Wings over Highway 12
04-17-2005, 10:49 AM
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Copalis, Washington
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Wings over Highway 12 Anyway, I'm West bound near Satsop Washington on Highway
12 and the sun has just dipped below the horizon. I can finally see now!
Up from behind me comes some headlights and running lights at a pretty good clip.
I'm going 60 and this Acura passes me so fast I almost got out of the Vette to see why I wasn't moving.....LOL
Anyway, I leaned on it a bit and caught up and checked things out.
Looked like a late model Acura with this big friggn wing on the back.
It looked like polished aluminum and it even overhung the
sides of the car.
It was adjusted for max down pressure, or it pretty much looked as if it was.
Well, I'm pacing the guy who's doing 60 now and he looks over and grins and hit's it at the same time.
I'm about a half a second behind when I put the coals to it.
Off we go and it's a slow pull up to about 115 mph....
He's about six car lengths behind and I flash the brake lights a few times and start to slow down.....when I'm at around 85, he shoots past me like a missile.
Looks like he's still accelerating. I notice that the wing is
oscillating side to side at a pretty fast rate.
At about 20 car lengths ahead of me, there was enough daylight to see the leading edge of his wing go from pitch down to max pitch up.
I find out later that the front mounts let go and the only thing holding it to the car are the rear mounts.
So, of course, the wing tilts back, pauses and then, "WUMP", It rips off the Acura and heads skyward like a rocket.
I loose site of it as it passes over the top of my car and then falls to the pavement less then 20 feet behind me.
Friggen close!!!
I hit the brakes and pull over in a pretty shook up state.
The Accura disappears around a turn up ahead.
So I back up quite a bit to where the wing is still sitting in my lane and get out and retrieve it from the highway.
The traffic is light and cars are dodging it as it comes into view.
I stuff it in the back of the Vette and tie the rear hatch down with a bungee cord and get back on the freeway.
I'm hoping I can catch up with the Acura and return his property.
Sure enough, around the corner the Acura is pulled over by the side of the road and slowly backing up on the shoulder.
I pull in behind him.
It's a young guy in his early 20's with a relieved look on his face. I'm in the process of handing over his wing and
wouldn't ya know it, one of Washington's finest pulls in behind us.
First thing the cop says is "how fast were you going in order to make this thing fly off"?
The kid stammers, "not very, sir" and get's this stupid grin on his face.
Then the cop turns to me and asks me how I'm involved.
I just comment that I saw the wing come off and stopped by the side of the road to pick it up to see if I could return it.
So then this cop says, "so were you guys racing"?
Brilliant!!!
I thought to myself....should I raise my hand and say,
"Oh, yes sir, we were going 100 mph and it came off".
I think better of it and so I say to the cop, "look, young fella, Do I look like someone who'ed be out here racing? Check my record on your radio and you'll see I haven't had a ticket in more than 30 years". I just stopped to aid this motorist.
The kid's nodding a mile a minute and the cop changes his tune a bit and asks if there is anything he can do to assist.
The kid says, "no thanks" and the cop leaves.
The kid and I watch as the cop pulls out and turns to me and says, "close call, man". Thanks for picking up my wing".
He goes on to indicate that he was going to rethink the
wing idea a bit.
I told him that I didn't have a wing and my car is relatively quick and that he had a beautiful car just the way it was...
I'll bet money the wing's already back on the car, though.
I jump back in the Vette and head up the highway.....nuff
excitement for one evening.
What is it with wings, anyway? Perhaps I should put a big
phat wing on the Vette. Waddayathink?
DT
12 and the sun has just dipped below the horizon. I can finally see now!
Up from behind me comes some headlights and running lights at a pretty good clip.
I'm going 60 and this Acura passes me so fast I almost got out of the Vette to see why I wasn't moving.....LOL
Anyway, I leaned on it a bit and caught up and checked things out.
Looked like a late model Acura with this big friggn wing on the back.
It looked like polished aluminum and it even overhung the
sides of the car.
It was adjusted for max down pressure, or it pretty much looked as if it was.
Well, I'm pacing the guy who's doing 60 now and he looks over and grins and hit's it at the same time.
I'm about a half a second behind when I put the coals to it.
Off we go and it's a slow pull up to about 115 mph....
He's about six car lengths behind and I flash the brake lights a few times and start to slow down.....when I'm at around 85, he shoots past me like a missile.
Looks like he's still accelerating. I notice that the wing is
oscillating side to side at a pretty fast rate.
At about 20 car lengths ahead of me, there was enough daylight to see the leading edge of his wing go from pitch down to max pitch up.
I find out later that the front mounts let go and the only thing holding it to the car are the rear mounts.
So, of course, the wing tilts back, pauses and then, "WUMP", It rips off the Acura and heads skyward like a rocket.
I loose site of it as it passes over the top of my car and then falls to the pavement less then 20 feet behind me.
Friggen close!!!
I hit the brakes and pull over in a pretty shook up state.
The Accura disappears around a turn up ahead.
So I back up quite a bit to where the wing is still sitting in my lane and get out and retrieve it from the highway.
The traffic is light and cars are dodging it as it comes into view.
I stuff it in the back of the Vette and tie the rear hatch down with a bungee cord and get back on the freeway.
I'm hoping I can catch up with the Acura and return his property.
Sure enough, around the corner the Acura is pulled over by the side of the road and slowly backing up on the shoulder.
I pull in behind him.
It's a young guy in his early 20's with a relieved look on his face. I'm in the process of handing over his wing and
wouldn't ya know it, one of Washington's finest pulls in behind us.
First thing the cop says is "how fast were you going in order to make this thing fly off"?
The kid stammers, "not very, sir" and get's this stupid grin on his face.
Then the cop turns to me and asks me how I'm involved.
I just comment that I saw the wing come off and stopped by the side of the road to pick it up to see if I could return it.
So then this cop says, "so were you guys racing"?
Brilliant!!!
I thought to myself....should I raise my hand and say,
"Oh, yes sir, we were going 100 mph and it came off".
I think better of it and so I say to the cop, "look, young fella, Do I look like someone who'ed be out here racing? Check my record on your radio and you'll see I haven't had a ticket in more than 30 years". I just stopped to aid this motorist.
The kid's nodding a mile a minute and the cop changes his tune a bit and asks if there is anything he can do to assist.
The kid says, "no thanks" and the cop leaves.
The kid and I watch as the cop pulls out and turns to me and says, "close call, man". Thanks for picking up my wing".
He goes on to indicate that he was going to rethink the
wing idea a bit.
I told him that I didn't have a wing and my car is relatively quick and that he had a beautiful car just the way it was...
I'll bet money the wing's already back on the car, though.
I jump back in the Vette and head up the highway.....nuff
excitement for one evening.
What is it with wings, anyway? Perhaps I should put a big
phat wing on the Vette. Waddayathink?
DT
04-17-2005, 04:30 PM
#2
RIP April 14, 2008
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: the land where cars repeatedly hit my bumper when I'm in the store...
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you definetely need a big PHAT wing on your car. Preferably light grade aluminum so that it flaps when going over 60mph. I hear it makes a cool buzz like the sound of a folgers exhaust. 
Infact, I think the best place to put it on the vette is on the roof so it puts equal downforce on the whole car. 
that was nice of you to help out that kid though. Cant say I would've been so kind.
Brad
Infact, I think the best place to put it on the vette is on the roof so it puts equal downforce on the whole car. that was nice of you to help out that kid though. Cant say I would've been so kind.
Brad
