3rd Gen RS vs Garbage Truck w/2 flying pallets...
11-04-2002, 09:44 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
3rd Gen RS vs Garbage Truck w/2 flying pallets...
I wasn't sure where to post this, but I thought my fellow 305 TBI'ers would get a kick out of what happened to me on the way to work today.
As many of you know, I have 91 RS that was totaled in Dec of 2001 that I just got back together in April by spending all the $$$ I'd saved for a heads and cam package for my LS1 T/A.
Today on the way to work, I was following a garbage truck. There was a truck in the other lane so I couldn't pass and a car close behind me. I was a little too close to the garbage truck because I was planning to shoot the gap between the two trucks because they were both going the speed limit.
Suddenly, the back gate on the garbage truck swung open and two pallets came slid off, with some scrap metal, an apple core and assorted junk. The pallets were windshield level coming off the back. I hit the brakes hard, heard the car behind me lock up the brakes and start sliding. At this point, I realized I couldn't stop and the RS was about to eat a pair of pallets at 30-40mph. In that split instant this really pissed me as my poor 241,900 mile Camaro was about to get totaled (again). I took the car offroad into a patch of grass just missing the debris. Turned out this gave the car behind just enough room to avoid the hitting anything as well.
I stayed off the brakes in the grass, pulled back on the highway and floored it going after the truck. Seemed like it took forever for the RS to accelerate as the 305 screamed at 5,000 rpm. However, trash trucks aren't GT's and the old RS ran him down pretty well. I stayed in the other lane to keep as far away from the back of the trash truck as possible and noticed another batch of crap plus another pallet was about fall off. I cut in front of him at about 80mph, hit the hazards and started slowing down. He got the idea and slowed down too and pulled off the road as I did.
I went back to the truck and rolled his window down. I told him I'd almost got a pallet in the windshield because his back gate was open and stuff was falling off. He looked at me like I was on crack but got out to check - only to find the gate ajar. Another big pile of was poised to tumble out. He swore he didn't know the gate had come open. I left him trying to push the stuff back into the back and close the gate.
Still got to work on time too.
A few people mentioned, "Hey man that truck the stuff fell off that got your car stopped a little ways down the road." I was like, "Of course he stopped down the road, I chased him down in the Camaro and pulled him over." I was lucky by the Lord's grace, so I couldn't see letting him go on sending pallets airborne and maybe injury or kill some unlucky driver a mile or so down the road or when he merged onto I-85.
BTW: Harts Automotive, here in Gastonia did an outstanding job putting my RS back together from when my wife wrecked the car. This was the first at the limits test the car's had since it was repaired. The RS behaved thru the whole ordeal exactly the way the RS always has in extreme driving situations - balanced and stable, easy to control with excellent agile handling. I have very little doubt in my mind, if I'd been in my wife's Grand Am, I'd have eat the pallets or lost control in the grass after swerving to miss them.
As many of you know, I have 91 RS that was totaled in Dec of 2001 that I just got back together in April by spending all the $$$ I'd saved for a heads and cam package for my LS1 T/A.
Today on the way to work, I was following a garbage truck. There was a truck in the other lane so I couldn't pass and a car close behind me. I was a little too close to the garbage truck because I was planning to shoot the gap between the two trucks because they were both going the speed limit.
Suddenly, the back gate on the garbage truck swung open and two pallets came slid off, with some scrap metal, an apple core and assorted junk. The pallets were windshield level coming off the back. I hit the brakes hard, heard the car behind me lock up the brakes and start sliding. At this point, I realized I couldn't stop and the RS was about to eat a pair of pallets at 30-40mph. In that split instant this really pissed me as my poor 241,900 mile Camaro was about to get totaled (again). I took the car offroad into a patch of grass just missing the debris. Turned out this gave the car behind just enough room to avoid the hitting anything as well.
I stayed off the brakes in the grass, pulled back on the highway and floored it going after the truck. Seemed like it took forever for the RS to accelerate as the 305 screamed at 5,000 rpm. However, trash trucks aren't GT's and the old RS ran him down pretty well. I stayed in the other lane to keep as far away from the back of the trash truck as possible and noticed another batch of crap plus another pallet was about fall off. I cut in front of him at about 80mph, hit the hazards and started slowing down. He got the idea and slowed down too and pulled off the road as I did.
I went back to the truck and rolled his window down. I told him I'd almost got a pallet in the windshield because his back gate was open and stuff was falling off. He looked at me like I was on crack but got out to check - only to find the gate ajar. Another big pile of was poised to tumble out. He swore he didn't know the gate had come open. I left him trying to push the stuff back into the back and close the gate.
Still got to work on time too.
A few people mentioned, "Hey man that truck the stuff fell off that got your car stopped a little ways down the road." I was like, "Of course he stopped down the road, I chased him down in the Camaro and pulled him over." I was lucky by the Lord's grace, so I couldn't see letting him go on sending pallets airborne and maybe injury or kill some unlucky driver a mile or so down the road or when he merged onto I-85.
BTW: Harts Automotive, here in Gastonia did an outstanding job putting my RS back together from when my wife wrecked the car. This was the first at the limits test the car's had since it was repaired. The RS behaved thru the whole ordeal exactly the way the RS always has in extreme driving situations - balanced and stable, easy to control with excellent agile handling. I have very little doubt in my mind, if I'd been in my wife's Grand Am, I'd have eat the pallets or lost control in the grass after swerving to miss them.
11-05-2002, 05:41 PM
#3
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TG you're all right! My hat's off to you for your quick thinking as a lot of people just panic, hit the brakes and do nothing more!
By the way, didn't know that the RS's could double as a 4x4!!!
Later,
Mike
By the way, didn't know that the RS's could double as a 4x4!!!
Later,
Mike
11-05-2002, 07:30 PM
#4
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Indeed: hail: LO3!
Locking the car down and hoping is exactly what my wife always does if something unexpected happens.
It's usually better to be able to steer than slide etc.
I will have to admit, I can handle the RS better than any of our other cars due to all the time with this RS I've had. Feeling confident and having confidense in the car helps too.
Slamming on the brakes and hoping, wouldn't have worked out to well this time. However, anti-lock brakes would have been nice to have...
The RS will need a lift kit or something if there's another offroad 4x4 mis-adventure in the future.
Locking the car down and hoping is exactly what my wife always does if something unexpected happens.
It's usually better to be able to steer than slide etc. I will have to admit, I can handle the RS better than any of our other cars due to all the time with this RS I've had. Feeling confident and having confidense in the car helps too.
Slamming on the brakes and hoping, wouldn't have worked out to well this time. However, anti-lock brakes would have been nice to have...
The RS will need a lift kit or something if there's another offroad 4x4 mis-adventure in the future.
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