Some things never change lol it's still exactly the same driving on motorway now 30 years later (only now you have all the extra speed cameras + variable speed limits to make life harder!). Doesn't that dirty Cosworth look fine! 😍
@@georgejacob3162 K38 FMC - Mallard green (nick named "Gary"). Thats almost certainly the one he ran at the time. Not sure if he owned it or if it was just a long-term tester Ford loaned him for a while though.
Truck speed limiters hadn't been made law in 1992, that slow overtaking wasn't thing until the middle of the decade. Most drivers of 2022 would be in for a shock if you dropped them into a 1992 motorway. It was a lot faster, with trucks doing 60+ and sometimes much more. Coaches in the outside lane doing 80. Cops, of which there were plenty around, weren't interested in you if you didn't go over 90-95 and behaved sensibly.
The HGV overtaking issue only really is an issue if you have highways that are 3 lanes wide. If there's a couple more lanes it would be better. As for the speed limiter, I've seen vans with 100 km/h limiter stickers on them, but they go faster than that so I don't think limiters are there for all commercial vehicles even today.
Whenever I am on the A1, it's the 2-lane stretches where we all sit in a fast moving queue while 2 HGVs chug alongside each other. Often it's a sluggish small van or Luton style van blocking the other lane. Basically abject misery and its about time that trucks ONLY used the left lane unless its due to a lane closure. Its also time that cars only use the right lane for passing and then pull in. Driverless cars will do this and lazy arrogant wankers won't have a choice....
@@andrewphippsphillips1455 Get the government to remove the legal requirement for speed limiters if you don't like the lack of speed difference. When a truck is doing hundreds of miles a week delivering everything you need to survive, the 0.5mph difference between calibrations adds up for a truck spending a day on a motorway.
I'm a HGV driver. 0.00001 speed difference is an exaggeration but I'm sure that was on purpose. The truth is if that was the speed difference the trucks would require days to catch up before even starting the overtake. So a 1mph difference is much more realistic. 1 mph is nothing to a car that can do 70+mph and only doing a 1 hour journey. But for a truck it's very different. Trucks can spend 8 hours or more on the motorway every day. If I decide to not overtake a slower truck and take my cruise control down 1 mph, at the end of the day that would mean I'm 8 miles further away from destination than I could be. So at the end of a hard working long day, would you rather be at home, or 8 miles away from it? The issue isn't the trucks overtaking at a much slower pace. The issue is the car in the third lane that is CHOOSING to over take the truck in the second lane at a very slow pace. That car can choose to go a little quicker and get past the truck quicker, but they don't. They continue to drive at 57mph causing huge tail backs and for some reason the car drivers caught in that tail back blame the truck in lane 2, instead of the clueless car driver in lane 3. That clueless car driver is also likely to move into lane 2 after overtaking the truck and then slow down. It happens to just me every day. Car drivers overtaking me just to slow down Infront of me.
Using highways the way they do in America has been proven to be far more dangerous than how you are actually supposed to use it, like Clarkson explains. Keep left and only use the right lane to overtake. That way the right lane is not clogged up. It works wonderfully in Denmark where they abide by these rules.
@@jarq19 not only more dangerous, also way less sufficient. It all comes down to drivers and their competence to work together and let down their ego just a tiny notch. Driving the way they do in America is downright stupid and it only provokes unnecessary lane switching behavior which is a very important factor in traffic buildup and ultimately, long traffic jams that, after an hour of waiting, suddenly seem to vanish. Here in the Netherlands it works perfect. People stay out of the passing lane unless passing and often when someone is lane hogging and you flash your lights at them, they will go back to the normal lane. Because both lane hogging, and passing on the wrong side, can get you a pretty hefty ticket
Yeah, so what if it's more dangerous, who cares if someone dies as long as we're not frustrated. jarq19 let's hope you don't get hurt just so people don't get frustrated
@@thfreakinacage Clarkson looks like a well maintained 42-year-old here. And yeah, I am 32 years old and if I shave my beard off, I look like a 15-year-old boy.
Staring the epic Ford RS Escort Cosworth. The greatest Cosworth ever made! It does need a wash though, but I seem to remember that Jeremy never was keen on cleaning cars.
As an owner of a 3dr Sierra Cosworth I have to object to that claim, I think the 3dr is both better looking and better to drive and it even has a greater record of competitive success. Don't get me wrong, the Escort Cosworth is still a legendary car, but when talking about Cosworth you are playing in a special arena.
@@allothernamesbutthis I was going to put to that but the Sierra and Escort was more blue colar but RS500 dominated in touring car but I would have all 3
“Write to us.” That’s going back. I can’t tell you how many people I see driving with their high beams on in the middle of the day like it isn’t still bright af.
