Memories - share em - car related please

[B'stard Child]

Thread jackers and trolls - sod off this is a feel good thread

I'll kick it off (cos I started it)

Le Mans 2005

- Sat night from memory about 3 am
- Grand stands above the pit area sparsely populated
- pits all quiet right now

you can almost get a feeling of being all alone, no one to share your experience, the odd one out, the one who couldn't go to Le Mans and then sleep when there was racing going on........



Who the hell am I kidding, it was mad on the other side and I was with people who really understood what it was all about - it didn't mater who you supported, you country, race, religon or colour

You could smell the hot engines and oil and the air was a heady mix of unburnt fuel and exhaust gases



"One of" the best moments of my life

What you got to share just in case I end up talking to myself I've a few more to add.....

[clarkmagpie]

Hearing and seeing my 1st Countach.
Must have been around 1988 in the Cotswold's while on holiday.

Sounded like thunder and looked fantastic in black.
Think it started a love affair with loud cars.

Prefer F's now but that will always hold a place in my heart.

[omgus]

The test drives and falling in love with new cars.
I have always been careful when buying cars, i search hard with set criteria and then after weeks i then make an impulse decision for a car that is often based on the colour. Some of my best memories to do with cars come from my first drive of each of them.

Had just blown up my Citroen ZX, a family friends Honda CRX came up. Off i toddle for a test drive, I hadn't really driven anything quick before. The owner opened the door, "Morning Gus, it's got a 1/4 of a tank, bring it back in one piece" and off i went.
Amazing little car, loud, quick, comfy seats, great grip and all mine for the morning. Went for a little drive round the local hoonable roads, it was on my driveway the next day. Considering this was 2002, i had only been driving for a year and it had been mildly modded it was seriously far too fast for a young lad. It's fate is described in my profile.

Then the MR2, I had driven a couple already, i knew what to expect and then i found the one that i would end up buying.
It had no history, except for the MOT for that year. On the plus side it had decent tyres, immaculate bodywork and then it wouldn't start. I was getting frustrated, the trader was getting frustrated, then one of his mechanics suggested a temporary fix, one bit of cable and the immobiliser was temporarily (18months) bypassed. Finally i was able to get it out for a test drive, only to discover it needed petrol. At this point my ex decided we should call it a day however i had fallen in love with the looks, in my head i knew that this was all a test to see if i deserved the chance to buy it, the decision was also swayed by the fact it was also a clear £500 cheaper than any MR2 within 30miles.
Petrol in, given the keys and told by the dealer as an apology i should take it out for about 45mins, we headed to the slightly hoonable roads to the NW of Reading. Absolutely everything on that car was as tight as a drum, it was a delight to drive, it was the first "sports car" i had ever driven and it pulled hard and strong through all the gears. Even to this day i haven't driven a car as ergonomically good as the mk2 MR2 and that was the first experience i had with it. Money paid, car on drive way the next week and then of course massive issues 2 months later chewed through the money i'd saved.



The Scooby test drive - my first taste of real power.

In my readers car thread for it I said:

After two and a half years of mostly happy mk2 MR2 ownership i had one to many unexpected sideways moments and decided that instead of looking at an MR2 Turbo i should find something safer, quicker and much more practicle. Things never turn out as you plan them though. I quckly narrowed my list down to a BMW328 Touring (i like fast estates), a Lancer Evo or a Scooby. The Evo idea got dropped pretty quickly as i have never really had a massive attraction to them compared to the BMW and the Scoob. After looking around for a while i found myself ignoring BMW's and only looking at Subarus so my descision made i started the hunt.

After a little research i had the folowing critea:
It had to be a classic.
It had to be an STI Redtop.
It had to have had certain mods done - Brakes, uprated intercooler, boost-controller, alarm and a tracker fitted.
It couldn't be a STI replica.
It couldn't be more than £5000.
It couldn't be a saloon.

So that left me searching for Wagons or Coupes. £5K budget meant Wagons.


The search was on in earnest and of course that week after seeing loads of STI wagons the week before, the only ones that i could find once i had made my decision were on autotrader at some car import place in Yorkshire that i really didn't fancy buying from.

