Did you really drive *that* quickly 'back in the day'?
Discussion
TameRacingDriver said:
Sometimes 
I used to be a good person to ask about the brake fade of a particular car.
I'm much more sedate nowadays. Except on top gear of course
Brake fade, wow forgot about that! My first car, mk4 escort was terrible for it. My Rover GTi was not much better either! The feeling when you hit the pedal and nothing happens...I used to be a good person to ask about the brake fade of a particular car.
I'm much more sedate nowadays. Except on top gear of course
MC Bodge said:
TameRacingDriver said:
I used to be a good person to ask about the brake fade of a particular car.
Yes, it surprised me that many people have never experienced it.I hadn't experienced it for a long time until last year (brakes have improved a lot over the years) in a car that I had recently bought, on a brisk journey over the North Pennines. I changed the pads and fitted cooling ducts the following week.
I would argue that's one of the main things that holds a lot of cars back actually, amazing as you say how many cars have this as a problem, even sporty ones, it's almost like they believe people just want the halo model and don't actually wish to drive it properly.
I can see a brake pad upgrade in my near future on my recent acquisition and that's despite me being more 'tame' now than in the past!
Megaflow said:
Brake fade, wow forgot about that! My first car, mk4 escort was terrible for it. My Rover GTi was not much better either! The feeling when you hit the pedal and nothing happens...
gone through lots of underwear in my time.Edited by TameRacingDriver on Thursday 21st May 15:44
MC Bodge said:
Yes, it surprised me that many people have never experienced it.
I hadn't experienced it for a long time until last year (brakes have improved a lot over the years) in a car that I had recently bought, on a brisk journey over the North Pennines. I changed the pads and fitted cooling ducts the following week.
Mmm, I did it a few times many years ago, but the only time I've managed it in recent memory was when rocking a Kei car down a Japanese mountain pass in a somewhat unsuitable manner.I hadn't experienced it for a long time until last year (brakes have improved a lot over the years) in a car that I had recently bought, on a brisk journey over the North Pennines. I changed the pads and fitted cooling ducts the following week.
Edited by MC Bodge on Thursday 21st May 14:07
Proper "park up and enjoy the view while the smelly smoke wafts away a bit" job.
k off!) Warning - Old Fart's corner ....
Way back in September 1968, I had been involved in following the French Alpine rally, which ended near Nice. As a journo, I was driving a BMW 2002, and had to get copy and pictures back to London within 24 hours to meet publishing deadlines.
Leaving Nice at about 4.00PM on the Saturday afternoon, and driving alone, I got back to the quayside in Calais by about 08.00 AM the following morning.
This route was via Marseilles, Lyons, and Paris - and there were very few autoroutes in those days.
I remember distinctly being cornered on the ferry by a marketing-survey girl, complete with clipboard, who wanted to know about my journey, asking me politely where I had started from,and where I had slept the previous night ? Nice on a Friday night was not an answer she understood, and she immediately wrote me off as a nutter....
Maybe she was right ....
Way back in September 1968, I had been involved in following the French Alpine rally, which ended near Nice. As a journo, I was driving a BMW 2002, and had to get copy and pictures back to London within 24 hours to meet publishing deadlines.
Leaving Nice at about 4.00PM on the Saturday afternoon, and driving alone, I got back to the quayside in Calais by about 08.00 AM the following morning.
This route was via Marseilles, Lyons, and Paris - and there were very few autoroutes in those days.
I remember distinctly being cornered on the ferry by a marketing-survey girl, complete with clipboard, who wanted to know about my journey, asking me politely where I had started from,and where I had slept the previous night ? Nice on a Friday night was not an answer she understood, and she immediately wrote me off as a nutter....
Maybe she was right ....
Yes - Got my first car in 1966 and always drove whatever I had as fast as I possibly could - calming down in about 1980.
The most *that* quickly/risky in London, was as a passenger in a Maserati Ghibli in the late '60s ....
.... 137 leptons along Adelaide Rd from the Round House in Chalk Farm to Swiss Cottage.
The most *that* quickly/risky in London, was as a passenger in a Maserati Ghibli in the late '60s ....
.... 137 leptons along Adelaide Rd from the Round House in Chalk Farm to Swiss Cottage.
Well yes and no. When I got my own first cars, as opposed to driving the family hack, I had to keep a clean licence so more or less behaved myself, but then out in the Peak District on dark nights things were less restrained. This was of course the days before the current set of limits, and once you'd left the 30 limit heading out on Ringinglow road it was NSL, so 70 legally though was reduced during oil crisis. It's 40 today, even on a dead straight 3 mile stretch over open moorland.
