Early Risers.

[AndyID]

7 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

If you have been taught to drive an automatic correctly, then you would know that you can drop a cog or two, by taking the box out of D and selecting the requisite gear range!  ( More sophisticated auto gearboxes have a switch to manual mode). By staying in the lower range it is quite easy to maintain slow speed if required.

 

When I was an ADI, and others on here such as Mick (New Bryford) will agree, is we were not teaching drivers to rely on changing down through the gearbox to slow down,

 

The official DVSA method is:

 

'Brakes to slow, gears to go'.

 

You use the brakes to slow to the required speed, then select the appropriate gear to either maintain that speed or accelerate again.

 

Engine braking may have been a necessity when brakes were operated by drum and cable, but it is no longer the case.

 

My diesel pickup truck is an automatic (I don't think they make a manual version) and it uses engine braking to hold speed without any driver intervention. That's a useful feature when descending some of the really long grades in this part of the World which tend to overheat the brakes.

 

[rockershovel]

I’ve just seen on an industry website that Bristow Helicopters landed a chopper on the wrong platform in the Forties field.... it’s getting to be popular! 

[BoD]

14 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

I’ve just seen on an industry website that Bristow Helicopters landed a chopper on the wrong platform in the Forties field.... it’s getting to be popular! 

 

Easy mistake to make. I mean, all those rigs look the same and the landing areas all have the same letter in the middle.

[Happy Hippo]

27 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

My diesel pickup truck is an automatic (I don't think they make a manual version) and it uses engine braking to hold speed without any driver intervention. That's a useful feature when descending some of the really long grades in this part of the World which tend to overheat the brakes.

 

Yes, a friend of mine hired such in Canada a few years back.

 

Istr that some of the early DROPS vehicles we had in the RAOC/RCT fleet used similar.  An exhaust restrict valve was actuated when you lifted off the throttle and used the resulting back pressure to slow things down

[shortliner]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

It does beg the question as to what state the Fat Albert, or Truckies as my mate calls them, personnel were in at the end of the drive or di they need some belize Gold.

 

Jamie

 

 The truckies were fine - It was me that could have done with the Belize Gold!  If they'd been a couple of weeks earlier they might have ended up going for a swim when the local bus went into the Belize River - drowning the driver and his girlfriend who was sitting beside him on the engine cover  - (He was believed to have had a heart attack and missed a corner!)- There were three Army personnel on the bus - but they were down the back and got out through the back door - they did have to make a trip to the medical centre though, for tetanus and other filthy disease jabs and their stomachs pumped - if you have ever seen the state of the Belize River (full of floaters etc) you'd know why - and the local kids in Belize City go swimming in it - I have a photo somewhere of the City and the effluent line  taken from 40,000 feet - the "line" extends about a mile into the sea!

Edited March 28, 2019 by shortliner

[shortliner]

Deleted - double post

 

Edited March 28, 2019 by shortliner

[81C]

Now your repeating yourself as well. 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Had a couple of estimates for the shed base, theres going to be little if anything of that PPI payment left.

[shortliner]

Yes - I hit the button and nothing happened so I thought it hadn't gone and did it again - then everything went "STUCK", and I had to close RMweb and open it again in order to discover that it had posted twice. - First time I have had problems with the new version

 

[PhilJ W]

Just now, shortliner said:

Yes - I hit the button and nothing happened so I thought it hadn't gone and did it again - then everything went "STUCK", and I had to close RMweb and open it again in order to discover that it had posted twice. - First time I have had problems with the new version

 

I've had the same problem, posts 'sticking' after you hit the button.

[BoD]

26 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I've had the same problem, posts 'sticking' after you hit the button.

 

If Andy York had any hair he would have torn it all out by now.  If it's frustrating for us it must be tenfold so for him.

[AndyID]

58 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

Istr that some of the early DROPS vehicles we had in the RAOC/RCT fleet used similar.  An exhaust restrict valve was actuated when you lifted off the throttle and used the resulting back pressure to slow things down

 

A Jacobs or Jake Brake. Common on "big rig" trucks here. They make such a racket that their use is prohibited in towns.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_release_engine_brake

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

 

Easy mistake to make. I mean, all those rigs look the same and the landing areas all have the same letter in the middle.

It's been happening for years.  I believe a 707 ended up at RAF Northolt once instead of Heathrow because it picked the wrong gasholder as a way/aiming point.  After that I think they painted big letters on the top of the two in West London.   I think that the main problem was getting the 707 out of Northolt.

 

Jamie

[TheQ]

Many years ago a USAF reserve squadron landed at Norwich airport instead of RAF coltishall.. 

 

Talking about pain there has just been a piece about a lady in Inverness that never feels pain. This is the same as SWMBOs uncle who never felt pain all His life until the last 3months. When he found out what it was all about.  He'd even had appendicitis without feeling pain it was only his wife, a nurse, who realized something was wrong that saved his life.

