DK One

23rd July 2001

About a year ago I was cycling home and I passed the local motorsport track and heard all these car engines being revved. Curious I cycled in and found that there was a major car event on. With nothing better to do I went in, bike and all and sat down. What followed was an amazing three hours of entertainment. To a motorsport enthusiast like myself, this was pure heaven! Suped up cars racing around a track followed by banger racing.

Banger racing involves the resurrection of cars that have until recently had to call the scrap yard their home. Some are probably recent MOT failures. Gutted of everything bar the engine, electric’s, shell and wheels, they are fitted with a roll-cage and a drivers safety seat and harness. No fuel tanks allowed, just a little can and feed attached to the roll-cage.

Cars that I long forgot existed such as Granadas, Cortinas, Triumphs and the ever popular XJ6 Jaguar have been quickly re-sprayed with the team colours, with 6 inch spikes through the bonnets where scaffolding crimps have been employed to keep them down.

If you’ve never seen a banger race then I urge you to do so. As you sit there watching you do not care who wins. You just revel in the carnage as the full-contact sport erupts before you. High speed crashes, spins, rolls and pile-ups are the norm. Extra points if your car catches fire, even better if your car lasts the race! I’ve seen cars loose their exhaust, have no rear, blown tires, have rolled several times and the engine is smoking so bad that its amazing the driver can see anything. Yet they are still going!

So a year later and the same event is back on. This time I have guests and I have to ensure that we get there on time, get parked, get in and the weather is looking decidedly dodgy so I compensate with umbrellas. So it was not until I am finally at the track sat down that I can relax and enjoy the show.

It was great! ;o)

…

Sunday came and I could be found out on the country lanes driving a Mitsubishi FTO. Not a bad car to be fair and certainly quick. The manual transmission reminded me of the Peugeot 306 in that it preferred to be doing 30mph in second gear.

I gave it a few hard turns and was pleasantly surprised that it had a decent road grip. Hills were not a problem but fourth gear is a bit dull unless you are doing about 50mph before you step on the pedal. I advise being in third gear going up steep hills.

From a standing start the FTO will get up to 60mph in less than 7 seconds. A shade better than the Supra. The latter of course weighs considerably more and has a higher BHP rating.

I later allowed the FTO’s owner to take my Supra out for a test drive. You can tell the difference between the two almost immediately. The FTO is lighter and has a very European feel to it. Whereas the Supra is big, noisy and is well suited to the American market where big engines (3 litres) and wide wheel bases are the norm.

The final verdict? The FTO is a nice drive and the 2ltr V6 packs a punch and accelerates really well but I’m not impressed with its looks and the insurance group is a tad too high for me. And anyway, I still kinda have my eye on the Nissan 300ZX (yeah I know porbably costs even more).

The FTO’s owner however liked the Supra. It is big, grips the road well (17x225 tyres) and he likes performing kick downs (it’s an Auto). He’s thinking of going for the new MkIV as his next car.

Hope you had a good weekend too.

DK

18th July 2001

Well I've finally gotten around to adding some colour to Detox. Hope you guys like it. I'm using the current thread to introduce several new characters to the strip as well as a basis for poking fun at various interests of my friends and my own.

A big hi to Mark who sent me some digital photos of himself so I can turn him into our tech support guy.

Funny but I cannot be arsed writing much these days.. Must be the weather.

DK

Previous DK One:
10th July 2001
8th July 2001
3rd July 2001
5th June 2001
24th May 2001
22nd May 2001
21st May 2001
1st May 2001
8th April 2001
12th March 2001
22nd February 2001
13th February 2001
4th February 2001
23rd January 2001