Secrets of The Motorway - M40 

The insect was merely trying to bring to your attention the fact that this section of tarmac was now a bee road

The king of motorways. England's unofficial autobahn

You missed the most remarkable thing about the M40: the majestic red kites soaring above the Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire section.

M40 J7 has the slip roads taken out of use on the north side because when the motorway was extended towards Birmingham, it branched off the existing Oxford route just north of J7. That meant the new merge/diverge at J8 was too close to J7 for safety as traffic would be swerving in and out of the inside lane. As J7 isn't serving a major route, J8 was prioritised; the old north slips were converted into an emergency access route and the access to the Highways Agency facility, respectively. It is still easy to access/leave the M40 to the north at this point simply by driving the short distance along the A40 to J8A.

I wouldn't be surprised if the reason they didn't include northbound slip roads on some of the junctions is because they don't want anyone to go to the horror that is Birmingham. 🤣

Drove past that water tower today and I wondered what it was. I thought to myself 'John will have mentioned this on his secrets of the motorway series'. YEP.

The most annoying part of the M40 is Junction 4, Handy Cross (for High Wycombe). The motorway goes from 3 lanes to 2 lanes than back to 3 lanes again, as the construction was never built for a 3 lane motorway. As a result, the motorway is frequently jammed for miles, as traffic fails to filter down to pass under the roundabout, which itself fails to cope with the A404 traffic.

I never imagined I'd enjoy watching videos about roads I will never use so much.

Kineton is not Ki-NEE-TON but Kine as in Line. The curious arrangement at J13/14/15 was a cost saving last minute decision. Before the M40 there was a Kenilworth/Leamington/Warwick bypass. Originally, it was planned that the M40 would junction at the Stratford exit of the bypass (now J15), and also at the terminus of the bypass (now at the end of the long slip road off J14, at the Grays Mallory roundabout. At that roundabout the road in to Leamington was supposed to go south to meet the A429 to the south of Barford (to provide Barford with an Eastern bypass), and continue on over the River Avon just West of Charlecote and just to the East of Alveston and to continue all the way around Stratford to meet up with the Western bypass, thus giving Stratford upon Avon a ring road. Bits of the road are being built even to this day (if you drive down the Evesham Road out of Stratford they are building a new roundabout and road there right now). Bits are still missing. In the end, Barford got a bypass to the west and south instead. Anyhow, the KLW bypass lost itself after the Stratford turn and that became the M40 and the bypass River bridge was used as the Southbound M40 carriageway bridge. That forced J14 closer to J15 to where it is now, also moved to there to allow a sand quarry to the south side of that junction to supply sand and concrete to the whole project (look on the satellite map and you will see it). All for nought. It was (and still is) traffic chaos everyday, such that the original plan to separate the KLW bypass road to Stratford from J15 had to be undertaken as a hugely expensive retro project. J13 was redesigned as a consequence of the moving of J14, because otherwise traffic exiting Southbound would overwhelm local roads, so Southbound traffic has to come off at J14. Utter and total mess of a design. J13 at Gaydon had to be totally re-built also. And now, proposals are afoot to re-instate that last leg of the KLW bypass, as non-motorway traffic has no other means to go around Warwick. D'oh.

I use the M6 a lot while trucking. I think that motorway should be complete by the time the sun burns out completely.

Spent loads of weekends metal detecting & fossil hunting when the Ardley junction 10 section area was being built, loads of great finds.

This channel is a true gem.. how does he not have more subs?!

Found this channel via Jago Hazard and I'm glad I did. Always entertaining. Born and raised in England but moved to Canada 18 years ago. This is a welcome taste of home. Kept doing what you are doing. 👍

Prodrive, V bombers and a Fast show reference, where has this channel been all my life?! You mentioned the former RAF tower remaining at JLR Gaydon, when you go on track as a visitor/first timer you have to report to the Obs Tower as it is now known, which makes it feel very exciting (experienced users just go straight on the test track so it’s slightly less glamourous). The tower also serves as a meeting room/break room facilities in case anyone was interested.

