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A comment on The Only McLaren F1 Technician in North America. Parent comment

Re:The Only McLaren F1 Technician in North America by justin66 on Monday December 25, 2017 @10:58AM (#16004519)
My father's a lifelong Lotus Seven enthusiast, so I've heard this before. I'm afraid that when you drive something like a new Corvette or 911 Turbo, it bends your mind in some completely new ways. I don't think I'd buy one even if I could, but if my goal was to keep the occasional passenger entertained, something like that would be a nearly ideal tool.

There's no denying the Miata is an absolute gem. I am very happy that it is still made in this era of overpowered, huge cars and rocket-powered hatchbacks. Sacrilege: I know two different people who have shoehorned American V8s into early Miatas. Somehow I haven't driven that beast yet. I'm still not quite sure how it's even possible.

> Admittedly it does help if your country has roads with corners, which I understand may be hard to come by in some parts of the US.

On the other hand, you're at a great disadvantage in terms of population density. Finding a quiet road seems like it'd be a bit of a trick.

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Re:The Only McLaren F1 Technician in North America by jdietrich on Tuesday December 26, 2017 @03:11AM (#16007687)
>On the other hand, you're at a great disadvantage in terms of population density. Finding a quiet road seems like it'd be a bit of a trick.

Surprisingly, it really isn't. We're extremely densely populated, but we also have very strict controls on sprawl. The UK has a peculiar planning policy called the green belt - there's a ring on the map around each city, beyond which any development is effectively prohibited. Outside of London, you're rarely more than half an hour away from open countryside.

For example, this road is about half an hour from the centre of Manchester, our third biggest city:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.5976642,-2.0181352,3a,75y,...

As you might imagine, a Miata, a Caterham Seven or a classic Mini would be the perfect match for roads like that.

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