OAUSA Net - January 7, 2021 - Driving in the Snow and Ice (streets and offroad)

[NotAMog]

Bridgestone Winter Driving School

A great way to obtain or sharpen your winter driving skills is to take a class. Bridgestone has one of the few dedicated winter driving schools in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

https://winterdrive.com/

The course is set up on undulating terrain. It's mostly oriented toward street driving but many of the skills directly translate to off road driving as well. You learn to deal with stopping at the bottom of steep hills, taking off camber corners, climbing hills, etc. Toyota is one of the school sponsors so you have a variety of front wheel drive, all wheel drive, and 4 wheel drive vehicles to learn on. All of the vehicles were equipped with Bridgestone Blizzak snow tires.

I took the course with a number of friends last year while on a skiing trip to Steamboat Springs. Everyone had a great time and agreed that it was a lot of fun and even those who have done a lot of winter driving learned new techniques and skills.

One of the most fun parts was at the end of the day when a professional driver takes you around the track at speed using rally driving techniques. Most of the time was spent at varying angles of drift. It was very impressive to see what can be done on snow and ice with the right training, vehicle, and tires. I also got to see how a real "Scandinavian flick" is done to deliberately break the rear end loose to set up drift going into a corner. It's a much more violent maneuver than I had imagined.

My most memorable moment in the class was making a left turn after the high speed (relatively) avoidance maneuver. I was driving a 4-Runner in 4 wheel drive with the traction control turned off. I over corrected coming out of the exercise and broke the back end loose just before the corner. The back end was on the outside so I applied an opposite turn on the steering wheel (turn right to go left) and the instructor was yelling a very Jeremy Clarkson like "more power" over the radio so shortly after entering the corner I was at full opposite lock and controlling the line with the throttle. I managed to make it through the corner, straightened out the 4-Runner and continued down the track. I was stoked since I always wanted to try that and I actually pulled it off. The instructor was (half jokingly) accusing me over the radio of making up my own class since deliberate drifting discouraged and can get you kicked out. You do enough non-deliberate drifting (and recovery) to make up for it. It just wasn't meant to be part of that exercise but I has fun with my unplanned lesson.

[NotAMog]

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[Jeff-OAUSA]

I'm looking forward to the first OAUSA net of 2021!

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Jeff

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[ag6if]

Greetings all..
Quick Tip.
Ever wonder why the windshield washer fluid disappears from the dollar stores in the winter?

Because it's only good down to 32 degrees! Dont belive me, check for yourself!

I'm lucky growing up 80 miles from Chicago, learned to drive in the snow and ice, from learners permit on.
Had rear drive, front drive and 4x4, as well as a snow plow for a few years for some side cash.
A 16 year old in the kmart snowy parking lot learning how to throttle steer and drifting with precision was alot of fun...try that now days!
Never heard of tire chains in those days..

Later, in California, with my supercharged rear drive miata at willow springs...it was all pretty natural.. (love the skid pad)

Great net Gents..73!!

73 all
Jim Ag6IF