Club Arnage

Here is the bargain of the day.  What's your bid???


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/07-SSC-Ultimate-Aero-TT-Exotic-Supercar-Ferrari-1180-HP_W0QQitemZ160015765472QQihZ006QQcategoryZ6472QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

I'd need to see the gearstick, and silver would be better but I'd pay 350K.

dunno... the warranty sounds a bit poor:  1 year and no rust protection!


Basic Warranty: 1 Year/Unlimited Miles
Powertrain: 1 Year/Unlimited Miles
Rust-through: N/A


i'll swap it for mine + a couple of crates of Verve Click...

Huh! Honda Civic headlights - cheap gits. I'll stick with the Suburban.

I'm not entirely happy about buying a car with the engine made out of sausages  :o

if you are going to buy a gold car off ebay make it a HUMBER  8)

It's difficult to know what to make of something produced by such an unknown quantity as the Ultimate. I've no doubt that they've thought it all through very carefully but to claim it's absolutely stable at 273mph smacks to me of nonsense. A look at the gearing ratios chosen is quite enlightening. 1st to 5th go up in nice 35-45mph increments. Shifting up to 6th means 100mph spread to the theoretical top speed. Now that is not what I call a close ratio box!!

If this thing is so wonderful then one wonders why they are having to advertise it on eBay, the spiritual home of the cheapskate, jus for the so-called "publicity". Good luck to them, I'll be first to congratulate them if they can rub VAG's nose in it by trouncing the Bugatti at Wolfsburg, but personally I can't see they have the faintest chance.

A bit like the DB9 that claims to be able to do over 200mph. Fifth Gear tested it on a runway two miles long but it was unable to get there!

Setting aside the fact that the DB9 is supposed to be a gentleman's GT car and not a hotrod, Rick, and indeed the syntactical suicide in your suggesting the car itself is claiming the top speed, where on earth did this supposed VMAX of 200 mph come from? The offical performance figures stated by Aston Martin put the top speed of the roadgoing DB9 as 186mph, a figure I'm perfectly prepared to accept as true.

Anyway just because a vehicle can't reach a particular speed on a two mile runway does not necessarily mean it's not capable of that speed given a longer run. The slightest consideration of the length used to accelerate, then brake and also allow for a sensible margin of error and I guess you're left with not much over a mile in top gear. Coinsider then that at near VMAX the vehicle is covering a mile every twenty seconds and anyone with half a brain can see that two miles total length is woefully inadequate.

Also, where is this supposed two mile runway? Even the JCB diesel land speed car is currently practicing at RAF Wittering which has a 1.6 mile of blacktop. I was led to believe this was the longest in the UK, so where has a two mile straight?

Once more it's sloppy journalism and wooly thinking masquerading as fact by an increasingly hopeless Fifth Gear .

It was not aimed to knock Fifth gear or the car, If I had the money I would an Aston.

Basically most cars top speed is not easy to reach unless you have a lot of open road. I drove my van home on sunday down the M4 past Reading and cruised with the other motors at around 100-115mph. I recon that it took me over 5miles to get there!

I would love to know how much open road you need to achieve terminal velocity.

"Andy we know that terminal velocity in the commer is reached a lot faster then most other CA members cars".

I believe you are correct however I remember hearing that it was Aston's first 200mph car.



Agree.


Not sure but Greenham Common used to have over 2 miles of runway. How long is the runway at Marham?

You can expect a handfull of NIPs from Thames Valley Police through your letter box any time soon then!

BTW, I would not consider 100-115mph to be "cruising".  More likely you were reaming the arse off the VW - is it still for sale?

Rick I wasn't having a go at the DB9 but obviously at Fifth Gear which comes out with some terrible crap in my opinion. Trying to break a top speed which doesn't exist on a runway shorter than it actually is described deserves all the brickbats that get hurled at it.

Who claimed it was Astons 200mph car? I very much doubt it was actually Aston Martin. Seeing as the Vanquish was out first and is a genuine 200mph+ car, why would Aston then release another car priced £50,000 cheaper with the same performance?

Greenham I think is now covered in houses/indusrial units! Marham, from memory is 1.45 miles, MG Mark could verify this?

You could be right about the Commer but unfortunately the max speed is only 65 which takes about forty odd seconds. That's the whole problem with statistics, knowing how to interpret them!

Not to mention a hefty fine and a three month period of quiet reflection whilst cycling to work for the duration. Why would you want to go that speed in such a vehicle, it can't be very pleasant can it? Surely 115mph in a VW van with a side awning surely cannot be deemed to be safe?  :o

Quite a way methinks.. on the payage in france i got up to 165 on my R1 in no time but it creeped to 175.. and at that speed its about 4 footy pitches a second!!

the same with the motor.. a 2.5 v6 galant estate auto (fully loaded with camping stuff).. creeped up to 139 eventually (verified by the following RX8) twice on the way to LM this year..

all these runway tests are a bit hit and miss...