Love these videos but couldn't stop myself laughing at the transition from 'we've seen some of the highest temperatures in history' to a motorway full of petrol/diesel cars.

Junctions 13 and 14 are effectively the same junction, just with the sliproads separated by a couple of miles, and the roundabout that serves both of them is about halfway between on the eastern side. The reasons they are missing sliproads is that they would never get used. For example, if you were heading northbound you would not drive past the junction 13 exit, to take the junction 14 exit, only to turn back on yourself to head towards the roundabout. Another random tidbit about that location is the road going over junction 14 is called "Flat Rabbit Road". One can only assume how it got its name...

Hi thanks for such a great video and I love a bit about buying a small plot of land and dividing it by 3.500 times!!! to stop building the road where locals didnt want it! Yes that was a clever move! Love it! :)

Hearing my favorite MIDI track from SimCity 2000 at 5:43 really brought me back to building my own highways.

Very enjoyable video, thank you. As a young boy, I was taken by a family friend with his two sons from High Wycombe, Handy Cross, on the then new M40 to the other end at Stokenchurch and back again, just for the hell of it. It was years before the eastern end leapt the Wycombe Marsh valley towards Denham, or west to Oxford, always as a two lane roadway. The expansion to three lanes meant years of roadworks to endure.

The lack of sliproads at J16 is to stop people ‘cutting the corner’ of the M42/M40 during heavy traffic and clogging up the local roads.

The M40 was used when filming the Italian Job. Before the section around junction 14 /15 was opened that was where they filmed the cars being driven into the back of the coach.

I'd always wonder what the hell that tower was but by the time I'd reached my destination and could use my phone I'd forgotten all about it. I must have repeated that cycle a thousand times. Thanks for the info!

Disappointingly, the absolutely spectacular Stokenchurch Gap was missed out of this Video.

In 1985 the BBC broadcast their 6-part adaptation of Tom Sharpe's "Blott on the Landscape" about a landowner MP trying to get a motorway built in his constituency, despite objections. Some of the location filming was near Banbury, at Adderbury and Deddington. Then in 1988 the section of M40 around Banbury started being built.

I love the M40 I live 10 miles away from the Oxford services. If I'm on the M40 it usually means I'm going racing somewhere around the country. Another great vlog well done 👏

Interesting video, I've lived in the area for 3 decades and I'd never heard of Raf Oakley. The reason for unusual junctions without a full compliment of slip roads is to prevent unsuitable roads becoming rat runs. I watched the building of the m40 as a teenager riding out on my bike from Hayes to watch the earth movers. I first drove on it to visit my sister in stokenchurch in the mid seventies. I watched the extension to Birmingham being built and also the widening at the London end. I also watched the M4 being built from my class room when I was 11.

Arguably the best motorway in the UK, if only for the ability to drive rather quicker than plod allows. Mind you, if there ever is an accident it does tend to be pretty major. In more recent years the stretch between J9-J10 has got much busier (thankfully there's a nifty route round it if you're going South to the A34) but nothing like the horrorfest that is the M6 or M25.

Just off the south bound M42 slip road to the M40 at Junction 3A you can see a Sepecat Jaguar fighter sitting in the woods. It's part of Delta Force Paintball Birmingham.

Interesting to see that disused roads are just left in place over there... here in the Netherlands the asphalt would be removed and recycled, and the area returned "to nature" (i.e. be a grass field)

I absolutely love this series of videos. You've got the balance of humour and facts right, and the duration is spot on. Keep up the good work.

Since you missed Junction 15 - in recent years a new fly over added that take the A46 traffic across the motorway bypasing the main junction roundabout. The only problems in the west side they added another roundabout at the junction of the B4463 which is too small and seems to defeat the benefit of the bypass flyover entirely.

