jimjam – Member
Sounds like we need to ban any bike over 25cc.
It would make sense.
But first they would have to catch us…

Shouldn’t be a problem, having the police waiting outside A&E should catch quite a few ;)

It’s a bit like skiers. Good skiers ski faster and have less accidents than poor skiers skiing slowly (World Cup downhill excepted).

People tend to drive at a speed that they feel comfortable with and a speed that their car is comfortable with. Normally this is related to their level of skill and confidence as a driver (okay there are always exceptions e.g. Boy racer, but I’m talking generally here). People with less skill and confidence perceive that someone driving faster than them must be more dangerous. They can’t comprehend that the faster driver may have more skill, more experience, more training, a more capable car etc. To the slower driver it just looks dangerous, even if in reality is that it’s probably not.

rureadyboots – Member
A 190 bhp 200 kg motorbike would make these hand wringers very upset then.
It would also upset the driving gods when they realise how gutless their “fast” cars are.

Why does some cretin always mention bikes on a car thread. It’s like bikers seem to have a chip on their shoulder or something. Have ridden bikes abroad, absolutely no desire to repeat the experience in the UK thanks.

I’m guessing this is exactly the dilemma Molgrips faces. An opportunity that might be marginal for his Passat could be completely safe in a much higher powered car

Of course – but I’ll just relax and go when it is safe.

But isn’t this at odds with what you’ve previously complained about, I.e. when some selfish **** overtakes from behind and doesn’t wait his place in the overtaking queue? You didn’t seem relaxed last time this was discussed!

It seems obvious that you need a powerful car to safely overtake. If I want to overtake 10 or 12 cars and a tractor on a country road, at night, in the rain with a bend coming up I wouldn’t want to do that with less that 400bhp.

Seems completely sane to me.

I wouldn’t want to do that in any car to be honest so nice troll but not really a valid example. However with good visibility ahead, the right road conditions, with sufficient distance before bend/junction ahead etc (allowing for someone fast coming the other way) then 400hp does allow you to safely exploit overtaking opportunities (sometimes multiple) that would leave too much room for error in a lesser powered car.

I’m guessing this is exactly the dilemma Molgrips faces. An opportunity that might be marginal for his Passat could be completely safe in a much higher powered car (or for a driver who’s given himself a greater degree of forward visibility because he’s hanging back slightly from a tightly bunched group of cars ahead).

olddog – Member

moshimonster – Member

But I think the concept of driving for pleasure is perhaps more of a problem.

why?

I think that is the unbridgeable divide in this discussion…

People generally tend to enjoy doing stuff that they’re good at – so this might explain it to some degree.

Surely going more slowly would increase the chances of seeing someone?

Not necessarily, there have been studies done that show that the faster someone travels, the more they tend concentrate and the sharper their reaction become.

Fact is, whatever you are doing wrong, more speed makes it worse

If you’re talking about the result of an accident then normally yes, but if you’re talking about avoiding that accident in the first place then maybe in many situations yes, in plenty of other situations then no. But regardless I’d far rather get into a car with an observant, skilled driver driving above the posted limit, than a low skilled, unobservant dawdler driving at well below the limit.

Whilst we’re referring to power and safety the biggest cause of accidents by far (65%) is not speed or speeding but “driver error or reaction”

See HERE

So inadequate training/skill or poor observation are far biggest problem on our roads. Those of you who like to rubbish the benefits that advanced driver training an observation skills can bring are clearly barking up the wrong tree, much like the government. The message shouldn’t be so much ‘speed kills’, rather that having poor skills, poor judgement and poor observation kills.

I drive a 4WD car with 430bhp, is it too powerful for the road? Not a bit. It handles the power very well in pretty much any weather and any road conditions. Plenty of opportunities to safely use full power too, particularly in the less congested North.

However, and it’s a big however, does having 400bhp plus make it more fun to drive? Not really. The car is just too capable in most situations and normally a degree of restraint is needed as you can be traveling at license loosing speeds in the blink of an eye.

So whilst I’ve enjoyed the experience, my next car/van etc is going to have around the 200bhp mark maximum. That’s plenty enough to be getting on with, and a good balance between power, fuel efficiency and pace.