On a 2 lane in one direction road, drivers who don't indicate right, get to junction and just stop or put on indicators once they stop. Arrrhhh..... Drivers who don't indicate left at a roundabout. If you are waiting but could have gone if you knew their intentions. Arrhhh.... Drivers who drive at 20mph (usually EV's) on a 30mph road especially at night. Arrrhh..... I could do write another 20 things but they are my main gripes.
I think it does work in the UK if you’re not trying to go faster than 70. Generally unless the mway is very congested, at 70 you can hang out in the left lane and only nip right to pass trucks, rarely interacting with the stream of BMs and Audis competing to go 80-90 on the outside.
but almost everyone drives at 80, i dont think theres anything wrong going 10 over, going over 90 is bad but if you are one of the people who sit in the right lane at 70 thinking youre going as fast as youre allowed so it doesnt matter, thats just irritating
@@joemcnamara4774 Who can afford to drive at 80 or 90 now? I'll be sticking to 56 and slipstreaming a truck so I can may my £2 per litre diesel go a bit further! 😁
I cruise at 95mph (96mph and you're in court) and will pass on the left if some idiot won't get out of the overtaking lane. I've never crashed, nor come anywhere near to causing an accident because of it. Just because the limit is 70mph and so-called "undertaking" can result in being prosecuted with driving without due care, doesn't mean it's objectively dangerous. Many laws and regulations claim to be based on safety when they're not supported by facts, such as the police's own STATS19 reports, in only 4% of injury-causing accidents was the at fault party speeding.
@@boilerhousegarage I dare you to cruise at 95 when there’s a speed camera and we will see if you’re reasoning for driving fastbholds weight with the dvla
You clearly don't drive on the motorway often. 😂 lane3 is always blocked by some d*ckhead doing 66mph going past someone doing 65mph and NO ONE in lan1. Personally, i just fly under both in lane1 but most people don't. Hence the constant congestion
Fun fact. I knocked on the window of that Cosworth in central London in 1992 whilst JC was at the traffic lights outside Harrods. We had a quick chat about the car which he loved and then he drove off at 4mph.
It must be a crazy Feeling for you seeing this Car with him 30 Years Later on You Tube.. 🙂 I Miss this Time so much. I was 12 Years of Age in 1992. I want to Turn back Time and Live through it again.
Jezza was barely known back in 1992 just starting out his TV career on TG who would have known only a few years later when he teamed up with Hammond and May they would become world famous legends , also notice the police officers in the early 90s never used to wear body armour or carry tasers etc , shows how much safer the UK was back then before we let all these immigrants from Islamic countries in.
@@christineayres7199 yea that last line is such a tired and ignorant take, I hope its some sort of weird joke. Income and social inequality is generally the real enemy, when you alienate and relegate human beings to a much lower standard of living they are gonna get desperate and frustrated.
@@jameskennedy4249 Or maybe work harder ? I for example while you are resting for good Friday will be at work till Midnight tonight stacking shelves at my local supermarket , that is hard work
@@christineayres7199 I work hard. I get paid well enough. I also get good friday off. You are not a better person or more praise-worthy member of society, you are a pawn for the people exploiting you. Many of us are, we just adapt to being okay with it. Keep your bullshit narrow-minded views to yourself bud you don't know enough about other people to judge them :)
Most highways in major American and Canadian cities exhibit the worst lane discipline possible. The leftmost lane is lined up with cars while the right two lanes are occupied by the occasional truck and undertaker. Nobody actually goes faster and people overtake on the right all the time.
In Florida where I live the right lane is often the only place you can make any progress at all! No matter what speed people are doing they always move into the left lanes leaving the right lane empty. We have an 'express' lane on I-95 - everyone piles into it. Especially totally knackered work trucks full of tools and trash that they gradually shed all over the road.
I find that the closer you get to Manchester, the worse it gets. Last time I was around there, everyone was in lane 4 doing around 60. I just stuck to lane 1 doing 70 and undertaking them all. Felt that two completely empty lanes was a good / safe buffer between me and the slower cars. Felt like having my own private road, so don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining...it worked better for me.
Fine by me. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction that driving up lane 1 at a steady 65 to 70 past all the idiots bumper to bumper over in lane 3 doing 70 and leaving no gap.
One time, part of the left lane of the 401 in Toronto was closed. At the end of the construction zone, you could pull left and pass the slower drivers. It was faster than when the left lane was open. I often thought of a lane system that had the right lane exiting and introducing a new left lane every few exits thereby sending stupid drivers off of the highway.
