Did you really drive *that* quickly 'back in the day'?
Discussion
I am a good boy I have never broken the speed limit by 131mph
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Long time ago when my job moved to Sheffield, i used to come up on a Sunday night and back again on a Friday
Sundays - New Forest to Sheffield (210 miles), always did it in 2.5 hours, absolutely flat out in a Ford KA (cheapest car i could lease!)
These days (and as a grown up) its never less than 4 hours.
Sundays - New Forest to Sheffield (210 miles), always did it in 2.5 hours, absolutely flat out in a Ford KA (cheapest car i could lease!)
These days (and as a grown up) its never less than 4 hours.
Tannedbaldhead said:
Her patients are basically people who have not been placed in the likes of Broadstairs yet,
I think you may have mixed your "Broads" up! Broadstairs is a pretty genteel coastal resort in Kent, Broadmoor is a facility for the worst criminal psychiatric cases just a couple of miles up the road from me, where they still test the alarm sirens at 10 am every Monday morning in case they need to warn the locals of an escape!
But the A3095 running past the back of it has a great NSL straight stretch a mile or so long that I used today.
Anyway back on topic in the early 80s I picked my then girlfriend up from the hairdressers where she worked near Sloan Square in my Rover P6B 3500S and one of her colleagues got picked up by her boyfriend in his mid-70s V8 Corvette.
The A3 had a 70 limit then but the Corvette was still behind me when I turned off at Tolworth.
Back around 2005 ish I may have managed a run from my parents' house in Edinburgh to my grandparents' house in Glasgow in 40 minutes. On a Saturday (which those of you who use the M8 regularly will know is a tad busy at weekends). With the required urban driving bits at both ends as well.
Works out at an average of 68mph over the 45 miles... I remember casually strolling in the door just in time for lunch!
I was a passenger at one time in my mate's modified Saxo VTR, now for it only being the 8v engine we still managed to cover just shy of 12 miles of dual carriageway in 6 minutes. it was videoed as well, back in those days it was miniDV tapes and a load of faffing about to watch it on the PC
On another stretch of empty, dual carriageway in the central belt I also may have noted a GPS measured 162mph in the wee small hours. Or off the clock as it was otherwise known in the car I was driving at the time.
So yes, I'd say I used to drive rather quickly "back then", but I agree with the sentiments regarding much lighter traffic volumes and the driving standards were better back then too. If someone was hogging the outside lane and you gave them a wee flash, they would normally move over - try that today and you'll get some d
head brake testing you instead.
Works out at an average of 68mph over the 45 miles... I remember casually strolling in the door just in time for lunch!
I was a passenger at one time in my mate's modified Saxo VTR, now for it only being the 8v engine we still managed to cover just shy of 12 miles of dual carriageway in 6 minutes. it was videoed as well, back in those days it was miniDV tapes and a load of faffing about to watch it on the PC
On another stretch of empty, dual carriageway in the central belt I also may have noted a GPS measured 162mph in the wee small hours. Or off the clock as it was otherwise known in the car I was driving at the time.
So yes, I'd say I used to drive rather quickly "back then", but I agree with the sentiments regarding much lighter traffic volumes and the driving standards were better back then too. If someone was hogging the outside lane and you gave them a wee flash, they would normally move over - try that today and you'll get some d
head brake testing you instead.Back in the early noughties I'd leave my Mum and Dad's in my clapped-out Mk2 GTI 8v and be at the future Mrs PB's parents' in around 15 minutes.
Nowadays, driving between my Mum and Dad's and the Mother-in-Law's takes us at least 25 minutes.
Almost twice the average speed by my reckoning and absolutely absurd to this 41yo married father-of-two.
Nowadays, driving between my Mum and Dad's and the Mother-in-Law's takes us at least 25 minutes.
Almost twice the average speed by my reckoning and absolutely absurd to this 41yo married father-of-two.
My best man at my wedding included in his speech " I was in a pub and heard someone confidently say 'I know you can get from Southampton to Taunton in an hour and a half, because I have done it..." Looked across the pub and there was Pete & Alex sat there in neck braces..."
Pretty much says it all really.
Pretty much says it all really.
Back in the day for me was Ford Angias and Mk 1 Escorts (okay I may have stuck a 2 litre into the latter) but making progress didn’t really amount to much.
Although it seemed quick at the time.
When I got into bikes it was a whole different story tho. Get a few mates together and it quickly becomes silly.
My best , although not as impressive as some on here Peterborough to Dunbar after a BMF rally 300 miles in 4 hours dead including 3 fuel stops.
Even now I’m happy pottering about in the car but I’ll do silly speeds on the bike.
Mr Tidy said:
Tannedbaldhead said:
Her patients are basically people who have not been placed in the likes of Broadstairs yet,
I think you may have mixed your "Broads" up! Broadstairs is a pretty genteel coastal resort in Kent, Broadmoor is a facility for the worst criminal psychiatric cases just a couple of miles up the road from me, where they still test the alarm sirens at 10 am every Monday morning in case they need to warn the locals of an escape!
