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NY: (Off-roading) Why I dont drive a 2WD

3K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  hellafastWRX 
#1 ·
(Off-roading) Why I dont drive a 2WD

Well after driving a bohemouth chevy tahoe for two weeks (for work) my WRX now feels faster than ever. On the way back from surfing today I decided to really push her on the pavement.
I had my friend with me and I wanted to show him what the car could really do. So after some crappy waves I really pushed it through some twisties with my new rear sway bar. Car handles much better especially at high speeds. As we approached some nice easy S turns I dropped it into 3rd and went WOT through each turn braking just before the next. It was a really cool sound WOT, downshift braking, WOT, braking. Even with the sway bar on the stiffest setting the rear stayed planted unless I really forced it loose.

Now the fun part... As we come around a bend I see a very promising looking dirt road (rare on Long Island) and I give my friend the look and he nods. This road was nice packed dirt with little gravel, pretty good traction. I could drift hard and get some real good accelleration out of the turn even with the wheel spin. I love that slingshot feeling around each corner onto the straight. Each turn I was pushing a little harder trying not to get carried away. We finally came up onto a construction area and I had to high-tail it out of there. On the way back we came up on a 120 degree bend that I was able to pull a nice hand brake drift back into a a hard 2nd gear pull into the straight.

Thats when it hit me. You cant have this much fun in anyother car (except the EVO :) ). One minute I'm outdueling most sports cars on the tarmac the next minute I'm enjoying AWD drifts that no SUV could dream of (OK maybe the new porsche SUV ;) )

So to all you non-believers YES, the WRX handles exceptional offroad as well. And, YES many of us really use it for that. I do every chance I get. :D
 
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#4 ·
krillz said:
gotta be out east or up northshore, i dont know of any gravel roads around here!

great narrative JROD! where you from in the isalnd??
I'm from the moriches area, the gravel/dirt road is out east on the way to Westhampton. The paved road leading up to the gravel road is really fun as well. I'll look at a map to get more specific directions if you guys want ( I know I'll be going back for more). The gravel road really isnt that long of a loop though. There are some really long roads through the pine barrons I want to check out. They have a lot of bumps that are a little much for the WRX though. Most of the guys out there are on dirt bikes or quads. There are probably a few good trails/roads suitable for the WRX, I just have to find them.
 
#6 ·
I've been looking for some suitable off roads for my WRX on Long Island but I haven't found anything yet. I'm from the middle of the North Shore, Stony Brook/Setauket area.
 
#7 ·
oh man, the stonybrook area is fully of windy roads whenever im up there i have such a good time, around here its stoplight, traffic, granny driver, stoplight and all over again unless you are out at like 12 midnite, but then coppers are likely to nab you
 
#8 ·
We have some twisty roads, but they are all about a half mile long at the most until it straightens out into something more commercial. The back roads of Old Field, Strongs Neck, and Crane Neck can be fun. Just drive with your high beams on or you'll end up in the water.
 
#10 ·
TGYBE said:
JROD,

Please - where is this road ? Is it on the way to dune road?
Yeah, there's one there too.:D

Sunrise Hwy to Exit 63 South, 2-3 trails on the East side of the road. The one I've been on gets pretty rough in spots. Not too many good turns either.

The one I described is off Old Country Road east out of westhampton. After you cross over the railroad tracks going west there is a TIGHT right turn onto a dirt road. The road forks at about 1/4 mile and the left was basically a straight that you can haul arse on. Although, there is one house (trailor) or two that caused me to slow down. The right fork has some turns and dead ended into a construction site.


If noone was working there, it would have been great for doughnuts.

Brookhaven lab has some sick gravel roads . Hard to get into though:(
 
#12 ·
:confused: Does anyboby actually use the wrx on highways? :p
I'm always on WOT :D

Late, hard braking while downshift and WOT again.. Thats how I always drive, Try to find some gravel roads when I can..

My wrx almost handles like my brothers evo on gravel, but I should definatly get the car to oversteer a little more. And get some kind of quick steering slike the evo have..
 
#14 ·
Butterfingers said:
hand brake drifting in an AWD car = hell on center differental
Agreed, it probably is. I've only done a few times with the clutch in while coasting on dirt/ gravel if that matters. Since the center diff. is viscous coupling limited slip and not locked, I would assume you would just heat it up for a sec.

I believe real WRC cars have a different mechanism for disengaging the center diff when hand braking.
 
#15 ·
The WRC Cars, the Lancer Evolution VII and VIII and the Impreza WRX STi have hydrualic center differentials. [Note that U.S.A. does not have the EVO VIII - it is vastly different and is officially designated simply as Lancer Evolution]

In all these cars, the limited-slip function is disengaged when the handbrake is pulled.

Anyway, you don't need to use the handbrake most of the time. Do you people use any other destabilizing techniques? I wrote a little guide on it.. all about powersliding and how to destabilize the car into getting the rear out. As you might know, this is done purely to avoid any understeer that can (will) appear. The most common and fun one is the pendulum.

And lastly, gravel roads are not "off" road. They are still roads, they just happen to be made of gravel. It seems to be an american thing to not recognize non-paved roads as roads.
:p
 
#16 ·
Mikko said:

And lastly, gravel roads are not "off" road. They are still roads, they just happen to be made of gravel. It seems to be an american thing to not recognize non-paved roads as roads.
:p
On Long Island any road other than asphalt or concrete is considered offroad IMHO. :D I know its not real off-roading like "jeep trails". Nothing that a wrx can handle anyway.
 
#18 ·
i ahve a dakota and a wrx, and if u can get past the gates to west hills park on jericho turnpike after 11pm, ur in heaven...... sweet hollow road that runs next to the park is also insane to go 60 mph down also..... if u look hard enough you can find nice spots to go "offroading"
 
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