I'm assuming they were tourists riding Harleys, so they might not have had the pace to get away or wanted to go any quicker.
I know a guy who rides a Triumph Rocket and races anyone who dares to pass him. He [b]always [/b]wins.
epicsteve - Member
I'm assuming they were tourists riding Harleys...
You can have a surprisingly good time cornering a big Harley if you get your weight forward over the tank, and then hang off to stop everything dragging. 🙂
But Harleys barely have the performance of a good 250, so quite possible.
You can have a surprisingly good time cornering a big Harley if you get your weight forward over the tank, and then hang off to stop everything dragging.
You'd be having fun (which is the important thing) but not going very fast.
epicycloI think jimjam needs to get a motorbike though.
No chance. I love the idea of it but I couldn't trust myself.
And you couldn't even imagine a scenario where a bike wouldn't be massively superior.
Yeah I thought that was a bit blinkered. While bikes are biblically fast in straight line accel, their braking and cornering ability is not quite so impressive and requires serious skill to extract. Even a car that a hardcore biker would dismiss as being "slow" (like an M3) is pretty much impossible to drive flat out on a typical UK country road. The winner of any "race" would be the one with the most skill and least regard for their own mortality, not the one with the theoretically fastest bike/car.
Edit: local road knowledge plays a huge part too.
No chance. I love the idea of it but I couldn't trust myself.
Hahahahahaha you never really wrote that did you ?
You did ? Was it supposed to be that amusing ?
If we take an example, Cadwell Park circuit has a good selection of corner types and is regarded as being one of the best circuits in the world to drive by many riders/drivers. Parts of it are like typical UK B-class road (Mountain section etc) the rest is like a very fast country A-class road.A Radical SR8 Sports car will get round in circa 1min 22 secs (lap record)
Shayne Byrne riding his ZX-10 British Superbike race bike lapped and set a new record for bikes at 1min 26 secs
I love Cadwell and it's great fun on the bike. Unfortunately I've never driven my car round there so don't know which one I'd be quicker with there. My guess is that in the wet I'd be quicker in my car, but in the dry I'd be quicker on the bike.
The example above, while legitimate enough, isn't a full answer though. I had a quick look at the lap records for BTCC and BSB at UK circuits and it looks like the bikes are normally quite a lot quicker in the dry. Given they're both based on the type of machinery we're likely to see on the road then that might be a better basis for comparison with "real world" situations.
Now put Cadwell into the real world context
Your average 'fast' guy is around a 1min 40-45s of Cadwell on a bike you can buy new for £10,000 That's just your average fella on an average sportsbike.
What's the times for Cadwell in a real world car?
http://www.planet-9.com/united-kingdom-ireland-region/77714-lap-times-cadwell-park.html
From there, the fast fellas in GT3's etc are about the same time it seems.
vids showing your trackday boys 1.47-1.50 so very little in it.
weeksy - Member
...What's the times for Cadwell in a real world car?...From there, the fast fellas in GT3's etc are about the same time it seems.
vids showing your trackday boys 1.47-1.50 so very little in it.
[backset mode] From the vid it looks like he could have improved his times with a different approach to the corners and some later braking. [/backset mode]
[backset mode] From the vid it looks like he could have improved his times with a different approach to the corners and some later braking. [/backset mode]
Watching a video of me there at about 1min50's you'd think the same too... which is easy when it's not you having to control it 🙂
I watch me and think "why in gods name is he braking so early...." etc.
The last trackday I did at Cadwell we had guys in the fast group dipping below 1:40, however 1:47-1:50 would have been a decent fast group pace and about as quick as I could manage on my CBR600.
It's been a few years since I did a trackday though. I'd be happy to get close to 2:00 now, especially as I fell off the last time I was there!
epicsteve - MemberThe last trackday I did at Cadwell we had guys in the fast group dipping below 1:40, however 1:47-1:50 would have been a decent fast group pace and about as quick as I could manage on my CBR600.
It's been a few years since I did a trackday though. I'd be happy to get close to 2:00 now, especially as I fell off the last time I was there!
