Twisty Roads are FUN!

audiobliss

A friend kept telling me he discovered a nice patch of twisty roads not far from his house. So I headed over a few days ago to check it out. We rode through the section first to get a feel for it, then recorded the way back. We went through first in his '88 TBird (5.0 with HO conversion, 5spd computer on tranny, 3.23 gears), and then we went through it in my Jeep.

The TBird:
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The Cherokee:
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I know it's NOT a sports car, but that Jeep handles a lot better than I ever would have expected if I'd never driven it. It does have a LOT of understeer, but it's almost always very predictable and easy to compensate for with more steering input and tons of tire squeal, since I don't have enough power to evoke some oversteer.

On the way through the first time (not recorded) I went through a turn too hot. You saw that spot with the short bridge and the turn? Well, I realized I was going too fast, hit the brakes, then had to turn, AND the pavement was quite uneven there. All that combined, and my front suspension bottomed out pretty hard three LOUD crunches in a row. Turns out the universal joint on my front driveshaft gouged a little hole in my exhaust pipe. Oh well. Here's to hoping I can have it patched up.

Early B.

You're crazy.

audiobliss

Can't refute it.

Airplay355

I don't get it? All the roads around here are twisty...

audiobliss

If that's true...I hate you. I was VERY surprised that he'd actually found roads that close that were that twisty. There are a few places where there's a cool turn....but this is the only place I've found so far that has quite a few awesome turns in a row.

PhantomOG

"twisty road" took on a whole new meaning to me after my recent vacation to Maui. The Road to Hana is *the* twisty road.

Although Hāna is only about 52 miles/84km from Kahului, a typical trip to Hāna takes about three hours, as the road is very winding, very narrow and passes over 59 bridges, 46 of which are only one-lane bridges, requiring oncoming traffic to yield and occasionally causing brief traffic jams if two vehicles meet head-on. There are approximately 620 curves along Highway 360 from just east of Kahului to Hana, virtually all of it through lush, tropical rainforest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_to_Hana

Coolest drive I've ever taken No matter how crazy you are you wouldn't be speeding on that road. Its impossible.

audiobliss

Wow. That sounds pretty insane. 620 curves?! :eek:

PhantomOG

yeah, its pretty weird going 50+ miles and never getting above about 15mph. You just can't go any faster without killing yourself. Most of the way, one side of the road is a very steep dropoff down to the Pacific or a jungle basin. Amazing views.

Jstas

PhantomOG wrote: »

"twisty road" took on a whole new meaning to me after my recent vacation to Maui. The Road to Hana is *the* twisty road.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_to_Hana

Coolest drive I've ever taken No matter how crazy you are you wouldn't be speeding on that road. Its impossible.

See, that is not a "fun" drive.

Now, River Road that follows the Delaware Canal up the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River is a fun road to drive! While speeding is not exactly safe, many people partake in the challenge of that road in all kinds of weather conditions. Consequently it is patrolled very well and there are car accidents on a regular basis. However, it is kinda remote so the police presence is not as high as it could be. Also, the small, podunk towns don't have the cash for pursuit vehicles capable of keeping up with more capable vehicles in turns. So if you are smart enough and know the area well enough, you can duck off a side road once you get far enough ahead of the local representative of the constabulary and effectively lose the cop. I drove this road quite often in my younger days and it was a blast in any vehicle capable of pulling more than .9G's in a turn. You didn't really have to speed either to get a thrill but the turns are challenging and the countryside is gorgeous, especially in the fall.

I'd love to take a small British or Italian convertible up that road.

shadowofnight

Yup they are fun in a car.....MUCH better on a sportbike. There are none better then the hundreds and hundreds of miles of twisty backroads here in CA. I would have loved to of had a video camera mounted on my R1

ben62670

Damn rednecks!

Sherardp

Try it on a motorcycle, it gets even more exciting.

engtaz

Looked like fun.

engtaz

Jstas

Sherardp wrote: »

Try it on a motorcycle, it gets even more exciting.

