Fast is a state of mind
Posted by Michael Harvey at 6:45PM on Thursday 03 May, 2007 33 Comments
Bit of a moment this morning.
Not in the sense of slightly overcooking it into the blind uphill left right just outside my village only to find the dustbin lorry occupying 80 per cent of the tarmac where I'd hoped to wash off the speed, although that happened too.
But 'a moment' in the sense of a rite of passage. You know, like finding out about Santa, or the Easter bunny, or the way nothing seems quite so bad the day after it happened.
My moment was all about speed and is, frankly, a right I should have passaged years ago. It's this: there's a huge difference between a car 'going fast' and one that merely 'is fast'.
I was in Merc CL, a 600 or a 6000 or a 65000 or something. With a huge V12 and more power than is frankly tasteful, it was colossally fast.
Its ability to dispose of the huge number of WRXs that seem to populate my stretch of the M40 (answers, please?) was not unimpressive. Nor the price. Nor the equipment or technology it boasted.
A less powerful version would have been memorable, but not this one. Its speed was so utterly pointless because it bore so little relationship to the driving experience. It was fast, but it didn't go fast.
Going fast, as we debated in last month's mag and as evidenced in the 100 Fastest Cars countdown, is not about speed.
A lot of you wrote in with your stories of fantastically fast journeys carried out at heroically low speeds in response to last month's fast issue.
Now it's your turn to name your favourite fast cars. As you'll know if you clicked through our countdown, our quickest car is whatever the last hire car we'd had. There's just something liberating about not having to care that much that engenders hire cars with so much promise of adventure.
Sure, there were Lambos and Porsches and Ferraris and the McLaren on the list too. We couldn't totally ignore them. But if you want your blog posted, try to think outside the box. We'll publish your list in the next but one issue of the magazine.
Just remember that being fast isn't enough. Fast, as we said, is a state of mind.
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My top three fastest cars (100 would just take too long) have really no acceleration to speak of (or top speed for that matter) but give you a feeling that you're behind a Mclaren or any car with 500+bhp and in my books you can't beat that.
1. Ford Mustang (any model produced before 2000)
2. Honda Civic Type R
3. Mazda RX8 (preferably a rental or at least your mate's, because you can't enjoy a car fully unless you scrape the paintwork a bit)
I'm curious, why didn't the Koenigsegg make the list? Anybody who has seen the show knows that Jeremy loves it, its just as fast as the Veyron and its less sanitized.... Does it feel like its going slow at 240? I adore it and want to know what happened, but until I can get one i'll just try out some heroics in my Honda Civic (the cheapest, most economy-esque version).
Outside the box eh? Ok, how about:
Gillette Vertigo - an aerodynamic 7 with Cosworth power.
Vector W8 - Made the bedroom wall due to it's huge power (in pre Big Mac days) of 625hp.
Spectre R42 - Pretty, British built wedge with big V8 power.
Dauer 962 - Le Mans prototype for the road, one of the few things that could play in Bugatti's league.
I know just what you mean. I commute down fantastic country roads to workand most of the time I'm tired and I can't be bothered driving my 98 1.25 Fiesta, then all of a sudden I'm driving the doors off the thing, swinging from corner to corner, screaming the pants out of the revvy engine with a huge grin on my face. Arrive at work even more tired, but soooo much happier. By the way, is it hometime yet?
40mph in a DAF 66 (Variomatic transmission) feels fast - in reverse! They'd go as fast in reverse as forwards. Handling's not so hot, though.
Fast is my AWD Forester 2.5 turbo, 2007 model. It is after all a family station wagon, comfy, roomy and filled with light, silent runing and competent on off road. Looks as interesting as yesterday's news too. But when you floor it, it goes like shit from a shovel. Makes the whole range of last generation hot hatches seem to have the power of shoping carts... Now that's fast.
My 1990 Japanese-spec SW20 3S-GTE MR2 Targa, a mid-engined four-pot running 10psi through the turbo, with overwide tyres on the rear.
Apart from the tyres she was factory-stock. Not the most powerful car I've driven but it was the by far THE most fun I have ever had on four wheels. It was a fast car, but it felt so much faster than it really was!
Selling it was one of my biggest mistakes.
Having passed my test on April Fool's morning 1981 I bought my first car - a 1972 Hillman Imp.
With the flush of youth and testosterone I thought I was the bees knees let alone the fastest man south of the river. I have the best memories of charging around the Surrey countryside with a bag of cement in the in the front boot of the car (engine in the back!) to keep the front wheels on the tarmac and try and gain some steering feel!
