Jump to content

What is it we do?....


AMT

Recommended Posts

What winds me up most about people on the road are the ones that push onto / fly onto roundabouts trying to time it perfectly so that they just slip onto the roundabout right behind your rear bumper as you're coming round almost T boning you in the process - every millisecond counts right?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So coming home from work tonight, sitting in traffic and some ...person in a newer shape Scooby WRX, STI, QPZ, whatever it is, keeps going past (due to traffic movement) and every single time they feel the need to subtly rev the engine as they pass me. I'm not even looking and initially hadn't even bothered about it. Then as we got closer to the roundabout he sped off to the left, him and the smell of drugs from the window. :dry:

 

Few nights ago I had a modified Focus ST sitting up my backside also. I was driving fine, even when I hit the 60 road, just went up to speed and continued, hes 'lunging' forward every so often as if to egg me on, eventually over taking and then again rather dangerously on a blind hill.

 

This has happened loads of times in the past too and its usually either modded hatches or japanese stuff. So what is it about the Z (I'm sure other cars too though) that others want to 'race'. My car has an exhaust system and tinted windows...thats it, it basically looks standard, so its not like I've got bumpers and big giant pipes hanging out waving people to 'have a go'.

 

Is it because the Z (in its day) was a reasonably powerful thing and had the big engine so people want to try and see how their car compares etc? Or is it cos' its so different looking to hot hatches with its hunches etc that people want to chase.

 

I don't mind having a short blast at stuff but it can be tiresome when you know its just some ....person.. shall we say that's just trying to be a bit of an ar*e lol. :lol: These are usually the people undertaking others to show 'who da man'. :yawn:

 

I've only had it a couple of times, once with a ..... yeah you guessed it a baseball cap'd schemie in a corsa, just gave him a nod and ignored him and the 2nd time was a r33 owner, maybe in his mid 30's, was tempted to have a wee play with him as the road was quiet and clear, but then I seen his private plate....

800 BHP, probably bullsh! t but decided just to give him a :thumbs: and left him to get on with it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

we ALL have poor driving skills to a degree

 

We all make mistakes, yes, overconfidence in one's ability, especially with young drivers. Then there's lack of concentration and increasingly distractions from things like Sat Navs, mobile phones, tablets, etc. The indestructible attitude shown by many monster 4x4's doesn't help either.

 

In my case I made an almost catastrophic judgement a few weeks ago. I was turning right onto a road with massive speed bumps on it. I saw this car coming towards me and just presumed that the driver would slow down for the bumps and pulled out....these bumps are like 20mph max but not a bit of it, the driver didn't slow one iota and and I had to floor it to avoid being T-Boned :scare: . I've made plenty of mistakes in my time, going down a one way street the wrong way in Colorado with a Police car behind me was probably the most embarrassing :blush:

 

Pete

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've actually T boned a police car, wasn't my fault as he decided to pull out of a bus stop and do a u turn without checking his mirrors or giving a signal. Obviously he attempted to get out of it with the force insurer by saying I had hit the rear of his vehicle.

However once I had asked for the damage report it was clear the damage was between the two axles on the offside.

To be fair the force insurer looked after me with an array of high end courtesy cars until my old Type R was repaired.

He also made the mistake of admitting liability with a witness at the scene.

Ironically as his supervisor was administering him a breath test at the scene a group of boy racers passed by and found it very amusing :)

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like we all have stories of our experiences whilst out in our Zeds and also opinions of others whom we consider to be afflicted in some way. I am with Pete on the fact that we all make mistakes and that there are too many in car distractions. Long gone are the days of the BJ whilst driving being the only cause of distraction:-).

 

I am knocking on a bit now and smile every time I get into my Zed. I only drive it in the local Poole area and to work 15 miles away on roads that do not lend themselves to speeding, overtaking or cutting in. I often get stuck behind cousin lovers on their tractors but i don't mind - I am in a Zed and they are not. There were days in my distant past when I had my Glasgow head on and wanted to batter the lot of them but the only one who was affected was me. I was often stewing and took it out on some other poor bugger. These idiots on the roads only get to you if you let them.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think best bet if on a motorway is that the speed they pass at you have to estimate what it looks like imagining you are stationary. Not sure on a motorway when someone passes you possibly 80mph faster than you are traveling you would be able to do the point to point distance calculation!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not gonna work every time, or be amazingly accurate, and it is highly dependant on the road + conditions, but i reckon you could get decent results with it.

 

Or with enough experience, I bet you could get quite good at just judging speed by eye. Would be interesting to test it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Subconsciously we all know what 30, 40, 60 etc looks like when we are stationary as those are common speeds to encounter at junctions - it's why we sometimes instinctivly know when someone is speeding without having a radar gun on us. If you apply the same subconscious perception of speed to a car passing you when you're doing 60, you can guesstimate the speed they are doing - it's never going to be blob on but will be in the ballpark.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speed is deceptive imo, you soon get used to a speed your doing, accelerate off a slip road up to 70mph on a motorway and it seems fast, 5 miles later and it feels dog slow and its the same reagrdless of what speed your doing. Get yourself onto a quiet motorway and hold a constant 70 without looking at the speedo or rev counter, I will bet 5 or 10 miles down the road your not wont still be doing 70.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting comments about the guy driving fast on the roads being hopeless on track.

 

I remember seeing something similar a while back, quite frightening really.

 

On a similar note when I went to one of those "learn to drift" days it was amazing how many people with high powered rear wheel drive cars parked in the car park couldn't control a simple skid in a stock/stripped 200sx.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...