What Moments Behind the Wheel Do You Wish You Could Get Back

[G.Irish]

I was just reading a Keith Code email newsletter and thinking back to my track day at Phillip Island 2 years ago, and how it was probably the best track day I've ever done, and how I hope to do it again and go faster. That moment coming up the front straight and seeing the track fall away and the Southern Ocean rising up on the horizon is just one of those moments that you live for as an enthusiast.

I rode decently but pretty conservatively that day. I had rented a bike that I didn't want to owe several thousand dollars on (like 3 other guys did that day) and I had to catch a flight that evening. But I still left kinda feeling that I could've been a bit less tentative and enjoyed myself more. I guess I can always go back there, but given that it's an expensive 20 hour flight I really don't know when I'll ever get to go there again.

Then I got to thinking about other moments I wish I had back. There wast that time I was test driving the dealership's WRX on a back road with Pete and another friend. As I approached a corner with gravel in it my lizard brain thought, "I have all-wheel drive..." I didn't consciously think, "I don't need to slow down" but that's pretty much what AWD meant in that moment. As we slid towards a fence post I thought maybe I can rotate the car and change its trajectory, which I did, but I was already doomed to hit that fence post. Just a moment of boost-induced idiocy and *bang!*.

One session I wish I had back was my first motorcycle race weekend. On the last race of the weekend I had a last lap battle with another noob where we swapped position five times and I beat him at the start/finish line. Only problem was I left the action cam off =/

I can think of a few others like that time I crashed Chan's 318ti or when I went down to VIR for a race and had to scrap the weekend because my bike wouldn't idle properly but I'd like to hear what are some other times people wish they could have a motoring do-over.

[Senor_Taylor]

All of my "Moments I wish I could relive behind the wheel" are still ahead of me

[*insertusernamehere*]

That one time i got to drive an E39 M5. I had no damn experience whatsoever and i was like a year into driving stick shift and of course was given firm instructions to not try anything silly being that young. I did not put that car to any good use. Just bummed around the neighborhood for a bit, got like a small 4500rpm second gear pull, if you can even call it a pull, and that was it. Le sigh. One day I'll get my chance again. One day.

[rherold9]

The time I did my first hyperdrive. Now I'm stuck in a black hole. I blame you all. Brian Maeng 3/4ths the time yelling "gas gas gas!!!" and the most memorable "gas gas gas" moment was when my all season tires were at 100% the limit and squealing so loud as we touched two off at oak tree.

Ice fishing and getting within 6 inches of a solid cement pole as I helplessly slid 5-10mph towards it when I was braking

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[RawrImAMonster]

The first time I smashed the gas pedal in first gear in my evo. I guess it was the AWD, but that car felt faster in first gear than any other car I've driven.

[JPolen01]

That time I drove an e90 m3 and forgot to put it in M mode..lesigh

[ScottyB]

the good:
- driving a Z8, by myself, through Roanoke (friend of my dad's) when i was 18. was a complete pussy because i was scared to death of hurting it. should have laid into it knowing i'd never see the inside of a car that expensive again. felt like such a rock star. in hindsight, everyone probably thought i was some utterly spoiled Richie Rich brat :lol:
- my first real session on track in the 2.5RS, after waiting to do it for like 10 years. not even caring how slow the car was, just being in awe of the speed and sound and how much space you have to play with out there.
- first time i figured out how to slide the car on dirt. it was surreal after feeling how a car is "supposed" to act on pavement for your entire driving life.
- not really one moment, but all the summer nights in my college days when i would play with my shifting technique on the way home from my then-girlfriend-now-wife's house. no radio, windows down, just listening to the car. freedom to focus on getting everything right and finally starting to nail it.

the bad:
- putting my maxima through a fence and into a ditch, totaling it, because of bad judgement being out in a snowstorm. utterly immature and i still feel ashamed about it even though the car was pretty crappy.
- in highschool, getting a speeding ticket in my parent's minivan with 6 people in it full of ski gear coming home from snowshoe. the whole trip was retarded, road conditions were really treacherous but i was too pigheaded to bail out and turn the car around on account of safety. we were sliding all over the place getting there in the morning and coming home i was so exhausted from trying to keep the van straight that i was just hauling ass and never heard the end of it from my parents.