Andy ;D

Nope it has returned to Common Land the only area being build on is where Hangars where and these are being converted to Offices and industrial units. Most are being converted by Newbury College students who are practicing their building skills.

I am not sure I would like to enter one of those buildings without a safety hat!

The runway was apparently part dug up but there are still all the taxi ways in existance.

PS Steve the van is no longer for sale unless I get offers above my old asking price. I have been promoted at work and increased salary and can now afford to keep the van.
It is going in for a major service next week hence the final thrashing. Neighbour has offered to carry out all the work in aid of a few beers. Thinking of fitting a turbo to assist with getting to 60mph my usual caravan speed.  ::)

It WILL be at Donnington.

When on the queens (or presidents) highways the only way for a gentleman to travel is at an adequate cruising pace in overdrive 4th i find. Take time to slow down and enjoy the countryside you are going through.

Open a quaterlight, feel the cool air whistle past your hand on your large diameter bakelight steering wheel, and relax. You would never find a Humber driving at such excess.

Having been asked by his greatness to verify runway lengths, I can but oblige.   Most WW2 RAF stations that ended up with paved runways had 6,000 foot main runway (1.4 miles) constructed, which were extended with the coming of the jet age in the early 50s at those stations retained psot WW2 to an 8,000 foot main runway (1.6 miles - which is what Marham has).   A few stations have longer runways and are used for transport aircraft (like Brize, Greenham, Fairford etc) which need longer stretches and have a 10,000 ft  runway (1.9 miles).   In all cases you can knock off a few hundred usable yards from each end as it is concrete rather than tarmac, covered in runway markings and generally ends in an arrestor barrier.   Either way they are nice long stretches of straight, wide and smooth tarmac, but the end looms up bloody quickly from high speed.......

MG Mark

Would you seriously want it; after the van has had its nuts revved off.  lets hope the speedo reads ever-so slightly over.  the thought of a turbo as well,  how long will the engine last with the extra tension, oh well, that's the youth of today ;)

The turbo is purely to get me from 50 to 70 quicker with less strain on the engine. Being a Diesel the torque is really good but lacking at 78Bhp! I was only at 2800rpm when cruising! The engine revs to 5500 and I had room left under the pedal. Do you remember J.Clarkson saying the VW is the fastest Van he has even driven! I agree with him.

I promise it's not really "Have a go at Rick Cutler Day" but torque is work done and is measured in either lb/ft or Newton Metres (Nm) not BHP. Obviously it is horsepower which is measured in Brake Horse Power (BHP).

I just can't understand how a 78bhp van can cruise at 115mph and yet apparently be geared with the same final drive ratio as the Ultimate TT above and therefore have a theoretical top speed of 210mph! As you know, I am possessed of a 48bhp van which struggles to get to 65mph even when empty and runs on shorter gearing, giving a terminal velocity of 75mph at the end of the red line. I know weight and wind resistance comes into it took, as does your greater torque, but does your extra 30bhp really equal a very comfortable 50mph higher top speed?

I recall an episode of the A team once. The guys where trying to protect someone and their attractive daughter.
The chap had invented an engine that contined to rev limitless. To prove it worked they took it to a speedway and just went round and round until the thing finally sprouted wings and took off at over 300mph.

How it contined to be powered when off the ground was never explained, but it did prove these things are possible with enough thought.

Maybe 5th gear would like to write to the makers of the A team and maybe they could test it.

On the subject of runways, how long is Marston in Kent. I thought I read once it was the longest in southern england.

On a personal note: thaks Mr Zarse, your nip picture has made my afternoon.

Manston is the widest but at 2752 is shorter than both of Heathrows, Manchester etc. in fact it isn't in the top 10 in southern england.

Coltishall's hasn't been dug up yet, but it's not the longest in the world either.

I can attest that even though Marham has a gurt long runway, in itself it wasn't long enough for my Midget to reach its "terminal velocity"  Pulling away from the corner and giving it seven bells of hell the most she could get up to was about 96mph, but out on the big bad highway (somewhere!) she can and regularly does top 105 with breath to play with.

Maybe I should have gone the other way and tackled the runway more downhill-ey!


Reminds me, Mark are the DVDs available? CDs too?


