Rob Nance

I shouldn't post this, because it was in all honesty, a very dumb maneuver, heh.

For those that know the roads between Austin and Houston, specifically 290, you'll remember the fun turn you have to take to stay on 290. I was coming from Houston, going back to Austin. Coming this way you drop off the freeway into a tight cloverleaf that is slightly banked inwards and you can have a lot of fun with. I wanted to get in front of the 4 or 5 cars all about to exit. I decided to do this at the last minute and whipped around all the cars but the first one. The first one was either not paying attention to how close he was to the turn, or he was specifically trying to keep me from being able to get over. He was driving a BMW X5. I come around in the left lane, passing him easily, but at that point I get over in front of him, two lanes, to the exit slowdown area for this turn that is marked 30 miles an hour. I was moving about 85-90 miles an hour entering into the last part of the slowdown before the turn. I brake full on with chirps from the ABS coming and going as I held it right at the limit of the brakes. I start to turn in knowing it was now or never, once it was slowed a reasonable amount and I've got the car sliding with the tail end kicked out a bit to the left (exiting into a right hand turn). I drop it into 3rd and get on the gas (VDC was off thank goodness, I don't think it could have coped with this situation at all, I have more faith in my skills driving at the limit). I get into a drift at about 50-60 miles an hour I would guess, but I have no way of knowing. From passing the X5 and being on the gas to going through the turn with the tail end swung out probably about 3-4 seconds passed, if that. So I come through this turn and exit out onto the street as the banking fades, winding out 3rd gear, so the turn changes camber. Smoke is pouring from the rear tires at this point as I drift it onto the road with a huge tail slide, nice and smooth. It comes back in perfectly smooth, and I shift into 4th. Phew!

This whole thing was a huge rush, but incredibly stupid. I came very close to shooting off into the grass under braking for that turn. Luckily I have quite a bit of experience at the limits, both on and off the track, so I didn't panic.

Pretty wild stuff.

slay2k

Hey Rob,

You said you shifted into 3rd while you were fishtailing through the turn at 50-60? Shifting while fishtailing didn't sound like a good move during my read of the story, hehe, but maybe I misread somethin

Stay alive.

JamRWS6

As long as the shift was rev matched there is not problem........you just don't want to upset the balance of the car.
Sounds to me as though he knew what he was doing.

But definitely that wasn't the smartest thing...lol
One little slip and your off the road.
Gotta love the rush though.

Rob Nance

I started in the turn in 3rd gear, after getting off the brakes and onto the gas. The only way to make the turn was to dump speed into a tailslide, if that makes sense. The tail was already kicked out a bit because I was finishing shedding off speed with the brakes as I started to turn in. The tail sucked back in and I came through in 3rd gear, I didn't drift the whole cloverleaf. I mean that could be done, but that'd be a little nuts to pull off right, especially with the bumps you find in those seams in the pavement. The tail then kicked back out as the camber changed at the exit of the turn.

Hope that clarifies.