There are many and varied driving skills one can pick up. There’s the ability to nail a park first time, the ability to rescue a slide, or the ability to actually get in the right lane well before your highway exit comes up. My question is this—what weird driving skill have you picked up?
I consider myself a capable driver, but far from an exceptional one. I’ve got a few track days under my belt, and I’ve learned how to keep a car out of the wall on a mountain pass. I can even drive a manual! But as far as special skills go, though, there’s one in particular I learned back in my hometown.
I used to live just off a main road, signposted at 60 km/h (~37 mph). That road featured a roundabout, ostensibly an obstacle that required one to slow down and steer around it. However, us locals knew that with a deft hand on the wheel, you could holeshot this thing without touching the brakes.
Was it a useful skill? No. Did it scare passengers when you unexpectedly whipped straight through the empty roundabout? Yes. Was it safe? Actually, yeah, it was pretty much a straight shot. Obviously, not something to be performed with traffic around, but if the road was clear? You could make it through, no problem.
This is largely a useless skill. It didn’t teach me a superhuman level of car control, nor did it translate into quick laptimes when I headed to the track. It was just a fun thing us locals took pride in. That was our roundabout and we knew how to nail it.
Friends of mine had their own abilities. I knew a guy called Pitchwizard who made his money stacking shelves in his younger years. When he’d check out of the mall carpark late after hours, he had plenty of space to master the 180-degree handbrake turn in his dope Honda Civic.
I was so impressed when I rode passenger that I later picked up the talent myself in my MX-5. As someone who grew up in the Australian culture, more often obsessed with the more basic entertainment of mere burnouts, the oft-maligned handbrake turn was a more delectable artform to my youthful tastes.
Since this is Autopian Asks, I’ll now yield the floor to you. What special unique skill have you picked up behind the wheel? You get bonus points if it’s only applicable to you, your friends, or some incredibly specific geographical location. Go!
Image credits: PhotoPum RanaRoja via Unsplash License, Google Images, Lewin Day
Working at a couple of different auto-body shops in the ’90’s was were I sort-of had to develop the skill of knowing the exact outer dimensions of any make/model of car I was instructed to move around. Since I was the youngest, most over-eager dumb-ass in both shops, I often received instructions such as “Hey, do you think you can you move Jerry’s wagon (a ’94 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser) over to that stall?”. “Sure!” I’d say before realizing the main path was blocked on one side by an F-150 just about ready for paint, the engine hoist was in use and blocking the other way to get through and I’d have to do a 17-pt. turn with an inch of error in each one and crawl out the rear door before it would all be over.
Later, when I moved out to Salt Lake City after college, this gave me a god-tier ability to quickly parallel park my ’89 Cadillac Brougham. Highly useful as that was the only parking choice near my apartment building and one had to be quick about things to secure a spot.
Likely cop vehicle headlight pattern identification. I used to be able to easily spot different gens of the Caprice and Crown Vic patterns, and am now fairly proficient with the Explorers (though I usually have to use the roof as a confirmation check b/c they’re so common the road overall).
I still have the headlight patterns of late 80s/early 90s Caprices and Crown Vics burned into my memory. 😀
Clutch dump U-turns have actually been quite handy for turning around in tight spaces, versus having to do a multi-point turn. Having a RWD V8 and an LSD helps a lot.
When I got my Focus ST, I got to go down to Utah and do the Octane Academy. We were drilled on all kinds of skills but my favorite was the sideways slide into a target parking box. The best part was at the end of the weekend on the autocross race, if you nailed the final slide and didnt kill the car during the slide, they took 4 seconds off your lap time.
I nailed it, and got the trophy!
More of a survival, stay free type skill here.
I have been able to “feel” the presence of law enforcement long before being able to see the threat. No shit. Not every single time, but at least 90% of the time. I can “feel” the threats from miles away, when there is no evidence to do so, yet…
Has saved me thousands of times over the 50 some plus years of driving, or being a passenger. I know it sounds nuts, but can literally feel them in unmarked cars as well.
