SO, YOU THINK YOU CAN DRIVE, can you?

[doorman]

BBC 1 tonight, be interesting to confirm just how many so called drivers shape up, my guess 20%, and hopefully, they are all PH members

[Andy_vx]

I'm not sure how relevant the test carried out by the police was. They said they set out to prove the driver of the Fiesta was travelling faster than 86mph to have lost control. I don't see how they can prove that by driving a modified V70 round the same corner and saying we didn't lose control therefore he was going faster... it's a completely different car in ideal conditions! I was very surprised how naive people were about the effects of using their phone whilst driving!

Edited by Andy_vx on Friday 5th September 00:00

[martinrpeachey]

I missed this.

Out of interest, in what way was the V70 modified?

In most cases, a fiesta will out corner a V70, OK at 86 mph the Volvo might be more stable but they're renowned for kicking the back out randomly - especially plod ones with nivomat rear shocks.

[Andy_vx]

I don't know what police do to their cars these days, it was probably just mapped to be fair, even so i still don't see it as a reliable test. The police driver is obviously a lot more skilled. I thought they used the skid marks and worked out how far the car travelled after impact etc to work out speed. You're probably right about the Fiesta cornering better, think it was an ST too, it was such a mess it was hard to tell!

[martinrpeachey]

I went off at a bit of a tangent there but police Volvos are a bit of a specialty for me

Apart from gearbox, shocks and ARBs, there's almost no difference between plod V70s and normal ones. Only a tiny percentage are remapped and they're normally ARVs. They're considered fast enough and don't need tuning. Mine hits 150mph in 4th gear

So... Plod driver + car built to be stable at speed = safe cornering

Chav + Fiesta (ASBO spec) + high speed = road pizza

Definitely not a fair comparison. Crash scene investigators will measure skid marks and impact damage on the road and even have a 3D laser rendering system these days to analise the accident scene.

I guess it's just plod arseing about and trying to look clever?

[Andy_vx]

lol yeah exactly that, they did have the 3D scanners etc. I think he just wanted to show what a great driver he was

Didn't realise they changed ARB's and shocks etc in plod cars! i knew they were quick but yours sounds crazy lol!

[0000]

Andy_vx said:

They said they set out to prove the driver of the Fiesta was travelling faster than 86mph to have lost control.

I haven't seen it, but that sounds ridiculous.

[martinrpeachey]

Andy_vx said:

lol yeah exactly that, they did have the 3D scanners etc. I think he just wanted to show what a great driver he was

Didn't realise they changed ARB's and shocks etc in plod cars! i knew they were quick but yours sounds crazy lol!

Not wanting to hijack the thread..

They specced a gearbox with crazy long gears but not enough power to run 5th to it's potential 192 @ 6200rpm. Later cars had a 6 speed box that had a lower top end but better acceleration. The rear nivomat shocks have a higher lift than the standard car to cope with the half ton of cones etc they carry. They use a thicker ARB and a weird castor setting for high speed stability (ruins the tyres) and they have a reinforced chassis for ramming ability lol.

There's not a lot of original stuff left on mine, the plod suspension was making it look like a landrover, the brakes weren't up to the job the interior was horrific. Oh, and while I was at it, I made it go faster