I once ended up in a ditch after spinning it through 360 degrees and that journey felt like warp speed. Having worked my way up to a TVR 350i as a batchelor, then numerous 'hot hatches' and 'executive' saloons as a family man that Imp still evokes memories as the 'fastest' and most hair raising car I have ever driven.
If we're talking about seat of your pants fun rather than raw numbers, the fastest cars have to be the light weights. My list:
1) Toyota MR-2 / MR-S
2) Lotus Elise
3) Mini Cooper S
4) Mazda Miata
5) Porsche 914
6) Honda Civic Type R
I'm sure the Ariel Atom could be added to this list, but I've never seen or driven one.
My top 3:
My 68 mini. Would barely manage 90 but it felt a lot faster.
My uncles '67 mk 11 Cortina/Savage. As a kid I would spend all day Saturday cleaning & polishing it, then on Sunday we would head off in to the country side to see how big my eyes would get.
Lastly, after moving to Canada, and having pick up after pickup, my 92 Dodge Dakota, with a police interceptor engine, would spin the tires on the 2-3 shift, handled like a truck but boy was it fast in a straight line. I'm sure the Ariel Atom could be added to this list, but I've never seen or driven one.
My 'fastest' adventure was when I had to travel 22 miles through the Yorkshire Dales to answer some emergency call or other (domestic rather than official I might add!). For some reason I found when I started driving that I was 'in the zone', belting along those winding narrow roads smooth and fast with slick and immaculate gearchanges, sliding the vehicle in crazy drifts which just seemed to be perfect all the way through the journey.
When I arrived and stopped the car, I looked at my watch and was amazed at how quickly I had covered the journey. It was a ridiculously quick time for this run, which I knew like the back of my hand by the way.
The young lady in the passenger seat must have been scared I reckon, because she didn't utter a syllable all the way there, just gripping the sides of the seat (it was only a two seater and very light).
When we arrived, she just burst out into adrenaline fuelled laughter of relief that said 'wow, I'm still in one piece'.
That was a fast, fast machine. It was only because I was 'in the zone'.
What was the flying machine? A 1.1 Fiesta van! Now that's fast!to this list, but I've never seen or driven one.
My favourite "fast" car that we have owned was a 1995 Fiat Cinquecento Sporting in obligatory yellow.
It was cheap to buy, which was good because to get anywhere you had to thrash the nuts of the thing, but at that price you didn't mind. It always felt hellishly fast as you went everywhere bouncing off the limiter, but in reality you were barely moving fast enough to get Plod's attention, and it always returned over 45mpg however hard we abused it!
Sold it after 18 months for what we paid for it too. Our other car at the time was an Impreza Turbo. Hmmmm.
The Mazda MX-5, I can't believe it wasn't there.
It's such a great little car, we own one, and its great. It doesnt need 600bhp, or launch control.
What it has is a speed that satisfies you completely, but you don't have to have money.
Its performance is more enjoyable than a supercar. You accelerate, and 1 second later you're hard on the brakes.
The MX-5 you can enjoy the performance anywhere, especially on B-roads, where it's more fun than something you just spent 100 grand on.
The most thrilling "fast car" I'we ever been in has to be an old eighties Ford Fiesta Savoy I borrowed from a friend for a short trip to Germany.
Compared to this thing the Toyota Hilux from the show would be a vehicle in absolute mint condition.
Only 4 working gears, no reverse, holes everywhere and at least 3 different tires on the thing. It dropped three rubber tubes wrapped in duct tape on the way down there and no matter how creative I got, there was no way those things would fit onto anything under the bonnet.
It didn't seem to bother the car though and doing 110 km/h on the winding country roads, with the tarmac peeking at you through several holes in the floor and that slight doubt whether the right rear wheel was still there, has to the most extreme feeling of speed and "driving on the edge" I've ever experienced.
Speaking of the relativity of speed I'we also noticed that when driving newer cars the sensation of speed is far from as intense as in most older cars.
I drive a 1986 BMW E30 320i (no it's not been "carbaged") and even the trip to the mall can be a thrill because of the lowered ride height and low profile tires.
However when I'm in one of the other family cars (Hyundai Getz, Citroen Picasso) I often find myself going twice as fast and thinking: "God this thing is slow".
My old '65 Mini panelvan. Every trip was at full pace, on the squealy limits of adhesion, and so very much fun... despite the 50mph top speed. The fact that it was a piece of crap imbued it with the same invicibleness of a hire car. Fastest car ever.
I drive a 1969 MG Midget, which is basically a go-kart with some flimsy bodywork, and any speed in that car feels like you're going fast. The most fun part of driving is driving at the limit, and you don't need a Ferrari going round a roundabout at 80mph to do that, you need an old banger doing the same thing at 30.
