snow report

[rhock99 at epix.net (Ryan H)]

snow-roccos rule!  they always look so sexy in the snow!
oh yeah, that was a fun read, too!  can't wait to drive mine in the snow... wait, Falken Azenis Sports are good in the snow, right? ;)

> 
> From: "T. Reed" <treed2@wsu.edu>
> Date: 2003/12/11 Thu PM 10:19:05 EST
> To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> Subject: snow report
> 
> Well, after a few weeks of minimal dustings and wet, slushy snow due to
> near-freezing temperatures, yesterday we finally got rain (which froze)
> followed by a sharp temperature drop and some semi-decent snowfall..
> making for an icy layer covered with a couple inches of traction-assisting
> snow.
> 
> I hadn't bothered taking the roc out for a snow romp previously because of
> the weak snow, but last night I went outside and cleared the roof and
> hood, scraped the ice off the windows and fired her up. I was very pleased
> with how well my 'split pipe insulation over the wipers' trick had kept
> the wipers from freezing to themeselves and to the glass. It took a good 5
> minutes off my prep time not having to deal with all that ice.
> 
> Before I even made it out of the parking lot I saw a Honda with all
> seasons that had skidded across the pavement and in to a dirt mound.. he
> was paying a tow truck driver to pull him out. I knew then that it was
> going to be a fun night.
> 
> And how! The ice kept virtually everyone off the roads (only other car I
> saw was a cop who gave me a suspicious look when I gave him a thumbs up)
> and gave me a chance to get to know my new studded tires.
> 
> It was an absolute blast; I couldn't believe how well the Scirocco did. I
> felt like I had 4wd! M+S tires kick ass! But at the same time it wasn't
> "like driving on pavement" which is good too because pavement is boring to
> drive on now that 'I'm hooked on the white stuff'.
> 
> So I hit an empty parking lot and started seeing how far I could go.
> Oversteer was obviously the biggest problem, but a little throttle to
> shift weight to the rear seemed to overcome that every time. I only got
> understeer once and when I turned in to the skid it vanished and didn't
> come back; must have been a patch of bare ice. The handbrake is my new
> best friend; it's so much fun in soft powder! I had snow all over my car
> again when I got back home :)~
> 
> I was concerned about 'too much torque' being an issue with my 2l 16v
> and 3.94 r&p but I found that all I had to do was upshift and the problem
> went away. And 1st & 2nd gear were fun for flinging snow and zigging
> around as fast as possible.
> 
> I only came close to getting stuck once, when I had "trailblazed" through
> untouched snow about a quarter mile.. I was turning around and got
> the front end in to some deceptively deep(er) powder. The tires were just
> spinning so instead of panicing I backed off immediately and went in
> reverse, turned a little and tried going forward again. With some careful
> clutching to control wheelspin (in order to gain initial momentum) I was
> able to pull right out of the tough spot in 3rd gear. It felt a lot like
> driving a boat on the way out with the tires spinning about twice as fast
> as the car was moving as they clawed through the powder.
> 
> I went back home to grab a thermos of hot chocolate and a camera and took
> some pics.. here's one of the better ones:
> 
> http://students.washington.edu/treed2/orange-snow-sky.jpg
> 
> (as you can tell I was having a problem with the side windows fogging up;
> I wish I could get the blower motor to give me about twice as much
> throughput..)
> 
> Die hard canadians will get a good laugh from the amount of snow in the
> picture, but keep in mind that there's a nice layer of ice underneath it
> :) I almost fell on my ass a few times walking around on the bare
> ice before the snow started falling.
> 
> Anyway, the verdict is: rocco + (ice and snow) = (fun and excitement) !
> 
> -Toby
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Scirocco-l mailing list
> Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
>