Feel the speed traps, the ones trailing a few cars behind me, even as I pass them going the other way on the Interstates, etc.
Ironically this may be a result of having a Dad who was in Law Enforcement.
My Mom said I had some sort of ESP. The old man could not believe this ability, but grew to respect it. My late wife was totally freaked out by this, but grew to accept and be thankful for this as well over 40 years together.
Before weed became legal this saved me literally thousands of times. There was a time when I would haul weed thousands of miles. Never got popped, ever.
No shit here, just the actual truth.
And learned to do a Jim Rockford style U Turn at 15 years old at high speeds, which was also a huge evasion, freedom saving, skill too. YMMV of course…
I, too, have this spider-sense; I have exactly one ticket in 36 years of spirited driving and it was for 60 in a 55 on a bright yellow BMW motorcycle clocked from a plane. However, I back it up w a Uniden R7 just to be safe :).
I learned to drive in tow trucks moving cars around my families tow yard. Got pretty good at backing cars into weird places
I learned to drive stick shift in a transport truck, so I’m very proficient at floating the gears.
This actually came in handy one late night when my roommate’s RX8 had the clutch line let go at a set of lights a good 10km from home.
After I talked him off the ledge, I hopped in, started it in gear, and drove us home without the clutch. That poor starter was probably very mad by the time we got home, as I had to repeat the process at every stoplight.
While not particularly unique, I’m a classic Canadian in that I spend more time driving sideways in the winter than driving straight in the winter months.
I spent several years commuting 180km ’round trip in my Genesis Coupe, passing any and all manners of “better equipped” vehicles in snow storms. I even drove nonstop through a blizzard for 700km to get home in that car. I still miss it specifically for winter driving.
Pretty simple one, shifting by ear so I don’t have to pay much attention to the tachometer. Only have to glance at it when I’m around loud diesel trucks or Custom Exhaust Coyotes.
How to drive a forklift that had no brakes:
Several options:
** not available in reverse
We eventually got forks for the backhoe to much rejoicing.
i know and can predict if the car in front of me will be rear-ended
had an issue with No reverse for few weeks and learned how to park so that you never use reverse
BTDT after my ’71 Fiat 128 trans shift rod was botched by a “mechanic”. Miss the shift into reverse, trans locked into second. Didn’t trust that tranny, so parked and drove to never use reverse.
I had an ’80 Corolla whose starter died a few months before the state inspection would call an end to it due to massive obvious rust. Parked it downhill for those months while saving up for a better beater.
Floating gears carefully, to shift without a clutch. My hydraulic clutch cylinder broke, it only built enough pressure to release the clutch after like 5-6 pumps and I had to drive for a few days.
Also a useful skill for trail riding my little XT250, sometimes there is just no time to pull the clutch and you need 1st gear right away on a steep incline.
1980 Dodge Omni victim here. Drove with no clutch for several years.
I can relate, had my clutch go 2 miles from home. I limped my truck to the nearest shop 4-5 miles away doing clutchless shifting.
About a decade ago, I photographed used cars for online ads. Most dealers just wanted it done in a general spot with the building or sign in the background, but one dealer painted a mark on the lot which I was pretty good at hitting without much effort, and going quick enough that I could sometimes do 100+ cars a day.
I can, as I round the corner to my house, reach into the pocket of my riding jacket, press the remote to my garage door, roll into my driveway, and park my motorcycle in between my 1963 Ford F100 and my wife’s Infiniti QX30 without stopping. Without hitting anything!
Nice. I’m a fiend for low speed motorcycle handing ability and made a deal with myself to practice it at least once a month. A pro racer once told me that the true test of a rider’s skill is how well they can maneuver at low speeds; it’s pretty easy to twist a throttle and sling around corners, but to be able to handle a bike at walking speeds means you’re truly in control.
