3 best moments in your car. What car, where and why ?
Discussion
In no particular order.
Racing away from the Channel Tunnel in May 2008 on our way to the Nurburgring in my VX220 Turbo absolutely packed with luggage. We were in a 3 car convoy consisting of a Renaultsport Spider, Ferrari F355 and my car. Red hot sunshine, roof off with my wife videoing us racing upto 150 on the Autobahns, epic.
Out in the middle of Matlock somewhere in October 2005 in my fire breathing Integrale Evo chasing my mate in a Porsche Boxster absolutely on the limit with clatering wastegates and large backfires. Sheer drop on the left and amaizing corners. The Lancia showed its true pedigree.
Rose Cottage on the A614 to Bawtry August 2008. I'd had my Ferrari 348 2 days and we met up with my mates in the 2 F355s and the Renaultsport Spider. Pressing on up the A1 with fading light. I was getting used to the tricky open gate gearbox whilst the 2 Ferraris were doing outside lane fly bys, screaming like F1 cars and beltching flames on the upshifts. Got some great night footage on the camera.
Racing away from the Channel Tunnel in May 2008 on our way to the Nurburgring in my VX220 Turbo absolutely packed with luggage. We were in a 3 car convoy consisting of a Renaultsport Spider, Ferrari F355 and my car. Red hot sunshine, roof off with my wife videoing us racing upto 150 on the Autobahns, epic.
Out in the middle of Matlock somewhere in October 2005 in my fire breathing Integrale Evo chasing my mate in a Porsche Boxster absolutely on the limit with clatering wastegates and large backfires. Sheer drop on the left and amaizing corners. The Lancia showed its true pedigree.
Rose Cottage on the A614 to Bawtry August 2008. I'd had my Ferrari 348 2 days and we met up with my mates in the 2 F355s and the Renaultsport Spider. Pressing on up the A1 with fading light. I was getting used to the tricky open gate gearbox whilst the 2 Ferraris were doing outside lane fly bys, screaming like F1 cars and beltching flames on the upshifts. Got some great night footage on the camera.
Difficult to compete with that but........
Abersoch in north Wales back to Shrewsbury via Trawsfynydd and lake Bala in my Integrale with my dad trying to keep up in a SAAB 95 Aero. Amazing roads and car. What motoring is all about.
Home to the south of France with a Jaguar XKR and a fuel card
and many other moments including 2 Leon FR's on the EVO triangle, a Fiat Panda 4x4, Sutton park RAC rally stage and 6 inches of snow and I'm sure taking my Spitfire to the Le Mans classic in July will be very memorable (in a good way!).
Abersoch in north Wales back to Shrewsbury via Trawsfynydd and lake Bala in my Integrale with my dad trying to keep up in a SAAB 95 Aero. Amazing roads and car. What motoring is all about.
Home to the south of France with a Jaguar XKR and a fuel card
and many other moments including 2 Leon FR's on the EVO triangle, a Fiat Panda 4x4, Sutton park RAC rally stage and 6 inches of snow and I'm sure taking my Spitfire to the Le Mans classic in July will be very memorable (in a good way!).
Epic dusk drive from Snake Pass across the backroads to Nottingham. Sunday afternoon, quiet roads, average speed about 75mph over about 20 miles 
Driving across the mountains into Davos with my 182, Tom's Z4 and a local nutter in a Megane CC. We were all tearing around the twisty mountain roads overtaking cattle trucks and generally enjoying the amazing views and amazing roads!
PH Sheffield Supercar Meet hoon with a group of supercars enjoying the stunning roads of the Peak district at reasonable speeds
Driving across the mountains into Davos with my 182, Tom's Z4 and a local nutter in a Megane CC. We were all tearing around the twisty mountain roads overtaking cattle trucks and generally enjoying the amazing views and amazing roads!
PH Sheffield Supercar Meet hoon with a group of supercars enjoying the stunning roads of the Peak district at reasonable speeds
Taking a V8 ex race Sylva Striker to the lakes one January, very refreshing, there wasn't any snow when we set off....
