[NA] Drivers

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
21,872
Location
west Texas
Display Name
Dave Taylor
Home Airfield
KMRF
10 empty miles of empty road ahead and behind…. must get closer to 70mph vehicle …. but must never pass
lol
IMG_4521.jpeg
 
My goal on the freeway is to be the second fastest car.

…unless I have a suspicion that there’s more than one cop ahead.
 
F = 1/2 * ρ * v² * Cd * A

The trailing car reduces its Cd (Drag Coefficient) because the lead car has already "pushed" the air out of the way, allowing the trailing car to maintain the same v (Velocity) with significantly less F (Force).
 
AZEL said:
F = 1/2 * ρ * v² * Cd * A

The trailing car reduces its Cd (Drag Coefficient) because the lead car has already "pushed" the air out of the way, allowing the trailing car to maintain the same v (Velocity) with significantly less F (Force).
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It's also a remarkably stupid way to drive.

I'd like to see some kind of study that shows the life expectancy of tailgaters vs non-tailgaters.
 
Baked Potato said:
It's also a remarkably stupid way to drive.

I'd like to see some kind of study that shows the life expectancy of tailgaters vs non-tailgaters.
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I'd bet a bag of money that any difference is statistically insignificant, if not undetectable.
 
My dad used to tailgate me leaving the shop. One day he decided to up the drafting ante and decided to "bump draft". I had my pintle hitch in and he gave me 3-4 taps with the bumper. Going 60mph on the highway. Wtf bro
 
Racerx said:
My dad used to tailgate me leaving the shop. One day he decided to up the drafting ante and decided to "bump draft". I had my pintle hitch in and he gave me 3-4 taps with the bumper. Going 60mph on the highway. Wtf bro
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Time for a brake check.
 
AZEL said:
F = 1/2 * ρ * v² * Cd * A

The trailing car reduces its Cd (Drag Coefficient) because the lead car has already "pushed" the air out of the way, allowing the trailing car to maintain the same v (Velocity) with significantly less F (Force).
Click to expand...
If you're going to draft, do it behind a semi. More suction and not able to make quick stops.
 
geneseib said:
If you're going to draft, do it behind a semi. More suction and not able to make quick stops.
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In my much, much younger days I had occasion to ride from southern AZ to OKC on a motorcycle, in the beginning of December. I can tell you it’s also a few degrees warmer in a semi’s draft, not the least due to the reduced wind chill. You want the van, though, not the flatbed load of pipe -for obvious reasons.
 
I
Dana said:
Or set your cruise control to 69... wait a minute then 68... then 67... etc.
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I actually got sick of the hind harassment and gradually slowed down and pulled right at first to encourage passing. Nope. Stuck there til 30mph, then finally figured it out.
I hate having to drive two vehicles at once.
 
DaleB said:
In my much, much younger days I had occasion to ride from southern AZ to OKC on a motorcycle, in the beginning of December. I can tell you it’s also a few degrees warmer in a semi’s draft, not the least due to the reduced wind chill. You want the van, though, not the flatbed load of pipe -for obvious reasons.
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Greyhound bus is what ya want. Nice and toasty.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I actually got sick of the hind harassment and gradually slowed down and pulled right at first to encourage passing. Nope. Stuck there til 30mph, then finally figured it out.
I hate having to drive two vehicles at once.
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Why weren't you on the right to begin with? You can get a ticket for that here.
 
geneseib said:
If you're going to draft, do it behind a semi. More suction and not able to make quick stops.
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A friend in college had a diesel Rabbit, and he’d draft semis on the highway as close as he dared. Between the diesel and draft he got phenomenal mileage, but it always made me nervous when I had to ride with him.
 
You guys have heard of the two second following distance rule? I have spent most of my life driving F250s, F350s, and some F450s. These were all mechanic's service trucks loaded with tools and heavy all the time. I started using 3 seconds following distance instead of 2. It saved my bacon more than once.
 
luvflyin said:
I was talking about drafting the bus. The rear engine puts out enough heat you can feel it.
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Oh! That makes a lot more sense. Semis were plentiful, buses weren't on that trip.
 
William Pete Hodges said:
You guys have heard of the two second following distance rule? I have spent most of my life driving F250s, F350s, and some F450s. These were all mechanic's service trucks loaded with tools and heavy all the time. I started using 3 seconds following distance instead of 2. It saved my bacon more than once.
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I always heard it was a 3 second rule. Of course, with so many idiots out there, leaving 3 seconds between you and the car in front just means the idiots take it as an invitation to cut in front of you.
 
Bob Noel said:
I always heard it was a 3 second rule. Of course, with so many idiots out there, leaving 3 seconds between you and the car in front just means the idiots take it as an invitation to cut in front of you.
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That's OK, let`em cut. Just slow vdown about 1mph and they will be pulling away from you restoring your distance soon enough.
 