Ah such a lovely Sunday. A trip to the tip/recycling and reuse centre and then settle down with a cuppa to "Secrets of the Motorway".

I just discovered this series today -- thankyou for filling my Sunday with interesting content (and Gran Turismo menu music!)

8:00 oh your videos bring GREAT JOY as always thank you.

pro tip: instead of using oxford services...there's a supermarket less than 5 minutes past it with a fuel station. Way cheaper to go there 😏👍

Just discovered these motorway films....absolutely fascinating, love it!

I adore your enthusiasm for these hellish constructions.

The missing slips at 13 are missing for the same reason why they're missing at 14, it's because that section was built on the alignment of the existing Warwick bypass.

Interesting video. I use the M40 quite a bit between Jct 10 and Jct 6. Best thing is that it’s not a ‘smart’ motorway.

Fascinating!

13 and 14 make more sense when you realise that 12, 13 and 14 are all effectively the same road. You choose your direction when you join that road (B4100 for 12 & 13 and A452 for 14), not when you join the Motorway. It's not the most efficient setup, but it's not a problem.

I drive the whole M40 nearly every weekend. You haven't missed a thing! Great video!

Hottest day ever- wears woolly hat 🤣 great video 👍🏻

4:05 - what a wonderful story. This video was chock full of little, interesting stories. Thank you (and your friend) for creating it. ☮

3:01 Core memory activated

On the left between Banbury and Gaydon and on top of the ridge above Kineton baracks is Edge Hill. Some of the Barracks encompasses land that was the stage for the Battle of Edge Hill (an earlier King Charles and Cromwell's lot) and on the top is ex-RAF Edge Hill. The main runway of which was used as hardcore for the construction of the M40 and... was the site of most of the early testing of the Gloster E.28/39, one of the first few jets to fly in 1941.

Junctions 13 and 14 are really a single junction, very spread out. The M40 got plonked on top of the old Warwick by-pass and the slip-roads for junction 14 are that old by-pass.

I think the J13 slip roads are just in place to accommodate the large volume of JLR employees going to and from work; if they are diverted onto the M40 it keeps them from clogging up the road through Lighthorne Heath (at least this is what I've heard) hence only two slip roads are required. Apparently before major road improvements to the area, traffic used to build up to a standstill in Lane 1 of the M40 at rush hour due to everyone trying to get to work at Gaydon.

I enjoy this nerdy rubbish. Thanks for making it and keep up the good work

3:00 Gran Turismo menu music. Automatic like.

John, just found this channel and really love it!

Prodrive back in the late 80's was a big shed further north where the retail park is now.

Loved the outro music using the "Keeping Up Appearences" series theme!

I’m loving your vlogs. They resinate with my inner geek! 👍🏻

The highlight of the M40 - craning your neck to see if there were any Scobedoos' in Prodrive!!! Wish the journey was as quick as your video!!!!👍👍👍

Great video John i find this kinda stuff intriguing and im glad i came across your channel

3,500 plots, love it, genius

A series on all the old air fields and what they are now used for coupe be interesting

Thanks for some interesting facts about the M40, my most local Motorway, the slip roads just before Junction 4 were for the 'Abbey Barn' services, still highly visible and get resurfaced whenever the carriageway is done! I remember driving from Oxford northbound a week after that section opened and it was so quiet you could have played on the carriageway's, a very different story from today!

Gosh! That was exciting! ;) Great series - thanks for sharing.

