OT: Corvette Z06 going cRaZy fast!

[Taymaishu]

Originally Posted by beemer

a french friend of mine came out to australia and couldn't stop telling me how bad we are at driving, and i had to agree with him, the driving here is terrible compared to europe.

then an Indian friend/business associate came out here and couldn't stop telling me how good the roads and driving were. and when i thought about it i had to also agree with him. so its not all bad.

I've been in India twice for work; Mumbai and Bangalore.

NOTHING compares to Indian drivers - considering I came a few inches from dying in a head on with a truck when our driver overtook another truck and decided to play chicken.

We passed the truck doing about 90km/h and the truck probably doing about the same. He took our side mirror off!



Ah, while Autobahns might be under repair 90% of the time, that's because they have to do that - constant maintenance = good quality roads

Whereas here, maintenance is done as repairs, not as checks & upgrades. It's always reactive.

[BMWDave]

I've done a bit of time on autobahns. I remember being passed whilst I was "cruising" on 200km/h (maintained around this speed - did 200kms in 1hr 8mins) by a big audi and i reckon he was doing every bit of 250km/h+. He pulled away from me in a similar fashion to the above (tho not quite as quick). I'd say the Vette is easily doing 250km/h.

I will say this about the autobahs. 1) No one hogs fast lane 2) They all indicate 3) If there is a problem ahead, they all hit the hazzard lights and then brakes, in that order. Upon seeing the car in front with hazzards on, the next car also turns on their and so on so the guys doing 250km/h+ all get a chance to slow down. It's a great system.

Driver education in Australia is appaulling. You can make the speed limits as slow as you like, the cars as safe as you like and there will still be accidents cause our drivers are simply not educated enough. I say abolish the speed limits and let natural selection weed out those that shouldn't have a licence.

[BMWRX]

Originally Posted by BMWDave

I say abolish the speed limits and let natural selection weed out those that shouldn't have a licence.

Good idea. But sadly, as is sometimes the case, those who are innocently standing by doing the right thing get taken out as well.

[BMWRX]

Originally Posted by d3syd

Anyway the road toll I believe is historically pretty low now compared to the old days based on the number of people on our roads today. Not due to the draconian speed limits but because of the improved active and passive crash safety of modern cars. End rant.

Our road toll here is pretty good when you compare it to countries like Malaysia (where I lived for three years). I recall front page news one year, presented with great hoopla that their road toll had dropped to a "fantastic" nineteen per day...........PER DAY! That's almost seven thousand a year (of which just over four thousand were motorbike riders). And they were proud of that.

Poor training, terribly designed cars (to save costs, some Proton models were released without rear seatbelts - it has only just been made law up there to wear a rear seatbelt. No one would wear one because "we don't have to" ), and general stupidity (e.g. ten people inside a sedan) were to blame.

[bfi2906]

Discussing road manners and licensing with a German friend, I became aware of some prety simple facts that go a long way to explaining why Oz drivers are so bad by comparison. And therefore, we have laws to accommodate the poor standard of driving.

In no particular order:
- you can't be taught to drive by anyone othere than an accredited driving school - and "their RTA" relicenses them every few years. So you don't get parents teaching their kids bad habbits
- It costs about $A2K - $A3K in lessons to get a license.
- The training and the testing include fast & slow, suburban & highway, wet & dry, day & night conditions and some level of car control.
- Normal suburban speed limit is usually 50K/h
- Police are very visible
- They have "special" police for Autobahns - can you say Highway Patrol - there's a new idea -- NOT!!!!
- They police matters of safety as a priority, as opposed to revenue as the priority.
- They are very harsh on speeding in road-works, especially on Autobahns
- They are very harsh on tailgating
- They are very harsh on not keeping left unless overtaking
- They are relatively flexible on minor metro speeding, but harsh on excessive metro speeding

They were some of the basics that I recall that helped me understand why driving in Eurpoe (and Germany specifically) is so much safer, but still have such high speeds.

On the down side - apparently they still have their fair share of tools in uniform. And when they do have a prang, especially in the winter months - it's pretty spectacular. "Not completely unusual to have 50-100 cars involced in a pile-up on a freeway because of ice" was the statement.

Again, all makes so much sense.

[d3syd]

Originally Posted by BMWDave

I say abolish the speed limits and let natural selection weed out those that shouldn't have a licence.

LOL, wouldn't that be great.....

Moving along with the idea of natural selection, in time to come our descendents should all evolve into Ayton Sennas, Colin McCraes, Michael Shumachers and Carlos Sainzs.

[d3syd]

Originally Posted by BMWRX

Our road toll here is pretty good when you compare it to countries like Malaysia (where I lived for three years). I recall front page news one year, presented with great hoopla that their road toll had dropped to a "fantastic" nineteen per day...........PER DAY! That's almost seven thousand a year (of which just over four thousand were motorbike riders). And they were proud of that.

