The sleeper car and red lights...

[Luminary]

Well I had a bit of a funny experience today. Normally I wouldn't really worry about something like this but here's how it went.

I pulled in at some red lights to the left of a Volvo XC90 4.4 V8 four wheel drive SUV. The guy in the car was with his wife, so was I. There was a parked car about 100m up the road in my lane.

I thought Id easily get past and cut in.

The lights went green and this guy started speeding off. Trying to cut me off. I effortlessly pulled past and changed lanes. The guy was almost foaming at the mouth and was continuing to accelerate behind me. I was already 15kmh over by this point. The next set of lights was orange and I passed
easily. This guy probably still sore that he couldn't impress his wife went through the lights when near or after red. I decided to show him. The next section of road was an incline and the R36 just ate up the road with no problems at all. The distance between us grew rapidly and one last look in the rear view mirror showed the face of a broken man.

It was so funny and yet I realized what a maniac the car had made me. I was delirious with the power hehe. Just kidding. But seriously this guy obviously has done this sort of thing before. With the V8 he can probably put away most cars and he obviously likes showing off his big engine.

He just hadn't banked on being up against an R36. It was great to have a "sleeper" car in that sense. He probably thought of his car as a sleeper too. But he was outsleeped

Any other funny sleeper experiences of yours to share?

[Steve]

Every day I travel along a freeway where the speed limit is 60km/h, then changes to 100km/h. I usually stay in the right lane, obeying the speed limit.

It's not uncommon for people to think the 100km/h zone starts 500m previously, and sit close behind me travelling at the 60km/h speed limit (no requirement to keep left until 80km/h!) flashing their lights or beeping or waving or generally being idiots.

As soon as I pass the 100km/h sign, I accelerate to 100km/h - and in 16 months of R36 ownership, nobody has kept up to me - probably because they don't plant their foot at the same time I do, but I'll just conveniently ignore that fact for the moment...

My neighbour drives a fairly heavily modified new WRX STI. We live on top of a mountain, and the twisty road to our homes is about 3km long. I was coming home one day and and caught up to him, so he tried to get away but just couldn't - I was right behind him and not pushing particularly hard. We got home and he was puzzled... I chucked him the keys and he came back half an hour later saying nothing but "wow!"

He reckons his car is faster but not as easy to drive fast. He couldn't believe the DSG - he's now seriously thinking about trading his STI for the next Evo with the dual clutch setup.

[tryingavw]

Well I had a bit of a funny experience today. Normally I wouldn't really worry about something like this but here's how it went.

I pulled in at some red lights to the left of a Volvo XC90 4.4 V8 four wheel drive SUV. The guy in the car was with his wife, so was I. There was a parked car about 100m up the road in my lane.

I thought Id easily get past and cut in.

The lights went green and this guy started speeding off. Trying to cut me off. I effortlessly pulled past and changed lanes. The guy was almost foaming at the mouth and was continuing to accelerate behind me. I was already 15kmh over by this point. The next set of lights was orange and I passed
easily. This guy probably still sore that he couldn't impress his wife went through the lights when near or after red. I decided to show him. The next section of road was an incline and the R36 just ate up the road with no problems at all. The distance between us grew rapidly and one last look in the rear view mirror showed the face of a broken man.

It was so funny and yet I realized what a maniac the car had made me. I was delirious with the power hehe. Just kidding. But seriously this guy obviously has done this sort of thing before. With the V8 he can probably put away most cars and he obviously likes showing off his big engine.

He just hadn't banked on being up against an R36. It was great to have a "sleeper" car in that sense. He probably thought of his car as a sleeper too. But he was outsleeped

Any other funny sleeper experiences of yours to share?

they just announced in victoria the fine for being 35k over the limit is about $2000. sound like your sleeper mate needs to start saving up!

[gregozedobe]

Any other funny sleeper experiences of yours to share?

Is it worth mentioning that you were in the lane that closed, so technically you were trying to cut him off, not vice versa ? Still good fun to surprise people, just so long as it doesn't get close enough to be dangerous.

I have to admit that sometimes I have a bit of fun when in my Transporter van (bog standard 2.5 TDI, but it has a serious amount of torque). It's a bit hard to get off the line (too much wheel spin and too many gear changes at first), so I usually have to limit myself to those vehicles low down on the food chain (Korean/Taiwanese hatches etc). However I did irritate a BMW 335i recently - he was a bit slow to react when the lights changed, and by the time he got going properly he was well over the speed limit to pass me (I wasn't).

Much more fun is on the highway when you come up to a clear stetch of steep uphill with an extra left lane for "slow vehicles". I usually pull into the left lane and have been known to accelerate slightly once there. It is funny to listen to a car suddenly change down 2 or 3 gears, the engine is revving like crazy and they are still getting left behind. About then I back off and let them go for 2 reasons (I like to be sortof law-abiding and minimise my chance of fines, plus if they caught up to me they were travelling faster than me so I let them go by after I've had a bit of fun).

I have been known to do similar things after a 40kmh road works limit reverts back to 110kmh - so many cars pull into the right lane to overtake me, then get a bit puzzled when things doesn't turn out the way they expected.

I imagine the V6 version (with more power) would be even more of a sleeper. Hint: if a VW transporter van (T5 model) has a red "V6" badge it could be a lot quicker than you expect, and even an all red "TDI" badged one may not be as slow as you expect.

I also catch a few drivers out in my Octy, but it isn't much a surprise as the with the van.

[G-rig]

Is it worth mentioning that you were in the lane that closed, so technically you were trying to cut him off, not vice versa ?

That's how I read it.

Bit annoying when pricks go up the inside lane and try to cut in front of everyone when they know the lane ends. Just something you grow out of i guess..

[Luminary]

It's not a lane that ends. Just that there's a parked car there.

Road rules say that if you're ahead of the car to your side then they must allow you to merge.

Not be an arsewipe and try to prevent you by racing you or trying to.

You do have the option of going slow at the lights and hoping someone behind might let you in; but this guy was out to try and keep me boxed into the left lane out of spite.

Hardly courteous, and deserved the spanking he got...

But yeah, you guys can stay on your high horses because you've never done such things......

Thanks everyone for the great 4 months or so I've had here... I'll keep reading but I think I'm done with posting anything other than questions etc. And I'll be too busy driving my car

Thank again... and stay well...

[poloplayer]

Road rules say that if you're ahead of the car to your side then they must allow you to merge.

I'm from Melbourne too, but VicRoads clearly says that this applies only in the case of a zip merge, not if there are still dotted lines. If there are still dotted lines, whoever is in the lane has right of way over anyone coming in.

On the other hand, makes me want an R36

[Swallowtail]

As poloplayer says, the only instance they 'have' to let you merge is when it's a zip merge (i.e. a merge with no lines, one lane ending). Any other instance if you are changing lanes because there's a parked car, or because the lane ends with dotted lines, then you have to give way to the lane you are joining, regardless of whether or not you are in front or not.

Thanks for sharing your experiences Luminary, you are obviously enjoying your car...

For the record though, no street racing tales please. Doesn't do any of us any favours, and will incur infractions and / or bans.

Thanks. Thread closed.