The Urban Motorist: Obstacle Speed Bump Land Rover 1: BMW X5 0
Hi all from Adam in NYC with my near-stock 1996 D1 with a 1 1/2 lift and ProComp shocks with the extra 2" in them.
I live in the Big Apple and you get opportunities and situations here in the citystreet that let you have a wee bit of fun with your Land Rover. With a Land Rover, you get a great opportunity to show what you can do in the street. You can never tell but sometimes you get to have some fun.
In most neighborhoods, we now have a relatively new animal to get motorists to slow down in the street near areas such as in front of neighborhood playgrounds at cityparks or schools. We call them speed bumps here. In Puerto Rico, they call them something clever: "policia muertos", literally dead policemen. Now the DOT (Department of Traffic) designed them so you have to transverse slowly or you risk damage to your car. The new ones have a unique chevon pattern demanded by the DOT. I work for the Fire Department, so we got the memo and the warning that if we hit these things too fast with our vehicles and damage does occur, we would be paying for the repairs. Now to the present.
Just got off the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey.I was dropping off my best friend in the North Bronx after a good afternoon of beer, talk and some shopping. Got into Washington Heights off the West Side Highway and turned into a local street. I checked my rear view mirror and had a surprise.
I ended up with a fancy tailgater, a BMW X5 following my Rover not 6 inches away from my gas tank. He wanted to be in front of me and was stuck behind me on a two-way street. Luckily I saw my chance. This street had not one but two of the nastiest speed bumps I know in Manhattan.
I gunned the gas and my friend was in the Pete mate position knew something was up. I charged the speed bump and the D1 did its thing. It went up and down like it was on a rail and the wheels stuck like glue to the ground.
The BMW never had a chance. Bang! and it stopped. To make sure he saw it, there is a second speed bump about 100 feet down the street. Gunned it and showed him how a Land Rover does it. Up and down , smooth as silk, and without a sound other than the sound of th motor.
He will think twice about crowding a Land Rover and not paying attention to the oncoming terrain. I had fun. And my best friend knew it too.
I just love it when a plan comes together.
Adam in NYC
__________________
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Owner of a 1996 Land Rover Discovery 1 in Beluga Black or the Dirt of the Day.
Where we are going,we don't need roads.
Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of
inert facts.
‘The Education of Henry Adams’ (1907) ch. 25
|
