I scared myself a little yesterday.

I was running late, and pulled up to a T intersection that sees a surprising amount of traffic for a rural area. From the west side of the little town it serves, this road is the only way to get to that town. If you need to make a left turn like I needed to do, you often times have to wait a while for traffic to clear.

So, I'm waiting to make my left turn, and as usual, less than courteous drivers who don't use a turn signal until the last second make it even more difficult to pick a spot.

I see an opening forming, and I'm getting ready to go, when this jagoff in a POS Jeep pulls up to make a right turn, and of course, runs right to the end of the road which blocks my view of traffic to my right. The opening I was going to take for my left turn was iffy at best, so rather than risk a blind left turn in my 2 week old Mustang, I elected to wait on the turn. Now I'm getting frustrated, I'm even more late, and I'm about to drive angry.

Up until now, I have been taking it easy on the engine, and making sure I vary the rpm's for break in. So far, no WOT, or redline. In fact, in 700 miles since new, I've yet to go over 5K rpm's.

A spot opens for the turn, and I really put my foot into it. As the rev's climb past 3K, the car is starting to take off. At this point, I'm still on the upside of the crown of the road I'm turning on to. This is a county road, so they are crowned pretty good for rain and snow run off. As I crest the top of the crown, and start "down hill" on the crown into my lane, the car is really starting to pull, and the rpm's are around 5K now.

The combination of the down hill of the crown, the strong pull of 1st gear at 5K rpm's, and the turn itself, is causing the car do two things. It's rolling to the right a little. Not much, but more than I have experienced in the car to date. The right rear spring is really compressed, and the front left corner(drivers side) is raising up an alarming amount. I've never had the front of a car lift that high before.

The whole time, the car is continuing to accelerate, and I'm realizing I'm out of my comfort zone, and sort of just along for the ride at this point. I made my 1 to 2 shift as I was just in my lane, and that event allowed the car to settle down. That shift took place at about 3,500 rpms, so once again, the car took off, but this time, in a controlled straight line like I was used to.

I think there's a real possibility that I would have dumped the car if it had been a GT with another 100+ horsepower.

A couple of things I learned here:
--Even though it's "just the V6", there is more than enough power there to get into trouble.
--Thankfully, I had all of the nannies on. I'm certain that traction and stability control saved my ass.
--I need to explore the higher end of the tach in a controlled manner, and not when I'm late, frustrated, and angry.


In aviation, most private pilot accidents occur around the 400 hour experience level of the pilot. This is the point where the new pilot starts to feel comfortable, and begins to stretch boundaries. I think the same applies to a more powerful automobile. At 700 miles, I'm feeling pretty comfy in the car, and came close to exceeding my abilities.

This was definitely a learning event. I think I got lucky yesterday, and the lessons that my car taught me will not be forgotten.

Tim