Club Arnage

I caught this out the corner of my eye, whilst running out the door this morning. One of the breakfast tele programmes was talking about it. An article in one of the dailies I think.
Can anyone throw any light on it ?

Me too but I stopped to have a listen. (Well as much as I could bearing in mind it was 7:00am)

The gist of the piece was that there is a proposal that there will be some agreement between Britain and France that British drivers caught speeding in France will get points added to their licences by the British courts, just as if they had been caught speeding in the UK.  There was no detail as to how this would be achieved.

No mention either if it was an EU driven thing but if so presumably it would apply to all member countries.

Had a quick search on the BBC website for more info but unsuccessful.

I think it was only the Daily Mail I will search the web later.

Here you go:  http://www.thisistravel.co.uk/travel/news/article.html?in_article_id=38828

Absolute f***ing ba***rds.  I'm sitting here fuming with rage. >:( >:(  P**s off France, you've got a bl**dy nerve.  This sort of thing could cause a lot of agravation. >:( >:( >:(

I guess the only saving grace, is that the agreement isn't due to be in place until July............
That still leaves you (relatively) unhindered to make the trip this year, without the fear of points on your license when you get home.
Or just put false plates on the car and out run the little 2CV van with the rozzers in it.

Nobby, it's not the Rozzers in the 2CV that we need to worry about. It's the CRS dudes on the BMW bikes, a few clicks up the road that ruin the whole day....

Agreed Matt. That and the fact that an awful lot of radar traps are being deployed on routes that are well used by visitors (particularly British channel crossers). Even in a 2CV all you have to do then is get out, step into the road, hold your hand up and shout 'Arrete ici Monsieur'

If the scheme goes ahead I wonder who will get the proceeds from fines that are imposed - the British courts so that a percentage can be passed on to victims of REAL criminals in compensation scheme payouts (much groaning and gnashing of teeth at this point), or will the French get some kind of reimbursement from the British Government to line the pockets of the Gendarmes etc. when it comes to placating them during the next round of Public Sector pay talks?

This "smacks" of big brother.........the next thing that will be introduced will be a european police force and not a national one!!!

Could be very serious as theFrench are steering these moves.We could have are very own"CRS" in the future.!!!!

Wishy

Settle down men

Me thinks its just a wind up to get us going - after all the French drive even faster than Mr RS2 which is sometimes worrying on our way to St Malo each morning to catch our boat to work.

France is having a bit of a word with itself at the mo about the instances of speed related traffic accidents and deaths and so will first of all come down hard on foreign types - or so they say as of course it is not the fault of the natives!!

Its all a bit of a 'spin' if you ask me

Perhaps Gilles could enlighten us further

RS2 Babe :-*

PS - if I could get hold of a zooped up 2CV I would be well happy :D

Maybe France are worried about their NHS costs, cos their fags have also gone up by a large amount

Piggin' 'ell - catching a boat to work - that's classy.
You're right, I'm sure. My parents have lived near Saumur for the past 10 years and I don't think the police have become significantly more heavy-handed in that time. Mummydear and Pater both drive like total lunatics in an attempt to keep up with the locals and their postman is often seen in the local bar having a couple of fortifying brandys before driving off to do his round of a morning.
Avoiding the obvious (RN138) route to the track may help, I suppose - but at least the Gendarmerie courteously salute you before writing out the extortionate speeding ticket. Over here there's a 50/50 that the first interaction you'll have with Smokey Bear after a speeding indiscretion, is when he sticks his 9 mill in your ear'ole.

What a bunce of arse  >:(

If anyone has driven around the periferique in Paris, you will know just how insane the local drivers can be.  You need to drive like a lunatic just to avoid being hit.

If you don't know the road that I'm referring to, it's the one that Princess Dianna died on!

I assume that's the road / tunnels that are featured in one of the car chases in the film Ronin.

I love that film. :D

Yes, it makes you want to go out and buy an Audi S8!

or blow up Citroens?
 ;D

Have no fear he says confidently.

It would still involve a Copper / CRS  / Gendame getting out tickets and writing on them.

European Human rights laws would demand that you had a legal adiser in a visiting Euro country and an Interpretor.

If they are like British Bobbies , they wont bother .

Unless you seriously wind them up.

I must admit to not having seen that film, but if its around Paris, and includes a mixture of tunnels and open road, mostly 3 lanes wide with lots of junctions, then YES.

A class overlooked film with some stunning car chases in. Would be in my top 5 car chase films. Well worth the rent.  And just to set the record straight, it was'nt the Periferique Di died on. It was in a junction underpass tunnel by the Seine not far from the Eiffel Tower on the opposite bank.

