What it means to ‘hoon’

LIME ROCK — For most drivers, the goal is not to skid on the snow in a car. But there are some people (and we won’t indicate a gender here but you know who you are) who find it amusing to slide sideways and perhaps even bump up against a big pile of snow on the roadside.

For those people, the racetrack at Lime Rock Park has created a new Winter Autocross program. 

The first session was held Friday, Jan. 9, when it was (conveniently) snowing and very cold. But nature doesn’t need to help out; if there is no snow on the track, Lime Rock can generate its own, with its own snowmaking machine (see story, this page). 

In the press release announcing the program, winter driving coach Stephan Bastrzycki asks the question, “Who hasn’t booted the tail out or hand-braked their car in a snowy parking lot somewhere?” and adds that, “First and foremost, driving hard and getting ‘slideways’ in the snow is simply a whole bunch of fun.” 

At Lime Rock, I have learned, racing cars is a very serious business, but there is also a gleeful  side to it. Rick Roso, who is the track’s PR director, has a special word for it: Hooning. 

“‘Hoon’ is originally derived from a shortening of the word hooligan,” Roso said. 

“If a hooligan were to get his hands on a car, say, one that didn’t belong to him, what do you think he would do? Beat it like a rented mule, right? 

“So, in general terms, hooning a car is driving it hard, testing its limits, whipping it like Secretariat down the straight.  It is driving a car in a real hard, ridiculous fashion. Like the Dukes of Hazard. Or Steve McQueen in ‘Bullitt.’”

Or as someone said at the track last Friday, “Oh, you mean just having fun in a car?”

For those of us who do not, however, think it’s fun to drive sideways in the snow, Roso and his team shared some winter driving tips.

When the highways and byways of Connecticut’s Northwest Corner are slick and slippery, there are two important tips —one about tires, the other about driving — that can bend the odds in your favor. Lime Rock’s winter driving experts have this to say.

1. Equipment: Buy proper winter or snow-and-ice tires. 

In the pro driving world, we call all-season tires ‘no-season tires,’” says instructor Roger Cote. “By design, everything has to be a compromise, which makes them only minimally competent in the rain, dry, snow and ice. The amazing grip available from a snow-and-ice tire [virtually all brands manufacture them] as compared to a no-season is literally life-changing.”

2. Driving: Think “soft.” 

When driving in snow and ice, says Cote, “make sure all your inputs are slow, deliberate, soft. Do nothing abrupt with the brake, throttle or steering wheel. Refrain from ‘death-gripping’ the steering wheel; pro drivers hold the wheel with their fingertips, because you can feel much better what’s going on with the front tires that way.” 

And be sure to look far, far ahead: Gently lifting off the gas pedal very early is always better than trying to slow the car with the brakes.