Ok guys here is one for you , as an organizer of Rally events and a vinatge roadracer I have cause to post on many sites. Today on one of the Subaru sites was a post by a 17 yr old who just totaled his WRX trying too hang a corner late at night. Am I just getting old (40) or are young guys more concerned with a cool looking car and never bother to figure out the basics of driving.
Now let it be said that I drove/rode like an idiot; 85 MPH down gravel roads in moms Pinto , hanging on ramps in the rain. Also there was the lovely riding technique on my RD350 of sliding into corners using the pipes to unload the rear tire just enough to dirt track her in then just about the time the thing tried to high side I'd wack the throttle wide open and snap the bike upright. I once ran the 1200 I race now across a narrow curved bridge about 90 mph in the rain.
It just seems like these guys aren't interested in learning car control , those of us on the sites that do race constantly recommend track days but seemingly to no avail.
When I raced bikes we refered to these types as Zooty Boys - I.E. a fast bike makes you fast.
This site is a perfect example I've yet to read any posts about folks totaling there 1200 on the open road , plenty of you admit to driving briskly.
So is it we all learned to drive the 68 hp wonders and they kept us out of trouble or maybe it's the fact that the street racer type would never be seen in a 1200? (their loss)
Tom Grossmann

PS ok I've vented now

You are right. You have to know your own limits when driving.

I think if you want to drive fast, powerful cars, you have to start on 68hp monsters and work your way up. No 17 year old should be allowed in a WRX

That's the way it is these days. Mummy and Daddy buy them whatever they want or the bank gives them the money and they go buy the most poowerful car they can find. I just talked a guy at work out of buying a 12sec skyline the other day as he has never driven a fast car or knows how to drive properly anyway. I told him he would kill himself in no time.

As for me, I have cut my teeth on underpowered cars and kept up with guys who have spent big bucks on fast cars because they lack the skills. Now I am building a fast car. I know my limits.

Craig

Yes, that's it: 17 years old and an expensive WRX. Probably in your day 17 year olds didn't often get such powerful cars, or if they did they had to save for years to buy one with their own money and so treated it carefully.

When I was 19 years old I asked the local Corvette guy if he'd let me drive his car. He said I wouldn't be able to drive it without wrecking it ... but at 19 I didn't understand that. Years later, I loaned my 5-liter Mustang to an 18-year old friend (after he begged and begged ...) and sure enough, he wrecked it that very night. He told me "I was getting comfortable with the car and thought I'd show off just once". That's all it takes.

The 1200 is a great car to learn in. You can drive it like a maniac, and learn how it works, how it handles, what its limits are, all without breaking any speed limits. It feels fast and is fun to drive but is actually very slow in stock condition ... the 1200 has saved many lives no doubt

Dead right, My first car was a 6 cyl fairlane, it was a ####fihgter but I loved it.
I would take it out the dirt roads and drift(for want of a better word) it around corners for ages, not fast just slide it round, and I firmly believe that gave me a better control of handling a car, and it was fun then too.

Right on.

I have the slowest car of friends group, well, 75hp/700kg is enough for some big smile slides but wont won any races (no races here), but when it's kart day, we find out out who had the better schooll.
I have a good idea how a car handles when pushed to it's limits and beyond, how to commit my self to driving and how to keep some momentum trough the conners. As every one I've been beateen several times... the guy has a datsun 1200 and mazda mx-5 to practice on.
And what about mechanics scholl... better stop bragging

daniel

yep that is a true statement... but i think no driver no matter how experinced they are, can handle stupidity!!!

alot of these young kids crash from stupidity like showing off and trying to be cool, in the end it aint worth risking your life and car!!!

my mate (19) just got his first car, VN commodore 4 weeks ago and just crashed it!!! going 90km through a small residental roundabout after about 10 beers and showing off to the chick in the car, he hit a wet patch hit the cerb broke driveshaft, gearbox, diff, cracked two mags and ripped exhaust off.... how stupid can ya get (some people have to learn the hard way )

i think "maturity" must come with "experience "to make a successful driver



doing abit of hooning is ok but right time, right place and nuthing over the top

Thats my 2cents

Ok here is my beef, I will try not to get side tracked and whinge, but I probablly will :)

There are things that #### me to tears. One is these rich parents giving hand outs to kids. Buying them BMW's or hi-performance machines that the dicks cant even handle. I was brought up to work for what I wanted. I built my Datto with all the money I earned and then to have some prick write it off (and its not your fault) is heart breaking. I see P platers driving Commos and #### like that and it kills me. I first learnt to drive a 6cyl Ford ute. The Datto was my first car when on my P's. Now I dont consider the stock power neck braking but it was enough to teach me some basics on how to drive. Sure I slightly crashed it the first night I had my P's. So what? It was at 10PM in the middle of no where, no one to hurt! I span out a few times in the wet, also in places that gets #### all traffic ie. back roads in the bush.