I had my criteria, i had my budget, i had time so i waited, and waited, everytime an STI Wagon came up there was
something wrong with it. One i looked at had a blacktop engine and foglights, so it wasn't an STI. One was worringly cheap, phoned the bloke and got an international ring tone and spoke to a lovely man who had just emigrated to Nigeria and would have the car shipped back to me the moment my money cleared. Every car i looked at had a fault or a reason not to buy it, and then after calling about pretty much every Classic Wagon for sale in the country a new one appeared on autotrader.
It had a big brake kit, it had an uprated intercooler, it was an STI redtop and it was perfect, utterley perfect. It was also £2000 over budget. i didn't want to call, i knew my budget, i felt i knew this car would be perfect so i shouldn't call, i thought "if this car is further than 10 miles away i will not go and look, any further than that and it would be a wasted jouney for a car i really cant afford, i looked at how far away it was from my home.

"bkS"

4 miles, it was 4 miles away. Damn. I called, i arranged to visit. I had a look round, the seller was a great bloke and occasional PH'er (Hi Gordon if you read this) and i knew i had found my car, it was just way over budget. I decided to phone Gordon and explain to him my situation and to tell him that i was sorry for wasting his time.

I did, to which he said, "no worries, do you want to test drive it anyway?"



3 days later i drove it. Wow, the power delivery was so different to anything i had driven, the grip was insane and on the route we drove on i went down one of my favourite roads faster, cleaner and less scarily than i had ever managed to do in my MR2. We got back to the sellers house and over a cup of tea i did some maths and some insurance quotes. I could afford £5500 max, i explained this to Gordon and told him that if it didn't sell i would pay that figure for the car.

I continued my search, another 4 fruitless disapointing weeks of looking a Scooby's that where not as good as the one still on auto trader and still £2k over budget. Then the call came, £5500 by Friday and you can have the car. GET IN!


Living with it has been excellent, surprisingly comfortable on a long run, fits 5 people (provided i realise that the exhaust will scrape on bumps when fully loaded), still fast by anyones standards, able to destroy b-roads, fluster much more expensive machinery in a straight line, but really cause them problems in the twisties and it's economical, i sometimes get 25mpg on the motorway at 65.

I love that the barrys and chavs ignore it because it's an estate, i love that i moved house with a car that can keep with a "proper sports car" down a country lane, i definintely love the look on that certain demographic of scooby owners faces when they give it the beans in their alledgedly 450bhp WRX's and i leave them behind and i love that it has been reliable for the majority if the time i have owned it ( http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... ) and that it still puts a smile on my face when the roads are clear, or when i go though a tunnel, or when i just put my foot down to join a duel carriageway.

The bad sides are the insurance and the fuel bill. I am 29 now so insurance is getting better, it was £1300 when i first got the car and i couldn't insure the OH on it until she turned 25 now it is around £890 with all mods declared and OH on there. Petrol My record is an entire tank in 74miles(about 7mpg), i average 200miles for every tank and the highest i have ever seen was 300 on a long and very slow motorway run. But considering that i knew that it wouldn't be cheap to run when i brought it and i honestly cannot think of any one car that could do everything it does for the price, i can live with those costs.

Apologies if i have rambled on and i hope you like it. Piccies to follow.

Right, so i reckon i still have memorable drives and then memorable pax drives to go through as well.

[jas xjr]

Driving back from Southampton in the eighties in my first car. 1.6l ford Capri.
Driving along at around fifty or sixty on a dual carriageway when my car is rocking side to side. Wtf was that? As I see an amv8 disappearing into the distance. God knows what speed it was doing

[DanDC5]

I have a couple of favourites.

The first is the day I test drove a Civic Type R, I'd only driven cars that were fairly low powered up until that point,the current car was a remapped 206 HDI. I'd never even looked at them until I did an insurance quote the night before and discovered it was a lot more affordable than I thought it would've been. I climb into the car, start it up and all is well, love the position of the gear stick, in my mind it's what it would be like in a touring car. 10 minutes into the test drive and the engines warmed up, I reach a stretch of quiet road and drop it from 6th to 3rd gear, boot it and hit VTEC. I was so impressed by how it went I had one on the drive a few weeks later. IMO one of the best hot hatches ever.

The second memory also involves the Civic. Myself and a few friends decided to have a run up to the Cat n Fiddle one sunday afternoon (before the average speed cameras were installed), surprisingly for a sunday the roads were pretty quiet. So after a fairly committed run from Buxton down to Macclesfield, myself in the Civic and a friend in his 106 GTI decide to turn round and head back the way we came. The road is still quiet so we go for it (obviously sticking to the speed limit) as our other friends are still turning round ready to come back. The drive back up to the pub chasing the 106 is still one of the most fun experiences I've ever had behind the wheel, both cars relatively high revving for cylinders with aftermarket exhausts making quite a lot of noise, but in a good way (I know PH isn't the most 4 cylinder noise friendly place, but a Honda k20 and the Peugeot TU engine are far from unpleasant to the ears with a decent exhaust)

Having a completely clear run along a brilliant road travelling at a good pace reminded me exactly what I love about cars and hot hatches in particular. Made all the better by out friends telling us they could hear us both go for it and just saw 2 quick flashes of the roofs of the cars as we disappeared into the trees only to not see us again until everyone got to the pub.

