"It's just a road..."

[PapaHett]

Was telling a mate of mine about how when i'm finished my exams next year, i'll be heading over to Scotland/Wales in search of some nice roads.. I started to show him some of the pics that are posted up here, as well as a video of the Evo Traingle..

His response was a sarcastic "fk, thats some road.." and "It's just a road.."

This coming from a guy who's big into his cars; Well he drives a 1.2 clio with one light, and some nice dents. There was some overspray on his number plate, that was annoying me so much I wetsanded it off while he was at my house one day.

Anyone have mates like this, that just dont get what a good road is? Or get the thrill of driving on one?

Edited by PapaHett on Wednesday 2nd December 16:41

[MartinM]

Yep, my closest group of mates aren't into cars at all and don't understand what all the fuss is about. Ah well, keeps me balanced i guess!

[Angry Sheep]

Most of my guy mates 'get' it. The girl mates don't... until I persuade them to come with me, and their opinions soon change! Even if it's not the road that appeals to them, it's the scenery.

[snorkel sucker]

Angry Sheep said:

Most of my guy mates 'get' it. The girl mates don't... until I persuade them to come with me, and their opinions soon change! Even if it's not the road that appeals to them, it's the scenery.

if i had a female passenger with me on one of my trips round the triangle, id be pretty confident they would never spaek to me again!!

[Allyc85]

I dont get people saying its just a road, just silence and a weird look or I "I bet you were driving like a tt!"

I even got slaughtered today because I said to my workmate that I recognised the A4069 from last sundays top gear. he said it was very sad and couldnt understand how i knew it! I didnt bother trying to get it through to him that it was one of my favourite roads and that its quite easy to recognise land makks that youve seen loads of times!

[HereBeMonsters]

Allyc85 said:

"I bet you were driving like a tt!"

I get a lot of that. They don't get the difference between an enthusiast and a boy racer. Took my mate out for a hoon once (he has a 1.1 205, wanted to show him what a proper one can do) and he straight up swore at me for driving round a perfectly open, wide corner at 60mph, on a 60 limit road. No drama, didn't even really lean on the suspension. He just had no idea that any car could do that, and actually said "you were lucky we got away with that, if you don't slow down we'll end up in a ditch".
Nope, I drive this road once or twice a week, and I know what my car can do. Never take it more than 8/10ths on the road, and always drive to the conditions.

Apparently that's not good enough, and because I like to drive fast (when and where the situation allows) I am a boy racer. Remember, overtaking is for racing drivers only, and if you come to a corner you need to brake.

[GravelBen]

I don't think you don't have to be a real petrolhead to appreciate a nice road though, my boss for example doesn't drive particularly hard (though he enjoys watching a bit of motorsport) but still understands nice roads and seems to enjoy driving them.

Though to be honest the only photos I've seen of the 'Evo triangle' have been of long, boring-looking straights so I can understand the 'just a road' comments from photos like that.

Now this, this is a nice road.

http://www.vimeo.com/2481437

[spoonoff]

Much of what has been said rings true for me.

I have a friend who is big into his cars- always had V6 Vectras and then 6-cylinder BMWs once he could afford them, but the idea of going in search of a 'good road' never occured to him (despite living 5 mins drive from some of the best roads in the country) until I took him out for a hoon in my old Renaultsport Clio... and he absolutely cacked himself!

It was a bit damp so I was taking it easy but he was clearly very uncomfortable with the speeds I was taking corners, and the angles we generated around a few (deserted) roundabouts.

The funny thing is, he has driven me in the past, and he drives like a lunatic around other traffic: Diving into impossibly small gaps on busy roundabouts, cutting people up, sitting 2 feet from other car's bumpers, then tearing past.

It may not suprise you to know that he has written 2 cars off and I have never had a bump in 10 years of enthusiastic driving.

[Chris71]

GravelBen said:

I don't think you don't have to be a real petrolhead to appreciate a nice road though, my boss for example doesn't drive particularly hard (though he enjoys watching a bit of motorsport) but still understands nice roads and seems to enjoy driving them.

True. I also think - even for a real petrolhead - that driving a great road is often part of touring where you might be somewhere unfamiliar or just too plain busy watching the scenery to really go for it.

[Slippydiff]

GravelBen said:

Though to be honest the only photos I've seen of the 'Evo triangle' have been of long, boring-looking straights so I can understand the 'just a road' comments from photos like that

GB, to my knowlege no one has posted any good pictures of the twisty sections of the Evo Triangle. Rest assured the majority of pictures posted tend to show the quicker sections. But trust me, what is questionably the best UK motoring magazine for performance car enthusiasts, wouldn't use it to assess cars if it wasn't perfect for the job . . . .

The faster sections are massively quick, throw in come challenging off camber corners and yumps and believe you me, it is far more than "just a road".

It makes the road on the video you've posted look positively tame

Go to this page and there's two clips of the Triangle being driven (by my standards anyway) sedately.

http://www.scoobysmacs.co.uk/video.asp

Prior to the first video at 2.02 is a VERY quick section with the afforementioned yumps and off camber corners (it used to be through dense forest until it was cut down a couple of years ago) From 2.02 the road is fast, bumpy and when taken at speed the section 3.25 through to 5.35 is fantastic (and definitely not straight)

You have to remember that there are 60+ million in the UK ! Finding good fast challenging roads WITHOUT loads of numpties driving on them is far more difficult than in NZ.
Having spent nine weeks in NZ eight years ago, my recollections are of roads waaaaay better than the example you've given above . . . Te Anau to Milford Sound (to name but one) as I recall was rather good

P.S I got stopped and fined for speeding twice in my nine weeks. Both times in a Mazda 1.5 automatic . . . .

P.P.S I seem to recall the Livingstone to Taupo road being "testing", especially in the middle of a monsoon like rainstorm. Not forgetting that you Kiwis don't like being overtaken much . . .

Edited by Slippydiff on Tuesday 15th December 22:59

[GravelBen]

Slippydiff said:

Having spent nine weeks in NZ eight years ago, my recollections are of roads waaaaay better than the example you've given above . . . Te Anau to Milford Sound (to name but one) as I recall was rather good

You're right, thats just one I happened to have a video of. The Milford Road is fantastic indeed as are plenty of others.

Will take a look at your video later on when I'm not pretending to work.

[Slippydiff]

Not me driving GB, I've never driven round the Triangle in a Scoob (didn't even make it around there in my P1) :-(