Way back when i was still single, my future wife had just passed her test & was now the owner of a Honda Civic 1.3 16V.
My journey to work took my Fiat Tipo 16V, driven hard, about 40mins, but the day i had to take her old Honda was the best drive that i had ever had.
The engine just loved to be revved & working the gears to overtake made each one more rewarding than just sweeping by in fifth. Every bend & every rounderbout became about not losing that hard-won speed.
Even though it took longer to get to work, the pleasure of driving the slower car was huge!
More bhp dosen't mean more fun!
My first car i owned was the "fastest". An E reg mk2 astra, GTE replica.
Although it was only packing a 1.3 engine it was brilliant. You could chuck any type of abuse at it and it would just soak it up.
During my 2 years with the car, I ventured into someone's back garden and parked on their flower bed, had a dukes of hazzard moment over a cross road and had various close calls.
There was nothing faster than it through the country lanes and it felt like you were doing 100 when you were in fact doing 50.
Loved every minute of it, i want it back!
Fastest moment of my life? Hmm... In a Nissan Micra 1.4 90bhp automatic on a long,twisty,gravel road at Tzia island in Greece.
Doing 60-70 km/h for 30-40 minutes,watching the cliffs surrounding me and the blistering sun on my skin leading me to one of the most beautiful beaches on earth!
That's fast - and rewarding...
My fastest car would be my first car, an 'R' reg Vauxhall Corsa 1.4. Bombing along, banging against the rev limiter at top speed...75mph!
At that time in my mind it was brutally fast and although I now drive a car with 350bhp in my mind the corsa will always be the fastest car there is!
Seems I'm not the only one to nominate the Hillman Imp.
At one point I had an enhanced 950cc Talbot Sunbram engine waiting to be fitted and so I decided to see what the 875cc engine could do. 85mph before I slammed on the [unassisted drum] brakes.
Then there was the driveway up to my uni digs. After a while I knew exactly how to drift along it and there wasn't much that could keep up.
Second goes to my Peugeot 205 which introduced me to the joy of lift-off oversteer. There's few cars that can go sideways so quickly.
Since then there's been Legacy Turbos and Jag XKRs, but they are just quick. Nothing has yet captured the raw feeling of speed that the Imp and the 205 managed.
The fastest car in the world in my opinion is a off-yellow 1988 Mercedes 190E with 320,000 km on the clock driven by a taxi driver called Helmut.
F1 drivers find F1 cars slow, so there's absolutely no way speed could possibly have anything to do with how fast you feel.
It's all about the driver, and Helmut was crap. (Though I'm not entirely sure if his name was actually Helmut).
You can't beat a well-sorted classic Mini for the pleasure of feeling fast. The most fun on four wheels, quick as hell, at least thats what it feels like in a 10'x5' box with 100bhp tuned A series.
That's easy - Datsun 180B, driving at the tender age of 12, in a paddock.
Its willingness to be flogged, without mercy, and at all times, gave this car a magical sense of speed - regardless of what the speedometer told you. Which, um, was a bit irrelevant, since the instrument in question was broken anyway. Along with most of the other dials. And any comfort or convenience feature left in the car, for that matter.
But these flaws hardly mattered - what the 180B had instead was that magic. The sort of magic that one can only feel while deftly holding a poweslide, engine valve bouncing its heart out, then grabbing third and shooting off through the field to the next corner.
With wheelspin on tap, forgiving yet ropey controls, a farty-crackling exhaust note on overrun, and the distinct smell of unburnt fuel circulating the cabin, that Datsun 180B was a car that assaulted all the senses with that magic - that feeling of "fast".
My fastest experience was in Australia. I bought myself a nice little Ute. (1980 something Toyota Hilux, 360.000 Ks on the clock, 4 Speed Column shift, 30 L/100km - cost me 200 $Aus) and there was this nice gravel path going up to the farm... Sliding sideways, the engine screaming like mad, passengers screaming with fear... Oh so much fun everymorning and afternoon. I sooo miss that little ol' Bute, I'd prefer it over an Enzo anyday!
If fast is a state of mind, then surely the original Mini Cooper is one of the fastest cars around. The scream of the engine, the wail of the gearbox etc. made the Cooper seem like the fastest go-kart in the world. I'm surprised at the omission if the Fiat 695 Abarth made the fast list. Surely the Mini is every bit as "fast".
The fastest car I ever drove was my old 1998 Ford Explorer. The V6 engine (not the V8, mind you) would roar and shake like a lion trying to escape from a cage when it got over 2,500 revs.
The manual shifter had to be moved at least a foot every time you wanted to change gear. Every bump and crack in the pavement made its way directly to the seat of your pants.
