[iandusud]

Although this isn’t specifically about bikes it affects all cyclists. I have read of two accounts on BBC News this morning of pedestrians being killed by drivers of cars which are marketed on the basis of their high performance. In these two incidences an Audi and a AMG Mercedes. I don’t think that the cars themselves are particularly more dangerous than an avergage family car, lets face any lump of 2 tonnes travelling even at legal speeds is likely to kill a pedestrian or a cyclist if there is a collision. The point is that these cars are deliberately made for and marketed at people who wish to drive at levels of performance that are totally inapropriate for public roads. When will our governement do something to curb the marketing of such cars for use on public roads? 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-54932641

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54945577

Topic

[bobrayner]

In some other European

In some other European countries there are schemes that let teenagers get on the road a year or two earlier in a modified car which technically counts as a farm vehicle or a tractor or whatever. Generally it’s got very little power and fewer seats (maybe this discourages drivers from showing off in front of their mates). It might be interesting to look at safety stats, see if the kids who had 1-2 years in a 30hp stigma-mobile cause fewer accidents when they graduate to grown-up cars. 

[Grahamd]

kil0ran wrote:

As soon as my boy passes his test I’m taking him on an airfield and skidpan day so he can see just utterly shite his car control is.

Similar with my son, we did a car drifting day. Hard to put into words just how beneficial it is  to learn how to control a car when it behaves in a manner previously not experienced. 

[kil0ran]

Yep. The only restriction is

Yep. The only restriction is that if you pick up 6 points in the first two years you lose your license. Sadly I know several parents who’ve lost teenagers in fatal car crashes – common theme being inexperienced driver, passengers, showing off, unforgiving country lanes. You do think you’re invincible and kids have been brought up on Top Gear and Gran Turismo. Of course the vast majority are safe and insurance premiums do a reasonable job of keeping a lid on what’s available, but the loophole of being a named driver on a parent’s policy or driving uninsured is still there. 

I’m not familiar with bike licenses, are you allowed to pillion as soon as you pass your test?

[kil0ran]

Guilty m’lud. Whole reason I

Guilty m’lud. Whole reason I wanted a Golf GTI was *that* Paula Hamilton ad.

A ridiculously rich mate of mine (pharama Global CFO) has lived the dream and bought basically every supercar from the 80s, in proper 80s colours. Countach, 288 GTO, 512BB, even an Porsche 959S. Made money on all of them and did actually drive them a bit but found them underwhelming compared even to something like a modern Skyline GTR. He’s settled on an early ’70s Carerra RSR as his “only” classic I think.

My budget limited me to hot hatches and pocket rockets and I still have obsession with stuff like AX GTs and anything with a VTEC badge. And this extended to the bike world of course – very nearly bought one of the Peugeot recreations they did a few years back with the classic logos and white and rainbow stripes paint job

[Anonymous]

biker phil wrote:

I remember a story only a few years ago. A young lad, 17 I think, passed his test, went home and his dad threw him the keys to his Ferrari. The young lad went out and a few minutes later won the F1 World Championship

When I started reading your post I was genuinely hoping for something about an exceptional outcome, albeit not quite as exceptional as my example.

[Anonymous]

kil0ran wrote:

Most of the supercar reporting is of the point and laugh variety I think. The real problem is putting stupidly powerful cars in the hands of inexperienced drivers. We don’t allow it with motorbikes yet you can pass your test and drive your Mum’s Audi RS4 home. As soon as my boy passes his test I’m taking him on an airfield and skidpan day so he can see just utterly shite his car control is.

This is something that has always baffled me. Can a newly  certified driver really legally drive a Bugatti Chiron? That’s not the case with a biker acquiring a Suzuki Hayabusa. What also baffles me is “power modes”. My current motorcycle has the option to reduce maximum power, by how much I don’t even know. I leave it in full power mode but can still use less power by turning the throttle less, but when I need to overtake the power is there ready.

[Anonymous]

David9694 wrote:

David9694 wrote:

Just out of sight : one of our bird feeders, that my wife has assured me are placed so high up that they are squirrel proof. 

The feeders are still attached to something though right? 

