Scream if you want to go faster: PH Blog
The etiquette of demonstrating a fast car to impressionable passengers
Obviously you have to watch yourself in a car that quick because you're far beyond 'points not ban' in a very short space of time. Something I was especially wary of, given my dad is a magistrate and more aware of EXACTLY where that threshold lies than most. But that's the thing I'm learning about running a car like the McLaren. Everybody wants a ride in it. And I'm equally enthusiastic to share the giddiness 'ownership' (OK, temporary custody) of a properly exotic car brings. After all, what's the point of such cars if you're not spreading the love? I'd go as far as considering it an obligation!
Knowing how to 'demonstrate' a fast car in a way that is both enjoyable for your passenger and maintains a semblance of social responsibility is a delicate balance though. YouTube is, of course, full of 'watch this' moments gone wrong. Most are comedic, some end in tragedy. Neither outcome is desirable.
But the chances are you'll have been there and egged on into proving what your pride and joy can do. What are the techniques for doing so? Noisy cars are obviously useful for contriving a sense of speed, the extravagantly blipped and unnecessary downshift another key tool in the armoury. Like any good punchline the joke is in the timing too - knowing the road and lulling your passenger into a false sense of security by bimbling along and engaging in innocent chit-chat before suddenly letting rip is always a good tactic for getting a reaction.
Choose your weapon too. I know turbo cars get a lot of flak but in this respect the McLaren's old-school rush of boost is really useful - you get that kick in the back and Millennium Falcon style sense of things going blurry long before the numbers actually turn silly. For someone not used to fast cars it feels properly exciting but as the driver (and licence holder) you can remain well within the realms of respectability. Revvy, naturally-aspirated cars like the Audi R8 you might consider a rival sound amazing and are much more impressive than the McLaren from a noise point of view. But to get to the really, really impressive acceleration you need to be well up in the revs and well beyond what might be considered sensible speed-wise.
An appreciation of your passenger's threshold is always good practice too. I took my sister-in-law out for a few laps on a track day once and my brother's advice as she was strapping in was simple - "If she's screaming or giggling that's fine - if she goes quiet you're in trouble!" My rule of thumb is whooping, swearing and scrabbling for a handhold is fine. Silence, a middle-distance stare and both hands gripping the seat cushion and you've probably gone too far.
So those are my tips. Anyone got any more to share?
Dan
Then count them down, 3-2-1 and give it full beans up to the red line and into the next gear.
Rinse and repeat a couple of times and they'll be hooked!
Ahem - all within legal limits, of course...
On a more prosaic note I find I can impress passengers in my Honda S2000 just by holding on to 2nd gear. As you pass 6000rpm they're politely impressed and expecting a change of gear. By the time we reach 9000 they tend to be mor fulsome in their comments!
Certainly it has raised quite childish giggles from some grown men, but equally whilst the initial acceleration is fine, my other half for example finds the continued acceleration progressively more unsettling. Having been in the passenger seat the gear / acceleration does seem to go on forever and obviously not being in control you really don't know how long it's going to continue for.
This is only in the Monaro so by no means a rocketship, but certainly compared to a 320d or what have you, yes it gives a similar 400lb ft shove, but it the continues to pull. It sounds a bit more apocalyptic as well. As mentioned epic NA noise does give an extra edge to proceedings
I had a little "brief" I gave to all the passengers but long story short it was "this is your experience, how do you want me to drive?" and I got every kind of answer from "make me pee myself" to "I just want to drive around nicely, my grandson bought me the ticket"
As the runs were video'd (for youtube) it's always fun to watch back the replays and find that, even though a pax didn't seem to make much noise (which is fine), watching their face and realising they weren't bored but instead just couldn't speak is always fun.
Knowing your cars exciting points is a must. For example I know that if I do 40mph in 5th and floor it the gearbox drops to 2nd at 5k rpm and the car rockets off, yet at 50mph it only drops to 3rd at 4k rpm so the acceleration "feels" less violent, despite still being stupidly quick. Aside from the acceleration I also like to show how fast it can stop somewhere near the start too, just so the pax can appreciate how quickly we can stop should we need to and combo of the acceleration + stop + accceleration has left a few pax feeling a little light-headed before
I also don't tend to corner fast with pax on the roads (well maybe with a friend) and leave that to track driving and most are happy just to feel the acceleration alone.