I feel your pain mate... 2.00 wouldn't make me too unhappy next year for sure lol.
jimjam - Member
Or rather, could. Till the engine blew up. When I get it back it won't be in that state of tune.
So, this mythical beast of a car has about 0 bhp, then??
Rachel
Should be lifting it again in a couple of days. So we'll see.
[quote=jimjam ]There's a guy near me who claims his sti impreza has 350bhp, it can keep up with that.
On the public roads. Sticking to the speed limits.
On the public roads. Sticking to the speed limits.
Really? It is possible, you know, to travel from 0 to 60mph as quickly as your car will allow [i]and[/i] do so perfectly safely.
Ahh, but only if you know the road!
Ive spent the last two weeks driving in Kuwait and our roads seem serene. Its madness here, packed 3 lane motorway, doing 120kmph then a dick in a V8 comes up 2" from your bumper flashing even though you have meerly one cars width between you and the next car so where he thinks he going is anyones guessThey will then gun it fly to the slow lane and cut back in before lamping the anchors on. Its madness.
I wouldnt mind but every day there are smashed up cars at the side of the motorway, they dont get cleaned up like in the UK, they just sit there till someone shifts them so you would think its a wake up call to them. Its bloody sobering to see as some look horrific and i struggle to see how anyone would get out alive but they dont think at all.
There again they have Allah looking down on them so all is safe and well.......
Ill not even go into the super bike riders with the helmets attached to the rear of the bike doing wheelies at stupid speed
hence the weekends club ride having some extra arse protection as everyone is looking at their phone constantly, god knows what at but its terrifying how little attention they pay to the road
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There again they have Allah looking down on them so all is safe and well.......
You realise you just brought religion (and possibly racism) into a driving thread don't you? I think you're about to brake the internet.
I was in Bahrain for a couple of weeks in the summer and did a fair bot of driving while I was there. Outside the city it was fine as the roads were very quiet, but the standard of driving in the city wasn't great. Not really any worse than London though.
their words not mine!
and possibly racism
Islam is not a race. Nice try though.
@bland the motorway from Dubai to Abu Dhabi used to have speed humps on it to try and slow the traffic down, I saw some spectacular wreckage by the side of the road over the years. I'm stunned anyone would ride a bike on the roads in the middle east, it's dangerous enough in a big 4x4
Don't drive in the middle east simple as. A lady in my rock and roll dance group had a kid run under her car in Saudi. Her passport was taken off her and she had to wait months for the trial. Fortunately witnesses confirmed she was going through a green light at reasonable speed. If not she'd still be there. Take taxis.
Edit: I forgot to mention she nearly stopped and the girl was unhurt.
And in other news...
"Sensible cars are too powerful for Arab roads"
Puts things into perspective slightly, yes?
Hang on, aren't drugs illegal over there?
Those saudis are just having too much fun
That's pretty much how I picture the average STWer in his/her turbo-diesel estate approaching the trail centre car park, but obviously a fair bit slower 😉
A car is only unsuitable (as far as excess power/speed goes) if it simple CANNOT mechanically drive below the speed limit. Any other reason is the driver.
There are two points being made:
1) Buying a fast car if you're not going to drive it fast is pointless - therefore it's going to be drive fast at some point
2) A car with more capability is going to make it both easy and tempting to drive fast, and eventually physics will catch up with you.
So yes, it's the driver - but the driver is influenced by the car.
Shit I said I was out of this.. dammit.
molgrips - Member1) Buying a fast car if you're not going to drive it fast is pointless - therefore it's going to be drive fast at some point
Which is, to be fair, obvious rubbish on both counts
Really?
Who buys a fast (note I didn't say 'nice') car and doesn't drive it fast? And why?
Speed limits are way out of date.
Nobody does 70 on the motorway anymore, cars just stop and go so much better than they used to. Cars are more powerful but they stop and handle way better too even tyres have moved on - just the drivers that haven't moved on. At least some of them.
Who buys a fast (note I didn't say 'nice') car and doesn't drive it fast? And why?
Pretty sure I covered speed vs power on the first couple of pages. For most people, it's not about top speed.
