Younger self car shenanigans

V8Granite
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Younger self car shenanigans

Post by V8Granite »

I once had an impomptue race with a 1.0 Corsa and a Seicento in March, everyone shouted at me when I broke the toilet paper ribbon they had set up for the cars I just overtook as I myself was out for a drive.

I may have had a drag race with an Astra VXR at the B&Q near Bas Vegas in Basildon while I waited to pick up Treina and friends from a night out. I was in the 500e and really should have known better.

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dinny_g
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by dinny_g »

I came across the aftermath of a drag race accident early in my driving career. Long straight road to a T junction. Two lads in Saxo’s racing and if became a game of chicken. The guy who didn’t flinch went across the junction, clipped a sign sending him spinning into a field. He got thrown out of the window, then the car landed on his head. We arrived about 2 minutes after and he was still alive but not for long.

Had a massive impact and on me. I’d say I’ve never exceeded 6/10’ths on a public road since and never approached any car’s limit on twisty roads.

Been a passenger while my mate has done very fast driving but not me.
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
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mik
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by mik »

Jesus Dinny - yeah that would affect you :shock:
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Broccers
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by Broccers »

Well that's cheerful. Horrible.
V8Granite
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by V8Granite »

Up to 2001 not a single apprentice at Perkins had got through their apprentiship without having a car crash.

The only one who got close barrel rolled his Escort GTI across the entrance to the front gate about a month before his apprentiship was over. No injuries but young people and fen roads grabbed a few casualties.

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dinny_g
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by dinny_g »

Yeah... I didn't see him but heard him. That was enough. There were lots of others stopped, helping and plod and ambulance were on the way so I left.

Sorry to drag the mood down. :lol:

One standout trip as a passenger was an early morning trip from Clare to Dublin with my mate driving. (Mate's probably the best driver I have ever passenger'd with - passed his test at 17, father owned a dealership so drove top end cars from day 1). We were late teens - maybe 18 or 19

He was driving a 2.5l Volvo 850. Just outside limerick we came up behind an English registered Alfa 164 3.0l. Back in those days, there were no motorways so it was all wide, well sighted single carriageways. Plenty of room for overtaking etc. Alfa guy was flying (we guessed, racing to get a ferry) so my mate started to keep pace.

For 100 odd miles the two of us hammered up the N7, overtake after overtake. All safe, well executed - car after car. Traffic was lighter then so it was a Joy. Just outside of Dublin, he peeled off in a different direction (probably heading for Dun Laoghaire) and we pulled alongside, he gave a wave and off he went.

Couldn't do that nowadays...
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
NGRhodes
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by NGRhodes »

My friend didn't really get into any shenanigans, just the usual spins from trying to control a tail happy Nova around corners, occasional trip onto grass verges, smoking brakes, managing to get air with 5 people in the car followed by a very sparky landing and having driving lessons on country roads at 15 from my friends older brothers friend. Amazingly to this day my friend has still not hit anything or had a fault accident.
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Delphi
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by Delphi »

I remember working very late one night (about 1am) and I drove the 14 miles from the office to my house in 10 minutes in my modified S13 200sx. The last 10 miles of the journey were pretty straight dual carriageway (A127 - Dave! knows it well). That part of the journey took me 5 minutes. It's all average speed cameras on that road now.

In the same car I was following my boss to Stansted airport in his Jag XK8. Southend to Stansted airport in 20 minutes. I had an indicated 125 on the M11. My brakes were shot by the time I reached the short stay car park. My boss seemed quite miffed my £5K Jap banger kept up easily with his Jag. He sold it shortly afterwards and bought a 911.
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Jimmy Choo
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by Jimmy Choo »

I averaged 81mph on a trip back from Hazel Grove to the centre of Gloucester once. Actually, it was from Hazel Grove to the point I'd walked from the car park to my flat and finished making a cuppa. It was when I had the Shitty 530i that would cut out randomly. It had died once on the way towards Macclesfield so I knew I had to keep the speed up to enable the wheels to restart the engine or I'd be stuck.

So I did. The cruise was set at 50 through all the average speed camera sections (and there were lots of them) with me chanting "Please don't break down" all the way and the rest of the time "progress was made".
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DeskJockey
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by DeskJockey »

My sister once got stuck in a ferry port about 100 miles from home. The bus that was meant to be there wasn't. No trains and no hotels.

