M50 By Day - Skangers Paradise By Night

TempestSabre

You'd be surprised what you can do. Anyone remember Top Gear Tiff going around the circuit in a Puma with Clarkson and Quentin Willson in it. Clarksons head alone weighs about same as 3 three people. Even a 1.0 in a the hands of a fast driver can be quick.

IrishRover

That is an incredible story! :eek:

Re the Micras and what speed a tiny modern car like this seems capable of these days, I remember I was doing a certain speed one time and not only should the Micra behind me not have been able to do the speed it was doing, it actually managed to accelerate very quickly to way beyond what should have been its top speed and pass me out quite quickly. It just looked like a completely standard car. A young lady driver too.

Still with four up it is incredible how this Micra on the M50 could have been going like that. It is shocking that something like that happened with the sudden stop and turn around he did. It's one thing excessive speeding like that but their attempt to cause a huge accident like that seems like they were deliberately getting their kicks out of terrorising innocent people on the motorway. Sounds like they have gotten the impression they are untouchable. I have noticed the M50 doesn't seem to be patrolled late at night either.

dubstub

Stekelly wrote:

The official spec on the chinq sporting says the 1.1 will top put at 93 and the 900 at 87

The 900 cc cinqucento will top out at 86. The speedometer only goes to 100mph. With a decline and plenty of open road you can get the car up to 94 but brakes and steering don't work too well at that stage.
Best not to ask how I know that; it was a long, long time ago and I'm happy to say I've grown up a lot since then...

ToxicPaddy

This is the time when you'd love the Gardai over here to do what they do in the US, like ya see on Cops.. (yes I know a lot is playing up to the camera!!)..

Some little scumbag steals a car and goes on the rampage.. police arrive on scene, chase him, catch up, spin the car and ram it so the scumbag cant get out.. then rip him out through the broken window and in the process of cuffing him, get to punch, kick, elbow, slap, bite, tickle, etc.. the scumbag into submission.. ya get the idea.. nothing like job satisfaction eh??

Glad to hear the OP got out of that ok btw.. lucky escape..

Tox

Squirrel

A pretty heavily laden 97 Micra 1 litre can do 96. That was 3 people, a lot of gear bags, and a bike rack in the boot.

At least there didn't seem to be too much damage to the Focus and yours was ok.

TempestSabre

I thought you were going to say shoot them and leave a "throw down" gun at the scene. :eek:

breanoh

What if the micra was a 1.3? I have had my old MK1 Micra 1.0 up at 85 with myself and two (hefty) passengers in it, so I would expect that the newer 16v twin cam Micra could do alot better. As for the chinq, the 1.1 can be surprisingly fast! If you thrash a 1.0 it'll move on quite rapidly. I had no problems on the M50 with a full car (me and 4 passengers, all 20somethings lads) cruising at 125 in my 1.0 td charade!
The likes of these scumbags should be put on the curragh camp and made clean horse sh£t for a month, might make them thing again about their responsabilities!

Big Balls

It doesn't really matter what your little A to B car CAN do down a big hill..

It HASN'T got the chassis, brakes, suspension or right size tyres to be doing anything over 100 mph and you're really taking your life and the lives of your passengers into your own hands doing it.

I can't believe there's people here using "1.1L" and "rapid" in the same sentence here.

Darren

If you had wanted a quick response from the guards yuo should ring them and tell them that you were going to stop the car, drag the 3 lads out and beat the ****e out of them. The helicopters and everything would have been out within minutes.

breanoh

You obviously haven't driven a 1.1, They can be very quick! BTW, The latter speed I gave was in km/h, 125km/h = about 80 mph. I haven't pushed any car above 90mph, wouldn't be safe!

Big Balls

breanoh wrote:

You obviously haven't driven a 1.1, They can be very quick!

PMSL.

No, I've only driven a 346bhp BMW M3. I have NO idea what quick is.

I must take my girlfriend's Pug 206 out for a spin when I get home from work, that has a 1.1 litre engine, I can't believe I've had the chance to drive such a powerful car for so long and never took it out.

gyppo

breanoh wrote:

If you thrash a 1.0 it'll move on quite rapidly. I had no problems on the M50 with a full car (me and 4 passengers, all 20somethings lads) cruising at 125 in my 1.0 td charade!

:eek: You need locking up.

zilog_jones

People like those sh1ts deserve to die.

Undercoverguy: You could have at least *attempted* to inform the guards about
this incident. At least if they did nothing afterwards you'd have a reason to complain how they're useless.

And yeah breanoh, FFS the old Daihatsu Charade was a fookin death trap!

Savman

Big Balls wrote:

346bhp

Must be dream in traffic gridlock alright...:D:D

TempestSabre

Big Balls wrote:

....No, I've only driven a 346bhp BMW M3. I have NO idea what quick is.

