Having a little fun

[Nigel]

After the last gear change it takes you quarter of a minute to gain just 35 mph, that is terrible acceleration, how can it be fun?!

Fun can be had at low speed, no need to risk a tire blowout followed by a head on collision with the other lane at a closing speed of 200mph+ and certain death. There wasn't even a barrier between the two directions!

 

[Gibson99]

Fun can be had at low speed

i'll second that... i've had LOADS of fun without even leaving second gear, no matter what i was driving. and as an instructor (and friends) i got to drive a lot of different stuff, ranging from an elise on race tires, fully built trailer queen c4 vette and 80s foxbody mustang, twin turbo delorean, big single turbo nsx, loads of stock and modified s2000s and miatas, a few STIs and Evos, mini coopers (original and new), but also boring cars like civics and corollas... all can be fun in the right environment.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0JcO8G4132QMRZlC1XQdzoipCmZFOyfW - my autocross videos


HEADPHONES WARNING on this video:

 

[Rajagra]

I only went really fast once on a motorbike. Didn't take long for me to realise it wasn't much fun and if something happened I'd have no chance of surviving. Add to that that my bike was TOO stable, and our motorways aren't so straight at those speeds. It was hard work staying on the line I wanted. Hard work, no fun, no thanks.

Any pleasure gained from looking at the number on the dial, I got out of my system that one time. But each to his own if it doesn't affect others.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[Gibson99]

perhaps my favorite aspect of the video above is that the event was held at the Houston Police Academy. so we got to drive at (and beyond) the limits right in front of a bunch of cops. the Houston region SCCA holds events there regularly , and usually at the end of the day, one of the cops would take a cruiser out on course. i was most impressed by an officer running a slalom IN REVERSE - bouncing off the rev-limiter the entire time. not only did he have a neat, tight line through the slalom, he kept the car stable the whole time. at the end of the slalom he flipped the car around, slammed it into drive and kept going at speed to complete the rest of the course.

but that's what they do there - they teach/learn car control and all sorts of maneuvers, both on and off road. most of the tire tracks in the grass were NOT put there by racers.

 

[Nigel]

i'll second that... i've had LOADS of fun without even leaving second gear, no matter what i was driving. and as an instructor (and friends) i got to drive a lot of different stuff, ranging from an elise on race tires, fully built trailer queen c4 vette and 80s foxbody mustang, twin turbo delorean, big single turbo nsx, loads of stock and modified s2000s and miatas, a few STIs and Evos, mini coopers (original and new), but also boring cars like civics and corollas... all can be fun in the right environment.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0JcO8G4132QMRZlC1XQdzoipCmZFOyfW - my autocross videos


HEADPHONES WARNING on this video:

Poor Gitup Git1, it's microphone couldn't cope with the noise!

If you want fun at low speed, you can do better than that, try a Caterham (Lotus) 7, then you only need 1st gear:

 

[Gibson99]

Poor Gitup Git1, it's microphone couldn't cope with the noise!

If you want fun at low speed, you can do better than that, try a Caterham (Lotus) 7, then you only need 1st gear:

yeah i think that video may have been what convinced gitup to look into making the microphone level adjustable. the car really wasn't that loud, i guess it was just teh cheap (and shaky) suction mount transmitted a lot of vibration directly to the chassis of the camera, and it was just the right frequency to really resonate the mic. after i finished, and was cruising off course somewhere around 3000rpm, the annoying buzz was almost completely gone.

there were some 7 replicas at most of our events. one blue one had a custom license plate that said "K 2 RUM". another had an S2000 drivetrain, which was hilarious as the huge red valve cover was sticking up through the hood!

first gear only? i have to disagree with you - seems reverse gear was featured quite prominently! and loads of handbrake to boot. which is no small feat when you're sitting on the rear axle - the moment of rotation feels completely different than most other cars where you're seated ahead of the rear axle. if you're not used to it, you'll be backwards before you realize you're spinning.

as for usage of forward gears, it depends on the club you race with and the size of the lot you have to work with. i've run courses where i was teasing the limiter in 3rd in my old miata, and i've done some entirely in first as well, like the one below. very twitchy and nervous-feeling, but still fun. just too short when you're used to having 50-80 second courses.

that was recorded with an early digital camcorder, which was about the size and shape of a huge smartphone today - used 2x AA batteries, full size SD card, and had a flip-out USB connector to plug directly into the PC for data xfer. i picked it up from the clearance bin for about $18 when CompUSA or one of those stores was going out of business. it only did vga resolution, but the size was much more convenient than the "full size" Digital8 camcorder i had been using.

