snowbank:3, winston: 0 (pictures added)

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*sigh*

[chadb2434]

you must have some really bad luck, winston!

[[email protected]]

Well... bonehead decision + boost controller on + snow on the road = Avant being intimate with a 6 foot snowbank

[hoganalley]

don't tell me you BC guys aren't used to the snow yet?!!!!!!!!

lol!!!!

[Capt. Obvious]

Oh geez. I need to see pics.

[vinny.dtw]

agreed, hope damage is minimal

[OneBadAudi]

man, that always sucks.....good luck with the repairs...

[niponki]

oh man, this is never a good thing. Glad you are ok, but sorry about the ride. The snow is a love hate relationship huh?!

[Chris_tA_4]

bummer man

[widgget]

please tell me you have photos of the car still in the snowbank
sorry to hear about the bad luck.

[trueno429]

sucks man..last week my mom went into a snowbank cuz the car infront of her cut her off and if my mom didnt slam on the brakes she would've rear ended the car infront..hope you and your rides ok

[sambrody44]

Again!?

Sorry to hear Winston, hope it all works out.

[dougyfresh]

Not good. Sucks to hear.

Gotta run low boost and stay light on the pedal with the snow. That is why I have a low boost file to run.

[auggy]

Aww that blows. How did the snowbank rack up 3 points haha?

[Clown4]

your car's too low for snow man!
don't even talk about the iced up snow...
your audi is a no for ice XD
hope it can get fix fast!
don't go to big white with your car!

[BNZ TOY]

lol, oh man. sorry to hear. Let's hope your tally starts to swing back the other way for the home team.

FWIW, I'm 0-1 with the casualty of my splitter

[Raus]

Sorry to hear that winston. 3 times, really?
I'm 1 and 0 this winter having my front lip torn off and destroyed.

[JMRQuattro]

I think there needs to be a handicap on this scoring. Or atleast the scoring needs to be changed here. Because it's always snowbank racking up points. None of us have any points on this, i think every time you get from point A to point B should be a point because you were successful at conquering the snow and avoiding a crash. Cause if you don't score yourself until winter is over... winter will always win unless you somehow avoid zero incidents all winter long.

[BNZ TOY]

^^ agreed, and nice long drifts are worth 2 points.

[JMRQuattro]

^^ and near death experiences recovered like dougy's = automatic win for the winter.

[BNZ TOY]

^^ yeah, cheating death is XXX points

still waiting on those pix, I hope it's just a flesh wound, nothing serious.

[[email protected]]

So what happened...

On the way to Mt. Baker to ride on New year's Day and there were three cars, including myself, stuck behind a slow moving car.

So the first car attempts a pass and was successful so I wait for the car in front of me to pass. I give the guy 5 minutes and he doesn't pass so I think about it, wait for the next straightaway so I have clear sight of any possible oncoming traffic and signal to pass.

As I enter the oncoming lane the car that I was attempting to pass accelerates to prevent the pass so I hit the throttle and that is when everything goes bad.

I forgot to turn off the EBC which was set to 18psi**, I hear the turbo spool up, broke traction on all 4 wheels, when I got traction again the car swerved to the right lane and I missed hitting the car I was attempting to pass and the one behind me, lost traction again when the passenger side wheels slid onto the snow covered shoulder and I ended up in the snowbank on the side of the road.

I put out a couple of flares and then my two friends and I got our Avy shovels out and proceeded to dig the car out. When I dug the front of the car free I noticed the bottom of my splitter was 2 feet above the ground... so that means my whole car is pretty much suspended in the air.

A monster plow stops, radios for a longer chain and ends up pulling the wagon out of the snowbank. We thank the driver and head up to the mountain to enjoy the rest of the day.

So I don't know what the other driver was thinking when he sped up when I was trying to pass him, but I broke one of my own cardinal rules (no reckless driving when I have passengers in the car) and I know things could have turned out a lot worse.

I am still thinking about what lesson(s) someone up above wants me to learn from this event. Right now patience and humility are on the list.

Thanks for reading if you made it to the end.

** When I had my K04 setup I made 168awhp/200tq. When the EBC is on at 18psi I have 265awhp/240tq. So all that extra power + 5 season old Pirelli snow tires = 4 wheel spin. I have 4 new Nokian Hakkapeliitta Rsi being installed on Thursday and the EBC is off for all snowboard trips from today forward.

[B6Lovin]

sucks to hear/see man... atleast its not your tranny lol

maybe you need to make a full aluminum bumper skeleton? (as in the WHOLE THING this time.. i seem to recall you doing something along those lines but on a smaller scale already)

hell. just exo-cage the audi for winter.

[JMRQuattro]

dude that really sucks. If it makes you feel any better, the guy you were passing is a douche bag. And that was molded wasn't it? And i guess it could have been worse. I'll post up pics of my bumper to make you feel better. But it won't be until tomorrow since i'm currently not home and won't be for the night.

