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(UK. )Waiting delivery of new MX-5 Tech Sports (10 days I hope),Tyres??



 
 
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  #31  
Old August 27th 10, 06:49 AM posted to rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata
Chuck[_13_]
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Posts: 127
Default (UK. )Waiting delivery of new MX-5 Tech Sports (10 days I hope),Tyres??

On 8/26/2010 6:56 PM, Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
>
> "Chuck" > wrote in message
> ...
>> As to the autobahns in the 70's--someone was always going faster than
>> you were. There were at least two very high performance sports cars in
>> the local area (Trier, Bitburg, Eifel area, etc. that commonly were
>> well above 120mph when noticed on the autobahn. One was a Ferrari, and
>> the other a German made mid engine car with no obvious makers mark. Of
>> the two, the German car looked like speed incarnate, even when parked.
>> It may have been a prototype, or a custom build, I never found out the
>> details.
>>
>>

>
> sounds like maybe a BMW M1, ever seen those bad boys? They never
> 'officially' came to the US but they were barnstorming Europe and I
> think their looks could be described as 'speed incarnate' ;-) Google it
> and see if it brings back those (high speed) memories!
>
> Chris
> 99BBB
>



The only identifying thing I remember was a stylized two letter script
in the center of each wheel. It might have been DB, or DH, but was not
easy to make out, since one letter was intertwined with the other. At
the time, production BMWs were a favorite by some, but had two nasty
habits. The worst one to me was that the rear tires would "break loose"
abruptly without warning in a high side force turn. The next one was a
penchant for having expensive tranny problems well before 100k miles.

Another car that, for what it was, amazed me was a ~ 77 German Ford
Fiesta. At 95 to 100 mph they were quite stable and handled well.
I didn't think that they would go that fast, and did not expect good
high speed handling. (We drove a rental Fiesta from Luxembourg to
Bremerhaven and back in much less time than I had expected.) It's also
possible that Hertz was "cheating" on the odometer and speedometer. We
just about "cooked" a rental Opel on the same run at similar speeds.
Seems that nobody bothered to tell us that the Opel was happiest with
premium.

I still remember my uncle's expression when they came to visit. He
worked for United, and the tickets were part of his compensation.
We picked up he and his wife at Frankfurt, and took the Autobahn to
Trier in my then fairly new 76 Buick Regal. The Buick was a story in
itself, as it was the only Regal in Germany with Hurst hatches and red
in color.
Anyway, my uncle looked at the speedometer, noted the reading, and said
something to me about it. (Remember, the US was 55MPH then) I replied
with something about running at that speed for about an hour at a time
(at night), then I had to slow down to let the tires cool off. The Buick
had US NATO plates, and was generally waved through such things as
roadblocks, border customs, and such. This was actually a pain at times.
I occasionally had to carry NATO "stuff" as a courier. Paperwork had to
be signed and stamped at the borders with a special stamp. The German
Holland border was the worst, because a walker's tunnel under the
roadway was closed for repair. This left me with the dubious pleasure of
walking across three lanes of autobahn traffic to reach the customs
building. At least there was a speed limit at the border to allow
customs to stop and search when they felt like doing so.

Ads
  #32  
Old August 28th 10, 10:54 AM posted to rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata
Chuck[_13_]
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Posts: 127
Default (UK. )Waiting delivery of new MX-5 Tech Sports (10 days I hope),Tyres??

On 8/27/2010 12:06 AM, XS11E wrote:
> "Chris > wrote:
>
>> I was not aware that the Miata was capable of speeds above 120mph.

>
> 119 for the 1.6, 123 for the 1.8..
>
> http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z...zda-Miata.aspx
>
> Of course you must consider the color, the white ones being much faster
> due to less photon flow resistance.
>
> If Leon were here he could explain it....
>


Actually, I always was of the opinion that white was slower, because the
photons get bounced off, and there must be a reaction. <G>

As to the BMW M1, none of the pictures I've found have much similarity.
The BMWs have a distinctive grill structure, something that was not (as
I remember) part of the car mentioned. It was a shade of silver grey.
Some black cooling grills were evident on the rear deck. Single large
center rear exhaust. The headlights were under glass (not plastic), that
conformed to the front body contours. The last time I saw it, it was
parked on a street in Trier, and not too far from a major hotel complex.
(Didn't have my camera with me, drat!) This was in about 1980. There
were no visible emblems of any kind, and no clues as to it's mfr. or
owner, other than plates showing that it was licensed in/for the general
Trier area. Kind of like a state license in the US. The body lines were
slightly more angular than the expensive (fast) Italian sports cars of
the time.
  #33  
Old August 28th 10, 11:42 AM posted to rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata
Donwill
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Posts: 10
Default (UK. )Waiting delivery of new MX-5 Tech Sports (10 days I hope),Tyres??

On 27/08/2010 00:00, Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
>
> I was not aware that the Miata was capable of speeds above 120mph. I
> actually have always thought that they top out just below 110mph or
> so. Have I been wrong all these years? (Not that I am interested in
> checking it out in my '97 M-edition; I save the triple-digit speeds
> for my Ducati on the racetrack.)
>
>


The latest (UK)MX5 brochure quotes 132 mph for the Sport Tech (soft top)
> and 136mph for the retractable hard top version.

Don

  #34  
Old August 29th 10, 03:42 PM posted to rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata
Chris D'Agnolo[_2_]
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Posts: 587
Default (UK. )Waiting delivery of new MX-5 Tech Sports (10 days I hope), Tyres??


"Chuck" > wrote in message
...
> As to the autobahns in the 70's--someone was always going faster than you
> were. There were at least two very high performance sports cars in the
> local area (Trier, Bitburg, Eifel area, etc. that commonly were well above
> 120mph when noticed on the autobahn. One was a Ferrari, and the other a
> German made mid engine car with no obvious makers mark. Of the two, the
> German car looked like speed incarnate, even when parked.
> It may have been a prototype, or a custom build, I never found out the
> details.
>
>

Chuck, I wish we could meet for a cup of coffee and you could tell more
great stories! It sounds like you might have a few ;-)
Remind me, what country would I have to travel to?

Chris
99BBB

 




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