No, not really. If you think that then you just haven't done it in the right car.

bobman1235

The motorcycle vs car debate gets old.

I'd rather take my bike through the twisties any day, but it's just a personal thing.

MKZ

Jstas wrote: »

the right car.

I would take it as 6 cylinder Turbo Charged with AWD like R32GTR. memory of old days.:rolleyes:

Jstas

MKZ wrote: »

I would take it as 6 cylinder Turbo Charged with AWD like R32GTR. memory of old days.:rolleyes:

Did I say it had to out perform a motorcycle?

Honestly, I'd take my modified Mustang or Thunderbird or my friend's M3 or SVT Focus over a bike on any twisty road any day.

Face

I've been here in my C5

http://www.portjervisny.com/hawks_nest_in_autumn.htm
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=hawks%20nest%2C%20ny&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Serendipity

Face wrote: »

I've been here in my C5

I've been there too, a few times actually. It wasn't in a Corvette though

Last time was 2 years ago I believe...

Ron-P

Twisty roads are fun, but until you're driving on one in a MINI you really haven't experienced what twisty road fun is.

Sami

Ron-P wrote: »

Twisty roads are fun, but until you're driving on one in a MINI you really haven't experienced what twisty road fun is.

LOL, a Mini. Well, if you want that, then make it the original Morris Mini.

Bike vs. car, I'm with Jstas on that one, you just haven't done it with the right car. I also do drive bikes, and while a sports bike is fun, once you get to the right cars they just don't do it anymore. But whatever your preference is, twisty roads are fun.

shack

Tail Of The Dragon!

Until you've done the Dragon...everything else ....is just another road!

Jstas

See, all those curves in such a short distance isn't fun. At least not to me it isn't. I'd rather have some spaces where you can open it up. I guess that would be fun on a bike but the constant transitions just gets tiring after a while. Besides, there ain't nothing like exiting a turn on the throttle hard and rocketing to the next turn. Then you get on the brakes so hard the front bumper scrapes pavement and you dive in, tag the apex and roll in to the throttle and go full bore down the straight away to the next turn. A bike just doesn't pin you into your seat and make you feel like it's trying to move the Earth instead of accelerate down the road. It doesn't pop your eyes out of your skull when you are trying to drag almost 2 tons to a reasonable speed. Then, like it's mad at your for slowing down, it tries to throw you out the side of the car. Best part is, I can't ever remember a time when I fell off my car.

Bikes just don't sound cool to me either. If I'm gonna listen to something screaming, it'd better be a V12 of some sort of an F1 engine. But a growling 4 cylinder or the silky smooth staccato of a straight 6 or the rumbling roar of a V8 is just music! Add supercharger whine or the "wheeeeee!!!!psssshhhh!!!wheeeeeee!!!!pssshhhh!!!squeaksqueaksqueak" of a turbocharger and blow-off valve and it's just....wow! No motorcycle has ever done that for me. None. Sorry.

shadowofnight

Jstas wrote: »

See, all those curves in such a short distance isn't fun. At least not to me it isn't. I'd rather have some spaces where you can open it up. I guess that would be fun on a bike but the constant transitions just gets tiring after a while. Besides, there ain't nothing like exiting a turn on the throttle hard and rocketing to the next turn. Then you get on the brakes so hard the front bumper scrapes pavement and you dive in, tag the apex and roll in to the throttle and go full bore down the straight away to the next turn. A bike just doesn't pin you into your seat and make you feel like it's trying to move the Earth instead of accelerate down the road. It doesn't pop your eyes out of your skull when you are trying to drag almost 2 tons to a reasonable speed. Then, like it's mad at your for slowing down, it tries to throw you out the side of the car. Best part is, I can't ever remember a time when I fell off my car.

Bikes just don't sound cool to me either. If I'm gonna listen to something screaming, it'd better be a V12 of some sort of an F1 engine. But a growling 4 cylinder or the silky smooth staccato of a straight 6 or the rumbling roar of a V8 is just music! Add supercharger whine or the "wheeeeee!!!!psssshhhh!!!wheeeeeee!!!!pssshhhh!!!squeaksqueaksqueak" of a turbocharger and blow-off valve and it's just....wow! No motorcycle has ever done that for me. None. Sorry.

