[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5NWcdq4Wf4[/youtube]
YouTuber TurboFoz posted a video that shows dashcam footage of his brush with death. The clip has gone viral at this point, as it’s a pretty miraculous bit of video and even more miraculous that the driver survived.
The vehicle being driven here is a Subaru Forester, and the road its being whipped on is Angeles Crest Highway. This is a truly glorious stretch of ribbony tarmac that rises away from the smog-ridden congestion of Los Angeles and into the beauty beholden to California.
On a particular portion of this road, way near the top, is a pair of tunnels. These make for the perfect spot with which to open up the taps and let your engine and exhaust roar. It seems that’s what TurboFoz was trying to do when he exited the tunnels, and shit went way down south way fast.
The action happens right around the 1:17 mark in the video above.
What I don’t get from the video, however, is exactly how this colossal cock-up happened. Sure, the driver felt they had too much speed for the corner that arrives right after the tunnel, but that’s a pretty damn easy corner to make. It’s long and it sweeps to the left in a consistent manner, maybe even opening a bit as you go through it. I’ve driven this road a number of times, and I’m absolutely floored that an incident this bad happened where it did.
Oh well, at least the driver walked away and can learn from whatever the hell he really did inside the cabin of that car.
Bonus Video: The 1970 Porsche we shot on that same stretch of road
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42TyZiixliQ[/youtube]
By Jeff Glucker
Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff
I yelled OH NO as the driver began to do the same…in the words of Clarkson, that’s not gone well!
I had to pause and gather myself for the impending doom.
I’ve been playing with the area on gEarth, it definitely looks like a reducing radius compound curve as you come southbound out of the tunnel, but with as mountainous as the area is, there are very likely some projection issues with the aerial.
My money is on panic braking in the turn and the evils of weight transfer.
The comments I saw from the driver mentioned someone waving at him to slow down. I’m wondering if that split-second distraction caused him to drift right, then over-correct. Or perhaps a target fixation issue. Hard to say without knowing where he was looking. Scary to watch as it is.
I guess he looks like this:
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/1/12/292326-1978811-gladstone-gander.jpg
Hard to believe that this went so well, after all.
http://i.imgur.com/DHtsKQh.gif
Might be a nasty combination of not knowing the road, weight transfer, and possibly an alignment issue causing sudden lift off oversteer.
I can’t figure out why the brakes seemed to lock. But my guess for everything else is he turned too hard, then panic-braked, and with a combo of an aftermarket rear sway bar set to full stiff and stability control turned off, he was too late on the correction. At least two of those issues are always the problem in crash vids, late and too severe correction with the dsc off.
Clearly, braking in a straight line would have led to a better outcome, just to state the obvious.
I kept waiting for him to say, “Oh cock.”
Looks like he started turning in and realized the corner was tighter than he anticipated and he panicked. Either that, or there was a car broken down on the side of the road out of view of the camera and the driver was fixing the car. He got distracted.
http://cdn.wallpaperfinder.com/wallpapers/thumbs_2/suicidegirls-magazine-carrina-the-brunettes-with-tattoos-fixing-a.jpg
I know that stretch of Angeles Crest. I grew up in the foothills of those mountains (and live there now). Normally that isn’t a bad curve at all. He must have panicked and overreacted somehow. Maybe I’ll go up there in the next couple of days to check it out again. It’s been a while.
Riding along with someone who thinks that they are in the process of dying is not a fun watch. Glad he’s ok. Hoon responsibly.
This type of scenario must be going thru our instructors head’s when someone gets into the driver’s seat of the car, and says “I street race but i’ve never been on track before”.
All said and done, glad to read that the driver is ok, and did not suffer from any life threatening injuries. Please get to your local track, and find a competent instructor to help you work on high speed maneuvers in your vehicle, IF you plan on driving like this OFF of the track.