One of my most memorable and enjoyable drives recently was in a 100hp works van. Just as much fun making progress on a twisty road in this as if I’d have been driving the day car with over 4 times the power. Also in the van it was rather nice that the fuel gauge didn’t visibly move each time you put your foot down!

So in short, modern cars with lots of power are normally designed to handle this power in a safe and competent manner. However having less power can often be far more fun and a good compromise (the optimum balance) for me would be the 200bhp mark for an average sized car (Golf etc).

Back button still not working for me, Macbook Pro browsing with Firefox. Not worked for a while. Fine on the iPad.

Oh, and you won’t get 500bhp from a remap on an rs4. They’re N/A not turbo’d and to be fair most don’t make the 420bhp they’re meant to. A 100 cell cat and a map ‘might’ get you 430 but it depends on the individual car..

Sorry I meant the earlier B5 RS4 produced in 2001 which is a 2.7 V6 Twin Turbo. Simple to remap to around 450/460hp with basic map and exhaust. A reliable 500-600hp easily achievable but obviously costs increase considerably the further you take things.

With the later NA V8 it’s very difficult to get significant power gains and this is the engine that can suffer from engine coking, leading to a loss of power for many of these later cars. Later V8 car feels significantly slower than the earlier V6 on the road due to the V6’s increased torque and turbo shove (although on paper they are roughly the same).

I’ve got an audi sq5. 4wd twin turbo 3.0 diesel, 330bhp. It’s as fast as all those petrol cars listed above and still does 40mpg or More

Yes but at £45k (before you add any extras) you could buy 3 mint condition RS2’s or B5 RS4’s, which are quicker, handle better, are uber cool, and don’t make you look like a footballers wife. Granted though 40mpg + is very good, but paying £45k (or whatever the lease sets you back) just for a ‘fashion statement’ 4×4 that does an extra 15mpg, has a horrendous depreciation problem and gets a poor Autocar review seems like a fools errand to me. Still, your money! Is it white by any chance?

Or how about one of these:

4WD (proper 50/50 quattro, not haldex), 380hp standard, 4-500hp with simple remap and a few minor mods and more modern than the RS2. Half the price of that £30k Golf and no longer depreciating.

Just the perfect car for overtaking (rapidly and all in one go) a 20mph procession made up of a tractor, a couple of articulated lorries, a hesitant Molgrips, plus around 8-10 other cars, in wet, greasy, sleeting conditions, whilst loaded up with a large wardrobe and couple of barking Labradors in the back.

Did mine boarding a about 5 years ago. Grade 2/3. A&E visit confirmed what I’d done. Booked lots of private physio and after 6 weeks pain had gone, so felt fine again. So stupidly helped friend move house, cue more pain and more physio. Didn’t fully stop periodically aching for another 2 years but now fine and back to 100% again. Good luck and if anyone asks you to lift anything heavy just after you think it’s right, tell them to bu**er off for another couple of months.

My comment was based on the fact that the troll seemed to think because the discs were made of cast iron, they wouldn’t warp

And yes cast iron does warp, even 4″ thick cast iron cylinder heads warp.

Thanks for your comment fivespot, no offence meant to you, you tried hard, but I’d rather take the advice of someone who actually knows what they’re talking about:

Someone who actually knows what they’re talking about

Brake discs don’t actually ‘warp’ – they’re made of cast iron.

What a load of B”$*^cks

Care to prove otherwise Mr Troll?

Brake discs don’t actually ‘warp’ – they’re made of cast iron.

Instead ‘warping’ is just a laymans term commonly used to describe what is normally either a variation in the disc thickness caused by a poorly set up (or other problems within) the braking system, disc corrosion or pitting due to infrequent use, or by friction pad material transferred unevenly to the surface of the disc, all of which cause a juddering feel to braking.