I am curious....when is the last time you rode a motorcycle ? And what model/year was it ?


These new bikes are NOTHING like what was avail just a few years back....we are talking 185 horsepower ( The 09 R1 is being reported at 195 horsepower ) in something that weighs only 390 pounds ( With fluids and fuel ready to rock at around 420 pounds )

That power to weight ratio , combined with todays electronics management
will set your eyeballs back in their sockets. No car avail to anybody that makes under 3 million a year can touch these in quarter mile time ( Remember we are talking street vehicles that handle backroads...not cars made for the quarter mile...even though I love those too ) ...or roll on acceleration tests ( Which is the kind of power needed for canyon duty...even with long sweepers ....I like spaces to open them up too )

Where they can beat the bikes is in top speed ( Barely ) ...which is useless unless you want to die or go to jail.



As for braking.....with todays contact patches and discs the size of pizza's....the bikes can stop so hard now that ONE finger will bring the rear wheel off the ground at any speed.

As for sound....talk about a growling 4 cylinder...the new engines have redlines in the 12,500 to 17,500 RPM stratosphere....throw a full pipe ( or a slip on for those with exhaust gas management ) and they sound amazing....nothing like the ratty aircooled bikes with a Kerker pipe on them .





Again both yours and mine are just personal observations....and its cool we can swap preferences like that...I just wanted the NEW bikes of today to be seen for what they truely are....completely different from old and have to be ridden to truely understand what the difference is like. I used to race cars ( Quarter mile and Autocross ) and bikes ( Quarter mile and road race ) so I have done both....but for ME on a street legal twisty road ..I prefer the new bikes.

Sami

Can't speak for Jstas but my comparison included the new bikes as well. I personally drive a lightly modified '99 Honda CBR1100XX (aka Blackbird), and have driven the '07 model R1's and CBR1000RR's. Fun, yes, but can't touch the 4 wheel vehicles I have. Straight line performance could be close with the car I drive, and with a decent driver they might be able to give some challenge on the twisties as well (finding a driver that can do that might be the real challenge). For pure fun, which is subjective of course, the bikes don't have a slightest chance.

exalted512

what kind of car do you have thatll keep up with a bike? cars are fun, but I love my bike...and they're a tenth of the cost of a comparable car.
-Cody

bobman1235

I don't see it as a matter of keeping up. Going the fastest isn't necessarily the most enjoyable, w hich is why it's completely subjective. I just find riding a bike more enjoyable, liberating, and freeing. Jstas is a car nut, it's no surprise he'd much rather hear the roar of a nice V8 over the purr of a bike.

Ron-P

Sami wrote: »

LOL, a Mini. Well, if you want that, then make it the original Morris Mini.

That's my plan. I want to buy one and refurb it. Problem is, there's not that many out there but some day....

Face

exalted512 wrote: »

what kind of car do you have thatll keep up with a bike? cars are fun, but I love my bike...and they're a tenth of the cost of a comparable car.
-Cody

I can smoke a 650 and was destroyed by a 1100. Haven't run against anything in between.

MKZ

Jstas wrote: »

Add supercharger whine or the "wheeeeee!!!!psssshhhh!!!wheeeeeee!!!!pssshhhh!!!squeaksqueaksqueak" of a turbocharger and blow-off valve and it's just....wow!

I love that whenever it get off from the corner and swift the gear.

Sami

exalted512 wrote: »

what kind of car do you have thatll keep up with a bike? cars are fun, but I love my bike...and they're a tenth of the cost of a comparable car.
-Cody

It's an old japanese car, and while it can outrun a bike its main attraction is how it runs the turns. Bikes are fun too, but they are more for the longer group rides for me than any serious driving.

Cost...if you want cheap fun then it's time for a shifter kart.