I owned 3 1st gens before eventually going for a TII, but I'd completely forgot how much fun those things were. I drove past the local Taco Bell (cruising spot) and someone yelled my name so I pulled in and parked. A couple guys from my car club were there so I just bs'd for a few minutes then I heard a LOUD metallic weedwhacker/airplane sound screaming towards us from a couple blocks away. I knew what it was The guy pulls in in a grey 81 gs with a header, rusted out exhaust and rear swaybar delete... the memories start coming back. He jumps out and trots over to my car. He's in his mid 20's and looks like one of the dudes from the Mountain Dew commercial... my first bad omen. He says, "Whoa dude, is that a twin turbo? I've always wanted to see one of those!" I told him it was just a single then he asked me if it was a 94. I told him it was an 87 and he was pretty surprised... I'd just finished about 12 hours of waxing her . He asked me if I'd take him for a ride and I kindly obliged. I got it pretty sideways in the parking lot and punched it to about 70 and let him hear some turbo spool and blow off valve. "What's that? It sounds sooo freakin' cool!" We exchanged rotary stories and whatnot then circled back around and came back.
Then he offered to give me a ride. I figured, it's just a 1st gen, it can't be that bad... Upon close inspection of the beast, I noticed 2 skateboards, a pair of inlines, some rock climbing gear, and a mountain board... Not a good sign. This guy was an adrenaline junkie if I'd ever seen one. Then his friends gather around the car and start screaming at me to buckle up tight and hold on. One of them says, "Look out man, Austin's crazy!"
We're off. He screams out of the parking lot, pulls the ebrake while jamming it into 2nd and busts into a monstrous donut. After 5 rotations or so, he transfers into a 100 foot perfect 4 wheel drift. There's a new neighborhood a couple blocks away from Taco Bell with long freshly paved wide corners and few cars parked out on the street. He says, "hold on." I did. He took the first corner at atleast 40. The drift delicately grazed the inside of the apex and slid out perfectly into the right lane. He never hit less than 30 mph or 6k rpms the whole run. The next 5 corners were all taken the exact same... just perfect. It was like an automotive ballet. Now was a tight hairpin. He begins the slide with the rear kicking out to the drivers side. Too fast. He spins the wheel the opposite direction, rear whips to the passenger side, passes us, spins out, and we're already pointed into the turn and through it! I don't know how the hell he did it, but he did. At this point, I was a mumbling stutterng mess.
It was just amazing, the way he drove. Whenever he was getting in trouble, he'd just flip the car the other way, gear down a couple, floor it and be either pointed in the right direction or stopped safely. I'm still amazed and this was a week ago. Sure, the amount of damage he could of caused was amazing and the absolute illegality of it all doesn't matter,it was just awesome. Man, he coud drive. Austin, if you read this, thanks for the ride!

with a new appreciation for old rexes,
steve- 87 TII

 

I probably can't drive that well...As I have the inherantly human "fear inhibition". But every time I try with someone in the p seat, their hair stands on end, they say I'm nutz, and they NEVER seem to appreciate my efforts!

Ahhh...Adrenaline junkies. Wish I was born with that in me!

 

Think this guy has been driving in some, how I say this, illegal activities ? LOL or maybe he has just played one too many games of Gran Turismo on the Playstation LOL

 

Thats the thing I love about 1st gens. You can turn understeer into oversteer with a little bit of throttle. I used to drive mine in a similar manner until I grew up

 

Once I repair the accident damage, I wanna learn to drift. I'll probably find a large open area. (Abandoned warehouse parking lot/loading area. It's a couple acres of open asphalt.)

Can I damage anything just by sliding around on a bare lot? Maybe bend up some of the suspension or destroy a wheel? I don't mind tearing up tires.

Also, it doesn't seem very easy to roll a 7 as its so low to the ground. Is this just an illusion or could I end up flipping my car?

 

Pele: I slid semi-forward into a curb at about 15-20mph and bent the strut rod's hanger, or at least SOMETHING up there, it didn't look bent but caster got all screwed up and I had to shorten the strut rod about 1/3" to get it right again.

Also I'll hit bumps on the highway - gee wow, now the steering wheel is in a different spot. I don't bother realigning it anymore.

I also slid sideways off of a track at about 70-75mph onto a very bumpy grass runoff... nothing damaged other than some dents in the floor, rocker panel, and exhaust pipe. So I don't think flipping is that big of an issue. (So that's what Watts linkage bind is like...)

All of my wheels are still straight, though. (Stock waffle wheels)

 

Yeah. Last winter I took a sideways slide into a curb at about 20 MPH into a curb. (Some *** in the snow was on my side of the road.) Bent up my control arm, but bettern a full frontal.

 

I've been playing in the parking lot here at work alot recently. After my accident I was so disgusted at my ability to get myself out of trouble, I decided that I'd learn, one way or another, the limits and capabilities of the car.

So usually I just come into the parking lot and try and spin the car. There's enough room to do that. The car exibits very little body roll once I get the tail unhooked from the ground. There is enough lateral acceleration to throw my sub around tho Anyway, the chances of damaging anything really relates to your chances of hitting anything while playing. Get ready to eat your tires tho, and not make friends with the local boys in blue, depending on the location you choose

I think learing how to lose control of the car and bring it back is a great asset. I'd love to learn how to drift, but I can't imagine any good place to do that around here.

Anyway, as long as you don't hit anything, I can't imagine you breaking anything that wouldn't break sooner or later anyway

--matt