Date:         Wed, 22 May 1996 23:29:21 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Craig Standley <cstand@u.washington.edu>
Subject:      Re: losing traction (was RE: towing boat)

I used to drive a '77 Scirocco (hope I spelled that right, it was 10
years
ago) and I lost traction driving up a hill on a freeway in a torrential
downpour.  The rain was running down the freeway in the indents formed by
the tires of cars.  The water was probably 2" deep in these indents, and I
was going about 55.  All of a sudden my front tires spin and the speedo
jumps up to about 100, and the tach redlines.  Yikes!

The problem with front drive, and one reason I haven't owned another front
driver, is that when you lose traction you lose steering as well.  The
steering whell was all loose while this was happening.  I was only 16 at
the time, so my experience in driving in emergenct situations was zero.
It scared the hell out of me and I was overly careful for about a month
afterward.

Craig

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Craig Standley				1974 Volkswagen Westfalia
University of Washington
Physics  				"Life is like riding the bus, it
cstand@u.washington.edu			 requires change." -Dennis Miller
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~cstand
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