Same car in a dalliance with a Porsche C2 on the M1, rather surprising, for the Porsche driver at least.
Nurburgring in a Ginetta, awesome.
I have a 4th which involved a younger me, a very attractive girl and a car park at North Yorkshire beauty spot. I wasn't driving at the time though, does it count?
Same car in a dalliance with a Porsche C2 on the M1, rather surprising, for the Porsche driver at least.
Nurburgring in a Ginetta, awesome.
I have a 4th which involved a younger me, a very attractive girl and a car park at North Yorkshire beauty spot. I wasn't driving at the time though, does it count?
Edited by qwick on Saturday 13th March 22:03
1 - Driving home in my first ever car, a very special feeling of new found freedom and independence, it was only a 1 litre Starlet but it was mine.
2 - The first time I ever really got to grips with the elise and is showed me what it was capable of, it was heading down a mountainside towards the sea with brilliant sight lines, it all just came alive, when I finished I could feel my heart pounding out through my chest.
3 - Setting off at 4.30 am for a 4 hour drive to a great driving road I'd heard of. The drive there on empty roads, through dawn breaking. It turned out to be the most incredible mountain pass and once again the elise left me breathless
4 - I took the roof off the elise one freezing cold night and was just driving along under the stars, there is a magic to roadsters that you miss out on in tin tops.
2 - The first time I ever really got to grips with the elise and is showed me what it was capable of, it was heading down a mountainside towards the sea with brilliant sight lines, it all just came alive, when I finished I could feel my heart pounding out through my chest.
3 - Setting off at 4.30 am for a 4 hour drive to a great driving road I'd heard of. The drive there on empty roads, through dawn breaking. It turned out to be the most incredible mountain pass and once again the elise left me breathless
4 - I took the roof off the elise one freezing cold night and was just driving along under the stars, there is a magic to roadsters that you miss out on in tin tops.
Best has to be my drive with v15ben and uncle dave, 6am start, meet at chester servises at 8am followed by the most amazing drives around north wales just deciding what roads at the last minute and finding 2 awsome single track roads where the mx5 was just brilliant and made me realise why i brought it. 580miles in 12hrs 20mins was a good effort in my book
2nd has to be my first ever burn out on the trip above!!
3rd, driving the deserted back roads around northern france in Swmbo's Ka running late for the ferry
4th has to be a mix of my 1st ever drive of Supasparks 1976 TVR 3000M and my first trip to Le mans in it and stopping at all the D day beaches.
Matt
2nd has to be my first ever burn out on the trip above!!
3rd, driving the deserted back roads around northern france in Swmbo's Ka running late for the ferry
4th has to be a mix of my 1st ever drive of Supasparks 1976 TVR 3000M and my first trip to Le mans in it and stopping at all the D day beaches.
Matt
There are definitely more than three, but the three that come to hand now are:
1. Wales road trip with John and Warren. Spent £80 in fuel and did 420 miles in a day. Went across some of the most exciting roads I've ever driven. The evo triangle hadn't got s
t on these roads.
2. A tunnel run, where I was driving the back roads of Surrey (I think) with an E36 M3 and a Mostler MT900 up ahead. Sun was shining and it was a brilliant drive.
3. Pistonheads Porsche meet up in Lincolshire a few years back. Hadn't had the car long and was absolutely belting it trying to follow a load of Porsches. Absolutely epic roads.
another would be the drive down from Yorkshire Dales towards Skipton with a mate in a TVR S following me. Those roads were terrific.
Le Mans stands out just for Vmaxing my car at 142mph, and then being caught and fined £500 by the gendarmerie. I've never felt my heart drop so low in my body before. Crazy crazy stuff.
1. Wales road trip with John and Warren. Spent £80 in fuel and did 420 miles in a day. Went across some of the most exciting roads I've ever driven. The evo triangle hadn't got s
t on these roads.2. A tunnel run, where I was driving the back roads of Surrey (I think) with an E36 M3 and a Mostler MT900 up ahead. Sun was shining and it was a brilliant drive.