Unfortunately, I think that modern roads are too busy and too dangerous to start showing off to passengers. It doesn't take much to take it too far. Just look at that thread we had on here years ago by someone who was out for a spirited drive when it all went wrong.
The best way to do any showing off is on a track. At least you don't have to contend with public road dangers there.
Also, I think there is more to showing off than just accelerating fast.
Coming up next week on PH - how many vehicles can you overtake in one go on a rural road?
However, I always take the attitude you can do 100mph in pretty much any car nowadays so after checking the sort of ride a passenger is looking forward to I demonstrate some standing and mid range acceleration, braking (sometimes even more of a shock than the acceleration), the noise (131db helps there though) and the general theatre of the car. I won’t drive anywhere near my limits or the cars, I have a passenger I’ve never met before who’s generously paid to have a ride that’s fun but safe. Most passengers have never been in a sportscar before, let alone a TVR so are more than happy taking it all in at 7/10ths than being scared half to death in the passenger seat.
Then count them down, 3-2-1 and give it full beans up to the red line and into the next gear.
Rinse and repeat a couple of times and they'll be hooked!
Ahem - all within legal limits, of course...
Unfortunately, I think that modern roads are too busy and too dangerous to start showing off to passengers. It doesn't take much to take it too far. Just look at that thread we had on here years ago by someone who was out for a spirited drive when it all went wrong.
The best way to do any showing off is on a track. At least you don't have to contend with public road dangers there.
Also, I think there is more to showing off than just accelerating fast.
Coming up next week on PH - how many vehicles can you overtake in one go on a rural road?
Unfortunately, I think that modern roads are too busy and too dangerous to start showing off to passengers. It doesn't take much to take it too far. Just look at that thread we had on here years ago by someone who was out for a spirited drive when it all went wrong.
The best way to do any showing off is on a track. At least you don't have to contend with public road dangers there.
Also, I think there is more to showing off than just accelerating fast.
Coming up next week on PH - how many vehicles can you overtake in one go on a rural road?
Accelerating fast isn't that exciting at all. Proper fun is had during cornering and braking
Unfortunately, I think that modern roads are too busy and too dangerous to start showing off to passengers. It doesn't take much to take it too far. Just look at that thread we had on here years ago by someone who was out for a spirited drive when it all went wrong.
The best way to do any showing off is on a track. At least you don't have to contend with public road dangers there.
Also, I think there is more to showing off than just accelerating fast.
Coming up next week on PH - how many vehicles can you overtake in one go on a rural road?
Accelerating fast isn't that exciting at all. Proper fun is had during cornering.
Yes you won't impress a steely eyed powerfully build PHer on the public road without getting silly, but most other people can be provoked into exclamations of shock quite easily.
Unfortunately, I think that modern roads are too busy and too dangerous to start showing off to passengers. It doesn't take much to take it too far. Just look at that thread we had on here years ago by someone who was out for a spirited drive when it all went wrong.
The best way to do any showing off is on a track. At least you don't have to contend with public road dangers there.
Also, I think there is more to showing off than just accelerating fast.
Coming up next week on PH - how many vehicles can you overtake in one go on a rural road?
Accelerating fast isn't that exciting at all. Proper fun is had during cornering and braking
To the normal population, accelerating probably multiple times faster than they've ever experienced, whilst sat in the passenger seat (which very much amplifies the sensation of speed) in something loud and unusual is in fact quite exciting. Normally at quite a simplistic emotional level that leads to unexpected expletives or noises. Which is fun.
Whilst I agree with asking the passenger what kind of run they are looking for I always asked if they were police!
Not so important to ask now but friend took young girl out before mobiles became quite as ubiquitous and perhaps when
she asked to go faster....faster he should have asked her to turn the phone off.
He was extremely nervous all the way home after she said she would be posting the footage to her Facebook page....
That being said, I also had one worried we'd roll over, and that was at about 30mph, within a few meters of setting off, and on flat roads. Not much chance I'd have said.
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