It was motorway all the way except for the last 15-20 miles or so. Parents were away so I jumped in the mighty 190 (d2.5), cranked some Metallica on the stereo and flattened the accelerator. Sat at an indicated 95mph (flat out) until the end of the motorway. That remains the longest fast (it is all relative) run I've ever done.

Edit: return journey was much more sedate, as we were five up and struggled to get to 70mph.
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Jimmy Choo
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by Jimmy Choo »

Didn't @KiwiDave do a high speed delivery run to take Nebpor's M5 to Spa?
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KiwiDave
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by KiwiDave »

Jimmy Choo wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 3:59 pm Didn't @KiwiDave do a high speed delivery run to take Nebpor's M5 to Spa?
I did. Having never driven a BMW or anything RWD up until that point I considered it both an honour to be trusted with it and also an opportunity. Little did I know the first thing Neb would do when it reached him was check the trip computer, take one look at the MPG and say something along the lines of 'fuck me you've been caning it!' - it was a nervous, and very awkward grin hiding sheer terror I was gonna get a massive bollocking.

He did let me drive it for a lap around the 'ring later in the trip though and we're still friends so... :lol:

There are way too many of these to mention, but speaking of the M5 I do remember Neb having Zips and Cptn Leela in the car, with Ian sat beside me in my Sunny while we both gunned it from a standing start up to about 125mph on the speedo - I was quietly chuffed the ropey old Jap hatchback only lost about 4-5 car lengths from memory. M5 waltzed away after that. I don't think we slowed down much for a while either - awesome roads up over the back of the submarine base North of Glasgow.

I have literally hundreds of happy memories of deeply full on driving shenanigans on the various early forum meets with Baz. Highlights include the first time round the Evo triangle where I can only assume the Honda (Prelude at that point Baz?) was somewhere between 95-105% for the entire loop. After a meet doing one of the Welsh rally stages with Baz, Mark Ritchie and Pete somewhere behind Mark's place at the time. Chasing HBP in his Boxster across Wales in the ITR - when we slowed down for the first real reason it felt like we were crawling, but were still doing 60. The many runs between Baz's place and mine in whichever cars we had at the time.

We did a Snake Pass meet once - Matt Hunt arrived at the far end with the brake discs on his Rover 214 glowing orange. For me though the memory there was the drive back on my own - Glossop end all the way back across Derbyshire to Matlock at an average speed of 68mph I calculated. Empty roads...

Possibly my fave though was doing the same thing across the Cat & Fiddle - mate Paul in the passenger seat of the Sunny at something silly like 2am. I forget the exact time now but we timed it from the NSL sign to the 30 sign at the other end - average speed of 71... Again, not a car on the road, all the sheep asleep. Only airborn a few times. :lol:

Stuff like that would now be either impossible to do or incredibly foolish I imagine? Along with the cars from the era we all grew up with this forum with - a bit of a golden era of driving I think.
Last edited by KiwiDave on Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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KiwiDave
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by KiwiDave »

Oh and not so much shenanigans because it was entirely legal and stupidly safe, but somewhere on the way back down the coast from Oban there's a long straight I only ever drove the once - my hazy memory remembers it as like 2miles long with full visibility. We'd been held up by slow traffic for ages and this straight appeared, I didn't trust there wouldn't be a camera van on it somewhere as it appeared the perfect spot for it so went for the overtake without breaking 60mph in the exe's VW Polo 1.9 diesel - all 64bhp of it. Three coaches and thirteen cars in one go - still my record.

Was sat on the opposite side of the road for what felt like an eternity... :lol:
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Jimexpl
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by Jimexpl »

KiwiDave wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:11 am Stuff like that would now be either impossible to do or incredibly foolish I imagine? Along with the cars from the era we all grew up with this forum with - a bit of a golden era of driving I think.
I think it’s been ten years since you could do it in the UK for more than a few miles at a time, and even then it needs to be early in the morning.
The last time I did a genuinely high speed lengthy group run was 2009, trying to keep up with an F40, which was trying to keep up with the modified Elise in front (there were about 15 of us) - might have seen 135 on a back road at one point.