 

[Nigel]

first gear only? i have to disagree with you - seems reverse gear was featured quite prominently! and loads of handbrake to boot. which is no small feat when you're sitting on the rear axle - the moment of rotation feels completely different than most other cars where you're seated ahead of the rear axle. if you're not used to it, you'll be backwards before you realize you're spinning.

I wasn't sure if he was actually taking it out of 1st to put it into reverse or if reverse was a separate selection?

I know my gearbox wont go into reverse at that speed however hard I try, although maybe he was spinning the car and then putting it into reverse as the wheels came up to speed backwards using the car's momentum...

 

[old4570]

161 mph = Whats that worth ?

 

[Gibson99]

161 mph = Whats that worth ?

Instant jail, felony record, car impounded, who knows what else.

 

[SawMaster]

There's lots of lower-speed fun in Rallying yet it isn't very popular here in the US As I gained experience motorcycling it became apparent to me that any serious crash above about 50MPH wasn't likely survivable, and that there were worse things than dying which could happen to me I began looking around more thinking "what if?" about trees, guard rails, signposts, telephone poles and the like. Man, stuff like that is everywhere and you're as likely to hit is as you are to clear it if you leave the roadway. Especially trees which with this area being heavily forested is probably my most likely problem. Modern freeways are designed to be relatively safe for their planned speeds should you leave the pavement but almost no other roads are Exceed their design speed and that freeway safety dissipates. Really folks, roads are not for racing

While there are some roads where high speeds can be attained with relative safety almost everywhere, that only lasts when nothing goes wrong, and a lot of what can go wrong is beyond your control, possibly even involving others. If you want to risk death or worse, be my guest- it's not my butt on the line. It's when an innocent party can be hurt that this changes completely Yeah, I used to fly without wings and Ive seen the top of 140MPH many times on public roads, but that has ended for me. I don't want anyone endangering me. so to avoid hypocrisy I must do likewise for all others. If you want to race around then do that on a track, not the roads, OK? The life you save might just be mine and somehow that matters quite a lot to me

Phil

 

[Gibson99]

I wasn't sure if he was actually taking it out of 1st to put it into reverse or if reverse was a separate selection?

I know my gearbox wont go into reverse at that speed however hard I try, although maybe he was spinning the car and then putting it into reverse as the wheels came up to speed backwards using the car's momentum...

I've never tried going from 1st to reverse while moving more than maybe 1-2mph before, but I have gone the other way - reverse to first in a J turn. I was surprised how easy it is.

Late edit: Also... How do you select reverse WITHOUT taking it out of first (or any other gear)?

 

[Module 79L]

I only went really fast once on a motorbike. Didn't take long for me to realise it wasn't much fun and if something happened I'd have no chance of surviving. Add to that that my bike was TOO stable, and our motorways aren't so straight at those speeds. It was hard work staying on the line I wanted. Hard work, no fun, no thanks.

Any pleasure gained from looking at the number on the dial, I got out of my system that one time. But each to his own if it doesn't affect others.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

Fun 1: having a bike with 177hp and a dry weight of 171kg~377lbs (I removed a few things ) of course at some point I had to "test" her limit. She reaches the "Gentlemen's Agreement" limit of 299km/h~186mph on the speedometer at around 12.500rpm, keeps pushing all the way to the redline at 14.000rpm and gets there very fast, therefore there's no need for long straights. I did it 3 times and ONLY on motorways with little to no traffic (it's very easy to find one of these here in Portugal), exactly to avoid any unpleasant surprises. I've never stayed at that speed for long, just get there and roll off the throttle, which at that speed feels like what it must feel like when the pilot releases the parachute in a dragster. There's hardly any need to brake.

Fun 2: this bike also came out with the reputation of being able to do 164km/h~102mph in 1st gear, so I had to try it. I can confirm it does 168km/h~104mph well into the redline but before the engine management starts cutting off. I only did it once, for obvious mechanical health reasons, and also on an empty motorway.

But those are only straight line fun, which isn't really that fun. Like you said, you feel the acomplishment but it wears off very quickly. Real fun is riding fast in slow roads. That's where I get the biggest kick out of riding a superbike. I can ride the twisties all day, going from corner to corner at speeds that normally average around 70km/h~43mph and hardly ever go over 100-110km/h~62-68mph. Those memories stay with you for the rest of your life and leaves you wanting more.

