Favourite motoring quotes?

[samoht]

Shamelessly inspired by Chris Harris et al, what are you favourite quotes / sayings about driving?


Two spring to mind for me:

Graham Hill said:

I am an artist. The track is my canvas, and the car is my brush.

I like this because it conveys the sense of endless possibility of how you can take a corner (especially on a racetrack) and hence the possibility for self-expression that driving offers. It also makes me think of drifting, where you literally paint your mark on the canvas of the tarmac.

Mark Donohue said:

If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower.

I was happy to hear this one mentioned on the podcast, it's always been one of my favourites. It's great because it sounds superficially like a typically over-the-top exaggerated American thing to say, but it's also precisely physically true - more power will always equate to a quicker lap time up until the point that you're traction limited 100% of the time.

[Voldemort]

Any idiot can go fast in a straight line; it's the corners that matter

[cerb4.5lee]

"No replacement for displacement" I've always liked. However I'm also a pretty big fan of turbos as well though!

[languagetimothy]

Two from Mario Andretti :

If you don’t come walking back to the pits every once in a while holding a steering wheel in your hands, you are not trying hard enough.

If everything seems under control you are just not going fast enough.

[jeremyh1]

Stop moaning and just drive the feckin thing

[Benni]

Nitro Funny Car legend John Force after an engine explosion & tire explosion that ripped the body off,
crashing into the guardrail in flames, going rearward across the finish line,
and flipping the wreck sideways in the sand trap, to the TV crew, grinning :

"bhin´, ey ? Are we live ? [ lists sponsors ]...... Maaan, I saw Elvis at a thousand feet ! "

[bodhi]

Power is how hard you hit the wall, torque is how far you take it with you.

[Fiisch]

"If in doubt, flat out". Colin McRae, never looks remotely cheesey adorned to the back of a Subaru Impreza, and is literally applicable to every single driving situation imaginable.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

If you wan to venture into the Outback, get a Landrover. If you want to come out again, get a Landcruiser.

[Raccaccoonie]

Fiisch said:

"If in doubt, flat out". Colin McRae, never looks remotely cheesey adorned to the back of a Subaru Impreza, and is literally applicable to every single driving situation imaginable.

Only issue is that mindset killed him, his son and two friends, so not really sure it should be lauded.

[smack]

An Australian Police saying about their Traffic/Highway Patrol colleagues - "Only dogs chase cars"

[RDMcG]

Walter Röhrl:

"Good drivers have dead flies on the sidewindows"

[donkmeister]

bodhi said:

Power is how hard you hit the wall, torque is how far you take it with you.

And speed is how many times you can drive round a roundabout until you get dizzy, whilst acceleration is like a Tuesday afternoon.

Sorry, you just happened to be the one who posted that terrible phrase, but it is complete nonsense that explains neither power nor torque.

[jimmy156]

Raccaccoonie said:

Fiisch said:

"If in doubt, flat out". Colin McRae, never looks remotely cheesey adorned to the back of a Subaru Impreza, and is literally applicable to every single driving situation imaginable.

Only issue is that mindset killed him, his son and two friends, so not really sure it should be lauded.

Was is though? I thought it was just a freak accident?

[anonymous-user]

BHP is what you boast about at the pub, torque is what fires you out of a corner.

[knight]

Stalling is only embarrassing if you give a fk

[Fusion777]

Almost all statements about torque are wrong

[coppice]

Clay Reggazoni on Indy 500 '"it's a-easy , left , left and a -left "

Keke Rosberg - Silverstone 1985 , before he set his 161mph pole - grinds out Marlboro Red on pitlane - 'Let's do it ' . And he did ...

PJ O'Rourke's description of the Porsche 911 "Ass-engined Nazi slot - car"

And just about anything written by Russell Bulgin, David E Davies and LJK Setright
.

[sociopath]

coppice said:

Clay Reggazoni on Indy 500 '"it's a-easy , left , left and a -left "

Keke Rosberg - Silverstone 1985 , before he set his 161mph pole - grinds out Marlboro Red on pitlane - 'Let's do it ' . And he did ...

PJ O'Rourke's description of the Porsche 911 "Ass-engined Nazi slot - car"

And just about anything written by Russell Bulgin, David E Davies and LJK Setright
.

He was sent to earth to put everyone off cars and stop them ever reading about them.
Pretentious twaddle 95% of the time.

YOMV

[stinkyspanner]

Go fast, don't crash