FTO V's suzuki GSXR and bandit1200

[kona]

mate tells me he was heading to mondello yesterday on the suzuki and one of the members here tried to outrun them on the FTO.
he pulled out ahead of the bikers and floored it.
bikes keep up of course and pass out after tailing him for a few mile.
the FTO in question will do 120 mile an hour tops.

id usually say live and let live but that to me is just crazy nuts driving on the public road that has a 100 km speed limit.
also told me mate he was being a fool for rising to the challenge.

it was a yellow GSXR and a silver bandit(with passenger and pillion box)
slow down and save it for a trackday,hate to see that lovely car smashed up

[colm_mcm]

any description of the FTO?

[steelroe]

Was it a 2 tone by any chance??

[Mustang]

one of the members here tried to outrun them on the FTO.

How do you know it's one of the members from here. I think outrun is a bit optimistic. I don't think any car driver would realistically expect to outrun a decent bike (on a straight). I'd say he was just driving fast -nothing to see here.

[kona]

my mistake,i should have entered this in the dangerous road users thread.
i drive for a living and have seen too many horrific and sometimes fatal accidents,it really pisses me off when i see dangerous driving.
IMHO if iwas overtaken by a car and 2 bikes doing over a ton,the first thing i would think is that they are racing.
"How do you know it's one of the members from here"
they are a member here but im not saying who it is,they know them selves if they read this

[Mustang]

my mistake,i should have entered this in the dangerous road users thread.
i drive for a living and have seen too many horrific and sometimes fatal accidents,it really pisses me off when i see dangerous driving.

I'm not trying to pick an argument here. But,I think you should have posted this in the spotted thread. Otherwise I'm not sure why you've posted this at all. Seeing as you know who the 'culprit' is, why don't you send him or her a pm and take the discussion offline, because I see no merit in this public service announcement. I think I speak for everybody here, when I say that nobody welcomes being preached to from the moral high ground. The driver in question is an adult and capable of making his own decisions and living with the consequences. I think you'd do well to heed your own advice of live and let live. (or die).

For the record for anybody else watching, I am not the driver in question

[adrian]

The driver in question is an adult and capable of making his own decisions and living with the consequences

Don't want to get too involved here but I disagree in a way Mustang... if I am driving at over 100MPH on a public road then I am endangering other innocent folk who are not part of my decision to do so... and perhaps they will have to live (or not!) with my actions. Yes, on a track if you can go 150MPH do it.... but you gotta think what something happening at that speed would mean to others as well as you.

I like my fast cars, god I do..... but I try to keep it to the limit give or take a bit... getting to 60MPH is more fun then exceeding it with the last few cars I have had.

If some prick driving at over 100MPH hit me while I was innocently driving along then me, my little girl or whoever else is in my car very quickly become a consequence of the other persons actions. I am not exactly a Sunday driver and like my power, but it should be used responsibly, within reason anyway.

[TopCat]

As per mustang, I’m not trying to pick an argument, but I have to say that perhaps you speak for everyone when say "nobody welcomes being preached to from the moral high ground", but I can't agree that there's no merit saying this.

I’m a young enough driver, but consider myself a sensible driver… now. I’m big enough to admit it wasn’t that long ago that I thought I was invincible on the road and, from time to time, would’ve been one of these eejits who might get up to this kinda crap on the road. (Ok, not as bad as the example above, but that’s beside the point). Maybe ye don’t realise it, but I think some of the older members here are (weather they are aware or not) looked up to and respected by younger ones. I think there’s more of a chance of people taking heed of members here than those they feel know nothing about cars getting on to them about the dangers of speeding.

Maybe the point was made in the wrong thread, I don’t honestly know, but I don’t think it should be put in the “spotted” forum as if it’s normal to be tearing about at 100+.

I don’t personally think the original thread was preaching, none of us here are claiming to be the perfect road user, and yes, we’re all adults capable of making our own decisions and living with them, but maybe there’s no harm in pointing out that this kind of behaviour does impact on other road users, weather it is in the physical sense or not?

[Mustang]

@Adrian
I agree for the most part with what you are say, especially with regard to the potential impact on Innocent bystanders.

@TC I also broadly agree with what you are saying.
I don't for a moment condone the actions of the driver in question.
However I do not condone comming on here to announce the incident either. As I've said many times before let he who is without sin cast the first stone. We all exceed the speed limits regularly either intentionally or accidentally. Be that 51kph in a 50 zone, 125kph on the motorway (120kph limit). or higher. The law is the law, and we all brake it. Who gets to decide when it's too much, 10kph, 20kph, 30kph, 40kph over the limit -the moral police it seems.