Away from that, in the 70s I spent time rallying, and of course like everyone you started with road rallying using Targa timing. This was basically road racing on open public highway, how we got away with it is probably inconceivable to the younger set today. So it was indeed pretty much flat out, even up the whites, eg for Lincolnshire-ites, they'll know Ermine Street, which on the unmade part of it is a dead straight unmade track to the west of RAF Cranwell heading north for quite some distance from Byards Leap. Public highway, 120 mph up there in an Escort, on a rough farm track. Must have been mad.
Away from that, in the 70s I spent time rallying, and of course like everyone you started with road rallying using Targa timing. This was basically road racing on open public highway, how we got away with it is probably inconceivable to the younger set today. So it was indeed pretty much flat out, even up the whites, eg for Lincolnshire-ites, they'll know Ermine Street, which on the unmade part of it is a dead straight unmade track to the west of RAF Cranwell heading north for quite some distance from Byards Leap. Public highway, 120 mph up there in an Escort, on a rough farm track. Must have been mad.
FiF said:
Well yes and no. When I got my own first cars, as opposed to driving the family hack, I had to keep a clean licence so more or less behaved myself, but then out in the Peak District on dark nights things were less restrained. This was of course the days before the current set of limits, and once you'd left the 30 limit heading out on Ringinglow road it was NSL, so 70 legally though was reduced during oil crisis. It's 40 today, even on a dead straight 3 mile stretch over open moorland.
Away from that, in the 70s I spent time rallying, and of course like everyone you started with road rallying using Targa timing. This was basically road racing on open public highway, how we got away with it is probably inconceivable to the younger set today. So it was indeed pretty much flat out, even up the whites, eg for Lincolnshire-ites, they'll know Ermine Street, which on the unmade part of it is a dead straight unmade track to the west of RAF Cranwell heading north for quite some distance from Byards Leap. Public highway, 120 mph up there in an Escort, on a rough farm track. Must have been mad.
I wondered how long it would be before road rallying got mentioned. Those days were mad. Couldn’t possibly happen today could it........ Away from that, in the 70s I spent time rallying, and of course like everyone you started with road rallying using Targa timing. This was basically road racing on open public highway, how we got away with it is probably inconceivable to the younger set today. So it was indeed pretty much flat out, even up the whites, eg for Lincolnshire-ites, they'll know Ermine Street, which on the unmade part of it is a dead straight unmade track to the west of RAF Cranwell heading north for quite some distance from Byards Leap. Public highway, 120 mph up there in an Escort, on a rough farm track. Must have been mad.
A Long time ago in a far off galaxy, well ok, it was 1995 and Hampshire, we took my recently converted Volvo 360 GLT Turbo (<<< that last word is the important bit) to the Thruxton round of the BBTC. With around twice the power of the standard car (230bhp vs 115) from the 740 turbo engine with the boost wound up a bit it went pretty well for the time, easily having the measure of my best friends E30 325i, and on the way we took a somewhat scenic route via some of the best small roads across Salsbury Plain, and gave the car quite a good thrashing. We arrived at the race track, and went into the queue for the car park, and there was a commotion, and a police offcer and a couple of marshalls came running towards us, waving, shouting and ready with fire extinguishers. Turns out, both the front brakes were actually on fire (wheel bearing seal had cooked, grease got out, and caught alight) and we had also set fire to some dry grass as well! To this day i have no idea how we sat in the car completely un-aware of the fire but anyway, the fire was quickly put out, i said "don't worry about it, it always does that, it's just too powerful for its brakes" and all was good :-)
Incidentally, that was the year Charlie Cox had a bit of a trip across the grass and right out into the car park:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdNrNGeWOxw
Absolutely massive crash, i remember it like it was yesterday, seeing his car cart wheel through the air and over the fence!
Incidentally, that was the year Charlie Cox had a bit of a trip across the grass and right out into the car park:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdNrNGeWOxw
Absolutely massive crash, i remember it like it was yesterday, seeing his car cart wheel through the air and over the fence!
Yes - late teens in a capris and minis that were always sideways and then 20’s in hot hatches. Some of the comments about road rallying bring back a lot of great memories.
I seem to remember the M69 being very lightly policed back in the day and always good for a flat out run - maybe something about junctions being too far apart and spanning two counties...