[TrafficRat]

It was an incredible day, and a red Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead was being Valeted ready to go back into its den for another 3 months at my mums work, when my mum said "fancy a shot?" never been so excited in my life! Roasting hot day and the roof was down!

We drove for around 2 hours before returning, but the best moment of the drive was a boy racer in his rubbish mk1 Impreza riding up the ass of this momentus, stunning beast! The Impreza shifted down gears and jolted onto the other side of the road with its engine screaming and overtook us... My mum (Who hates loud cars and hates boy racers) unleashed the mighty 6 Litre engine and BAM! never expected so much power from such a heavy car, I was face to face with the boy in the Subaru and me and my mum both saluted him with the middle fingers before "floating" past the Impreza with little power required!

Such an amazing day, still get that memory every time I see it when I am at her work!



Also who rides up the arse of a £300K car!

[NateWM]

A have too many to share, but here is a couple....

Back when I was a young, aged around 5 years old, I was out the front playing when my Dad called me over to the Garage door. Stood in front of the door, he said "I hope you like it..." and opened the garage door. Sat there, was a pristine 2WD Sapphire Cosworth, in flint grey. The car was a previous stolen/recovered that was used in a bank robbery. He got the car for next to nothing, and spent thousands getting it resprayed, monster engine build. Basically it was showroom fresh and had a 400bhp+ lump sitting under the bonnet. We spent the next half an hour taking all the lads from the cul-de-sac (and some of the Dads!!) up and down the road, the car roaring in anger. Then just me and Dad went driving all over the UK and didn't get back until late! Cosworths were big news even then, so people were staring at the car constantly. He had the car right upto when I was 15, and I even got to have a blast in it at one point! I shedded a few tears when the car was sold (as did my Dad!) and miss it dearly. I have hundreds of pictures of the car, and managed to find the last owner of the car. Unfortunately, the silly sod managed to set fire to the car back in 2007 and scrapped it, but the memories live on and will do until my dying day. I now have a strong passion for RS's and have owned many like Escort RS Turbos and even had a brief fling with a 1600i. Unfortunately, I am yet to scratch the cosworth itch but I will do so eventually.

The next one is bound to cause controversy, but it's still a memory I love to remember. My Dad had a few cars, one of them being the Accord you can see in my profile. He owned it since it was nearly new before passing it onto me. In this story, I was about 16 at the time, and was a typical 16 year old when thinking about cars, i.e, power is everything, the more power the better etc. Therefore, my Dads Accord with just over 170hp didn't seem special in my eyes. We were coming back from visiting my Grandad in cornwall on some twisty country roads when we came across a Porsche 911, 993 shape, going unusually slow on a straight section. No drama, my Dad sticks to 60mph and checking it's safe, overtakes the Porsche leaving plenty of space. The next straight comes up, and Mr.911 shoots past us and roars off into the distance. My Dad just let's out a little "Heh..", smirks, and drops it a cog. Now bare in mind I had no idea what a D.O.H.C VTEC is, and had never seen the Accord get driven in anger. Therefore, I was amazed at how aggresive the engine sounded, and that the RPM gauge was going 4...5...6...7...8.5k!! OH jesus we're going a bit quick now. A couple of corners later, we are right up the 911's chuff. You could see the 911 squirming, especially on the corner exits, and yet here we are in a Honda Accord keeping right on his tail not letting him out of our sight! My Dad was a quick driver when he wanted to be, but I just couldn't understand how a car like this was giving a piece of exotica a right kick in the teeth. "Short ratio 'box and limited slip diff help with that son. I've driven one of them 911's too. They are not easy on the limit" says my Dad while flying round a corner. Another straight comes up and this time Mr.911 man backs off and taunts for us to overtake. As we do so, he gives us a thumbs up which we also give him. My Dad then slots the car back into 5th, and we carry on with our journey. That experience really taught me that while having extremely powerful cars like a cosworth is fun, it's not everything, and that corners are much more exciting than straights. It also shown me what a VTEC is. Before that day, I never knew a cars RPM gauge could go so high!

[NateWM]

Balls. Sorry for the double post!

Edited by NateWM on Saturday 7th January 02:06