Power-to-weight Ratio

[Guest GEEZER]

thanx for all the info guys , I've been thinking about taking off the badge.. I'll take it off if it happens again Overall Power-to-weight rule stinks! if anything just dont let us drive the big block V8's but ah well, bloody victoria, one of the few faults about it hehe

[BlueXR6Turbo]

I suggest you move to a different state!

[curious]

Excellent points plonk, however you put a young driver in a defensive driver course it will do two things

1. Improve the driving capabilty of the youngster within that controlled and familiar environment. (overall positive)

2. Make the driver "bulletproof". If he/she is tought a different level than the youngster (we all have him tucked away) will come out and feel obligated to show their friends the new things they have learnt whch means coming unstuck in a big way. (seen in Europe)

I have seen it and I know you would have when completing advanced driver courses, motorcade courses etc. How often would an adrenelin pumped comrade go that little bit more...

Its human instrinct amongst peers.

Those skills are not something you pick up over night but I admit it is a good thing if dicipline is apart of the overall package when it comes to young drivers.

[Lumpen]

I totally agree with the limit on P Plate power and Im a NSW (Green) P Plater myself.

Although I first had my L plates on a worked 351 XC (approx 400Hp) I had been driving for about 4 years previous.

My first car with my P's was a carby XF falcon with 98.5Kw (yeah right!) I had done some pretty wild things in this including moderate drifting on desolate wet roads and some intense paddock bashing out on farms.Some REAL scandanavian flick action going on out there!

I dont think im a world class driver by any means but I like to think im competant in the control of a vehicle. A few weeks ago I had to take dads car out as my car was in the workshop.Now, its no beast by any stretch of the imagination, its merely an EB XR8 with about 200KW. It was a wet night and coming home I gave it a bit of throttle out of the corner....Instant tail out!

it surprised the hell out of me and my first reaction was to snap off the throttle....being an LSD I however thought better of it and gentley backed off.

Now with less than 100KW it was easy and almost fun to get a bit sideways but with double that it was not fun at all.Like I say, im fairly competant with car control and was still a bit spooked with even a bit of moderate power.

Now this car is well under $10,000 in this modified form and consequently quite accesable to young drivers on their P Plates tc, even with insurance its still resonable.I drive with my friends and wonder how many of them wouldnt of spun the bas*ard right around?

I think that limits on power make total sense because I havent seen anybody my age who has an even moderately powerful car handle it properly...Ie-The big burnout the did where they got totally whipped around by the LSD was deliberate, yeah and that smell is something you just stepped in too....

This car will be mine June next year and I will be putting myself through some car control courses (ie-Mt Cotton Skid Pan) before I take delivery of it as I dont wish to be a statistic. I have already had about four friends and a brother in 'write the car off' style accidents before the age of twenty.Thank god they not injured but they have all had time in hospital.

I wonder if the cars (a HSV Supercharged 6 (owned), a HSV enhanced Statesman V8(fathers) and a Telstar TX5 Turbo (uncles) with a warm engine and a VU SS Ute (owned) ) had of had less power they migh not of been STUPID enough to get THEMSELVES in that kind of mess.(well all but one, he registered 0.17 on the breatho!)

On another note however I would be against the P Plate mate legislation they're trying to bring in.I generally dont drink however most of my mates do, so naturally Im the designated driver.Fair Enough.Now Yamba is a long skinny town, with the CBD up on the hill and residential areas anywhere up to 8 Km away.If I didnt drive my mates home, sometimes at 1 - 130 in the morning is it better they walk drunk home along a major throughfare?

I also work as a part-time DJ...now I have two 160L boxes and two 80L boxes (in laymans terms the big boxes are 130x47x35cm and the other ones are a bit smaller).I also have an $800 amplifier that weighs about 20Kg an numerous other tidbits. Am I meant to carry my gear 10Km home, one piece at a time because I have P Plates?

Oh well, we will never have a fair system I dont suppose but at least I hope it wakes up to some of its dangerous ineffieciences.

[BlueXR6Turbo]

I think that limits on power make total sense because I havent seen anybody my age who has an even moderately powerful car handle it properly...Ie-The big burnout the did where they got totally whipped around by the LSD was deliberate, yeah and that smell is something you just stepped in too....