It may be possible to remove light, uneven deposits of friction pad material by performing 3-4 emergency stops from high speed in quick succession, but if the disc thickness is compromised then only skimming and properly setting up the system (including checking disc run out) will resolve the situation. Replacing discs and pads together may only temporarily resolve the situation, especially if there’s another problem with the set up of the braking system (e.g. disc ‘run out’ where the discs are not exactly aligned with the wheel and or brake pads, quickly causing uneven disc wear).

Hope that clarifies things.

If you’re anywhere nearby then get yourself over to these guys. Worked absolute wonders on my brake problems and never had an issue since.

Disc Skimmers[/url]

don’t expect to make any cash from DJing, mind – if you do consider it a bonus!

Not even thinking about that, just a bit of fun only and see how it goes :)

Grum, just off away now for the weekend, will drop you a PM next week via your website. Lovely photos by the way.

I’m Manchester Grum, and you? Maty, I’d be up for that for sure. Keep me posted. :)

Thanks somafunk, yes that’s what I was thinking, a course to learn the basics, equipment, technical stuff, capabilities, get up to speed etc fairly quickly and then it’s down to practice and experience to get the rest. Appreciate it takes a lot more than technical knowledge and attending a course to make a good DJ.

Was thinking here perhaps as it’s very close by:

Manchester Midi[/url]

Thanks all, but why are people against a DJ course? Does this flatten flair and creativity, or is it just that people think that it’s cooler and somehow more ethical to spend years learning by yourself in a bedroom?

Last year I did an advanced MTB skills course and learnt way more in that one day about my riding than years of ‘learning on the job’. Would the same not apply to DJ’ing?

I always try to get a window seat if I can.

I’ve seen the most wondrous things from an aircraft window. Huge Himalayan glaciers, icebergs, the vastness of the Australian outback, frozen seas with cars driving on them near Finland, coral reefs in the Caribbean, large ships plying their trade across vast oceans, The Florida Everglades with their maze of water channels, approaching Tenerife with its big volcano as the sun sets, amazing cloud formations, Central London on a crystal clear night, the list could continue but I think you get the idea.

Yet throughout all these times, when I’ve been practically licking the window with excitement and fumbling for my camera, there’s most others on the plane with either their window blinds closed shut, not interested, or too busy catching up with the latest series of 24 etc to even bother lifting their eyes from their setback screens to see what’s outside. Each to their own I know but I can’t help feeling really, really sorry for these people sometimes.

So to get started then, as I have a whole heap of unmixed tunes on the laptop (over 1,000) and if everything like somafunk says is going digital, maybe I should go this route? What are the majority of top DJ’s using these days when they play live? If I start with the same set up then surely that’s a good thing right?

Appreciate what people say about vinyl. Have a friend with a set of 1210’s and a cellar full of vinyl so maybe a few sessions on this would compliment whatever digital set up I end up with?

Thanks for the replies, I love dance music, always have but am a complete ‘know nothing’ when it comes to the technical stuff. Intend to learn though,

Wow thanks for the info guys, lots of options there then. CDJ’s sounding good and I’m friends with a trance DJ who uses these to great effect. Sounds like a mixing corse could be a good investment to kick start the process, perhaps before I she’ll out money on expensive kit. Anyone recommend one in the North West area?

and be on the look out for other blokes stuff in her place

you mean like stirring another mans porridge?

Have the local papers and media been made aware of the picnic or the £70,000?

If you want to earn good money using CAD or 3D modelling skills then you need to have specific or specialist design (creative or engineering) skills. Almost anyone can be taught how to use a 3D software package to a high standard, so as a result, unless you use it to perform as part of another role or function then the money will probably not be great. I know people who are freelance retail, exhibition, product, interior, CGI designers who use packages like Cinema 4D, 3D Studio Max etc. All are making good money (50k upwards) but it’s taken them years to get to that level and the CAD part is simply a tool for them to do jobs that demand much more experience than just CAD skills if that makes sense? Architectural visualisation would be difficult to get into – too many architectural graduates with these skills working for virtually free to gain experience at the moment.

Now this is simply just the best rally crash going – end of thread! :)

Learn to flat base the flat sections and go into them as fast as is possible.

On no account should you do this.

