Advanced driving.
"There are two organisations that run recognised advanced driving courses, RoSPA and the IAM. They're both very similar, in fact near identical, the only real difference being that the RoSPA qualification needs to be re-sat every three years max in order to stay a member, and is graded, bronze, silver and gold. The IAM
test need only be taken once, whether your driving standard stays the same, falls or rises afterwards, you can still remain a member. I've been through both, so I'm in a good position to compare the two, initially I did the RoSPA course as the idea of having to keep my driving up to a certain standard appealed, and more recently the IAM.
Both are based on the police drivers handbook, Roadcraft, and so at the end of the day your driving should be close to that of a trained police officer, minus the high speed stuff of course! In both cases you join your local group and are assigned an observer, with whom you arrange mutually convenient times to go for observed
drives, in your own car. The observer is usually another member of the group who gives his/her time voluntarily, and will guide you through the Roadcraft style of driving and will give you instruction in how to bring your own driving up to standard. Usually one hour every week/fortnight is sufficient. How many lessons depends on
how quickly you can adapt to any changes that you may have to make, and varies from one up to twenty or more.
Once your observer is happy with your performance you're encouraged to apply for your test. This usually takes a few weeks to confirm, and in that time it's advisable to go out with another observer so you get a second opinion on your driving, and catch anything that the first may have overlooked.
The test itself comprises an hour to an hour and a half driving (depending on traffic conditions) through a mixture of road types, towns, country roads, A roads, dual carriageways and motorways, and you are assessed on your safety, smoothness and ability to make good progress. This is then followed by a few Highway Code questions and general vehicle maintenance, and you're told on the spot if you've passed or failed as well as some general comments on how you did. Later you're sent a detailed breakdown of the test, so you have a written record of things that you may need to look at in the future. The examiner, incidentally, is usually a police driving school examiner, so you know you've done well if you achieve a good pass.
Personally I found it a great help, and enjoyed it so much that I've now gone on to become an observer for the North Herts South Beds RoSPA Advanced Drivers Association. Check out these URL's for more info:-
http://www.iam.org.uk/index.html for the Institute of Advanced Motorists and
http://www.roada.freeserve.co.uk/ for the RoSPA site." Chris Roach
The brain and driving skills
http://www.muller.net/karting/docs/articles/brain1.html#bio
Aftermarket Warranty
"Car Care Plan is the UK's leading Mechanical Breakdown Administrator, looking after the warranties for VAUXHALL, PORSCHE , NISSAN , ROVER , OPEL in number mainland Europe countries , HYUNDAI etc, but sadly NOT MAZDA main dealers YET!!
We also sell via dealers the ELITE and AUTOTRUST warranties under the Car Care Plan name. The scheme I'm looking to work with is similar to one we do for affinity groups like the CSMA, SAGA etc. Its just the inspection prior to purchase that proves to be problem but MAY be able to sort that via one of the other services we do, like the AA/RAC inspections we have a team of assessors that can inspect vehicles but all adds to cost and time and want it easy for all." Andy Fox of Donutz
RX7 spares in Norwich..
1/4 mile and track days in Scotland;
William Robertson
Crail Airfield Promotions
Crail Airfield, Balcomie Road, Crail
One hour East of Forth Road Bridge, ten miles South of St. Andrews
T: 01333 450 801
F: 01333 450 112
E-mail:
Helmets for track days;
Full face is preferable as it could be used with a bike if needed .. plus it must be a bit but does get hot in the
car. In addition some circuits will insist that you wear approved (shatter proof) goggles or 2mm visor with an open face, if you run with the roof down (as per MSA regulations).
1/ BS 6658-85 B (blue label) .. no good for track days but legal for bike on the road
2/ BS 6658-85 A (red label) .. MSA approved.. are the min for track days
3/ BS 6658-85 A/FR MSA approved but may be deleted from January 2001 same as above with fire resistant internal trim
4/ Snel SA95 The best but a little costly if only used twice a year = legal for Europe too.. all about to change in next couple of years to a Euro standard
Polycarbonate = no stickers or paint, shorter life, less weight.. bikers recommended to replace every 3 years
Glassfibre/reinforced(with Kevlar etc as cost goes up = more durable, better life, heavier on your head (unless very expensive) .. bikers recommend 5 years life
Fit..
Tried cheap 60-80 GBP helmets ..they suck as there is less material used and it shows .. uncomfortable and pointed pads inside ..Tried a 110-120 GBP helmets .. nice feel fit and Glassfibre too When it comes down to which ones are really any good, you want to be spending about £150+ for a lid which has any life in the inner lining and decent construction. Go for names like AGV, Arai, Shoei, Shark, Dianese,Novak, FM.
