Please Race Me?

David321 wrote: Jonners wrote: sorry, but a high handed attitude and flash cars go together just as easily as the chav nova stereotype That's very very true. BMW drivers don't enjoy the best reputation on the road!

no matter wot car u own and wot forum u frequent there will always be another manufacturer that u despise on the road be it Mondeo > Vectra to Saxo > Corsa

ive found that Scoobys will not leave me alone on the roads, they see the M badge and think oooh gotta have a go at this so they can notch it up on there wing like WW2 fighters

i dont hassle people on the roads i give them the correct 2 second gap rule, i despise speeding thru the town as i think its very dangerous and childish however i do condone it out of town where the conditions permit and as long as the driver is capable and knows the roads, i leave myself open to arguement on that one but thats my opinion

I have to agree with Jonners on this one. Despite having a BMW I get far more trouble with the owners of big executive cars than chavs in Novas etc. It's the my cars better than your's so you need to get out of my way attitude.

On the rare occaisions that people do try to race me it's been newer cars like a Mini Cooper S, a Seat Leon Cupra R and an X5!!. But I have never been raced by a Nova/saxo/corsea etc full of chavs.

The best way to avoid people wanting to race you is to slow down when they come up behind you. They quickly get irritated at driving slowley and pass you.

There certainly does appear to be a bit of looking down on other makes of car going on here. Not just cheap bangers either, CTRs, impretzas, Audis, Seats etc. All of which are good cars. They may not be to your taste but that doesn't make them bad.

I recall Stephen Fry once said that one of the worst traits of the English is looking down on others who have less money than you. I have to say I think he has a point.

Hi Guys,

I have read the first two and a bit pages and skipped over the rest so sorry if I missed something there.

The fastest I have travelled on a road, not saying what type or where was 176 'indicated' in my old car. This was early hours of the morning, not a sausage in site on a clear straight road. I think I was 'stupid' for doing so, and will never believe otherwise.

It was odd, since that day, I felt almost a guilty sensation about the speed I was travelling, even though I hadn't had any consequences. I started to think out the consequences, and the reality of it, not the little bubble I was sat in at the time. I didn't take my car out for a drive like I used to, I used to just get in and go for a 'cruise' around. I did try three seperate occasions over three weeks that followed, each time I went out and to put my foot down a little, I got pulled by a police car (very bad timing). Since that day and after my thoughts, I don't really speed, I felt odd when I did and took the police car thing as another message.

I now drive 65-70mph all the way to work and I do a lot of miles, I will occasionaly blip the throttle toward a ton, but this is far and few between. Most dual carriageways I find myself pottering around at 35. And around town and down narrow streets I rarely go above 20-25. I don't feel the need to speed now. It's odd, since that day I almost felt I had gone as fast as I could and not the car on a road. When I found my limit, I no longer feel the need to thrash cars on the road. When I thought about how serious things could be at that speed or any high speed it put me off.

I do have a car that I take to track days (not the M) and I do have fun here, but that is a different story, I am talking about my attitude towards driving on the road now.

On the original topic, I find a lot of people, usually the hot hatch or boy racer type do try and race me. Most times I just let them tear off in their tyre smoke with their friends egging them on, and I just laugh at them and shake my head. I don't see why I should have to prove or race anything, I know what I have, I know what they have, and that's all I need. I may rarely accelerate hard to the speed limit, but thats where it stops. I had two R19 16v's try to race me today, why I will never know.

I found that some people respect M's, some just think you are a fake perhaps (there are a lot of 320's badged up and kitted out to be M's around here), and some are just stupid.

If I get someone tailgating me around town and overtaking / driving like a maniac, I make sure i just go that little bit slower just to learn them a little lesson.

There is only one point in Jonners comments that I disagree with.

That is the quote that says unwelcome attention in avoidable. Well I'm sorry but that's simply not true all the time.

There are enough morons out there to harass any driver, regardless of how calmly, responsibly and anonymously they are driving.

You can avoid a good deal of it, but not all.  I've had plenty of unwelcome attention when minding my own business.

I'd also say that the origins of this attention is split between a large section of cars - from the Nova's and Saxo's, to the mid-size marque saloons up to new 911's and even a 1 year old Ferrari 360; so I agree it's difficult to bracket the actual type of car that engages in this moronic behaviour.

However, likelihood cannot be ignored - and the fact is that particular types of cars attract other particular types of car more than another type.

Ultimately though, and as you say, of course it's down to individual drivers.

I have no problem at all with those that enjoy themselves on the public highway when conditions permit - it's those that deliberately set out to race or bait other drivers that I have the problem with.

Just take it to a track - you'll have much more fun and we'll all live a lot longer too.

The way I see it, is insanity is not particular to one group of people, meaning if you drive a nova you’re are not more likely to be declared insane then some one driving a M5.