Would this 'incident' get any air time if the lads were exceeding the speed limit doing say 130kph. I don't think so.

People speed, (that is to say they exceed the speed limits set by the state) it happens. We get enough of the PC road safety banter from the likes of Gay Byrne. Ok the car in question was an FTO, but I don't really think that makes it an FTO related topic. If people were to post here everytime they saw irresponsible driving, the forum would be flooded.

[5803emma]

The law is the law, and we all brake it.

nice pun!! the best are unintentional

[Mustang]

The law is the law, and we all brake it.

nice pun!! the best are unintentional

If it's not the moral police it's the damn grammar police, ffs.

[kona]

i didnt intend to preach mustang and can see your point that my original post could have been written better or not at all(have calmed down since that).

two weeks ago my best friend was hit head on by a speeding out of control glanza. he is at home now with 2 broken arms,broken leg and no income to support his family, thats why my blood boiled when i heard about the incident, i let my feelings get the better of my thinking.
i see the members here as car enthusiasts not "boy racers"as we are sometimes labeled.

[johnny]

Good point by TopCat...junior members of the club (myself included) respect the more experienced members of the forum...if uncle CJ told me to cop on I'd listen

Joking aside...if theres a chance the driver in question might think twice about their reckless driving then it IS worth posting.

Mustang, breaking a speed limit by 1 kmph is breaking the law...breaking it by 80 is taking the piss....disagree with your argument there. Kona was right to post up in my opinion.

To the reckless driver.... a GSXR?! at least pick your fights better

[mcgon1979]

i didnt intend to preach mustang and can see your point that my original post could have been written better or not at all(have calmed down since that).

two weeks ago my best friend was hit head on by a speeding out of control glanza. he is at home now with 2 broken arms,broken leg and no income to support his family, thats why my blood boiled when i heard about the incident, i let my feelings get the better of my thinking.
i see the members here as car enthusiasts not "boy racers"as we are sometimes labeled.

Nothing wrong with the OP. When I see this carry on I really want to follow the driver, pull them out of the car and slap them around the head a bit. Was at a funeral yesterday (20yr old road victim) and its not a nice experience. I'm happy with my FTO and how it feels, looks, and sounds. I don't need to drive like a moron to prove how cool it is. anyone who feels the need to race/challenge on public roads does not deserve the privilege of driving. yeah Im preaching. bite me. Actually come out of the dark and tell me the motivation for challenging another road user by pulling in front of him and driving as fast as you can?(I see it all the time, sitting on my bumper then racing past like a hero) Maybe I can understand it then.

[Mustang]

@Kona
Sorry to hear about your friend that is unfortunate, hope he gets better soon. I guess his experience gives you a certain perspective or insight that the rest of thankfully do not have.

Mustang, breaking a speed limit by 1 kmph is breaking the law...breaking it by 80 is taking the piss....disagree with your argument there. Kona was right to post up in my opinion.

Johnny the point is you don't get to make that call. where is the definitive line between exceeding the speed limit and taking the piss? Just so I know for future reference.

My point in all of this was that this type of thing goes on all the time. We know it's inappropriate, and I suspect that those partaking do as well. People get caught up in the heat of the moment, want to make a point, youthful exuberance, whatever it is. Doesn't make it right of course. Nobody is in support of the individuals actions, you are preaching to the converted. That's why I felt that a pm to the individual would have been more appropriate. Go straight to the individual.

EDIT: At no point in the original thread does it say that any of the parties involved exceeded the speed limit

[Wildhound]

I don't condone driving like an eejit at all, but to be honest from the original story it doesn't sound like the FTO driver was trying to "outrun" the bikes, which would be an exercise in pure foolishness anyway.

Sounds to me like the bikes were going slow, he was going quick, and when he passed them they were the ones who felt the need to rise to the supposed challenge. The FTO driver could well have been completely oblivious.

[Myfeckin FTO]

..........Sounds to me like the bikes were going slow, he was going quick, and when he passed them they were the ones who felt the need to rise to the supposed challenge. The FTO driver could well have been completely oblivious.

Good point - What I'd really like to hear is the FTO driver in question giving his take on this.

Personally I would never engage with a bike on the public road regardless of whether the bike is a Honda 50 or a Ducati.

A Little off topic but:

I was on the way back to London a few years back and was tipping along on the outside lane of the M25 when I passed a fantastic looking bike on an inside lane (moving quite slowly) - I remember commenting to the passengers in the car on what a nice bike it was.

