The Six Pint Jaguar

[TripleS]

Recalling my 48 minute Scarborough to Middlesbrough journey in 1968 reminds me of another Jaguar driver I knew many years ago. He used to have a Jaguar 3.4 automatic, a very nice car, Sherwood Green in colour, with wire wheels. One of his star performances - if that is the right way to look at it - was his York to Scarborough time of 32 minutes one evening, which represented an average speed of 75 mph for the 40 miles. Somewhat startled by this, I once asked him how he managed it, and in a quite calm and matter of fact manner, he explained it as follows:-

‘Well you do York to Malton in 11 minutes, which leaves you 21 minutes to do the other 22 miles’. It all sounded quite straightforward, and not at all dramatic.

According to my mathematics 18 miles in 11 minutes means an average speed of about 98 mph, covering a good deal of the York to Malton stretch at about 110 mph. In those days we had no overall speed limit in the UK, outside of built up areas. Completing the 22 miles from Malton to Scarborough in 21 minutes, means an average speed for that section of only about 63 mph, but this second leg of the journey involves passing through more villages along the way. One might bear in mind that this was about 1961, long before the opening of the Malton bypass, and therefore one also had to go right through Malton and Norton.

Whatever one might think about such driving, I do believe that the gentleman in question was really an extremely good driver. He was always alert and thoughtful, and actually very careful, though some may find that hard to envisage. I travelled with Dave a few times, and he always seemed to have things firmly under control, and in all honesty I never felt worried. Sometimes he would drive quite leisurely, but when he was in a hurry he would overtake very positively and quickly, missing no safe opportunities. When the conditions were right he would really go, but he was always very quick to get the speed down, and hang back from other traffic when necessary, and that is what really matters. There was actually quite a lot of defensive driving in his style, despite the very high speeds he often reached.

Happy days!

Take care folks.
Dave.

[andygo]

These days you'd be struggling to do that anywhere in the UK, even if there were no speed limits and all the plod were having a day off. There's just so much traffic these days.

Lets face it, wev'e had the best of it guys.

[gh0st]

andygo said:

These days you'd be struggling to do that anywhere in the UK, even if there were no speed limits and all the plod were having a day off. There's just so much traffic these days. Lets face it, wev'e had the best of it guys.

I disagree. I have a bike Its only just beginning.....

[TripleS]

andygo said:

These days you'd be struggling to do that anywhere in the UK, even if there were no speed limits and all the plod were having a day off. There's just so much traffic these days. Lets face it, wev'e had the best of it guys.

Yes, I am sure you are right, but I dearly wish we could re-establish a more sensible attitude to the speed factor.
No doubt this has been said many times before, but placing so much (in my view unjustified) emphasis on the part played by speed is neglecting all the other ways of having accidents.

With regard to possible future restrictions, how do we feel about the prospect of:
1. Having 70 mph speed limiters on all cars.
2. The EVI system that AIUI would mean having an in-car device that would monitor our entire driving behaviour, with penalties for every trangression.

It may be felt that there is little we can do to resist such developments, when it is so hard to get people to stand up for what they believe in.

I would like to see drivers getting together, supporting improved driving standards and better road safety, and then forcing the government to get rid of some of the controls and restrictions.

Surely some of us can try to generate some meaningful action, can we not?

Best wishes all.
Dave.

[andyps]

TripleS said:

Yes, I am sure you are right, but I dearly wish we could re-establish a more sensible attitude to the speed factor. No doubt this has been said many times before, but placing so much (in my view unjustified) emphasis on the part played by speed is neglecting all the other ways of having accidents.

I entirely agree

TripleS said:

With regard to possible future restrictions, how do we feel about the prospect of: 1. Having 70 mph speed limiters on all cars.

Potentially dangerous because it takes away one possible method of avoiding danger - accelerating out of the way. Plus - will you be allowed to remove it when travelling to a country with a more realistic Motorway limit (e.g. France, Germany, Italy), and what about people from there visiting here.

TripleS said:

2. The EVI system that AIUI would mean having an in-car device that would monitor our entire driving behaviour, with penalties for every trangression.

Not sure if this is the satellite tracking which has been discussed, but if so I think it has to be a major invasion of privacy apart from anything else. I am totally opposed to the idea and would do whatever I could to ensure I was not tracked - surely an old car without electronics would be difficult to wire up such that it had to always be tracked?!

TripleS said:

It may be felt that there is little we can do to resist such developments, when it is so hard to get people to stand up for what they believe in. I would like to see drivers getting together, supporting improved driving standards and better road safety, and then forcing the government to get rid of some of the controls and restrictions. Surely some of us can try to generate some meaningful action, can we not? Best wishes all. Dave.

I certainly hope we can - you can count me in.

[streaky]

andyps said:

TripleS said: 2. The EVI system that AIUI would mean having an in-car device that would monitor our entire driving behaviour, with penalties for every trangression. Not sure if this is the satellite tracking which has been discussed, but if so I think it has to be a major invasion of privacy apart from anything else. I am totally opposed to the idea and would do whatever I could to ensure I was not tracked - surely an old car without electronics would be difficult to wire up such that it had to always be tracked?!

Sadly, this might not be the case. Whilst there are many inputs that such a "tracking device" could use, the minimum needed is likely to be a GPS receiver, a transmitter or other output device (self-contained, and so electrical power required), and an input from the speedometer cable.

This would provide an minimum analysis of:
* where you were;
* in which direction you were travelling;
* what speed you were doing.

Depending upon accuracy of the GPS, it might be possible to say on which side of the road you were.

With an output to the ignition switch, it might be possible to (at least temporarily) immobilise the vehicle. With an output to the coil/distributor, it might be possible to moderate the vehicel's speed.

Of course, any "after-market" addition could be circumvented ... there are reports that "tagged" criminals have been slipping the tags off and going on crime-related activities out of curfew hours.

Streaky

[ricardo g]

I say we push for this system to be brought in, get all traffic plods out of their cars and then all we need to do is find away to bypass this system...

I meant that very sarcastically but reading it back it could easily be the way things end up.

[misternomer]

Absolutely agree about bikes. I used to regularly make the hourney from Covent Garden to Borehamwood in as little as 12:5 minutes on an R1!! That was a few years ago. It makes me ashamed to think how irresponsible that was.

My latest record is going from Forest Row to Tunbridge Wells in 10.5 mins in a modified 2003 MR2