Although it does feel good being able to ‘undertake’ when driving in America, it does feel a bit more stressful knowing you have to look out all the time for people flying up either side. Especially when a lot of the cars don’t have curved wing mirror glass so your blind spots are bigger
The driving with front fog lights on still continues these days, some drivers at night have just side lights on and front fog lamps on, even if it’s not foggy.. then on the days it is foggy, they just have side lights on and nothing else. … another pet hate of mine these days is day running lights. So many drivers just have these on and because most new cars illuminate the dashboard as soon as the cars engine is started they assume they have headlamps switched on, but they don’t realise day running lights only work at the front of a vehicle, the rear lights are still switched off, it could be pitch black out and these idiot drivers think they have lights switched on.
That one is a MASSIVE problem here in Sydney. So many people going around in the dark with no light at the back! The manufacturers who decided to have DRLs only on the front really did not consider the stupidity of the average consumer.
@@Manakuski Definitely true. More and more cars have automatic headlights now which, assuming it works, solves the problem. I find it's all cars from the era between DRLs becoming commonplace, and auto headlights becoming commonplace. Cars from that era were outright stupid!
L.A freeways are crazy. As a Britt I am freaked out most by some peoples cars indicator’s being red, so as they over/undertake it looks like they are dabbing thier breaks!!!! 😱😅
I have been saying this for years! As long as you do it with "due care and attention", check your mirrors and all that, overtaking on the inside is no more dangerous than the other way. The problem is that the roads are full of brain-dead tw*ts who shouldn't be out of the house without a keeper.
Cruise control makes that habit worse for me. When it’s on, I’d rather stay in the lane I’m in than move all the way over to pass a lane hogger. If I can undertake at 70, they are in the wrong lane...
I've heard people in the US complaining about how drivers stay in the outside lane when there's no one to overtake - did the rules change since 1992? I think the 'freeway' approach is far better - it lends itself to a practice in used in racing for lapped traffic: it's the responsibility of the car overtaking to find a way around the vehicle it wants to overtake. It's the lapped traffic that tries to get out of the way at the last moment who often end up causing the accidents.
In Australia we are allowed to overtake in any lane, does not make the slightest difference. People speed up to stop you passing on the left then immediately go back to sitting under the limit once they block you getting past. The mentality of the right lane hog is beyond understanding.
The rate of road deaths on Australia roads is double the UK despite Australia being a lot less congested, I reckon it's pretty save the UK shouldn't be looking for lessons there.
And then stop at the end of a merging lane (even if they had space to merge in the first place) and then wait forever for the lane to be clear (even if they have a decently powerful car).
My mum does this. She replaced her 147 (~ 150hp) with a Mito (~ 78hp) and complained that it lacked power. Then when I suggested she apply more throttle she refused, because apparently it's 'dangerous'. She also crawls along to the end of dual carriageway slip roads to wait for a gap, instead of stopping at the start of them.
Driving at 30mph when it’s a wide open and straight stretch of road with the national speed limit. It’s like they think they’ll get a reward for driving slowly.
They're the ones who misuse the "it's a limit, not a target" statement. That phrase is intended to highlight that just because a road has a certain speed limit, it may not always be safe to go that fast (corners and other road hazards for example). It's not meant as a blanket excuse for bad drivers who are too scared to go over 40MPH even on a straight, clear stretch of 60MPH road - something you could actually fail your driving test for doing!
@@Teribus13 That's what makes me laugh about it. These idiots think they're safe drivers crawling along when their driving would literally earn them a fail if they took a driving test and drove like that.
@@CynicalBastard511 Most cars back then folded like origami in a crash. No airbags in most either. Car safety has come on a long way in 30 years. It's just a pity people's driving standards haven't improved with it!
@@soundseeker63 I think all the safety improvements have led to worse driving standards - the bad drivers don't get killed now when they crash, so their numbers only increase. I say swap the airbags for spikes and make the only crumple zone be the driver's knees. Let Darwinism take effect.
@@Teribus13 lol a bit extreme perhaps. It's important to remember there are significantly more people on the road now in general so it figures the number of bad drivers is also higher, though I doubt whether the percentage of people who drive badly is significantly higher than it was then, even if the total number is higher.
People that sit in the outside lane just have childish mentalities, they believe it's the superior lane and they must be there, like most 5 year olds believe. The make of car they drive gives it away too.
A better example would be Germany, where people who aren't overtaking stick to the left and some autobahns don't have speed limits. The increasing use of dash cams should be used to build up evidence of poor driving and issue points, fines, etc.
Its an unpopular opinion, but i think roads with more than two lanes should not be build. Its just destroying good farmland in order to do the same thing a two lane road does.
