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So last thursday I woke to having fresh snow on the ground. There wasn't a lot, about 1.5" - 2", not a lot but enough to play in and have some fun. So I decided to head out to a back road that I frequent and enjoy a little driving. I went all the way out and up my road (I call it my road because after years of camping and hiking all along it I found out via a sheriff that it's named Lee Rd.). My road is just a gavel road that goes up one of the local mountains and dead ends at the very top. The turn off from the highway to the top of the mt. is about 25 miles, I've put over 23k on my car since I've had it and at least half of those miles were done on this 25 mi stretch, not to mention the miles on my first car. Well in the morning I saw a forest service truck on the way to my road and sure enough there was a fresh set of tracks, up and down my road from the F.S. truck. These were the only tracks. I went up a fair bit to a small overlook I like and came back, it was fun and there were a couple turns I made a couple runs at.

So after getting back my friend called and said we should go out driving, so I head over to his place. We chill for a little bit and then head out around town in his 05 STi and played around for a little bit. He's really really happy that he went with a Subaru... So after driving around we decide to take my car out and up my road. We turn off the highway and are a little dissapointed because some of the snow on the aspault has now melted away but we continue onward knowing that there'll be snow on my road and up the mt. We get to my road and turn up and sure enough there are still only tracks from me and the F.S. earlier, no one else on the road .

My friend doesn't take his car on gravel and doesn't ride the backroads with me very often so I was pushing it a little bit harder than usual but nothing over zealous. I know this road and where the places are that don't allow error. We come up to this one turn that I love, one of my bitches and approx. 75 degree total, and I downshift into 3rd. Enter around 3.3k (sorry I don't pay attention to the speedo when I'm pushing it), quick tiny tap on the brake, some gas, and she starts sliding nicely through the turn as usual. Then as I'm still sliding and just lined up to really get into the throttle to power out and straight it up and take off it kicks out of gear. Apparently I didn't get it all the way into gear on the downshift . With the loss of power my back starts to kickout, I correct, back swings the other way, I still haven't gotten it into gear (hands are busy with the steering wheel) and we slid sideways and then into the ditch as shown. It was a soft landing and I missed all the trees but set the front wheels right into a deep spot with just rotten branches undeneath the wheels. She won't back out and the two comealongs I keep in my trunk fall short of a tree by feet (I've since gotten some nice kevlar straps for an extension and have alleviated the shortness problem). We spend about 30-45 min. on getting it out. If I'd had AWD she'd backed right out I do believe, my next legacy... It was fun and my friend got to learn all about driving in the gravel and no damage was done.


http://www.filebox.vt.edu/users/lskidmo ... ditch1.JPG (high res. pic)

* The red indicates the truck tracks, he was following his own tracks back down which doesn't really show in this pic but the red indicates the only set of tracks I didn't leave during my multiple passes around this corner that day. The picture was also taken after we'd gotten it backed out a little, initially I was further down.


* The red indicates where the tire tracks are and the smallest circle indicates where my wheels orginally sat. The sticks there with wear on them we put there after we got it out a little to keep it from rolling back. Underneath the sticks it's about 2 inches till dirt.

Now do I feel bad at this? Only in that I had to spend time to push it out. This is only the 3rd time I've ever gone off the road powersliding. I knew nobody was on the road and it was a turn that as you can see and evident by no damage to my car, has some room for error. Had I not lost power to my front wheels I'd been able to power out of the slide, next time I'll make sure she's in gear good. Did it slow me down a little, yeah it humbled me a little as it should have, but I still layed it down on a few of the nice sweeping turns on the way back before I got to the asphault. Just thought I'd share my story of Thursday, I'd done so ealier but didn't get pics developed before today.

Ah, another front-wheeler! Interesting story... I have a similar one, though mine was in the dry. Had my sister and a friend in the back seat and was going up my favorite back-road, nobody following and nobody coming down, and was doing about 35-ish. Got to a sharp double-hairpin, took the uphill left just fine, but then when I went to make the sudden downhill right the front slid right out and understeered towards the rock face. I applied brakes smoothly and stopped before we got there, I caught my breath, reversed, and kept on going.

Now, the limit's about 30 at the bottom and goes up to 55 after that. I've driven it many, many times, and at the same speed too. It was a combination of dry pavement/winter tires, speed, and the fact that there were two people in the back seat and only me up front. I still drive that road now, though I've figured out the limits a little better. And though I haven't driven with someone else in the car on that road since the incident, if I ever do it'll be somebody up front. No more messing up weight ratios for me.

Good to hear that you missed the trees and that you're both fine. Nice to have empty back-roads, huh?

Thanks, glad your's ended well also. And oh yeah - go FWD !!! (just until I'm no longer poor...)
Yeah a change in weight ratios can definately make a difference, esspecially two people in the back. And yeah it is nice to have empty backroads with knowledge . As you put it, knowing the limits is key.

Shit, that's awesome! I mean, sucks you went off the road, but you weren't hurt, nothing was hurt, and you aren't upset about it. So it wasn't great, but wasn't horrible. I bet that was a hell of a trip.


I'm pretty scared to kick it out like that with the SS in the snow. I can do it in the rain and dry, no problem, because I can just power-on oversteer and reel it back in with the throttle. The snow, I'm afraid of kicking it out like that to tell the truth. Not enough roads here that are empty enough for me to not be worried about fucking up and potentially hitting someone.

LOL. That looks exactly like my accident. Only mine was a bit worse.