 

 

[lightengine]

Tragic "accident" today on the Exeter to Taunton stretch today.  A 23 year old railway employee allowed his car to be hit on a crossing, being killed in the process. The car was pushed half a mile up the track.  He apparently also set fire to machines on the Barnstaple line and placed signs onto another rail line.

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, shortliner said:

Yes - I hit the button and nothing happened so I thought it hadn't gone and did it again - then everything went "STUCK", and I had to close RMweb and open it again in order to discover that it had posted twice. - First time I have had problems with the new version

 

 

Rather than going to edit the duplicate post, choose 'options' and click hide. Use duplicate post as a reason to hide.

Edited March 28, 2019 by newbryford

[81C]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

It's been happening for years.  I believe a 707 ended up at RAF Northolt once instead of Heathrow because it picked the wrong gasholder as a way/aiming point.  After that I think they painted big letters on the top of the two in West London.   I think that the main problem was getting the 707 out of Northolt.

 

Jamie

They had to strip it down to the bare minimum to get it off the ground the bits that came out went to the Pan Am Hangar at Heathrow in the back of

several trucks Dad took me to see it take off I was a young 9 y.o. then.

[brianusa]

6 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

BIN day, being out-of-town means the Mrs will handle that task this week

 

Spent most of my life driving both manual and automatics, and both sides of the road (in the appropriate countries I hasten to add ).

First automatic was dads Cortina, he decided on the auto because it was a good deal at the time - late '60s. In the UK back then no one seemed to want to touch an auto with the proverbial barge pole, so on getting a newer car, that was his determining factor!

My first car, a lovely MGB was manual with a nice overdrive.

 

Once in the US, I/we've had a collection of both automatic (99% of the cars here, especially family/utilitarian are) and manual when I had "sports" type vehicles.

Visiting regularly back in the UK generally nets me a manual rental as they want stupid amounts extra for an automatic, knowing the US visitors freak out at the thought of manual AND 't other side of the road driving.

I'm comfortable with all combinations, though can confess to an instance one Christmas back in '79 arriving at Heathrow (just got off Concorde) and getting rental Jag Xj6, Christmas treat, I came zipping out of the rental place and promptly went the wrong way round the roundabout on the north service road! Fortunately there wasn't any other traffic about. I BLAME the "excellent service" on Concorde for my lack of judgment.

 

Have a Mustang convertible again here on Long Island this week, but the weather has been too cool to run with the top down  

It's automatic, but with the "new style" paddle gear changers to shift the transmission if you wish to. Especially useful to scare old folks since the exhaust has a very characteristic boy-racer tone to it.

 

-3 and sunny driving in, hampered again by that scary yellow ball of fire in the eastern sky! 10 for the high, maybe a top-down return to the hotel is possible.

 

Tally ho

 

 

Its always nice to read of fellow transplants on this side of the pond; in my case the left side of the left side in the great PNW near Seattle.  A lot seem to share similar experiences from growing up on the UK (God help it these days) and living over here.  As a regular I have enjoyed RM web although not on this topic not a fan of early rising, but the recent car topic  and the 'elderly' one, brought up the never ending discussion of age, cars and driving.  I am old, no better way to describe it, 84 come June and fortunately in good health and comfortable with my driving as is my wife, who would certainly tell me otherwise.  I am not a fan of modern cars or high tech, I like my cars to be conventional, V8, auto, A/C and all the comforts of the average American car.  My first car, a '51 Standard Vanguard didn't even have a radio or heater; nice car though!  Also white on black dials in a conventional dashboard, free of neon like displays and no knobs which I have no idea of what they are for.  As many will realise there are not many cars like that these days so I still drive my  1995 Lincoln MK8 which is now over twenty years old having driven it with less than 80K on the clock, so it should be good for another eighty thou or so.  Question: Will I be!

In contrast, my wife's Accura which is much newer leaves me cold; made for midgets, hard to get in and out of and rough riding in comparison to the Lincoln.  But it does go well!

Most of my other comments are probably well known to those who might have read them in other topics on RM

 

Brian.

[The Stationmaster]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

It is, and it is my pet theory as to why so many elderly drivers who have switched to automatic transmission vehicles end up having low speed, but spectacular, collisions when maneuvering.

A woman, probably several years below the average age of ERs, did exactly that in Tesco's car park some months back and then got herself into a total tangle which meant one of the collisions pushed teh vehicle she hit about 30 feet and it only stopped because it hit another vehicle.  The other one that she hit directly she didn't hit quite so hard but  it was still just as written-off as the one she knocked 30 feet.  The two written-off cars belonged to Tesco staff and I think the culprit now shops at Waitrose.

[brianusa]

I just responded to this topic but sadly it got timed out and lost.  This happens frequently and is annoying to say the least.  I reported it to the Admins but who knows where it went!

 

Brian.