[B6Lovin]

also, it's good to see that you can take good lessons from this and not just be angry at the other driver. i'm glad you and your passengers are safe - and i hope your luck takes a turn for the better. i don't know if i believe in karma or luck, but if you do i don't see how you can have bad karma at this point - and your luck hasn't run out.. if it had you'd be posting about a totalled car, injured people, or possibly not posting at all.

[7speed]

back to the shop

[JMRQuattro]

also, it's good to see that you can take good lessons from this and not just be angry at the other driver. i'm glad you and your passengers are safe - and i hope your luck takes a turn for the better. i don't know if i believe in karma or luck, but if you do i don't see how you can have bad karma at this point - and your luck hasn't run out.. if it had you'd be posting about a totalled car, injured people, or possibly not posting at all.

another valid point. There could have been injuries or death associated with this. Shit happens, Vinny and I can attest to that...

[WhoisMario]

Glad to hear it wasnt more serious. Dbags like that is why I don't, as Senator McCain would say, "telegraph my punches" when Im making a move on another driver, even when its the correct thing to do. Maybe a stainless steel plow might not be a bad addition to your product lineup?

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also, it's good to see that you can take good lessons from this and not just be angry at the other driver. i'm glad you and your passengers are safe - and i hope your luck takes a turn for the better. i don't know if i believe in karma or luck, but if you do i don't see how you can have bad karma at this point - and your luck hasn't run out.. if it had you'd be posting about a totalled car, injured people, or possibly not posting at all.

I acknowledge things could have been a lot worse. Could have nosed a big tree instead of the snowbank or any other number of outcomes.

When I am able to walk away from something like this, when I look at the tire tracks and know that it makes no sense how I didn't crash into anyone then I understand there was a bit of 'intervention' here.

This happened for a reason, to wake me up and give things a bit of a think. Now I'm just getting too deep...

[NyteEscape]

effin' snowbank...

i hope it melts in hell...

[B6Lovin]

I acknowledge things could have been a lot worse. Could have nosed a big tree instead of the snowbank or any other number of outcomes.

When I am able to walk away from something like this, when I look at the tire tracks and know that it makes no sense how I didn't crash into anyone then I understand there was a bit of 'intervention' here.

This happened for a reason, to wake me up and give things a bit of a think. Now I'm just getting too deep...

yeah, and i know you do. hence the props on taking something good away from all of this.

now about that exo-cage....

[[email protected]]

I want guns too... big guns

and a hawt co-pilot doesn't hurt too

[JMRQuattro]

that movie was surprisingly sick

[Raus]

I want guns too... big guns

You need a tombstone in the front. Man, that's one angry homo.

[dougyfresh]

Just saw the pictures. DAMN! After all that fab work. I am sorry to hear.

However, from what I have found with these BT cars. No matter what boost level you are running you have to be light on the gas pedal. My 2.0L breaks traction under 3,000rpm at partial throttle on 20psi if the roads are snow-covered. Its all that torque my car has down low. I also have studdless snow tires like Winston.

Perhaps I am aging (turn 30 this year) and perhaps my driving habits are changing. Perhaps I'm just super parnoid to destroy my car after the work I did to it (After seeing Steph's frustrations and also having nightmare dreams of totalling my car.). I now drive slow in the snow. I had a bunch of people calling me prior to Christmas when we got almost two feet of snow here in Hartford... "Did you do donuts yet?" The answer was No. I was wrenching all through that storm on two cars in a nice heated garage. When I was out running errands for parts or food I was driving 'normally'. I didn't really have the urge to go do donuts. and to sum that all up, even driving 'normally' I ripped the driver side under-car panels off on some snow (light fluffy snow too) when pulling onto the highway.

[A4_Mike]

Like already stated several times, it could have been a whole lot worse (e.g. hit another car or more damage-inducing object, people getting injured). It's nice to see that people realize that and are able to take something positive away from a situation that most people would view as purely negative.

I was in NY a week ago and I consider the roads up there to be pretty dangerous during the winter so I can just imagine how it can get all the way up in Canada. Add a BT and old snow tires...

[BNZ TOY]

Glad you're ok, and all you need is body work.

That pisses me off though. You are following cars that are going a constant slow speed for over 5+ minutes then when you politely signal and pass, THEN they decide to speed up just so you can't pass them. What the heck is the point? Why do ppl do this???

[sambrody44]

Pics make me want to cry, after all that custom work too!!! UGH makes me sick.

[rxrep]

Sucks Winston. Keep your spirits up and use it as motivation to make it better this time around.

[AudiA4Turbo22]

Well... bonehead decision + boost controller on + snow on the road = Avant being intimate with a 6 foot snowbank

Winston i have a molded USP front as well and when i hit a headlight on the freeway it tore in the same place what u must ask the body shop to do is to build a skeleton behind the bumper or a piece of metal to attach the top and bottom on both sides and then use bumper repair to make it smooth.