rover for scrap spotted!

[EccentricRichard]

Remind me why you're on a Rover Forum again?

I thought we all liked them :?

I like them too. Doesn't mean I'm blind to their foibles/inadequacies for certain purposes.

Me neither, but when you have replaced everything with modern as you regularly mention and start comparing them to
'You want something about 800kg - Lotus, Caterham, Ariel, etc... it's also got a wheelbase of 2625mm, or 103.3 inches, compared to less than 95 inches for any of the usual trackday favourites.' you should be comparing them with other saloon cars of the era in their class or at least in the same park. Otherwise you'll end up with an impractical modern predictable kit car/track toy which is not what a P6 will ever be :| Lose all the foibles and you've lost the whole thing IMO.
Is this one too dull for track days?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMOT3jBxdLA
You can make them do what you want but it should still resemble a P6 for me to some level

Fair enough! Same response for our Greek correspondent - he makes several damn good points.

P. S. Regarding the Bygone Autos P6 video, which I've seen before - it's like Ken Block and his Gymkana videos. Amazing for the first couple of minutes - but it then becomes tediously predictable and showoffish. I'd much rather watch a lap of, say, Sabine Schmitz in the Nurburgring Ring Taxi, stringing together a decent lap, getting her lines and entry speeds and braking points right AND showing off a little.

 

[ghce]

"I'd much rather watch a lap of, say, Sabine Schmitz in the Nurburgring Ring "

hmmm I would rather just watch Sabine!!! as it is that would be all I would notice, what car???


Graeme

 

[webmaster]

Having done a few track days in all sorts of cars, I find it's not really the car that's important, it's the fact that you can drive it as fast as you can / like, something that you just can't do on public roads. The fun is extracting the best from whatever machinery you've got.

I drove a very highly tuned RS6 not too long ago that was capable of well over 200mph, yet on public roads it was totally pointless, unless you are prepared to brake the speed limits and drive like a t*t, then you could acheive essentially the same rate of progress in almost any modern car, and the majority of cars built in the last 20 years. Modern traffic conditions have largely removed the need for performance & handling in cars, maybe it's my age but these days comfort and economy are far more important.

Oh, and by far the best car for track days is "somebody else's car", then you don't have to worry about fuel, tyres, brakes, fixing it, etc....

 

[sowen]

Is this one too dull for track days?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMOT3jBxdLA
You can make them do what you want but it should still resemble a P6 for me to some level

Thanks for posting that up , I've only seen pictures of it so far, will sit down tonight and put the big speakers on the laptop and watch it in full

I'd much rather watch a lap of, say, Sabine Schmitz in the Nurburgring Ring Taxi, stringing together a decent lap, getting her lines and entry speeds and braking points right AND showing off a little.

I'd rather actually drive the lap myself than watch :wink:

My life won't be complete until I've driven something with a high-revving straight-six or V10 or V12 flat out up through Eau Rouge... or felt the terror of the novice almost losing it on one of the Nurburgring's blind-apex off-camber corners in the wet... and the relief of avoiding a crash, then later on the elation of stringing together a really good lap.

I knew someone who lost it on the back roads around the ring a few weeks back, and their life :cry:

 

[keynsham1]

I think my NADA V8 is probably heavy. The bumpers are made of steel around 60 thou thick and there is a steel angle inside both the front and rear. The air conditioning pump is heavy for one person and it is held in with hand cut steel welded brackets made from 1/4" plate! Add in the window electric motors and side impact bars (which resemble piec es of scaffold pole) and it all adds up at a heavy beast!

 

[DaveHerns]

[by the way, Dave, don't tell me you've never felt the desire to take a car you like and give it a good ragging round Castle Combe or Brands Hatch or Donington or Silverstone or Spa or the Nurburgring or somesuch?
/quote]

Well I might have done when I was about 20 but 37 years later , I want comfortable seats , a good ride , a good stereo and air con .
I see no point in going fast anymore .I drive for my job and don't want points in my licence ,I like to pretend I'm chauffeuring myself around . First away from the lights these days just means you're waiting longest at the next set
Probably explains why I'm insured with Saga !

 

[EccentricRichard]

"I'd much rather watch a lap of, say, Sabine Schmitz in the Nurburgring Ring "

hmmm I would rather just watch Sabine!!! as it is that would be all I would notice, what car???

Graeme

So it's not just me with the Sabine fetish? Thank God for that...

 

[EccentricRichard]

I'd much rather watch a lap of, say, Sabine Schmitz in the Nurburgring Ring Taxi, stringing together a decent lap, getting her lines and entry speeds and braking points right AND showing off a little.