When I took my motorcycle riding test, they had pairs of cones set out to ride through as a low a speed test. I did it by riding aroung the -outside- of the outermost cones without touching down. Impressed the test watcher.
I’m still far from being a truly good rider, but I keep 2 low profile cones in the storage area under my seat so I can set ’em up for figure 8s in a parking lot. I work on decreasing the space between them.
Picking lines while off-roading. Granted, I’ve been off-roading since the mid-90s, so I’ve had plenty of practice, but I seem to be able to pick lines and make it past obstacles that many others cannot in more capable rigs than mine. That may speak less to my skill and more to other’s lack of skill, but it seems pretty consistent.
I also used to be pretty good at double-clutching farm trucks and tractors, though I have my doubts I’m any good at it anymore since I haven’t touched a tractor in fifteen years.
My girlfriend from when I was 21 told me she could change from her dress and stockings to jeans and t-shirt while driving her 5 speed manual from her office job to her secondary job in horticulture. THIS I gotta SEE, and did once. She pulled it off without the expected drama. DO NOT ATTEMPT!
I once definitely did not change from jeans to shorts while driving, but if I did I don’t really want to do it again.
Winter coat, body armor, duty belt, and uniform to a full suit so I could testify at a preliminary hearing while driving my 6 speed r53 was an adventure I’d rather not repeat.
Gonna have to invoke the SR20 rule regarding said GF here.
I excel at spotting BMW drivers using their blinkers.
So far, I’ve only needed one hand to count them all.
I’m also pretty good at hitting the gas as soon as the light turns green, unlike those that seem to want to count to Five Mississippi before moving.
at least around here, it’s always the people who creep forward waaaaaaaay too much who have the slowest reaction times when the light turns green.
It’s an inverse relationship, definitely.
I learned to double-clutch, necessary to drive a 1924 Bentley (with non-synchro transmission) I had access to for a while. Got good at sensing the onset of fade from its mechanical brakes, too.
Aside from being a whiz at servicing and synchronizing SU carburetors, that’s about all I can point to as a weird skill. Yeah, I’m a decent driver, smooth if not fast on a track and relatively safe on the highway, but I have always wished I was better. My racing career began and ended entirely in my mind.
“I learned to double-clutch, necessary to drive a 1924 Bentley”
This is the flex of the day, no doubt.
Yeah, I learned to double-clutch on a ’95 Tercel whose 2nd-gear synchros refused to get out of bed when it was less than 10degF out, not until the transmission oil got good and warmed up.
I learned to double-clutch, even though it’s absolutely not necessary to drive a 1998 Ford Fiesta. It really smooths out the shifts, and doing a double-clutched heel-toe shift into first as you’re rolling up to stoplights which are about to change is a really useful tool to keep up with traffic – especially if you drive something that slow.
I can spot the person about to wreck and avoid them.
Looking in my rear view I can tell which car it is, call it out, and am prepared.
Have consistently avoided accidents when driving my family, spotting the dunce through instant analysis of the driving pattern and vehicle condition.
Most recent was spotting the red Acura with a black rear quarter panel(drivers side) who wanted to drive 85 in rush hour traffic. I was driving friends in the car, advised a passenger “Jimmy do me a favor and let me know when that asshole is wrecked on right hand side.” Two minutes later we come to a dead stop, said asshole had rear ended somebody square on at full speed, four cars were scattered across the highway. But the Acura was on the left shoulder somehow.
After driving over one hour, literally every single time I get out of the car I fart.
we are talking skills here not talents
Been driving in China for seven years now, and I can predict (with reasonable accuracy) if any car up to 100m ahead of me is about to cut me off. And this is a country where 9 out of 10 cars change lanes without blinkers, and drivers scratch their heads (if they’re still attached to their torso) when they’re rear ended on the freeway after coming to a dead stop in the fast lane, fully prepared to cut across 3-5 lanes to reach their missed off-ramp.