About a km later I noticed said bike appearing in my rear view at an incredible rate of speed (probably 140mph +) - I pulled into the middle lane and as he flew by saw that his bag (strapped in behind him) was starting to work its way loose - within a second the bag had wrapped itself up in the rear wheel and there started a 500metre wrestle with the locked up rear wheel of the bike - then the tyre blew and the bike smashed into smithereens into the central reservation and across the road in front of my car. I won't go into detail about what happened the rider - I was the only one to stop my car, dial 999 and go across to him while waiting for an ambulance while cars passed by at full speed (on a 4 lane motorway) knocking bits of his bike (and bodyparts) further up the road.

An absolutely sickening experience - One that put me off motorbikes forever - RIP mate.

[mcgon1979]

did it put you off bikes, or off speed? A car hitting something at that speed will make a mess of a driver aswell, even with seatbelt or air bag.
In the USA they show teenagers videos of cops arriving on scene of accidents to show them the results of excessive speed. I don't think people who speed over here realise that in an accident the forces are extraordinary. over a ton of metal moving at speed. They have a false sense of safety inside the cocoon of a car. I've seen too many pictures of cars that have struck a pole or tree or wall on a road side and literally come apart or be cut in half due to the speed of impact. The driver doesn't walk away form those either.

[Mustang]

Bike accidents can be fairly horrific and the margins for error are so much tighter. Compared to a car, you can get massive preformace for peanuts.

[Muad_dib77]

Speeding is bad..but even accidents happening within the confines to the speed limits can be bad enough.

There's a particular section of road near my house where the limit is 80kmph but I dare anybody to do that in a car with standard suspension and call it safe.

Bikes are by nature more exposed as they have nothing around them to protect them should they come off or hit something.

Car drivers are likely to get shook about the place inside the car in an accident and lots and lots of nasty things can happen when you're in a smash.

A friend of mine was in a headon collision a couple of years ago - through no fault of his own. Long story short - he nearly died, several times.
Since the accident he's been having issues with his blood - and he is still on a pile of medication - but atleast now he's allowed to work again.

May I just mention that this particular friend was not nor will he ever be a boy racer. At the time of the accident he was driving a 1.0l Corsa and since the accident he's gotten himself a Skoda something or other.. (the dullest one) - he is as sensible as an umbrella in the rain. (very).

[Wildhound]

car hitting something at that speed will make a mess of a driver aswell

Of course you can be seriously injured or killed in a car, that goes without saying. But you can't honestly be claiming that bikers aren't more vulnerable. All it takes is a look at the statistics.

I was only discussing this with my dad last week after we noticed a biker doing roughly the speed limit up the middle of two lanes of crawling car traffic. If a car decided to change lanes or someone opened a door he'd be up crap creek without a paddle.

My dad noted that himself and three of his mates got bikes at the same time when they were teenagers. Of the four of them two are now dead and one is seriously brain damaged as a result of motorbike accidents.

He almost joined them himself - he came off the bike about a week after he got it and careered accross two lanes of traffic - but luckily he was fine and he got rid of it.

It's a small sample size but I don't like those odds! I like a thrill, but you wouldn't catch me on a bike on a public road. Even if you drive like an angel it only takes another motorist to screw up and it's curtains...

Sorry I've dragged this way off topic.

[colm_mcm]

Jeremy Clarkson on why cars are safer than bikes

"you can't fall off a car"

[Myfeckin FTO]

did it put you off bikes, or off speed? A car hitting something at that speed will make a mess of a driver aswell, even with seatbelt or air bag............

Put me off bikes - absolutely no protection in the event of an accident.
If he had been doing half the speed he would still certainly have been killed while if my Zed had an accident at that speed at least I would have modern crumple zones, seatbelt and 6 airbags to help ease the brunt of the forces.

BTW - Speed is relative - I don't feel I am speeding when doing 80mph on an empty motorway in my 350Z - yet exceeding 40mph in an urban area feels excessive.

IMHO - the gap between what is legal in relation to road speed and what is moral is quite wide and can often conflict at either ends of the scale. For instance I wouldn't do 30mph up the main street in Limerick yet its legal and I'm partial to making a bit of time when I hit the N7 motorway on my regular Limerick-Dublin trips yet its not legal.

[Wildhound]

For instance I wouldn't do 30mph up the main street in Limerick yet its legal.

Very good point. Pretty much sums it up I think!