Well atleast you learned your lesson without urting yourself or someone else. Is that what you are trying to say? I Hope you arent bragging about that.. I have only been driving two years, and ive made my fair share of REALLY dumb mistakes.. I'll give a similar example. Its 2:00 in the morning and I get a call from a friend who is so drunk he doesnt know where he is, and thinks he has broken a bone of hurt his leg somehow.. since I don't drink I always seem to be the one putting my *** on the line for the sake of some of my friends. After a couple phone calls I figure out that he was wandered away from a field party about 25 mins from my house. I get in my car without my license (couldnt find my wallet at the moment) and start driving over to the place, with an expired tag, that I wasnt aware of. After I talk to a few people there I locate my friend, who apparently decided he was going to go find firewood (there was no bonfire to begin with). I should also mention that I passed a police checkpoint looking for drunk drivers sometime earlier in the night. As I started to drive home through the windy roads out in dawsonville a car pulls out behind my from another road and starts riding about 5 feet from my bumper. I am pissed because I am going plenty fast enough. The speed limit is 45 and I speed up to 50-55 for a curve that should hae been taken more like 35 and end up getting SLIGHTLY over the centerline. keep in mind these roads are deserted this time of night. Well the car behind my flicks on his lights.. it's an unmarked car. Man did I feel dumb. He was convinced I was intoxicated, though I blew nothing on the breath test, and finally he let me go, he then tested my buddy.. well lets say that didnt turn out too well. He ended up letting me off the hook because I think he understood what was happeneing. It also helped having my license number memorized. Sorry for the hijack... the point is ive been in situations like this. it sucks. Drive legal.

 

Precisely. People make stupid mistakes and thats what I did... I don't care about my pride I just thought someone might get a laugh out of it, decided to share it. I know MORE than enough that it was wrong. It was a stupid mistake (well a bunch of them) that was epitomized by something kina cool happening.

I see where you are coming from too man, I typically never drink either at a party (unless I'm staying over), that cop was nice he let you off, usually they give a big ticket for hauling underage drunks. Sad thing is if nobody takes them home they try to get home on their own and bad stuff happens. Sober people don't wanna give them a ride because of the law. Either way, someone loses unless they sleep in their car or something. You are pretty lucky too.

I don't give a crap if anybody thinks I'm an unsafe driver- I've driven about 30,000 miles a year for five years running and never had an accident, except for when extreme weather conditions and bad tires came into play. Nobody is a completely safe driver.

 

No offense to rennlist of the creator of this thread, but what I have learned from this site is that it more about technical information and funny stories that may or may not involve cars. This is not a racing site except for autocross, and anything that is like or similair to drag racing is shunned on here. It you wanted to tell a story like that join a street racing site where it will be seen as funny. I thought the story was a joke at first considering you have a 944 for a avatar. Thank you and here is my address.

 

If you had started your post with something like "I made the biggest bonehead move tonight" that might have helped set the tone that you weren't actually bragging.

However you do say that you had a half empty bottle of liquor in your car from a party you attended and did feel the need to add the little point that you are under age.

You also mention you are in college, so unless you are next in like to fill Schumi's seat in the F1 ride, you are NO WHERE mature enough to be considered a safe driver. Having done many drivers school, it is my strong opinion that unless you do schools like that, you will never be as safe a driver as those that do. Based on what, do you make the conclusion that "NOBODY is a safe driver?" All 5 years you've had the license?

Grow up. And next time think before you post.

 

Yeah, I agree, I re read a couple times it and it does sound pretty braggartly (sp?) In actuallity, the story offers these three things: about 3% bragging rights, 30% Wow I'm lucky, and 67% LOL what was I thinking?

What kind of driver's schools are these? Like the ones in Car And Driver that cost like two grand for a weekend? Ive always wanted to go to one of those like anybody would, but I do not posess the funds to do so. My family is not wealthy and niether am I. Through my many epereince and mistakes, I am as safe a diver as I can be, and that incident and the condition of my vehicle at the time was one of my mistakes right there.

I say nobody is a completely safe driver because it is impossible to drive in a way that is 100 percent safe. Driving on a residential street at 10 miles an hour a kid can run out in front of you from behind a parked car, you can't see it. You don't always know what the driver in front or behind you is going to do. when you approach a blind corner on a country road, you can't see the deer. I'm not arguing that learning to control your vehicle extremely well will not help in these situations, it can.
Also, it really depends on what the other people around you are doing. This weekend my boss parked his car, and opened the door. A bycicist had went off the side walk to avoid some pedestrians, went around the backside of my boss's Passat, and slammed againt the open door at a fairly high rate of speed, breaking his collar bone and doing $510 in damage to the Passat. This is an example of how nobody is a completely safe driver. In high traffic situations, it's 50% you and 50% everybody else.