Stu

Gib, as I've got it on DVD, I've got an unwanted video copy here you can have.
PM me your address and I'll drop it in the post.

Matt,
hearing what you say about the CRS on their Beemers. We ride bikes down every year (999,996, SP1,R1 etc), and stay quite a long way away from the N138 and such like. We tend to cross ithe N138 at Gace, and take the chance to grab some lunch at the cafe/bar/filling station.
I still think we can gice those guys a run for it, with them in their open face lids (flies at 300KMH hurt), tight trousers and the prospect of severe gravel rash from having short sleeve shirts on.

Not sure.....might just play safe and stick to the speed limit.

Then ago.....no.

NOt a problem for most of us as Police Cars are only able to 60kph (40mph) and they unlike our police are not legally alowed to chase. As for speed camera's I guess you will just have to be doing over 170mph so the camera doesn't flash at all.

Can someone confirm my above post. This is from dated memory after lemans in 1998. Also I had to get my 100 posts in.

Christ - that road is madness.  It's the bikes that are truly insane out there.

I guess my George W driving license means Matt and I don't have to worry as much about this points gig in France.

Matt, I just talked to the old fella - apparently they're getting a little more tight on radaring in the sticks south of Le Mans.  He just got knicked the other week!

Check this out.  I was in Australia in the Autumn and got a parking ticket which I duly discarded before flying back to the States.  Last week I received a demand of payment at my house from the Australian Govt. and threats to turn it over to collection in the US!!!  They tracked me down through my rental car company to my home address for a $68 ticket!  Probably cost them more to find me for Christ's sake!

You're on crack, if you believe that, Mr Cutler.

Hi Nobby
I'm sure it is possible to outrun the French Old Bill - particularly with the heavy artillery you guys are toting. That said, I don't think any law enforcement agency, French, British or otherwise is all that friendly towards those that attempt to flee them - particularly foreign visitors - who might even be aled-up a bit, fresh off the ferry.
Spending the Le Mans weekend incarcerated and with the prospect of truly massive fine and possible forfeiture of your bad-ass motor scooter, makes running for it a somewhat risky strategy. I think you are sensible to stay off the convoy route

The Bedford CF Challengers don't have to worry too much. Last year all we managed to overtake was two mopeds, a tractor and - believe it or not - a house (a prefabricated one on a 'Convoy Exceptionelle' low loader). We will try to improve our score this year ...... but I doubt if we will succeed ...

What a star........PM on its way :D

Well the SPS lads and lassies will give the CF possie ago agiant the MG Zeds with Trailer..... :-X

Just moved to the south of france, the deal is that a traffic policeman was killed by a drunken speeding driver. Now they are really hot on speed and drink. The favorite is the mobile radar in plain unmarked cars. Be warned.

Robbo-
We'll keep a look out for you ... two of us will be wearing recognisable T shirts !!  

You'll see the trailer, its very noticable. You may also get to see Anna , she will be apprearing at the Rudmore Cellars before we leave.

Matt,
Haven't checked in for a couple of days......

Even I'm too sensible to be on the ale whilst on the boat over. Particularly in view of biking it down.
The boozing only starts once the motor is switched off for the last time on the Thursday lunchtime, in the safety of the campsite!
Lost too many friends over the years who believed that the laws of physics didn't apply to them once they'd had a couple of brewski's.
Safe journey to one and all.

Robbo-

Now youv'e done it ! Everybody, but EVERYBODY,  is going to try to get on our (otherwise exclusive) little ferry. Will she be giving out signed photos?  ;) ;) ;)

She doesnt put out much if thats what youre angling at ........ :-X

Steve..........excellent film, thanks for the tape.  I watched the car chase very closely, and it looked like there was only one small section of the periferique in that sequence.  I go the feeling that they used several bits of raod from the same general area around the Seine, and put it all together.  Lovely to watch though. :D :D

Gib, on the DVD it has a 'making of' extra which details how they made and filmed the car chases.  I think an ex-F1 driver did some of the stunt driving.

This all I have to say.
Watch out for dayglo orange lambos.
Rock on Simon

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Bang on Rusty, reckon you caught the spirit of the postings there !!!!!

Wouldn't suprise me Steve.  Hairy stuff.  :o  :0


RUSTY,  where the hell was that taken..........incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Considering its a Lambo(I think) and its in Kilos I think Big H,s is more impressive(particularly as you can even see the veins sticking out inside the glove and if you get really close to the picture theres a funny smell not very nice might I say

Ian, that's what I thought at first, but if you look real close, the inner circle of figures are in much higher numbers, suggesting that the 200 is actually MPH.  F***ing awesome if true!

