[Closed] "Modern cars are too powerful for UK roads"

Yes it did go a bit of a tangent there.

Remind me again how fast your modern car is...

Plenty 😳

It's still not as fast as a neighbours Talbot Sunbeam though.

Remind me again how fast your modern car is...

I've been back through the posts and, primarily due to jimjam being too embarressed to say what he actually drives, I'm using the working assumption that it's a Corsa with a set of loud pipes and lowered suspension - and maybe some nice stickers...

Remind me again how fast your modern car is...

In theory my car has a slightly higher top speed than my touring motorbike.

epicsteve

I've been back through the posts and, primarily due to jimjam being too embarressed to say what he actually drives, I'm using the working assumption that it's a Corsa with a set of loud pipes and lowered suspension - and maybe some nice stickers...

Steve I'm not embarrassed at all, I didn't want to say because any car I'd have said would be instantly dismissed as useless against a bike. Despite every other factor other than power to weight beining in my favour. I also don't really want all and sundry knowing what I drive. Too late now mind.

It's still not as fast as a neighbours Talbot Sunbeam though.

A friend of mine has a Lotus Sunbeam back in the day - I've always wanted one of those and might even treat myself one day. I drove his one quite a few times and it did seem quick back then, but I suspect plenty of normal family saloons would be quicker these days.

Steve I'm not embarrassed at all, I didn't want to say because any car I'd have said would be instantly dismissed as useless against a bike. I also don't really want all and sundry knowing what I drive. Too late now mind.

No denial - so definitely a Corsa then.

epicsteve

No denial - so definitely a Corsa then.

I might have to get a corsa if my mechanic doesn't hurry up rebuilding the engine.

I also don't really want all and sundry knowing what I drive

Why ? I have a Mondeo... I don't really care if anyone knows this fact.

Unless you're giving us your postcode too I can't for the life of me imagine why you would feel you can't tell people ?

This whole thread now makes sense, now that we know the original poster has a "modified" Corsa and once passed a motorcycle that was being ridden slowly by a tourist.

weeksy

Why ? I have a Mondeo... I don't really care if anyone knows this fact.

Unless you're giving us your postcode too I can't for the life of me imagine why you would feel you can't tell people ?

Well I guess I was trying in vain to stop the debate from car x won't beat bike z. It also does feel kind of wierd. I know there are a lot of lurkers on here who know who I am, just don't want everyone knowing. I don't mean friends. I can't really spell it out without accusing one or two people of being thieves. I'm probably being over cautious.

I also don't really want all and sundry knowing what I drive

Really? Why not? You put your email address in your profile, surely that's a far more 'useful' bit of information for people!?

Sorry, but can't help but chip in here guys....

A bike isn't faster than a car, all things being equal.

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

Not willie waving, but FWIW I drive a race/sports car and it has beaten fairly powerful race bikes in motorsports competition (Racing on public roads isn't clever). It's circa 450bhp/Tonne, but is only 500kg total weight, has corner weighted race suspension, limited slip diff, AP racing brakes, Pagid pads, soft compound Avon race tyres, etc, etc. The key point isn't just how fast it will accelerate, it's how fast it can brake and how well it can corner. Usually a competition sports car will easily outbrake and out-corner a bike....and on a track, or a real road, that's what matters more than raw power.

jimjam - Member
...It's impressive how partisan people are, and just how quick they are to start shouting liar or troll, or indeed that I must have been a cock.

...but because a motorbike has an engine presumably it negates the need for any skill on behalf of the rider.

No I don't think you are a cock. Just mistaken about the ability of your car versus a motorbike. The mention about the hand gestures etc suggests the guys on the bikes were cocks though.

To get a licence to ride a big bike, a rider has to go through a series of tests on smaller bikes (it may have changed).

The small bikes usually cull out the idiots, the deranged and the lesser skilled, so if someone is riding a big bike, they are likely to have a reasonable skill set to have survived on our greasy roads.

Hence it's reasonable to assume if the rider is on a big bike he/she has the necessary skills to use it because mistakes on motorbikes are often game over time.

epicyclo

No I don't think you are a cock. Just mistaken about the ability of your car versus a motorbike.

That's fine mate, I can live with that. You make very valid points.

njee20

Really? Why not?

Jesus, third degree or what!? Nutshell - I worked in a shop. I know a few people who were trying or stealing from it/general scumbags. Couldn't catch them. They work in jobs that bring them near my house. I don't want them to know my car would be worth stealing. I've taken some effort to make it look a bit plain.

