Did everyone take stupid pills this week, or is the government putting something in the water? I spotted two things this week which left me gobsmacked.

Firstly on the A46 Tollbar Roundabout near Coventry I spotted two coppers trying to stretch their Range Rover. There was a artic tipping trailer broken down on the approach to the roundabout. Couldn't tell if it was loaded or full, but even so it's got to weigh best part of 10 tonne empty. Were the coppers parked behind it with the lights on and some cones out? No they were in front of it, fitting a tow rope round the tow hitch of the RR and the front bumper of the truck. Now even with a V8 Rangie and 4x4 that's not going to do your transmission any good at all, trying to get that lot rolling from a standing start. Unfortunately I was going the other way and couldn't wait around to see what happened.

Secondly, spotted on the way into work this morning at a major roundabout in Newcastle. This roundabout has a dual carriageway running north/south, another major road running east/west and two smaller local roads running into it. I'm happily going round the roundabout when I glance over at the row of traffic waiting to get onto the roundabout, just in case someone hasn't seen me and pulls out. I see a new style Fiat Punto at the front of the queue. But there's something wrong with it. It's not just the right turn indicator thats on, but the hazards. A quick glance spots there is no-one at the wheel. There is a young lad stood at the boot lid pushing it towards the line, with the doors shut. As he approaches the line the road dips down to the centre of the roundabout. Ever seen anyone try to stop a car rolling down a hill by jamming their fingers in the gap between the roof and the boot. I have.

I think I'm going to start videoing every journey I make, let alone trackdays.

Mike

I saw the police straighten out a jacknifed artic with a load on using the same method, the Rangie did it with surprisingly little effort. Don't underestimate the power of 4x4 in low ratio.

If a bloke can pull a bus with his teeth, a RR will pull a truck with relative ease. IIRC the RR with linked brakes has a tow limit of 7 tons!

At work, we needed a new mains wire (about 1.5" thick and 150 yards long) dragging across a field so it could be chucked in a ditch and covered. I said I'd use my classic 3.9 auto and was informed it wouldn't pull it. I didn't even need to touch the throttle!

ATB

Simon

Here's an example.....


"Bob Tuck, ace transport historian, author, Truck & Driver contributor and former senior traffic police officer posts the following: "When I was speed reading some of your blogs, I was interested in the one about the Land Rover. It reminded me of my days when we used them on patrol - in truth they were awful as they were too slow and noisey etc. But one tea time - about 5.30pm - I was driving a 2.6 litre petrol one down a stretch of dual carriageway and I saw one of Bobby Durham's Atky artic tankers (going the other way). He was obviously breaking down (you just know these things when you're a copper) so I turned round and went back to see him already with a queue of rush hour traffic being formed around him. To get the traffic moving, I hooked onto the front of him and towed him to the next lay by. He probably weighed about 12-14 tons.....
If you think that's impressive, you want to see the story I wrote about in Mountain Movers [One of Bob's many books on road rasort]. One of Sunters big Scammells going up the 1 in 10 gradient of Billingham Bank and grossing about 200 tons. They had a strange Self Changing Gears semi-automatic gearbox but the fluid flywheel couldn't get things going and the outfit was stuck on the hill. So the Landrover was hooked on the front and used to just to ease things and lo and behold, helped the Scammell up the hill. Read the book - it's true and there's a picture there as well"

Original article is here

Linky

Nige