I think the early hot hatch days were probably my fastest in a car with lots of at the limit of performance and grip driving going on.
By the late 80’s it was all over in the UK in terms of driving fun and in my 30’s I switched to bikes and spent a lot of time in France and Spain where so long as you had an ounce of sense you were left alone at speeds which in the UK would see you at HMP.
I know that there are still places where you can ‘go that quickly’ and I may do exactly that from time to time but (outside autobahn) not all the time like we did way back when demolishing tank after tank of gas...
I seem to remember the M69 being very lightly policed back in the day and always good for a flat out run - maybe something about junctions being too far apart and spanning two counties...
I think the early hot hatch days were probably my fastest in a car with lots of at the limit of performance and grip driving going on.
By the late 80’s it was all over in the UK in terms of driving fun and in my 30’s I switched to bikes and spent a lot of time in France and Spain where so long as you had an ounce of sense you were left alone at speeds which in the UK would see you at HMP.
I know that there are still places where you can ‘go that quickly’ and I may do exactly that from time to time but (outside autobahn) not all the time like we did way back when demolishing tank after tank of gas...
In the 80s, there were a lot of V6 Capris being driven quickly, from North London to Heathrow and Southend late at night at weekends.
Though in various states of tune, the 4 speed g/box limited top speed to 130, so speeds varied between that and 90. The fun was in seeing who was quickest.
There was also a er, test track in New Southgate. Various cars, bikes and drag racers would compare acceleration. Though some of the drag cars were very quick, the 'track' was about 1/2 mile, so they were hampered by short gearing, evening things up.
Though in various states of tune, the 4 speed g/box limited top speed to 130, so speeds varied between that and 90. The fun was in seeing who was quickest.
There was also a er, test track in New Southgate. Various cars, bikes and drag racers would compare acceleration. Though some of the drag cars were very quick, the 'track' was about 1/2 mile, so they were hampered by short gearing, evening things up.
I passed my test in 1964, so have 55 years of motoring tales under my belt.
I often think back and think did I really do that, go all that way, in THAT car. I had a succession of old bangers, falling to bits and braking down, but drove everywhere as fast as they would go. Of course in those days drinking and driving was normal.
My first fast car was a 1960 Jaguar 3.4 MK2. I thought I was a really cool dude and drove it hard everywhere showing off, really stupid stuff. In those days I worked at a garage specialising in Jaguars. I can remember doing my first "ton", 100mph in an E Type. That same bit of road is now a busy 40mph link road to the M4, with at least two cameras.
When I got a bit more sensible In the early 90`s, I had a Peugeot 405 Mi16 x 4. Altered the ECU and other tweaks, it was a bat mobile !! I would often drive to Germany. My lap record was Gutersloh to Calais in less than 4 hours. On one section I had the speedo at 150 MPH.
Those were the days.
I often think back and think did I really do that, go all that way, in THAT car. I had a succession of old bangers, falling to bits and braking down, but drove everywhere as fast as they would go. Of course in those days drinking and driving was normal.
My first fast car was a 1960 Jaguar 3.4 MK2. I thought I was a really cool dude and drove it hard everywhere showing off, really stupid stuff. In those days I worked at a garage specialising in Jaguars. I can remember doing my first "ton", 100mph in an E Type. That same bit of road is now a busy 40mph link road to the M4, with at least two cameras.
When I got a bit more sensible In the early 90`s, I had a Peugeot 405 Mi16 x 4. Altered the ECU and other tweaks, it was a bat mobile !! I would often drive to Germany. My lap record was Gutersloh to Calais in less than 4 hours. On one section I had the speedo at 150 MPH.
Those were the days.
SlimJim16v said:
In the 80s, there were a lot of V6 Capris being driven quickly, from North London to Heathrow and Southend late at night at weekends.
Had a 12 mile A road single carriageway run to the edge of the city from a town 12 miles out, in the evening you could do that without dropping below 3 figure speeds in a V6 Capri.Limpet said:
Completely agree with this. Even a humble modern car has a level of composure, roadholding and ability that a performance car of 30 years ago would have struggled to match. Modern performance cars are a level up again.
Henry C put this to the test with a performance car from the 80s wrung out against a similar power 1-series diesel ( 123d with 200bhp but a fair bit heavier ) from 30 years after 
They did a similar test with a modern performance car ( same E30 M3 but a 130i rather than a 123d ) and the modern car was a fair bit faster
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