 

[Dashmellow]

Watching this video things looked familiar to me and I suddenly realized that I've traveled that stretch of road many times as it's not all that far from where I live in VT. From my experience you really don't want to mess with the state cops down that way, especially if they catch you doing speeds like that, so I tip my hat at your cojones!

 

[Nigel]

I've never tried going from 1st to reverse while moving more than maybe 1-2mph before, but I have gone the other way - reverse to first in a J turn. I was surprised how easy it is.

Late edit: Also... How do you select reverse WITHOUT taking it out of first (or any other gear)?

1st to reverse or reverse to 1st on mine require stopping since there is no synchromesh on either gear. Could go from reverse to 2nd with careful timing, but not the other way.

I was thinking of something like this for his reverse: http://www.novaracing.co.uk/ProductHondaReversingGearbox.html
Not sure I like the idea of 103mph in reverse!

 

[Gibson99]

wish they had more details on how that worked. sounds interesting, from a technical standpoint... but it's a rather niche product (which they even admit on that page). in the autocross racing i used to do, many clubs automatically score your run as DNF (Did Not Finish) if you use reverse at all, just as if you'd missed a slalom cone or gate. SCCA doesn't, but generally if you actually need reverse, that wasn't going to be your best run anyway. the rulebook says all courses must be designed to be run using forward gears only. and that's partly because some classes (ie snowmobile-derived drivetrains) don't have reverse gear.

that said, i have finished in reverse before... i spun out something like 1 car-length before the finish and the next car was a much faster one, catching up quick. so it was quicker and safer to slam it in reverse and drive backwards as fast as i could for a few seconds to properly exit the course than to try doing a 3 point turn or just popping the clutch (rwd) to spin the back end around and go the right way.

oh yeah i nearly forgot... the course workers/judges out there would give our insurance and safety people conniption fits being that close to cars moving at speed on course. again, our rulebooks specify a minimum distance between course workers and cars. course designers have to take into consideration when placing corner worker stations, so that if a car DID spin out or otherwise go off course, that the car's momentum would (usually) carry it away from a corner station, just in case a corner worker is looking in a different direction (which is often since we run more than one car at a time).

 

[Rajagra]

of course at some point I had to "test" her limit.

Pretty much what I did when I got my first BIG bike, hence the one time I went fast.
Mine 'only' goes up to 60mph in first gear and the UK has (had?) a gentleman's agreement of limiting bikes to 125HP, but that was never tested, so....
That's enough to have a lot of fun around town and leave just about everything standing.
I used that acceleration to avoid conflict, and it worked well. That's why I get SO hacked off at idiot bikers on mopeds who think they have some superiority and think they have a right to queue jump and cut people up then slow them down.

 

[Nigel]

wish they had more details on how that worked.

Not sure that one is designed for changing while moving:

This one looks better:

https://shop.quaife.co.uk/quaife-reversing-box

But this looks far more likely to be what he had:

"The Quaife PowerTec reversing differential uses dog engagement for forward drive, and synchromesh engagement for reverse drive."

https://shop.quaife.co.uk/quaife-powertec-reversing-differential

 

[Com69]

I forgot I even posted this, damn life keeps interfering with my online time.

After the last gear change it takes you quarter of a minute to gain just 35 mph, that is terrible acceleration, how can it be fun?!

Fun can be had at low speed, no need to risk a tire blowout followed by a head on collision with the other lane at a closing speed of 200mph+ and certain death. There wasn't even a barrier between the two directions!

I agree, fun can be had at low speeds, we just happened to have fun at higher speeds that day. The road was clear, we both know what we're doing so we had a little fun. Neither of us was going all out, I actually prefer to keep him in front of me when we go on our drive/rides. The car has plenty more acceleration, I just didn't feel the need to use it. At those speeds, he's not looking down to see how fast he's accelerating, thought he might appreciate it if I kept pace, so he'd have an idea of what else he might need/want to tweak on his bike. Also, if he goes down, I don't wanna be so close that I run his dumb ass over. I love the lunatic.

Anyway, I just liked the clip, figured others might too. Also liked how well the dash cam kept up with the speed, a little choppy, but respectable all the same. SG9665GC, can't remember if that was the v2 or the v3 though.