My favorite kind of performance driving is driving on the snow. Here’s some video of me doing that with some folks at Consumer Reports:
All of these cars had snow tires (well, Raph’s bug had some kind of all-terrain truck tire) and we were in a fairly controlled environment. Here’s what it looks like when you’re not in a controlled environment:
— SeizureSalad ???? (@SeizureSalad314) December 23, 2022 The Mazda CX-7 driver almost pulls it off and gets a nice bit of countersteer there at the end. Unfortunately, right before the sweet drift they collided with a poor Toyota. If you’re in the right environment with the right vehicle OR you’re being a dummy in a beater car in a place where you can’t hurt anyone then go nuts. If you’re in Seattle and you’ve got well-worn all seasons then maybe stay home and read this website? Below are some highlights from Seattle drivers last year:
UPDATE: Here are some more Seattle videos:
— Meredith Plays Horn (@meredithmoo25) December 24, 2022
— Malik Prince (@MalikPrince) December 24, 2022 Top image: Twitter via @seizuresalad314
How An Australian Town Came Together To Help An American Fix The Most Hopeless Car On Earth
Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage. Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member. Went for a lap around the block to feel out the ice and GEEZ. Could have been worse I guess.
- Spend hours tuning engine and installing racing parts. 2. Drive on icy forest road to buy milk and beer at Teimo’s store. 3. Lose traction immediately, spin out, crash, die. So, you know, just the original game but with snow. I once had a discussion, ok they yelled and I didn’t care, about Lake effect snow (upstate NY) vs what I drove in. They were lambasting me about getting 6 inches of snow while they would 2 – 3 feet and not knowing how to drive in winter. My response “Ever drive with quarter to half inch of ice on every surface in a Camaro? That is all about control.” They fumed in the corner while I continued to not care. It’s annoying, but unless you’ve said something truly awful it should only be a brief delay. Is it me, or something I said? The coefficient of friction for rubber on dry asphalt is 0.72. Get that asphalt wet and it drops a bit to 0.53. Freeze that water, and it’s 0.15. That means that all four wheels put together have less traction than one wheel does in good conditions, and only a little better than one wheel on wet pavement. Yeah that’s a simplification and there are other factors that can matter, but the general point remains: trying to drive on ice is a bad idea. Another approaching driver saw all of this happening, and then decided to give it a try himself (WHY?!). He also failed, and nearly wiped down the side of my neighbor’s car. I had to help him as well. Both of these bozos said they were returning from dropping their spouses off at work. I’m not sure if that makes them good spouses for helping their wives get to work, or bad spouses for being so foolish to have even tried in the first place. A third guy approached from the top of the hill in a pickup, aided by our local crazy “plandemic” neighbor who was on foot with a huge pot of hot water. The crazy neighbor promptly slipped on the ice and fell hard. The truck slid down the hill doing pirouettes. I was born and raised in Michigan and absolutely love driving in severe winter conditions. The people who attempted to drive in Seattle yesterday are utter fools. Ice on any sort of grade: BAD NEWS! I don’t care if you have the ultimate ice rig, every other idiot on the road doesn’t and they’ll use you like a crash pad. Maybe if you had spiked tires a la Scandinavian oval track snow racing, you might be able to make headway with a modicum of control, but that doesn’t protect you from all the assholes in 4WD SUVs who don’t understand physics. Also, you aren’t going to see salting of roads around the PNW – it kills the salmon during their freshwater phase. It meant that when I brought my old Buick to a state that salts the roads, I had rust holes throught the quarter panels by the next year where there had never been any rust before. My first winter in Seattle, there was a small amount of snow in the forecast, and I prepared to go to work as usual because I grew up in an area where a little snow is nothing but an annoyance. Turning on the news, you’d think we were being hit by an intense blizzard. I still remember the streets department guy being interviewed. He said: “Everyone please be patient. Our teams are working hard, and both of our plows are out clearing the streets.” Both? The small town where I grew up had a fleet of snow removal vehicles ten times that size! But after that, it was years before I saw snow in the city again, so I understand why they don’t want to invest in something that’s used so rarely. The good news is that the forecast shows temperatures in the 50s in Seattle this weekend, so with any luck, this will all melt by lunchtime tomorrow. I learned to drive in Michigan, so I know a few things about driving in snow, and my coworkers love to harass me when I stay home on days like this – and I always tell them that I can handle myself in snow & ice… it’s all you other people who don’t have the experience or a vehicle set up to handle this weather that I am avoiding.
