Fun, fun, fun
Last night I decided to go driving around because, let's face it, I was bored, and it seemed like it would be fun. Not many people out, so it would be a good time to practice my snow driving.
On the way home from work, there were a few people off on the side of the road, but I guess most of the crashed cars people talked about were rescued before I left work. My trip home took close to three times as long as it normally does (taking close to an hour) because everyone was driving slowly, but it was lots of fun. On the plus side, you get to drive wherever you want to on the road because apparently, without lane markers, no one knows where they should be and they just take their bit out the middle. Which reminds me, never follow the tracks in the snow in front of you, they may be crashing.
The Focus is fun to drive in the snow. The traction control works at all speeds, which is handy. When you're going 40mph in 5th gear and it kicks in, you know you're in some slippery stuff. But, even in the slippery stuff, the Focus basically just wants to go straight (which is great, right up until you want to turn). As long as you don't do anything stupid, the Focus isn't likely to bite you.
As the night progressed I was getting more skilled at the use of the parking brake while cornering, which is actually quite useful for making 90 degree turns, as well as pulling into parking spaces. There was only one point, at about 12:30 am when I was returning home from a restaurant/bar, when I had to throw the Focus sideways to stop in time for the intersection. Basically I was going about 40-45mph in a 55 zone that was reasonably well plowed (about 4 inches of snow on the road, with about 8 in the unplowed/untraveled sections) when the light a long ways up turned red to let a snow blowing pickup across. I was on the brakes the whole way as soon as the light turned red. When it got obvious that I was going to stop in the middle of the intersection, I decided to just throw the Focus sideways into the untraveled bit of high snow that accumulated between the people going straight and the people turning right. I stopped, the pickup went on, and all was good. I probably could have just run the light, as it seems that's another thing people like to do, but I wanted to see what I was in for should I actually need to stop quickly.
I need to get more practice driving in the snow, but I can see that my practice with rally driving simulators is coming in handy. I just wish I had more practice with the real thing. To get optimal speed and control in the snow, you need to work the brakes, the gas, the hand brake, and the steering wheel all at the same time. I'm OK at working the brakes, gas, and steering; that's pretty typical for running around the track at maximum velocity. It's just working the parking brake into the mix and getting the Scandinavian Flick down is what I need real practice with.
On the way home from work, there were a few people off on the side of the road, but I guess most of the crashed cars people talked about were rescued before I left work. My trip home took close to three times as long as it normally does (taking close to an hour) because everyone was driving slowly, but it was lots of fun. On the plus side, you get to drive wherever you want to on the road because apparently, without lane markers, no one knows where they should be and they just take their bit out the middle. Which reminds me, never follow the tracks in the snow in front of you, they may be crashing.
The Focus is fun to drive in the snow. The traction control works at all speeds, which is handy. When you're going 40mph in 5th gear and it kicks in, you know you're in some slippery stuff. But, even in the slippery stuff, the Focus basically just wants to go straight (which is great, right up until you want to turn). As long as you don't do anything stupid, the Focus isn't likely to bite you.
As the night progressed I was getting more skilled at the use of the parking brake while cornering, which is actually quite useful for making 90 degree turns, as well as pulling into parking spaces. There was only one point, at about 12:30 am when I was returning home from a restaurant/bar, when I had to throw the Focus sideways to stop in time for the intersection. Basically I was going about 40-45mph in a 55 zone that was reasonably well plowed (about 4 inches of snow on the road, with about 8 in the unplowed/untraveled sections) when the light a long ways up turned red to let a snow blowing pickup across. I was on the brakes the whole way as soon as the light turned red. When it got obvious that I was going to stop in the middle of the intersection, I decided to just throw the Focus sideways into the untraveled bit of high snow that accumulated between the people going straight and the people turning right. I stopped, the pickup went on, and all was good. I probably could have just run the light, as it seems that's another thing people like to do, but I wanted to see what I was in for should I actually need to stop quickly.
I need to get more practice driving in the snow, but I can see that my practice with rally driving simulators is coming in handy. I just wish I had more practice with the real thing. To get optimal speed and control in the snow, you need to work the brakes, the gas, the hand brake, and the steering wheel all at the same time. I'm OK at working the brakes, gas, and steering; that's pretty typical for running around the track at maximum velocity. It's just working the parking brake into the mix and getting the Scandinavian Flick down is what I need real practice with.
posted by Mark at 12:10 PM
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