How often, do you drive it like you stole it?

[Jl-c]

Really?

We are all highly skilled driving gods with perfect judgement (obviously) but things go wrong. I honestly hope you you don't end up regretting moments of madness like that on the road, people do, even driving gods. Apart from which it's a pretty daft thing to post, it being available for perpetuity to the authorities, insurance investigators and future buyers. I haven't quoted just in case you wanted to edit

Whoa! Where did that come from....? If I'm in the dock again then know this........

"Skilled driving God". Can only speak for myself and say no. I can fling a car around a track (not my own car - a selection of those at the Bedford Autodrome) with as much enthusiasm as the next person but does that make me a better driver? I fear not.

".....moments of madness like that on the road..." It was 75mph on an otherwise 70mph M42. My observation let me down as the variable limit must have just come on at 60mph and I missed it.

It was my daily driver, not my Z4 which was fast asleep in the garage at home.

Well, the authorities already know, hence the Warwickshire Constabulary inviting me to attend one of their, I am sure, most excellent courses. I was offered this is an ALTERNATIVE to a £100 fine and 3 penalty points. And note the distinction between Motorway Awareness and Speeding Awareness. The matter of a course offer rests entirely with the Police force. They decide whichever is most appropriate given the circumstances.

Insurance?

Quote "Attending a speeding awareness course is not classed as a conviction, which requires the ticking of the box on insurance quotation forms to disclose such an offence in the last 5 years.

Choosing to attend a course will avoid penalty points being added to your licence, maintaining a clean licence in some cases, and because course data isn’t held by the DVLA, it can’t be checked by insurance companies." Unquote.

But hiding anything from your insurers is perhaps one of the most stupid things any of us could do. So I will give them the option anyway.

And as an aside, my licence has been clean for 28 years so this wasn't something I'm in the habit doing.

Bob4333, I assumed (maybe incorrectly) that the comment was aimed at the original poster, not at you.

[Lazza]

Have to ask, why you are selling your Mx5.?

A good question and one I’m struggling with.
I bought it in 2003 at under 3 years old, had KYB AGX shocks & FM springs fitted. Fitted a rear roll cage. Had it supercharged to 215bhp. Over the years power went up to 245bhp and the suspension went through a few iterations to the GAZ Gold Pro that’s on now. A couple of years ago the blower died and it wasn’t worth the cost of replacing it. My daily was a Merc C220. I figured I could replace the 2 with a 35i which would pretty much do the job of both. Power, speed and top down sports car driving along with refinement and quality, and it does pretty much do that.
The problem is actually selling it. I can’t quite bring myself to do that. I’m happy enough to sell it to an enthusiast if I come across one but I can’t bring myself to advertise it.
And now my plans have changed a bit. We are planning to retire early in around 3 years off to Italy, so I might just keep it for a bit. That way I can sell the 35i in advance and have the MX5 to fall back on. It should be easy to sell (a Mk2.5 which is completely rust free is very rare) but even if it doesn’t sell quickly, it’s not really worth much.

So a bit of a long answer but you did ask

[buzyg]

Have to ask, why you are selling your Mx5.?

A good question and one I’m struggling with.
I bought it in 2003 at under 3 years old, had KYB AGX shocks & FM springs fitted. Fitted a rear roll cage. Had it supercharged to 215bhp. Over the years power went up to 245bhp and the suspension went through a few iterations to the GAZ Gold Pro that’s on now. A couple of years ago the blower died and it wasn’t worth the cost of replacing it. My daily was a Merc C220. I figured I could replace the 2 with a 35i which would pretty much do the job of both. Power, speed and top down sports car driving along with refinement and quality, and it does pretty much do that.
The problem is actually selling it. I can’t quite bring myself to do that. I’m happy enough to sell it to an enthusiast if I come across one but I can’t bring myself to advertise it.
And now my plans have changed a bit. We are planning to retire early in around 3 years off to Italy, so I might just keep it for a bit. That way I can sell the 35i in advance and have the MX5 to fall back on. It should be easy to sell (a Mk2.5 which is completely rust free is very rare) but even if it doesn’t sell quickly, it’s not really worth much.

So a bit of a long answer but you did ask

Completely understand not wanting to sell it. My lad has been in New Zealand for 9 months now. Not certain if he will return eventually. His MK2 is sat on the drive with the hard top on. I take it out once a month to keep it rolling. Absolutely love the thing. MrsG has a MK3.75 with the folding hardtop. Looks lovely, but I prefer driving the MK2. Don't tell MrsG. The ///MR is a very different car. It responds better to a good kick up the a&se and being pushed hard. The little Mazda's much prefer to be threaded down the road. Great contrast in the way you need to drive them, both just as much fun.

[road warrior]

Im sure we are all mainly responsible in our zeds, but frankly there is little point in having such an exciting powerful car unless we give it the beans in a safe way sometimes -i know I bloody well do. I do sometimes look at the absolute care and watch what I feel must be soul destroying futility of the the owner of say a Aston Martin who drives at the speed limit of 70 because he knows everyone is watching him, and probably report him in resentment, much the same was written about as someone who drove a Rolls Royce and said the hate and resentment was palpable. So I feel in my old but tidy e85 I can and do have fun.

[buzyg]

Im sure we are all mainly responsible in our zeds, but frankly there is little point in having such an exciting powerful car unless we give it the beans in a safe way sometimes -i know I bloody well do. I do sometimes look at the absolute care and watch what I feel must be soul destroying futility of the the owner of say a Aston Martin who drives at the speed limit of 70 because he knows everyone is watching him, and probably report him in resentment, much the same was written about as someone who drove a Rolls Royce and said the hate and resentment was palpable. So I feel in my old but tidy e85 I can and do have fun.

You need to come for a few drives with SW PH groups. The Aston's don't hang around any more than the Macas or GTRs.

[Lazza]

The ///MR is a very different car. It responds better to a good kick up the a&se and being pushed hard. The little Mazda's much prefer to be threaded down the road. Great contrast in the way you need to drive them, both just as much fun.

You’d be surprised. With the track based suspension, the little MX5 is terrific on the road and the harder you push it the more it gives back! With 245bhp it was fantastic fun and really was just as fast as pretty much anything else on the road. Down a good twisty b-road it was more than a match for a friends modded supercharged Elise 111R. I’ve used it heavily on track as well as on the road and it can worry some much more powerful cars, even without the SC!
But yes, you are right. A standard MX5 is a car for winding down the road, playing with the balance, trying to retain speed.

[bob4333]

Bob4333, I assumed (maybe incorrectly) that the comment was aimed at the original poster, not at you.

No, your assumption is quite correct. See earlier post (21 ish?), we're good. My mistake.

But if anyone's interested I've done my time on the Motorway Awareness Course and it turned out to be not what I expected. I was expecting a fair bit of admonition mixed in with some grisly tales and pix to back it up - but no.

What it turned out to be was mostly an insight into how the Smart Motorway system actually works and more importantly why we as drivers see some of the things we see, perhaps thinking "There's no need for the limit to be 60mph, there's no traffic about". I didn't know that on the M1 by the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield the air quality was so bad they were going to close 4 schools close to the motorway. Smart Motorways installed air sensors and when the pollution gets bad enough the system automatically reduces the speed limit until the air quality improves, then it switches off. Same on the M42 by Birmingham Airport, so when I now drive along an empty stretch showing 50mph I understand why (and try not to breathe).

If we see speed reductions down to 60, 50 or 40 mph it's the system making decisions based on info it's being fed. If you see 30 or 20 someone has taken the decision to override it so there's a good chance something nasty is up. There's also a minimum time lag of 10 secs between a limit coming down and the camera reacting so the plea of "Well it was 70 when I went under the gantry" won't work. The ticket even records how long the variable limit has been set.

There were lots of tips about driving and markers and what to do if you breakdown and I came away thinking it time well spent. It probably could have been done in about 2 hours rather than the three and a half but there you go.

Twenty four people attended, I'd say 75% male, 25% female. One or two I thought might be back again someday but overall most appreciated it and got the message.

I'd recommend taking the option if ever you're in the unfortunate position of having to make a choice.

[Lazza]

I had a similar reaction to the Speed Awareness course. I found it very interesting and sometimes fascinating. The video demonstrating the stopping distances featuring Tiff Needell was a real eye-opener! It really has affected the way I drive now, especially in more built up areas.

[road warrior]

Did they explain why if the air quality is bad they want you to slow down and breath it for longer????
Sounds like bow locks to me.

[Steelee]

My accelerator is really just a switch....it's either on or off

[Nictrix]

Did they explain why if the air quality is bad they want you to slow down and breath it for longer????
Sounds like bow locks to me.

I was thinking the same.
Is there more pollution created in a mile stretch with cars doing 70 as opposed to the same stretch with the cars doing 60 or 50?
The cars are in the area slightly longer if doing 50 or 60 so could pollute more.

[ronk]

If you consider fuel burned at 70mph v 50mpg in the section of road then the car will lay down more pollutants at 70mph!

[road warrior]

Perhaps ronk, but still stinks to me, what about what happens when we all boot it, when the restriction is lifted... Of course it's not related to camera activity is it . Nooooo, tell you what - I will believe it when they advise and deactivate the cameras...

[Nictrix]

If you consider fuel burned at 70mph v 50mpg in the section of road then the car will lay down more pollutants at 70mph!

My thoughts come from one of the most polluted streets in Europe, Hope Street in Glasgow, where there is so mush congested traffic moving at a slow pace. Now this is obviously worse than if the traffic was moving freely. At what point does a road move from being polluted due to slow moving traffic to being not as polluted and then back to being polluted again that the speed is restricted to stop it.
If that makes sense.
Its a bit like MPG, slow speeds gets bad MPG, so does high speeds but there is a sweet spot in the middle that gives you the best.

[Mr Tidy]

I can't help thinking reduced limits have little to do with air quality.

I often use the M25, and rarely see a reduced limit between J13 and J16, even though most planes leaving Heathrow fly right over the motorway at that point.

But I've only ever joined the M25 at J12 heading for J11 and not found a reduced limit in force once in the last year - that was last Christmas Day! They just seem to like backing traffic up there, then letting everyone get back to normal after J11.