Driving Is Fun
6/27/2
I�ve been meaning to make an entry like this for a while. One of my sources of fun on a weekdaily basis is driving to and from work. Now, it�s not all thrills, but the Kronos is pretty fun to drive in general. The highlights, however, are the real fun. That is, if all goes well.
Before we even hit 70 mph, the first fun thing has to be the railroad track which crosses Slaughter Road. The Kronos can go over it at 30 mph smoothly, but heavier cars have to go slower. I either get to leave people behind or I get stuck behind them.
That�s the story of all these fun things. I either get to go fast on them, or I have to get stuck behind people. The Slaughter RR crossing is about a 50/50 mix of each.
Above you�ll see the first fun ramp that I�ve gotten the picture of off the Microsoft Terraserver. At about where I�ve put the little red dot, is where I drop the Kronos into fourth and accelerate from 55 mph to 70 mph. The speed limit of 565, the road which the ramp leads to, is 70 and the ramp has a suggested speed limit of 45 or so. But, what a stupid suggestion. That�ll get you killed, or more realistically, hated. The slight curve of the ramp makes 70 pretty fun as it�s past the handling threshold of some SUVs and past the G-force comfort factor of most people. When Aisai is in the car, just her added weight is enough to make the car handle differently on this.
The above picture isn�t really a fun ramp, but while I�m showing you ramps, this is the ramp that I wrecked on last year and twisted the frame of the Kronos. The speed limit is 65 mph on the elevated portion of 565, and thus is allowable on the exit ramp. However, it was raining that day and if you look at this next map�
You�ll see that the ramp has a dip to it. A very gradual dip, but enough to cause standing water. Well, I was going to fast and the other lane that comes to join my ramp [one lane which comes into the picture at the top middle] had a white pickup truck that I was going to slide into if I tried to power the car around [which would be very very stupid, but probably would work since after a little while I�d have five lanes after all] so I chose to hit the brakes [thus transferring the weight of the car forward, and the Kronos is so front heavy anyway] and spin the car around backward. I was going backward at 35 mph when I finished that maneuver and my engine had conked itself out. Only 8 hours later did it occur to me that I could have pulled the emergency brake, but I didn�t, I stood on the now non-powered brakes, and smacked the wall about where I�ve put the red dot on the non-topo map of this.
There isn�t anymore fun on the way into work. In fact, the street that my office is on has a posted speed limit of 35 mph, which if you�ve been reading the Stuffo for a while you know I�m duty bound to obey [regardless of it�s stupidity]. Not fun. I�ve asked the guy who does studies of roads to determine their speed limit to set up his little doodads for a while. I�m not holding my breath.
Above is the first fun cloverleaf of the drive home. Memorial Parkway, the road coming from the bottom of the picture, has a speed limit of 50 which I obey by putting on my cruise control [yes, I have a manual transmission and cruise control]. I keep the cruise control on and take the cloverleaf at 50 mph. I have only seen one car ever which kept up with me and it was a MX-6 which was terribly lowered and tricked out. I usually have cars tailgateing me on the parkway in the last quarter mile before this. They usually catch up to me a mile or so down 565 or not at all.
That, however, is a rare treat. I only get to take that at speed about 20% of the time. I can get a partial zip halfway around before having to slow down behind someone about half the time.
That, up there, is the 70 mph ramp that anyone can take. I�m coming from the right of the image and going upward. It�s got a nice G-force at 70 and most people don�t like that. I get to do this about 30% of the time. Sometimes, if I�ve got a minivan which brakes hard before going up the ramp ahead of me, I�ll change back to 565 and use Slaughter on the way home. That route takes me by a school so I tend to avoid it. But I�d rather miss my fun ramp than take it at 40 mph.
I enter this picture from the bottom and go under Old Madison Pike [speed limit 45 mph] on Rideout Road [65 mph]. I brake pretty significantly right before the cloverleaf and then accelerate out of it. I�m at 45 by the time I start approaching the yield sign, but since you can see clearly if there are cars coming, I usually get to continue at 45 mph through the yield. This, by the way, is very fun. I also rarely get to do this.
The last fun thing is when I get to accelerate up Slaughter Road from Old Madison Pike. Since the Kronos has a hp/lb ratio of 0.055, I can scoot up there pretty quickly but I have to do it all in the 4500-7000 rpm range.
Then I set the cruise at 45 until I get to our subdivison.