UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Bangor to Brum in two hours flat...... whaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Me mate reckoned that was a decent time to do the trip in, so i must have been farting around or left late to do it more than 3... but i just looked at my trip meter on finishing the journey, looked at my fuel guage, did the average speed / MPG maths, and resolved never to try it again unless it was an emergency (hey, at least I know the car's pretty solid now). Put it this way: Even with utterly clear roads, I doubt I could have done that in the 1 litre. There was precious little slowdown today in the 1.6 (bloody rare on the A-55 i tell thee!), AND I took the M6 toll......

Mind you he's an ex-biker (couldn't afford to ride and be a mature student), so I'll have to ask him if he did that on his old Ninja!

Annoying thing is it took five hours to get there on thursday (traffffffffic!), when i wanted to arrive early - didnt really give a toss what time i got back today, just enjoy the weather, but it was a challenge!

You lads (& lassettes) got other legendary time trial treks that are worth a crack, when the roads are clear?

A lad i work with is known for taking random trips in the VEE Dub. Him and his mates take it in turns at seeing who can do the quickest time to a certain place and back.

He's done a trip to Newquay in a ridiculous time aswell but i can't think for the life of me what time it was!

I got from Cardiff to Edingburgh in 5 Hours flat in the Type-R. now that was fun.
New years day 5am up the M4,M5,M6,A74,M74,M8.

Didn't see many other cars on the road. And got over taken by a nice looking 911 at silly speeds

From Belo Horizonte to Rio de Janeiro (450km) in about three and a half hours. In a 1.4 16V Fiesta.

There's only about 150km of dual carriageway in that road... But I swore I'd never do it again. Not really proud of that achievement.

Sheffield to Huddersfield in 22 minutes...

somewhere inbetween wales and manchester to london in about 2 and a half hours when i picked my car up.
took 7 hours to get up there on the bloody train though!

Sheffield to Cardiff in 2 hours 20 mins including slowing down for the M42 roadworks.

I never drive like that any more!

Tahrey1043 wrote:You lads (& lassettes) got other legendary time trial treks that are worth a crack, when the roads are clear?

Norfolk to Millan (Italy (minus the time spent on the dover to calais ferry 2 hrs and the time difference of 1 hour) 14 hrs

Mind you ideal car to do it in when 90mph = 2000rpm

aberystwyth to Hereford in under an hour and a half, with traffic.

manc to barnstaple in 4 hours i think
bournmouth to falmouth 190 miles in 3 and a bit hours with no motorway
colchester to sheffield in 4 hours i think
manchester to newcastle in 2 hours
manchester to northampton in 2 hours
manchester to carlisle in 2 hours
manchester to burnley 30 mins
leeds to manchester 40 mins

Shrewsbury to Chester up the A49/A41 route (whitchurch road) in 50 minutes, in my old 998cc Mini, on a quiet Sunday evening. Thats it really, I am usually unlucky enough to get stuck behind traffic, and I don't take risky chances when overtaking (ie. bends) because, well, thats just stupid

Si_GTi wrote:Shrewsbury to Chester up the A49/A41 route (whitchurch road) in 50 minutes, in my old 998cc Mini, on a quiet Sunday evening. Thats it really, I am usually unlucky enough to get stuck behind traffic, and I don't take risky chances when overtaking (ie. bends) because, well, thats just stupid

thats really good! i killed half a tank of fule doing that route on the way back from the polo show. couldn't tell you the time it took i was too busy driving

Its been a bit of an enlightening thing as regards how much effort you have to put in to get somewhere in a certain amount of time...

I did talk to bangor Si afterwards, and yes - he was basing it on how long it took him to do midlands-holyhead couriering back in the day (250cc pony express etc) "regardless of traffic and speed limits"... so I'm quite impressed that similar could be done in a car. That said traffic was uncharacteristically light - and I travelled almost the full length of the M6 Toll (getting off at the last exit before the m42) at full ~70bhp chat, swapping between 4th and 5th and not having to slow for anything.

All that, and it was "only" a 79 - 80mph average. Managed about a 70 average in the polo with some moderate traffic before...

Still afraid to work the economy out - it is not going to be pretty (the 70 avg was about 31mpg.......)

After that.... continued on to Bournemouth with about the remaining third of a tank, trying to keep a constant 130km/h / 81mph (which surely should be quite efficient as the cars are sold europe-wide - hopefully working out the consumption for the identical return leg will give happy numbers, despite having to make a lightning stop for an extra gallon 50 miles out of bournemouth, just to ensure i could make it)... and although it felt like crawling at times, it still resulted in a 65 average. Almost exactly the same distance, and not even an extra half hour! All that extra hustle and engine wear for about a 25 minute saving......

(still, i'm not sure if I could have stood to go very much slower..... both for safety, time, and boredom's sake!)

In both cases I can't quite figure how the numbers work out though - I hardly dropped below 85 on the first leg, or 70 on the second, so why are the averages so much lower than the cruising speeds?

Cardiff to Edinburgh / Sheff to Hudds in those times are even better, that must have been some caneage. (My dad's currently lamenting the days when he could bank on an 80mph average motorway speed instead of a 65)

my mate did manchester to burnley in less time than me last night
bout 25 mins

a full 130 most of the way...

Did southampton to sheffield in under 3 hours, was'nt me driving. i was passenger in a focus