I'd rather actually drive the lap myself than watch :wink:

Me too, but driving lessons are going to have to wait for a while yet...

My life won't be complete until I've driven something with a high-revving straight-six or V10 or V12 flat out up through Eau Rouge... or felt the terror of the novice almost losing it on one of the Nurburgring's blind-apex off-camber corners in the wet... and the relief of avoiding a crash, then later on the elation of stringing together a really good lap.

I knew someone who lost it on the back roads around the ring a few weeks back, and their life :cry:[/quote]

Oh aye? Who was that? Someone in the motor industry?

 

[sowen]

Oh aye? Who was that? Someone in the motor industry?

It was an employee of a neighbouring company on the airfield I work on, pushed too hard on a public road. It came as a bit of a shock to everyone.

Maybe you need to start a thread on building a track day/ ultimate performance rover :wink: as this thread seems to have drifted a little from the original topic. I think Demetris has given you some good advice in his earlier post. Channel your enthusiasm into something you can build and be proud of. There are a number of young p6 owners on here enjoying their cars in their own way, and there's a huge fountain of knowledge in the techy sections. As some of the others have put, in todays driving environment, there is almost no need for cars which produce big power figures etc (I can see that's a bit contradictory with what I'm building ), as the UK's road network is simply too overcrowded and pot-holed for them to be safe. Get your licence, get a p6, and enjoy

 

[Junkman]

I can think of a lot more better suited cars than the P6 to be converted to a pick up.

I can't. Because I can't think of a better suited car than a Rover P6 for anything.

For anything? Track day tool? The P6 is a bloody heavy, understeery, body-roll-y pig of a thing for stuff like that...
Lugging large loads? P6's boot is hardly enormous, even on the estates... Tough off-roading? You need a Range Rover for that...

Sorry, I should have been a bit more precise. For anything sophisticated, civilized and gentlemanlike is what I meant.

 

[The Rovering Member]

And who could argue with that?

 

[EccentricRichard]

I can't think of a better suited car than a Rover P6 for anything.

For anything? Track day tool? The P6 is a bloody heavy, understeery, body-roll-y pig of a thing for stuff like that...
Lugging large loads? P6's boot is hardly enormous, even on the estates... Tough off-roading? You need a Range Rover for that...

Sorry, I should have been a bit more precise. For anything sophisticated, civilized and gentlemanlike is what I meant.

So track days, load-lugging and off-roading are all uncivilised?

 

[chrisyork]

Definitely!

Chris

 

[The Rovering Member]

Indubitably!

 

[GrimV8]

Yep

 

[ghce]

Undisputably :!:

Graeme

 

[DaveHerns]

Yes

 

[Junkman]

So track days, load-lugging and off-roading are all uncivilised?

While load lugging is a task best left to the servants while one waits in the Club until they are finished with it, I could bring myself towards finding it acceptable when done with a Rover P6 pick-up.
Off roading should be restricted to fox hunts. I cannot think of a more suitable car with which to show up for such an event than a Rover P6.
Track days seem to attract those with a penchant for brightly coloured boiler suits and newfangled cars festooned with plastic accessories. I once attended one and it struck me as the motorized equivalent of a rave. Do I really have to mention that they didn't even bother to serve Martinis at the track bar? The Paris - Peking is a motorsport event worthy of a gentleman, and again, no better suited car than a Rover P6 comes to mind.

 

[ghce]

So track days, load-lugging and off-roading are all uncivilised?

While load lugging is a task best left to the servants while one waits in the Club until they are finished with it, I could bring myself towards finding it acceptable when done with a Rover P6 pick-up.
Off roading should be restricted to fox hunts. I cannot think of a more suitable car with which to show up for such an event than a Rover P6.
Track days seem to attract those with a penchant for brightly coloured boiler suits and newfangled cars festooned with plastic accessories. I once attended one and it struck me as the motorized equivalent of a rave. Do I really have to mention that they didn't even bother to serve Martinis at the track bar? The Paris - Peking is a motorsport event worthy of a gentleman, and again, no better suited car than a Rover P6 comes to mind.

Indeed trackdays seem to be populated by flash Harry's in there Porsch'a Carreras and BMW series 3's, I beleive Top Gear has a word for the likes of them T#@$$@%$ or some such varient :roll:

 

[Art Tidesco]

Is this one too dull for track days?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMOT3jBxdLA

You can make them do what you want but it should still resemble a P6 for me to some level

I quite fancy driving the two P6's as used on the 1973 Avon Tour of Britain by #25 Mike Howells / Kenneth Taylor and #28 Brian Field / William Jones on a track day for real driving skill check out this clip at 37 secs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1KuoitNwD0, Mike is really driving the wheels off his car !