For those that fear coming to Australia!

[PatB]

Frankly the V8 Supercars are dull as ditchwater. If you want to run purpose built race cars with American engines, at least do it properly by reviving Can-Am or summat.

 

Mind you, I caught some V8 Ute racing on the telly a while ago. Now that was fun, with cars recognisably related to stuff you can actually buy, complete with marginal chassis dynamics and all, sliding all over the place and being proper handfuls. Way more interesting than our supposed premier racing class. BMW, Volvo and Jag don't make utes either. Mind you, nor do Ford or Holden any more I guess.

[kevinlms]

Car Racing Elders refer to the years after 1977  as 'The Dreamtime", mainly because if you are a Ford supporter then for heaps of years after this if you are hoping for another win then you are just dreaming.

 

(I have decided that Dicky Johnsons 1981 win doesn't count because he is a New Zealander

. I think.

Well, if our Deputy PM didn't realise that he was then Dick Johnson is probably one too.)

 

For so many years Bathurst had been Aussie cars, the saying was, win on Sunday and people would buy the car on the following  Monday.( And it was exciting watching an insane version of  your neighbours XB falcon, with a V8 instead of a straight 6, and a 2 door coupe instead of the standard  station wagon body being hurled around the mountain,  but the idea was there and the possibility was sown)

 

But then in the 80's it suddenly got wrecked with lame Jaguars leaking oil everywhere and #@$#$ Volvos turning up for no apparent reason And then there were  those gay black BMW's with gold bits

 

. Imagine turning up at the 'Railway Hotel' or whatever on half priced Fight Night in your black BMW with gold bits on cos it had won the weekend before.... I can't.

 

. There is NO Jag or Volvo or gay BMW in any Mad Max moviie  so for that reason alone they should have been barred from the country.

 

Anyway, Thats when the fun got turned off for me and I can't be bothered even turning the Telly on for it whenever it is on now, which I haven't even bothered to research for this post. October or somefink.

Once I got a recall to go to Sandown Park in Melbourne for that round of racing.

 

There was the boring sight of two Nissan Skylines, going around in the one, two formation, streets ahead of everyone else!

[kevinlms]

Frankly the V8 Supercars are dull as ditchwater. If you want to run purpose built race cars with American engines, at least do it properly by reviving Can-Am or summat.

 

Mind you, I caught some V8 Ute racing on the telly a while ago. Now that was fun, with cars recognisably related to stuff you can actually buy, complete with marginal chassis dynamics and all, sliding all over the place and being proper handfuls. Way more interesting than our supposed premier racing class. BMW, Volvo and Jag don't make utes either. Mind you, nor do Ford or Holden any more I guess.

Or anything else for that matter now. Instead just a re-badged whatever from Thailand or somewhere.

[SRman]

The new 'European' Holden Commodore doesn't look too bad, and the starting price is reasonable. I had to laugh at the press release, though: it said that Holden weren't just putting the European model on our market, they had made a few tweaks to the suspension to suit our "slightly rougher roads".

[FPH 603]

It sucks that these major companies with so much heritage in Australia aren't building cars here anymore... Now everything's made in Asia. Same deal is with the trains as well. The NSWGR's Electric and Diesel Multiple Unit trains were made in Granville, Clyde, Newcastle (Goninan's and also Walsh Island Dockyard) and Chullora. The more recent Waratahs were made in China, and now the NSW Government's stupidly wide new intercities are being made in South Korea, NICE MOVE GOVERNMENT!

Edited December 17, 2017 by DoubleDeckInterurban

[monkeysarefun]

It sucks that these major companies with so much heritage in Australia aren't building cars here anymore... Now everything's made in Asia. Same deal is with the trains as well. The NSWGR's Electric and Diesel Multiple Unit trains were made in Granville, Clyde, Newcastle (Goninan's and also Walsh Island Dockyard) and Chullora. The more recent Waratahs were made in China, and now the NSW Government's stupidly wide new intercities are being made in South Korea, NICE MOVE GOVERNMENT!

 

Good news! Its not all one-way when it comes to Korea, just today I heard about an Australian wanting to sell stuff to Korea.

 

Pity it was the North bit though ...

 

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/afp-charge-sydney-man-over-north-korea-brokering/news-story/a9f7f67855fbdbc28bb0ab01aca7a710

 

The decision to get the wider carriages is a bit of a mystery though, given that all stations on the Blue Mountins line will need to get the edges shaved off to fit them. The usual 'Government spokesman' insists that this was always the intention,and was known about prior to purchase, but you can't help wondering if it was another politician stuffing up.