3. Pistonheads Porsche meet up in Lincolshire a few years back. Hadn't had the car long and was absolutely belting it trying to follow a load of Porsches. Absolutely epic roads.
another would be the drive down from Yorkshire Dales towards Skipton with a mate in a TVR S following me. Those roads were terrific.
Le Mans stands out just for Vmaxing my car at 142mph, and then being caught and fined £500 by the gendarmerie. I've never felt my heart drop so low in my body before. Crazy crazy stuff.
1. AVERAGING 120mph through France in 2003 in a Mini Cooper S:
My mate, Pete, and I got the ferry to la Harve and got pretty merry in the bar. Got woken in the morning by our cabin door being kicked in and a crewman shouting "Get the f*ck out of bed-everyone else has left the ferry!". Pete, who owned the car, sat up first and after proclaiming he was too pi$$ed to drive asked if I would, which before I'd sat up I didn't see as a problem-upon sitting up I realised I was probably as pi$$ed as him! Anyway on getting to the car deck we saw the Mini sat all alone and about 1500 irrate passengers waiting to board!
As we got in the car I told Pete "Now we're going to HAVE to overtake EVERY caravan that had been on the ferry" Pete's retort was "Go for it!". The Sat Nav said 1452KM to our destination, Hotel Columb in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter and I got the hammer down and sat at 130mph the WHOLE WAY. Given the Mini's small tank, our speed and level of hung-over-ness we had to stop within every two hours to refuel and down as much coffe and OJ as we could and spent at least 15-20mins at each stop-we took 6(car was already low on fuel) and got stuck in Paris rush hour for 45mins but still made it to our hotel in 10hrs flat.
We didn't get overtaken by a single car or bike, overtook the TGV (with Pete driving at that time and my feet out of what to the French looked like the Driver's window we got some startled looks)and got giggles and raised eyebrows from the girls in payage booths.
We did let an Aston Martin Vantage Cab pass us, but once he got to 100mph it started messing his hair and we had to flash him out of the way.
Got to our hotel, got out of the car and both of us wanted to get back in and see if we could beat the time back!
2. Same trip, returning from Portsmouth to Birmingham, 1hr 20mins to the CrackDonalds on the Bristol Rd/Highgate Middleway Junction.
3. Driving a 625BHP Kleeman modified SL500. Had a "race" with a mate in a Clio 182. Told him to cane it away from the lights(Stratford Rd/Highgate Road heading into Brum city centre) and I'd give him 100yards before chasing him down. Passed him with the traction control light flashing like a perv in a girl's school and doing somewhere between 120-140mph(couldn't see exactly as the speedo was obscured by the wheel)
My mate, Pete, and I got the ferry to la Harve and got pretty merry in the bar. Got woken in the morning by our cabin door being kicked in and a crewman shouting "Get the f*ck out of bed-everyone else has left the ferry!". Pete, who owned the car, sat up first and after proclaiming he was too pi$$ed to drive asked if I would, which before I'd sat up I didn't see as a problem-upon sitting up I realised I was probably as pi$$ed as him! Anyway on getting to the car deck we saw the Mini sat all alone and about 1500 irrate passengers waiting to board!
As we got in the car I told Pete "Now we're going to HAVE to overtake EVERY caravan that had been on the ferry" Pete's retort was "Go for it!". The Sat Nav said 1452KM to our destination, Hotel Columb in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter and I got the hammer down and sat at 130mph the WHOLE WAY. Given the Mini's small tank, our speed and level of hung-over-ness we had to stop within every two hours to refuel and down as much coffe and OJ as we could and spent at least 15-20mins at each stop-we took 6(car was already low on fuel) and got stuck in Paris rush hour for 45mins but still made it to our hotel in 10hrs flat.