[SlimKlim]

Good:

-Driving a 1969 British Green Jaguar E-Type 4.2L 2+2 Coupe through Roanoke. Tooling around in that thing at a relaxed pace was honestly probably the high point of my driving career, and I bet I never exceeded 45mph in it. All of my track days/autocrosses and triple-digit antics can't match the warm and tingly feeling I got from puttering around in such a legendary classic car.

-Playing "Let's see how long we can linger at girlfriend's house and still make curfew" in high school. I shaved some serious time off the 45-minute Roanoke to Bedford drive.

-Ice Fishing in Ken's Ralliart doing figure-8s while slapping the rev limiter.

-Riding Kaan's FZR on the backroads around Hburg towards the end of my senior year. The prospect of graduating and having to find a job sent my already anxiety-riddled mind into a death spiral those couple of months. Being able to throw my leg over that bike and disappear for an hour when I had run out of jobs to apply to was one of the few things keeping me sane.

Bad:

-Almost dropping that FZR in the P-run Parking Lot

-Almost curbing the M3 entering P-run because entry speeds.

-Very nearly putting my roommate's A4 into a pole while Ice Fishing.

[Sijray21]

The Good:

- driving across the country with my mom west of the Rockies. she just wanted to tag along, but she paid for all the hotels and gas. having never really experienced the Rocky Mountains or west coast via roads this was a trip that i'll never forget (Colorado and Utah mountains, Pacific Coastal Highway, Redwood National Park in northern California)

- VIR North on the '08 600RR. bought new and tracked a few months later this machine was fantastic. it wanted to be ridden at the track. dragging my knee through the corners felt so natural on this bike.

- a full-day track session at NJMP Thunderbolt raceway on the '08 600RR. 7 20-minute sessions. I started the day in the beginner group and finished in the intermediate. an instructor saw that I was able to take the corners better than most in the beginner group, passing people safely, and in the middle of a session told me to follow him. I did so, and afterwards he gave me a sticker for the more advanced group. I was able to carry more speed through almost all the turns and felt like one of the group with the intermediate riders.

- the 2 2-ft snow storms in NOVA with my Nissan Titan. I had so much fun trekking around in the Titan with a TON of snow on the ground. I only managed to get suck twice and both were in parking lots with deep snow where I just stopped moving. I volunteered for the Fairfax INOVA hospital to be a nurse/doctor/patient transport since most vehicles couldn't get to or from the hospital and I also wanted to have fun with the truck in the snow (why not be helpful and productive, right?). I met a lot of very grateful people and a one stuck-up doctor. "no ma'am, i can't drive over the 5-foot, iced over snow mound you have in your driveway so you'll have to walk the 30 feet in the snow to my truck". I miss that truck.

- my first track-day (HPDE 1, NASA) with Jimmy Chan as an instructor. he was a spec miata racer with Evan at the time and he was a blast to have as an instructor. I had my '99 Civic Si (wit dat vtak yo!) and it was a lot of fun chasing down 350zs and other higher horsepower vehicles as I carved through the corners of Summit Main

The Bad:

- driving back from college (ODU at the time) for a job interview for winter break and I passed an undercover cop (first year for the new impalas, so I've never seen one before). apparently he was pacing another vehicle when I passed him going around 85 mph. I got a reckless ticket, a suspended license for 5 days, a hefty fine and my mom had to go with me to traffic school since I was 18 at the time... she was not pleased

- (the only one I really wish I could take back) cooking my brakes at T1 VIR on my afore-mentioned 600RR and crashing, taking out 1 other rider... this was a stupid, stupid, stupid mistake that was very preventable. I forgot to adjust the brake sensitivity to 1 instead of 3 (5 clicks on the oem brakes for adjustments, 1 being the most stiff), oem brake fluid, oem brake pads. I was asked by an instructor with the same bike (albeit heavily modified, as I would find out later on). I followed him for 3 full laps and we were really cooking through the corners; the fastest I've ever been on the bike, hitting 146mph+ on the VIR 'kink/front straight. on the end of the 3rd lap of me following him I entered T1 on the outside approaching three riders in the brake zone, but as I reached the middle of the braking zones it wasn't slowing down and the brake handle was at the bars... I swerved around the first two, then decided to use more of my rear brake and ended up low-siding and I clipped the rear tire of the last rider. I felt horrible. I gave him some money for repairs to his bike since it was clearly my fault and I knew it as soon as it happened. fortunately neither him nor I were physically hurt in the incident.

