Nice 'xm Road'

Well, I found this very nice, extremely twisty road near where I live. Its basically about a half mile consisting of a series of s-bends.

I took a little vid of it earlier, please excuse the crap video, and especially the sound quality (I even had the music from this ). At least you can just about hear the tyres squealing between 00:35 and 00:32 though.

Anyway, its actually a much more exhilirating drive than it looks in the video, really a good testament to the XM's handling and setup. The straight exit part of the road is littered with pot holes etc, it passes over them at speed with a minimum of fuss.

George, this would be a great road to get your fluid cross flowing!

Just a pity the video quality is so crap, its a nice wee drive:



This post has been edited by Ciaran on March 25, 2008 12:25 am

Right!

You want to see a twisty road vid!

Cairen, your ALL over the road, how about sticking to the correct side!

I'll get a vid of my twisty road at 80mph!! in my V6 SEi...

Its great fun!

Watch this space!

Rgds

C

Yep!

I knew someone would say that, its actually not as bad as it looks, the camera was mounted to the far right of the windscreen, so it looks more over the line than it is. That said, there are some parts of that road where it just isn't wide enough to stay properly in lane. Its only recently built too, but the layout of it is appaling! Luckily one end of it remains closed, which is how I was able to use it in such a fashion without fear of meeting anything else.

I did that in soft mode (in the S1), must do the same run in hard and see what the difference is.

80 would have been nice, but the twists on that section are just toooo tightly packed together to hit that kind of speed safely, 50 was more realistic, and that was pushing it at points. Look forward to seeing yours though

Ciarán

For what purpose; calm down now guys!

Unless of course you're Clarkson's next door neighbour on the IoM.
Didn't think so. Court Summonses will be forthcoming in the post
shortly then...?

Andrew

Not on this road Andrew!

We ARE very, well, I should say I am very lucky were we are here ...

I know EXACTLY were the police sit, EVERY time, no change, and the road I use reguraly is a national speed road, and theres no were for them to sit...


I'll be fine... I drive not stupidly. Or mad, just enthusiactley... (cant spell that)

Rgds


C

Fine. I may sound like a right old git but there's a reason!

I sit here as a repentant man who until VERY recently, had ELEVEN
endorsement points on my licence and memories of begging the
court to grant a stay of execution to permit me to retain it.

You wouldn't believe I'd now have had a full clean licence for the first
time in years BUT copped a MINIMUM 6 pointer with less than 3 months
left on two old fixed penalties (one of them not for speeding!!). It was
so easily done too, impatiently accelerating towards a 50 limit from a
30 tooo soon in scope of a mobile camera van!

Was I in my 24v v6 or a CX GTi turbo? No, a Xantia 1.9TD...

The lawyer fees and court fine could've bought a VERY smart XM!!!!!

From this weakened position I feel I can speak with some hard found
experience...

Go easy mind, the Police will regularly vet YouTube for such speeding
transgressions and very publicly prosecute even if you weren't caught
in the act on the day!!

Don't get me wrong; there's nothing I love more than a snaking empty
road - I know all about these, literally goes with the territory here in
South Wales!!

Andrew

This post has been edited by Andmcit on March 25, 2008 11:38 pm

Hi Andrew,

I see what you're saying and appreciate you sharing your own experiences in an effort to prevent others from falling foul of the same problem. Can I just say though that I too value my licence, and have no desire to drive like a maniac on a normal road or in a way which may endanger others. The road in question in the video, is closed because the top end of it leads to a field, site of a building development which has not yet begun. I was only aware of if because a friend works for the building company.
Rest assured, I'm aware that there’s a time and place for this kind of thing and don't wish to be seen to be encouraging reckless driving on public roads, as that's not what I'm into at all, I just enjoy driving my cars enthusiastically, as with Paul.

To be honest it was probably ill advised, and has set a bad precedent, so I'll remove the video if anyone feels its causing a problem.

Ciarán

Don't beat yourself up Ciarán. Everything's fine as it is!!

I felt it was just worth being the voice of concience and reason as a counterbalance
to the enthusiasm being shown for 'spirited driving' by Paul. In truth, I still tend to
drive too fast and I think I've been spoiled as I've been driving long enough before
GATSO's to get the buzz out of hooning about the fabulous roads/countryside around
me. The car's I drive aren't the kind of things where you've got full blooded sportscar
performance and that's probably just as well - I prefer my luxury and comforts.

This is the reason I've never succumbed to the draw of motorcycles, as much as I
love them. Don't think I'd last weeks, let alone months or years.

Paul, you very clearly know the road you mention very well and that's a good thing,
but also a bad thing as you could just get a tad cocky the one time when some tractor
mud/black ice/spilled diesel or suicidal sheep or deer decides to make an appearance!

I've seen the aftermath mess a stray sheep/horse and cow makes to fast moving cars...

Take it easy, I really mean it.

