Car things you've never done despite being a petrolhead...

[Augustus Windsock]

Mines a boring list;
I intend to, but never have, get myself a nice convertible (thinking M3 type of thing) or a Porsche 993 Carerra / 996 Turbo
And then do a ‘Slightly Less-Grand Tour’ going from The Chunnel, visiting Amsterdam, The Nurburgring, Kitzbuel, The Stelvio Pass and then Rome.
On the extended return journey I’m hoping to visit Aushwitz and / or Belsen.
An eclectic mix I’m sure you will agree
Unfortunately I’ve not got the time or the money for a couple of years to warrant it, but the route is already planned out. Just hoping that my health doesn’t deteriorate any quicker than it is at present...

[Jon_S_Rally]

Very interesting thread!

I notice a few have posted about not going to the 'ring, and a few have said about the cost fears. I have done a handful of laps over the years, but unless you do a lot, you have to give it so much respect that it's hard to really enjoy it fully in my view. My tip would be to go over and soak up the atmosphere on a really busy weekend (Easter is good), then do a passenger ride with someone who really knows what they're doing (Dale Lomas is good) - that is more than worth it. I would advise anyone that is even vaguely interested in cars to at least do that. You'll get to enjoy the food, beer and nice cars that surround the place, then get a really good sense of how mad the circuit is, without risking your wallet. If you really want to drive, as others have said, just rent something.

In terms of my own stuff. Things I haven't done that are apparently petrolhead essentials:

Never been to an F1 race (not that bothered)
Never owned a V8 (again, not that bothered)
Never owned a 'proper' sports or supercar (would like to, but I'm not interested in MX-5s and the like, so would need to be a Porsche or something)
Never been to the Goodwood Revival
Never owned an Alfa (not bothered)
Never owned a BMW/Merc
Never done circuit racing (doesn't appeal)
Never done a 1/4 mile
Never done a donut
Never done an autotest (something grassroots motorsport people go on endlessly about, but I'm not interested)
Never been to Le Mans (wouldn't mind, but it's never top of the list)
Never been to the TT

Things I have done:

Done a stage rally (need to do more)
Done a road rally (not bothered about doing more)
Rebuilt a car from a bare shell
Owned a RWD car (not that bothered)
Leased a car (Golf R - sorry lease haters)
Owned a car with an engine conversion
Driven round the Nordschleife
Driven round Silverstone (part of it anyway)
Done track days
Driven a Ferrari (488 GTB)
Owned a Ford (multiple)
Owned a Renault Sport (multiple)
Owned a car with more than four cylinders
Been to the Goodwood FOS (thought it was over-rated)
Been to Rally GB
Been to the Monte Carlo Rally
Been on a European road trip
Driven on the Stelvio pass (thought the Dolomite Road was better)

Edited by Jon_S_Rally on Monday 24th February 11:24

[Jex]

Never been to a Grand Prix (is it worth it? You can see more on TV)
Owned an Alfa, although I did have an Alfasud for a weekend once.
Owned a V10 (although driven one - Lambo at Brands, sounded great)
Driven a rotary (apart from my lawnmower).

[Fishy Dave]

I have never raced or driven at Lydden Hill or Knockhill.
Never been to an F1 race (only qually), but not too fussed either.
Have not owned a V10 or V12.
I would love to compete at Bathurst if money allowed.
Never owned an automatic or electric car (nor do I want to).
Oldest car was 1984, so should probably own a classic at some stage?
I've drifted but never on Ice, a trip to Scandinavia beckons.
Never owned an Alfa, although four Fiat's probably give me a good idea of the experience
I have never had an overall win in car racing. I've had podiums, championship wins and handicap victories, but never that pesky overall win. The way my racing budget gets ever smaller it may never happen, ah well.

Now the gratuitous showing off/Petrolhead things I have done:
Have raced or trackdayed at many circuits in the UK, Europe and States.
I drive the 'ring most years.
Former ARDS Instructor.
Stood on the top step of the podium at Spa (winning balance of performance in the 3 Hours)
Owned Rotary, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 cylinder cars.
Air-cooled 911 ownership (a short-lived rusty experience)
Driven Route 66 and Pacific Coast Highway.
Owned a Motorbike.
Carry out all my own spannering.
Filmed for McLaren and Fernando Alonso and driven on track with them (sadly with a camera man in my boot at 30mph).
Have been to Le Mans 24hrs and Goodwood Revival +Fos.
Written a car book.
I organise Motorsport for my day job.

