Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: Automotive whine - foiled by Buick.
From: Robert Bastow <"teenut"@ hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 05:40:33 GMT

gcouger wrote:
> 
>
> If I remember right you started the engine and got up to 20 mph and killed
> the engine and coasted as far as you could and repeated.

Not the kind I used to go on in the UK..run on regular roads with regular cars
(obviously well tuned) with regular gas, in normal traffic and an "Observer" 
The objective was to go from A to B and the one using the least gas per cc of
engine capacity was the winner.  All normal road and traffic rules had to be
observed and a MINIMUM average speed of thirty MPH had to be maintained.

Not many Broke 100 mpg..but some surprising numbers were logged up..especially
when you realise the cars ran the gamut from pre-war Austin 7's and Rolls-Royces
to full rally twin-cam Escorts and Lutus's (Loti?)

Made a pleasant break from Rallies and Gymkhanas..good practice too..in the days
when I often didn't have the price of a gallon of gas to get home!

Even today I drive a LOT faster than my wife ever does..but I get 20% better
mileage out of the V12 (I average 18 around town and 24 on a run) than she can
out of the XJ6! A tank of gas, in the Kitten, lasts me all week commuting and
general business running around town.

It is all in pedal control and timing..Of the road, of traffic and conditions.
If I am balked in traffic..I don't follow hot on his heels waiting for the first
crack to open that I can squeeze into.  I fall back a ways..bide my
time....gives me a breather, lets him do what he needs too without being
pushed...and then gives me a clear run, into clear space, at a higher overtaking
speed than I could have without crowding up behind him. (It reduces "TED"...Time
Exposed to Danger"

One Golden Rule I was taught by the BIAM (British Institute of Advanced
Motorists) was NEVER, NEVER, NEVER....pull alongside a truck, to
overtake...UNLESS your path is clear out the other side of him.  Even if it
means holding back until the guy in front is just a car length clear of the
other side.  

Some truly nasty things can happen to cars alongside trucks..even in good
weather and visibility.  Make sure you have a way out BEFORE you enter that
Zone..conditions and circumstances can happen very quickly at 70 MPH and often
the result will be that the space available for YOU will shrink suddenly!

Unfortunately, I see people breaking this rule every day of the week..Sad thing
is..I will get there faster than they will..without one tenth of the "T.E.D."

teenut