Aren Jay
05-21-2008, 09:48 AM
First off i lived in England for almost 5 years. I was going to college there and had my 86 Mustang GT 'cobra' there for 2 years.
Now England has five main differences from North America.
1. They drive on the wrong side of the road. They say other side.
2. They have a speed limit but nobody obeys it. You can get a ticket but it is rare.
3. They have lots of speed bumps, particularly the big 6-10 foot wide type. Where I lived my Mustang wheelbase would just cover the whole speed bump. They also don't call them speed bumps, in England they are Sleeping Policeman.
4. There are maybe 6 or so lights in each small city, a dozen stop signs and 1000's of traffic circles.
5. The roads are narrow.
Now I don't miss the traffic, bumper to bumper while driving 70+ mph. The M25 the busiest road in europe is a huge ring road that goes around London, and averages 15 to 20 mph, posted limit is 70 mph. Commonly called the worlds fastest parking lot. It is over a 100 miles long.
On a typical day, there are 23,000,000 car and trucks on the road in England. England is the size of texas.
Anyway.
While in England i had lots of fun driving. Because of all the roundabouts (traffic circles) when driving you do not need to stop, just merge alot. Driving is fun because it is almost never stop and go, except during rush hour.
Typically I would time my appraoch to the circles in Oxford, slow down to entry speed, from 70+ mph, see a gap, and fill it. pick my exit, and jump out. never going less than 35 mph. On some circles you can go faster and I would frequently get to the point of having the backend just about breaking free. I would hold it there and power my way around the larger circles, 60+ mph.
As most of you know 80's Mustangs frequently would have the backend breakfree.
Everyday driving in England is like a road course race. Even without speeding, it is crazy fun. The lanes are narrow, the roads in some places are narrow, and in urban areas they park on both sides of the road in both directions. You often have to wander, S like, between parked cars. I even found out that my Mustang would not fit down one of the roads, due to parked cars, and had to back up a block and a half. Luckily nobody was behind me.
On the side roads, they are even narrower. They have a crazy 60mph speed limit, and are so narrow you have to pull off the road to pass oncoming traffic. I once, in my narrow Toyota Carina II, came upon a Honda and pulled over as far as possible, slowed to 35 mph, and when we passed we hit side mirrors, mine flew off, his didn't we both stopped had a look, we missed each other, side to side by less than an inch, and then making sure all was alright we mutually drove off.
Side mirrors in England fold, so that when parked you can make more room for passing cars.
I can just imagine what it would have been like to have my Marauder over there. Chaos, and a great deal of fun.
Now England has five main differences from North America.
1. They drive on the wrong side of the road. They say other side.
2. They have a speed limit but nobody obeys it. You can get a ticket but it is rare.
3. They have lots of speed bumps, particularly the big 6-10 foot wide type. Where I lived my Mustang wheelbase would just cover the whole speed bump. They also don't call them speed bumps, in England they are Sleeping Policeman.
4. There are maybe 6 or so lights in each small city, a dozen stop signs and 1000's of traffic circles.
5. The roads are narrow.
Now I don't miss the traffic, bumper to bumper while driving 70+ mph. The M25 the busiest road in europe is a huge ring road that goes around London, and averages 15 to 20 mph, posted limit is 70 mph. Commonly called the worlds fastest parking lot. It is over a 100 miles long.
On a typical day, there are 23,000,000 car and trucks on the road in England. England is the size of texas.
Anyway.
While in England i had lots of fun driving. Because of all the roundabouts (traffic circles) when driving you do not need to stop, just merge alot. Driving is fun because it is almost never stop and go, except during rush hour.
Typically I would time my appraoch to the circles in Oxford, slow down to entry speed, from 70+ mph, see a gap, and fill it. pick my exit, and jump out. never going less than 35 mph. On some circles you can go faster and I would frequently get to the point of having the backend just about breaking free. I would hold it there and power my way around the larger circles, 60+ mph.
As most of you know 80's Mustangs frequently would have the backend breakfree.
Everyday driving in England is like a road course race. Even without speeding, it is crazy fun. The lanes are narrow, the roads in some places are narrow, and in urban areas they park on both sides of the road in both directions. You often have to wander, S like, between parked cars. I even found out that my Mustang would not fit down one of the roads, due to parked cars, and had to back up a block and a half. Luckily nobody was behind me.
On the side roads, they are even narrower. They have a crazy 60mph speed limit, and are so narrow you have to pull off the road to pass oncoming traffic. I once, in my narrow Toyota Carina II, came upon a Honda and pulled over as far as possible, slowed to 35 mph, and when we passed we hit side mirrors, mine flew off, his didn't we both stopped had a look, we missed each other, side to side by less than an inch, and then making sure all was alright we mutually drove off.
Side mirrors in England fold, so that when parked you can make more room for passing cars.
I can just imagine what it would have been like to have my Marauder over there. Chaos, and a great deal of fun.