??? This is exactly what you should be doing, and if you plan in advance you can get enough speed to clear almost any flat section going. Speed is sometimes your friend and once you get used to it, often you’ll be more stable at high rather than low speed. Plus accidents at speed are often better for your body than low speed accidents (with speed, provided there’s nothing in your path, you’ll tend to slide along the slope rather than go straight down hard into it as you would at low speed).

Flat basing will feel strange at first as the board will move around a little underneath you. The key is just to relax, weight even or slightly back and let the board do its thing beneath you. If you feel it’s about to go tits up then just ease your weight slightly onto your toe/heel edge as appropriate.

A board with a flat base (K2 or similar) or a forgiving base (Battalion triple base tech) will make things far easier and avoid the dreaded edge catch when learning to flat base. Similarly buy a board with the fastest sintered base you can afford and it’ll glide far more easily across the flat stuff.

I know a few people who have skied who now snowboard but not the other way round. Do what feels best for you but I’d say after 2-3 weeks snowboarding then you’re only really still finding your feet and it would be a shame to give up. A couple more weeks and you’ll have enough speed, confidence and forward planning to avoid getting stuck on all but the very worst flat sections. I know plenty of people who both ski and board and all of them without a shadow of a doubt would say that ultimately boarding is more fun and playful. There’s simply nothing like the fluid floaty nature of powder turns on a snowboard. Skiing is more practical though so if you’re looking for a means of transport then it wins hands down. Can’t comment on your shoulder other than to say get it as stable and strong as possible with excersize. If it’s a real concern then skiing could be marginally less risky for it, but then skiers always seem to be rupturing their ACL’s so horses for courses I’d say.

Great advice from everyone here, the first property we’d be more than happy to carry on and buy, it’s just this one would be the icing on the cake and from the looks of it would need almost no work doing to it.

I’m wondering whether to get the agent involved at all – the 2nd property is just around the corner from me so may just pop round tonight and see the vendor direct, view the property (or if it’s not convenient for them pop back at a time when it is convenient). If we like it as much as we think then we can take it forward from there, if not nothing lost and the agent never finds out we were wavering on the first property. Sound reasonable?

Isn’t the agent likely to get the hump, refuse to show us round and get the impression that we’re time wasters or just too fickle to be reliable buyers?

Don’t worry, I already have my disguise sorted:

Independence is not the change you need, and it’s not the change the UK needs. It’s just lashing out at the nearest thing.

Whoaaaa, what’s the world coming to – I finally agree wholeheartedly with Molgrips here?

Grass is always greener and all that. Happy voting guys.

The suggestion about not taking on any debt isn’t even a negotiating position, it’s just for public consumption.

Almost everything that Alex Salmond says is purely for public consumption, misleading at best, pure lies at worst. It seems that through these lies, fear and misrepresentation, they are trying to turn proud, patriotic Scots into nationalistic, anti-union Scots.

Take the NHS for instance. Salmond made a big show of not privatising the NHS as one if the biggest reasons for independence at the last debate. Yet he knows full well that even under the current level of devolution that the NHS cannot be privatised unless members of the Scottish parliament vote for it to be privatised. It has nothing to do with remaining in the UK or not. So pure scaremongering then! Yet some of the Scottish public lap it up?

Yes but what about the UK cutting funding for the NHS in Scotland I hear you say?

You might not be aware that under control of the SNP, spending in the NHS is forecast to decrease by 1.2% annually over the next year whereas in England it’s increasing by 4.4% (IFS figures). That’s despite pledges from the SNP to increase NHS spending and despite the money allocated to Scotland under the Barnett formula increasing. So the money available from the UK for healthcare in Scotland is increasing but the SNP it would seem are choosing not to spend it on the NHS, hence the figures above. Still think the SNP care about the NHS?

So in summary I’m afraid:

If anyone wants to listen to a sensible, reasoned debate on the independance issue, shedding quite a few myths and lies, then suggest you listen to this. Very interesting and certainly puts most of the common arguments in perspective.

Aberdeen debate

Women.

Ford Puma is a great drive, really nicely balanced and fun car. Good call :)

Corrolla and M4 Golf? – I thought the OP wanted ‘exciting’?