E-moped riders though, that’s a whole other can of worms 🙁 Utterly unpredictable
Ages ago I used to drive on barely plowed farm roads at night out to see my girlfriend at the time. I was in my dads 95 Grand Marquis which meant that momentum was key, as was being able to correct a slide. There were a few close calls and at one point I high centred the car in her grandfathers driveway… but I learned a lot about driving RWD in the snow out of necessity. Those skills were then applied to my time driving G35s for many years and now with my truck (although I’m spoiled with 4wd).
Good one. I grew up in the midwest during a time when many cars were RWD, there was no such thing as traction control or ABS. My parents had a Volvo wagon, so extra light in the rear even.
Some would say this is an obsolete skill now, but I’d disagree – building that sense of understanding momentum and balance makes for all-around better control.
I dailied a 1989 Firebird in the Midwest from for about 10 years, and a 1980 for six years before that. It can be done, but there’s definitely a learning curve; even different kinds of snows can make differences.
One time I took the ’89 to Chicago to meet some friends, we came out of a restaurant and there was like six inches of snow on the ground. I got it home, but at times I was basically just aiming it roughly down the middle of I-94 and correcting as needed.
Drove many a RWD pickup and Suburban in Maine as a kid. Have those skills too. Suburbans are MUCH better in snow than pickups though. My old man was far too cheap to spring for 4wd until he bought a Cherokee.
Learned to drive in a 1989 Caprice Classic with a 305 and a positraction rear end, on a brick street in a Northeast Ohio winter. I could hold a 45 degree angle for blocks!
Lots of RWD EV’s out there now. What’s old is new again.
I’m really good at driving with my knee. I picked it up from my Dad, whom I watched drive that way a lot when I was a kid. It’s convenient when you’re eating while driving or need to do something that requires two hands. This is not something I should probably recommend. 😀 It’s easy for me since I’m tall. I usually use my left knee, and can even brake while knee driving. Which is another thing I do, that is, two-footed driving in an automatic. People ask if I ever get confused when driving a manual, and I say no, because I’m paying attention.
Yes. I’m also tall, and I can drive well with either knee, sometimes right, but usually left. I also drive a manual, and can still do the clutch, also with braking and throttle. I only need hands if I have to turn more than about 15-20 degrees.
No, I don’t do it often, that would be stupid. Also not recommended for Safety… blah blah…
I had a 91 sentra 5spd in high school that I could drive from home to school without my hands touching the wheel. The shifter was sized for a pickup so one could shift with a knee with surprising accuracy.
that skill was necessary as a youth to accommodate a joint in left hand and a beer in the right.
it was a different time…
We used this skill to fix up, and do bong hits whilst driving. Balance the Frisbee and weed on the legs.
Those 1,500 mile road trips can be deathly boring at times.
It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
I can set a full-to-the-brim styrofoam cup (choose your own liquid, but I was required to use water) on the “doghouse” of a 1980’s-model Ford or Dodge ambulance and drive you to the hospital without spilling a drop.
Oh, sure—everybody got excited about the lights and siren. But the part of a 911 call near the end is the under-appreciated one. Imagine if it were your mom with a broken hip who needs to get to the ER?
I suppose I should say I used to be able to do that little trick. It’s been a long time. I still love vans, though, except they’re more of the mini- variety, now.
This should be the real North Americanized version of Initial D.
Long time EMT here, can confirm the ride to the hospital was important. Never had to do the cup of water trick though.
I’m really good at backing up hay wagons. It’s one thing to back up a trailer, but when you add a steer axle of a hay wagon behind you, your motions are often opposite what you’d do to get a trailer in the same area. In my own farm I use that skill a lot, but when I worked at a friends farm several years ago, I was the only guy (except the owner) they trusted to back wagons into the barn without hitting the side of the barn. Kind of a niche flex, but I’m proud of it.
There’s a video I saw recently of Jeremy Clarkson challenging a race car driver to back up a hay wagon on his farm. I forget who the driver was but he worked on it for a significant amount of time and couldn’t do it.
That would be Oscar Piastri
That’s it! You got it.