Going really really fast in shite

[Tamworthbay]

The dolomite just handles like all the best cars, I.e real wheel drive and slightly dodgy geometry. It goes like this - nothing, nothing, nothing, bit of body roll, OH MY GOD IM GOING TO DIE, if you are an idiot like my good self then when the tyres start swearing at you is the point you need to be ready to apply a good handful of opposite lock and always keep the thumbs outside the wheel!

[Supernaut]

This thread makes me want to get a really shite car and drive it to the ragged edge.

 

It sounds far more fun than driving fast in something that's actually competent!

[fatharris]

An indicated 95 in our very, very ratty Mini. After that it immediately threw a wobbly and we had to pull over a bit and wiggle stuff around until it wanted to play ball again!

[Tamworthbay]

This thread makes me want to get a really shite car and drive it to the ragged edge.

 

It sounds far more fun than driving fast in something that's actually competent!

It is, I loved my 944 turbo but it was so good that any real fun started at speeds where you were likely to lose your licence or kill yourself. The dolomite and Capri do that sort of stuff for fun at half the speed. Fun per quid, the mx5 is hard to beat as well and the MGB GT was great as when the coppers stopped me for coming out of a roundabout sideways, it was to check I was ok not give me a bollocking!

[mat_the_cat]

I'm sure other much wiser than i will be along soon, but I would suggest that most cars will reach top speed due to air resistance, rather than running out of revs, so actually the damage being done to the engine at 130mph at 4500rpm in 5th is no worse than doing 60mph in 3rd at the same revs.

 

You're right about the air resistance, but this is what makes it worse for the engine than the same revs in 3rd, or in neutral. Because the engine is under load, the oil film in the bearings is under more load, so more chance of breaking down and microscopic metal to metal contact.

 

 

Is there any point in fast cars,hear me out.

 

Thoughts from you lot.

 

Less of a point in urban use, but the ability to overtake quickly is still very useful on the kind of roads I tend to drive. Two hours a day on rural A and B roads, where 60 mph is unusual, but is handy to be able to nip past a tractor or dawdling tourist on the short straight bits!

 

I can't say I'm a fan of outright speed, and start to worry about the limits of my reactions. But hard acceleration is FUN, especially when accompanied by an appropriate noise

[AMC Rebel]

This thread makes me want to get a really shite car and drive it to the ragged edge.

 

It sounds far more fun than driving fast in something that's actually competent!

Isn't it about his point James Hunt's A35 van usually gets mentioned

[DaveDorson]

This old tubwill go off the clock quite comfortably (100mph indicated, 96 on GPS) and TBH other than being a bit noisy, it feels quite sure footed. I don't know if it's just because I'm just numb to it now - the first few hundred miles I did in a t25 was at about 50mph absolutely shitting myself, and I wasn't even driving! Someone else (who wasn't me) has managed to put the needle round to where 115mph would be several times, so that's got to be a genuine 105/110 ish.It will happily sit at 85mph all day if you're happy with doing about 20mpg and can put up with the wind noise, but people are always pulling out in the way of you on the motorway cos they don't expect a lumbering old tub like that to be doing a reasonable clip. But seeing as I'm an old man now I drive 56mph max to save fuel and to allow me to listen to Dire Straits more clearly.

Mine used to fold the mirrors in over 70.

 

Managed "M" in mine once....

[DodgeRover]

My old Lwb Landy was happy running at an indicated 55mph never felt particularly uncomposed. On the other hand a friend had a V8 powered 80" with range rover diffs and brakes, nothing that old and battered should accelerate the way that did the original speedo went up to not very much and was easily off the clock.

Same friend used to run rotten old yanks when they were cheap and unloved, achieved over 100 easily but required the use of both lanes of the dual carriageway and occasionally the run off area....

 

Scariest ride was as a passenger (in the back) in a fully laden mk3 escort van going down Slack Hill, the driver had worked out if he could get it over 100 on the less steep down side then it would go up the steep side without having to change gear...it sounded and felt like it was due to expire in a terminal way, I drove considerably slower back for a service once it was unloaded, about a pint of oil came out of the engine....

 

Otherwise saw an indicated 200kph on my 1981 CB750 complete with a cam chain that was trying to saw it's way through the cases and 160mph indicated on my FZ600 trying to stay with a mates ZX9?R got to say the old FZ felt absolutely stable and composed just a shame the rider didn't..

 

Oh and 160kmh foot flat to the floor for hours on end coming down from the Northern Territory towards Alice springs in a fully laden Mitsubishi Sigma wagon, I tried really hard but it just had no more to give, had to have 2 tyres from the wreckers in Alice as the heat build up had done bad things to them

[Stanky]

Oh, one other thing that amuses me is that the official top speed of my £400 powerhouse almera is 106mph. I have never been over 90 in it but it'd probably do another 16mph one-up down a long hill. This in itself is unremarkable but what puts a grin on my face is that this is 7mph faster than the (limited) top speed of a £27,750 Vauxhall Ampera.

