After the narrow minded views of some of the people on here and the constant arguing (and absolute complete and utter rubbish) of a good few that say, "We don't boot our cars on the open road....blah blah blah....save it for a track...yackaty yack yack...." I was invited to go on an RX-7 cruise over the weekend......

I woke up, the weather was gorgeous, so I cleaned the car, checked the oil and tyre pressures and rolled out.......
I arrived at the meeting point a few mins late so I could make my entrance and I was pleased to see that I was the only Subaru owner there.....so after a bit of friendly banter...."Subaru go home!!" I climbed out and started talking to the vast group of members standing by their heavily modded pride and joys....and they were heavily modded..........we're talking about 400break at the wheels and they were the slowest ones!!!
Now these owners were mostly of my age group and the rest were knocking on the 45 and over..........but with that tuners glint in their eyes...

So I was also glad to see a lovely EVO VI, it's owner walk up to me grinning and saying "Thank **** another AWD turned up, now it get's interesting"
And interesting it was.......

So there's 20+ 400+bhp RX-7's with race ports and the like all leaving in convoy with the EVO and myself sitting slap bang in the middle lapping up the attention we bring because we stand out and are proud of it....

We pull out of the pub and after seeing the older croud thought to myself....."oh great, this is going to prove the moaners and groaners on SN right and no spirited action is heading my way"....How wrong could I be....
The first old boy nails it, back out, smoke everywhere and stopping traffic........before I get time to let my ear to ear grin take effect, there goes another and another and another till all I can see and hear is tail lights, smoke, turbos whistling and external waste-gates screaming.....to which I reply and we're off......flying along, slowing for camera's and going again....

This goes on for what feels like hours with a shaky left leg and a heart thats about to explode out of my chest but still preceded with a grin of true bliss knowing this is what it's all about.....No silly manouvers, but spirited driving with people that enjoy their cars and use them for the reason they bought them...

We pull up about an hour later to take pics and have a well deserved breather....and it's then that I decided to ask the question....

"Do you, at any point, boot your car on the road and not just on the track......?" knowing the answer but needing the mass clarification...and the reply I got? plainly and simply....
"Why else do you buy a performance car?"
So I started to think......is it just the Rex scene and that they are such bad people? or is it the narrow minded few on SN........I think it speaks quite cleary for itself don't you?

Enjoy what you have and don't let the few that judge drag you down......do what you want, when you want and within reason...

 

Chavs

 

You would have felt like a right tit if you crashed into each other though??

Back in my more "chavvy" days I was in a convoy to a cruise and someone driving their car in a rather "spirited nature" cashed into the back of me at a red light and wrote off my car.

We all looked so cool!

 

Very well said Tripple'O G, and sounded like great fun!

 

More than likey would have felt a tit if it happened and from what I heard there was a close call but hey, it comes with driving and nothing happened so **** it, it was fantastic.....you must have been **** out of luck

 

I've seen a few nasty crashes at cruises and meets, people who don't normally act the prat tend to get a bit caught up in the moment and become an uber prat..

I used to have a Lotus Carlton, I got caught up in the moment and proceeded to do rather a few donuts infront of two police cars (I didn't see them durr)... I'm sure I could have lost my licence for dangerous driving but they just gave me a right bollocking and I said sorry several hundred times.

Seems to be something inherent among males more than anything, just a natural need to act like a tit infront of a crowd.

 

It's only logical that you buy a performance car for it's performance!

Whether you are a track day addict or a regular road user i'd imagine every scoob owner has enjoyed their power on public roads at one stage, which is fine as long as you exercise caution and do it where and when conditions allow. As has been stated it is generally other road users that follow suit and exceed their capacity which ends in unfortunate circumstances

Enjoy your motoring but keep it safe

 

well the peak tour is a nice meander through the countryside isn't it....

