What's made you smile today?

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

As a mechanical/technology geek, this is why f1 will always be top:


However, a bit like the Olympics, i always wish they would have an unregulated, go as fast as possible, using anything available, category.

For purist driver racing, they tried that with the sealed setup and rover 25 cars, nice idea, but so dull to watch.

The electronics side of technology is of little interest to me so, for me, some of the most exciting cars were the old Can Am monsters, McLaren etc. Have you seen the film of his life - simply titled McLaren - I'm not ashamed to admit it had me in tears.

 

[porta]

Have to say that most circuit racing, at top flight, (cars and drivers) bore me to tears. The touring car ones are just about bearable, but the interesting parts, generally the lower classes are rarely shown. The same has happened to rallying. Club motorsports remain the most entertaining, seeing an eighties 1.6 civic lay waste to V6 and V8 fords, rovers, Alfas, etc etc, round Caldwell Park was a joy

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Have to say that most circuit racing, at top flight, (cars and drivers) bore me to tears. The touring car ones are just about bearable, but the interesting parts, generally the lower classes are rarely shown. The same has happened to rallying. Club motorsports remain the most entertaining, seeing an eighties 1.6 civic lay waste to V6 and V8 fords, rovers, Alfas, etc etc, round Caldwell Park was a joy

Personally I like hillclimbs. A very wide range of vehicles with lots of enthusiastic owners and some really interesting and innovative features to look at. Also You can, generally, get up close to the cars in the pits/paddock. Drag racing is of similar interest but it's too far for me to attend regularly.

 

[vexorg]

Ari Vatanen has the i ultimate hill climbing in a Peugeot405! Hill climbing gets very little tv coverage, some of the old satellite channels used to haves some good strange stuff, like tractor drag racing with five v8 engines.

Rallying was also good with older cars, modern ones are very dull too.

 

[Cheest]

Not so purist, but I like it, is the Australian Supercars. If you want purist stuff there's always the DTM which has some pretty exciting close racing usually and if you ever get the chance to see one of the cars with it's "clothes" off they are beautifully engineered. Formula one is pretty tame by comparison I'm ashamed to say.

Man, when my youngest and I would do our Saturday morning breakfast bicycle ride, we'd finish up by watching the Aussie Supercar series and sedan races in the UK on Speed Channel. Her favorite driver was Nigel Mansell.

My favorite racing is the local roundy round clay track races; loud, dirt, and stink. I guess it brings out my latent redneck.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Man, when my youngest and I would do our Saturday morning breakfast bicycle ride, we'd finish up by watching the Aussie Supercar series and sedan races in the UK on Speed Channel. Her favorite driver was Nigel Mansell.

My favorite racing is the local roundy round clay track races; loud, dirt, and stink. I guess it brings out my latent redneck.

Always thought that your Midget racers look terrifying. Massive v8, compared to anything we'd think of using, in a car the size of a kids pedal car!

 

[PuntoHowTo]

For me and probably because I was a child of the 90s, nothing beat the British touring car championships in the 90s when virtually every manufacturer had a couple of cars in it it was the epitome of win on Sunday sell it on Monday and would have everyone talking about what the “best car” was based on the outcome of the races, that being said the Audis always had to run extra ballast as nothing could hold a candle to their quattro system on the track, own and the massive Volvo estates looked awesome

 

[bugsymike]

Man, when my youngest and I would do our Saturday morning breakfast bicycle ride, we'd finish up by watching the Aussie Supercar series and sedan races in the UK on Speed Channel. Her favorite driver was Nigel Mansell.

My favorite racing is the local roundy round clay track races; loud, dirt, and stink. I guess it brings out my latent redneck.

WE had a local Banger circuit at Newton Abbot that also had Hot Rods and another class with straight 6 Ford engines in a kind of space frame made of scaffold tubing in the early 70s which was fun and quite aggressive, plus I also watched with daughters the last Exeter Speedway on shale with Ivan Major.
I can't find it now but I saw a video of a J2 Allard blasting past all the opposition on a classic American race circuit, lovely sound, probably Cadillac sidevalve V8 engined.
I always regret not chasing an advert for a pair of them needing attention in the early 1970s for under £100 in Exchange and Mart I think.
Another odd ball locally I could have bought for around £65 was an Amphicar at that time, from memory Triumph Herald engine, VW gearbox, plastic propellers and dodgy door seals (the only thing stopping it sinking if in water!).

 

[StevenRB45]

For me and probably because I was a child of the 90s, nothing beat the British touring car championships in the 90s when virtually every manufacturer had a couple of cars in it it was the epitome of win on Sunday sell it on Monday and would have everyone talking about what the “best car” was based on the outcome of the races, that being said the Audis always had to run extra ballast as nothing could hold a candle to their quattro system on the track, own and the massive Volvo estates looked awesome

Supertouring era was indeed the best...

Spent many a happy hour watching that...

Oh and I did an insurance quote on the dad wagon with 0 NCD in my wife's name so she could earn NCD again.

For reference the C3 was 440 last year with 14 years or so of NCB.

Or alternatively the same garage has a Panda for 300 quid more..

Used Fiat cars for sale. Fiat Dealer Consett | Newton and Lee Automotive Ltd

Spend less on a used Fiat for sale in Consett. At Newton and Lee Automotive Ltd you'll find a superb range of quality used cars on our forecourt.

www.newtonandlee.co.uk

It's a hard choice...but given the choice of Toyota or Panda...I think I'm gonna follow the established Fiat Forum precedent and buy a Toyota.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Supertouring era was indeed the best...

