Most memorable drives

Pete M · 2007-11-05T02:23:25+00:00

All these threads about who's got the best car have got me wondering what are the most memorable drives folk in here have had?Don't have to be /good/ cars, just the most memorable drive/s, for whatever reason/s.The cars amd drives that stick in my mind are the following;'96 911 Turbo - from Stuttgart to Blackpool, brand new 911 that a friend asked me to collect on his behalf. That was one stunning machine, probably my favourite drive of all time, and I didn't have to pay for the fuel.'85 Metro 1.3 HLS. Liverpool to Great Yarmouth my first motor trade job. Red 5 door Metro. Went to pick up a Rover 216. Metro had to be thrashed mercilessly (it's tradition, innit) all the way, but the things that I remember most were the ridiculous amount of time it took to get there (pre-A14) and that if I put my right arm out of the window at 80ish I could just about reach the aerial to pull it back up. It'd get a wobble on and then the aerial would slowly retract... again.'66 Dodge Dart. huge Keith Black hemi V8, 850 bhp, drum brakes all round, 2cv tyres on the front 15x15" Mickey Thomspon crossplys on the back, in the rain, on the A58. Violence is the only word to describe that thing accelerating, but the brakes were appalling enough to make sure I only did it once. (or twice...)'85 Fiat Strada Abarth 130TC across Denbigh moors in a thunderstorm "making progress" in convoy with a mate who had a 205 GTi 1.9. Two more evenly matched cars couldn't be found that night. Strada induction noise was painfully loud but it was the better car to drive in the situation. The Pug was a handful where the Strada was more predictable'89 Volvo 760 GLE - Newmarket to Warrington in a very worryingly short amount of time. Volvo handled it far better than I'd have ever imagined.'73 Jensen Interceptor convertible / '84 911 Carrera 3.2 - Collecting these two from the auction. Blinding fun on the cat'n'fiddle, would have been better if the Interceptor hadn't broken down - 6 times in 60 miles.

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SteveH 18 years ago

F*ck knows.

I seem to have a memorable drive every couple of weeks - usually because I've timed it just right to get a clear run at a really good road - of which there are many around here.

I've had a fair few really good runs at the Abergavenny mountain road and keep meaning to get up early one Saturday morning to take the 75 over there.

Had a fairly memorable run along the A44 from Aberystwyth to the A470 last week - memorable because I managed to pass several cars and trucks on the inside of right hand bends just by using good road positioning to get excellent visibility.

Also had a run over the Epynt mountain early one Sunday morning, early in the spring, with Katie. Memorable 'cos the 75 had a leaky exhaust, so was popping and banging on the over-run and sounded very loud, but also because it was almost deserted, so I could use the whole road to make progress. Could only have been improved if I'd been alone allowing me to push a bit harder.

Year before last I had a fairly decent run from here to Manchester - I'd only just bought the B5 at the time and made it door to door at an average of over 70mph.

Sunday morning runs from here to work in Hereford were always fun - no traffic, great road from Abergavenny to Hereford and I've done it in several different cars - from the Primera (long term record holder) through a 155 (never quite as quick), the 156 (didn't push too hard, 'cos it's Katie's daily driver) and the Passat - which made me sweat trying to hussle it along quicker than a Primera on teflon cheapies.

Althoug, they're all minor events compared with the few times I took an Iceland home delivery van out and drove it like I stole it :D

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Tom De Moor 18 years ago

That depends on what you want, what your skills and mentality are, if you can work in a team or if you can work alone, if you have the capacity to learn and to like learning all the time. How you work and if you work as if the work was for yourselve.

If what you do, can be invoiced for 6 hours (@ 50 Eur+ VAT) a day and that every day with a happy customer, then I will give you a job.

Actually we have 2 vacancies for technicians.

Our job is based on three cornerstones: a job well done, a happy customer and a paid invoice. Should I add that the last bit is for me the most important? ;-)

Send in your application, Douglas!

Tom De Moor

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Carl Gibbs 18 years ago

Epynt is great. I've marshalled the WRC stage there, which also meant I 'had' to drive the whole stage. Can't remember which car it was, possibly the black 360 GLT, but I remember it being huge fun. All the stages were in fact, especially when you came in on them late at night, so you could set up camp, get a few hours kip and then be up for the stage becoming live at stupid o'clock in the morning.

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Tim S Kemp 18 years ago

They were quantum, not seagate.

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Abo 18 years ago

Hah I remember mine; passed my test in 1989 when I was 17 and was given the keys to my uncle's Renault 25. So first time out I decided to see how fast it would go, and I saw an indicated 120 on the dual carriageway...

Funniest driving 'first' for me was after I got my mk2 Escort (my first car...) shortly after, and took it out in the wet for the first time. It was also the first RWD car I'd driven (you can see where this is going)...

So, I pulled into a side road near the supermarket I worked at the time, floored it a bit and of course the back end stepped out. So, inexperience took over and I mashed what I thought was the brake, but ended up hitting the throttle more. The car spun through 270 degrees and in the process mounted the pavement. I ended up in some guy's garden pointing back out toward the road I'd just left... So of course I made a quick exit.

Wasn't long after that though, that every roundabout, entrance into carparks etc. etc. was taken sideways though.

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Tim.. 18 years ago

Oh now this is a good run- better than going in the other direction strangely...!

18mins in a chipped 850 T5 at a fairly ~brisk~ pace!

Tim..

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Abo 18 years ago

Absolutely! The guy I work for, his car is covered with sponsorship. Part of that is dedicated to series sponsors, so every car has these (NASCAR style, below the A pillar) but it means no entry fees which is nice. No prize money though...

The rest is advertising his own and the crew chief's business...

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Abo 18 years ago

Hah I had one of those, when 6GB was huge

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