Just a quick question re performance cars and how best to drive them

Tbh a lot of it stems from the strong correlation between owning a fast car and being somewhat interested in driving, and therefore you're more aware of the capabilities of your car, and less likely to take unnessecary risks knowing those limits and the potential to kill your pride and joy.

Recall a thread on here some time ago where someone pointed out the correlation between dashcam "near miss" idiocy, and the amount of people carriers, often loaded up to the max, failing to overtake lorries.

I'll be honest that majority idiot driving i've seen follows the following basis;

Bargain bucket trim 320d's hammering it at 90 never straying from the right hand lane, in stark contrast to the 3,5,6 and 7 series petrols that can generally be found dandering along quite serenely, with the exception of the odd decked e36 m3

Audi a3-6 diesels, and tt diesels, yet to see an rs car or a quattro tt doing the traditional "audi driver 3 inches off yer bumper" tactic.

Any volkswagen that either doesnt have its original suspension, or owned again by salesmen types, the most common candidate is a lupo, polo, golf or bora with a bonnet bra and small suns for headlights kicking up sparks at the mildest of bumps and going over every speedbump at a 45 degree angle at 2metres per hour.

Black ford ranger pickups, i dont know why but black ones have no sense of direction, lane usage at roundabouts or ability to look when pulling out of junctions.

Any old or new ish honda that isnt legitimately a vtec

And finally the ever present range rover sport, until you get to a straight bit and it vanishes in a puff of ecologist tears.

Anything legitimately good i've seen is generally found dandering along, like a big dog thats perfectly calm because he knows you know he could crush your skull in a single bite while the chihuahua's bark and snarl around him.
 
adolf hamster said:
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One thing I've found slightly amusing over the years - I don't think I've ever done a trip on the M25 and not seen some small silver sports car along the lines of the Mazda MX5, BMW Z4 or Porsche Boxster weaving in and out of traffic undertaking, overtaking, etc. at like 90+mph even with all the variable speed limits now it doesn't seem to stop them.
 
Rroff said:
One thing I've found slightly amusing over the years - I don't think I've ever done a trip on the M25 and not seen some small silver sports car along the lines of the Mazda MX5, BMW Z4 or Porsche Boxster weaving in and out of traffic undertaking, overtaking, etc. at like 90+mph even with all the variable speed limits now it doesn't seem to stop them.
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Not seen much of that, but considering the rain here you really need to be either mad and rich or an enthusiast to drive a convertible, so all those 3 are a rare sight :D
 
adolf hamster said:
Not seen much of that, but considering the rain here you really need to be either mad and rich or an enthusiast to drive a convertible, so all those 3 are a rare sight :D
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I'm pretty sure (for a number of reasons) the drivers in this case are probably foreign nationals attending the likes of Eton, etc.
 
Firestar_3x said:
When someone is driving up my bottom in a 30mph limit (usually in a Corsa or some other POS) i still find it deeply satisfying dropping into 2nd just before the NSL and watching them vanish in my rear-view mirror.
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Similar thing happened to me quite recently. I was in a 30mph zone and this guy in a 4 series (Diesel I'm assuming) was right up my rear. I didn't want to speed so was waiting for when it turned to 50mph. As soon as it turned to 50mph, I sped up and looking back I saw the BMW was on the verge of attempting an overtaking manoeuvre, failing miserably in the process.
 
I usually find it's people in cheap crap cars that drive the fastest.

I've had a woman in a KA that was pulling away from me (antisocial speeds for the roads we were on) and a fiesta that went round a roundabout so fast I was nearly falling out of my seat trying to keep up! It staggers me how fast people generally drive day to day... not that I'm a saint, but tend to only have a hoon on the more remote roads.
 
Helios1234 said:
Similar thing happened to me quite recently. I was in a 30mph zone and this guy in a 4 series (Diesel I'm assuming) was right up my rear. I didn't want to speed so was waiting for when it turned to 50mph. As soon as it turned to 50mph, I sped up and looking back I saw the BMW was on the verge of attempting an overtaking manoeuvre, failing miserably in the process.
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Even the slowest 4 Series isn't much slower than a 2.5T Mondeo. Unless I am remembering your car wrong :p
 
xs2man said:
I love how this thread makes the assumption that faster cars must be driven fast all the time, and that if they are ever slower than slower cars, then it must be the driver "not doing it right".
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Indeed. I used to get stick from random forum people for saying my ST220 would do 37mpg on a run. "Wtf I never get anyhwere near that you're not driving it how it's supposed to be driven lolz"... Well, no, I don't sit on the motorway at 90mph in 3rd gear needlessly burning fuel, that's true :rolleyes: :confused:

I drive to work and back calmly and efficiently, since it's all urban and there's no point driving in a hard or erratic fashion. Should the road open up a bit on whatever journey I'm on, however, I'll happily give it the beans. This fresh, cooler weather does do wonders for one's air intake temperatures especially with forced induction!
 
Firestar_3x said:
When someone is driving up my bottom in a 30mph limit (usually in a Corsa or some other POS) i still find it deeply satisfying dropping into 2nd just before the NSL and watching them vanish in my rear-view mirror.
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Love doing this. But you can bet they will happily do a ton to catch you up then proceed to sit 3" off your bumper once again.
 
Since riding fast bikes, zero interest in ragging around in a car which is positively pedestrian.

Find it wholeheartedly old and tired being goaded when driving in the car to race.
 
Mechanical sympathy is another factor. I can count the amount of times i've launched my Evo on one hand as I enjoy seeing more than 15k out of a clutch and not looking at the prices of gearboxes, transfers boxes and rear diffs in my spare time.

Getting goaded to race gets boring very quickly. Worst case I had was on the M25 where a Corsa would overtake, cut in and slow right down to 40 or 50 so that I would have to overtake, at which point he'd try to race me. This pretty much went on from the Heathrow junction to my turn off for the M23.
 
I get it from corsa chavs even while driving a Fiesta ST. No point. It's only fun when someone in a far more expensive car does it, because it's "only a Fiesta" and they think it will be easy :D
 
Dav4 said:
Is it just me that's noticed it's no longer really boy racers that try to mug you off at the lights, ride on your bumper or perform dangerous overtakes :confused: its middle aged men in there diesel 140-160bhp mid range cars that think they are driving some kind of supercar. Always driving angry and aggressively!
You would think my ST in performance blue would attract idiots and chav's but it really doesn't as there is no longer as many warm/hot hatches around it's all just the German diesel brigade that try to push in front. If i had a pound for everytime a diesel has cut a que and got in the wrong lane to push in front at the lights i would be a rich man.:D
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Quoted for truth.

It's always some middle age dude in a 320d. Every time.
 
Rainagul said:
Quoted for truth.

It's always some middle age dude in a 320d. Every time.
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Wouldn't you also be angry in a salesman's cruisemobile day in day out? :p

But I agree too, you see boy racers on the road these days and almost all of the time they're driving minding their own business doing nobody any harm.
 
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