Spent many a happy hour watching that...

Oh and I did an insurance quote on the dad wagon with 0 NCD in my wife's name so she could earn NCD again.

For reference the C3 was 440 last year with 14 years or so of NCB.

View attachment 452940

Or alternatively the same garage has a Panda for 300 quid more..

Used Fiat cars for sale. Fiat Dealer Consett | Newton and Lee Automotive Ltd

Spend less on a used Fiat for sale in Consett. At Newton and Lee Automotive Ltd you'll find a superb range of quality used cars on our forecourt.

www.newtonandlee.co.uk

It's a hard choice...but given the choice of Toyota or Panda...I think I'm gonna follow the established Fiat Forum precedent and buy a Toyota.

£305 for a years insurance?? Did you put your date of birth in as with any Toyota they probably just assumed you were 95 years old, therefore if you did have an accident you wouldn’t be going fast enough to cause any damage….

 

[StevenRB45]

£305 for a years insurance?? Did you put your date of birth in as with any Toyota they probably just assumed you were 95 years old, therefore if you did have an accident you wouldn’t be going fast enough to cause any damage….

Indeed...also that no one in their right mind would steal it.

What's mad is that initially it was 260 but I dropped the excess down to minimum.

When I did quotes for the similarly fast Seat Leon estate with the 1.4 tsi 124 engine it was nearer 500 quid.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

£305 for a years insurance?? Did you put your date of birth in as with any Toyota they probably just assumed you were 95 years old, therefore if you did have an accident you wouldn’t be going fast enough to cause any damage….

I was expecting the Scala to cost a lot more than our 8 year old Ibiza was costing when I renewed in August so was pleasantly surprised when they quoted me £451 fully comp. A few minutes after paying it I realized I'd not specifically included Mrs J as a named driver so rang them back to amend it. Because I was including her - she's 3 years younger than me - they refunded £54 pounds so it ended up costing us £387 - pretty good I thought (fully comp by the way) She also renewed the Panda's insurance recently, with me as named driver, which cost £255.10p for fully comp. and we live in Scotland's Capitol city so not the back of beyond somewhere.

 

[AnthonyH]

My wife got insurance on our EVO a few days ago it was £330. Fully comprehensive, one year no claims, with business insurance. Sounds good eh? Well the excess is £500, and the car has a value of £800. So the cover is really just third party.

 

[bugsymike]

My wife got insurance on our EVO a few days ago it was £330. Fully comprehensive, one year no claims, with business insurance. Sounds good eh? Well the excess is £500, and the car has a value of £800. So the cover is really just third party.

In the old days if you ran a banger there was a significant saving going for Third Party only, but nowadays insurance companies don't miss a trick.

 

[AnthonyH]

Internet gaming was in action with the quote - the same details but with third party fire and theft was more expensive...

Its always worth checking all the different options.

 

[AnthonyH]

In the old days if you ran a banger there was a significant saving going for Third Party only, but nowadays insurance companies don't miss a trick.

These days trying to game the internet system is more important to some of them. A few years ago i got an excellent quote that i couldn't pay for online, so I phoned them up to pay, then they tried to sell me their extra options, when i refused they said i couldn't have the original quote!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

In the old days if you ran a banger there was a significant saving going for Third Party only, but nowadays insurance companies don't miss a trick.

They don't, do they Mike. Mrs J's Panda was at least as cheap to insure fully comp. Youngest boy's wife's Jazz was so badly vandalized a while ago that it was scrapped and they gave a decent, in fact pretty good, settlement on it. Now we know why as her insurance for this year on the Mazda 2 that replaced it is stupidly high. even shopping around didn't show much saving - I suppose because they all share info? She's got max no claims too. If this keeps up next year it won't be long before they recover the outgoings on settling for the Jazz!

 

[AnthonyH]

They don't, do they Mike. Mrs J's Panda was at least as cheap to insure fully comp. Youngest boy's wife's Jazz was so badly vandalized a while ago that it was scrapped and they gave a decent, in fact pretty good, settlement on it. Now we know why as her insurance for this year on the Mazda 2 that replaced it is stupidly high. even shopping around didn't show much saving - I suppose because they all share info? She's got max no claims too. If this keeps up next year it won't be long before they recover the outgoings on settling for the Jazz!

I just wouldn't make a claim on my comprehensive insurance, if i crashed the car etc. I would get some money back yes, but then i'd lose my maximum no claims bonus and get crippled for years to come.

This may have something to do with the low value of cars I drive, i mean I could buy another and fix it fairly easily.

 

[bugsymike]

Around 1974 I bought a rough 1964 MGB Roadster for £90 as a 20 year old Third Party cost me £80, in those days I think with different insurance groupings than today the MGB was Group 6 and American cars were max. Group 7.
I suppose if you compare a rough 1964 Chrome bumper MGB taxed and Moted value with current insurance for a 20 year old? Though maybe it would rate a low Classic policy as most cars these days would out perform.
With online insurance I always fix the quote before continuing the search as once interest is expressed price goes up due to algorithm, much the same as booking holidays etc.

 

[bugsymike]

I was also told insurance companies have a policy of writing off anything over a certain year regardless.