But the A3095 running past the back of it has a great NSL straight stretch a mile or so long that I used today.
Anyway back on topic in the early 80s I picked my then girlfriend up from the hairdressers where she worked near Sloan Square in my Rover P6B 3500S and one of her colleagues got picked up by her boyfriend in his mid-70s V8 Corvette.
The A3 had a 70 limit then but the Corvette was still behind me when I turned off at Tolworth.
West Dorset, 3.0S Capri, late eighties / early nineties.
I used to drive at the legal limit everywhere. The prominent thinking was 0-60 from every junction and how fast could I go up Chideock Hill?
But staying on the right side of the law I used to get everywhere so much quicker.
I used to work in Bridport and it typically took around 15-20 minutes.
In 2020 traffic volume, speed cameras and limits conspire to make that trip up to an hour - in Summer it can be two.
I used to drive at the legal limit everywhere. The prominent thinking was 0-60 from every junction and how fast could I go up Chideock Hill?
But staying on the right side of the law I used to get everywhere so much quicker.
I used to work in Bridport and it typically took around 15-20 minutes.
In 2020 traffic volume, speed cameras and limits conspire to make that trip up to an hour - in Summer it can be two.
Way back in the 1980s, when I was running a Ford RS200 (no, not a misprint - an RS200) as a road car, it wasn't the flat-out speed I enjoyed most, but the sheer agility of this machine.
In particular I liked going through roundabouts and such diversions at an unseemly speed, especially when some cowboy was behind me (often in a Sierra RS Cosworth or a Capri 2.8 Injection) trying to keep up - and failing. I must have left an awful lot of brown-trousered chasers in those situations ....
In particular I liked going through roundabouts and such diversions at an unseemly speed, especially when some cowboy was behind me (often in a Sierra RS Cosworth or a Capri 2.8 Injection) trying to keep up - and failing. I must have left an awful lot of brown-trousered chasers in those situations ....
cologne2792 said:
West Dorset, 3.0S Capri, late eighties / early nineties.
I used to drive at the legal limit everywhere. The prominent thinking was 0-60 from every junction and how fast could I go up Chideock Hill?
But staying on the right side of the law I used to get everywhere so much quicker.
I used to work in Bridport and it typically took around 15-20 minutes.
In 2020 traffic volume, speed cameras and limits conspire to make that trip up to an hour - in Summer it can be two.
You probably overtook my yellow Fiesta back then in Bridport. I used to drive at the legal limit everywhere. The prominent thinking was 0-60 from every junction and how fast could I go up Chideock Hill?
But staying on the right side of the law I used to get everywhere so much quicker.
I used to work in Bridport and it typically took around 15-20 minutes.
In 2020 traffic volume, speed cameras and limits conspire to make that trip up to an hour - in Summer it can be two.
Chideock (or more correctly, a vocal minority) stopped their planned bypass.
Bet they are thrilled with that decision now!
AAGR said:
Way back in the 1980s, when I was running a Ford RS200 (no, not a misprint - an RS200) as a road car, it wasn't the flat-out speed I enjoyed most, but the sheer agility of this machine.
Quality! That's the sort of thing that would have been jaw-dropping to see on the road back then.
vixen1700 said:
AAGR said:
Way back in the 1980s, when I was running a Ford RS200 (no, not a misprint - an RS200) as a road car, it wasn't the flat-out speed I enjoyed most, but the sheer agility of this machine.
Quality! That's the sort of thing that would have been jaw-dropping to see on the road back then.
Oh, and by the way - Chideock Hill is on my home patch too - nowadays there is a speed camera at each end of the village !
Edited by AAGR on Saturday 23 May 10:48
blade7 said:
Someone, did 4 times the limit on his Kawasaki Z1R, back in the early 80's. It was a empty, long straight road, but even at 3am it was very silly.
Four times what limit? 30 mph?https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-japanes...
1978 Kawasaki Z1R-TC
Claimed power: 130hp @ 8,500rpm
Top speed: 135mph (period test)
Engine: 1,016cc air-cooled turbocharged DOHC inline four, 70mm x 66mm bore and stroke, 8.7:1 compression ratio
Weight (wet): 560lb (255kg)
It's not just that we drove faster relative to other drivers, but that we drove at ten tenths, everywhere, all the time, in the vehicles of the day, without the levels of grip that modern wheel/tyre combos give us, without abs and various other devopments, and in vehicles with all the structural integrity of a crisp packet, not just in design terms, but MOT failing levels of rot too. Some of us can remember not even having seat belts! The same speeds could be easily replicated in today's modern cars, far more competently, safely and certainly less dramatically, but we tend not to anymore, and even when we can and do, it's not the same. We've calmed down a fair bit in our old age and traffic density etc has curtailed opportunity. Sure, a lot of us still like a blast and a bit of a hoon when we can, but we're no longer on the ragged edge of the envelope driving like a crazed loon when just nipping to the shops. Well, I guess some are!
Edited by 21st Century Man on Saturday 23 May 12:34
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