Police commentary drive

Police commentary drive

Author
Discussion

WilliBetz

Original Poster:

694 posts

223 months

Friday 15th February 2008
quotequote all
Thought you might be interested in this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVtQ4NN5_-Q




WilliBetz

Original Poster:

694 posts

223 months

Friday 15th February 2008
quotequote all
and possibly this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvXbmR1Rjv0

Had the tractor not cooperated, I'd have been inclined to hold back and pop into the Crab for a bite to eat...

Holst

2,468 posts

222 months

Friday 15th February 2008
quotequote all
Thanks for posting that, very interesting smile

Supprising how many people pulled out of junctions infront of him even with the siren on.

aeropilot

34,654 posts

228 months

Sunday 17th February 2008
quotequote all
That takes me back 30 years.......smile

BOF

991 posts

224 months

Sunday 17th February 2008
quotequote all
aeropilot said:
That takes me back 30 years.......smile
Can you get me 15 gallons of petrol at ten bob while you are there?

BOF biggrin

Santa Claws

420 posts

201 months

Sunday 17th February 2008
quotequote all
i love youtube. i want more!!!

Platinum

2,101 posts

224 months

Sunday 17th February 2008
quotequote all
WilliBetz said:
and possibly this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvXbmR1Rjv0

Had the tractor not cooperated, I'd have been inclined to hold back and pop into the Crab for a bite to eat...
Liberal use of 2nd gear!

StevenJJ

541 posts

210 months

Sunday 17th February 2008
quotequote all
Platinum said:
WilliBetz said:
and possibly this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvXbmR1Rjv0

Had the tractor not cooperated, I'd have been inclined to hold back and pop into the Crab for a bite to eat...
Liberal use of 2nd gear!
Very interesting. One thing I would be extremely unhappy about doing is sitting on the wrong side of the road 'holding position' for a prolonged period of time running alongside the tractor, especially with a junction/side road to the right. If the opportunity to pass is clear and safe then surely it's best to take it instead of boxing yourself into a potential head-on should someone come out of the junction looking only to their right.

WilliBetz

Original Poster:

694 posts

223 months

Monday 18th February 2008
quotequote all
Platinum said:
WilliBetz said:
and possibly this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvXbmR1Rjv0

Had the tractor not cooperated, I'd have been inclined to hold back and pop into the Crab for a bite to eat...
Liberal use of 2nd gear!
I thought much the same. It may have been appropriate for the car, or warranted on the basis of demonstrating technique, but the gearbox sense didn't feel quite right to me... seemed to prefer low gears or high, leaving me wondering about the flexibility of third and fourth...

In very high performance cars, on the road where mechanical and passenger symapthy are considerations, I often find lower gears a hindrance to progress.

Consider exiting an open roundabout or a bend (like those illustrated) in second gear, onto a reasonable straight. You need to pick up the throttle smoothly to avoid unsettling the car then - almost immediately - blend off the throttle to take third gear, then pick up the throttle smoothly again...

Then consider the same corner taken in third... Initial throttle application can be slightly firmer as the engine won't be as responsive at the lower engine speed. And there's no wasted time taking the higher gear...

That said, there may be good rationale for the driver's choice. He's clearly pretty classy behind the wheel...

Edited by WilliBetz on Monday 18th February 13:22

Graebob

2,172 posts

208 months

Monday 18th February 2008
quotequote all
Those videos (particularly the country driving one) could benefit from a secondary shot of the dials of the vehicle. The "fisheye" effect of the in-car camera tends to make things look a bit slower than they are.

Other than that, excellent videos, very interesting.

Medic-one

3,105 posts

204 months

Monday 18th February 2008
quotequote all
Similar topic here over same video clip :

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

wristy_mcgrew

11 posts

198 months

Thursday 21st February 2008
quotequote all
The use of lower gears may not always be a hindrance, even on 'performance' cars, it depends entirely on the type of engine and gearbox concerned.