 

Exactly........it's the ones with a lack of talent or only have a talent for showing off that end up stacking it........i'm saying thats it's nice to meet people that love their cars and drive them quickly, admit they drive them quickly and don't class the ones like them chavs or boyracers.....

Like alloy says......in the right conditions and circumstances

 

Driving fast and enjoying your motoring doesn't constitute speeding

thats an optional extra

 

Tell that to the judge

 

Hey Tripple O G, sounds like you had fun mate!

The problem with talking about exploiting your car's performance on the road is that there is increasingly a culture that maintains that speed -under any conditions- is unacceptable and irresponsible. It's not surprising when some police chiefs have stated in public that they want to make speeding as socially unacceptable as drink driving!! No qualifications, that's the sum of it: if you speed, you should be viewed by your peers in the same light as someone who drives whilst intoxicated.

Unfortunately, the upshot of this kind of attitude is that it is increasingly becoming the case that owners of performance cars are being portrayed as villians, as "why would you have such a car if you didn't intend to speed?" etc... That's the attitude exhibited by some.

Of course, knowing when to use a cars performance safely is a matter of training, maturity and sound judgement. There are some, and I sincerely hope I'm one of them, who use their car's performance responsibly and never knowingly or intentionally behave in such a way that would endanger others.

Speeding and enjoying a performance car are not synonomous, there are times when you can have fun entirely within or below the limits. There are also times when you can trangress the limits and not endanger yourself or others- you assess the conditions, you make the call. Many individuals are more than capable of doing this and will never have any problems. No-one, myself included, spends much more money on a performance car- particularly on the insurance- than you would over a 1.0l runabout to drive everywhere below 1500rpm.

BUT as in any area of life there are always bad apples: there are those who drive like morons and simply don't give a damn about the law or the safety of others and shouldn't be behind the wheel of any car, let alone a performance one. Regrettably, these are the ones who get into trouble and make the news, fueling the anti performance car, anti speed, anti having any fun or -god forbid- excercising your own judgement brigade. Equally regrettably, the people in these brigades are the ones that are increasingly elevated onto a podium in society and who are influncing policy and media opinion. Annoyingly, some of them find their way on here. In their defence, I do have to say that some of the posts on here about some people's exploits on the road -and their general attitude- do make me cringe and they deserve to be flamed, but those who tut-tut as soon as someone even mentions using the accelerator are equally annoying and worthy of flaming.

The vast majority can -and do- enjoy using their performance cars responsibly and safely. Show me someone on here -apart from good ole Pete- who never takes their car above 5k rpm or has never once broken the speed limit and I'll show you a liar!

Unfortunately, this is a common sense argument, and arguing common sense with the nanny brigade is as pointless as arguing with a digestive biscuit!!

Ns04

 

Quote:

 

Care to elaborate mate?

Ns04

 

Quote:
The first old boy nails it, back out, smoke everywhere and stopping traffic........

Mmmm sounds really sensible that, if I saw someone do that on the road I'd just think "What a f*cking tw*t!" If I saw about 20 cars lined up behind him I'd think "What a bunch of f*cking tw*ts!"

 

HEAR, HEAR NEW SCOOBY AND TRIPPLE O G'IZEY

 

Unfortunately mate, you wrote a cracking little write up there but you have now undoubtedly opened a massive can of worms here cos 99% of people here will shoot you down for enjoying your car.

There is indeed a time and place to enjoy your car as safely as possible on the road,

Im no exception, i love my car on full tilt, anyone who doesnt blag it on the road from time to time is quite frankly a bloody liar.

 

What he said

nicely written posts that brought a smile to my face, thanks gents.

 

Well, I'm not personally going to condone burnouts on the road, bit of a pointless exercise if you ask me, as when your wheels are spinning you're not going fast! My point was performance cars can and -are by the majority-used responsibly, and that people who come on here and issue blanket condemnations of anyone who claims to have used their car's performance are as annoying as those who boast about driving like a loon.

