Ngarara: The London to Lydney routes sound similar to those one can choose to drive between Houston and Austin, TX. I guess the trick in much of the world is seeing how fast one can drive on public roads without getting ticketed for speeding.

 

You can buy a 1" dia. 'Jag head' enameled emblem for only $3! so bought one for my gear shift; didn't like it, so put on front of my straw hat!!
Looks great...................!

Adrian

 

Problem is, it's just too easy to do bonkers speeds with these cars, and I'm not talking freeway driving. On my first weekend, I took the 75 for a little early-morning 'blat' through the backroads northeast of London, out Epping way, just to see "what she can do". I was powering along a nice ridgeway road, through some sweeping bends, when I glanced at the speedo - 120. Ooops…

Speed itself is not the big thing for me - it's acceleration, braking and handling, the ability to just "not slow down" for corners. Unfortunately, most English A- & B-roads are a bit too constrained for safe press-on driving - too many high banks, trees & hedgerows that stop you getting a look at the road ahead. Scotland has the open views, but the roads themselves can be pretty lumpy. What I'd really like: to have the 75 back in NZ, with twisty but well-made and open roads. Now that would be proper fun.

 

I looked the 75 on a NZ map. It definitely looks as it would be a great drive. I wonder how much it would cost to ship the XK down for a little vacation? ;-)

 

Sorry, 'the 75' is the car (XKR 75) - I'd be happy in it on any NZ highway.

However, a real test would be the Parapara highway, which runs north from my home town of Wanganui to the Volcanic Plateau. At each end, there's a sign: "53 km of winding road" - it's a great route if you have a car that handles well and has the power to pass on very short straights. And you can't actually go fast enough in most places to get pinged for speeding - it's all about acceleration, braking & cornering. My record was 45 minutes (downhill, i.e. southbound) in a modified Mini 1100.

 

I think my XKR is wasted on me then, I have only been out of the city limits once in the 9 months I have owned it and that was only for an hour!

I did take it drag racing last weekend though!