"Go and see if you can find a car with a good ebrake, you're going to need it." It was 7:00 pm on a Friday night and I had just shown up for work.

As the stunt coordinator said those words, two thoughts went through my mind. The first was YEAH! It's going to be a fun night. The second was, SHIT, I hope I can find a car with a good ebrake.

I grabbed my driving bag and headed for a row of picture vehicles parked in the back of the location we were using. There was a bunch of different cars parked back there to be used in the chase scene we'd be filming but my eyes went to the 4 Crown Victorias that were rigged with police lights.

I was going to be one of the 'good guys' tonight.

I got into each one and pumped the ebrake pedal to see which one 'felt' the best. Two were soft and squishy, and two felt OK. Not great, they didn't go down and stop firmly, but they didn't go to the floor either. I got into the car with the best ebrake, started it up and backed out of the stall.

I asked a friend to watch the passenger side rear tire and accelerated up to 30 kmh, stuck my head out the drivers door to watch the other rear tire and hit the ebrake. Both tires locked. The ebrake felt pretty good. YEAH! First hurdle over with.

I parked the car and checked the tire pressures. Too low, so I got out my portable air compressor, stuck one end in the lighter socket, the other in the tire and started to pump them up.

While that was going on I took a piece of garden hose out of my bag, along with some duct tape and pulled the ebrake release handle out and made it so it wouldn't go back in again. Good, now the ebrake pedal wouldn't lock on when I stepped on it.

I adjusted my seat and grabbed the bits and pieces of garbage that were lying on the floor and threw it away so nothing would roll under my feet when I started sliding.

This shoot was going to be about precise slower speed stuff, 90's and 180's, so I opted for 38 lbs of pressure in the rears to make it as easy on the ebrake as I could, and 32 in the fronts so the front end would stick well and go where I pointed it.

After that I did the same thing to the next best car I had found just in case the first ones ebrake stopped working. It was just getting dark when I finished, so I went in to have some 'breakfast.'
A typical night on set was about to begin.