I must take my girlfriend's Pug 206 out for a spin when I get home from work, that has a 1.1 litre engine, I can't believe I've had the chance to drive such a powerful car for so long and never took it out.

Yeah being condescending and snobbish is a good way to debate the point. :rolleyes:

Driving a small city car, especially something with a nippy free reving engine, light clutch and steering is a much nicer experience in some conditions, heavy slow moving congested traffic for example then a bigger more powerful car. I often choose our 1.0 when I'm tired of hauling the 2L saloon around town.

The point is these cars can be made to shift with the right driver. Even on the open road if you know the road, you can keep up a decent pace. On one occasion I was going over the Wicklow mountains (which I know well) and a TT was ahead of me and I eventually caught him and past him. Which was very amusing. I know he was trying hard to get away from his hard braking, and accelerating. He was obviously a bad driver who didn't know the road. Still fun though.

Obviously driving a car beyond its sensible limits is insane. Regardless of the car.

ciarsd

which M3 has 346BHP anyway?? It aint an E30, E36 nor E46

breanoh

Charade=deathtrap? lol! have had 3 of them, all nippy, comfortable and safe. Don't know where you get that from. big balls, I'm not suggesting getting out of the bmw, just realise that smaller cars with small engines can be quick too! I remember the 4L my dad had, now that was nippy, and the R6 that left some poor boy racer in his civic with a red face because he couldn't keep up! You don;t have to have a big engine to have fun! or a new car for that!

Gerry

breanoh wrote:

Charade=deathtrap? lol! have had 3 of them, all nippy, comfortable and safe. Don't know where you get that from. big balls, I'm not suggesting getting out of the bmw, just realise that smaller cars with small engines can be quick too! I remember the 4L my dad had, now that was nippy, and the R6 that left some poor boy racer in his civic with a red face because he couldn't keep up! You don;t have to have a big engine to have fun! or a new car for that!

Apparently your charade does 80mph, and probably with only one passenger also. Why do you bother saying stuff like 125? Unless you meant km/h.

http://www.carfolio.com/specifications/models/car/?car=22979&Daihatsu

All these people going on about how quick 1 litre cars are need to drive a car with a decent size engine. Yes, small cars with 1 litre engines can be very nippy at low speeds. Once the weight advantage fades away though, the acceleration tends to be useless.

TempestSabre

Gerry wrote:

Apparently your charade does 80mph, and probably with only one passenger also. Why do you bother saying stuff like 125? Unless you meant km/h.

http://www.carfolio.com/specifications/models/car/?car=22979&Daihatsu

All these people going on about how quick 1 litre cars are need to drive a car with a decent size engine. Yes, small cars with 1 litre engines can be very nippy at low speeds. Once the weight advantage fades away though, the acceleration tends to be useless.

1.) The official specs are not always accurate.

2.) I've driven/owned loads of fast-ish cars. Whats that got to do with begin nippy. How does weight "fade" away?

mloc123

lol @ a 1 litre being quick. Whats all the talk about town driving? The original subject was the m50....I'd like to see a 1litre keep up with anything on it...not during rush hour of course

Big Balls

TempestSabre wrote:

Yeah being condescending and snobbish is a good way to debate the point. :rolleyes:

There's nothing to debate. I'm not going to waste my time arguing with someone who thinks a 1.1 litre engined car is quick. I never said I owned said M3, I just said I'd driven one.

I've also owned a 1.25 Ford Fiesta - so I'm MORE than capable of telling some misguided individual that a 1.1 is NOT fast.

Only in a tread like this would you get someone claiming the driver of a car with 225 bhp (possibly 180 but still) was trying their hardest but their 1.1 car flew past him.

Lads, go buy yourselves a moped, it'd be bloody quicker than a 1.1 up to 50 mph!! (And afterall, the traffic is so gridlocked according to someone here so why even bother with your speed-tastic 1.1s then).

Gerry

TempestSabre wrote:

1.) The official specs are not always accurate.

2.) I've driven/owned loads of fast-ish cars. Whats that got to do with begin nippy. How does weight "fade" away?

1) They did say a few posts later that it was 125 km/h, my bad for not seeing that.
2) nippy - fast accelaration at low speeds. A lot of small cars are "nippy". Of course weight doesn't "fade away". Please don't misquote me. The weight of a car matters more at low speeds. Hence, the advantage of having a lighter car is greater at low speed. At higher speed, engine power vs aerodynamics matters more.

breanoh

I dunno, I have always found the charade to be great, M50, N-O-F bypass, country roads, just nice to drive, on the motorway it is a good cruiser, I have driven quite a lot btw Big Balls, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.5, 4.3 etc, but I still like the 1.0, Have you ever driven a Suzuki swift? Will make rapid progress, if you keep it above 4,000 rpm!
ps, my charade is a japper, so It only has km/h. sorry for any confusion.

