul 2011 14:04
Frightening yourself - Sofa Spud

I've had quite a few frightening experiences while driving but I can't think of many where I've frightened myself.

One was coming down a long hill into Ipswich from the Colchester direction on the old A12 - in the 1970's before the by-pass was built, driving a Ford D-series 16-ton loaded lorry. In that particular lorry it was necessary to have the brakes on all the way down the hill as its Cummins V8 diesel was notorious for lack of engine braking and it had no retarder or suchlike. At the bottom of the hill was a roundabout. Although I was only doing about 15-20 mph as I approached the roundabout, pushing the brake pedal hard had little effect and the lorry overshot the give-way lines and there was another lorry coming from miy right - but luckily we didn't collide. A classic case of drum brake-fade, where the drums expand away from the shoes as they heat up. I'd never had it before, or since.

The most frightening thought is not that I narrowly missed a low-speed collision with another lorry, but how close I must have been to a runaway while coming down the hill.

Edited by Sofa Spud on 17/07/2011 at 14:11

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Sun 17 Jul 2011 17:48
Frightening yourself - unthrottled

Cummins triple five! unusual engine-sounds fantastic. Unlike its bigger bro, the 903 or the inline 6s, the 555 never had a jake option and braking was, as you discovered, a bit hit and miss.

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Sun 17 Jul 2011 17:55
Frightening yourself - JOGON

Citroen 2CV. Long, long downhill stretch. Undulating road and series of worsening 'humps' leading to a blind summit/lefthander. I actually screamed. Fortunately the tractor that could've been there wasn't. Taught me to treat those 602cc's with respect.

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Mon 18 Jul 2011 11:02
Frightening yourself - TeeCee

On business in South Wales. Sun low to front, motoring along little back road. Road is wet and sun is reflecting off surface.

Didn't see junction sign for crossroads until the last possible moment, the road markings were invisible due to the reflections. Foot to brake produced four locked wheels instantly (aha, surface is both wet and worn to a mirror-smooth polish).

Back on throttle, pelt straight through crossroads and brake to a halt on the other side. I turned to my mate in the other seat and started to say; "i've always wondered if you could get away with that.", but I only got as far as "I've alwa......" before an articulated truck thundering across the juction behind at speed drowned me out.

New underwear required.......

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