I agree with you though, I needed to grow up, and I have. Would have helped if I had written the original post a little more carefully...

 

The driving schools I go to are run by club like PCA, or in my care I run with teh Audi Club of America. Two days of on track school at a place like VIR that is a 2+ mile road course will run you about $250-300. (About the cost of a good speeding ticket. So if you're gonna spend the money, why not enjoy it!)

Beginners usually do a half day of off-track exercises such as skid pad, slolomn, braking, etc. Then they put you on the track with an instructor. You are allowed to go as fast as your skills (or as the instructor thinks you) can handle. The more events you attend the higher you move up, from Beginner > Novice > Intermediate > Advanced.

Everyone that I have ever talked to said that even if you go only to one school, it's the best thing you could ever do to improve your driving skills. Another most often quote heard is, "I used to think I was a real good driver.. I never knew how much I didn't know!"

After going to many school I've learned to always scan ahead in traffic, preparing for the event that the kid playing in his yard might run out in front of me, always keeping an eye on other drivers like the guy on his cell phone eating a Big Mac most likely won't use his turn signal... also, the limits of my car. EVERY car talks and will tell you what its going to do next. Its a language that is rarely heard on the street, but spoken constantly on the track. The car and tires will tell you when they are about to let traction go and send the *** end or your car around, and it's actually long after the tires start squeeling. It'll tel you when you are going into a turn too hot and send you straight off.

So you not only get to improve your skills, you can learn more about the characteristics of the car you are driving and what it can/can't handle. Going from tacking a brand new Audi with quattro to a 20 year old RWD with only 150hp you learn quite a bit. The 944 is an incredibly well balanced car and is very forgiving, unlike a 911 that will give you a fraction of the warning before the *** comes around on you.

Appologies if I came of sounding like a preecher on a soap box, and in some way I meant to. Those of us that do these DE schools are already part of the converted. I also help organize events with the Audi Club to bring some of these track exercises to Teen Drivers in local 1-day schools because today's Driver's Ed classes in the school are only teaching the very minimum in order for kids to pass the DMV test. Many of them get into accidents thinking they know how to handle their car and that they are god drivers. As our head instructor says, "A meteor hitting your car is an accident, the rest are driver error."

 

The alternative to high priced DE stuff for me has just been making friends with a few older, good drivers who have allot of DE and AX and track experience etc.. and just going into an empty lot, or taking a drive through the twisties with them in the passenger seat. The more I hone my physical driving skills, the more I become mentally focused on the road in everyday driving.

 

If someone wants to take their own life into their hands and do stupid things, that's one thing. NO GREAT LOSS. It's Darwinism at its best.

BUT, HOW DARE YOU OR ANYONE ELSE RISK THE LIVES OF INNOCENT PEOPLE!

Someone's loved ones, someone's husband, wife or children are on those same streets on which you do your dangerous and stupid things.

 

V8 Ferrari =
308
328
348
355
360
And now the new 430

In 1998 it would have been a 355 - considered one of the best Ferrari's ever made (up to that point, the 360 is now considered one of the best, well, at least until the 430 hit the scene). The Fiat connection started to die after the 308. The 308 was not built by Fiat either - they shared common parts (switches, relays etc..., gee, like Porsche never does that?)

As for your good friend the Ferrari / Lambo tech - most Porsche techs think 944's are the worst Porsches ever made.

Sorry for the OT correction. I always find it funny in a 944 forum when people are bashing the "cheap" Ferrari as being expensive Fiat's. What the hell are 944's then? (in the overall Audi / VW world).

 

Read the thread man, as far as it goes I wasn't even speeding when i "raced" the Ferrari. I was speeding before, 50 in a 30, and had to slow for a red light. I drove that same street hundreds of times and watched people do the exact same manuver that I was trying to do (change lanes in front of slow traffic to turn off), in minivans nonetheless, while i sat in that slow lane of traffic. There are people who need to have this speech but I'd like to think it's not me anymore.

Anyway,

I REALLY want to try out auto-x now though, get to know some good drivers, and learn to drive really well, it's something I truly enjoy doing so why not step it up? The driving schools that I'm aware of you had to use their cars, so it was alot more expensive, it was fully insured etc, and WAY out of my price range... 300 bucks for a driving class is not bad at all, this summer I hope to find one! Thanks for the idea bluedog!

No harm done Bluedog. I'm actually glad you mande me think more carefully about the whole thing.