One of the fastest cars I've ever been in was a friends Skip Brown modified Lotus Sunbeam. Early 90's I think. God it was brutally quick, throw you back in the seat fast. Don't think many modern standard saloons would be as quick as a standard Lotus Sunbeam. Just seen a nice HS Chevette for sale, must resist!

skydragon - Member

The key point isn't just how fast it will accelerate

Course, Jimjam [i]was[/i] talking about acceleration.

To get a licence to ride a big bike, a rider has to go through a series of tests on smaller bikes (it may have changed).

The small bikes usually cull out the idiots, the deranged and the lesser skilled, so if someone is riding a big bike, they are likely to have a reasonable skill set to have survived on our greasy roads.

Hence it's reasonable to assume if the rider is on a big bike he/she has the necessary skills to use it because mistakes on motorbikes are often game over time.

Having said that, and having outed jimjam and his car, I will wade in on the side of the car driver. I've had my share of highly-strung Jap cars, and they're very, very capable when done right. Certainly a tuned Legacy in the right hands would give a sportsbike a run for its money on the right road.

As for too powerful for UK roads? Not a chance. People are often too stupid for UK roads, but that's not the car's fault.

Well according to the bike brigade modern cars are actually too slow for UK roads.

FWIW I drive a race/sports car and it has beaten fairly powerful race bikes in motorsports competition

So essentially you're saying that a car may be faster than a bike in favourable conditions that play to the car's strengths. Which is of course true.

But the reason our JJ is getting such a mauling is, all other things aside, his assertion was that the bikes were quicker than him round corners but under his feet on the straights; the implication here being that his family estate out-performed a pair of power rangers on sports bikes. Which is, as many have pointed out, stretching credibility.

I don't doubt the veracity of the facts of the claim; I can easily believe the bikers were impatient and shakey-fist at him, and I can readily believe that he overtook them at some point. I've overtaken Porsche 911s and BMW M3s in a 1.1 Fiesta before now, it's not difficult to happen to be going faster than someone else. But if the claim is "I was racing some bikes and took them on the straights" then I respectfully posit that either they weren't particularly trying to race you or that sir's pants are on fire.

his assertion was that the bikes were quicker than him round corners but under his feet on the straights; the implication here being that his family estate out-performed a pair of power rangers on sports bikes. Which is, as many have pointed out, stretching credibility.

No Cougar, they couldn't put power to the road. I could. There were no long straights to speak of and the humps and compressions would get a bike very airbourne or indeed, smash your head off the tank if you took them too fast. Anyway, they were just tourists out for a pootle.

Ten pages in and all that's been confirmed is that people who think excessively powerful cars are a good idea are deluded.

Well they are fun to drive, so if that makes me deluded in your eyes then I'm fine with that.

Could you define "excessively powerful" again, just to remind us what YOU consider to be acceptable?

Well I'm glad I dropped out of this one. It got even worse!

Cars are interesting. Mine was worryingly noisy after I put the gearbox mechatronics back in, but now I've got round to refitting the undertray it's back to normal. Who'd have thought a big piece of plastic could make a difference to the noise?

This thread has stirred up memories of some of the things I used to do with my cars and motorbikes.

I don't think I'm fit to comment here any more. 🙂

Can I just say that I've never "had a go" at a bike or group of bikes before then or since. I usually give them a very wide berth.

Having said that, and having outed jimjam and his car, I will wade in on the side of the car driver. I've had my share of highly-strung Jap cars, and they're very, very capable when done right. Certainly a tuned Legacy in the right hands would give a sportsbike a run for its money on the right road.

All true but his assertion that he overtook them and stayed under the speed limit seems highly unlikely if they were trying or he wasnt driving like an utter bell end. I get overtaken on my bike sometimes but its usually in 30 or 40 zones or on dual track roads.

moshimonster - Member

Could you define "excessively powerful" again, just to remind us what YOU consider to be acceptable?

1bhp more than my car, obviously.

his assertion that he overtook them and stayed under the speed limit seems highly unlikely

utter bell end.

To go with cock, arsehole. Liar. Troll.

Here's a video just to add some context. This isn't the exact stretch of road, but it's not a million miles away. It should give the doubters a bit of an idea just how bad/good some of the roads are where I grew up.

If nothing else, you'll enjoy the scenery and the driving.

Out of interest whats the bhp of this legacy, and power to weight?

There were no long straights to speak of and the humps and compressions would get a bike very airbourne

Hitherto undisclosed and fairly key information, unless you said that earlier and I missed it. Apologies if so.

Well, on Saturday I had a test drive in an absolutely brilliant little car...

The BMW i3.

Very strong acceleration - and recuperative braking...!!! Lift off the throttle and your almost on your belts :-0
Only used the brakes once for the whole drive.