Nobody does 70 on the motorway anymore
That's true, but not wholly in the way you're implying.
Cougar - Moderator
and possibly racism
Islam is not a race. Nice try though.
Come on, the piss take should have been obvious. Must write out "use more smilies" 100 times...
Driving skills have improved
tyres have improved
brakes have improved
roads have improved
steering has improved
suspension as improved
cars are not too powerful, they have always had the ability to maim or kill. they are safer and we are safer and quicker.
As @squirrel's post shows you can drive like an idiot in any car. I'd go as far as to say in a powerful car you can have fun safely whereas to make a dull car interesting you do crazy stuff, as per the videos above
Cars are more powerful now than they have ever been yet our road deaths and casualty statistics are lower than they've ever been and we some of the safest roads in Europe.
It's still not as fast as a neighbours Talbot Sunbeam though.
Ha! I'll never forget one evening driving over to Basingstoke with a mate in his MGC, to see our respective girlfriends at the hospital. (Trainee nurses). Anyhoo we were pootling along the lanes the other side of Newbury, around Kingsclere, and this boxy little car comes up behind, then blasts past, disappearing away in front. As it passes, my mate goes for the gears, at which point, I go "uh uh, not a good idea!" "Fast, is it?" "You haven't a hope in hell!" "Don't think I'll bother, then..."
I'd spotted the Lotus logo on the silver graphic panel along the side as it passed, he hadn't. 😀
Always wanted one, doubt if I could even afford to run one, these days, not without a lottery win!
As a counterpoint there are some cases where buying an underpowered car is just as dangerous.
Bewildrered person: "I'd like a 1 litre hyundai please"
Salesman "Oh - do you in a city that you live quite close to - is everything relativelly flat?
BP: "NO I want to do 45mph on A roads and 15mph around the peak district"
Salesman: "Okay - you simply don't like driving - please can I take you license and give you these free taxi vouchers and a national express pass?"
Driving skills have improved
Have they? I think I've missed that.
molgrips - Member
Really?Who buys a fast (note I didn't say 'nice') car and doesn't drive it fast? And why?
Doesn't have to be a 'fast' car, per se, define 'fast' anyway.
You should've seen how I used to drive my dad's old Volvo 244!
My Puma wasn't the fastest car on the road by any stretch of the imagination, 129bhp from a normally aspirated 1.7 Zetec is easily beaten my a regular VW, Seat or Audi 1.4 TSi, which puts out 184bhp, but it was so much fun to drive quickly along twisty A and B roads; there's a lovely twisty bit on the A420 Bristol Road dropping down into a village called Ford, which is normally taken about 50mph. That's about the maximum I can take it in the Octavia, but in the Puma I could easily take it at 70, no problem.
That's the great thing about 'fast' cars, it's just not so much about maximimum outright power, it's the better handling, breaking, grip, etc, that goes with it, allowing higher average speeds to be maintained while not necessarily exceeding maximum speed limits.
Damn, I really miss that little car, it sounded great, and really was a blast to drive. 😥
Driving skills have improved
Have you actually been near a road in the last 10 years 😆
molgrips - MemberWho buys a fast (note I didn't say 'nice') car and doesn't drive it fast? And why?
We covered this [i]pages[/i] ago. Fast cars can be satisfying to drive slow, simple as that, the extra power and improved handling that makes them fast can also make them very allround drivable. (or, o'course, can make them total pigs)
Mine as I say isn't [i]fast[/i] fast- it's just enormously quicker and more powerful than a big estate has to be. But I didn't get the big engine (and tune it) for the extra 30mph top speed over the little engine, because I'll never go near that... You could stick a speed limiter on it, I wouldn't just not mind, I'd never know. Or to take 5 seconds off the 0-60, because doing that too often'll cause the DMF to explode... I got it because it's [i]lovely[/i] to drive, all the time, it wafts along motorways, grunts through twisty b-roads, it's just entirely more pleasant than the slower versions. I do use all the power sometimes too but mostly I like the girth, not the length.
There are some fast cars that are just for going fast and are compromised the rest of the time but there's also a lot of fast cars that make very good, sensible everyday cars.
