On the way home this evening I came across a fellow motorist who wanted to play. The way he first communicated this to me was by powerbraking his Dodge Hemi pickup dramatically while stopped close behind me at a stoplight leading onto a moderately twisty road. I acknowledged his advances with a friendly wave and thought little of it. [I thought, "Yeah, I get it. You're big, I'm small. Whatever..."]

When the light turned green, I simply followed the other traffic and went on my way. The cars in front of me soon turned off, leaving clear road ahead. I squeezed on the throttle a little but soon noticed that Hemi-boy was still right on my tail. So at the next set of turns I accelerated and opened some distance. About a 1/4 mile later he was back for more.

At the next stop sign, I took off somwewhat briskly into a gap in traffic that was sufficient but not especially generous. Well, Hemi still wasn't finished. He ran the stop sign and came out right behind me. I have to say I was impressed with the power and acceleration that beast displayed. I wasn't really opeing much of a gap, and he wasn't really closing.

At about this point, I realized things might be about to go South. The roads were wet. Hemi-boy was hot. And we were about to enter a reasonably fast left hand sweeper. [In hindsight, I should have seen it sooner, but I didn't.] The MINI sailed right through the sweeper with no drama. Hemi-head didn't want to lose me again, so he tried to follow. [Shoulda thought twice about that one.]

I watched in the mirror as he dropped his right-side tires off the pavement almost at the exit of the turn. Knowing what was about to happen, I kept watching as his enormous vehicle came back onto the road and immediately spun 360 degrees across oncoming traffic and into the ditch on the left. His spin continued another 270 degrees as he came back onto the road. He finally came to a stop blocking the left lane entirely as more oncoming traffic approached from each direction. It was a scary thing to see. Fortunately, everyone else managed to get stopped in time.

The speeds were never much over 60mph, but it became very dangerous, very quickly. I wish I had realized a little sooner what kind of trouble I was leading him into.

The moral of this story is: Be kind to dumb animals.

 

I love when these guys do this stuff...LOL...maybe that's mean...but I am tired of bullies...I have seen my fair share almost kill them selves...and well....umm well nothing...that's what they get for being jerks...

 

that is scary. People like that who think "just because i have a hemi, i dominate on the road" shouldnt be allowed to do stuff like that. That guy is lucky he didnt kill somebody else.

 

When reading your post all I could picture was a tool riding my *** trying to cause trouble. I kept picturing myself looking up in the mirror and seeing a nice big bumper there. He should have known his limits and he didn't so he got bit. I also feel happy for you showing him up. I wouldn't have slowed down, he knows better. If he doesn't then he does now. You don't have to hold other motorist hands when your driving.

I am glad that no one else got taken out by him. It could have been an innocent family or anyone for that matter. I hope I don't sound like a butt head for saying all this.

Brad

 

no you dont. if the guy ran into a wall, i wouldnt feel the least bit sorry for him. I would turn around, ask if he was ok, then gloat, but i would have turned around and beat him if he had hit some poor unsuspecting family.

 

I think I am going to make a sticker for my MINI that says "Caution: Following this car into a turn can be hazarous to your health". I've left people sliding, fishtailing and kissing curbs in turns after they thought they could 'hang with the funny looking little car' in a vehicle clearly not designed to do it. More to the point it's poor drivers unable to control a vehicle near it's limits.

Dont feel bad, you simply cashed their reality check for them. At least only their ego was hurt.

 

You guys are cool

 

Believe me, it was tempting. But, I'm sure he'll remember me. And' he'll probably be more careful who he picks on in the future.

Thankfully no one got hurt. Unless you count a mailbox and maybe a flower bed.

 

your "moral of the story" was great. i say make a bumper sticker that says that but put a picture of a big old Dodge Ram on there

 

I have had a similar situation with a jeep cherokee. After he ended up on the wrong side of the road kissing the guard rail, I also was thankful no one was comming the other way. With power comes responsibility. The mini has the power to bring the big boys to there knees in the turns,Just because we can does not mean we should. Anymore I pull over and let them by. I would not want to deal with aiding an Idiot to injure or kill someone.

 

There are tons of a-holes around where I live that like to tailgate me, and I mean CLOSE! Do they not realize that if I jam the brakes, they will be at fault for hitting me and that my car will surely stop WAY better than theirs? I have had trucks, an old guy in a Porsche, a young kid in a WRX, a middle aged guy in a GTO, all riding my *** like we were on a race track. The Porsche guy was on my *** and we were in a 20mph school zone! Good place to race, right? I'd rather keep my driving record clean, as well as my bill of health, than indulge these guys who have to let their car provide their manhood for them! But anyone who is tailgating a MINI into the turns will get what they deserve!