 

. Similar to when we bought those Abrahms battle tanks a couple of years go and then shortly after bought Globemaster C-17A transport planes for the RAAF  because the Abrahms won't fit  in our Hercules, though that reason was never mentioned when the unexpected purchase was announced..

Edited December 17, 2017 by monkeysarefun

[allan downes]

I always wanted a supercar until an A 35 Van left me for dead on the North Circular in my 420G Jag.

 

I later caught up with him when I pulled into the Ace Of Spades cafe only to find out that it was fitted with a massive V Eight lump and he had to sit in the back to drive it.

[Horsetan]

...: it said that Holden weren't just putting the European model on our market, they had made a few tweaks to the suspension to suit our "slightly rougher roads".

To be honest, the roads I drove on in and around Melbourne were in a far better state than British ones.

[kevinlms]

To be honest, the roads I drove on in and around Melbourne were in a far better state than British ones.

The standard of road maintenance has fallen in recent times. To much money being spent on widening freeways/tollways.

[SRman]

Melbourne's roads are better than many I have encountered in Australia. That's the only thing that (partly) saves us from our terrible drivers!

[DougN]

Well, IF I was to go for one of the "new" cars of either the "Eurodore" of the Kia stinger.... I think I would go for the later... nice little V6 8 speed auto and 272KW and 510Nm..... Then again as others have been saying about the state of our roads... my new 4x4 is brillant and those stupid rubber speed humps barely bump due to the wide track on it... and with global warming,or is that the non maintenance of the drainage systems has a wading depth of 600mm!!!! 

 

I have even been thinking of having it tuned.... OK it is currently 147kw (more than my first 2 commodores VL, 125kw, and the VS 145Kw) and 500Nm... boy does it already have some stump pulling power! then again may be 160kw and 590Nm which with the way that the engine runs in... Might give me off the line take off due to the turbo lag. 

 

Decisions decisions.... 

[ikks]

Melbourne's roads are better than many I have encountered in Australia. That's the only thing that (partly) saves us from our terrible drivers!

Our roads are crap and our drivers are worse(South Aussie)

[SRman]

Our roads are crap and our drivers are worse(South Aussie)

 

Reminds me of when i was still living in Brisbane. I was in the Falcon Hardtop and Landau Club, and a guy from South Oz moved up there with his XC Falcon Cobra. It had been lowered to within an inch of its life, and had an extra deep spoiler on the front. All us locals said "that spoiler is not going to last long on Brisbane's roads!".

 

Sure enough, two weeks later he came to a meeting minus his front spoiler. One of Brisbane's 'spoon drains' had claimed another victim!

[The Blue Streak]

Our roads are crap and our drivers are worse(South Aussie)

 

I'll see your crap SA roads and raise you with  West Aussie wheatbelt roads where mountain goats fear to tread.

 

Seriously I went for a ride on My Motorbike to Quairading recently andI  turned around and came back half way there. Since the closure of the rail line out there, the massive increase of Grain Trucks have more or less destroyed parts of the main road. My heart was in my mouth on several occasions as the bike suspension just couldn't deal with lumps and bumps.

Edited December 18, 2017 by The Blue Streak

[monkeysarefun]

I'll see your crap SA roads and raise you with  West Aussie wheatbelt roads where mountain goats fear to tread.

 

Seriously I went for a ride on My Motorbike to Quairading recently andI  turned around and came back half way there. Since the closure of the rail line out there, the massive increase of Grain Trucks have more or less destroyed parts of the main road. My heart was in my mouth on several occasions as the bike suspension just couldn't deal with lumps and bumps.

 

 

In Sydney because we are the premier state and an international city and all hat bull twang it now  costs a thousand bucks in tolls to drive anywhere. Not that we aren't  grateful because   we should be because its good  for the f%&cking NSW economy. And liberals or whatever.

 

Which to be fair, we should acknowledge the good that has been returned to  us as we stand up for our 90 minute train journey into the city or else crawl along at 30km an hour along our choked motorways -   that are being endlessly widened to play catch up with the increasing population that the politicians let in just before the last road widening exercise.

 

 

Now that is out of my system - Stan has  series 2  of Wolf Creek up now.

 

Back in the 90's I'd play my then 2year old son videos of Playschool with John Jarret singing  that anoying never ending "The  Wheels on the bus go round and round'  song.