Andrew

This post has been edited by Andmcit on March 26, 2008 02:39 am

Hi Andrew,

Fair enough, sound, valuable advice, and definately something to bear in mind during those times when its easy to get carried away.

Like yourself, my idea of cars is luxury, and while the XMs etc have reasonable enough performance, I too have never owned anything sportscar like, or a proper bike, which is just as well I think

I think most of us here like to have fun in our cars, but expecting the unexpected never hurts

Cheers

Ciarán

Hi all,

"Speed kills" - No it doesn't, it's the sudden stopping that kills.

The annoying thing about the national speed limit of 70mph is that it was introduced by that red witch Barbara Castle in 1967 when 70 was close to the maximum speed of most cars. There was also only one short stretch of motorway in the whole country if I remember correctly (first part of M1).

40 years later, with 40 years worth of car and road improvements, it's ridiculous IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCES. There are other circumstances, like for instance outside a primay school when kiddies are dashing about, when 10mph is too fast.

This is the crux of the matter, to always regulate your speed according to the conditions. But governments have always taken a blanket approach to any problem and they don't trust the hoi poloi - their employers - to behave responsibly. Maybe they are right in some cases, but the idiot who speeds in the wrong conditions is also the idiot who will overtake when approaching a blind bend and you just can't legislate for all circumstances.

As for me, I've been driving motor bikes for 57 years, and cars for 56. My last insurance claim was 23 years ago when somebody overtaking in thick fog hit someone coming the other way doing the same thing and bounced off him into my car. I have never made a claim against my own insurance. I admit to a terrible driving history: Fined 7 shillings and sixpence in 1953 for riding a motor bike without lights, caught (instant fine) twice by German Polizei exceeding the speed limit in town (but Officer, I was doing less than 50mph. Ach! 50 kilometers per hour you say?) and three penalty points in 1999 for doing 48mph in town - but it was on a wide, deserted, well lit road at 1.40am on a Sunday morning. Like I said, it's all down to conditions at the time.

Rant over.

Derek

This post has been edited by DerekW on March 26, 2008 07:41 pm

Hi Derek

Nice to see someone else with a bit of common sense!
unfortunately our government seems to have banned it
I have always said speed is never the issue, its driving skill/ concentration and knowing when and where to have a little thrash and when to be careful, and yes schools should have a 10mph limit in term time and in my opinion 70 on the motorway is silly, Ive come back from Scotland before in the early hours doing triple figures, but there is no one on the road, yet during the day when its foggy and raining 70 can be too fast!

Dean

Talking of 'nice' roads. This last week I went over the Pennines to Manchester via the Snake Pass (A57). It's a lovely road with some very sharp bends and long sweeping climbs and descents. On the way back I came via a different route using the A623 which was very exciting in the dark with standard headlights. I'm not sure the wife found it fun though.

Steve.

One advantage of getting older (you beat me by five years Derek!) is that you don't want to drive so fast (well, not all the time anyway). I have my moments but mostly drive within the limit and gently. This may seem boring to the younger ones among you but it does have definite advantages: Firstly much better fuel consumption, 50 mpg+ regularly on a reasonably long journey. Secondly reduced wear of practically everything, front tyres 30k miles +, brake pads similar. I also find that on a long journey "going with the flow" is much less tiring than trying to get ahead all the time, it's also better for your blood pressure!

Not so many years ago I used to do Leeds and back in a day, around 600 miles, I wouldn't like to try it now, theres no guarantee you would make it! I think Derek and I lived in the golden days of motoring, no speed limits, no tyre laws, you drove until the canvas showed through, just as well as we couldn't afford tyres. With petrol at 5/- a gallon my wages of £5.00 would only buy 20 gallons, it's actually cheaper now!

I had better stop this before you get the violins out.

Peter.N.

Not at all Peter. Sometimes, if I have nowhere to be (rarely, these days! ), then I like nothing more than a nice long relaxing drive, just cruising along at a laid back speed (which you know XMs are great at). I find it quite theraputic actually.

On the flip side, sometimes I do find it quite exhilirating to push on a bit, depends on the mood really, but I get a buzz from flying round the twisties, or blasting down a desserted motorway late at night, all depends on whats going on I guess.

There are definate advantages to driving slower, as you mentioned, the blood pressure issue being one of them! These days I seem to have very little time and always seem to be going somewhere, I suppose I'd do well to try and relax and sit back a little:)

Ciarán

Hi Ciaran

I did my fair share of 'boy racing' when I was young, but as has already been mentioned the cars were nothing like as fast, even the big 6 cylinders like the Cresta and Zyphyr were only good for about 80 mph, most basic diesels will do 100+ now. The roads were nothing like as congested either, you still had traffic jams especially on the coast roads at the weekend, but nothing like the jams we get now.

To have a car at all, especially as a teenager was the exeption rather than the rule, it was mostly only teenage TV engineers that had them Driving was an altogether nicer experience than now, although you broke down a lot.

I'm off again....

Peter.N.