[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

[HoarseMann]

OnYerBike wrote:

I would add c) The cause of that collision was not that the car driver failed to accelerate fast enough, the problem was that the lorry driver failed to look properly!

for sure, but with a lot of left hand drive HGVs on our roads, it happens more than it ought to.

I’m careful not to put myself in that position, only passing a HGV when I can get past in one swift overtake, but it’s not always possible. I always watch for drift when passing too.

[kil0ran]

Most of the supercar

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.

[kil0ran]

Yeah, me too. Mine used to

Yeah, me too. Mine used to send me under the car to undo sump bolts and the like. I can strip a carb, set points and do a reasonable job with tappets because of him (none of which are much use these days), and I know my way around Japanese 16v late-80s engines too. It was probably the only thing we spoke about (other than footie) throughout my teenage years. It was a huge part of the reasoning behind buying the Volvo because you can see and access pretty much everything.

[OnYerBike]

I would add c) The cause of

I would add c) The cause of that collision was not that the car driver failed to accelerate fast enough, the problem was that the lorry driver failed to look properly!

[quiff]

Theoretically, yes. But in

Theoretically, yes. But in that (terrifying) example:

(a) to apply a burst of acceleration effectively, you would need to know the lorry was pulling out on you. I’m not sure that would have been obvious to the driver in that clip, as it looks like the lorry driver indicated and started moving out just after the car had passed. I doubt therefore there would have been enough time in that clip for the driver to accelerate out of trouble.

(b) even if there had been time to react and accelerate, the driver didn’t have much space to accelerate into without getting dangerously close to the second lorry in front.

But I take the point – if you’re say two thirds of the way past a lorry which starts indicating, with clear road in front, then accelerator may be more effective than brake…

[HoarseMann]

rjfrussell wrote:

I’m genuinely trying to work out what sort of collision could be avoided by the 15mph boost?

This is the sort of thing that’s quite common where a short burst of acceleration could get you out of trouble…

https://youtu.be/c2eNallSXUc?t=178

[don simon fbpe]

I’m from the James Hunt

I’m from the James Hunt school of motoring, his favourite car, I believe was a Moggy 1000. My current favourite car is the BMW318i, just a lovely car in the curves and little danger of losing your licence.

I’ve been through my fair share of fast and very fast cars, spent time on the track and all that bollocks.

There is no reason to ban performance cars, there is no need to drive like a throbber either. As far as I’m aware, all cars come with throttles and brakes.

Statistically, how much more dangerous are these performance cars that any other car, when driven by a total tool.

Before long the pitchforks will be out for us 4×4 drivers.

 

[OnYerBike]

I think when you get into

I think when you get into supercar territory that is certainly true – anytime someone writes off a car like that, it will make it into the media, even if there were no injuries, no other parties involved etc.

But when you look at e.g. NMOTD on this website or fatal collisions involving vulnerable road users (which typically make it into the media regardless of the car involved) I don’t think the reporting bias will be as strong, but even so I think there are discernable patterns of the vehicle types involved, albeit less extreme and certainly no hard-and-fast rules.

[PRSboy]

I wonder if ‘high performance

I wonder if ‘high performance cars’ suffer from the same reporting bias as cyclists (bear with me here).  i.e Ferrari/Porsche/Lamborghini accident makes news in the same way as a cyclist killing a pedestrian makes news, depite their rarity as events.  The myriad other road accidents caused by inept drivers of ‘normal’ cars go unreported.  Any car is capable of exceeding the speed limit, and bad drivers capable of causing accidents even under the speed limit.

The problem is dangerous drivers, not fast cars.

[Captain Badger]

kil0ran wrote:

There are all sorts of exotic engine swaps and upgrades for the 940 – the engine bay is mahoosive. Quite a scene around building externally standard sleeper 940s with enough torque to spin the earth backwards. I’m definitely not doing it, honest. But my son gets to do car mechanics and early driving courses in a couple of years at school so that might be the excuse needed. “Here son, just pop this V8 in and don’t tell Mum”

There is also the bit about quality time with your boy. My Dad and I spent a lot of time tinkering around with stuff, he did it from when he was a lad. We didn’t communicate much, so these are some of my fondest memories. The stuff he learns and the confidence it gives him to try his own stuff will also be invaluable.

[kil0ran]

There are all sorts of exotic

There are all sorts of exotic engine swaps and upgrades for the 940 – the engine bay is mahoosive. Quite a scene around building externally standard sleeper 940s with enough torque to spin the earth backwards. I’m definitely not doing it, honest. But my son gets to do car mechanics and early driving courses in a couple of years at school so that might be the excuse needed. “Here son, just pop this V8 in and don’t tell Mum”

[Captain Badger]

kil0ran wrote:

Thing is, I’m still an enthusiast, it’s just that the enthusiasm is directed towards old Volvos. I absolutely love my 940, love that I can fix most stuff with a hammer and screwdriver, …

I know what you mean. I have a kit car ( an eternal project that may or may not be complete by the time that petrol is outlawed). I get a buzz out of finding/fixing/fabricating/adapting/restoring/cleaning/painting up parts, and adding them to the whole. It’s about the journey (rather than lack of it).

For that, it really doesn’t matter about what car you are doing it to – as you say, they’re all basically the same.

I have toyed with the idea of doing some serious performance stuff to the engine, but then it doesn’t really suit my driving style, and the whole thing is supposed to be a bit of fun – as your Mrs said: “What’s the point?”.

 

 

[markieteeee]

Yet they show Formula 1 every

Yet they show Formula 1 every week.

[kil0ran]

Probably because I’m now a

Probably because I’m now a Dad but I’d like to see limits on horsepower and passengers for newly qualified drivers. I passed my test on a Friday and took three mates out on the lash on Saturday night (I was sensible and didn’t drink). Managed to chuck my Allegro (don’t laugh) off the road on a wet roundabout, fortunately only into the shrubbery rather than the trees a bit further along. And then on my first long trip I’ve still to this day no idea how I missed killing a cyclist on the A27, it felt like I was mm away from him at 60mph (misjudged a gap to a traffic island). Done my fair share of racing and traffic light GPs too, including more off-tarmac excursions.

Thing is, I’m still an enthusiast, it’s just that the enthusiasm is directed towards old Volvos. I absolutely love my 940, love that I can fix most stuff with a hammer and screwdriver, love that my son helped me swap out the radiator. I’m even going to do the cambelt on it myself. Spent ages looking for the right one and the intention is that it will get us through until he leaves school. I’d like him to learn to drive in it but it will be almost 2030 so who knows what will happen to gas-guzzling 40yo motors then. We were going to go touring all over Europe this summer with it (getting it done before Brexit) but COVID intervened so we’ll settle for touring the scenic bits of Blighty instead.

[Captain Badger]

David9694 wrote:

David9694 wrote:

“…so what we need to do is actualy conduct a ‘war’ on law-breaking motorists.”

or “war on motorists” as the Daily Mail will no doubt have it, with a cast of traffic police “only in it for the fines revenue.” 

I would hazard that that would be six and two threes tbh…

[Author]

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