Oh, and it says MPH on the outside edge of the dial  :o  :o

It was grabbed from a video shot by my pal Tony riding shotgun in Simon's SV on route to ** **** last year.
Simon is f**k*ng insane!!!
Tony has since moved to the south of France and is living out the quiet life.
Rusty

You'll get no arguments there.  The geezer with the video camera desrves a medal.

Me and my big mouth yep apologies its MPH.. The mutts nuts!!

Rusty, is it true that Tony did not intend to go to the South of France, it was only after Simon did an emergancy stop just outside Le Mans and Tony reliseing that he was not wearing a seat belt left via the front screen. No wonder he is living out his life quietly.
Great shot, as stated that is f*ckin awsome.

Hi Rusty - long time no speak. I'm mega impressed but somwhat troubled by the Lambo speedo shot.
It looks genuine - except for a couple of niggles - maybe (I'm treading cautiously here!) I think the oil pess and coolant temp guages should be in shot (top left and top right respectively - I think). The guage is slightly out of focus but the needle is in sharp focus (could be a depth of field thing, perhaps). Absolute flat-out top speed of SV with no power steer or ac is 204mph on banked (Nardo) test track.
This car has to be modded for more than the stock (which is totally insane) horsepower to achieve this on a public road.
I'm not flamin' ya, dude - could well be the real deal, but I know you are a graphics man.......

Matt , it may indicate 200 mph , but true speed maybe somewhat more or slighly less.

Suzuki Hayabusa states 186mph, but a Bike mag this month BIKE with data logging kit at Bruntingthorpe could only get a true 173mph( still quick )

Anyway Matt , are you worried, my Mini will be that quick one day.







Probably when its been re-cycled into the sterring pins on an F1 car....

Hi Matt,
No digital trickery here by me matey.
I did speak to Simon in Andorra today to check it's genuine before lobbing it on here, and he confirmed it was. I have no reason to doubt him as he is a f**k*ng looney and I saw the original video on camera when they arrived at LM last year.
As Robbo quite rightly says, speedo and true speed is somewhat out, but still impressive none the less.
BTW just for the record, he runs straight through race exhausts and no cats just for starters. f**k*ng loud is an understatment.
Rusty

I hear what you're saying Robbo and absolutely agree. I have a 1200 Bandit at my disposal and the clock is wildly optimistic (not sure if that is just a Suzuki trait). The point I was clumsily trying to make (because that speedo shot could easily be genuine) was that the fastest a Diablo SV has been documented is 204mph. Most motoring press reckon 185mph is nearer the mark.
I am by no means a Lamborghini expert and don't really know what the tuning possibilities are with the 'raging bull' engine.
I do know that to make the LT1 motor in my car powerfull enough to haul it to 200mph (as done by Lingenfelter, Callaway, Mallet to name but 3), means an investment of around $30K in engine internals alone - more than half the value of the car. So, f**k only knows what razzing up a Lambo Diablo would cost.
I'll tell you what, Robbo, with all this hype your Mini better be the dogs bollocks when it's finished!

200mph kipper

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'kin 'ell Rusty - she's a game old lass isn't she?
No cats would make a difference, clearly, though the biggest engineering challenge is getting gasses in in sufficient volume to create the horsepower required, rather than evacuating them.
The law of deminishing returns certainly comes into effect when pushing roadcars, however exotic, to the limit. I think it's entirely possible - even with a stock car, if the conditions are perfect. We all notice that our motors run better when it's cold and damp - though hardly ideal conditions for a 200mph+ honk on a public road.
Aside from the obvious minor dramas, like, say a pissed-blind farmer driving his tractor out in front of you, I would have sneaking concerns about the tyres being able to stay together - even Y rated, as fitted to the Diablo. Scary stuff - hat's off to the lunatic!  

She's much scarier than riding at terminal speed with Simon.
Hitting that pissed blind frenchie driving the tractor seems a pretty attractive proposition if that is all you can pull in a Lambo.
Rusty

Oh ye of f**k all faith! It must be terrible to go through life as cynical as this. I'll bet you believe there's no WMD too, eh Matt.? Such terrible cynicism.

Spoke to a friend who works for Carrera Sport (and also an avid Le Manner BTW). Chris is an expert in all thing Lambo and reckons if the speedo says 200 it's likely doing around the 180 mark; as Rusty says, this is still pretty friggin' impressive, the road certainly narrows up at those kind of speeds. Chris also got really pissed on Saturday and some of his pals drew glasses and a tash on his face after he'd finally conked out and it hasn't quite washed off. :P 8) As you can imagine, it was hilarious, you had to be there. :(

Bloody hell, the number of times that I have seen that and it still puts me off my cornflakes.