We didn't get overtaken by a single car or bike, overtook the TGV (with Pete driving at that time and my feet out of what to the French looked like the Driver's window we got some startled looks)and got giggles and raised eyebrows from the girls in payage booths.
We did let an Aston Martin Vantage Cab pass us, but once he got to 100mph it started messing his hair and we had to flash him out of the way.
Got to our hotel, got out of the car and both of us wanted to get back in and see if we could beat the time back!
2. Same trip, returning from Portsmouth to Birmingham, 1hr 20mins to the CrackDonalds on the Bristol Rd/Highgate Middleway Junction.
3. Driving a 625BHP Kleeman modified SL500. Had a "race" with a mate in a Clio 182. Told him to cane it away from the lights(Stratford Rd/Highgate Road heading into Brum city centre) and I'd give him 100yards before chasing him down. Passed him with the traction control light flashing like a perv in a girl's school and doing somewhere between 120-140mph(couldn't see exactly as the speedo was obscured by the wheel)
Ignoring the track and the N'ring, the ones that spring to mind are:
- Driving back from a works' do at night in the S2000 - quiet sweeping A/B-roads, stars overhead, VTEC soundtrack! Didn't even push that hard, but it was one of those 'perfect convertible' drives.
- Dawn raid on the N.York Moors, again in the S2000, again roof-down. Rattled across to Whitby in time for sunrise by the ruined abbey, first time I felt truly comfortable pushing that car hard, and what a stage to do it on!
Beyond that, the Integra always brings a smile to my face whenever the road opens up, and the S2000 in the wet could be relied-upon to entertain around roundabouts. Hoping to add a couple of NSX ones to that list this summer...
- Driving back from a works' do at night in the S2000 - quiet sweeping A/B-roads, stars overhead, VTEC soundtrack! Didn't even push that hard, but it was one of those 'perfect convertible' drives.
- Dawn raid on the N.York Moors, again in the S2000, again roof-down. Rattled across to Whitby in time for sunrise by the ruined abbey, first time I felt truly comfortable pushing that car hard, and what a stage to do it on!
Beyond that, the Integra always brings a smile to my face whenever the road opens up, and the S2000 in the wet could be relied-upon to entertain around roundabouts. Hoping to add a couple of NSX ones to that list this summer...
the baron groog said:
1. AVERAGING 120mph through France in 2003 in a Mini Cooper S:
My mate, Pete, and I got the ferry to la Harve and got pretty merry in the bar. Got woken in the morning by our cabin door being kicked in and a crewman shouting "Get the f*ck out of bed-everyone else has left the ferry!". Pete, who owned the car, sat up first and after proclaiming he was too pi$$ed to drive asked if I would, which before I'd sat up I didn't see as a problem-upon sitting up I realised I was probably as pi$$ed as him! Anyway on getting to the car deck we saw the Mini sat all alone and about 1500 irrate passengers waiting to board!
As we got in the car I told Pete "Now we're going to HAVE to overtake EVERY caravan that had been on the ferry" Pete's retort was "Go for it!". The Sat Nav said 1452KM to our destination, Hotel Columb in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter and I got the hammer down and sat at 130mph the WHOLE WAY. Given the Mini's small tank, our speed and level of hung-over-ness we had to stop within every two hours to refuel and down as much coffe and OJ as we could and spent at least 15-20mins at each stop-we took 6(car was already low on fuel) and got stuck in Paris rush hour for 45mins but still made it to our hotel in 10hrs flat.
We didn't get overtaken by a single car or bike, overtook the TGV (with Pete driving at that time and my feet out of what to the French looked like the Driver's window we got some startled looks)and got giggles and raised eyebrows from the girls in payage booths.
We did let an Aston Martin Vantage Cab pass us, but once he got to 100mph it started messing his hair and we had to flash him out of the way.
Got to our hotel, got out of the car and both of us wanted to get back in and see if we could beat the time back!
2. Same trip, returning from Portsmouth to Birmingham, 1hr 20mins to the CrackDonalds on the Bristol Rd/Highgate Middleway Junction.
