Posts by Gadgeteer

  • Hydroplaning is real

    Ok, I've seen a few posts that are asking for simplification for riding in the rain, so try this as a good rule of thumb...


    1. Don't.


    2. If you have to, drive as slow as is reasonable, but don't get rear-ended. You know those annoying people that crawl along with their flashers on? Follow their example.


    3. In ANY slippery conditions: don't jerk the steering wheel and keep use a soft touch on the pedals.


    4. If you don't have to, but can't resist - good luck.


    A couple of folks have asked, "so 55-60 in light rain is ok?" As I said before, I can't advise you on that and neither can anyone else. That is a decision you have to make entirely on your own. The afternoon leading up to my accident, I was doing up to 80m/hr in the rain (don't do that; very stupid on my part), but when I lost it I was doing less than 60. Others have lost it going as slow as 30 m/hr.


    Golden Rule: Read the road. In every instance mention so far, someone lost it unexpectedly, and everyone of them (including me) lost it for the same reason. We made a mistake. What mistake was made does not matter. What matters is that a mistake was made. You can blame it on deep water, oil on the road, someone cut you off, or anything you want. However, the fault lies with us because we failed to maintain control. Shit happens, but how you react to that shit is the difference between pass and fail. If someone told you it was ok to do 60 on the highway in the rain and you spin out at 50, who's fault is that? Yours.

  • Hydroplaning is real

    Harley (and others),
    Happy to share and I apologize for my difficulty with being brief. I try, but it just gets away from me. :D Each of the following paragraphs is an answer to each of your questions, in order:


    I've never had the opportunity to ride with a 4 pt. belt, so I can't really judge by anything more than assumptions. So, I would assume 4pt belts may have helped reduce bruising simply because of the greater surface area to distribute shock from the impact. However, any belt is better than none and 3pt's do their job well. Also, keep in mind that even if they are better for impact, they can be a hinderance the rest of the time. I've heard from others, and there's a post here that agrees, 4pt belts limit your ability to move, almost completely. On the track, that's a good thing because of the directional forces put on your body, plus everyone is looking out for each other, so your primary focus can remain forward. On the street, it's everyone for themselves and your ability to move (lean forward, look over your shoulder, etc.) becomes a higher priority.


    To my surprise, the wife was very calm after the initial shock. As soon as we stopped moving, she was scrabbling with the seatbelt to get out. I put my hand on her leg and told her to sit still, relax, and assess her physical condition. This gives the mind something useful to focus on instead of the useless terror of whatever could have happened. Once we verified all parts were still attached and functional, we got out and cooled our heels waiting for someone to stop and assist. My phone was out of juice and when she tried to call 911 on hers, they couldn't hear her, so all we could was wait. After someone stopped and called for assistance, we were waiting for the police or tow truck and she said she was not as rattled as she thought she would be either and felt no fear about getting back in an SS. She also admitted that she probably would feel much differently if we were on our 2-wheeler.


    Before the accident, I felt the stock tires performed adequately, even in the rain. In this case, I'm not sure if different tires would have helped. If anything, better tires may have fooled me into being even less careful than I was. One thing I noticed with the stock rubber, as I was driving through the winter, is that they were noticeably less grippy in the cold. I'm assuming that is due to the compound becoming stiffer and harder. A "better" tire would probably remain flexible at lower temps, so it could handle more consistently whether the rubber was warm or cold. Since rain is great at cooling your tires, well... Still, in my case, the bigger issue was the water was just too deep for the tread and the vehicle too light to overcome the difference to maintain contact. Keep in mind, we were going straight with almost no torque (spinning or dragging) on the rear tire.


    Once I'm back in an SS, I will have no issue pulling a trailer. My little rig handled like a champ and like many others have noted, most of time you never feel like your pulling a trailer. Differences of acceleration and braking were barely noticeable. Of course, we're talking about relatively light weight loads, too. The only time I actually felt the trailer was when I hit the brakes too suddenly and felt the connector thump against the ball. In that instance, I did need a little more brake pressure to counter the weight shift, but not enough to cause concern.


    Finally, I running on manufacturer spec. tire pressure. I generally trust that they've already worked out the best setup for general use. In the future, I will still ride in the rain, I will just be paying more attention to water depth and speed. I can't say how fast I would drive because it would depend on too many variables. Even using posted limit as a baseline, I couldn't say -5 or -10 because it would vary depending on weather, road surface, lighting, fatigue, etc. This is one of those things that Motorcycle Safety programs harp on: read the road and adjust accordingly. For 4-wheelers, you always hear "drive gently" or "be cautious" or some other vague suggestion. This is one of the reasons I am a vocal supporter of Motorcycle Safety programs. In one weekend, I learned more than years of driving experience could teach me. The principles and techniques being taught will help you be a better driver, no matter how many wheels you're rolling on.


    Hope that helps. Ride safe!

  • Hydroplaning is real

    Quote from Tripod

    @Gadgeteer, first off, welcome aboard! I "liked" your post - not for what happened but for the fact, THANK GOD, you & your wife survived this horrific event. THANK YOU for sharing this story with us. Your timing is impeccable as over 200 Slingshots are about to participate in SSITS in an area where rain is a common event & the roads are delightfully twisty. Everyone please take heed & be careful out there!!!