While the southern part of the M40 was under construction in 1966, a film crew of none other than Gerry and Sylvia Anderson assembled for a stunt between what's today junctions 4 & 5 for a stunt to be used in their the upcoming film, Thunderbird 6. With the motorway being shown as the M104 in the scene in question, the stunt involved a 1920's Tiger Moth biplane strapped with dummies to the wings, the front cockpit and the undercarriage supposedly struggling to land. The local police informed them that the aircraft could only taxi under the bridge they were using for the shot. However, as the pilot was approaching, they got on the radio to say they won't be able to land. The director, David Lane, told them to carry on if they feel it's safe enough, saying that he could make it look more dramatic if needed (possibly by speeding up the footage). This the pilot did, they came round and without touching the ground, flew under the bridge. While David Lane and the film crew were delighted, the local police were less than impressed, and despite the pilot saying that the drag from the dummies made it dangerous to land in that circumstance, the police took them to court. Long story short, luckily for them, the judge, who was a huge fan of the Thunderbirds TV series, dismissed the case and Special Effects Director, Derek Meddings gave him a model of Thunderbird 1 as a thank you gesture. Sadly, although the trial brought some publicity, the film itself, when it was finally released in 1968, flopped at the Box Office

With many restricted access junctions such as the one at 7:30 this is often done to control traffic flow through villages in the proximity which would be negatively impacted on if they became a 'rat-run'. Close to me is M69 J2, which has no westbound access towards Coventry, and no eastbound exit for Hinckley, as the road you join on leaving the M69 passes through already congested and narrow villages. If it were fully opened up it would potentially cause major traffic issues in Sapcote with morning rush-hour Coventry bound traffic attempting to negotiate the super-tight village centre, and evening traffic coming home from Coventry (dodging the other bloody awful route using J3 and the A5) would just add to the already horrendously congested route into south Hinckley.

Another great video please keep them coming.

A few more bits of M40 trivia. Many people in the UK will be familiar with the section of the M40 between Lewknor and Stokenchurch (J6 - J5) where the M40 runs through chalk cutting; as an overhead shot of the motorway is used for the opening credits to the BBC comedy "The Vicar of Dibley" Junction 15 which provides access to the Warwick bypass (A46) was modified about ten years ago. A new bridge was built north of the junction bypassing the roundabout interchange, to allow traffic that wants to use the A46 to head to Warwick, and don't require access to the M40 and J15 itself. This junction was a horrific bottleneck when everything was forced onto the roundabout. Finally, an early section of of the M40 around High Wycombe was given the place holder name A40(M) but the number was never actually used, and was given to the former elevated Westway in London.

Great video as ever John. Addictive! Keep up the good work - always look forward to your next one. Thank you

I used the M40 the week after it opened - travelling North from West London. I did 130 MPH in my Rover SD1 most of the way until it became the M42.

Junctions 13 and 14 are only a couple of miles apart, so while you can only leave/join each of them individually in one direction, when you combine them then you are able to join/leave the M40 no matter which direction you're travelling in.

Thanks for doing the M40, I was going to request it! 😊

Love the channel 👍 found it on my nightshifts during the week and enjoying the back catalogue 😎

Wow, subscribers gone nuts in the last couple of weeks! Great stuff, congratulations 👏 🥳

Well done for enduring that heat.👍

I remember an old idea put forward in a Top Gear annual about Jeremy, Richard and James's manifesto for government if they ever ran for election: "Most of M40 permanently closed to the public so that it can be used as a 'Prime Ministerial Super Highway,' allowing faster commute between the PM's place of residence, and work." In other words, it would be closed so that Jeremy could use it to have a daily supercar blast between his home in the Cotswolds, and Whitehall....

I have no idea why I liked that so much but by damned I was hooked!

I passed my test in 2007 and have been driving past umberslade tower on a very regular basis since then....it wasn't until this exact day you filmed this that I actually spotted it!

Nice one mate, interesting and enjoyable and some great knowledge from others too , thanks.

I find former RAF bases very interesting. My grandfather flew out of England during the war. I got a chance to explore some of them a decade ago. But more and more are disappearing everyday. The time to explore them was in the 60’s and 70’s.

