[CRE]

Originally posted by Jeff Hail
Would you prefer wet or dry Victor?

Personally I would love to take a shifter Kart there......

The Ed Davis EVO Center has 4.4 miles of track, skidpads and inner city grids. I was up there about two years ago for business ( no I am not) and got a tour.

Really interesting place. In addition to Emergency Vehicle training they have a heli-port to the north that every once in a while has an unmarked Blackhawk sitting there (DHS) which is just visible from the southbound 5 just north of the 405 connector along with a firearms training center. The main building is gigantic (something like 125,000 sf) Only thing I found not so inviting was the huge cop attitude and lot's of cop testosterone. I believe it also houses the largest collection of Oakley Cop Sunglass's in the world (humor)

The wet skid pad is really cool. They have a sprinkler system that floods the pad in a minute or two. I did get to watch some wet training. This is where our cities finest Gendarme is taught the infamous "Pit Maneuver". Pretty entertaining to watch the first timers go out. They have cars that have a Smittybuilt looking guard wrapped around them so they can beat the hell out the cars without causing real damage. Seems old LAPD cars go here to die too.

I did ask on my visit if they ever train at night with no lights (street or vehicle) and run some industrial fog machines? The response was "are you nuts with that Oakley stare". Evidently as it was explained they don't get have conditions like that in Los Angeles with a "you are not serious" added? I responded with - ever meet a ghost?

The training officer did tell me about some AMC's and Dodges that were prepped in the 70's & 80's as honest pursuit vehicles but were still limited by off the shelf performance parts, vehicle weight and mostly funding. They also did not have the training programs in place back then as they do today. The current Crown Vics and older Chevrolets weigh in about 5000 pounds with all the radio equipment, partition/ roll bar, cases of flairs, cones, safety supplies, ammo, AR and shotgun less occupants. The instructor seemed not impressed with the Ford or Chevy's performance and added they do ok for an office on wheels. He added that the CHP has some new vehicles in service that are much better in the performance department.

ALL OF THAT TRAINING AND THEY STILL CAN'T GET IT RIGHT.