AWD=All Wheel Slide and the Importance of Hoonage

I grew up on a really big hill. I mean, Sanita Hill was the kind of hill in upstate NY that when we had a bad storm, people would just park their cars at the bottom and walk it. The winter was a dreaded time for driving, because before you hit the hill, you would down-shift, goose it, and see if you could make it up.

If not, you would start spinning at the top and fall backwards. I can vividly remember one time in my old Accord, being in 5th gear, the speedometer reading 80 MPH, and creeping along at a walking pace, as a school bus with chains on the tires crept up behind me.  Then there was the time I didn't make it up the hill, when i rolled backward into the woods. But don't worry, the tree stopped me before I rolled into the ditch.

Thats the benefit of living in a  rural area. From the Dutchess county town I grew up in to the years  spent crawling through lake effect snows on the NY Thruway while living in Utica, the ability to drive in the snow is a badge i wear proudly in metro NY.  This conversation was spurred today by this awesome video i just saw on Jalopnik.com of some NorPac drivers doing it wrong. The AWD's are slipping and sliding, while the Ford Fusion comes through with Snowtires and precise braking and steering control to avoid the pileup.



But here is the bottom line. I learned how to drive in the snow and ice through trial and error, and more anything, good solid Hoonage. Seriously. Parents, friends, spouses, I implore you to take yourselves and your loves one out when it snows to the local parking lot. Find a big empty space and start throwing the car around.  Learn what makes a car slide, learn what difference is between as a gas and a brake when you are sideways and learn how to get out of a spin. learn what it means to have a safe stopping distance, and instill confidence so drivers don't freak out when the car oversteers one ice.

Have you ever pulled a reverse whip in a front wheel drive car? Seriously, its more fun than a barrel full of monkeys when done correctly, and is an amazing technique when done correctly.  I can vividy recall my old cars, and what was awesome in the snow. My 90 Cavalier? 5 speeds of death and no heater. That thing never had any traction, so it was great to learn on. the 89 Accord? that thing loved to slide through the corners, but always corrected. The 94 Intrepid with a 3000GT powertrain? that thing was a more than 2 tons, unstoppable monster that never once slid on me. That car plowed through more lake effect snows than any I could remember and asked for more. The Maximas? not so much. my 2K was such a torquey monster, and the 18" TSW's with Nankings didn't help matters in the least. And now I have this thing called traction control on my 2007,  paired with Potenza RE960's all weathers. Now I have to really try to break traction in this thing.