[Sijray21]

the bad:
- putting my maxima through a fence and into a ditch, totaling it, because of bad judgement being out in a snowstorm. utterly immature and i still feel ashamed about it even though the car was pretty crappy.

this was terrifying as I witnessed this. thankfully you and Wilson were ok.

here's another good point though: that time where you bested me in an auto-x by a few seconds with my own car, haha :bootyshake:

[ScottyB]

here's another good point though: that time where you bested me in an auto-x by a few seconds with my own car, haha :bootyshake:

:lol: that was awesome. i think it was only by a few tenths though, it was really close. loved that car, and it wanted to oversteer!

i have the video of that run somewhere deep in a pile of old CD-R discs. someday i'll find it.

[Senor_Taylor]

If we're talking moments we could TAKE back... I guess enough time has passed were I can talk about this.

Freshmen year coming back on the 3 hour drive from Summit after Hyperfest. I was tired, and my friend suggested we do a high speed run in my truck on 29. I'm an idiot and listened to him. Got pulled over doing 103. Lost my license for 3 months, spent 4 days at the spa. Generally ruined my life for a bit.

So much regret and so much awfulness came from that. Ended up costing me over $3000 between fines and lawyers and missed work.

My only bad decision I've ever made driving and it was a big one.

[95SVTCobra]

A few moments really stick out to me, so here they go:

Driving my dads Cobra for the first time, with my dad and by myself. I was always told I wouldn't get to drive the car until I was 35 and married, with a clean driving record. Put the top down, and cruising to school was a great expeirence.

Getting my Cobra from Maryland, and that whole trip in general. We get through the paperwork, my dad drives it off the lot (he knows I want to drive it), and we get on the highway. He then proceeds to pull off on the first exit, and my heart sank. I thought there was something really wrong with the car. He looks back and asks "You wanna drive?". I had the biggest smile ever, and is a moment I will never forget.

First self completed mod on the car. I got a short shifter (Steeda Tri-ax), and was too impatient to wait for my dad to help me the next day install it. Plus gotta look cool rolling into high school with my new short shifter bro. So I installed it that night, by myself, using forums and some general ingenuity to put it on. And it worked like a charm. I was, and still am, hooked from that point in modding my car.

Driving my friends Roush Stage 1 was another great memory I had. I got to DD his 'stang to get him home from a party, and let me tell you, that coyote 5.0 is something. He said when I left "Let them hear it". This car is straight piped back to some loud mufflers (Roush Axlebacks). And, the best part, is that since he has the Boss intake manifold, it revved out to 8k. That thing screams, and it gets up and GOES.

[Jake]

Oh man, G, good thread. I'm sure there's more but these are some that come to mind...

All the times I took the Miata out on back-road drives around Harrisonburg. It was cheap to fill the tank, gas and curvy roads both lasted longer than you'd want to drive in any one afternoon, and whether it was by yourself or with a friend it was always a great way to decompress if school was getting to be a bit much that week.

One of my first HPDEs. Senior year of college, driving my instructor-friend Carrie's 180k-mile 1994 Miata that she let me bomb around in since mine didn't have a rollbar yet. Maeng was instructing me at Summit Point and we were moving pretty good, he's telling me what to work on next. "Okay, on the next time around, when we get to the carousel just put it in third and put your foot on the floor and steer. I promise it will stick." We get to said carousel, I don't think it will stick, yet I'm doing what he said and yelling at him through the Chatterbox and he's yelling back. It stuck. I have a great video from that weekend of me peddling like mad to catch an E60 M5 and eventually passing him out of the carousel. Was one of the most rewarding weekends ever.

