Real Fiero Tech

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2335232

Oh, this is good. Remember the kid who "hit gravel" and roasted his 88 GT? One of the VW folks took some great pics of the charred remains, and an interesting discussion of his mad driving skills follows.

hahahahaha. How did you find that? Thats an awesome thread!!

I bet those people in OE are going to say its not true and those pics are classics.

What a total toole. Where the hell was Darwin?

Someone should also tell that kid to eat a salad.

With that 88 suspension and all, that shouldnt' have happened.

You know you're in the wrong place when the Ferrari in the fast group is behind your Fiero...

Yup. Based on the 1st couple that were posted several weeks back, those pics are the real deal.
And yes. He outdrove himself. No question in my mind, anyway.

And he learned. Boy howdy (that's a southern thing) did he learn! I'm quite sure of it.
Pretty expensive lesson, too.

Having said all of that...
He is a good kid. He's not one of the arrogant asshole kids that you see. He just let his enthusiasm overload his experience and skill. Happens to a lot of inexperienced drivers. Usually not in such a dramatic manner, though.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not defending his actions. I'm just stating that I think he's learned his lesson.
He almost bought it. He realizes that. He is *not* in a hurry to stage a repeat performance.

He does look like he needs to go home and change his shorts. I'd say that kind of experience should teach him some religion.


Probably not though.

both those kids look 10... 15 tops.

Fieros are not easy cars to drive fast.

Two weeks after buying my 86 GT as a 17 year old, I put it off the road and I wasn't even trying to show off or drive fast at the time.

Maybe some of these Fiero clubs should have driving clinics instead of whatever else they do.

eHoward wrote:...Maybe some of these Fiero clubs should have driving clinics instead of whatever else they do.

I dunno. If you're just talking about classroom time, it might encourage more people to test their limits when they don't have enough experience at just driving.

If it's done on a racetrack or some other controlled environment where they can explore the limits of their car without hitting stuff other than cones, it would probably be useful.

Autocross might be good. Don't you have to be 18 or older, though? (Been a long time since I was in SCCA.)

eHoward wrote:Maybe some of these Fiero clubs should have driving clinics instead of whatever else they do.

We've been discussing this since someone crashed into the cliff on Coast Run '04. Its certainly a good idea. It's just a matter of time before someone gets killed on RFTH, the Rally, the Coast Run, or etc. if people keep pushing past their limits on these dangerous roads.

eHoward wrote:Fieros are not easy cars to drive fast.

Two weeks after buying my 86 GT as a 17 year old, I put it off the road and I wasn't even trying to show off or drive fast at the time.

Maybe some of these Fiero clubs should have driving clinics instead of whatever else they do.

Agreed. Its not a very good car to learn how to drive on thats for sure, little room for error at higher speeds. Cartman up there is lucky to be alive.

I'm talking about a little classroom time to discuss theory followed by a controlled environment to practice it.

Not necessarily an autocross. A club autocross would be a good event to follow the clinic though.

I don't know about SCCA age requirements.

BigRedDeckSpoiler wrote:
I dunno. If you're just talking about classroom time, it might encourage more people to test their limits when they don't have enough experience at just driving.

If it's done on a racetrack or some other controlled environment where they can explore the limits of their car without hitting stuff other than cones, it would probably be useful.

Autocross might be good. Don't you have to be 18 or older, though? (Been a long time since I was in SCCA.)

My buddy Eric autocrossed when he was younger than 18. As far as I know you just need a driver's license and have a parent or legal guardian sign a release form/waiver of liability/whatever.

damn you are hittin' it up pretty harsh there with the dises shawn

Letts see what the story is?

Kid enters a quick paced forum cruse, with his twitchy 88gt. He has little to-none driving skills. Hes crusing it up all dorky and shit. He hits a corner way to hot... plows straight over the non existant curb.

Was it his fault? Fuck yes. He fucked up.

Shit like that should be a year or two ban from driving.

I have mixed feelings on this wreck, but in my effort to become a nicer person I'm defaulting towards sympathy.

Don't get me wrong, since I like to consider myself an above average driver (just like everybody else) one thing that really bothers me is driving with people who think they're good, but aren't. I'm actually surprised that stuff like this doesn't happen more often.

But Howard's right. Fieros aren't easy to drive fast. I had owned my Formula for a couple weeks when I autocrossed it the first time. This course had a long (for an autocross) straight followed by a 90 degree right turn. At the end of the straight I braked hard, turned, and ZING!! Before I knew what happened, the car swapped ends. I felt lucky that I learned this handling trait at an autocross instead of on a freeway offramp.

Did this kid screw up? Yep, he sure did. Pretty expensive mistake, too. But I don't think he should be banned from driving for a year or two. I'll take BRDS's word that he's not an arrogant punk and that he's learned his lesson, and call the total loss of his car punishment enough.

Because here's the deal, as I've learned from rally: Often times the difference between a totalled car and an incident that barely registers in memory is 100% luck. Sometimes you get a little off line, tuck a wheel into the ditch, and drive right back out without even lifting. But sometimes there's a stump hidden in the grass...

Whether it's racing, street driving, or life, you can make the exact same mistake a number of different times with completely different consequences.

Hopefully his mistake serves as a warming to others.

Doug

eHoward wrote:Fieros are not easy cars to drive fast.

Two weeks after buying my 86 GT as a 17 year old, I put it off the road and I wasn't even trying to show off or drive fast at the time.

Maybe some of these Fiero clubs should have driving clinics instead of whatever else they do.

I swapped ends on my 84SE many times on the road, once in the middle of a busy intersection (on the end of a turn and didnt realize there was a light there) Scared the hell out of me when I was young and was always very cautious with the backend kicking out when driving (ice & snow especially). I have been in two situations where only luck saved me in that car.

Living up north we of course got snow. thts when I would usually find a lot or even go to the end of the street as I lived on a culdasac and would just practice losing the rear end and recovering as well as just drifting in the snow and seeing how far I could push it and still recover and what I had to do in order to recover.

That actually taught me a lot. Saved me many times in real world situations.

I drove a fiero through several Minnesota winters.

It was the greatest. It had the traction of a front wheel drive car with the screw-around-in-the-snow advantages of a rear wheel drive car.

I had a 72 beetle that had the same advantages except the Fiero had a heater.

The beetle had one talent the fiero couldn't match:

So many shopping carts; so little time.

Doug Chase wrote:and call the total loss of his car punishment enough.

Too bad the law doesn't see things this way. I got a ticket for totalling a car in a one car accident with no other property damage. What a fucking pisser. As if flipping my car wasn't bad enough...