Mark wrote:
<<ps -- is there a difference between a bootlegger's
turn and a moonshiner's turn? Sallis uses both in a sentence
describing one of Driver's movie stunts. A bootlegger's turn
is a moving 180, also known as a Bat-turn, right? So what's a
moonshiner's turn?>>
No difference. As a former racing driver and - many,
many years ago - a film stunt driver, I learned how to do the
bootlegger's or moonshiner's turn. It's a pretty complex
process, because all four limbs are doing something different
at the same time.
Let's say you want to do a bootlegger turn to the
left, and you're driving a straight drive car (it's EXTREMELY
hard to do this with an automatic). You're traveling in the
right hand lane. You pull the car to the extreme edge of the
asphalt, and then crank the wheel to the left. At about the
point that you're straddling the middle line of the road, you
put negative steering input into the wheel - turn it back to
the right. At the same time, you double clutch with your left
foot, keep your right foot on the gas, and pull the emergency
brake with your right hand. DON'T LET GO OF THE EMERGENCY
BRAKE BUTTON or the handle will stick in place due to the
ratchet. You pull the brake lever, which locks the rear
wheels, which are already unloaded because of your second
turn to the right. The rear end of the car should snap
around. When you've completed the 180 degree turn, you
release the brake lever, rev the engine to match the
revolutions for first or second gear, double clutch
again
to put the car into gear, and give it gas to
light up the rear tires and stop the spin. If you've done it
right, you've drawn an 'S' in the middle of the road, and
you're facing in the opposite direction from the way you
came.
Haven't done one (at least on purpose) in about thirty
years. Knowing how to do it saved my bacon in a couple of
racing 'incidents' over the years, though.
Kids, don't try this at home. You can seriously tear
up a car in the learning curve. R
Richard Helms Two-Time Shamus Award Nominee Look for
CORDITE WINE (0-9710159-6-1), the second Eamon Gold PI novel,
Available NOW from Back Alley Books! website: http://hometown.aol.com/murdvoocarre
"Cordite Wine is tough, funny, exciting, and very good!"
Robert B. Parker
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