Category: Automotive
Waterlooville Classic Car Show – 2012
Every year a Classic Car Show is staged in the Waterlooville centre.
Despite the weather letting the exhibitors down there were quite a few folks up there and I include a few snaps for your edification.
The pedestrianised precinct is ideal for this type of event. It is a shame that there wasn’t some music and perhaps a barbecue or hog roast to supplement the static car display. Now that the precinct has been refurbished the town has to make maximum use out of the facility. I arrived around 13:30 and all I could see aside from the cars was some kind of Face Painting and a caravan with someone bending balloons. I couldn’t see much to indicate if there was any kind of “Best in Show” competition.
The owners of the cars were not much in evidence although some had obviously taken refuge within their cars. I did wonder if the old lady, asleep in one of the cars, might have been an optional extra at the time of original purchase.
I can only wish them better luck with the weather next year.
Pininfarina Dies
Iconic car designer Sergio Pininfarina has died, so says an article published by Reuters.
Sergio Pininfarina, whose family company designed almost every Ferrari since the 1950s and whose name is still synonymous with some of the world’s most glamorous cars, has died aged 85.
The company said on Tuesday he died overnight in his Turin home.
Let’s have a bit of give and take and respect each other
From a recent article in The News.
DRIVERS have criticised cyclists for not using a designated cycleway – arguing it is a safety hazard and causes traffic jams.
Motorists say traffic queues are building up on Hambledon Road between Waterlooville and Denmead as cars wait to overtake cyclists.
What a weird article this is with suggestions that cyclist are responsible for traffic congestion in and around Waterlooville.
According to this article the main complainant, leastways the only one that is quoted, is a Ms McGeady, of Linda Grove, Cowplain.
She is quoted as saying
‘Drivers have to take their life into their own hands, zooming round bikes and worrying people coming in the other direction.
Well Ms McGeady, I have news for you. Your not supposed to “zoom” round cyclists. You are supposed to drive around them with due care, giving plenty of room. You are supposed to leave plenty of time for your journey so that you don’t have to “zoom” around.
‘The other day there was a little old guy who was cycling almost in the gutter and there was a queue of cars trying to get round him.
‘Everyone was winding down their windows and asking him to use the cycleway.’
I will be 60 this year and when I was a youngster we had it drummed into us that you should not ride your bike on the pavement. From the sounds of it this “little old guy” was of a similar vintage and he too, probably, has it ingrained in his psyche.
I have personal experience of using this road to get to and from my place of work over the last 30 years. I too have experienced hold ups on this road. However, my experience has been that it is motorists that are causing the hold ups.
Not because they are driving badly.
This road has seen a steady rise in the volume of traffic over the last 30 years that I have been using it. The housing developments in and around Denmead are contributors to that increase. At peak times the traffic can build up very quickly, especially if there are vehicles slowing down to make turns. For example a single car waiting to turn across the traffic to enter Soake Road, Closewood Road or Sunnymead Drive will quickly cause the traffic to build up.
Of course the new traffic lights are a contributor and when the new housing developments are complete the additional traffic volume will far exceed any hold ups by cyclists.
Ms McGeady made a complaint to Hampshire County Council after seeing a cyclist on a racing bike on the road.
She said: ‘There was a cyclist with a very expensive racing bike and the full kit.
‘He was not using the cycleway. You have to say why?’
No, Ms McGeady, you don’t have to say “why ?”.
As John Holland, chairman of Portsmouth Cycle Forum, says
‘A cyclist has a right to be on any highway, apart from a motorway, just like a horse and cart has.
‘A vehicle is there by licence.
and the most sensible comment from John Holland
‘If you are driving down a road and there is a cyclist and you have to slow down, by how long does it delay your journey? Twenty seconds, five seconds?
‘Let’s have a bit of give and take and respect each other.’
Safety warning as cyclists steer clear of new cyclepath – Transport – Portsmouth News.
Pump Madness
This is ridiculous.
