Nice Garage!

[ian parkes]

So nobody saw 5th gear where the theories were proved in a head to head race on Anglesea between bike and car with decent drivers on / in each.

On the road racing cars can be very silly especially on roads like that and the biker would back off if he had any care for his life .
There are more times when a car can win due to temperature weather etc etc , but in the right conditions and with the right rider the bike does win these days . its not contact patch etc its simply power to wieght ratio.

[codprawn]

The mini may be old and lacking in power but going around tight bends downhill it still behaves like a roller skate!!!

My favourite road is used a lot by bikers - Black Mountain - Brynamman - often seen on Top Gear as well. Even in a Mazda MX5 I beat the bikes going down - the bends are so tight the bikes really don't stand a chance - they couldn't lean over any more if they tried.

A Caterham or Westfield is the ultimate on that road - also a Lotus Elise - my mates Ferrari 360 just couldn't live with them down there as it is too wide.

[ian parkes]

I think the fastest car I ever drove on a raod like that was a Lancia Integrali it felt like it was glued down and the supension so supple over rough surfaces .

I used to build and race mini's years ago and the place they always lost was downhill braking for bends , because even the old cooper s discs of that time faded after some hard use. We often used to take out the pads to find the linings detatched from the metal due to heat . Great little car and still quick in the back lanes and as hard on yer back as my SIB but wouldn't want to work on one today ,

[Scrumdown]

Any one fancy swopping the mini cooper for a rib then!!! Mini useless in water but good on tarmac! cannot tow anything worthwhile either!! almost fits in boot of shogun sport!!

[Alice]

My top chum imports Skyline GTR's into Christchurch, NZ. He races one. He gave me the use of a "Fairly soft" 380hp thing, when we were out there. Holy cow! It frightened the crappers out of me. Snick it into 2nd off the line, floor it and all hell broke loose. The revs went mad, all four wheels were spinning and the steering wheel was having fits! The one he races is 850hp using a standard block. Put Christchurch GTR into a search engine and checkout 'Pommy John' if your interested.