Mick Drives Cars
Author
Discussion

Catmando10

Original Poster:

5 posts

28 months

Tuesday 19th May
quotequote all
I don't know if this has been covered before, but I have come across these YouTube vids by Mick Drives Cars.
He demonstrates "advanced" driving techniques, but in actual fact his driving is abysmal, for instance, by driving with one hand holding the steering wheel at 6 o'clock whilst waving his other hand around. In fact, in one vid he is doing around 60mph and takes BOTH hands off the wheel to demonstrate something. He often decries standard AD techniques as a waste of time.
Has anyone else seen this clown? What are your thoughts? Should his videos be banned?

Somewhatfoolish

5,014 posts

213 months

Tuesday 19th May
quotequote all
His videos shouldn't be "banned" as that's ridiculous, but I've come across him before and yes he's an atrocious* driver that's totally full of himself. I wonder what his account name here is.

*Ok that's putting a bit far. "Poor" would be more like it. Certainly not someone to be taking tuition from anyway.

Catmando10

Original Poster:

5 posts

28 months

Wednesday 20th May
quotequote all
Unfortunately gullible viewers of his videos will think his driving techniques are the way to drive.
Some of his actions, eg the holding of the steering wheel with just one hand at 6 o'clock are just downright dangerous and could result in an accident, injury or even a fatality.
Would he pass even the basic driving test, driving in this manner? No, of course not
So, I therefore think his vids are inciting dangerous behaviour on our roads, and, yes, they should be banned.

Somewhatfoolish

5,014 posts

213 months

Friday 22nd May
quotequote all
Catmando10 said:
Unfortunately gullible viewers of his videos will think his driving techniques are the way to drive.
Some of his actions, eg the holding of the steering wheel with just one hand at 6 o'clock are just downright dangerous and could result in an accident, injury or even a fatality.
Would he pass even the basic driving test, driving in this manner? No, of course not
So, I therefore think his vids are inciting dangerous behaviour on our roads, and, yes, they should be banned.
Banning things just because they're poor advice is ridiculous for a multitude of reasons.

PhilAsia

7,393 posts

102 months

Friday 22nd May
quotequote all
Somewhatfoolish said:
Catmando10 said:
Unfortunately gullible viewers of his videos will think his driving techniques are the way to drive.
Some of his actions, eg the holding of the steering wheel with just one hand at 6 o'clock are just downright dangerous and could result in an accident, injury or even a fatality.
Would he pass even the basic driving test, driving in this manner? No, of course not
So, I therefore think his vids are inciting dangerous behaviour on our roads, and, yes, they should be banned.
Banning things just because they're poor advice is ridiculous for a multitude of reasons.
OK, I'll bite. Those multitude being?

TameRacingDriver

20,415 posts

299 months

Friday 22nd May
quotequote all
His latest video series is "steering feel review", which is ironic given the observations here. Couldn't take it entirely serious, as he claims that the ND MX5 was basically total st (especially compared to his beloved NC), while a Mini F56 Cooper S is one of the best electric racks he's driven. This is interesting to me as I've gone from an F56 JCW to an ND2, and while I'll concede the steering isn't the NDs strong point, it's really not as bad as he makes out, and he claims the NC has steering that is almost up there with an Elise, which is hilarious, as I've also had an NC, and the steering really isn't really that much better than the ND IMO (others may/will have other opinions). Going back to the Mini, he said the steering was better than the ND, but that is total bks IMO. He even seems to like Sport mode in the Mini which makes it even worse. For me, although the ND steering is quite light, I do get feedback from it and it's quick and direct. For me, back to back, the Mini feels artificial, yet, according to him, it's better.

Anyway, I do actually agree with some of his content - like finding a lightweight but 'slow' car like an MX5 more fun than his old M2 on the road for reasons I align with, but I've found his style increasingly grating too, as someone here just said, he seems quite full of himself. That said, I still watch as generally he reviews and talks about cars that I can afford, and like me, is a B road driver rather than someone who seeks out race tracks, so I can relate to the videos, but I am finding him slightly irritating at times. Maybe it's the voice hehe

Somewhatfoolish

5,014 posts

213 months

Friday 22nd May
quotequote all
PhilAsia said:
Somewhatfoolish said:
Catmando10 said:
Unfortunately gullible viewers of his videos will think his driving techniques are the way to drive.
Some of his actions, eg the holding of the steering wheel with just one hand at 6 o'clock are just downright dangerous and could result in an accident, injury or even a fatality.
Would he pass even the basic driving test, driving in this manner? No, of course not
So, I therefore think his vids are inciting dangerous behaviour on our roads, and, yes, they should be banned.
Banning things just because they're poor advice is ridiculous for a multitude of reasons.
OK, I'll bite. Those multitude being?
Do you seriously think what this country needs right now is more restrictions on freedom of speech?

The way to "beat" people like Mick is better content (eg like Reg's) showing how to do it properly.