TempestSabre

Big Balls wrote:

There's nothing to debate. I'm not going to waste my time arguing with someone who thinks a 1.1 litre engined car is quick..... a 1.1 is NOT fast....

So if doing 70-80mph in a 1.0 is not fast or quick. What is it...slow?

In my experience doing 75mph in a 1.0 Micra, or even 70+ in a feather light CRX feels a heck of a lot faster than a Golf at 100mph or something like a Porsche at 130mph (even with the roof down). (not in Irl of course). In racing the most powerful car does not always win. If you know the road/track well, and drive well that usually/not always counts for a lot.

zilog_jones

breanoh wrote:

Charade=deathtrap? lol! have had 3 of them, all nippy, comfortable and safe. Don't know where you get that from.

I get that from statistics (from places like here and here), and experience from others. I'm not saying it's dangerous to drive or anything, but in a crash it could prove potentially fatal a lot moreso than larger/newer cars. All Japanese supermini's from that era (Mk. III Starlet, Swift/Cultus, Mk. I Mazda 121, Mk. III Colt/Mirage, etc.) are apparently similarly designed with little concern for the lives of the inhabitants of the cars.

It seems after the Japanese NCAP tests started in 1996 (and the EuroNCAP in '97) they seemed to give more of a rat's ass about safety in small cars.

And don't think you're any safer being the driver - I heard about someone's dad who was in a frontal collision in a Charade (dunno which one exactly), and the steering wheel was pushed into his chest. This (also going into the head) however seems to be a common issue with most (if not all) small cars that don't have a collapsible sterring column.

TempestSabre

You mean newer cars are safer? Well I never....:D

As for modern small cars...
http://www.mercedes-benz.ca/mbccustom/smart/safety/event.cfm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s&search=Smart%20Car%20crash%20test

breanoh

As my dad always tells me, cars were designed to be driven, not crashed! I don't know what the NCAP rating has to do with the cars handling at speed, I accept that I drive an old car (by choice I might add) and that it isn't as safe as the modern air bagged crumple zoned ABS'd euroboxes going around, but that is my perogative. I wouldn't feel safe driving a car with airbags and ABS, as far as I'm concerned they are more of a hinderence than a help, and Airbags can do more harm than good. ABS may stop you skidding, but it also adds to the stopping distance, and is very offputting when it kicks in.
I have a nice 86 renault 9 waiting tfor road once there are a few jobs done on it, and I know that that is also not as safe as the 06's, but, when did you last see an old car involved in a fatal accident? or a serious one for that matter?
Remember:The most dangerous part in a car is the not holding the wheel!

comanche

breanoh wrote:

As my dad always tells me, cars were designed to be driven, not crashed! I don't know what the NCAP rating has to do with the cars handling at speed, I accept that I drive an old car (by choice I might add) and that it isn't as safe as the modern air bagged crumple zoned ABS'd euroboxes going around, but that is my perogative. I wouldn't feel safe driving a car with airbags and ABS, as far as I'm concerned they are more of a hinderence than a help, and Airbags can do more harm than good. ABS may stop you skidding, but it also adds to the stopping distance, and is very offputting when it kicks in.
I have a nice 86 renault 9 waiting tfor road once there are a few jobs done on it, and I know that that is also not as safe as the 06's, but, when did you last see an old car involved in a fatal accident? or a serious one for that matter?
Remember:The most dangerous part in a car is the not holding the wheel!

ABS reduces braking distances except for on ice n snow. I suggest you stop talking now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-lock_braking_system#Effectiveness

craichoe

comanche wrote:

ABS reduces braking distances except for on ice n snow. I suggest you stop talking now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-lock_braking_system#Effectiveness

I think he was refering to how easily they fly apart, not the braking system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile_butadiene_styrene

i.e. made out of plastic..

Oh and by the way, alot of the garda cars are 1.6 to 1.8 for the squad cars all the way up to 2.4 (usually camrys)

They are not tuned, they just have the rev limiter disabled, In other words when a garda is chasing someone he can do 85mph in 3rd gear. Hence .. never buy an ex garda car, it will be thrashed to bits.

The opinion i get through is the Toyotas are the best, and Opels the worst, the Vecras are in the mechanics most of the time !

comanche

craichoe wrote:

I think he was refering to how easily they fly apart, not the braking system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile_butadiene_styrene

nope, I don't think so...

breanoh wrote:

ABS may stop you skidding, but it also adds to the stopping distance, and is very offputting when it kicks in.