In 1971 ish a young man was a front seat passenger in a Volvo 145 estate being driven by a member of the security services. The car was heavily loaded with hospital equipment. The vehicle was making extremely rapid progress through the Battersea district when it rounded a corner to find the road completely blocked just a few yards away. The driver then performed a manouvre which consisted of (more or less) spinning the steering wheel to the right and then slamming on the brakes. This positioned the car at 90 degrees across the road (effectively parallel with the obstruction) and we stopped absolutely dead. The car rocked but stopped instantly. The young man was in shock but the driver just grinned and said...."oh yes that's called the xxxxx stop". He then turned us fully round and set off again. Unfortunately no amount of memory raking can produce the missing word. But it's a taught manouvre. Not one I'd care to try though, but does improve on normal stopping distances, that's for sure.
Great story Nick, however, I cannot see that the car would have stopped any quicker than normal? The same patch of tyre is in contact with the road regardless....just my thoughts?
Mark
Honesty means doing it right, even when no one is looking!