PhilAsia

7,393 posts

102 months

Saturday 23rd May
quotequote all
Somewhatfoolish said:
PhilAsia said:
Somewhatfoolish said:
Catmando10 said:
Unfortunately gullible viewers of his videos will think his driving techniques are the way to drive.
Some of his actions, eg the holding of the steering wheel with just one hand at 6 o'clock are just downright dangerous and could result in an accident, injury or even a fatality.
Would he pass even the basic driving test, driving in this manner? No, of course not
So, I therefore think his vids are inciting dangerous behaviour on our roads, and, yes, they should be banned.
Banning things just because they're poor advice is ridiculous for a multitude of reasons.
OK, I'll bite. Those multitude being?
Do you seriously think what this country needs right now is more restrictions on freedom of speech?

The way to "beat" people like Mick is better content (eg like Reg's) showing how to do it properly.
No, I believe in zero restrictions, but I was interested in the multitude of reasons. Mick is right and wrong in about equal measure in all of the videos I had the misfortune to watch.

7mike

3,209 posts

220 months

Saturday 23rd May
quotequote all
Just watched about a minute of one of his videos. Obviously taught by Don Palmer; it's almost twenty years since I trained with him and it sounded like he was repeating Don's words verbatim!

Somewhatfoolish

5,014 posts

213 months

Saturday 23rd May
quotequote all
PhilAsia said:
Somewhatfoolish said:
PhilAsia said:
Somewhatfoolish said:
Catmando10 said:
Unfortunately gullible viewers of his videos will think his driving techniques are the way to drive.
Some of his actions, eg the holding of the steering wheel with just one hand at 6 o'clock are just downright dangerous and could result in an accident, injury or even a fatality.
Would he pass even the basic driving test, driving in this manner? No, of course not
So, I therefore think his vids are inciting dangerous behaviour on our roads, and, yes, they should be banned.
Banning things just because they're poor advice is ridiculous for a multitude of reasons.
OK, I'll bite. Those multitude being?
Do you seriously think what this country needs right now is more restrictions on freedom of speech?

The way to "beat" people like Mick is better content (eg like Reg's) showing how to do it properly.
No, I believe in zero restrictions, but I was interested in the multitude of reasons. Mick is right and wrong in about equal measure in all of the videos I had the misfortune to watch.
Well basically the multitude is probably the reason you believe in zero restrictions (the most important ones philisophical ones underlying eg 1st amendedment in the US), plus with the added 'driving advice bonus' of who is right? Suppose you come up to someone doing 47mph in a 60mph road. Brake says don't overtake. DVSA probably says they should pull over or you can overtake if you can do it at 60mph with a very great margin. On paper advanaced driving associations say variations of that with lesser margin. In practice they teach variations of discretion on that 60 to minimise time exposed to danger. And Mick probably says always floor/twist it even if you're in something high performance. If we ban bad advice which are we banning? They're all defensible (even Mick).

MattsCar

2,265 posts

132 months

Saturday 30th May
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Watched the first video he has on YT....

Opening gambit...

"I have been driving hard on the road for more than 10 years...probably every enthusiast car you can think of"


...searched through his videos and realised that this is absolute nonsense.

PhilAsia

7,393 posts

102 months

Saturday 30th May
quotequote all
MattsCar said:
Watched the first video he has on YT....

Opening gambit...

"I have been driving hard on the road for more than 10 years...probably every enthusiast car you can think of"


...searched through his videos and realised that this is absolute nonsense.
Maybe he has a Viagra addiction...?

NightRavne

4 posts

39 months

Saturday 13th June
quotequote all
I'm with whats being said here. Very irritating patter / tone, and talks pretentious waffle that solely exists to get a circlejerk going in the comments.

TameRacingDriver

20,415 posts

299 months

Sunday 14th June
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In one of his latest videos, in a Corolla T Sport there's a point early on where he got the car very out of shape on a corner with a car coming the other way, and clearly though it was amusing, quite ironic considering he normally preaches about ethical hooning. The guy is definitely a bit of a tosser.

PhilAsia

7,393 posts

102 months

Wednesday 17th June
quotequote all
TameRacingDriver said:
In one of his latest videos, in a Corolla T Sport there's a point early on where he got the car very out of shape on a corner with a car coming the other way, and clearly though it was amusing, quite ironic considering he normally preaches about ethical hooning. The guy is definitely a bit of a tosser.
Yep, he is out of control.

The absolute minimum when taking a left hand bend is to be able to exit with your wheels next to the nearside kerb. He knew 0% of the outcome of exiting that corner at that speed.

ADJimbo

887 posts

213 months

Sunday 21st June
quotequote all
PhilAsia said:
Yep, he is out of control.
Agreed. I have watched a few (off the back of this thread) and the one he does on overtaking is dangerous.

Johnspex

5,145 posts

211 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
2 minutes was enough for me. The hand-waving and the smug voice !