3. Driving a 625BHP Kleeman modified SL500. Had a "race" with a mate in a Clio 182. Told him to cane it away from the lights(Stratford Rd/Highgate Road heading into Brum city centre) and I'd give him 100yards before chasing him down. Passed him with the traction control light flashing like a perv in a girl's school and doing somewhere between 120-140mph(couldn't see exactly as the speedo was obscured by the wheel)
Those three are winners. My mate, Pete, and I got the ferry to la Harve and got pretty merry in the bar. Got woken in the morning by our cabin door being kicked in and a crewman shouting "Get the f*ck out of bed-everyone else has left the ferry!". Pete, who owned the car, sat up first and after proclaiming he was too pi$$ed to drive asked if I would, which before I'd sat up I didn't see as a problem-upon sitting up I realised I was probably as pi$$ed as him! Anyway on getting to the car deck we saw the Mini sat all alone and about 1500 irrate passengers waiting to board!
As we got in the car I told Pete "Now we're going to HAVE to overtake EVERY caravan that had been on the ferry" Pete's retort was "Go for it!". The Sat Nav said 1452KM to our destination, Hotel Columb in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter and I got the hammer down and sat at 130mph the WHOLE WAY. Given the Mini's small tank, our speed and level of hung-over-ness we had to stop within every two hours to refuel and down as much coffe and OJ as we could and spent at least 15-20mins at each stop-we took 6(car was already low on fuel) and got stuck in Paris rush hour for 45mins but still made it to our hotel in 10hrs flat.
We didn't get overtaken by a single car or bike, overtook the TGV (with Pete driving at that time and my feet out of what to the French looked like the Driver's window we got some startled looks)and got giggles and raised eyebrows from the girls in payage booths.
We did let an Aston Martin Vantage Cab pass us, but once he got to 100mph it started messing his hair and we had to flash him out of the way.
Got to our hotel, got out of the car and both of us wanted to get back in and see if we could beat the time back!
2. Same trip, returning from Portsmouth to Birmingham, 1hr 20mins to the CrackDonalds on the Bristol Rd/Highgate Middleway Junction.
3. Driving a 625BHP Kleeman modified SL500. Had a "race" with a mate in a Clio 182. Told him to cane it away from the lights(Stratford Rd/Highgate Road heading into Brum city centre) and I'd give him 100yards before chasing him down. Passed him with the traction control light flashing like a perv in a girl's school and doing somewhere between 120-140mph(couldn't see exactly as the speedo was obscured by the wheel)
1) In a rented Corvette in California. It took 1000 miles of driving to find a space big enough to open her up fully....189mph. For over two miles.
2) In my Ginetta G20 at Donington in 2005. Pole Position - and victory.
3) Im my 903cc Fiat Panda in 1986... drove a 700 mile round trip to Scotland and back, the day after passing my test! Because I could
2) In my Ginetta G20 at Donington in 2005. Pole Position - and victory.
3) Im my 903cc Fiat Panda in 1986... drove a 700 mile round trip to Scotland and back, the day after passing my test! Because I could
September 2007 -
Taking my Marcos Mantara Spyder round the route of the Monaco GP circuit and being stopped and photographed in Casino Square.
Next day
Drive from Monaco through the tunnels past Genoa to La Spezia. Hood down and foot down with 4.0 V8 bellowing all the way. The noise tunnel after tunnel was fantastic and the looks on the locals faces as you thundered past and the questions at the service stops topped it off.
Third best moment reserved for later this year
Taking my Marcos Mantara Spyder round the route of the Monaco GP circuit and being stopped and photographed in Casino Square.
Next day
Drive from Monaco through the tunnels past Genoa to La Spezia. Hood down and foot down with 4.0 V8 bellowing all the way. The noise tunnel after tunnel was fantastic and the looks on the locals faces as you thundered past and the questions at the service stops topped it off.
Third best moment reserved for later this year
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