We regularly used the 3.2 Omega with a spanish gearbox and they had overly long ( and poorly judged ) ratio's. 1st was good for 40, second for nearly 85. Roundabouts were usually second gear affairs as a result, third would be too far down the rev range and the car would bog down with little meaningful acceleration, that from a 150mph car. Then, when we changed to the volvo T5's, you had the benefit of forced induction with meant you didnt have to keep the engine on the boil so much and could rely on the different characteristics and use higher gears for similar pick up.

WilliBetz

Original Poster:

694 posts

223 months

Thursday 21st February 2008
quotequote all
wristy_mcgrew said:
The use of lower gears may not always be a hindrance, even on 'performance' cars, it depends entirely on the type of engine and gearbox concerned.

We regularly used the 3.2 Omega with a spanish gearbox and they had overly long ( and poorly judged ) ratio's. 1st was good for 40, second for nearly 85. Roundabouts were usually second gear affairs as a result, third would be too far down the rev range and the car would bog down with little meaningful acceleration, that from a 150mph car. Then, when we changed to the volvo T5's, you had the benefit of forced induction with meant you didnt have to keep the engine on the boil so much and could rely on the different characteristics and use higher gears for similar pick up.
A very fair point, though I'm not sure an Omega fitted my definition of very high performance wink

Great fun to drive though, and a fantastic car to coach steering technique...

The older BMW 535 was similarly afflicted, with a cavernous gap between 2nd and 3rd.

Perhaps the exceptions prove the rule?

Or perhaps it wasn't a rule in the first place; but a thought for consideration.

Santa Claws

420 posts

201 months

Sunday 24th February 2008
quotequote all
Excuse my ignorance here but "Spanish Gearbox"? Do our spanish cousins make weird gearboxes or something? confused

Medic-one

3,105 posts

204 months

Monday 25th February 2008
quotequote all
Santa Claws said:
Excuse my ignorance here but "Spanish Gearbox"? Do our spanish cousins make weird gearboxes or something? confused
Yea they don't have the "D" for Drive but a "V" for Vamos biggrin

Santa Claws

420 posts

201 months

Monday 25th February 2008
quotequote all
lol!! biggrin

Adom

527 posts

240 months

Monday 25th February 2008
quotequote all
WilliBetz said:
and possibly this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvXbmR1Rjv0

Had the tractor not cooperated, I'd have been inclined to hold back and pop into the Crab for a bite to eat...
Wasn't sure, but as he's going past the tractor, is there not a right hand turning just before the de-restricted sign?

WilliBetz

Original Poster:

694 posts

223 months

Monday 25th February 2008
quotequote all
Adom said:
Wasn't sure, but as he's going past the tractor, is there not a right hand turning just before the de-restricted sign?
Yes - a warning of pedestrians in the road, and two entrances right. From the video, it's not at all obvious that we could see the entrances to be clear. And presumably the pedestrians are using the entrances or a footpath to get onto or off the road.

Given the situation, and the scope to delay the pass without losing the opportunity, I'd have strongly preferred the driver to delay the commitment to pass until after we had cleared the second entrance right.


Edited by WilliBetz on Monday 25th February 14:39

Adom

527 posts

240 months

Monday 25th February 2008
quotequote all
WilliBetz said:
Adom said:
Wasn't sure, but as he's going past the tractor, is there not a right hand turning just before the de-restricted sign?
Yes - a warning of pedestrians in the road, and two entrances right. From the video, it's not at all obvious that we could see the entrances to be clear. And presumably the pedestrians are using the entrances or a footpath to get onto or off the road.

Given the situation, and the ample opportunity to delay the pass without losing the opportunity, I'd have strongly preferred the driver to delay the commitment to pass until after we had cleared the second entrance right.
were you in the car at the time?

WilliBetz

Original Poster:

694 posts

223 months

Monday 25th February 2008
quotequote all
No, just commenting on what we can see in the video and infer from the commentary.