Quote:
Questions:
Pg 9 "cruise control is a crutch"? For most people (and even me on long drives) cc = better fe
Pg 11 "brake hard" Oooooooh, power brakes might get a hard pedal with engine off.
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Looking back on it, I probably misused the word crutch and meant "cruise control: a valuable tool for the lead footed" If you can't be attentive enough to drive the whole thing with your foot, then it is indeed better to tell cruise control to keep you at 55-60 than at 65-75 if your only concern is not wanting to think about or constantly move your foot for a long haul. I know I don't have to tell you this Frankly... just a clarification.
the "brake hard" thing: I don't remember that being in reference to when the engine is off, although it is indeed important to remember that you need to push harder during EOC, and to be cautious if you are applying the brakes DURING a bump start where a surge of force is liable to be applied to the brakes due to the restored brake assist vacuum.
What I believe I meant by "brake hard" was a technique I use in certain situations that I believe is also mentioned in EM's "official" list of techniques. For instance, I may be coming up on another car, an obstacle, a traffic light that is likely to clear out in a perceived amount of time. If I'm a certain distance away with no one behind me, it's sometimes better to apply brakes more forcefully than "normal" or gracefully. The reason for this is that if I'm EOCing (I probably am at most given points), the hard application of the brakes buys more time for the obstacle ahead to clear out while still conserving enough momentum to bump start. So what I do is quickly brake down to a speed that I feel will carry me THROUGH the obstacle for a decent distance while giving the obstacle the maximum amount of time possible to clear out. My working theory is that graceful braking would carry me closer to the obstacle faster, increasing my likelihood of being forced to stop. Sometimes the obstacle clears out faster than expected and you think "shucks, I wish I didn't waste all that momentum I just had a second ago", and other times I wish I'd crept slower, but I think the bell curve of these situations is covered well with what I called the "brake hard" technique.
SCIENCE!