Here in little old New Zealand, the government is on a mission (in cahoots with local authorities and other agencies, I might add) to slash speed limits across the road network.
Now I’m the first to admit that NZ has a problem with a high road toll, and it is an unequivocal question of physics that in the event of a crash a lower speed is going to result in less damage to the vehicle(s) and its occupants.
Between “health and safety”-focused speed limit reduction and green-focused speed limit reduction, the window of opportunity for those who enjoy a bit of spirited driving seems to be rapidly shrinking.
However, I’m not here to talk the politics of speed limits, and what speed limits should be etc.
Instead, I want to focus on the dark art of making the most of more modest speed limits.
You see a problem with powerful cars (particularly modern, powerful cars that are more impressive performance-wise than cars have ever been in the past) is that fully enjoying their capabilities on the road isn’t always possible, particularly if you live somewhere like I do where speed limits keep dropping.
Let me give you an example.
One of the best driving roads near my hometown – State Highway 75 – takes you from Christchurch to the French-inspired (owing to them landing there at one point) seaside town of Akaroa. I’ve had plenty of fun on this drive over the years, in everything from my Suzuki Swift Sport, to a V3 WRX STI, to my old Citroen Xantia with its amazing self-levelling suspension.
Leaving Christchurch, the first half of the drive to the quirky township of Little River, involves lots of sweeping bends and is an enjoyable drive. Once you leave Little River, it’s time for the tight twists and turns up and then down “The Hill”. This route is so favoured by motorcylists looking for an enjoyable ride, that it is nicknamed the ‘Akaroa GP’.
Up until recently, the speed limit for much of this drive was 100km/h, apart from driving through Little River and entering Akaroa.
However, the speed limit is now 80km/h on the open road stretches, and as low as 50km/h in some twistier sections.
For someone who has driven this road many times in the past, it feels agonisingly slow now. Much better for the campervan driving tourists and nervous drivers on a day trip to the Akaroa seaside (and when you actually consider that the road is often fairly busy with vehicles that struggle to climb the hill, the speed limit change is probably adding no more than 10-15 minutes to the drive) but a pain for those who do enjoy their driving.
The other day I looked at a Renault Megane RS300 Trophy – one of the most impressive of the current crop of hot hatches, and right up there with the Civic Type R, Hyundai I30N etc. I’ve seen these cars online but never sat in one in person, and I was seriously impressed. This car looked amazing, and I’d love to own one, but there’s a problem – I’d probably never get to use even half its performance potential on the roads where I live. You’d barely be getting near the top of 2nd gear and already be past the maximum speed limit on this drive.
The last time I drove this road was in my Swift Sport, and it was before the speed limit dropped. Even the substantially more modest Swift was overkill in the power department!
For these reasons, I’m becoming increasingly convinced that the way forward for drivers like me who find themselves in environments with decreasing speed limits is to instead find cars that might be genuinely “slow” but which you can really enjoy by pushing towards their limits.
Driving a “slow car fast” might be the way forward for the motorist who is facing fewer and fewer opportunities to explore the performance potential of their car, but who still wants to have fun.
For example, in a recent article I wrote about the Honda Beat as an example of one of the best-ever JDM convertibles – a pint-sized kei roadster from Japan. With its tiny little engine and diminutive size, the Beat can barely crack 120km/h … which potentially makes it ideal for a road like State Highway 75.
Safety concerns aside (I’d hate to see the outcome of a Honda Beat vs campervan, or even a normal-sized car for that matter) you’d be able to really drive the little Honda hard and I would wager that you would likely have more fun in that car than in the likes of the Megane, or any other modern high-performance vehicle.
For this reason, if I were on the market for something like a Mazda Miata/MX-5, I’d be trying to find an original NA generation with the smaller 1.6L engine, just so I could enjoy more of its potential (although I think I’d actually take the Beat, if only for rarity reasons).
‘Slow car fast’ as a sort of automotive ethos and lifestyle has an increasing degree of appeal in an age of expanding restrictions on the motoring enthusiast.
It’s one of the reasons why go karts are so much fun – although the average go kart facility doesn’t let you loose in a powerful kart, the fact that you get to hustle your little vehicle and thrash it to within an inch of its life makes the experience so much fun.
What are your thoughts on the “slow car fast” lifestyle? I’d love to hear them.
