This part was really fun! And, to address Morgan's comment yesterday, Mike was hoping to shoot and drive too. He got really excited when he heard one guy ask another if he "brought the AK's". But we'll get to that later...
First off we did the basics. Drive REAL fast in a straight line and stop and fast as you can. That's right BURN RUBBER! EW - it's rather stinky. Anywho, the point is to feel what locking the brakes is and then try it again, and again, and again, with what they call "threshold" braking. Just about locking but then you back off a hair. I think I was going like 75 mph when I hit the brakes. It really is eye opening. You can stop, and stay in control, at some ridiculously HIGH speeds! And, of course, your basic obstacle course. Which wasn't too hard going forward but backward, using only the side view mirrors, much harder than anticipated!
Me stopping with "threshold braking".
Obstacle course. Easy forward, not so easy backwards!
Then we drove really fast in a circle on wet pavement to feel the front versus back wheels slipping and what to do to maintain control. In reality you drive in a circle really fast over and over again 'til your so dizzy deciding how to "maintain control" came down to stop sliding and then figure out where the hell you are!
Note the "crash test dummy" helmet.
Some fun parts were the obstacle courses where you get up to 65 mph and then 15 feet before you hit an obstacle you are told to go right or left to get around it, turn again 5 feet later, and then come to a complete stop 5 feet after that. And the cool part was, I did it! We did some braking into turns too which was tough. So wish I had video of this!
But my absolute favorite was pitting. You match speeds with the car in front of you, come up just behind their back tire about 6 inches off, then do a 3 degree turn into their car and hit the gas. The car will go flying out in front of you and be thrown out of your way. SO COOL! We got to pit and be pitted 2x each. Check out the video!
Here's a view from INSIDE the pitted car. FUN!
Finally we learned to breach barriers. You know like at border crossings or when you're wanted by the cops and they set up barricades. That was fun too but a tad more dangerous. We were told this is only a last resort. Still, how great is it to drive into SOMEONE ELSE'S car and not worry about the insurance ;o) Sorry, no photos or videos of this.
If you all ever get a chance to take a course like this DO IT! It really is applicable to crazy people on the highway, icy roads and, of course, third world countries where lanes and traffic signals are purely advisory!
Oh, I almost forgot the AK's! Our final "test" was to drive, one at a time, through an obstacle course. The catch was that once you got over the hill and could see the course guys were firing rifles at you and chasing you in their car. I had to make it to a "safe zone" while avoiding being shot (I'm sure it was just blanks) and being rear ended, side swiped or pitted by the crazy chasing me. Oh and let's not forget the fun obstacles in the road. All in all a great time!
3 comments:
Did you do this at the FBI Academy? I have a friend who is an agent in Vegas on the bank robbery squad...this is his life! He's done a bunch of high speed chases. He's living out every boy's dream--growing up to play cops and robbers every day.
oh my GOSH!!!! i hope it was just blanks!!! and pitting looks like a freaking blast.
what an awesome vacation! i love the title, too. =)
Wow I really missed out on allot of fun not being a Marine wife!
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