Stupid Things Petrolheads Say
Discussion
My top ten comprises of silly petrolhead non-sense phrases, spouted about on public forum or monthly rant columns in your usual car mags. Ben, the educated middle class bloke who have an overated sense of importance in himself and his opinions, fallen victim to too much advertisement and marketing bulls
t over the years ... 10) Motorsport heritage
9) Power to weight ratio
8) It's not how much power you have, it's how it is "deployed"
7) It lack's low end torque
6) Lap times of Toyo or Goodyear tyres in the rain - real world dynamics...
5) ... yeah but it's not a Porsche
4) V8 this, V8 that ...
3) Lapping the Nurburgring
2) Driver dynamics
1) Point-to-point blah blah blah
My car has an extra 100bhp cos it has a £15 air filter from Halfords & does 160mph 
Have stopped bothering now but once had this row with someone & after i showed him that gearing to revs his car couldnt possibly do that speed his reply was simply 'well its cos mines a factory special'
Have stopped bothering now but once had this row with someone & after i showed him that gearing to revs his car couldnt possibly do that speed his reply was simply 'well its cos mines a factory special'
Kong said:
Whats wrong with that? How else do you explain why a Lotus Elise is faster than a Rover 75 with the same engine?
Because one is driven by a 80 year old retired civil servant with a tweed jacket and a car blanket on the rear seat. The other will be in the garage having its heater switch fixed again. So the Rover is faster overall 
Pistonheads - Stereotyping matters
alock said:
I posted a link to a reasonably well respected motoring magazine to give a little bit of weight to one side of the discussion. What are your credentials or sources for disregarding the article and writing what you have?
I love EVO, I have not missed an issue in about 2 years now and it makes for consistently exciting reading, but if you think it's 100% factual and honest you are well wide of the mark. How is that (even in the UK) when they road test a car, they talk about driving it at speed, speeds implied to be massively over UK speed limits, and yet they never mention any problems with traffic, speed cameras, traffic police etc?Having a fast car is great, but the reality is massively different to how you read it in EVO. To read a road test in EVO makes it sound like owning whatever car they are testing is to turn the roads into your own Nurburgring, where you can test the limits of grip, attack every corner at 10/10ths and feel the awesome stopping power of your carbon ceramic brakes. The reality is a little different, getting stuck in traffic, doing plenty of observations before having a cheeky squirt and then quickly curbing it before you get clocked and banned. Only on very rare occasions, in very specific places on the public road could you drive absolutely flat out with no impedance from things like static cameras, slow traffic etc, and even then you'd be praying that there was not some copper off in the distance with a speed gun watching you as you tear along at 140mph before braking heavily in the compression before the next corner etc.
The road test you mention (Enzo vs super hatches) is a case in point. Sure, it was in France, but their roads are not a free-for-all racetrack for petrolheads like EVO suggest. Yes, they raced the 4 cars along the road for miles, the Enzo "leaving the others behind at will" (I think that was the quote) and they did not once encounter any hinderance. Do you honestly believe that they drove those cars flat out, all day, instead of just driving them briskly then having a whoosh every now and again when they felt safe?
EVO caters to the petrolhead fantasy of driving fast cars at high speeds in often exotic locations. As I mentioned, I buy it every month, but I always take what I'm reading with a pinch of salt.
Especially when they are writing about Porsches...
Mastodon2 said:
stuff
something I've always wondered tbh - I've driven some faster cars than my current poverty box but never on a public road, and never owned one. But on a good road, I'm always thinking 'what would more power/grip do for me here?'. The limiting factor on my speed is almost always a)speed limit, or b)visibility. I guess more power would make a difference if you ignore the former, but I can't see a supercar getting around the latter.actually, there is a third factor
ther cars going slower. I can definitely see how more power helps there I have a much better view when I'm on the motorbike or in a Range Rover / Land Rover but yes basically to make more progress in a faster car on most roads in a 'Supercar' requires a very specific concoction of bravery, stupidity, knowing roads and as much forward planning/observation as possible. Makes it pretty exciting!
paranoid airbag said:
something I've always wondered tbh - I've driven some faster cars than my current poverty box but never on a public road, and never owned one. But on a good road, I'm always thinking 'what would more power/grip do for me here?'. The limiting factor on my speed is almost always a)speed limit, or b)visibility. I guess more power would make a difference if you ignore the former, but I can't see a supercar getting around the latter.
actually, there is a third factorther cars going slower. I can definitely see how more power helps there
Obviously the faster and more powerful your car is, the easier it is to overtake slower moving traffic, even without laughing in the face of the speed limit to get past them, but to sustain speeds way in excess of the limits is playing roulette with your licence, which is what magazines like EVO (but not just EVO!) completely omit to mention. Then again, if all they did was talk about how good a car was on quick overtakes and then moan about having to drive sensibly for the rest of the articles, no one would buy it! Scamera vans in my area often like to pay where you can't see them until you've passed them, so it pays to hold your lead foot off when you are passing hidden entrances and stuff. actually, there is a third factor
ther cars going slower. I can definitely see how more power helps there Anh said:
8) It's not how much power you have, it's how it is "deployed"
Yes, this one has always hit me as being slightly embarrassing to read. I think it was an article in EVO about the Focus RS mk2, where they said it "deploys it's power in a scattergun like fashion". What a load of guff. Obviously, the have to play up to certain car stereotypes to fit with the status quo and the angle there was that the Focus RS is an unruly hooligan of a car. Having been in my bosses Focus RS I can confirm that the power delivery was nothing like a 'scattergun'. Kong said:
Anh said:
9) Power to weight ratio
Whats wrong with that? How else do you explain why a Lotus Elise is faster than a Rover 75 with the same engine?Baryonyx said:
Anh said:
8) It's not how much power you have, it's how it is "deployed"
Yes, this one has always hit me as being slightly embarrassing to read. I think it was an article in EVO about the Focus RS mk2, where they said it "deploys it's power in a scattergun like fashion". What a load of guff. Obviously, the have to play up to certain car stereotypes to fit with the status quo and the angle there was that the Focus RS is an unruly hooligan of a car. Having been in my bosses Focus RS I can confirm that the power delivery was nothing like a 'scattergun'. 90% of what is written or said to defend speeding and/or complain about speed cameras (I do speed...but I don't live in denial...it's breaking the law and potentially dangerous - at least all the accidents I've had (bar one) plus most of the ones my PH friends have had (and will admit to!) have involved excess speed to some extent)
"Headers" instead of "inlet manifold".
"Shocks" instead of "dampers".
"Frame" instead of "chassis".
"Shifter" instead of "gear stick".
"Fender" instead of "bumper"
Why do people start using US terms when talking about Yank metal? Are these the same sort of people who buy Harley's and then spend £3000 on weekend dressing up gear so they can "live the dream" in Milton Keynes....
Oh, I see. I'll get my coat.
"Shocks" instead of "dampers".
"Frame" instead of "chassis".
"Shifter" instead of "gear stick".
"Fender" instead of "bumper"
Why do people start using US terms when talking about Yank metal? Are these the same sort of people who buy Harley's and then spend £3000 on weekend dressing up gear so they can "live the dream" in Milton Keynes....
Oh, I see. I'll get my coat.
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