London 'Supercar scene'

[TimLambert7]

Does anyone else find the whole London Supercar spotter thing completely bizarre?

It strikes me as a big gang of video camera wielding sycophants chasing desperate attention seeking show-offs who drive (largely) like fecking idiots around the nations capital. Don't get me wrong, supercars are great; but why buy the most flash car possible, stick a god awful wrap on it and spend weeks at a time doing 0-30-0. They're clearly wealthy, why aren't they doing endless track days and driving holidays through Europe?

The Aventador crash video pushed me over the edge. He was clearly going too fast, yet there were hundreds of keyboard wielding 15 year olds screaming at anyone who dared to suggest that perhaps, just maybe he was partly to blame. It seems like every man and his dog is taking their dad's camera to London for the day, taking a few videos of Aventadors nearly flattening cyclists and starting a 'channel'.

I gather there are a few guys on here, Shmee in particular, that are notorious 'car spotters' and I'd be interested to hear their take on it and why they think it's a force for good. I follow Shmee on Instagram and have enjoyed the recent pictures of his tour across Europe and I gather he is a really nice bloke, so please don't feel like this is a personal attack on any individual/s.


p.s I gather there is a youtube channel that goes by a very similar name to this thread title. This is by no means aimed directly at this person/channel and just happens to have a similar name.

Edited by TimLambert7 on Wednesday 23 April 20:43

[TimLambert7]

zeduffman said:

I do agree it is a bit odd to see another 20 spotters in every video but if they're enjoying themselves and staying out of trouble, I don't see what the problem is.

I think my issue lies more with the people driving the cars than the 'spotters'. Perhaps I came over a bit strong in my original post.

The drivers, they're hardly staying out of trouble are they.

[TimLambert7]

Joeguard1990 said:

Exigepete is right. It's because they are bought to show off in and not for how they drive around a track. Hence why most of them do look ridiculously blinged up to catch your eye. This also makes it easier for the spotters video recording because they actually get to record footage off the car rather than video it going around one bend of a track very fast.
I'm a fan of both, I love watching cars perform but then I love watching them up close and slow moving too.

But think of it from the owners' side; what do you enjoy doing in your car, driving through city centres or driving on open roads or race tracks? Why are they doing it.

[TimLambert7]

Mastodon2 said:

TimLambert7 said:

But think of it from the owners' side; what do you enjoy doing in your car, driving through city centres or driving on open roads or race tracks? Why are they doing it.

What do you think is more important to them though, driving the car, or being seen driving the car?

Yes of course, this is obvious. I'm just completely baffled by it and how big it's become.

[TimLambert7]

hondansx said:

I rarely post comments on YouTube videos, because those who partake to tend make a Haldex argument on PH look like a tea party. However, i was compelled to comment on Schmee's video of the Aventador crash.

My issue is this: the owners of such cars do it for the attention. Without anyone there to take notice, they wouldn't take such risks. It's therefore a vicious circle, and the ugly side of it just being "enthusiasts enjoying cars" is that there is money involved - cue the reference of Schmee now owning a McLaren.

I would normally say good luck to such a chap, but seeing the link between CRASH! and YouTube hits racking up removed the innocent element for me. Someday, someone could quite easily die as a result of that kind of driving in the middle of London, and like it or not, those who video these ridiculous performances fuel them are part of the chain of events. Sure would get a lot of hits if you got it on camera though...

Completely agree; only last week I said to a friend that it's only a matter of time before one of them kills a cyclist or pedestrian. I would quite happily speculate they regularly do 50mph in very central London, which is more than enough speed to kill someone.

[TimLambert7]

Rich_W said:

When it was just a few it was fine. When t was the Alex Penfolds of this world making ART I was fine with it. The Handycam-ers are what's ruined this IMO.

Make no mistake it is tragic for all concerned.

The spotters because they are sycophants living vicariously through other people wealth (and view themselves as a valid "news source"
and
The owners because they feel the need to be idolised and adored by young men with no social skills.

Don't think these people are "harmless" though. The spotters are often seen blocking roads and making a nuisance of themselves to everyone else in the area. In the exact same way the tttos with Lambos bought by Daddy are being a nuisance to the people that LIVE and WORK in the area. Couldn't believe neither group could accept that revving the bks off a race pipe'ed V12 at 1am on a weeknight could be construed as a st thing to be doing And both those groups felt the need to shout down anyone who dared to voice that opinion. And I fear that eventually someone will do something silly and they'll be a fatality. Thoguh obviously the wky spotters will still upload the video in the hop of going Viral and getting a pay day. Vultures at least do it live...


But as posted above, it's a circle of the stupidest. Without one the other cannot exist. And there'll always be the other. So unless you get some draconian laws introduced. (Which I don't support btw) It will continue. Surprised the Police can't use existing powers to disperse them tbh. My only guess is that if YouTube stopped paying out for videos like this it would probably die out fairly quickly.

You've captured most of what I was trying to say there.

They are very often breaking the law so I don't think bringing in a few more is likely to deter anyone.

I really can't stand it and for many, it's becoming the face of car culture.

[TimLambert7]

Geekman said:

With regards to their driving, I'm always surprised how restrained they are. You get the occasional blast between traffic lights, but I've never seen anyone doing anything particularly crazy which, considering they're young guys in 200MPH cars on foreign plates with no real consequences for breaking the law, is pretty amazing.

But of course, everybody in this thread would never show off if they were driving a supercar in their early 20s would they? That's why everyone always keeps the revs nice and low when they exit a PH meet

I'm not sure about restrained, 50-60mph with cyclists and pedestrians around is too fast. What would you consider un-restrained?