Fit is *all* important and is the thing which should make you decide between all of the lids. Never buy a helmet unless you have tried it on. I can only wear AGV and Dianese because I have a tall narrow head, you might only fit into Shark and Arai... When you try a lid on it should be *snug* and you should just about be able to slide your fingers up next your cheek (there mustn't be air between your face and the side of the helmet though) - it
needs to be tight enough to grip your head, but not so tight that your teeth feel loose when you take it off after half an hour. Another fitting test is to grab the back of the lid at the base and pull upwards - the lid shouldn't
slide down over your eyes. It will when you go over some bumps in your car otherwise. I don't know whether its an issue in a car, but if you hit 80 or so on a bike you can get some interesting lift effects on your lid. As a biker I'd recommend you to buy the best you can reasonably afford which is comfortable since you're going to be spending a fair bit of time in it. For trackdays however I'd temper this somewhat I guess since you're not
spending as long in it and from what I've seen of most lids in the £150 plus bracket, the price just indicates how comfortable/removeable the lining is, how fancy the vents are & how drastic the paint-job. If you're looking for
cheaper lids then I'd suggest looking for the cheapest which you're happy with the padding - I've had a couple of cheap sub £60 lids in the past when I first started on bikes & after 20 mins they start to make your head hurt
from poorly balanced pressure & fitting..
Bear in mind when you're looking that different manufacturers seem to have a slightly differently shaped average head in mind when they design their helmets. a Shoei-shaped head, whereas Arai's seem good for people with taller heads... Much as I like the paint-jobs etc, I can only buy Shoei's :( (But they do have the advantage of little seatbelt-type clips on the straps instead of D-Rings which makes life much easier IMO)..
Be aware that it's illegal (AFAIK) to drive a car on the road in a full face helmet – so you need boot space.
Good roads;
Spain
" the road from Tossa de Mar to Sant Feliu is amazing. It was so good that I had to do it again (3 times in all). The longest straight bit was about 20 yards long, corner after corner of lovely
dry warm smooth tarmac." Chris Hickman 2001
France
N71 from Troyes to Dijon as mentioned previously - the free motorway South thru' Lyon at night
At Valance - the D111 to Crest, then the D93 (incl. Col de Cabre) to
Serres or....
From south of Montelimar - the D541 to Nyons, then the D94/D994 to Serres
From Serres the N75/N85 (route Napoleon) to Sisteron/Digne/Castellane/Grasse (awesome)" Chris Hayes
http://www.ontrackdigital.com/ on the road dyno but $295
http://www.charm.net/~mchaney/homedyno/dynokit.htm G-tech with output only
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/5837/StreetDyno.html as above
http://homestead.juno.com/honda-600/index.html Honda N600 page (my first car..)
Radar detectors
Auto Express dated Nov 25 - Dec 1 on radar detectors and the overall winner was a Bel 855 STi ( their tel no is 01942 851800).
mr2.com/TEXT/FAQonLidar.htm for info on radar detectors
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/2195/speedtrap_bible.html has camera descriptions
"from the Bel site on the 990: EVO Magazine, January 2000: - "The extra cash spent over the Bel 980 buys an even more sensitive device. It was the only model in tests that saw the Mini Gatso, thanks to that unique Ku setting. First time through it just gave enough warning to react and avoid triggering the flash; second time it had learned it and gave twice as long. All the laser and radar guns were spotted with time to react."
"In all the tests, the clear winner was the Bel 990. It was the only device to detect Mini Gatso and it gave more warnings about the other traps too. Both the Bel 980 and Valentine One gave similar performance but even though
the Valentine One has the looks, it's high price works against it, so it's a one-two for Beltronics."
http://www.minined.u-net.com/bel_990.html reports - "The Bel 990 International was given first place in the group test in EVO magazine (my favorite car mag). As well as the usual K,X and Ka bands that most models
detect, the 990 will detect Ku band radar. This is used in MiniGatso cameras in the UK and is not detected by the US favorite - the Valentine 1... The only problem with the 990's extreme sensitivity is that is will
detect automatic doors, most freqently at filling stations. "
Expensive though at £345 on the http://www.beldirect.co.uk site though they do say "Price Guarantee - if you find the same detector cheaper in the UK within 7 days we will refund the difference !" - £339 at http://www.speed-detector.co.uk/detectors.htm though and possibly £319 at http://www.speedtrapdetectors.co.uk/products.html
But not as much as the Valentine One at (wait for it) - £545! - http://www.snooper.co.uk/valentine_one.htm - though noted at £499 on http://www.beldirect.co.uk/AutoExpress.htm
Reviews also on http://www.radartest.com " David Jones
www.ecotekplc.co.uk – economy aid.. works according to those who tried it
It's a spring-loaded one way valve on the leg of a T-piece which goes in the vacuum pipe to the brake servo (or it can be screwed directly into the inlet manifold/air box via a tapped hole),. It can be fitted to any car which has a common chamber inlet manifold, but not if it only has discrete inlet
tracts (eg if you've get a pair of twin choke Webers)
On a 5 you just put it between the end of the servo vacuum pipe and the air box spigot with an extra short length of pipe to fill the gap between the Ecotek and the air box spigot.
It's supposed to feed in small amounts of air and somehow affect the turbulence (swirl) of the air in the manifold. I don't think that it has much effect on the energy lost by the engine on overrun (Gareth's post) – it doesn't seem to affect engine braking. I think the air bled in on the
overrun is the reason for the quicker response when opening up again – it means there is air there for the engine to use rather than the engine having to get the whole mass of air from air filter through to the throttle butterfly moving again before anything happens.
The theory all seems a bit ropey to me - how does this small valve have much or any effect on swirl? That swirl is supposed to increase the burn efficiency. But it does work - somehow - no doubt about it. John Cookson
http://www.oilypages.com Best UK car site for general stuff