    Thanks, Tripod! Since I just got back from the Smokies, I won't be able to make it to SSIS, but yes, it is delightfully twisty and warrants extra caution, even in dry conditions. The back roads are a blast and very lightly traveled, but there are plenty of blind turns that can hide all manner of things. Heavily traveled routes, especially the Tail of the Dragon (a must for any SS owner), I recommend triple caution. I made the mistake of cutting a blind outside curve too tight and crossed the double-yellow. Almost took out a Harley coming the other way and had to jerk the wheel to avoid. Totally my bad and I can only hope the other guy can forgive me for giving him a scare. Honestly, the most dangerous part of driving a SS is that handles so well that it tricks you into pushing it past the true limits of the vehicle, road conditions, and your skill. Those of us used to riding two-wheelers have a small advantage over the four-wheel drivers, due to training and experience, but as I've found, we are still very susceptible to overestimating those limits.


    All SS drivers, take heed: No matter how confident you feel driving an SS, when (not if) something goes wrong it will not handle like a car or a motorcycle, but somewhere in between.

  • Hydroplaning is real

    Hey y'all,
    Logging in here for the first time (coming over from slingshotforums) and ironically, this is the first thread that caught my eye. Why? Because I just trashed my SL a few weeks ago (5/3/16) due to hydroplaning! Whoo-hoo! I'm a statistic! :00008040:


    First, yes, the Mrs. and I are (relatively) ok. We walked away without needing an ambulance or any triage, so I count that a win. She sprained her thumb and the seatbelt inflicted some heavy bruises on her chest and waist. Somehow, I got a hairline fracture in one metatarsal (right foot, about an inch behind my 4th toe) and the seatbelt bruised the the edge of my rib cage, near my sternum, but no visible bruises. Bottom-line: waaaay lucky; 12 inches to either side of center on the SS and it would have been disaster for one, if not both, of us. :/


    Second, yes, we will be back on the road as soon as we get a new SS. With any luck, maybe as early as this weekend! 8o


    So... we lost traction doing a little under 60 m/hr on a straight stretch of I-70, just outside of Frederick, MD. Stock tires, rain building up on the road, 11PM, dark as a raccoon's ass, and almost nobody else on the road. Could I have picked any worse a scenario? I had already hit a couple small puddles that were enough to suggest I slow down and seek a port. As I was bleeding off speed (light touch on the throttle; coasting down vs. engine braking), planning to plod along the slow lane to the nearest exit and only shelter (2 miles away). A couple seconds later, we twisted 90 to the right and we're watching trees zip by like ducks in a shooting gallery. After 3 or 4 trees we twist back to the left and the SS painted its target with the center beams. I couldn't have aimed with that kind of accuracy if I tried. Nothing to do but watch. Oh, I forgot the mention that I was also pulling a small trailer containing a couple of suitcases (Gross wt. about 200-300 lbs.). So, yes, I could have chosen a worse scenario than the one above, and did so. D'oh! In retrospect, it was probably a nudge from the trailer shifting forward on the hitch ball as the front tires hit resistance from a puddle, which caused the backend to swing out. It may also have been the trailer that kept as from spinning any further than 90 degrees (jack-knife) and what yanked us back around to line us up with the tree. I didn't feel a nudge or a yank; just a quick twist, hold, twist back, then straight as an arrow, up the bank to the tree. Tracks in the grass confirmed that there was almost no arc in our line of travel. Too fast to even think about counter steering.


    Other details: We were on our way back from vacation in TN and had been driving all afternoon in the rain, from Roanoke all the way up 81 to Hagerstown. Moderate traffic, average speed was 75, traction felt fine. The weather was wearing us out, so we stopped around 7pm at my mom's place in Hagerstown to rest/relax for a few hours. A little after 10pm, we struck out on the final leg of the trip home in very light rain, crossing the mountains east toward Frederick with no issues at 65-70 m/hr, in light traffic. At this point, I'm sure there's a bunch of you thinking, "that boy is either nuts or stupid." In hindsight, I would have to agree with you. I admit, I was lulled into forgetting how light the SS is and (now) realize that it was probably a fair amount of luck that I even made it over the first ridge. There's probably even some of you that think it was a miracle I made it up 81 to Hagerstown and you might be right.


    Anyway, I lived; I learned; can't ask for much more than that. Hopefully, somebody will learn from it too. When it rains, slow down and be careful. When it pours, get off the road. Crawl along the shoulder with hazards on if you have to, but get off the road as soon as you can. Avoid stopping on the shoulder unless absolutely necessary; if somebody else loses control, you and your SS make a poor guard rail. That's my two cents. Here's some pics for you lookey-loos. ;)



    Repair estimate: about $20k. Most expensive item: replacement frame. Most surprising item: crankshaft. We hit that tree HARD. Shoved the engine backward about an inch. tilted upward slightly. Item that still worked but shouldn't have: center lights. They were shoved back behind the kink in the center of the hood and buried under wreckage, but when I turned the ignition I could see their glow through the crevices of the crumpled mess.