 

The Ampera would out-do it to 60mph, but the saving of £27,350 makes up for losing 2 seconds to 60mph.

[Felly Magic]

Hitting 90 in a shonky 1986 double decker is a bit hairy I can tell you, windy hill on the '62 is bloody lethal!

[garethj]

For the "what's the point of massive top speed" question, it's really to do with acceleration.  Anyone who's owned a 2CV, Beetle or anything else with less bhp than an ebay tuning box you only need about 30bhp to hit 70mph.  Unfortunately that gives pretty grim acceleration especially as most cars weigh twice what a WW2 people's car weighs.

 

There's no way something like that could go on sale today so the manufacturers give it enough power to accelerate better, I don't imagine there's a car on sale today that can't beat 0-60 in 15 seconds.  To do that in a 1500kg car means it's got enough power to zip past 100mph easily, and due to OMG-MPG requirements newer cars are quite streamlined so top speed of most cars is probably over 110mph.  I'm completely guessing at this point, it's 25 years since I'd accidentally memorised all the stats in the back of CAR magazine.

 

So that's why cars have such a high top speed, it's because they weigh a lot and need enough power for today's 0-60 times.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

When I was 18 I owned a Capri 3.0 GXL for approximately 5 hours.

17.00 I swapped a bronze 1977 Audi 100 GL5E for an M reg GXL in white with a black vinyl.

19.00 went to my Mum's house where I had a set of RS 4 spokes with 185/60 tyres on in her garage.

19.30 left mum's house in my RS3100 lookalike* picked up girlfriend and went to the pub.

21.50 left pub to find secluded gateway for Ugandan Discussion.

22.00 saw 135 on the speedo.

22.01 parked on verge next to A5d with a trail of hot oil behind the Capri and a hole in the block.

 

It only occurred to me the next day that 185/60 tyres would have lowered the gearing quite a bit helping to blow up the engine, also meant the speedo was wildly ( even more than most 70's Fords) inaccurate.

 

Girlfriend wasn't impressed when I sent her off ,to get a mate with a towrope,with a bloke who stopped to help, well I couldn't leave my RS alis sitting by the side of the road on their own could I?

[SiC]

Modern hot hatches, to meet emission regs are almost all i-4 and then turbos. This allows them in the emission + consumption test cycle to hit the required level levels that people want. Then they just beef up the internals and as turbos, they can crank up the boost for when you floor it.

 

Basically what tuners and remappers have been doing to stock engines for yonks.

 

The impressive thing though is not that they can get >300bhp from a 2l i-4 but that they can offer a 60k/3yr warranty on that while still making a profit.

[warren t claim]

When I was in my early 20s I went through my XJS phase and can I point out that regardless of what you've read in road tests once you hit 130 in one the air blast gets pushed under them forcing them to lift up and float into whatever lane they feel like drifting in to. As a bonus when you do eventually hit the magical 150 barrier and decide to restore sanity by shoving the brake pedal to the floor you'll discover that two tonnes of Coventry's finest has other ideas and wants to boil its brake fluid and continue on its desired path. I learned this while rapidly running out of road on the M62 and ironically nearly meting my maker ram raiding the local Jaguar dealer that that was located right at the end of said motorway. 

[rantingYoof]

Indicated 120, Omega 3.0 V6, early morning, a Very Convenient Motorway That Gets You From The M1 to Coventry. I've hit a ton in most of my cars at some point, except the 53hp Alto, for obvious reasons. The LS400, and I absolutely promise you that this is true, is the only car I've genuinely accidentally done 100mph in, because the faster you go, the quieter and more refined it gets, due to the fact that the LAWS OF PHYSICS DO NOT APPLY TO LS400 OWNERSHIP!

 

I would agree with the points above that not having a car that can accelerate is more frustrating than a car that simply doesn't have a high top speed. The critical 'test' for those that like point-and-squirt B-road driving and getting past slower vehicles or 'bimblers' is third gear acceleration from about 30mph onwards. My V70 with its 140hp and torque lump that arrived in the wrong place was completely unable to accomplish any sort of safe overtake, meaning a resignation that you were following the '40MPH IS THE SAFEST SPEED ON ANY ROAD EVER' hero for the duration of your trip.

 

The 9-3 Aero, on the other hand, could pass aforementioned hero in around four seconds thanks to brilliant mid-range grunt, although its handling was completely pants so driving B-roads quickly wasn't actually that satisfying.

 

The S60 allows for quicker progress on B-roads and it has some good punch from 30 - 60mph thanks to the light pressure turbo. It has surprisingly little body-roll and the steering isn't completely numb and provides a little bit of feedback, so once you have passed the 40mph hero you can make progress away from them and the indignant flashing headlights. But unfortunately it is a rather heavy FWD car with a heavy turbo-charged lump positioned right over the front wheels, so there's only so much you can do before the words 'WHY U NO TURN?!" escape from your mouth as you realise that the small village you are approaching is now 'at risk'.

