Very hard to get a mk1 Punto over the limit lmaoNo officer, I'm not over the limit, but the car probably is!!
What's made you smile today?
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What's made you smile today?
Why do you think I was in the wilds of Northumberland on the first night I owned the car?
Oh to be 18 again
Oh to be 18 again
I take it with that long down hill straight you were trying for your World Speed Record at the time.Why do you think I was in the wilds of Northumberland on the first night I owned the car?
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Oh to be 18 again
Around our way the motor bike "ton up boys" used the Bovey Straights on their BSAs and Triumphs, though nowadays most big bikes would still have several gears left after that!.
With us it was the "Lindean straight" between Gala and Selkirk. A sharp right angled turn onto and leaving the first bridge over the river Tweed then the straight, maybe a mile or so long, then another sharp "S" at the other end where the road went over the river again just before the Lindean Smithy (now someones house). So it made no difference which way you approached it you couldn't get a flying start. If you had a bike that could do "the ton" before the other end then you were "the man". My 350 single pot AJS made a fair stab at it but never really was in contention, Thrilling lying flat on the tank with legs flat out parallel to the ground behind you (I'd seen a picture of a Bonnyville salt flats racer adopting that position to reduce drag) and trying to judge how long you could wait before chucking the anchor out! I was down that way recently when clearing out my brother's house and they've "spoilt" it by realigning the road so the bends aren't half as sharp - spoil sports!I take it with that long down hill straight you were trying for your World Speed Record at the time.
Around our way the motor bike "ton up boys" used the Bovey Straights on their BSAs and Triumphs, though nowadays most big bikes would still have several gears left after that!.
I watched a great film with Anthony Hopkins in about " The World's Fastest Indian. The story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years rebuilding a 1920 Indian motorcycle, which helped him set the land speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967."
I built a BSA 650 Road Rocket from a pile of parts which could approach the ton according to the wildly inaccurate wavering speedos of the day
, total cost around £100 in late 70s but really put the World to rights after a good blast through some twisty B roads and sounded great with twin Megas.
Was thinking more about the 'alcohol' limit actually
all that booze in the radiator, definately over the limit % wise!!
Reminds me of someone I went to college with, they wrote off their car seeing how fast it could go. Hit a pigeon at around 130-140 right on the lip between the windscreen and the roof.I take it with that long down hill straight you were trying for your World Speed Record at the time.
Around our way the motor bike "ton up boys" used the Bovey Straights on their BSAs and Triumphs, though nowadays most big bikes would still have several gears left after that!.
They didn't crash but they did a nice job of bending the roof so a new screen could not be fitted.
Luckily for me the safety head gasket cut in and stopped any of that...
As a youngster, drum brakes, crossply tyres and 1960s suspension kept the speeds down a bit whilst still fun "driving at our perceived limits", although the absence of seatbelts and airbags did add to the drama!
As a youngster, drum brakes, crossply tyres and 1960s suspension kept the speeds down a bit whilst still fun "driving at our perceived limits", although the absence of seatbelts and airbags did add to the drama!
One of my formative driving memories is getting a 1.0 Uno sideways on a mixture of 10 year old Michelin MXLs and Lassa Grand slams.
135 section tyres...so this was achieved at around 27 mph...but certainly opened the eyes and nearly the bowels given I'd had the car 2 days..and it was my first car
My first vehicle was forgiving little Ford, it was the second vehicle a 1955 MG Magnette saloon that I managed to lose control due to inexperience and write off a exactly week to the hour outside the garage I bought it from.One of my formative driving memories is getting a 1.0 Uno sideways on a mixture of 10 year old Michelin MXLs and Lassa Grand slams.
135 section tyres...so this was achieved at around 27 mph...but certainly opened the eyes and nearly the bowels given I'd had the car 2 days..and it was my first car
Reminds me of when I got my first car which was a Cinquecento, I'd had it about 3 weeks, came down a hill & went into the bend at the bottom at 80 mph to which there were roadworks with a nearly new BMW waiting at the lights, to avoid rear ending it I yanked the handbrake up & spun the backend of the Cinquecento round so I was facing the cars behind me which was a snob in a Range Rover who looked disgustedOne of my formative driving memories is getting a 1.0 Uno sideways on a mixture of 10 year old Michelin MXLs and Lassa Grand slams.
135 section tyres...so this was achieved at around 27 mph...but certainly opened the eyes and nearly the bowels given I'd had the car 2 days..and it was my first car
so I put my thumb up at him which annoyed him even more so when the lights went green I went flat out in reverse through the roadworks & to top it off I did a really good reverse flick at the other end & carried on with my day Some years ago I was road testing one of my customers vehicles, a Fiat 132 Supermiriofiori on Pirelli Cinturatos and discovered the difference between it's grip in the dry and that when a very light first end of dry season few rain drops landed on the road.Reminds me of when I got my first car which was a Cinquecento, I'd had it about 3 weeks, came down a hill & went into the bend at the bottom at 80 mph to which there were roadworks with a nearly new BMW waiting at the lights, to avoid rear ending it I yanked the handbrake up & spun the backend of the Cinquecento round so I was facing the cars behind me which was a snob in a Range Rover who looked disgusted
I was coming up to a row of cars at a junction, lightly applied the brakes and it just locked up and slide without any warning towards them, at the last second I released the brakes and eased to a halt alongside the last car in the line, no accident as fortunately no oncoming traffic, popped it into reverse and repositioned behind that last car. Heart may have been beating a little fast though.