[brianusa]

Well, it  finally showed up in its entirety, took over ten minutes!  Patience is definitely becoming a virtue

 

Brian

[AndyID]

44 minutes ago, brianusa said:

 

Its always nice to read of fellow transplants on this side of the pond; in my case the left side of the left side in the great PNW near Seattle.  A lot seem to share similar experiences from growing up on the UK (God help it these days) and living over here.  As a regular I have enjoyed RM web although not on this topic not a fan of early rising, but the recent car topic  and the 'elderly' one, brought up the never ending discussion of age, cars and driving.  I am old, no better way to describe it, 84 come June and fortunately in good health and comfortable with my driving as is my wife, who would certainly tell me otherwise.  I am not a fan of modern cars or high tech, I like my cars to be conventional, V8, auto, A/C and all the comforts of the average American car.  My first car, a '51 Standard Vanguard didn't even have a radio or heater; nice car though!  Also white on black dials in a conventional dashboard, free of neon like displays and no knobs which I have no idea of what they are for.  As many will realise there are not many cars like that these days so I still drive my  1995 Lincoln MK8 which is now over twenty years old having driven it with less than 80K on the clock, so it should be good for another eighty thou or so.  Question: Will I be!

In contrast, my wife's Accura which is much newer leaves me cold; made for midgets, hard to get in and out of and rough riding in comparison to the Lincoln.  But it does go well!

Most of my other comments are probably well known to those who might have read them in other topics on RM

 

Brian.

 

You probably would not be too keen on this then Brian. You feel every bump but it ain't arf quick

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2019 by AndyID
Speeling

[JohnDMJ]

12 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

When I was an ADI, and others on here such as Mick (New Bryford) will agree, is we were not teaching drivers to rely on changing down through the gearbox to slow down,

 

The official DVSA method is:

 

'Brakes to slow, gears to go'.

 

You use the brakes to slow to the required speed, then select the appropriate gear to either maintain that speed or accelerate again.

 

Engine braking may have been a necessity when brakes were operated by drum and cable, but it is no longer the case.

 

11 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

The trouble with not changing down as you decelerate is that if you suddenly need to accelerate there is a time delay whilst you select the correct gear. Far better to change down as you slow down, then the power is instantly available. I'm not saying that you have to use the engine for braking, just that it makes sense to match road speed with engine speed wherever possible. I think that anticipation is the keyword.

 

Just for interest, a few weeks ago I had a courtesy car when mine was being serviced and the synchromesh on third gear wasn't working so to avoid crunching the gearbox I reverted to old fashioned double declutching. When I returned the car and told the young receptionist/salesman about it he looked blank and said, "Sorry, double what?"

 

Dave

 

Changing down as you decelerate - I'm with Happy Hippo!

 

11 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Morning all.   We were taught double declutching on our initial driving course in Hillman Avengers but were also taught to slow down with brakes then select the appropriate gear.  They also negative the problems alluded to by Dave by insisting on planning and forethought and a form of bend reading so that you were never caught out.   The argument was that brake pads were designed to be changed easily but gearboxes and clutches were not. 

 

Jamie

 

Sorry for the diatribe of quotes but having just arrived home from work, a lot of discussion has been had.

 

On both my driving courses, "'Brakes to slow, gears to go'." was the order of the day on effectiveness (brakes are designed to slow!) and maintenance grounds (as Jamie92208 indicates, brakes are cheap to replace whilst clutches are expensive, gearboxes even more so!). IIRC, Roadcraft advocates being in the right gear for the speed.

 

I was also taught double declutching but find that with a careful ear and synchromesh, I can change as smoothly without it. (I once took a group of friends from Petersfield to Andover for a party; one of these was a police driver apprentice. He asked me several times "are you sure you're not double declutching?")

 

I've driven automatics and right hand drive. I like my 6 speed manual box with stick shift (no gadgets on the steering wheel to flip the gears!)!

 

I used to regularly drive Harting hill in West Sussex. The ascent was always in 2nd or 3rd depending on the cockwomble in front. The descent was always in 2nd which, on the 1:8 gradient, meant I hardly had to use the brakes to maintain the 40mph limit thereon. That is a different application of engine braking using the compression without undue wear on the clutch plates to maintain speed.

 

[pH]

4 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

My diesel pickup truck is an automatic (I don't think they make a manual version) and it uses engine braking to hold speed without any driver intervention. That's a useful feature when descending some of the really long grades in this part of the World which tend to overheat the brakes.

 

 

Which is exactly why I started using engine braking on an automatic car. I was coming down a forest road in Washington State - a very long, steep hill with many tight corners, so lots of heavy braking. I thought the brakes were getting slighty 'spongy' and that I should give them a chance to cool off, so pulled over and stopped. After maybe 5 minutes, I tried the brake pedal, and it went straight to the floor. Without air flowing over the brakes, the fluid had boiled. I never want to experience that feeling again.

[brianusa]

<<<<<<<<<<<<You probably would not be too keen on this then Brian. You feel every bump but it ain't arf quick>>>>>>>>>>>

 

 

 

You're probably right, Andy.  This is more my style!

 

Brian.