£2.50 for a full charge

I have seen the future 😉

tpbiker - Member

Out of interest whats the bhp of this legacy, and power to weight?

Weight would be about 1450kg maybe (took out power seats, air con, wing, splitters etc). Power is hard to say. 4x4 trans loses more power than 2wd. Previous owner had a dyno figure for the wheels but I don't know what it would be at the crank. Octane rating of the fuel has an effect too. Say 325 for the sake of argument. There's a guy near me who claims his sti impreza has 350bhp, it can keep up with that.

Or rather, could. Till the engine blew up. When I get it back it won't be in that state of tune.

Northwind - Member

moshimonster - Member

Could you define "excessively powerful" again, just to remind us what YOU consider to be acceptable?

1bhp more than my car, obviously.

N+1 Exactly the correct answer, I going with that too.

No I don't think you are a cock. Just mistaken about the ability of your car versus a motorbike. The mention about the hand gestures etc suggests the guys on the bikes were cocks though.

While that is one possible scenario I'm going to put forward another one - which is that the hand gestures from the motorcyclists were just as likely to be due to the original poster driving like a total bell-end and them feeling threatened by his actions. My theory is supported by a number of factors:
1) The increasingly unlikely details that the original poster has been coming up with the justify his tall tale of the one time he passed a motorbike and how therefore motorbikes "weren't all that"
2) The whole thinking behind his starting this thread - which was undoubtedly because he wanted to tell us how wonderful his car was and what a skilled driver he was
3) His later description of the road he was driving on (including a video to show what it was like) and on which any overtake is likely to have been dangerous unless it was done so at the urging of the car or motorbike in front

It might be better if we all just agree with him that his car is the most wonderful thing on 4-wheels and that it was F1's loss when they didn't recruit his as a driver, and that motorbikes are slow lardy things which don't deserve to share the road with him. That way we could close the thread down and he could go away happy, boasting about his exploits on Pistonheads or the like.

Will it pass an mot with that tread depth?

Didn't realise we were going to race to the MOT test centre 😀 . Now i've seen the type of [s]racetrack[/s] road you mean, i'll be borrowing a supermoto instead. Don't think i'd beat you in your turbotrollcockmobile on an unfamiliar country road but i'd enjoy it more.

P.s. How's the shoulder healing up?

Euro

P.s. How's the shoulder healing up?

Slowly but surely. Seems I'll be out for a while yet.

epicsteve
1) The increasingly unlikely details

Really, think what you like steve. The details you say are increasingly unlikely are what made me laugh when all you bikers instantly cried foul, despite having zero context. All you knew was car v bike. And you couldn't even imagine a scenario where a bike wouldn't be massively superior.

Cant watch the video at the moment but the fact the roads had no long straights and seems very narrow I'm still failing to think anything other than you were driving like a bell end and they let you past asap.

Seems I'll be out for a while yet.

Least you got stw to keep sane 😆

I'm still failing to think anything other than you were driving like a bell end

I don't think that's JJs style tbh. Local knowledge makes a huge difference on those types of roads.

Sounds like a fun car, jimjam. Pretty sure a Forester / Legacy will be my next car 😀

Nice road, that. Looks narrow!

I do understand the reluctance to mention car specifics...part of me wonders if mentioning online what I've done to mine contributed to ****s stealing it. Edit: Not the Panda. I'm happy for everyone to know that that's 999cc of completely stock fury.

thooms

Sounds like a fun car, jimjam. Pretty sure a Forester / Legacy will be my next car

Awesome. Just be sure never to drive like a cock, bell end or arsehole like me.

I've never got a bike because my inner cock would get the better of me and I'd almost certainly die - probably have the same trouble with a Subaru of some kind.

epicsteve - Member
While that is one possible scenario I'm going to put forward another one - which is that the hand gestures ...

Always a possibility, but seeing as they had the power to clear off safely, the hand gestures were unnecessary when they should have been concentrating on the road. (IMO)

I think jimjam needs to get a motorbike though. His car sounds really expensive to maintain.

That way he could have a nice slow car (all cars are slow), loads of cheap petrolheading with the motorbike, and the opportunity to make hand gestures at slow cars. 🙂

When buying a car, my policy used to be to look at the price of the base model, and the price of the loaded model, subtract the prices to get the difference, buy the base model and spend the difference on motorbikes. That rationale kept my wife onside with my motorbike habit. The year I bought an H-D ElectraGlide and a BMW K1 on the same day needed a bit of smooth talking, and the purchase of a somewhat flasher car than I cared to drive. 🙂

Always a possibility, but seeing as they had the power to clear off safely, the hand gestures were unnecessary when they should have been concentrating on the road. (IMO)

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.