My old Anglia with drum brakes all round and 5.20x13 tyres was always unpredictably exciting!As a youngster, drum brakes, crossply tyres and 1960s suspension kept the speeds down a bit whilst still fun "driving at our perceived limits", although the absence of seatbelts and airbags did add to the drama!
In the Cinquecento I had I was coming down a country road in Surrey near to where I lived & there was a s bend with a tiny bridge that narrowed & you couldn't see what was coming as there were trees everywhere, I came into the bend a bit lively one day (95 mph) to be met with a Toyota Hilux coming towards me on my side of the road & I had nowhere to go as the bridge was there with barriers, he swerved at the very last second so I just missed it, that was a very close call, In my second car which was a MK1 Bravo (aka the green pig as it was a dogSome years ago I was road testing one of my customers vehicles, a Fiat 132 Supermiriofiori on Pirelli Cinturatos and discovered the difference between it's grip in the dry and that when a very light first end of dry season few rain drops landed on the road.
I was coming up to a row of cars at a junction, lightly applied the brakes and it just locked up and slide without any warning towards them, at the last second I released the brakes and eased to a halt alongside the last car in the line, no accident as fortunately no oncoming traffic, popped it into reverse and repositioned behind that last car. Heart may have been beating a little fast though.
) after the Cinquecento got written off I was coming down another country lane & this was when I realised as I'd only had it about a week that the Bravo didn't handle anywhere near as well as the old Cinq as I took the bend a bit too quick, the car glided over a ditch & went flying through a massive hedge & came out the other side sideways, only to be met with a angry farmer on the other side of the field who had just finished plowing his field, he started running over with his pitchfork luckily there were 5 of us so one of my mates at the times he was a big bloke so he was inside the Bravo bouncing the back end & the rest of us got the car out & we were gone , a couple of days later I went into the local petrol station to get some money out from the post office inside & there was a notice on the board from the farmer inside asking for information on the car that went through his hedge, my mum was standing beside me & she'd seen the notice, looked out the window at the Bravo which still had all the bits of hedge sticking out of it & covered mud & soil, she went to me "it was you wasn't it" I said "I don't know what your talking about & anyway innocent until proven guilty" I left the car like that for a few days as I thought it looked better covered in hedge & mud than looking at the rust creeping in around the arches & sills Oh, man. It was known as Pollywog Rd in the Wisconsin sticks. About 2 miles of dead straight road with a couple of stomach droppers along the way. It was sort of the illegal drag strip until a bad crash took the lives of a few high school kids in the late 60s. I never partook of the 'Festivities', but I did test out what my Mercury Marauder and my AMC Ambassador could do. Both did the ton and then some. The Merc had a 300 HP 390ci engine; what every 16 year old kid needs, but was a land yacht. My Dad would 'borrow' it and light up the tires in front of our house. Man, if I did that with his car... I got rid of it because, I was 16, bad on gas, and insurance was nuts.
The Ambassador was more sedate. 290 V8 with a two barrel, maybe 225 HP. It was a highway car. Geared high so it couldn't get out of its own way at the lights, but once things started rolling, it had some top end. I broke my Mom's speed record for the 300 miles between our house and the grandparents house. She had 3.5 hours, I did it in 3 flat. It still stands, only because no one lives at either place anymore.
The Ambassador was more sedate. 290 V8 with a two barrel, maybe 225 HP. It was a highway car. Geared high so it couldn't get out of its own way at the lights, but once things started rolling, it had some top end. I broke my Mom's speed record for the 300 miles between our house and the grandparents house. She had 3.5 hours, I did it in 3 flat. It still stands, only because no one lives at either place anymore.
My grandad had an Anglia which my dad who was 18 at the time borrowed one day with his mate & they went past the boys in blue who turned around to go after my old man so he went flat out in the Anglia to which he got some distance between them & then he rolled it, luckily though before the police turned up there was a coach full of rugby players who turned the Anglia back up on it's wheels so my dad got out of there & was in the clear until he pulled in the drive where my grandad was standing looking at his Anglia after it had been rolled, that was in 1984 & he still moaned at my dad about that for 30 years afterwards
I had an elderly customer and his wife who brought their Austin 1800 (land crab) in asking if I could have a look at the door handles on one side as they wouldn't open/operate.My grandad had an Anglia which my dad who was 18 at the time borrowed one day with his mate & they went past the boys in blue who turned around to go after my old man so he went flat out in the Anglia to which he got some distance between them & then he rolled it, luckily though before the police turned up there was a coach full of rugby players who turned the Anglia back up on it's wheels so my dad got out of there & was in the clear until he pulled in the drive where my grandad was standing looking at his Anglia after it had been rolled, that was in 1984 & he still moaned at my dad about that for 30 years afterwards
It turned out he had somehow managed to catch a kerb and flick it onto it's side resting on the door handles, but best of all no damage/contact any where else.
They must have been well into their 80s, but some people had pushed their heavy car back onto it's wheels and they carried on their way, Something similar to this.
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Back when cars were properly built, could you imagine if the same happened to one of the domestic appliances of todayI had an elderly customer and his wife who brought their Austin 1800 (land crab) in asking if I could have a look at the door handles on one side as they wouldn't open/operate.
It turned out he had somehow managed to catch a kerb and flick it onto it's side resting on the door handles, but best of all no damage/contact any where else.
They must have been well into their 80s, but some people had pushed their heavy car back onto it's wheels and they carried on their way, Something similar to this.
Good lord...bet that smoked something rotten on the first start up after.