The steering wheel was connected to the front wheels via a series of rubber bands, and every time you went around a corner, you felt the need to crawl over to the other side of the car just to keep things level.
I've never felt so unsafe in a car as I did in that one. Needless to say, I just loved it.
My favorite fast car would have to be my 1994 Honda Integra VTiR (In Australia, that's what we call the little brother to the Type R).
It is by no means the fastest car on the road. After all, it gets blitzed by WRXs, and even the newer 6 cylinder Commodores and Falcons are quicker in a line.
But there's something about that B18C2 engine which is just art. Someone at Honda had obviously gone totally mad when they designed this car, and it's Civic counterpart. There is a sense of urgency and fun about the whole machine - handling, power and brakes.
The engine seems to goad you on to higher and higher revs until the rev limiter steps in - like some kind of fun police - to ruin the moment.
There's no warning. One second the power is building, the next you've blown right past redline. Oops.
Oh well, back off and it reverts to a very livable and economical day driver. Then it's time to go home and see how badly I've bruised the groceries that were in the boot. Oops again.
I'm still wondering where the proper British Mini Cooper is on the Top 100! They have that big German one (mais naturellement) but where's the legendary winner of the '67 Monte Carlo rally?
To include that weeny Daihatsu thing that noone'e ever heard of (not to mention the utterly fictional new Fiat Abarth) and leave out the proper Mini, the one that started it all, is criminal. Bah, humbug. Rant over.
I do agree with the inclusion of the Forrester XT though: as a 4WD station wagon ("estate" to you Empire-types) it really has no right to be that much fun to drive.
I can certainly vouch for the speed of the Rental. I had a 2007 3-door 1.4L model (Korean-built, started with "H" I think) for a long weekend earlier this year and the bloody thing handled like a slot car!
Had no guts up the hills around home, but going downhill to Adelaide (Sth Aust.) the wheelbase felt about a metre long and the brakes felt like Porsche ceramic discs. One of the best speedsters I've ever driven, except perhaps for that Golf MkII cabrio that wasn't mine...
The first car I could really have called 'mine' was an R reg BMW 316i Compact. Lucky, I hear you say? Truth be told it was a battered old hand-me-down from my cousin who had left it on her driveway unused for well over 18 months.
The radiator was replaced 3 times in the 6 months that I had it, the thermostat twice. The overheating meant that the head gasket blew and a problem involving the oil pressure cracked the cylinder head.
The speakers kept shorting out because the heat sink in the head unit didn't work and it was getting really hot and was melting the wires. The guy who discovered it called it a 'fire hazard', and the boot hydraulics didn't even work so unsuspecting passengers would open the boot to get something out only to find it dropping on their head the minute they reached in. And yet through all this it's probably the car that's felt the fastest I've ever driven.
To start with, it looked pretty fast standing still. Nobody need know about the problems I was having with it on a daily basis when it was parked up. My cousin had had an M-Sport bodykit fitted to it when she bought it brand new, and it really looked the part.
As it happens, my dad has a CL 600, and I've driven it and it's straight line power is breathtaking, but it never FEELS fast. You need to glance down at the speedo to know you're doing 120 mph. But the 316i was different. It couldn't even do 120 mph yet always felt more fun.
A particular story comes to mind when I was on the way back from the gym and it was pouring with rain. I approached a round about, it was clear, so I planted the throttle and swung the wheel left as far as I could and as I exited the corner I noticed that I was pointing the wheel straight but I wasn't going straight... I was aquaplaning.
At the time it was shit-scary, but looking back on it now I remember the adrenaline rush and it was sort of fun. No harm came to anyone, and that moment probably would never have occurred in any other car.
Despite all the times I had to wait in the cold for the AA to show up because the car had broken down again I would have never traded the experiences I had in that car. In fact, some of the best experiences didn't even occur with me in the driving seat.
I was in the back with someone else... so that brings me down to my real question: does going fast standing still count?
How about the Ford Escort RS2000? Now there lies a proper fast car that needed driver input, which I think is what is missing with the modern avionic fast cars. The RS also had what a lot of new fast cars miss, soul.
Alfa GTV6... Well, it sounds the fastest!
Fast is my first car...
A 1000cc black Mini with stupidly wide wheels PLUS spacers made it the fastest car around any corner. I used to love leaving everything for dust as I went into a tight right hander at 30mph, not even tickling the brake pedal.
Exit the corner, look in the rear miror and there was just empty space behind you for what seemed like hours.
Years later, now driving a Subaru that can corner like it's a slot car I reckon if I were to track down my old mini it would put the sooby in it's place as the best urban street racer.
Those were the days.