Keeping up appearance, it truly is, with a beanie in 40 C

I never knew that about the M40!!! Cheers Bob

You are brilliant!!! Keep them coming :D

Excellent video for years i have wonder what all stuff was as travelling to the cornbury festival .many thanks for that .all times i have gone there .never saw rain at all .just amazing sunshine x

No mention of the most iconic thing on the M40 The Stokenchurch BT Tower is a telecommunications tower built of reinforced concrete at Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire, England. Reaching to 340.5 metres (1,117 ft) above mean sea level, it dates from 1963 and is 99.4 metres (326 ft) tall. There are four platforms at the top that are used to attach microwave transmission drums and other antennas.??

i like the M40, the water tower and Prodrive are definitely landmarks to look out for. taking trips form Oxford to Birmingham and back quite often, it is definitely one of the motorways i am personally most familiar with

Really good video. Just found you guys just watched the service station videos. Really enjoying them, just about watch the M25.

Another excellent video Jon, really informative video, driven the M40 a few times but not in a while, will have to look out for these next time I am up down that way.

Not very often I comment on α video, but I love your stuff! Always αn intriguing watch whenever I see α new video pop up on my feed! Keep up the great stuff mate!

Brilliant! I love this. Your series reminds me Jay Foreman

Nice vide. I grew up in Kineton. It's pronounced kynton 👍🏻👍🏻 Missing junction 13 north and 14 south is just about not driving Leamington traffic through Bishops Tachbrook ( I also lived there). If south Leamington traffic wants to go north they need to go down the main trunk routes to jct 14 down Europa way rather than going through the village of Bishops Tachbrook. Problem now is JLR traffic tries to avoid JCT 12 and goes all the way up the A452 to jct 14 Junction 16 missing slip roads is about Hockey traffic. If you could exit at 16 north, you would get a lot of Solihull and Brum traffic going through Hockey to avoid the M42. Likewise if you could enter south. So they are forcing you to 4 on the M42

Massive fan of your channel and keep up the good work. Used to travel daily on the M40. Surprised you didn't mention the 'Stokenchurch Gap' or 'Aston Rowant Cutting' between junctions 5 & 6, which is a chalk cutting and historically significant geological site. It is also in the opening scene of The Vicar of Dibley, for some reason. Junction 4 'The Handy Cross' is also an interesting junction and was an accident hotspot.

Love watching how quickly this channel's sub count is blowing up 😊

What a great channel this is, don’t know why it was recommended but happy to like and subscribe, cheers!

The day after you filmed this was the hottest day on record for the UK. Tues 19th July 2022. 🥵🔥

Junctions 13 and 14 are effectively one junction. That's why they're southward and northward facing only.

I’ve been on this channel since you had about 100 subs. Quite rightly John, you’ve now got the subs and views you deserve. Nice one mate 👍

Near the motorway in the Warwick / Leamington area is the Chesterton Windmill - a stone windmill on stilts in what is now the middle of a field.

Haven't watched many of these but they are a mine of useful/less information depending on personal preferences. That said. I personally find them informative in as much as you point out items that motorists would be totally unaware of. Subbed.

About 2 miles south of J9 is a fairly unremarkable looking lake between the motorway and the River Ray called the Merton Borrow Pit. It was from here that much if the hardcore for this part of the motorway was extracted and it's a couple of hundred feet deep.

I did not know how close RAF Oakley was to me, and I used to live in Worminghall! Great video.

The Vickers Valiants ARRIVED at RAF Gaydon in 1955, followed a few years later by Handley Page Victors. V-bombers were still flying from there in the mid-1960s - I remember hearing and seeing them taking off. I thought they had Vulcans too, but I could be wrong. On the opposite side of the Fosse Way from Moreton Paddox, there’s a deep-level bunker that was used for storing the nuclear warheads. It has since been used for the National Film Archive, its constant temperature and humidity being ideal conditions for film.

The reason for the lack of south-facing slip roads at Junction 16 is probably to reduce traffic on the A34 through Hockley Heath, particularly on those occasions when the M42 around Junction 4 turns into a car park.

That was brilliant