I now have my XB ute with the XR6 motor. This thing whoops VT/VX Commo's, Mits. Magna's, 5ltr Commos, yadda yadda, but it has also taught me other areas of how to drive. Power slides, handling/race line at furken rediculos speeds, etc. Things you cant learn in a lesser powered car. You speak to any rally driver and they recommend you learn to drive a slow car fast (ie. get the line/ the feel/ and know what the car is gonna do) before you hit a big power monster. We all agree that driving a powerfull car with no skills it stupid hey, unfortunatly there are retards that get that oppertunity, like that Soarer that plowed into that house. Car was filled with teenagers being dickheads!

Another thing that ####s me is STREET RACING. I will admit that Im all up for a street drag. On the highway, a set of lights etc. Everyone has a bit of traffic light heroism. But you dont do it in build up areas or when there are people about! There are some furken dicks out there that drive like morons all the time, no matter what the circumstances/conditions. I will race my mates on some back roads that no one drives on for the fun of it, but we dont cut across the lines unless you can see ahead blah blah.

Another thing I will put my hand up for, and that is ... that I am NOT the best driver ever. I dont consider myself to be a hero. I am not Colin McRae or Craig Lowndes. I drive with the attitude that I am always learning. I can now predict the way my ute will react when I go hard, but I am not 100% cause there are too many variables. BUT one thing I must state is LIMITS. You know how you find your limit? You crash! You have gone too far if you go off the road. You can slowly build up your skills and get faster and faster. But it is not until you push too far and come off that you realise where you are at. Then you try and go that fast but not crash and so further your limit. Or you can jump in head strong and crash first time out, you will learn the limit and also how expensive repairs are. I am all for keeping it on the track and I am trying to get it out of my system there in a controlled environment, thats why I bought the rally car!

Well Im gonna shut the #### up now. Last words are that I am pleased to see how level headed the people on this forum are. I have been on many other forums that are basically brag sessions, also ones that wont let you tell stories of what you have been up to. Both have good and bad. But on this site we are not a bunch of heros. We dont brag, we have a laugh/sob over our experiences (good or bad) and encourage sensible driving. We dont silence people or their oppinions.

Keep it safe,

Simon

A good work mate of mine, for years saved up every penny he earnt, busted his chops to keep every dollar. He used to joke around at my datto, all in fun.
Two weeks b4 he turned 18 he went out and bought a new V6 VX commodore( his parents wouldnt let him have a V8) he paid cash for it that he earnt, hard
and then went and got a stero fitted and a new set of momo 17" wheels
He was the envy of all his mates
He then got his licence and life was great for him............
ten days after he got his licence on a saturday night I went round to visit him and his parents were home but no one would answer the door......
when I got home my flat mate told me there had been an accident.
Turns out he was going very quick and over took a nother car, his car skidded lost control bounced off a bridge and slamed into a tree bursting into flames.
The four other young people managed to get out but he was burned and died.......

He was a sensible kid and peer pressure I guess just got the better of him like it does to all of us at times, he was just unluckey to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time
It does make me think twice now when my mates are down the street and I am about to launch the datto past them.
Now every chance I get I go to a race track
I dont care how un finished my #### heap is I have fun.
its just a pitty jase couldnt be here to share the fun with us..............

i'm gonna whinge from the other point of view

i am trying to build my race car, it costs a bloody lot of money and time

i hoon it on the street cause when i race i want to know how my car will act/drive

i believe racing should be done in races

but the one thing i dont like is that, i go off and build my race car, regulations state to race you require a long list of modifications (mainly for safety) but then you also need a long list of modifications to be competitive

so point being one body "CAMS" namely says you must do this

then the cops say race on the track not on the street

but then the cops see these modifications which CAMS tells you you have to have to do the race the cops told you to do

and then the cops pull you over on the road and think "oh look its a race car", im really gonna fvck him over

bah

edit --- i just looked back over and realised what i said wasn't entirely relevant, but i got that off my chest anyway so i'm happy



where area are you in rallytwit???