Poor training, terribly designed cars (to save costs, some Proton models were released without rear seatbelts - it has only just been made law up there to wear a rear seatbelt. No one would wear one because "we don't have to" ), and general stupidity (e.g. ten people inside a sedan) were to blame.

I was in Malaysia a few months ago and the amount of risk they take on their roads is both amusing and scary.

Some of the things they do there would give your average Aussie driver a nervous breakdown. Overtaking in front of on coming traffic, forcing your way into on coming traffic from a side street, driving 3 or more abreast in a 2 lane road, etc.

Funny thing is that I drove like a local when I was there, I found I automatically adapted to their driving style within a few minutes behind the wheel and did things that would cause road rage in oz, but was the norm there.

[123D-M]

Originally Posted by BMWDave

I will say this about the autobahs. 1) No one hogs fast lane 2) They all indicate 3) If there is a problem ahead, they all hit the hazzard lights and then brakes, in that order. Upon seeing the car in front with hazzards on, the next car also turns on their and so on so the guys doing 250km/h+ all get a chance to slow down. It's a great system.

I think that the hazard lights custom here is brilliant. A couple of times it has woken me up to the fact that all the traffic ahead is stopped. I'm now in the habit of doing it too. No-one uses them in Australia unless they are actually stopped on the side of the highway somewhere.

As an aside, has anyone else noticed that if you do an emergency stop in the 1er it automatically puts the hazard lights on? Well it does on euro models anyway.

[WAY]

That Corvette was doing 300kmh+ easily. Some suspect it may be one of these Lingerfelter. http://www.lingenfeltercorvette.net/...r-projects.php

[WAY]

Oh and I have an autobahn story too. I was driving the current S350 3 years ago at the autobahn between Munich and Regensburg in heavy rain at 220kmh (which btw in a S-class doesn't feel that fast even in heavy rain). Suddenly I see this car coming up so I pulled to the right for it to overtake, and it was a Ford Fiesta looking car (not 100% sure what it was as it was HEAVY rain and I was focussing on the car in front of me that was going slower). To this day I have no idea what overtook me but it sure was a fast little car!

[BMWRX]

Originally Posted by d3syd

Funny thing is that I drove like a local when I was there, I found I automatically adapted to their driving style within a few minutes behind the wheel and did things that would cause road rage in oz, but was the norm there.

I too became a Malaysian style driver, and after three years of driving like that, I garnered my fair share of disdain from Australian drivers when I repatriated earlier this year. Thankfully, I've parted with most of my bad habits from over there.

Ironically, they are some of the best roads I've ever driven on. The highways are silky smooth and the rubberiness of the enforcement of speed limits makes for fun times.

[WAY]

I grew up and Malaysia and still go back there every year. I love driving there! Their driving style suits me.

[d3syd]

Originally Posted by WAY

I grew up and Malaysia and still go back there every year. I love driving there! Their driving style suits me.

I agree, I enjoy driving there too.

Need to overtake and there is an on coming car? No worries, just do it, the other guy will just slow down or drive on the edge of the road so you can get pass - no panic, no horning, no flashing of lights, nobody panics

One amusing/irritating thing I found is that even if you are first to go at the lights, a swarm of motor bikes will trickle forward through the traffic and get in front of you. lol.

[Spec Volcanic]

Originally Posted by Alext

Imagine going down the back straight at a track topping 160km/h in your [insert grocery getter] and getting overtaken like that. I would say around 240-260km/h accelerating.

I know want that's like in my 1.8L B15 Nissan Sentra IT3 Racecar I do 175-180KPH on the front straight and the GT1 cars (Tube Frame Fiberglass body Chev's Old trans am series Racecars) clear 300KPH....

It feels like I'm parked on the side of the track, sometimes when they pass my ears pop

[Taymaishu]

Originally Posted by BMWDave

I will say this about the autobahs. 1) No one hogs fast lane 2) They all indicate 3) If there is a problem ahead, they all hit the hazzard lights and then brakes, in that order. Upon seeing the car in front with hazzards on, the next car also turns on their and so on so the guys doing 250km/h+ all get a chance to slow down. It's a great system.

I also do this after doing a lot of driving on the 'bahns.

I do it in Australia. Not because i want to look like a wanker, but because i don't want a truck who's hogging the fast lane doing 130km/h to run up the ass of 10 cars who are stopped on the freeway.

I have never seen another car hit the hazzards when they're stopped on the freeway.

Another thing i noticed about autobahns. If there is a crash, the people in the left lane will pull as far left as they can. Middle lane will stay in the middle of that lane, and those on the right will pull as far right.

This gives space for police, fire and ambulance to burn down the gaps in the lanes in between cars - it's a sight to see!

Plus, nobody gets out of their cars - they know they'll either:

1) be hit
2) cause an accident, and
3) they know they're safer in their cars if another incident occurs.

[BMWRX]

Originally Posted by WAY

I grew up and Malaysia and still go back there every year. I love driving there! Their driving style suits me.

And speaking of Malaysia and hazard lights, what about when there is heavy rain? The Seremban Highway turns into a disco!