Ns04

 

Most people are sensible enough to enjoy their cars without feeling the need to write a witness statement on a public bulletin board. I'm sure the RX-7 owners will congratulate you on your literary skills.

 

your user name says barry white of performance cars ...... shouldn't it say Barryboys and you're in the wrong place?

 

As in any crowd, there are good and bad people.

Personally, I've been on many a spirited drive, when the conditions allow, with like-minded people. This generally means reading the road correctly - strickly adhering to limits in urban areas, and only opening up in NSL areas where there are no junctions etc. In fact, the routes are best when well researched, so that they are generally quiet B-roads with few towns/villages etc - best found in mid-Wales or on moors.

I have also been on runs which have attracted people who just want to drive fast everywhere. It's on these occasions where you are just waiting for something to go wrong, and can make driving very unpleasant.

It's easier to drive in a group with people you can trust. And of course, you're always driving to your own abilities, and within the conditions as you see fit - as tempting as it may be to blindly follow my leader.

At the end of the day, it's about having fun - not having a moment on every corner / overtake, and most importantly, not putting anyone at any risk.

 

I floored it in second gear today up to 7000 revs - in a 30 zone!!!

 

Thats the thing with public forums, you can never win and will always get the few but as you can see from the responses, they were more positive than negative so let them speak for themselves...

As for Gutmann Pug, shouldn't you change your profile to Mike Tyson typer?

I'm not saying it ok to always drive like a loon 24/7. I'm saying they were a good bunch of guys, it was well organised and it was an enjoyable event....

I side with NS04 on his comments, Not putting anyone else at risk...now they'll be a few that will quote and say but the smoke, tail lights, turbos and waste gates thing......but that can all be done without putting anyone else at risk.....but you'll have a pitcture in your mind from experiances past and nothing will change that....I'm just saying get off the high horses and come join the grey area......it's a lot more fun

PEACE

 

I don't think that SN is any different to society in general on this. If a group of 20 sportscars pull out of a pub car park, doing burnouts, creating so much smoke that it stops the traffic, not to mention the noise, screeching of tyres etc, then 99% of the general population would condemn them as being idiots. Do you really think that anyone watching is going to be impressed? If you think that then you don't have a clue.

Unfortunately the vast majority of people who drive high performance cars and enjoy them as they should be enjoyed, are labelled idiots because of you.

 

Oh pi$$ off nonse......

Because of me personally........??
I didn't say burnouts i.e. sitting in one place letting the wheels spin up and I didn't say doughnuts. I said smoke and that could be because of sight wheel spin....but here we go again, missconceptions.
And I say again RE-READ.......did it say what the road was outside the pub?
you make it sound like is was down the highstreet......it was well out the way from anything resembling civillisation....

But of course, we're subaru drivers, we are at the very top and we've never done anything like that ever......

How do you drive them like they're supposed to be driven then?
I'm all for using the full potential on the track and keeping my right foot for those days but anyone who says they have never put they're foot down when they have judged it safe to do so and keeping it safe, like has been said, is a complete load of rubbissh

 

Tripple`O G as you say not 24/7 but you do not get a scooby to drive slow all the time that why I love it

 

You actually said:
We pull out of the pub.........
The first old boy nails it, back out, smoke everywhere and stopping traffic........before I get time to let my ear to ear grin take effect, there goes another and another and another till all I can see and hear is tail lights, smoke, turbos whistling and external waste-gates screaming.....to which I reply and we're off......flying along, slowing for camera's and going again....

Just face it, you were all driving like idiots, unless you embellished your story to appear like more of a hero!

 

Just admit it that you've never even done anything like that.....and i'll show you a liar.....

 

No I've never ever met up with a load of other people in sports cars and driven like an idiot on the public roads, I've never pulled out of a pub car park with my rear wheels on fire, I just tend to pull out sensibly and accelerate quickly. I've also never done a track day, but that is what I'd do if I really needed that kind of adreneline rush.