Marc's Public Blog - Cars

Current Music: ATB - Mix Vol1 - 04 ATB - Long Way Home
Current Mood: Undeterred :)

Today was the break stuff day. First, I somehow manage to drop (lack of coordination) my empeg mp3 player , and still get my useful reflex to set my foot out so it fell on it, and got fairly cushionned before finally hitting the ground. No external damage, but the hard drive isn't recognized anymore. I'll have to open it up to see if I toasted one or two of the drives.
That should probably have been a clue, but never mind that, 10mn later I oversteered on my usual shoreline left on amphitheater turn. Actually, I didn't really make any mistake: got the apex right, some speed but no godly amounts. Unfortunately, while the road up to there had been ok, that patch was too wet and slippery, and the back wheels broke traction almost at the end of the turn, at a time where it's too late to do anything.
End result, the back right wheel hit the curb pretty hard. The wheel and tires are toast (no big deal, I have fully mounted spares, they're not very solid anyway), but it also bent at least the axle. I'll know tomorrow how much needs to be swapped and what the bill will be.
All in all, I'm not pissed because I didn't really do any clear driving mistake outside of just having driven a little hard for the last 4 years, and finally got nailed by a piece of road that didn't allow it and left no room for correction. I'm not complaining about bad luck either, I've taken calculated risks, had a lot of fun in return, and eventually am still in the same risk category than the average unskilled driver (who also drives slower as a result), something I was already fully aware of, and was ok with.
It's just a good reminder to always judge the consequences at all times of loss of control and adjust accordingly (hitting a curb vs going sideways on the freeway or off a cliff), something which I've been very careful to keep in mind every time I goof off.