I have recently gotten to know a young male who seems to have excellent car control. I've seen him doing what a lot of people would call crazy stuff (drifting, etc.) and never once has he looked like he didn't have control. I don't know exactly how old he is, but I know he's still at school, so I would say about 17. He drives a very powerful car (something like a turbo 180SX that keeps up with my T). And I think he drives this car with more skill than what a lot of older people that I know would be able to.

While I admit that someone like this is very much in the minority, I don't think we should lose sight of the fact that there are some very good young drivers around. I think it is wrong to punish such people because the majority of young drivers are bad.

I would love for governments and police to spend as much resources on crime prevention rather than traffic rule enforcement. It seems like the governments are trying to make it so we all feel safe on the roads, but when we get home we have to lock ourselves in our houses and worry like hell about gangs, home invasions, etc.

... down off the soapbox now!

[Lumpen]

Theres no doubt that there a few REALLY good young drivers out there.I merely wish there was more.

I havent personally seen any at all.Outside stuff like the open wheelers etc.that's to say I havent seen anybody my age with a powerful ROAD car with the ability to handle it proficiently.

One of my friends crashed a bloody Gemini fer chris'sakes and younguns like him are in the majority!

Over time im trying to build up my current car to compete in with the local motorsort group, theres a really nice Hillclimb Track and club out the back of Grafton apparently.

[Marcos]

I'm glad I have my licence, and have all that sh*t out of my system now. I would hate to be going for my licence at this day of age. Don't forget that a 200kw single spinner is totally different to one with a LSD. They are definately scary in the wet.

[rapt]

Cant wait for my young bloke to get his Ps !

every time he hears the keys rattle I find him in the drivers seat ready and rearing to go.

Wants to drive around town all the time, late braking, fast take offs, OH and we only use the blinker as we are making a turn!

I have been taking him out on the back roads teaching him why its stupid to even try to do the speed limit in some places.

Nearly had a bit of a problem awhile back ( NOT IN THE BO :banghead: ) wasnt his fault but I gave him an ear full he came back with wasnt my fault I said no good being right and dead.

Trouble is they think everyone is going to do the right thing.

OH when taking L platers is it .05 or .00

If its .00 might have get some pills or something.

I am in VIC.

[plonky]

Excellent points plonk, however you put a young driver in a defensive driver course it will do two things

1. Improve the driving capabilty of the youngster within that controlled and familiar environment. (overall positive)

2. Make the driver "bulletproof". If he/she is tought a different level than the youngster (we all have him tucked away) will come out and feel obligated to show their friends the new things they have learnt whch means coming unstuck in a big way. (seen in Europe)

I have seen it and I know you would have when completing advanced driver courses, motorcade courses etc. How often would an adrenelin pumped comrade go that little bit more...

Its human instrinct amongst peers.

Those skills are not something you pick up over night but I admit it is a good thing if dicipline is apart of the overall package when it comes to young drivers.

How old are young Police officers? 19? 20? 21?

Would they normally be on Green P's?

Yes, and the defensive driving course they do is State of the Art in NSW however (even these people) allow their ambition to get confused with their ability and the ability of the car they are driving.

Each Police Force has a body of empirical evidence (defensive driving) which indicates that a properly trained driver is a positive step towards hazard reduction.

However, put these people in the position where they DON'T have a very onerous Safe Driver Policy, or experienced Police around to supervise them, and you will see that they will still want to 'risk take' (apparently that's the new buzz word)

The thing which prevents them is a system which leaves you defenceless when it comes to civilian complaints and a system which is punitive both criminally and departmentally.

(I know I used to think I was the best driver in the world as well because I was trained. That personal opinion disappeared very quickly after a big 'back off oversteer' in a VL Late model camira put me into a telegraph pole at Mt Druitt back in 1988)

[Macktheknife]

So, the plonkster is one of us after all.....

Mine was a 75 mph loose, on a straight section of the Windsor Road at McGraths Hill in an FC Expensive Daewoo Ute about 20 years earlier.

I missed everything. Luckily as it was the Boss's car.

"How was this" I hear you ask. Well that's a story to be told around a couple of beers.