Edited by Fishy Dave on Monday 24th February 12:02

[seiben]

Never even attempted a burnout. I just can't bring myself to do it

[Cacatous]

I've never -

driven in mainland Europe
driven an American muscle car
driven a nordic car
driven a car with a V5 or V10 engine
had a puncture

There are lots of things I have done at least once though!

[mundo-kombi.com]

Never......

Been to the 'ring (and don't want to - there's probably too many idiots there already, why add one more).
Owned an Alfa. (I'm ashamed to say that seeing as I consider myself a proper petrolhead).
Owned a BMW. (I'm proud to say that seeing as I consider myself a proper petrolhead). JOKE!!!
Owned anything built in the last decade or so (I'm proud to say that seeing as I consider myself a proper petrolhead).
Owned an electric car (surely I don't need to mention anything about being a petrolhead?)
Owned an aircooled Porsche (oops, that's wrong, I've just bought a 964 - soz, had to tell someone)

And there's a heap of other stuff too, equally as uninteresting.

[dzernski]

Things I haven't but would like to:
Own a mid engined car
Own a rear engined car (but probably only briefly)
Drive the big 3 (Ferrari, Lambo, Aston)
Own a car that was to my exact spec
The Ring (as with others, I've been to but not round - I needed my car to get home after the F1)
NC 500

Things that I ticked off my list:
Own a V8 muscle car ('10 Camaro SS still do and would only change for a newer one)
Road trip Europe and America (Italy in a hire car, Hungarian/German F1 and Poland/back for a wedding in the Camaro)
Single seaters/track days (god bless corporate days and PalmerSport)
Classics (2 triumphs - Herald and Vitesse)

[_Neal_]

RobM77 said:

I've driven several modern Alfas...they're reliable, but boring, at least if you're interested in handling.

I thought the Giulia was meant to be rather good, especially the QF? Anyway, I think missing from my list is:

Owning something Japanese - never even sat in a classic Impreza/Evo/Skyline
Owning something 4wd
Owning an SUV
Owning something sporty-ish with a V6
Owning a rotary-engined something
Owning a Porsche - driven a few, liked them a lot
Driving tour in Scotland
Le Mans
Goodwood
Pacific Coast Highway

Realistically anything with more than 8 cylinders is outside my budget.

I like both trackdays and driving tours, skidpans, drifting (although I'm rubbish at it) and think the Nurburgring is great, both the circuit and visit in general. Trackdays I don't find "samey" at all, and I've generally found them fun and sociable, lots of like-minded people willing to talk about their cars and driving.

Anyone who's not been to the Ring, as said above I'd recommend it even if you're not going to drive the circuit - the trip there is fun, food and drink is tasty and plentiful, local scenery is pretty, locals are friendly and the circuit viewing/car spotting is top quality. Saw a disguised pre-production LFA on the local roads on my first visit, for example, and was there at the same time as the GTR set its lap record in 2010. Again, full of like-minded friendly people, in my experience.

There's not much car-related stuff I've done that I didn't like to be honest!

[RemarkLima]

Should add mine.

Never owned a v8 or v12
Driven stinking diesels for too long (just a general regret)
Never owned an alfa or porsche
Didn't by a 911 when they were a reasonable price
Never owned a classic

Speed addicted said:

rxe said:

Did my first trackday this year and came away thinking "what's the point?"

To be honest I'm in much the same place, I find touring (usually on motorbikes) to be far more interesting than going round in circles quickly!

I wonder if this is the modern changes to track days... When I did the first few, it was the wild West, so power slides, handfuls of opposite lock on every corner and generally giving it all full beans was welcome and encouraged.

By the last few, everything seemed to be pretty pinned down, with no show boating or generally doing some sideways action being allowed. I never felt like they helped my car control skills as much...

Edited by RemarkLima on Monday 24th February 14:05

[bungle]

Jon_S_Rally said:

V My tip would be to go over and soak up the atmosphere on a really busy weekend (Easter is good), then do a passenger ride with someone who really knows what they're doing (Dale Lomas is good) - that is more than worth it. I would advise anyone that is even vaguely interested in cars to at least do that. You'll get to enjoy the food, beer and nice cars that surround the place, then get a really good sense of how mad the circuit is, without risking your wallet.