William Pete Hodges said:
That's OK, let`em cut. Just slow vdown about 1mph and they will be pulling away from you restoring your distance soon enough.
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I usually check behind me as they pass…if we’re the only two on the road and they pull back into the right lane as soon as their mirror light extinguishes, I move into the left lane until they’re far enough ahead.
 
AZEL said:
F = 1/2 * ρ * v² * Cd * A
The trailing car reduces its Cd (Drag Coefficient) because the lead car has already "pushed" the air out of the way, allowing the trailing car to maintain the same v (Velocity) with significantly less F (Force).
Click to expand...

Bill said:
A friend in college had a diesel Rabbit, and he’d draft semis on the highway as close as he dared. Between the diesel and draft he got phenomenal mileage, but it always made me nervous when I had to ride with him.
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I did that a couple of times many decades ago on the highway.... just checking that equation to verify the "theory"
It was jaw dropping just how much I could cut the throttle when up in tight. I even went so far to engage the clutch and it pretty much just pulled me a long for a very long while. As I recall I could pretty much keep pace pretty near idle. When up close it was amazing the instant drag hit when I'd zig a little left or right and get out of the slipstream.

If those truck drivers are reading this, I'm sorry.
 
Brad W said:
...If those truck drivers are reading this, I'm sorry.
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Me too. The last time I tried this to show my wife the trucker immediately changed lanes. I tucked in again only for him to change lanes again. This was before cameras. I'm guessing when you disappear from both side mirrors they know what you're doing. I never did it again.
 
Bob Noel said:
I always heard it was a 3 second rule. Of course, with so many idiots out there, leaving 3 seconds between you and the car in front just means the idiots take it as an invitation to cut in front of you.
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I have adaptive cruise control. It gets me up to my set speed, then slows to match the speed of any vehicle I start to catch. It has a programmable distance. The default, I found out, is large enough that other drivers would cut in. I had to take it down a notch. Now it’s still large enough for a safety gap but just small enough to deter someone from trying to squeeze in.
 
I get irritated at the "brake lighters" that are constantly tapping the brakes making the lights come on when in fact they are not slowing down. This makes the drivers behind them slow down out of caution and then the steady flow of traffic gets into an accordion effect and soon enough we are starting and stopping on an interstate highway ... :rolleyes2:
 
I got the *$%!! scared out of me early last week by one of those folks who was going 20mph faster than traffic, weaving in and out of tight spaces and not using turn signals. He ultimately ended up whipping into the right lane beside a semi. Which had indicated a lane change to the right before the weaver cut right around him. Well, the truck came part way over, the weaver ended up in the emergency lane and came pretty close to losing it at 95 mph, which would have taken him into the semi which was straddling the right and center lanes in front of me (I was in the center lane). Flashes of "Chips" style crashes came to my mind. But everyone recovered and the high speed weaver guy just drove off into the distance, weaving crazily around traffic like he was gonna respawn instead of die in whatever accident he caused.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
10 empty miles of empty road ahead and behind…. must get closer to 70mph vehicle …. but must never pass
lol
View attachment 151082
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Probably SWMBO or her brother. If there are only two cars on a 20 lane freeway, SWMBO or her brother will be in the car tailgating the other car.
 
Daleandee said:
I get irritated at the "brake lighters" that are constantly tapping the brakes making the lights come on when in fact they are not slowing down. This makes the drivers behind them slow down out of caution and then the steady flow of traffic gets into an accordion effect and soon enough we are starting and stopping on an interstate highway ... :rolleyes2:
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A lot of this is due to the new adaptive cruse control. Anytime the cruise slows the car due to traffic in front, it puts on the brake lights.

And most of these are fairly aggressive as well in btaking and accelerating. So the adaptivw cruse car behind it further exasperates the hard braking and acceleration. With each adaptive cruise car, the accordion gets more violent and aggressive.

Before too long the whole conga line is alternating between near full throttle and full braking.
 
Bill said:
A lot of this is due to the new adaptive cruse control. Anytime the cruise slows the car due to traffic in front, it puts on the brake lights.
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Yes, but a lot of it is due to bad drivers with nobody in front of them. I was following one of those clowns yesterday. 40mph limit, driver was doing 30, hit the brakes approaching every curve in the road (curves which could have easily been done at 60 with no braking).
Bill said:
And most of these are fairly aggressive as well in btaking and accelerating. So the adaptivw cruse car behind it further exasperates the hard braking and acceleration.
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No, it exacerbates the problem. It's the drivers behind that get exasperated. :nono:
 
Dana said:
Yes, but a lot of it is due to bad drivers with nobody in front of them. I was following one of those clowns yesterday. 40mph limit, driver was doing 30, hit the brakes approaching every curve in the road (curves which could have easily been done at 60 with no braking).
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Let me guess. A Toyota, or possibly an Outback.
 
oh heck, for a dude like that i'll do the 60-50-40-30 pull over on the shoulder and let 'em roar by.
 
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