 

Ultimately, only occasionally do I feel like a spirited drive. My job pays me to drive about a rural district on work time, which I enjoy doing, and there's never a real rush so I tend to potter about. The S60 isn't really a proper wafter, but it's a very comfy way of spending an afternoon. I just need to look at the low profile 17s....

[jonathan_dyane]

I managed to once get my old Citroen GSA up to 110 on the M62 which felt stable and relatively quiet. Up until that point I had no idea the (rotating drum) speedometer went up to such speeds...

[billyboy406v6]

Did an effortless 100+mph on the M4 in the v6 Coupe, always obey the speed limits now.

[Timewaster]

I once had a go on a mates Honda Blackbird. I was bimbling along thinking it was not unlike my VFR to ride.

 

Then I looked at the speedo. FAHK ME!!

 

I won't tell you the number but it was very very big.

[overrun]

Had a GPS of 148 in the MR2. Very light front end at those speeds.

[buckbuckbuckie]

In my Saab 9000 I have very stupidly been off the clock (140) but later realised that my sat nav stores your max speed which is still showing 149mph. That's from a tuned 2.0, were it in a 2.3 then it would do that in 4th gear!

[captain_70s]

This thread makes me want to get a really shite car and drive it to the ragged edge.

 

It sounds far more fun than driving fast in something that's actually competent!

My two most fun cars have been the Dolly 1300 and my Yaris 1.0.

 

The Dolly because of it's complete lack of power but balanced handling and the fact it felt like it was going twice as fast as it actually was so bombing along B roads at 50mph made you feel like Colin McRae. The Yaris because you simply mashed the accelerator pedal into the floor and held it there until you reached your destination, sometimes this meant tyre squeal, going sideways or being on two wheels but you rarely got any faster than 60mph. 

[agw9262]

My one and only claim to "fame" (??) was my Calibra redtop 2.0 16v - no idea what the top speed was, only know I managed to break the speedo cable after it went 1/2" beyond the 140mph limit... doh, the days of being young and stupid - but it was fun. Most notable was the stability of the car - amazing. Never been near that since - my Mitsubishi FTO was speed limited at around 112mph but it got there damn quick. And now I'm an old fart. End of story!

[forddeliveryboy]

 

This was a slow one, Granny-owned and driven to Sainsburys and her husband's grave once a week. 95 was all it would do at first, eventually it began to behave. Had a girlfriend in the late 90s who was stopped on the M1 in her ratty GSa at "more than we expected it could manage, madam". She was let off, because she explained she was only trying to get out of the way of the twat in the suit and 3 series, behind. Apparently the 110 number had been getting close on the orange drum.

 

Must've been ace to have had a 100mph+ car in the 70s with only 1200cc.

[barrett]

I did 45mph in my side valve Regal van. Eat that, losers!

[Ghosty]

Old Man had his old 2.0 Prelude up around a ton on the moors now and then, and he's less than responsible with the A4 when there's nobody around. 

The Bini brought out the best of the mother's driving ability and up on the moors she'll cane it about, using both sides of the road and properly cornering (can't be arsed braking she says).

Ten above on the M60 in driving rain is interesting when everyone else has slowed down to 50/60. 

[hairnet]

 

This was a slow one, Granny-owned and driven to Sainsburys and her husband's grave once a week. 95 was all it would do at first, eventually it began to behave. Had a girlfriend in the late 90s who was stopped on the M1 in her ratty GSa at "more than we expected it could manage, madam". She was let off, because she explained she was only trying to get out of the way of the twat in the suit and 3 series, behind. Apparently the 110 number had been getting close on the orange drum.

 

Must've been ace to have had a 100mph+ car in the 70s with only 1200cc.

had a go in one of those today

 

had speedo in visa point at half past five on 483 past wrexham today

[New POD]

A mk2 cavalier CDi auto that I once owned, having given the owner a bottle of scotch for it, once reached an indicated 136 mph on a Foreign* Dual carriageway.  I suspect that it was wildly inaccurate and more like 120, but at least no chance that it would kick down to 2nd which was a risk when cruising at an indicated 70 mph, if you pushed the accelerator pedal too much.  IN my defence, it was 5 am and I was on the way to work (which makes it okay)

 

*When I say Foreign, I mean somewhere that is not England, that I'd have to go through a tunnel to reach.  

[New POD]

On a business trip to Germany, the sales director of a potential software supplier, drove me and another Lucas Engineer, from Stuttgart (Bosch Diesel) to Koblenz (Lucas Car Braking), in the dark in pissing down rain, in an audi 100 Quattro, which was mostly at 240 KPH or above, except when he got it sideways and all four wheels locked as he attempted to avoid a stream of slower cars coming down a slip road in the rush hour, when he might have got down to 200 kph before getting back on the gas.

 

A Mr Macall (RIP) account manager at Komatsu, once described to me having taken some Japanese VIP's along the M6 and on to the M1, where he spun at over 100 mph, on the bridge, above the M1, and got back down to about 50 mph, facing the right way having spun twice, and just sticking his car in gear and booting it again. On their next visit they asked him "not to kill us today please"