 

  Now he is a mental Australian serial killer, killing overseas tourists on an 'Outback Adventure' style  tourist bus. I'm sure the original song didn't mention that serial killing stuff - therefore a blatant misuse  of  artistic license, Stan producers! , 

 

Anyway, definitlely one actor that didn't get type cast due to  his playschool role

 

 

Edited December 18, 2017 by monkeysarefun

[kevinlms]

In Sydney it costs a thousand bucks in tolls to drive anywhere.

Or an entire day to take the stop/start alternative 'free' roads. At least that is what the alternatives are like in Melbourne! Using Eastlink for instance, avoids well over 40 sets of traffic lights, if you travel the full length.

[Horsetan]

In Sydney it costs a thousand bucks in tolls to drive anywhere.....

 

I was introduced to the Melbourne version in 2002, when DougN told me that on no account should I use the "Sh*ttyLink" (I think one end of it started at St. Kilda) as it was quite expensive and my hire car didn't have the electronic gadget for it in its windscreen.

 

.....Using Eastlink for instance, avoids well over 40 sets of traffic lights, if you travel the full length.

 

I don't remember an Eastlink, but I did find Melbourne traffic light designs interesting, especially the one remaining crossing at Glen Waverley which still had "DON'T WALK / WALK" neons for the pedestrians. They were just starting to introduce LED heads at the time, and I found out later that they were made by a company called Aldridge. Aldridge were later to supply some of the pedestrian countdown displays for TfL.

Edited December 18, 2017 by Horsetan

[The Blue Streak]

We might have goat tracks here in the country but at least We don't pay Tolls - Yet.

 

I hear the roads down the big smoke in Perth are so smooth that you can drink something called a latte' while driving your car (without spilling it)

Edited December 18, 2017 by The Blue Streak

[The Blue Streak]

All this talk of Sh!te roads, reminds Me of this.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEcBHcxlhQM

[DougN]

Well last night on the way home I found that our drop kick traffic managers decided to close toorak road in all directions east of the south eastern.... I was very surprised as I had already driven across that bit of road 5 times during the day...no mention of closing the road no notice no vds signs then back onto the freeway only to have 5 kms of restrictions which people were working on 20m of near the end... I am positive that they have lost their minds with no traffic management and the crazy road works areas.

 

I say this as I do use traffic management all the time for work and I still disagree with some of the stupid rules... but last night too the cake with no road closed signs until you were on top of the road work!

[monkeysarefun]

I just hate Sydney now.

[allan downes]

Well last night on the way home I found that our drop kick traffic managers decided to close toorak road in all directions east of the south eastern.... I was very surprised as I had already driven across that bit of road 5 times during the day...no mention of closing the road no notice no vds signs then back onto the freeway only to have 5 kms of restrictions which people were working on 20m of near the end... I am positive that they have lost their minds with no traffic management and the crazy road works areas.

 

I say this as I do use traffic management all the time for work and I still disagree with some of the stupid rules... but last night too the cake with no road closed signs until you were on top of the road work!

Happens here too even amongs't the benighted few.

 

Many years ago whilst the Duke of Bedford was away in the South of France being filmed for some movie or another his wife instructed her estate manager to demolish the bridge that crossed the lake because she thought it was ugly.

 

Later, and in the middle of the night, the Duke and unaware of all this, returned where he and his Roller ended up in the lake as he crossed the bridge that was no loner there.

[allan downes]

The standard of road maintenance has fallen in recent times. To much money being spent on widening freeways/tollways.

As a wannabe economist I reckon we could have built an eight lane motorway from here to China and back at half the cost that's been spent on widening the M25 - 75 miles of continually being dug up and coned off tarmac.

Edited December 18, 2017 by allan downes

[Horsetan]

As a wannabe economist I reckon we could have built an eight lane motorway from here to China and back at half the cost that's been spent on widening the M25

...using Chinese investment?

[ikks]

I'll see your crap SA roads and raise you with  West Aussie wheatbelt roads where mountain goats fear to tread.

 

Seriously I went for a ride on My Motorbike to Quairading recently andI  turned around and came back half way there. Since the closure of the rail line out there, the massive increase of Grain Trucks have more or less destroyed parts of the main road. My heart was in my mouth on several occasions as the bike suspension just couldn't deal with lumps and bumps.

Man, you don't live on james track a 16 Km road between Inman Valley and Myponga...........a road between two councils who don't give a fXXX ..............in the Winter , axle breaking potholes, in the Summer bull dust axle deep.....................views are beautiful though   

 

Mike