(I know this was from a few days ago, but I'm on digest)
Rocky wrote:
> Practice on the street (almost) everything you learn on course/track.
>
> This one kinda surprises people. It's been said one of the problems with
> motorsport is you cannot go down to the local plaground and practice, like
> you can go shoot hoops. I disagree. I tell students the only thing you
> cannot practice is mashing the right pedal, but that's the easiest part.
> Everything else -- hand positions, seating positions, looking ahead, lines
> around corners (your "course" defined by the limits of your driving lane),
> use of the gearshift, even "advanced" lessons like left-foot braking and
> trail braking, can and should be part of daily driving technique.
I had an instructor tell me this in July of my rookie year. Wow, I can
practice my autox skills all the time, although back at 4/10ths or so. This
is great!
In October, I was clipped in the rear quarter while late apexing the
corner onto the on-ramp on my way home from work. The other car, a pretty
new Chevy Impala, had a stop sign, and was stopped as I began my left turn.
The driver, a 16-year old with a learner's permit, his mom in the passenger
seat, started to make a left as I was in the middle of the intersection, and
hit me. He said he thought I was going straight. Not that it really
matters, but I had my turn signal on. I was driving about 20 mph and the
Impala moved less than a car length from a stop, so it was going slow too.
Nobody was hurt.
As I conversed with the mom and the kid while we were waiting for the cops
to arrive, it was understood that he was at fault. I was totally calm. The
mom was a nervous wreck. The kid knew he was in deep sh|t for damaging the
car, and kept pretty quiet.
The cop that showed up on the scene was a personal friend of their family.
Though he didn't see the accident at all, his accident report declared I was
totally at fault and fell just shy of calling me a liar. Nobody was issued
a citation. I filed my own accident report, and the insurance companies
compromised on a 50/50 settlement. I was pissed because I know I absolutely
wasn't at fault. The kid had a freakin' stop sign!
Anyway, that's what happened to me while late apexing a typical corner.
YMMV. Now I take a different route home from work so that I don't have to
drive through that intersection any more.
Dan Dalessio <team.net lurker>
'95 PGT
#99 STR
"Drive now, talk later"
http://cartalk.cars.com/About/Drive-Now/
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