Phantom Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 And I thought Infinity was a brother!!! Thank God for good brakes and large tires. I was running on a 4 lane surface road in the right lane when an I-35 in the left lane that was stopped behind cars that were making a left turn flipped on its turn signal and started into my lane. The problem is he was doing about 10 mph and I was doing 40 mph and he did all this about 15' in front of me. I slid to a halt with all four tires locked up and smoke boiling out from under all four fender wells. I also slid a bit right and actually bounced lightly off the curb with my right front tire. Missed him by about 4 inches. He came out scot free feeling pretty stupid and I've got four flat spots on my tires and a light scrub on the sidewall of the right front tire. No body damage other than to the nerves in my body. Way too close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 I feel for you Phantom. Seems like a nice Z is a target for idiots. Glad to hear is was not worse. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nic-Rebel450CA Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Damn, that sucks. I'll bet he didnt even notice/care what happened. I wonder if there is any way to make an insurance claim against something like that. I'll have to check at work. What is it with "Scot free" anyway. Does anyone that uses that term know it's true origin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gramercyjam Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Yea. My 280ZXT was a magnet for idiots too. Idiots would find a way drive into it, back into it, sideswipe it, door ding it, no matter where it was. It used to make me crazy. I think it was the color. It was metallic brown with gold trim. People just didn't see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Incidentally, have you ever wondered where the term "getting off scot-free" originated? Well, even if you didn't, I'm going to tell you. That's my job. Contrary to what you may think, the term has nothing to do with the stereotypical frugal Scotsman. Actually, a "scot" or "sceot" was a municipal tax in 12th century England, and someone who went "scot-free" was one who succeeded in dodging that tax. Scot also came to mean the amount owed for entertainment in a tavern, including drinks. If you got a free drink, you drank "scot-free". -What's in a Name? by John Collins in Writers Block, The Canadian web magazine for the writing trade. Summer 1996 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nic-Rebel450CA Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 That is interesting Trevor, I have never heard that. I have always been told by British folks that it was a derogatory remark in referrence to the Scottish "getting away with murder" and such during their fight for independence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Another, more romantic and only half-derogatory, interpretation is that Scot men were commonly tatooed (seen Braveheart?) Combined with the practice in 16th century Britain was to tatoo convicted criminals with a "T" for thief, "A" for adulterer.... etc. Before shipping them off to America and Australia. So getting away with a crime, and avoiding the conviction and penance of a tatoo meant you remained Scot-free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Hey man, have you ever been to an autox school? It's a good place to practice threshold braking if you haven't had the opportunity. If you're interested check your local SCCA club's schedule. (scca.org should give you contact info.) Autocrossing makes for safer drivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted December 4, 2003 Author Share Posted December 4, 2003 Yep - already been talking with Panoz out at Texas Motor Speedway. I'm going to get into at least one of their track days this spring. Need to do a bit of work on the car before then though. 40 years of driving experience with emphasis ondefensive driving also helps. I saw the set-up and had already lifted my foot from the throttle when it all went down. In this case, however, there was no such thing as a threshold braking option. The whole event probably lasted less than 8 seconds from the time I saw his turn signal and movement (movement came first) and being enveloped in the cloud of tire smoke. Also, if you read some of the latest studies, all ABS does is give you steering control at a maximum braking level. Locking the tires up will still stop you at least as fast as being at threshold. In this case I had no where to go. 10" curb to one side and the I-35 to the other. I got myself aimed as close to the curb as I could and locked it down. Worked out well as I only lightly scrubbed the curb without any damage to my wheel rim and just barely cleared the I-35. I had been a bit worried about whether my brakes were still working well but today answered that. I also know that I really need to get rid of the Yokohama S306's. They basically suck in all regards. I would have loved to of had some Kumho's or AVS's today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 My personal experience has been the opposite.... During the threshold braking part of driving school we got to drive in the wet and dry and in both conditions, locking up the tires at the braking line caused me to go much much farther than I did threshold braking, starting at the exact same speeds at the exact same point. I'm not trying to start an argument with you man, but what you're saying doesn't make sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 I have to add that the part of the track that we were doing braking on was noticably dusty until it stated raining, so I have not had the opportunity to do threshold braking VS full lockup driving in on clean dry concrete. Also, I have read that threshold braking is much closer to the limit of traction, so it stops you sooner than ABS would - not sure if ABS is a good comparison. I defer to your 40 years of driving, since I only have a handful to claim. I assume this situation depends on surface conditions and other variables too. Anyway, I'll do some more reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strotter Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Regarding braking, I have to agree with Forrest - I have little experience with ABS, but I can tell you definitively that tire-squealing panic-stops take significantly more distance than controlled braking. Since I was a little nug, I've had the habit of practicing stops in every vehicle I drive. My father started me in the habit. Go out to a remote stretch of road, drive at cruising speed, get on the binders. Keep doing it until you get it perfect - a couple of hundreds trials, not one or two. Dry road/wet road, smooth surface/rough surface, flat road surface/cambered road surface. It's something I do with every car I own, I think of it as part of the "getting to know" a car. Everyone should do it, both fun and educational. Come in handy a couple of times over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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