Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'

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Delivery Van Racing
Racing series for delivery drivers.
 
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This is my first post so here goes...

Has any body driven a Toyota Hiace van or similar type?

I had to move some stuff at home and borrowed the Hiace from work. It seems that because the driver actually sits directly above the front axle line, it feels very agile and manouverable. A very torquey turbo diesel engine mated to a close ratio gearbox made for fast getaways at the traffic lights. Up to the 50kph speed limit at least.

I'd always noticed that courier/delivery drivers were extremely 'loose' while driving around town. Tailgating, overtaking, and generally driving the vans as if they were stolen! I used to put it down to a combination of driver training, and driving everyday in city traffic. After having a go of one of these vehicles myself though, I now beleive another contributing factor would have to be the vans themselves! Highly irresponsible behaviour but lots of fun! And not that fast really. It just feels that way due to the close ratio gearbox.

So I propose a race series for panel vans. Unmodified, except for safety gear. The circuits used would have to be inner city and the drivers would most likely be van drivers during the week. I think it could be quite entertaining to watch. More fun to take part in though.

To add to the chaos, maybe have a taxi driver race withe similar rules, running at the same time!

Anybody got any other ideas to add to the chaos/carnage?


Emi-chan, Aug 22 2004

Semis http://riggpixxx.ho...lSuperTruckNew.html
How about adding some fully laden semi trucks to the mix? [reap, Oct 04 2004]

Classic panel van http://www.smasa.co...ics_ek_panelvan.htm
A fine example of the Panel Van genre! [ConsulFlaminicus, Oct 04 2004]

SuperVan http://www.carpages...rvan_3_17_07_04.asp
I'd put my money on the bloke driving this. [Gordon Comstock, Oct 04 2004]



Annotation:







       [Emi-chan] welcome to the Halfbakery.   

       Remember that this is an international forum, so you should explain country-specific terms like 'Panel Van', which in this case (possibly because you are too young to know what a panel van is??) you seem to have misapplied to vehicles such as HiAce vans. A true 'Panel Van' resembles a HiAce van as a bee resembles an elephant.   

       Perhaps someone nice will post a link to a picture of a Panel Van.

ConsulFlaminicus, Aug 23 2004
  

       Rig the vans so that they were filled with balloons and streamers that shoot out in joyous celebration from every window (except the windscreen) at the point of victory!   

       I sincerely believe that there should be racing events for every form of vehicle so I'm giving this one a croissant with butter and jam. French people, I am sorry.

harderthanjesus, Aug 23 2004
  

       I live in New Zealand where I beleive a panel van is usually the term given to a van with panel sides as opposed to windows. However, as I'm originally from the UK and the term 'Panel Van' is not common, I assumed this was correct terminology. I stand corrected. I'll change the title. I was refering to any van where the driver sits above the front wheels, as this will give a suitably unstable centre of gravity, therefore adding to the interest factor.

Emi-chan, Aug 23 2004
  

       UPS ran an ad awhile ago about wanting to race the truck in the Winston Cup Series here.

RayfordSteele, Aug 24 2004
  


 
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