Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Sold my mk1 cab for £650 when I had my licence revoked for smoking herbs in bavaria. Did mates rates to a friend under the agreement he would sell it back once I'd got the dvla stuff sorted out. He drove it to Portugal and I've not seen him since #csb

Yes, that is it.

Sitting on the tank of a Honda 400/4 going up and down the road felt like breaking the sound barrier.

Not as if you can just stamp/pull on the brakes on a bike there is finesse.

Oil head, air head or other ;)

Then I fancy a tadpole trike with the heads in the airflow sticking out either side at the front.

Depends who is driving....slot depends on who is driving. Remember one of the tg lot (Hammond?) Could not drive the car fast enough to get the down draught to stick to the road.

Sort of agree with you.

Vespas are great. But then I am bias. Quite like a souped up ciao or si.

Think it was tyre temp as far as I recall, it was also in the UK in Feb, professional F1 drivers had the same struggles racing in Germany in 2020 (November I think!)

Yeah, I remember looking at Dutton Phaetons (complete) for like £1k as a potential first car. They're pretty shite, but still, relatively light (650kg or so) and pretty easy to work on. But yeah, close to bottom of the pile in terms of quality

Supermotos are incredibly forgiving of big lean like that, even on public roads. They are absolutely awesome fun but desperately impractical, from both a comfort and reliability perspective.

There's no real difference in weight between 600s and 1000 sportsbikes post 2005 - There's a BIG difference in power. 2nd / 3rd gear WOT on a 1000 to the redline is still 'holy shit' levels of acceleration for me and I've ridden the buggers for years.

Modern sportsbikes don't have to be uncomfortable - I toured all over Europe on a GSXR thou and enjoyed every minute of it. Any Japanese street bike is going to be metronomically reliable. Can't really speak for modern triumphs or Italian / German stuff but they're probably fine too.

Dammit, you like to go fast - have a superbike for a bit, it's entirely worth it for the experience.

Didnt remember the time of year.

Was the car running F1 tyres or just tyres to the conditions as damaging the car could be expensive.

Some of the weld it yourself kits showed that people really are bad at welding.

But if the frame came from the manufacturer were they that bad?

Do you get a lot of snow and ice accompanied by the residual salt on the roads? Not safe to press too hard turning at any roundabout near me - damp is probably worse than wet - when it’s wet you take account, patchy damp greasy roads do not make for much fun.

Super moto on wet tyres.

Shellgrip is the answer for all these issues 😁 IOM have extensive patches of it.
Downside is tyre wear but who cares about that 😂😂😂

Can't remember to be honest, and I can't even remember if it was an F1 car, I remember a Formula Renault being involved. Fairly sure they cold slicks, but can't remember much else!

Think they were kind of the equivalent of Halfords MTBs, very heavy for what they were and looked like cheap shite.

Thought shell grip was a really bad idea.

Found it on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo

Renault gave him a few race cars before the F1 car.

Tim Dutton will sue for comments like that ;)

Let's be honest though, they're a world away from Caterhams and Westfields!

Yep.

Quite fancy an original 7 with the side valve engine. Must have been amazing at the time.

Any particular reason why? Apart from the obvious tyre wear.

I did before I moved here!

Anyways, aren't we trying to get Dammit on a bike? For when you want to go 'strapped to a scud missile fast,' litre sportsbike, accept no substitute. Maybe get a more recent one with all the traction / wheelie control and cornering ABS and doodahs. I'm a bit ODB when it comes to that but the tech is outrageously effective.

@mmccarthy - I'd love a Caterham or Westfield thing. I know bugger all about driving cars fast but the couple of passenger outings I've had in them, they're just so much fun to be in.

From memory: Shellgrip is the generic term for that sort of road surface covering. But that stuff is expensive to buy, expensive to lay properly, usually not laid properly and doesn't last as long. See where there are truck and the stuff gets worn. So from high grip, as the surface wears and detritus builds up the surface becomes smooth. Usually can see the worn bits where tyres tracks have been.

The worst was the tar and then stone chip covering that is dangerous and no longer used on roads with speed limits above 30mph.

Shellgrip I believe was a product. Presumably Shel. It did wear as you say but pre-wearing it was incredible. Other versions are available with similar grip. Rare to see long stretches of it here. IOM has loads of it.

I totally agree about the shit tar and stones. We still have that here. Another means to wreck you!