Don't get me wrong, if I had an Aventador I'd certainly be very proud of it. But would I spend my time driving it around central London? If I happened to be going there, yes. But otherwise I'd be at Silverstone learning how to drive the knackers off it or half way across Switzerland on my way to Italy.

I'd also frequent Pistonheads meets

[TimLambert7]

Geekman said:

TimLambert7 said:

I'm not sure about restrained, 50-60mph with cyclists and pedestrians around is too fast. What would you consider un-restrained?

Don't get me wrong, if I had an Aventador I'd certainly be very proud of it. But would I spend my time driving it around central London? If I happened to be going there, yes. But otherwise I'd be at Silverstone learning how to drive the knackers off it or half way across Switzerland on my way to Italy.

I'd also frequent Pistonheads meets

Unrestrained would be street racing, drifting, going through red lights etc etc, all of which could happen when you put a 20 year old behind the wheel of a supercar. Can't say I've ever seen them do 50-60MPH next to cyclists and pedestrians, and if they are doing that then I wouldn't condone it. I'm just saying that it could be far, far worse given the circumstances.

I'd be doing the same things as you if I had an Aventador, but I suspect the lives of these people aren't as free as you might expect. Most of them are in London because their parents are there, and they can't simply fk off to Switzerland because they feel like it. And for those that do have the choice, a lot of them would probably rather stay in London with all their mates than go off on a roadtrip in a two seater car with no room for luggage or passengers. For an average 20 year old, parking your Aventador outside an exclusive nightclub next to your mate's 458 is more of a thrill than attacking the Evo triangle at 5am, and I can understand that, even though I would probably do the opposite!

I suppose you're right, it could be a lot worse. When I've got time later I'll try and dig out some of the more extreme ones I've seen. Plenty of videos of them doing hard acceleration and the odd slide. Let's be honest, an Aventador or 458 will probably do 50mph in first gear and I'm sure I've seen videos that show them pulling hard through 2nd gear - they can't be going too slowly that's for sure!

[TimLambert7]

BJG1 said:

I've met Tim a couple of times and he's a great chap, I also enjoy a lot of his content, don't really see any harm in what he does and it isn't his problem if there's a load of copycats out there who aren't quite as considerate as him.

There are some fking annoying car spotters though, as well as some tttish drivers. Some anecdotal evidence includes...

The "spotters" who were hanging about the Dorchester when my Old Man's Zonda was parked next to that "Tron" Aventador. We opened the boot for them so they could see the engine, almost as soon as I'd done on my side, one of them was barging me out of the way to get his photos, which I was pretty put out by - they weren't asking questions about the car either, just straight in for their photos then buggering off.

The Red Maserati MC Stradale driver in Chelsea - I gather he's a regular of the tt laps around Harrods scene, probably about my age (25). A few weeks ago I was driving through Chelsea in the Sagaris and he followed me around, revving the absolute tits off his car encouraging me to do the same. I was cringing in embarrassment anyway as after an hour in London, the clutch starts to have a paddy and I have to use a bit of revs to pull away in first, but there's this guy just making a complete racket behind me, with legions of shoppers staring at him thinking "who is this prick?" I don't see the appeal of that at all. A little later I was at some red lights and one of the spotters was stood in the middle of the road taking photos, when the lights went green, he didn't move and was just holding me up whilst he got another dozen pictures.

You do see some proper dhead style driving too, getting the arse out at junctions around Harrods. What concerns me most is a lot of these people are very clearly terrible drivers and they're happy to be goaded into driving unsafely. I watched a bloke outside Harrods spend literally 5 minutes trying to reverse into a 4-car space in his Veyron. Just find it very sad that someone who can barely drive is buying a 250mph car just to do tt laps round Kensington/Knightsbridge and never get out of 3rd gear

I did try to make it apparent that I have only ever heard good things about Tim/Shmee and none of this was aimed at him directly.

It's interesting to hear the opinion from someone who just happens to drive a nice car round London. The mug in the Maser sounds very funny though.

Can I congratulate you on owning a Sagaris. I absolutely adore those things and am yet to have a proper poke around one.

[TimLambert7]

I'm relieved to see that the general consensus is of a similar opinion to me!

BJG1 said:

I wasn't getting at you with the Tim comments, don't worry! Just trying to clarify my view first and make sure I didn't offend someone I happen to like!

And thanks! It's certainly an attention-grabber in London, makes a bit of a change from the oh-so-common Ferraris, Astons and Maseratis

No problem at all I didn't think you were; however this is quite confusing as I am also called Tim.

[TimLambert7]

boobles said:

CraigyMc said:

I think you're assuming that the supercar prats have been there longer than the folk who live there. I find fault in that.

I sometimes ask myself why is it that people join PH when they clearly dislike anything car related.

I think you've missed the point.

The cars are great. The people at the wheel aren't great.

Driving in a manner that is dangerous to others in a built up area is not a part of car culture I want to be a part of and is definitely not part of PH culture.

[TimLambert7]

BJG1 said:

Yeah, if you're ever in any doubt of how terrible some of these drivers are, just watch someone try to parallel park a Veyron into a 3-car space around Harrods. Laughably st, some of these guys literally wouldn't be able to pass a UK licence test and they're driving 250mph cars around the Europe's busiest city. I don't think it'll be long until something goes horribly wrong.

Let's be honest, how many PHers could hop in a car and pass a test straight off?

I'd guess 10% and yes I'm included in the 90%!

Your point still stands though, they are clearly awful drivers.

[TimLambert7]

ORD said:

On the other point, if you don't think you would pass a driving test, get off the road!

Do you honestly believe you could get in a car and pass the driving test straight away?

Do you still feed the wheel through your hands and pull to a stop at every roundabout?

There are so many miniscule nuances to passing a driving test that I honestly believe the vast majority of PHers would fail.