 

That's exactly why I confine my truly sporting driving to the track. At least there, if someone screws up, there's no oncoming traffic and fire/rescue are already present.

I suppose I'm going to have to be ready to make concessions to the dumb animals out there. They drive all kinds of cars, some of them very desirable.

The thing is, I sympathize with the guy. I made my share of aggressive driver mistakes along the way before I found a safe outlet and grew out of my misplaced aggression. It's all part of growing up.

 

Some people have problems, what can I say? It's probably best to give them a friendly wave (using all five fingers ) and let them go. But sometimes that's tough to do. As someone posted earlier, we can't drive for them, and it's not our job to hold their hands.

 

In one of the books about the classic Mini ("The Essential Mini Cooper", I think) I read a line where a driver of another car was asked by his team mate (I think) during a race: "What do you think you're doing?" And the driver responded "I was following that Mini." And the the other guy says "NEVER follow a Mini! They do Weird things!"

Quite applicable here I must say.

 

Unfortunately, that's the target market for that truck, and there are enough of those folks out there to make it successful. Oh well, maybe the price of gas will slow them down a little.

 

Great story and appropriate replies, you all have the right attitudes. Best thread I've read in a while. I also wouldn't feel sorry for the idiot, but I would make sure he was OK. He got what he deserved.

James

 

Add a point to creationism over the theory of evolution. If we really are an evolved species, how could a knuckledragger like that make it through the filtering process?

Glad no one was hurt. Knowing there are idiots like this out there makes me crazy with fear every time I load up the kids to go somewhere.

 

All - Thanks for the kind words and support. I'm off to lunch (read: excuse to motor)

 

That's one of the things that concern me about the MINI.


With so many SUVs and trucks out there, an impact to the MINI seems to me like it would be equal to a Brinks truck hitting a normal car. Yes I know the MINI has loads of airbags, but airbags don't stop metal from crushing you does it?

I guess it's wrong of me to single out the MINI for this fault (any sports car would suffer the same fate), but it's the only car that has made me pay so much attention to it.
So what DOES happen when a 2 ton pickup slams into the side or back of a MINI?

 

beautiful

 

LOL That was GREAT! He deserved it for being such a twit!

I had a similar experience the 3rd day of owning my MCS! I was on the freeway, and keeping between 70-75 (break-in) staying in the right hand lane, down I-75. Well this ******* and his buddy in a minivan were on my *** like GLUE, even through they had CLEAR ROAD around to pass. Traffic was very light.

Anyway, after 10 minutes of it, I had my opportunity (evil grin)! A semi had lost a tread, and a huge 2' section was in the lane just off center to the left up ahead. I saw it...he was too busy riding my *** to notice (evil grin). I moved over left just slightly to block it as much as I could, then at the LAST second, swerved around it. Then I watched the rearview mirror (a.k.a. the free entertainment channel) and saw his eyes get REAL big, mouth open, and his pile of crap nearly tip over as he swerved...but it wasn't enough - he got a grill/hood full of 20 lbs. rubber

Needless to say that was the last I saw of mr redneck minivan nascar wanna-be

 

It’s funny but my MINI brings out the worst in these Neanderthals. I have never driven a car in which so many people try so hard to one-up. I am positive that there is a direct correlation between Dodge pickup & Lincoln Navigator owners and cognitive utilization. It doesn’t matter where you are or how fast you are going, pass an asleep-at-the-wheel Dodge or Lincoln owner and it is a HUGE challenge to their manhood.

 

Hence the bumper sticker I've heard about:
I'm driving a MINI
What are you compensating for?

 

Not saying it could never happen. It could. But I'd prefer to take on the challenges of the road in something quick and agile. When asked how I'll fare when I get hit by something big, I usually respond that I'll be the first one to call 911 since I will have darted out of the path leaving some poor unfortunate soul who couldn't to take the hit. Think dodgeball.

 

Man, you're bad! Do you just go around all day doing what other people wish they had?

Somewhere along the way, I learned you can't be mad at people for being stupid. I guess it's OK to do a little teaching, though, if they really ask for it. [Disclaimer: So long as it can be accomplished without anyone being hurt.]