Mon 9th Oct 2006 - Flying Spur / 5th gear / Wet weather

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Mon 9th Oct 2006 - Flying Spur / 5th gear / Wet weather

Post by neil » Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:11 pm

Well far from being a daily blog it feels more like a weekly one - must work on that ! In fact to give me some extra motivation I'll be creating a blog for our two other admins...

Anyhow enough of that. Todays topics....


The Flying Spur
What do you think, It's still not happening for me - I have now seen a number of these around - particularly around London and they just don't shout out like the Continental - the shape is just quite dull. I'm in no doubt whatsoever it'll be a great car and have a fabulous interior - but for all that money you'd want a bit more pow for your money.


Fifth Gear
I'm sat watching it at the moment and it seems a bit all over the place. What do you guys think ? Tiff is obviously taking a backseat, hence the new presenter - Tim Lovejoy. Jason Plato also seems to have disappeared.

Wet weather driving
Twice in the last week I've had the misfortune and fortune to sample the extent that car electronics (or in the first case lack of them) have on vehicle stability. Most of the time you read car magazines, watch car tv programmes, and perhaps even read fastsaloons.com talking about switching off the traction control. Most of the time the systems are accused of being a nuisance, or just a plain inconvenience. In fact we chastise cars for not having a button to switch them off. Well that probably all well and good when it’s dry. However, in the torrential rain last week I hit some standing water at a reasonably brisk speed the effect was that the rear of the car was pushed out wide and I found myself in a “bit of situation”. Luckily for me I was in a pretty balanced car (RX8 PZ) and its abilities (I’d be rather naïve to think it was mine) meant I was able to straighten the car up with not too much drama, if a little swearing.

My second exposure was at the launch of Rockingham’s new wet grip track. Here under controlled conditions I was able to re-enact similar situations with and without traction control. To be honest it’s pretty amazing what various cars, all Mazda’s again – Mazda MX5, Mazda 5, Mazda 6 MPS, Mazda 3 Sport were able to do with traction control. For the front-wheel drive cars the car was able to steer, without it they just go in a straight line, with the rear wheel drive and all wheel drive it keeps them straight, or rather stops them spinning.

(The facilities at Rockingham are a first for the UK and they plan to make them available to the public as well as manufacturers and corporate entertainment days. We’ll post more about the facilities soon in a report.)

Cheers
Last edited by neil on Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by Heuer » Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:27 pm

Ahh the Flying Spur. Gives me great pleasure to ask Bentley owners - "Is that the new Chrysler 300C?" Have also moved on to asking Chrysler owners what their new Bentley is like! Keeps me amused at Petrol stations at least. Try it. :twisted:
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Post by hythe » Tue Oct 10, 2006 2:24 pm

I'd definitely have a B7 over a Flying Spur...
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Post by v8 ego » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:14 pm

hythe wrote:I'd definitely have a B7 over a Flying Spur...
I wouldn't have either 'cos I'm broke :( :lol: :lol:

Seriously, given the choice, I would have the B7 too. I just don't like Bentrleys or RR for that matter.
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Post by hythe » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:39 pm

How about a "baby" Rolls-Royce powered by an R-R badged Alpina H3 engine (say, a 5.0l supercharged V8)

All this prattling in the press that it could use a modified version of the M5's V10 - strikes me as silly - the V10 is a great engine, but it's not right for an R-R.

Did you know that Burkhard Bovensiepen is the Chairman of the German R-R owner's club - apparently BMW consulted him on brand values when they bought Rolls-Royce!
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Post by neil » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:51 am

Regards the 300C vs. Flying Spur - I was driving past Buckingham Palace today (well I was the passenger in a black cab!) and low and behold coming around in adjacent lanes was a Flying Spur and a 300C - both grey - separated at birth ! Wish I'd thought to take a photo it would have been photographic proof.

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Post by v8 ego » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:11 pm

I popped in to Lind this morning and a Bentley convertible went past (brand new 56 plate). The funny thing, I consciously had a mental block and sat there thinking "Ooh, I didn't know they did a 300C convertible".

I suppose the bright side is you can now get a £30k Bentley with a Chrysler badge on it :shock:
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James

2022 BMW X7 40d M-Sport
2019 BMW X5 M50d
2018 BMW M760Li
2017 BMW 530i M-Sport Touring (SOLD)
2012 BMW 520d ED (Gave it back)
2011 BMW 535d GT SE (SOLD)
2008 BMW 730d SE (SOLD)
2007 BMW X5 3.0d SE (SOLD)
2007 D3 Touring 166 (SOLD)
2005 BMW 750i Sport (SOLD)
2005 BMW 730d Sport (SOLD)
2001 B10 V8 Touring 012/1 (SOLD)
2001 B10 V8 saloon 044/1 (SOLD)
1999 BMW 750iL (SOLD)
1997 BMW 750iL (SOLD)

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