handbrake turns

Noun

handbrake turn (plural handbrake turns)

1. An automobile driving manoeuvre where the driver starts turning the vehicle and then pulls on the handbrake to make the rear tyres lose adhesion and thus cause the back of the vehicle to slide around (in the direction of the turn).
   • The man did a handbrake turn, putting the car into a wild spin.2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

   Synonyms:

   bootlegger reverse, moonshiner's turn, broadie

2. (figuratively) An abrupt change of opinion.
   • The Tony Blair who told his party conference that he has no reverse gear has performed a screaming handbrake turn for a man he once described as an 'absolute disaster'.2003 December 21, Andrew Rawnsley, “Washed out, not washed up”, in The Observer