Things I'll miss in the UK !!

[robm3]

Not many things UK has better than Australia but here's a couple:

1. Cheaper 'interesting cars' - A mate has just picked up an Audi R8 for £52K Or in your terms Au$85K! Same car is worth AU$200K+ there....

2. More racetracks - A Sydney mate tells me Oran Park is closing, so now they'll only have one (1!!) racetrack left. I've four within an hours drive (including Silverstone, one of the greatest).

3. Road speeds - I've enjoyed countless miles in my CSL, GTR and Elise blasting along at 100/200/300kph's and the like, but laugh when I recall how thought 120kph was going 'really fast' on the Pacific Hwy.

4. The range of metal available - I drive about 300km round trip to work and every day I see something that looks good e.g. Ferrari, Lambo or just something interesting. Today I saw a Lime Green Focus RS, very headturning.


I'm really going to miss all this when I get back...

Edited by robm3 on Tuesday 6th October 15:23

[Cactussed]

Couldn't agree more.
Oz has some good things going for it, but for motoring, UK and Europe is streets ahead (pardon the pun).

[smack]

Cactussed said:

Couldn't agree more.
Oz has some good things going for it, but for motoring, UK and Europe is streets ahead (pardon the pun).

One of the reasons I still enjoy living here.

[Smiler.]

5. Balti served with a thick Black Country accent??

[v15ben]

I have to agree. I have some good mates in NSW with nice cars and we often went out hooning south of Sydney or into the Blue Mountains and also down to racetracks wherever possible. I loved doing these things but it never felt quite like it does in the UK. The cars cost them a fortune (used Evos, RX7s etc) and getting to a variety of racetracks, especially when Oran Park closes will be infinitely more difficult than in the UK.

Edited by v15ben on Wednesday 7th October 12:45

[thehawk]

robm3 said:

I've four within an hours drive (including Silverstone, one of the greatest).

Slightly OT, but Silverstone is rubbish - one of the worst tracks (or should I say airfield) that I've seen.

[SkinnyBoy]

I've given up dreaming about a decent car here, there's no point, spend the cash on a decent boat and enjoy the superb beach life we have here.

[robm3]

thehawk said:

robm3 said:

I've four within an hours drive (including Silverstone, one of the greatest).

Slightly OT, but Silverstone is rubbish - one of the worst tracks (or should I say airfield) that I've seen.

Personal opinion then, I like the Silverstone GP circuit as it really suits my Ultima GTR - Maggots, Becketts and Chapel are brilliant for me, Luffield I understeer in the GTR but in my old CSL I could powerslide and Woodcote always seems to be where the crashes occur (I was there when the mk1 silver GT3 crashed rearwards into the pitwall). However for lower powered cars such as my old Elise, I used the South Circuit (which is also a lot cheaper for trackdays). Again, personally I like the vibe there and have even been down to see LM cars testing as there's a way you can get into the pits on a 'closed' day (Hint: go around via the Porsche Centre and across the walkway bridge, they never lock it!).


I don't like Donnington as I find it a little boring (although Craner curves always seems to catch people out) and I think it'll be a mistake for the F1 to be there, where will they pass??
Brands Hatch is great but I find the Indy course too short. Never done the GP course as it's always too expensive (and so far away from me) but that does look good.
Mallory is boring again although that hairpin (is it Devils Elbow?) is nice and the high speed corner at the end of the straight is good. Oh, another plus point is you can see nearly all the track from the observation point (plus the weighbridge is free), it's just too short though.

Oulton Park is good though but only driven it once and then the session was closed early, so don't really have an opinion.

Naturally I'm only talking about UK Circuits though...


Oulton Park in the CSL:



Mallory in the GTR:



About to go on track at Silverstone (have some good shots of the Elise but on home PC, will post later):



Mallory again, just after hairpin:


Now this is the greatest circuit globally! For driving and sheer atmosphere of the place!! Totally Brilliant!!!



(can you guess where it is?? Not so hard really)

Edited by robm3 on Friday 9th October 09:19

Edited by robm3 on Friday 9th October 10:30

[smack]

Nice toys Rob

[robm3]

smack said:

Nice toys Rob

Mate, I'm a revhead through and through!

Family has to forego a really nice house cos I spend all our spare cash on cars

[smack]

robm3 said:

smack said:

Nice toys Rob

Mate, I'm a revhead through and through!

Family has to forego a really nice house cos I spend all our spare cash on cars

Houses are highly overrated!

When/where are you going back to?

[robm3]

smack said:

robm3 said:

smack said:

Nice toys Rob

Mate, I'm a revhead through and through!

Family has to forego a really nice house cos I spend all our spare cash on cars

Houses are highly overrated!

When/where are you going back to?

Was going to be April next year I head back to Sydney but last weekend we decided Jan 2011 instead (so my kids go straight into school with no downtime). Really looking forward to it but going to miss all the car-related activities in Europe.

[deviant]

The East coast has a heck of a lot of motorsport going on, you just need to travel a bit more than an hour to access it!

[SydneyPom]

robm3 said:

I don't like Donnington as I find it a little boring (although Craner curves always seems to catch people out) and I think it'll be a mistake for the F1 to be there, where will they pass??

Senna in the wet last time it was there? One of the most heroic F1 drives of all time... seemed to be plenty of places to pass then!

[robm3]

SydneyPom said:

robm3 said:

I don't like Donnington as I find it a little boring (although Craner curves always seems to catch people out) and I think it'll be a mistake for the F1 to be there, where will they pass??

Senna in the wet last time it was there? One of the most heroic F1 drives of all time... seemed to be plenty of places to pass then!

The flip side is Senna holding up Schumacher and Prost at Silverstone, great driving. Actually I think overtaking was far more prevalent back in Senna's day, todays cars will struggle at Donnington like they do at many other tracks.
As a footnote I see Spa Francochamps, another truly great track and one where modern F1 cars can pass, has now to cease operations due to complaints from neighbouring houses being upheld by the local council!!