Bill

Rick,

Do you have the 5 Cylinder 2.5 Liter diesel in your VW van? That`s the motor that I have in my VW Multivan, if I redline the tach I can get to about 145 KMH which is roughly about 90 MPH, but I surely couldn`t drive too long at that speed before I hear snap, crackle and pop. Have you worked on the motor, would like to know because that was always my biggest complaint about my bus was the lack of a higher top end. If this is thread hijacking then please PM me with your tuning tips.

Could be something to do with the onboard balast penalty that has been served on the Commer  ;D

Ian the answer is above ;)

It is the 2.4 litre version but before they added the turbo as standard. Normally it only does 90mph top but it seemed to just cruise along the other day!?! I wanted to buy a new van based on the Merc Sprinter a few years ago. That had a 4.5l Turbo D engine with a whopping 240BHP!!!!! Finance stretched to the van but common sense got in the way. Just as well really.

BTW the van has only covered 50,000 miles and had an upgraded gearbox and clutch. Was not intended to increase max speed but could possibly explain. The gear ratio's were only changed in 1st, 3rd and 4th. 2nd and 5th gears should be standard albeit a stronger construction.

Fancy a race at Donnington ;D ;D ;D ;D

Is it? I'd question that.

I did a quick check on the VW website and the and the current VW Transporter with the 130bhp TDI engine (which obviously has nearly double the bhp and torque than Rick's normally aspirated version) is credited with a top speed (where the law permits) of 104mph.

Whilst I agree, Peter, that Rick's VW has a much torquier mill than the Commer, it does not explain the apparent cruising speed of 115mph. A high-top van all kitted out with heavy camper gear (i.e. beds, fridge, gas and water tanks, cooker, exterior awning and all the other parlava) and with just 78bhp, can someone please explain how it can go faster by a margin of 11mph higher than the new VW which has much higher bhp and torque, lighter weight and better areodynamics?

Maybe the answer is blindingly simple, I suggest that Rick's van is a foreign import and he's forgotten to change the speedo from kph to mph!  ;) It's either that or he's giving us a slightly ambitious account of the performance capabilities of his van, which incidentally is a very well appointed camper indeed.  ;D

...yep same motor as me...meant 2.4 and not 2.5 litre. If it`s not tuned or some type of import that was not meant for the UK market then maybe you were just going down a very long and steep hill Rick  ;D Sure can`t get that performance out of a pre-1994/95 T4 even one meant for the German market.

RAF Upper Heyford  was around  2 miles long i think.  They had F111's.

That thought also crossed my mind. Paddy has a T5 TDI, and manages 170 km/h with it. calculate that to Mph, and you've got 105 Mph. 115 kmh = 71 Mph. 115 Mph = 185 kmh. Can't believe you manage that with a T4 without TDI engine.

are you saying that un-truths and misleading facts are being reported on this forum, my flabers are gasted if that it is true, i thought it was truth and nothing but truth on here. ;)

To wrap up this digression from the original "Found it on Eeeebay" ....Take it away Weird Al....

http://www.imagestorepro.com/ebay_song.html

Something you feel you have to listen to...!!!???

>Martini...

When I built my cobra, I needed to have the speedo correctly calibrated.
I'd heartily recommend Speedy Cables for recalibrating and correcting inaccurate speedos.

More info here - http://www.speedycables.com/calibration.htm

I agree Steve.

As far as vans are concerned, all our Hertz rentas have been a gas with the Veedub being the quickest. But they are totally gay compared to this mother.
Don't be a shirt, get a rocket up your arse.

Is it? I dont see any mention of the fat gits being carried. ;D

Rick's driven some fantastic vehicles over the years. I remember him telling me and Gibberish once about a 1.4 litre Peugeot 306 he'd driven the day before, I can't remember all the details because we'd been drinking Harvey's Bitter, but it was extrememly impressive. I think the vehicle managed to do 110mph in third gear which, once the gearing was back-calculated, equated to about 12,000rpm. Rather like Nordic's A Team flying car, how and why the SOHC engine did not detonate was never adequately explained, but i remember me and Gib were mightily impressed.  ;) ;D

Nope it was a company car that was the 2.0l 16v XSI

i think you will find hire cars are faster than company cars.............my mind goes back to getting pulled for speeding on my honeymoon at the Grand Canyon in my hired Ford Excursion thingy. Now you would think that a big boat like that would be dog slow, but i think the gearing was something special like a 2 speed auto and i was pulling a heady 50 mph round a corner in a national park. Pulled into a viewing spot, was told to sit on my hands on the bumper while a coach full of japanese took my picture as i was repremanded with one of teh natural wonders over my shoulder.

I think at a different point of the holiday, in a different state i hasten to add, i got the beast up to around the low 70's!!!!!! And yes that is MPH not KPH my speed loving buddies  8)