Some other hints

[Steele]

Some additional hints on ice-driving from a german with a rear-drive & manual transmisison Benz :]

1.) For you guys using a manual transmission:

Use the clutch softly. It's best to throttle

up the engine first, and then let the clutch

come back very slowly.

This way, the engine's got enough "power" (by the rpm) to gently and "evenly" accelerate the car without any sudden change

of forces.

2.) If your car's tail goes off to the left,

hit the clutch and carefully REPEAT carefully steer to the right.

Provoke such a situation at a safe place

and try this out a few times, cause if you

"oversteer" to the other side, and your tyres

regain traction, the whole junk starts again, just into the other direction.

If nothing helps, you may try to apply "counter thrust" by gently pushing down

the gas and countersteering softly.

Be prepared to counter-countersteer a few times (you'll be driving an "S", but at least, you have a chance to keep your car on YOUR side of the road!).

This is very tricky, so train it first until you know your car's reactions!

3.) If you don't have ABS, use the "stutter-brake" on ice. This means you violently and quickly have to push, release, push, release, etc. etc. the brake-pedal in order to "simulate" an ABS.

Tried that last winter on frozen precipitation (the most slippery stuff you can be confronted with), it was perfect, I was even able to begin evasive maneuvers while braking!

4.) Remember: If rear-drive cars lose traction, they tend to oversteer (tail goin'

off to one side), if front-driven cars lose

traction, they tend to "overshoot" (no reaction on steering). Therefore, I prefer rear-drive cars, with some training, you can

use the drift to finally get that ****ing curve ;]

5.) If available, put ballast on the

rear axle of rear-driven cars... improves

traction (otherwise, you may be confronted

with the same situation I had last year:

crouching up a hill with the 3rd gear, 10 km/h indicated speed and a tail moving from the left to the right. )

Here, front-driven cars do have an advantage.

6.) On ICE, not even winter tyres will help you. You might almost as well use summer-tyres.

(Ooookay, they always help a very little bit,

but the addition in grip is hardly a factor

anymore)

7.) I don't know what American / Canadian

insurances say, but in Germany, you MUST

use winter-tyres during winter-time, otherwise, your insurance won't pay the whole

amount in case of an accident!

8.) Always have thermo-foils / blankets in your car (and a Cellphone), should that ******* decide to die off in the middle of nowhere, it can get very cold without a running engine until help arrives!

9.) Brigdes and forests are the "scenery" where you still may find ice on the road

when it's already thawed everywhere else!

(Wind and shadow)

That's all 4 now, I'm sure most of you already knew that stuff, but I just wanted

to post it as an addition :]

(P.S.: I've tried out all methods described

above... they work if you know how to handle

your car!)

Best Regards

------------------

Commander Steele

GCV Terra Kresta, Wraith HQ (Lyrius)

Wraith Fleet/SIN Wing

Stealth - the only thing between you and your enemy's guns

changed the fecal word to junk

[This message has been edited by Charles Lindsey (edited 12-11-2000).]

[Wold]

Hey, good tips! Glad you decided to explain some of those moves!! I use those moves on a regular basis myself, though I have an automatic. I prefer a standard tranny for more control but.....*shrug*

My current work car is an '87 Lincoln Mark 7 LSC (2 door) w/ 200K miles.

Rear-wheel drive overshooting a corner can also be corrected by punching the gas-pedal. This will cause the back-end of the car to swing to the outside edge of the corner. I call this a "power-slide" and if done right is very affective at taking corners, not to mention fun. If done wrong you'll swap ends and be driving backwards or worse!

The above move means knowing road conditions, your car, practice, and maybe a bit of "luck". I spend 3+ hrs a day driving on slick roads so am used to things, however, I do make my wife quite nerveous at times!

Couse if speed is slow enough you may never exprience the thrill of driving sideways/backwards at 40mph

------------------

Commodore Wold

ICV-Drakr, Spectre HQ (Antis)

Commanding Officer, Spectre HQ

Spectre Fleet

ICQ 4669033

"You can only love or hate something you truly understand"

[Steele]

Hi Wold!

My car's a 1983 Mercedes W123 230CE (2.3 Litres, Fuel injection, Coup├®)with almost

200.000 km (not miles!) on the clock...

(Only 40 more kms to go ! ;] )

You got a .jpg of your car ?

Does your car have an handbrake ?

You can do lots of cool stuff with that,

especially if you've got front-drive.

Since I got my driver's licens (about 1.5 years ago), I'm working as a pizza-driver every saturday, and as delivery cars, we've got some Peugeots. It is self-explanatory,

that I WON'T make a 180 deg. turn on a

narrow sand-road using common ways of directional change... HEY, that damn thing

doesn't even have a power-steering, but a

turning-radius like a truck, and pizzas tend to get cold by the time... >:]

At pizza services, you learn rallye-driving

better than anywhere else...

Best regards

------------------

Commander Steele

GCV Terra Kresta, Wraith HQ (Lyrius)

Wraith Fleet/SIN Wing

Stealth - the only thing between you and your enemy's guns

[Wold]

I have some pics floating around somewhere and a scanner. At this point I don't have current jpg of the car. It is a light powder-blue w/ Ford's 302 (5.0 Litre), fuel injected motor. My wife hates to drive it on winter roads, she has a lead foot. Summer time though...

I used to have a Honda that had the hand emergency brake. Used it when making corners or turning around. Turn around in 12ft of space w/ the hand brake on.

You have a pic of your car?

------------------

Commodore Wold

ICV-Drakr, Spectre HQ (Antis)

Commanding Officer, Spectre HQ

Spectre Fleet

ICQ 4669033

"You can only love or hate something you truly understand"

[Steele]

Yeah, I've got some... I'll send them via E-Mail (first gotta find them ;] )

5.0 Litres ??? Cooooooooooooool car.

I've only got 2.3 Litres, but in Germany,

cubes are DAMN expensive (most of all the fuel to feed 'em).

My mom's got a 220 HP 3.2 6 in-line Mercedes

(manual trnsm.!), that's already one hell of a car, but 5.0 V8... phew...

best regards

------------------

Commander Steele

GCV Terra Kresta, Wraith HQ (Lyrius)

Wraith Fleet/SIN Wing

Stealth - the only thing between you and your enemy's guns