Was told last year at LM what strech of road the SV was on when that photo was taken of its speedo, won't say on a public site which one, don't want to give 'les flics' any info.
First reaction was awesome 8), then wondered if Simon likes French prison food :o, as it's about x4 the speed limit.

Out-f*ckng-standing Rusty!

Chisel it into a headstone for when he pops off.

In our early years, unlike Butch and Sundance, we camped near a guy with a black Countach, an early model if I remember right. He also had it fitted with the 'Sports Exhaust', and the sound it made when he lifted off was orgasmic.

His everyday car was a Fiat Panda.

H

Oh ye of f**ck all faith! It must be terrible to go through life as cynical as this. I'll bet you believe there's no WMD too, eh Matt.? Such terrible cynicism.


Yes, you're right Andy. I should be less cynical. Perhaps if I faithfully accepted as genuine, everything that ended up in front of me I'd be a happier, more fulfilled individual. Broke, identity stolen, bank account emptied, 2nd, 3rd and 4th mortgage applied to my property, but happier and more fulfilled. "The cheque's in the mail" would do for me - it would be such a thrill to bankroll my delinquent customers, while they bought from my competitors.
"Spare change, for a cup of tea, mate?" would mean just that - and not, "This is my career and I need to maintain the payments on my Golf GTi".
I really should heed the unsolicited emails from Nigerians wanting to deposit secret billions into my bank account, all I need do is send them my account number and sort code and all my dreams will be realised. And it's perfectly reasonable to free the people of Iraq by bombing the sh*t out of them. (Those weapons of mass destruction are out there somewhere!)
Andy, I'm a battle-hardened cynic - I admit it and I'm sorry to be this way. In the grand scheme of things, I'm sure none of us give a flying f**k about the authenticity of the speedo shot. I just thought it looked a little odd - look at a Diablo dash and you'll see what I mean - but it's a neat image nonetheless.
Try as I might, I've been wrestling to figure out what WMD is, since I got into the office this morning. See? Cynical and stupid. Please put me out of my misery.
Matt

Rusty - Ignoring the cynics and over-reading speedos - simply outstanding - nuff said  ;D

Surely the WMD story must be topping the headlines over that side of the pond too Matt??   Weapons of Mass Destruction!!  (or lack of them!!)  :)

Rather ironic as you mention them in your post!!  ;)

JP, I prefer these WMD.   :P


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Duh! Thanks JPC - they're not referred to by that acronym here and are a bit of a sore subject, naturally. The government have now 'fessed up to the fact that there appear, in all probability, to be a distinct shortage of nukes, bio/chem devices or dirty bombs in Eyerack. Not to worry, we needed to open a can or two of whup-ass just to make sure all that lovely oil wasn't going nowhere, except over here.

Cynical, just soooo cynical.

I am myself naive in the extreme. Obviously.

Watcha H

If that was on Houx Annexe 92/93 and was a 5000QV with the rear wing was being used to build our beermountain then you've had the pleasure of our Simon.

I'll try and get an mpeg from Tony of the full video which has been pro-edited to 5 mins and is quite outstanding. It takes in the launch of the Murcielago in Bologna with 250 machines nailing it from Sant'Agata to the town centre with the blessing of the local feds. All set to the sound track from the Sopranos.
watch out for future posts if I manage to get it on our website.

Rusty

It's just been lobbed into a black ground to enhance the speedo without any other clutter. Makes it a much stronger image, non?

Rusty

Rusty - that would be marvellous - just like the heads up about the release of "Rendezvous" was a while back - bin enjoying it ever since  VMT  ;D ;D  Mark

A request is zapping through cyberspace to Tony as we speak. I'll keep you posted.
Rusty

Oui. I imagine the video soundtrack is cool too - that 5.7 V12 rasps and wails.
Did you ever get to see that mpeg of the guy on a Gixxer on Interstate 75. Ran for about 5 mins reading 170+ and even blew by a State Trooper parked in the median - which lead to an extremely rapid negotiation of the next exit ramp. The pix and sound are awesome. I'll see if I can dig up the link.

That was indeed the time and place. Not sure if I took any pics or not, probably not, I seem to remember we were going through a whiskey and red cherries phase then.
H

Was that when you met Raoul??  ;)

Haven't seen that one Matt, but the good news everybody is that I have a link to the Lamboranos video through Tony's personal website.
It's 15.5mb so I'll down load it tonite on broadband rather than spending 1.5hours on good old dial up and see what I can do about posting it up somewhere.
Watch this space.
Rusty

Rusty, can't you just post the link here to his website so we can download it directly??

I'll have to check that with Tony as it is on his personal website and involves passwords et all.
I'll e.mail him later and let you know if it' OK for you to access it direct. It would the best option obviouslyand would save me a lot of f**k*ng around.
Watch this space.
Rusty