...at 36 :bannana:
There was a thread recently in which Maff referred to an incident with a VW Golf GT TDi, during which his AMG momentarily failed to blow the aforementioned diesel hatch into the weeds. Of course, there was never any question about the AMG's superiority in performance terms, but that wasn't the point. Coincidentally, I'd actually sold my C230K Sport that very week after driving the Golf GT TDi 140 and now I'm the happy owner of a Shadow Blue one with 17" VW alloys. It really is the dog's wotsits, but I digress...
Yesterday I was heading back from a shoot with all my camera gear in the boot and so I was taking things fairly easy accross the Pennine A-roads. At least I was until a young buck in a Renault Clio Sport 182 (with over-the-roof stripes) decided to tailgate me. He was so close in fact, that had I simply backed off the gas he'd have hit me. Pillock...
Anyway, the kid in me took over (and although I drive quickly, I really don't race people these days...) and I decided to embarrass him. I thought that my torque advantage, driving experience (including years of track experience, albeit on bikes...
) and the surprise factor would at least give him something to think about, if nothing else. So I floored it...
Well initially he was out of the running, but his power kicked in and he pulled me into range, albeit surprisingly slowly. He managed to slipstream me and overtook VERY slowly, so when a corner came up, I backed off to let him in front. At this stage I assumed it was over for me, but he braked waaaay too early for the bend and I was past before he could do anything about it. I did a spot of left-foot dancing and kept the Golf on-torque through about a mile of twisty bends and watched with joy as Young Ayrton tried to wrestle with his lightweight, powerful and well-sorted hot hatch,only to fall victim to some terrrible understeer (the roads were damp), which sent him well into danger territory a couple of times. I was a good three or four hundred yards ahead of him by the time the road straightened, but by then I needed fuel and I pulled into a filling station feeling quite smug and slightly immature. Lovely.
I'd just exited the car when my new pal pulled up and wound his window down. I went over and he shrugged. He was genuinely surprised that I'd whupped his ass (not nearly as surprised as I was...) and he went on to tell me that the only car that'd beaten him in his Sport 182 previously, was none other than an AMG 55SL!!! Go figure, as they say...
I'm still grinning like a tw.....
There was a thread recently in which Maff referred to an incident with a VW Golf GT TDi, during which his AMG momentarily failed to blow the aforementioned diesel hatch into the weeds. Of course, there was never any question about the AMG's superiority in performance terms, but that wasn't the point. Coincidentally, I'd actually sold my C230K Sport that very week after driving the Golf GT TDi 140 and now I'm the happy owner of a Shadow Blue one with 17" VW alloys. It really is the dog's wotsits, but I digress...
Yesterday I was heading back from a shoot with all my camera gear in the boot and so I was taking things fairly easy accross the Pennine A-roads. At least I was until a young buck in a Renault Clio Sport 182 (with over-the-roof stripes) decided to tailgate me. He was so close in fact, that had I simply backed off the gas he'd have hit me. Pillock...
Anyway, the kid in me took over (and although I drive quickly, I really don't race people these days...) and I decided to embarrass him. I thought that my torque advantage, driving experience (including years of track experience, albeit on bikes...

Well initially he was out of the running, but his power kicked in and he pulled me into range, albeit surprisingly slowly. He managed to slipstream me and overtook VERY slowly, so when a corner came up, I backed off to let him in front. At this stage I assumed it was over for me, but he braked waaaay too early for the bend and I was past before he could do anything about it. I did a spot of left-foot dancing and kept the Golf on-torque through about a mile of twisty bends and watched with joy as Young Ayrton tried to wrestle with his lightweight, powerful and well-sorted hot hatch,only to fall victim to some terrrible understeer (the roads were damp), which sent him well into danger territory a couple of times. I was a good three or four hundred yards ahead of him by the time the road straightened, but by then I needed fuel and I pulled into a filling station feeling quite smug and slightly immature. Lovely.
I'd just exited the car when my new pal pulled up and wound his window down. I went over and he shrugged. He was genuinely surprised that I'd whupped his ass (not nearly as surprised as I was...) and he went on to tell me that the only car that'd beaten him in his Sport 182 previously, was none other than an AMG 55SL!!! Go figure, as they say...
I'm still grinning like a tw.....