I have a trip planned for the weekend, going to visit my sister up in Hastings. That’s a round trip of 180 miles. With some additional miles around the Hastings area I would expect that to go up to perhaps 220 miles. According the electronic brain in my car I have around 300 miles worth of fuel. So I should be able to get there and back no problem.
However, I don’t like to take the tank down to the dregs so I would normally top up the tank before I set out. If I head into a garage on my way out on Saturday I’ll get lumped in with the mindless lemmings that are jamming up the garage forecourts.
These idiots are the same folks who clear the supermarket shelves of bread and milk whenever there is a hint of snow down here in the south of England. One of the comments to the attached article suggests that with all these folks sucking up all the fuel, the delivery trucks will run dry. As a result there will be no food in the stores.
I’m heading down to ASDA, use some of my precious fuel, so I can stock up before the shelves are empty.
Lucky Bag Driving License
Car Surfing – Insane
Just read about a court case that has taken place in the US.
Where else ?
Apparently two 18 year olds were clinging to the side of their friends SUV while he, their friend, drove. Two other friends were “safely” inside the vehicle when it reached an estimated 70 mph, in a 35 mph zone. The passengers realised that the were about to crash and screamed for the driver to stop before the inevitable happened. The two surfers were killed in the resulting wreck which saw the SUV overturn and burst into flames. The driver and remaining passengers were hospitalised.
The driver did not contest the charges of reckless driving and vehicular homicide.
I am surprised at the homicide charge but I suppose, since it was his car he is responsible. After all the two teens that died do not appear to have been coerced so they must be assumed to have been partially responsible.
According to the mobile phone movie footage, one of the teens is heard to say “This is insane” and another is heard saying “If I died, remember this is Carlos’s idea
What these fools were doing is not unusual. There are numerous film clips available on the web that show many variations on the same theme including one where the video description is
“My friend Tyler climbs on to hood of car and I drive one handed from passenger seat while the cruise is set at 80mph and hold my phone out the window with other hand and record him…..crazy mother f*****.”
Unbelievable.
Anyone who does this has to be short a few brain cells and all who do it are heading for their own place in the Darwin Awards.
Ford Unveils 2013 Fusion In Detroit
What a pretty car. Look forward to seeing these on our roads.
Discourteous Drivers Will Kill Someone Soon
If ever there was a junction that should have traffic lights installed then it is the one which currently has a roundabout to manage traffic between Stakes Road, Purbrook Way, Crookhorn Lane and Stakes Hill Road.
The problem is that folks on three of the feeder roads usually come to a stop and feed onto the roundabout in a sensible manner. However, those on the fourth road, Purbrook Way, usually take a run at the roundabout from two to three car lengths back while looking to their right on the assumption that if there is nothing coming from that direction then it is clear for them to traverse the roundabout. This they usually do at speed.
This then means that folks coming from Crookhorn Lane who had diligently stopped, find they have to make a standing start, up hill, into the path of a stream of vehicles that are already moving at speed.
I will admit that I have sat with frustration factor rising higher and higher until I have forced my way onto the roundabout. This usually is greeted by much gesticulation and vocalisation to which I respond in kind trying to indicate that this is a roundabout and that they are supposed to stop at the lines across their road.
One thing I have noted is that the same problem does not occur when the roundabout is approached from any of the other feeder roads. So there must be something about the layout of the entry point from Purbrook Way that causes the entering drivers to totally forget about the highway code and good manners.
I have no idea how many accidents have occurred here but certainly fear for my safety every time I approach this roundabout. I would point out that I am not a timid driver but this site does worry me.
MG Rides Again
Once again the names Longbridge and MG will be joined together in automotive history when the new MG6 begins production. The new model will be available to buy from May.
Hooray !!!
The MG6 is a British design and although the production will also be British it is somewhat sad that the actual parts manufacture will take place in China. This only reflects the fact that MG are now a Chinese company, owned by the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation.
We should be pleased that they chose to return production to the UK and to bring employment back to the Longbridge plant where 6000 jobs were lost when Rover closed its doors back in 2005.
Lets hope that the MG venture proves to be a success and is the beginning of a rejuvenation of the MG marque.
WrAnTz 