Have you ever got on the road only to realize you’ve forgotten something crucial back at home? Do you have some kiddos in the rear who just don’t know when to stop kicking the back of your goddamn seat? Or are you just plain tired of making five-point turns? Then mastering the forward 180, courtesy of Wyatt Knox at Team O’Neil Rally School, may just be perfect for you!
A forward 180 is exactly what it sounds like: a 180-degree spin that immediately changes the direction of your car in the fastest way possible without ever having to put it in reverse. It’s efficient, effective, and downright cool. And this very handy explainer tells you exactly how to pull it off:
You’ll get a very in-depth discussion by watching the video, along with the visuals you need to figure out how to make this work in your own car. But here’s a quick summary from the video’s description box:
The simplest way to do a forward 180 with a car is to use the handbrake, and the first step is always to slow down to an appropriate speed for the surface (30mph on pavement, less on gravel or snow). With that accomplished: crowd the right side of the road, clutch in, pull the handbrake, and turn left. The vehicle should start to rotate and as it does, shift your eyes to the side window so that you can see the road ahead (which was very recently behind). Once you have roughly 90 degrees of rotation, release the handbrake, select 1st gear, release the clutch and drive away. In an automatic, the maneuver is the same except you can simply stay in Drive or shift the automatic if you choose to.
It sounds a lot easier than it actually is, so if you’re going to go out and experiment with this, make sure you’re somewhere where you’re not going to go crashing into any buildings or cars. Good luck and godspeed, my friends.
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
