Question of the Day: What's Your Best Move?
All great athletes have one. Kareem's Sky Hook. Ali's Rope-a-Dope. Brett Favre out of the pocket, loose and on the run. Mariusz Pudzianowski flinging them the Atlas Balls. I figure all great drivers have a signature move, too. And I'll just go ahead and assume that all TTAC readers are great drivers, right? Of course right. And so we ask, what's your secret weapon? Can you hit an apple on the apex? Powerslide around corners? Jump from stump to stump? Maintain complete control in the pouring rain? Before it was taboo, my buddy Rob was proud of the fact that he could yak on the phone, smoke, eat a donut and shift all at once. Hey, this is LA where Rob's feat is a real accomplishment. Now his wife won't let him do three of the four. I'm quite good at heeling and toeing, using the technique every single time I want to slow a car. Hey, it's good on the brakes at the expense of a little gas. But my best move? I can parallel park circles around you. Yours?
Cleanup driver for Team Black Metal V8olvo.
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Traversing the entire length of my rather long gravel driveway in a full-on, high-speed four wheel drift that would make any WRC driver proud. This puts me in the proper alignment to drive straight into my garage, which sits at a 90-degree-angle to my driveway. (all this in a 90 HP Diesel car by the way) My kids used to love being in the car when I did it, now that they are teenagers it scares them... go figure. My wife hates it because it makes a mess of the gravel. But man, is it fun! I also have Parallel-Parking-Fu, high MPG-Fu, find-great-burger-joint-in-towns-i've-never-been-to-Fu, and make-slow-cars-go-fast-Fu. In the latter category I took a 1979 450sl (with a slush-box!) to a road course track day and beat a gaggle of Porsches, Corvettes, etc. I didn't win outright, but came in 3rd ahead of some very respectable hardware and software (Drivers)... the Porsche guys were *pissed*. ;) --chuck http://chuck.goolsbee.org
Since moving to Atlanta I've developed a supernatural ability to detect when a car will suddenly and without warning attempt to enter the space my vehicle is currently occupying. Startles the passengers a bit (but then, suddenly braking and/or changing lanes does that) until they realize that I just narrowly avoided an accident. I can be in a long line of cars headed for an exit ramp, and predict exactly which car will dodge out of the exit lane at the last second (cutting across the median), and which cars will try to dodge in. And more than once I've hesitated that extra second at a green light and watched a car barrel through the intersection, running the red light and driving through right where I would have been had I started to make my turn.
when i was 6 or 7 and riding my bike on streets i thought i shouldn't have to stop at stop signs if i was turning right because i could hug the curb and not have to worry if cars were coming or not.
I can defy the laws of friction, momentum and even gravity in my Impreza in the snow.