Have thought about doing this before, and definitely re getting a passenger ride. Trying to work out how to get it into a European family trip somehow ("it's on the way there/back..." ), with a day or so stop-off there.

[woodynut]

boz1 said:

Just realised I may have been taking this too seriously... I also have not fufilled the following PH memes:

- Bought winter tyres
- Put on the handbrake to avoid dazzling the driver behind with my brake lights
- Owned a dash cam
- Posted on PH about something my 'mate' has done

I’ve got a mate who has never posted on PH. about something his ‘mate’ has done

[MiseryStreak]

I have never:
Owned anything with more than four cylinders
Driven anything exciting with more than four cylinders (apart from a rubbish couple of laps in an E63 AMG at Brooklands)
Ridden a motorbike
Driven to or even been to Le Mans
Been to a Grands Prix or a Rally (Goodwood FOS doesn't count)
Crashed into another car or anything else (I reversed my open driver's door into a post retrieving a spat out parking ticket once)
Bought a brand new car

I have:
Driven my own car around the Nordschleife (DC2 ITR)
Driven around the EVO Triangle in a Clio Trophy on an early summer morning as if it was a closed road rally stage (not one other car, heaven)
Driven a Mustang from San Francisco to Phoenix through Yosemite and Death Valley in 10 days (Honeymoon)
Driven a Land Rover the whole length of Fraser Island in Australia, the largest sand island and longest beach on Earth
Owned and ran a Lotus Elan as the only car registered in my name
Taken out, rebuilt and refitted a Lotus Elan TwinCam
Been treated for smoke inhalation putting out an engine fire on a Lotus Elan
Had sex in an original Mini, and I'm 6' 7" so that's the greatest/only achievement here.

[BogBeast]

Car things you've never done.. but would like to..

Own and mess with a rotary...
Own and mess with a V12...
Raced competitively on a drag strip (not RWYB)
Tuned my own cars on a dyno (I know, a bit special...)

[RobM77]

_Neal_ said:

RobM77 said:

I've driven several modern Alfas...they're reliable, but boring, at least if you're interested in handling.

I thought the Giulia was meant to be rather good, especially the QF? Anyway, I think missing from my list is:

Oops - sorry, I forgot about that - I was referring to the Brera, Spider, 156 etc. I've never driven a Giulia, but yes, it does sound like they buck the trend.

[treeroy]

Never broken the speed limit

[heisthegaffer]

This owning an Alfa thing is a load of rubbish. I love Alfas since the 75, 164 and SZ plus plenty more since then but never owned one. Mates have had a few and they've been lovely and great fun to be driven around in or drive.

Doesn't mean I don't still love them or make me less of a petrol head. Nor does it mean I wouldn't love a Giuilia QF or 280 or a 4C for that matter.

[RobM77]

heisthegaffer said:

This owning an Alfa thing is a load of rubbish. I love Alfas since the 75, 164 and SZ plus plenty more since then but never owned one. Mates have had a few and they've been lovely and great fun to be driven around in or drive.

Doesn't mean I don't still love them or make me less of a petrol head. Nor does it mean I wouldn't love a Giuilia QF or 280 or a 4C for that matter.

I didn't mean to imply the reverse of Clarkson's statement. It's a stupid thing to say, either way round. I don't think there's one make of car you can point to and say "you must have owned this, otherwise you're not a petrolhead", or indeed "if you've owned that, you're not a petrolhead". I know plenty of people deeply into motorsport who own very dull daily drivers. Michael Schumacher had an Escort van when he started in F1. Equally, I know plenty of people with high performance road cars (like the Giulia QF), but who have next to no interest in cars; they just have a lot of money and wanted something fast and flashy.

[AC43]

In terms of things that seem to have some sort of significance to on PH;

I've never been to the Ring.
I've never owned a 911
I've never had a straight 6 or V12

In terms of other things;

I've never gelled with convertibles
I've never had a diesel

[_Neal_]

MiseryStreak said:

I have:
Driven around the EVO Triangle in a Clio Trophy on an early summer morning as if it was a closed road rally stage (not one other car, heaven)

- I did that on New Year's Day in my E36 M3 Evo, snow at the edge of the road. Quality.

I need to add "Own a classic car" to my list. Currently lusting after a Fiat 500 L, but it'd just sit unused.

PS - do I get double points for having been driven round the Nurburgring in the wet by Dale Lomas in an Alfa 75?