Fixing that E34 525iA that my friend Jeff had. It was the first BMW that I got significant wheel time in, and I learned a lot about wrenching as I/we fixed it up. Eventually figuring out it had been running on 3 or 4 cylinders, I replaced the plugs/coils (thanks Rex!) and got it firing on all six for the first time since I'd had the keys. Pulling out onto South Main from Pheasant with the windows down and letting that 200k-mile I6 rip up to redline was such a cool feeling, knowing that I'd mended it.

Being offered a drive in my friend Huggie's 911 at Summit. He brought it up to do HPDE 1 in (first time ever) and asked if I'd take him out in a DE 3 or 4 group to "show him what it'd do." First time ever driving a P-car. He tells me as we're leaving on the pace lap that "oh yeah it's not stock" and is pushing 700-something all-wheel horsepower. I drove lap after lap fairly relentlessly and he said we kissed 155 mph at the end of the front straight... with stock seats and 3-point belts. Incredibly cool experience, would not do again in stock safety gear, and damn what a fun car.

All the nighttime drives in the Miata. Top down, music up, stars all above your head. That shit is magic.

Evening driving around town or somewhere in college with Joey in his M3, blasting Kid Cudi while getting stuff together for a Thursday night party or something. We felt like goddamn kings.

Current roommate and I took his Mercedes out to see some friends, and he let me drive us home. The Beltway was somehow devoid of traffic, the windows were down and I had some Postal Service playing on the radio with the big 5.6L V8 basically idling away under my right foot at 60 mph. Definitely a "life is good" moment.



Wandering over to that Dodge dealer across the street from P-Run, just to look at a Plum Crazy Challenger R/T (Hemi, manual) when those were brand new. I coveted the purple so badly even though the car was otherwise "meh" to me. Some salesguy comes up and starts chatting me up, and it's pretty clear that I'm just looking and can't afford the thing. He goes "tell you what, I'm the sales manager and we're slow and I'm bored. You wanna go bomb around a bit?" Hell yes. He flipped me the key and we took it around the back roads of H-Burg. "We need to be back in 45 minutes and my wife wants me home for dinner so don't kill me, otherwise have at it."

[SlimKlim]

Chip's post reminded me of a big one. Not even behind the wheel, I'd love to be 14 again and go for an aimless drive with Dad in his 914. We always used to get Chunky bars (his favorite childhood candy) whenever we stopped for gas in it, and it's one of my strongest family + cars memories. I can practically still smell the combination of fabric, fuel and must that made up the inside of that car when I think about it.

Driving my dads Cobra for the first time, with my dad and by myself. I was always told I wouldn't get to drive the car until I was 35 and married, with a clean driving record. Put the top down, and cruising to school was a great expeirence.

Speaking of, I always wanted to drive that 914 but my dad was so in love with it the idea scared the crap out of me. Eventually the fateful day came when I had my learners permit, he pulled over a couple miles from the house and let me drive it the rest of the way home. The combination of my nerves, and lack of experience in an older car with an unassisted clutch, no synchro on 1st gear, a long, clunky throw, and the complete lack of acceleration 90hp provides made it a disastrous experience. I could feel Dad's blood pressure rising with every clunky, slow shift, and I sent him over the edge when I forgot about the 1st gear synchro thing and ground the crap out of it. I never drove it again.


Fast forward ~3 years. The Porsche was long gone thanks to the Epic Garage Fire of 2007, and dad just had his motorcycle, truck and work van. I had just gotten the M3 and he wanted to take it for a spin, so I let him drive it to Home Depot or something. He putters along the backroads in his Dad way, but he just can't resist seeing what it'll do when we get to the highway. He turns out and pegs redline in first, knocks it into 2nd and winds it all the way out again, goes for third, only gets halfway in the gate so the shifter spits back into neutral when he drops the clutch and the car slams against fuel cut. He gives me the most sheepish look a father can give a son, and to this day still has not driven the car again. :lol:

[SlimKlim]

We felt like goddamn kings.

We were, in my mind.

[Jake]

Oh man, one more. Some of you may have heard this already.

When I was newly learners-permitted, the summer between sophomore and junior year of high school, some family friends were going to let my parents borrow their '91 Miata to teach me stick on. They had three boys of their own and each had learned on that car. Due to circumstances, my mom and the other mom and I were together one day and Other Mom had her '99 Z3. She goes "why not just learn now, heck we have the time." So they took turns teaching me. She called the Z3 "the baby."