[Anonymous]

This is so accurate I feel

This is so accurate I feel slightly attacked. 😀

I might add another – teenage bedroom wall collectors.  Always wanted one of those – couldn’t afford it when I was younger – got a bit of cash now so I’ll have one.  Never drive it though because, whisper it, it’s slow, unreliable, I don’t really fit it, so it’ll live in the garage and I occasionally look at it.  Please don’t mention my ’88 Raleigh SBDU…

[Anonymous]

RedRocket wrote:

RedRocket wrote:

The performance car owners aren’t the issue in my experience. It’s the inattentive people in boring/ordinary cars that make me nervous. Ironically most people I know with high end performance cars are actually road cyclists themselves! Even including a roadie who had a Honda Fireblade motorbike tuned to 1bhp : 1kg.

 

This. People who drive crap cars have no real interest in driving. If you have no interest in it there’s far less incentive to be good at it.

Regarding speed limits and performance cars, name me just 1 public road in the UK that has no speed limit? Nowt, exactly. I don’t see the issue with having a speed limitless motorway or 2. You’d still be legally required to drive well and there would indeed be speed limits in poor weather etc. But ffs there is absolutely nowhere I am aware of where you can legally drive at 100mph or more. They have such a thing in Germany and this hasn’t resulted in plagues of gigantic man eating reptiles taking over or other unmanageble problems.

Race tracks are great but you can’t get to and from cities on Santa Pod.

[ktache]

Always good to hear from you

Always good to hear from you Don, how are the injurys clearing up and did you ever figure out the cause of the rear wheel locking?

[TheBillder]

If the problem isn’t the
If the problem isn’t the performance car but the driver, why is it so much more expensive to get insurance on a powerful car?

I’m a low risk driver according to the insurers – old enough not to go crazy, young enough not to have cataracts, in between enough not to wear any kind of hat. Yet when I was last changing car, I got a quote for a warmish Volvo estate that was 50% higher than my ordinary 1.8 Mondeo. Ok, the Volvo was quite lively but as a middle aged family man, they clearly thought that car made me a far worse risk.

It’s just my quote, and I’m aware it was a price not a probability, but there will be stats behind it.

And by the way, I do hope your 4×4 is regularly needed in mud, snow, etc. Cos the pitchforks are most certainly out for the Chelsea tractors.

[Jack Sexty]

This is indeed an excellent

This is indeed an excellent post, and I definitely think it’s worth more love on the site! Would you be up for starring in a mini feature? If so I’ll drop you a line, or email me at jack.sexty@road.cc 

[No Reply]

I spent 9 years working at a

I spent 9 years working at a well known supercar dealer, and used to spend every day driving supercars such as Ferraris, Bugattis, Astons, Porsche etc. Not just brand new ones but multi million pound true classics. After a while they became just cars. When I drove them I became used to their many faults. I realised that the more money you spend on a car, the more trouble you can get. Astons, lovely to look at, horribly unreliable. Even the service manager at our local Aston dealer told me most of the time cars came in with a light on the dashboard, the techsdid not know what was wrong. They simply cleared the fault code and sent the car out. Ferraris from the 90s, such as the 348, were so unreliable that almost every time you went to fire one up, they would either break down or something would fall off. The most disappointing supercar I drove was the Jaguar XJ220, built not for the roads but for the track. A nightmare to get into, you almost needed to perform a three point turn to get round a roundabout, and the rear lights were upside down Rover 214 lights and Metro door handles!

Many of our customers were premier footballers, who bought a ridiculous amount of cars and just drove them like the complete knobs they are.

I moved on from that job but still work within the industry, and my current boss has a stock of new Porsche, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini and others, they are much more reliable now but very clinical. They are too perfect. 

I am fortunate that I have the knowledge and experience of cars that, if I won the lottery, I wouldn’t go out and blow a load on a supercar as most of them are disappointing. But to try and explain this to someone who has never driven one is difficult.

Your last paragraph, I sort of disagree with. In my experience, almost every customer who bought a supercar drove them like knobs, but didn’t have the experience to handle the cars if they bit back, which many did with disastrous consequences. 

[No Reply]

I remember a story only a few

I remember a story only a few years ago. A young lad, 17 I think, passed his test, went home and his dad threw him the keys to his Ferrari. The young lad went out and a few minutes later had crashed the car and very sadly died. 

Terribly sad, but there should be laws to stop this happening, for everyone, not allowing those with very deep pockets the ability to put a young boy with no experience behind the wheel of a supercar a few minutes after he passed his test. 

[RedRocket]

The performance car owners
The performance car owners aren’t the issue in my experience. It’s the inattentive people in boring/ordinary cars that make me nervous.

Ironically most people I know with high end performance cars are actually road cyclists themselves! Even including a roadie who had a Honda Fireblade motorbike tuned to 1bhp : 1kg.

[Author]

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