If you haven’t done it, for me public road motoring nirvana still exists in the Pyrenees. Get up at 5am in the hills and you can spend 3 1/2 hours driving as fast as you want in the mountains, only slowing for villages, before traffic starts to interrupt flow. Easily worth the ten hour drive from Calais.
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Gavin
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by Gavin »

I once left my parents house at 9pm and arrived home in the Borders at bang on midnight. 200 mile journey. Sadly the A89 is average speed cameras now. I did that in my Honda Aerodeck with my pop up headlamps up or it would have been at least 1 minute faster! :)

I also once drove up to Fort William after finishing work in Edinburgh to pick up a mate who was working away from his wife and kids and phone me broken. I arrived around 11ish, turned straight round and headed back to the Borders, had a moment braking and swerving to avoid a mahoosive Stag on the Glencoe road and got back to my flat in Gala at 2am. No idea of the average speed or how long the journey was but it was in my 1 year old Ford Ka and I had the foot planted the the roads were pretty empty.

Said mate then cheated on his wife, alienated his kids and generally turned into his own twat of a father so that was nice.
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by V8Granite »

The Heysham ferry dock to my parents house in 2 hours.

I filled up in the IOM and the fuel light came on when I hit the Frank Perkins Parkway about 10 miles from home.

It was calm, steady and very little traffic, still my most sustained speed run. Completely un-eventful apart from when a CD floated from the passenger seat and flew out the sunroof when I opened it at speed :lol:

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Swervin_Mervin
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by Swervin_Mervin »

In terms of late night runs, the one that stands out the most was when I was at uni in Newcastle but went to see Metallica at the Arena in Manchester. Would've been late '96 IIRC and I had my 1st car still, my mum's old BX 1.7 DTR Estate. Gig finished something like 22.45 but I had to drop my mate back home in S. Manchester. Despite the offer of a staying there for the night I needed to be back for lectures the following day.

I must've dropped him off around 23:15-ish.

I don't remember the run up the M60/M62 at all, but the run up the A1(M) was memorable. I was "making progress" on what was a fairly deserted A1 when a set of headlights appeared in my rear view. I moved over bu they pulled in behind. After slowing for a bit thinking it might be the police (this was when much of the A1 north of Leeds was largely unlit so you couldn't see much of what was behind) they eventually pulled out and went past. It was a 911. So I resumed previous progress levels only to find myself sat behind him. 20mins later we swapped back, and this went on all the way to Newcastle before we went our separate ways near Gateshead.

I made it back to Newcastle for just after 1am.
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Beany
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by Beany »

I never really did foolish things as a youth (not on the road anyway, plenty of pissing about in fields with rotten sheds) but early doors in my driving on the road, there were a few times where I left brake disks smoking, nearly understeered into hedges, nearly oversteered off the road, etc.

Thankfully almost all of that was in Ford Ka/Puma so very predictable and good feedback - I expect if I had the 330 back then I'd have been off the road ten times over within a year. Those cars were extremely forgiving of bad car control and good at showing you what you could get away with safely :lol:

Probably the 'best' one was chasing a Focus ST in a Ka van* on the Blue Bank road to whitby - there's a long, downhill section with a hairpin at the end that I thought I had the brakes for, but I was woefully wrong. Tipped it in early on the fading brakes to try to get it to turn, and only just avoided cowping a wall on the other side of the road.

I was frankly extremely lucky that there was no traffic, and that I took the absurd risk to try tipping it in as that probably got me sideways enough to not just plough-on-understeer/brake fade into a drystone wall at 40mph :shock:

*absolutely not a fully liveried company van, goodness no
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Barry
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by Barry »

KiwiDave wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:11 am

I have literally hundreds of happy memories of deeply full on driving shenanigans on the various early forum meets with Baz. Highlights include the first time round the Evo triangle where I can only assume the Honda (Prelude at that point Baz?) was somewhere between 95-105% for the entire loop. After a meet doing one of the Welsh rally stages with Baz, Mark Ritchie and Pete somewhere behind Mark's place at the time. Chasing HBP in his Boxster across Wales in the ITR - when we slowed down for the first real reason it felt like we were crawling, but were still doing 60. The many runs between Baz's place and mine in whichever cars we had at the time.

Ah, fun times indeed. Outgunned but we had fun trying 😂
It's probably a good thing the meets tailed off when I got the DC2, that thing has indecent cross country pace all things considered.
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Jimmy Choo
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Re: Younger self car shenanigans

Post by Jimmy Choo »

Jimexpl wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 8:03 am
I think it’s been ten years since you could do it in the UK for more than a few miles at a time, and even then it needs to be early in the morning.
I took the 166 to it's top speed on midsummers morning at 3:45am when it was light. 150+ was absolutely terrifying even on an empty and relatively straight motorw..... airfield. That's right. Airfield. One that goes from Gloucester to Tewkesbury.
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