I have this uncontrollable, absolutely intense desire right now to reserve the lonely Zipcar that’s parked in the even lonelier empty parking lot across the street from my apartment (one hour, only $7) so that I can very carefully, very respectfully celebrate the first snow of the year with some doughnuts. Some “shitty-whips“.
I know, I know—people are crashing all over the roads (tap those brakes, Seattle, tap-tap-tap)—but when you make the black ice your bitch, with purpose, it’s the best ride in the world. I know I shouldn’t do this. But I might. Or least I really want to.
I remember doing this with my dad in the high school parking lot in Michigan. So much fun!
Totally. I’ve been having the same urge.
That’s what zip car is there for. Along with Ghostriding the whip. Ghostridesharing, that is.
There’s no better way to learn how to handle a car on ice than taking it out on an empty parking lot.
The secret to stopping on ice, by the way, is to be going very slow to start with. We had glare ice in the Twin Cities Saturday night. I had to drive in it, so I kept it under 15 mph the whole trip.
Driving on ice in the Twin Cities is made easier by the relative flatness we “enjoy” around here. There’s no stopping on ice if you’re on a sufficiently steep enough hill.
I was just out doing that! Well, not that much, just a little drifting around corners and such (residential neighborhood, no people or cars on the street, totally safe).
Also, tapping your brakes is wrong if your car has ABS. Mash them, and when you feel the judder stay on the brakes. Better is not to get yourself into a sudden stop situation by leaving space (note that this does not mean going slow — I was just driving 45mph on Bothell Way, aka the speed limit) and anticipating what’s coming up.
I think this is actually how a lot of people who live in often-snowy climates are taught how to handle the adverse weather effectively. What better way to learn how to regain control of your vehicle when it really counts?
And yes, it sounds like a great reason to have an outing in the Northgate Mall parking lot… 🙂
kelly o, you’re a v8 in a world of v-sixes.
One more tip: donuts are best done in a car with rear wheel drive.
Which is better, ice donuts or hand-brake 360s? I suppose you could combine them, but I have small balls.
@9 But four-wheel drifts are awesome in AWD.
Did it!
I killed a lot of time as a kid doing donuts in Minnesota parking lots with my 1976 rear wheel drive Ford Maverick.
Another fun maneuver was the “Rockford”, named after the TV cop played by James Garner. Go as fast as you can in reverse, then whip the steering wheel around and do a 180, and without stopping punch it into drive and speed off. Then optionally do a couple more donuts.
@13 – I never called it that, but I did EXACTLY that, once, with my mom and my aunt in the back seat of my car. I’d rescued them from ‘The Dry Dock’. A bar in Alpena Michigan. Terrible snowstorm. They’d had a few too many Millah’ Lites. I did a coupla Rockfords, and they both started laughing so hard that one of ’em peed their pants. I can’t remember which…
@13, is a Ford Maverick better or worse than a Mercury Capri from the same year?
I did big drifts on the top of my parking lot at work today. 2 years of practice in Ohio.
@ kelly, @6, @11 @everyone: yes! slo-drifted all the way home. encouraged and surprised that some of my seattle neighbors have my back on this tonight.
lil’ baby tip: stay in a low gear if you’re worried, and don’t turn till you’re going really really slow. and gas through the turns! – brakes are useless tonight.
man i love this shit.
@15, my mother had a 1976 Capri II. I swiped it to joyride almost every night after she went to bed from age 13 on. Gutless wonder, but invisible to cops.
@15: Tough question. I’d probably have to make the call on a case by case basis.
My Maverick was a powder blue four door, had a bench seat in the front, a custom stereo system cobbled together from the cheapest parts (we considered the added distortion to be a feature), seat belts lost forever between the cushions, a working lighter, and a cloth interior that smelled like weed and cigarettes. In a pinch, you could fit 12 teenagers in it. As a midwest white trash rocker-mobile, it held its own.
@9, yup. RWD, and stickshift.
Location tip: The UW athletic fields parking lot, (between the basketball building and U Village) are huge and almost always deserted when it snows. Some of the most fun I ever had in my 7.
Oh oh oh yes, memories of senior year in high school in Anchorage AK and taking my mother’s massive Caprice Classic out, just looking for patches of black ice…. That thing was a tank, it made a great brodie-spinner..
hells yes, kelly o, hells yes.
This is Auntie Roach. I was in that backseat with your mom that night from the Dry Dock! Weeeeeee!!! It was so fun. Because we had way too many cocktails, we bounced around that backseat like two balloons! I think we peed on each other! Winter driving rules!
23 comments and no one talking about this being “dangerous”! Apparently the fun seattleites come out when it snows! And hell yes on awd for all wheel snow drifting (though that works pretty great in gravel too).
When I was 15 and learning to drive my dad took me out to empty parking lots on rainy and icy days and taught me how a car reacts to low or no traction.
Driving in the snow and ice doesn’t have to be a big deal if you know your car well.
DON’T tap the brakes if you have anti-lock brakes. It defeats their purpose and may kill you. Take from a Minnesotan who knows better (now).