That family knew I was getting my license the following February, and they were going to also be away for 10 days in the Caribbean sometime in... April? So I'm opening Christmas presents with my folks, and I see a box with my name on it in handwriting I don't recognize. I open it up and there's a BMW keychain in the little black box from the dealership, with a note. "We're gone these dates, you have the garage code, enjoy ten days of 'Babysitting' on us!"

I was floored. By the time April-ish came around, I had (of course) forgotten how to drive stick almost entirely, so Dad had to re-teach me the first night I had the car. But after that, I was the coolest damn high school junior in Ashburn.

I've driven some Z3s since, and that same "fuck this is a cool car" feeling comes over me each time. The hood, the dash, I get it that it's just a weird E30/36 mashup and frankly, I don't fit in the car well at all. But you give me the keys to one and suddenly I'm 16 again.

This is the car, found on my old Photobucket:

[95SVTCobra]

Fast forward ~3 years. The Porsche was long gone thanks to the Epic Garage Fire of 2007, and dad just had his motorcycle, truck and work van. I had just gotten the M3 and he wanted to take it for a spin, so I let him drive it to Home Depot or something. He putters along the backroads in his Dad way, but he just can't resist seeing what it'll do when we get to the highway. He turns out and pegs redline in first, knocks it into 2nd and winds it all the way out again, goes for third, only gets halfway in the gate so the shifter spits back into neutral when he drops the clutch and the car slams against fuel cut. He gives me the most sheepish look a father can give a son, and to this day still has not driven the car again. :lol:

You should see my dad and/or mom when I get on the car just a little bit. My dad reaches for something to hold on to :lol:. And then I get the lecture about how I can't mod the car anymore, it is too fast. When I ride in my car with my dad, he gets on it a bit, and sometimes will even shake his head. When we ride in his (which is rare, I came home this last weekend to it covered in dust :?) he is smooth and never breaks 3k rpm haha.

I often ask him while we were cleaning out the garage, and looking out at the cobras...

So still can't drive it till 35 huh? :lol:

It seriously is cool though to have the same car I grew up riding in, and seeing him work on and keep clean, and I now have my own connection to both cars, and to him. Probably one of the biggest reasons I have no plans to ever sell it.

[V1GiLaNtE]

- My first track day experience as a ride-along. I caught a ride with a 80's 911 Targa. I had never had a bigger grin on my face strapped into the 5 point listening to the sound of that flat 6 just screaming down the straight of Summit. That car has a unique place in my heart and would love to own one in the future.

- Riding Chris's R6 at the car show for all of 20 minutes. I remember merging onto 81N (the big long merge that goes under the ISAT bridge) and just twisting the throttle. I had never had a more exhilarating few brief seconds.

- Learning to drive stick with my Dad. He had a 89 Isuzu trooper. I remember having my learner's and we spent about an hour in a local community college parking lot. Afterwards he was like "Drive me home" knowing full well the whole way home was nothing but stop-lights on inclines.

-My first experience riding anything on 2wheels. A family friend of ours owned a several acre farm and a Yamaha 250 and 125 dirt bike. I learned to ride that 125 and spent all day riding trails with the guy who was on the 250. At the end of the day, he let me ride around without him. I will never forget the feeling of freedom and happiness of steering that dirtbike wherever I wanted to go racing through the trails. That single experience has fostered my love for bikes.

- Any vehicle/motorcycle I took up 33W. Each experience now matter how fast/slow was a joy.

[BLINGMW]

Driving up to the Roanoke star at night with headlights off in my super cool 98hp Fiero?
Picking up all my friends in the snow and skidding into snowbanks in my parents' Galant?
Running off the road coming back from the lake, bowling over a fence post, and ending up in a field in my 240sx?
Turning that same 240sx into a trapezoid months later, followed by years of back pain?
All that leading to helping start MM?
A few crashed-but-still-driveable weekends from VIR?
A few relatively minor motorcycle injuries?
Letting Gerald drive any of my cars?

...Z3...

It occurs to me I've somehow never driven a Z3.

...slide the car on dirt...

Never did so much as a rallycross either! :oops: