Quote from bbman :

As it was a RHD car, I suspect it came somewhere from the UK (Ireland has no RHD, right?)... I can't believe some australian would have transported/driven his vehicle all the way to Germany...

This clip was posted on topgear.com a while ago. I think some brit's m3...

I don't like the thread title, as its gotten me excited twice now..

Quote from bbman :

As it was a RHD car, I suspect it came somewhere from the UK (Ireland has no RHD, right?)

It has RHD. But they do use km/h on road signs, and the UK still uses MPH. Stupidly.

Quote from duke_toaster :

It has RHD. But they do use km/h on road signs, and the UK still uses MPH. Stupidly.

What a silly comment. The UK still uses MPH, which might not be an SI unit anymore (or based on them, as km/h isn't truly SI either), but imagine the problems of converting them.

All road signs to be updated over a period of not more than 2 days (else it would be confusing). All speedo's to be replaced so that km/h is the primary display, else we'd all have to squint to see tiny, usually red, numbers. If you did this you'd want to recalibrate all tachometers so they read in km, which would mean converting existing mileage to km and having the speedo unit recalibrated.

It's not just a case of making an announcement and letting people get on with it.

Having said that, the confusion would mean at least 95% of people would be speeding at one time or another, and the 'government' (for want of a better term) would make a load of money out of it and GATSOs.

Besides, mph is a nice unit really. People just like km/h because of the bigger numbers

I'm completely baffled at how that 360 crashed like that, I assume there was something wrong with it, even if a bad reaction was part of the crash.

Quote from tristancliffe :

People just like km/h because of the bigger numbers

Which is why I reckon we should convert to knots

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

Give him a break, he is American...therefore naturally steers left

I highly doubt the guy driving the Ferrari, or the guy driving the M3 was American, considering they're both RHD.....

Quote from tristancliffe :

What a silly comment. The UK still uses MPH, which might not be an SI unit anymore (or based on them, as km/h isn't truly SI either), but imagine the problems of converting them.

Been done recently in Ireland. Whilst km/h isn't really SI, it is derived from SI units and is the de facto international standard.

Quote :

All road signs to be updated over a period of not more than 2 days (else it would be confusing).

They did it in Ireland in 2005.

Quote :

All speedo's to be replaced so that km/h is the primary display, else we'd all have to squint to see tiny, usually red, numbers.

Tristan, the fact that they in red is what makes them more visible.

Quote :

If you did this you'd want to recalibrate all tachometers so they read in km, which would mean converting existing mileage to km and having the speedo unit recalibrated.

They would need recalibration - pretty much every car displays both on the speedo.

Quote :

It's not just a case of making an announcement and letting people get on with it.

I never said it was. Whilst it would be an expense now, in the long run it would help the British motor industry. Which quite frankly needs all the help it can get.

Quote :

Having said that, the confusion would mean at least 95% of people would be speeding at one time or another, and the 'government' (for want of a better term) would make a load of money out of it and GATSOs.

No, the GATSOs would probably have to be recalibrated. A bit off topic, but note that GATSOs breach the European Convention on Human Rights. It is a separate offence not to say who was driving the car, which is in contravention of your right to remain silent. Tristan has this right, but not the ability to do so

Maybe we should have a forum ECHR sillyness day :P

Here is another 'pro'
http://www.techamok.com/?pid=2345
(it's simply amazing how strong carbon fiber body structure is - seems like the main body/suspension geometry wasn't damaged)

btw: as was said, that wasn't m3 in the 'ring record video' (probably 325)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZb7sbRFCF0

Quote from tristancliffe :

All speedo's to be replaced so that km/h is the primary display, else we'd all have to squint to see tiny, usually red, numbers.

I drive a car which has been purchased in USA and thus it has MPH as primary speed unit on the speedo. I don't find hard in any way to read smaller Km/h signs even in night or sharp daylight. If fact, I nearly don't know about those HUGE MPH numbers there..

I can't read my km/h units on my speedo without having to squint. They are A) Too small and B) red which isn't a great contrast to a dark grey/black dashboard.

I can't see a measurement of speed helping the British motor industry... Nothing can be manufactured at a reasonable cost in this country.

Keiran

Quote from duke_toaster :

I never said it was. Whilst it would be an expense now, in the long run it would help the British motor industry. Which quite frankly needs all the help it can get.

Whilst it's sad the British motor industry is dying I do wonder whether so much effort should be put to save it. In all honesty all the big car manufacturers are now multinational companies which are going to try and cut costs and maximise profits. We're quite happy to buy goods from other parts of the world rather than our own on price and we want to be paid more than the people working in the other countries. Very simply we need to choose which one we want, having both can't work.

I also don't really see how what units are used in different countries has any real effect on car markets, a different dial insert is peanuts. The fact we have RHD cars is a bigger issue, but the last country I know to switch was Norway IIRC and it would be pretty impossible to do overnight given the advanced junctions we have now, not to mention a huge waste of money and giving in to Europe :doh:

The dude in the Ferrari putting it into the wall is definately, unfortunately, Australian.

It happened at Eastern Creek raceway in Western Sydney, during the "Powerskid" contest (seeing how long you could pull a burnout from a standstill WITHOUT using your brakes) which was a part of the Powercruise event. It was a couple of years ago though. I heard a rumour it was a Ferrari dealer that was driving but that is totally not confirmed.

Check this video, it's the same one, but with footage of two cars showing how it should be done at the start, then the ferrari dude.

First car is an EH Holden from about 1963ish, second is a Holden Commodore ute. Both with big freakin superchargers hanging off em.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nM5a-TRQSg

Quote from ajp71 :

Whilst it's sad the British motor industry is dying I do wonder whether so much effort should be put to save it.

Lotus ?

Quote from undertech :

NASCAR? Not popular?

NASCAR isn't popular all right...with the FnF kiddies who make up 1% of US' population.

1%??? wow, thats a hell lot of morons there

Quote from JTbo :

Lotus ?

Owned by Proton, but even that's a specialist manufacturer. It's the mainstream market we can't get right, specialist sportscars and motorsport are no problem.

Prodrive, Radical, Caterham (and various clones), Ariel, Noble (built in South Africa though), Ascari, Morgan, Van Diemen and most of the F1 teams to name a few.

Quote from ajp71 :

Owned by Proton, but even that's a specialist manufacturer. It's the mainstream market we can't get right, specialist sportscars and motorsport are no problem.

Prodrive, Radical, Caterham (and various clones), Ariel, Noble (built in South Africa though), Ascari, Morgan, Van Diemen and most of the F1 teams to name a few.

I think that it is not only problem in UK but problem in western world, we can't produce high quality products with little cost, but China, Korea etc. they can and I think it is almost impossible to try to compete here with them without going to closer to their level in wealth etc.

So why companies just don't invest to them and start doing co-operation, minimizing losses and maintaining possibility to do special products that are worth making in homeland?

World has changed, soon we start really to see how you can't do every product in every country, but there is countries that makes cars, countries that makes food etc. Globalisation, not that I would like it but that is just natural path for efficient working model, I actually hate it, but resistance is futile...

What a complete moron, he shouldn't even be allowed near the wheel of a car if that's how he drives, going to probably the most difficult racetrack in the world, when its wet and first corner decides to nail it. Anyone with even half a brain would realise you don't do that. If he doesn't have the common sense to realise you cant set the lap record on the first corner he deserved to crash, hopefully his car is a write off and he's scared away from race tracks for life. Will save him from causing a major accident and possibly hurting someone else in the future.

I remember the top gear episode when Jeremy Clarkson went to Nordschleife, everyone knows he's a pretty hopeless driver who thinks he can drive like a pro but even he managed to get around without crashing, and it was wet too.

*edit* btw how did this thread get turned from a bmw driving tool at Nordschleife into a world automotive trade debate? lol

Quote from Virtual-R :

I remember the top gear episode when Jeremy Clarkson went to Nordschleife, everyone knows he's a pretty hopeless driver who thinks he can drive like a pro but even he managed to get around without crashing, and it was wet too.

To be fair Clarkson is considered to be a damn good driver for a journalist - way better than most in fact (according to professional drivers). He know's his own limitations, but modesty wouldn't make Top Gear so entertaining. Meet him in real life and I assure you he's fairly modest about his abilites...

Quote from tristancliffe :

To be fair Clarkson is considered to be a damn good driver for a journalist - way better than most in fact (according to professional drivers). He know's his own limitations, but modesty wouldn't make Top Gear so entertaining. Meet him in real life and I assure you he's fairly modest about his abilites...

Is this after he took hundreds of driving lessons when Tiff left team?

He was really bad until then, even most stubborn will learn when spend enough