Bell's Banter 2021

[Gerard C]

We had 90km/h to 80km/h too. The best was that on some roads, you could find 80, then 90, then 80 again! Incredible but true. Our powers are very skilled to place automatic radars in this kind of mess.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

We had 90km/h to 80km/h too. The best was that on some roads, you could find 80, then 90, then 80 again! Incredible but true. Our powers are very skilled to place automatic radars in this kind of mess.

You should try driving from Arras to Hesdin now, it's a nightmare. Constant changes between 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 & 110km/h. There's a multitude of different types of camera to keep you on your toes too.

[morninggents]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

You say that, but my memory of the rules from the 60s for Special Saloons was that you had to have a dynamo/alternator in situ. I know that the rules were interpreted with a light touch but I would have thought that the scrutes would have picked up that there was no charging system!

I'm not sure that was the case as I'm fairly sure we never ran a dynamo or alternator on our race engines in special saloons nor when I restarted in historic racing. Like Gordon we ran a 24v/12v system and it always worked. Always had a new standard Ford starter with us.

[midgetman]

Anyone who has had the misfortune to go from the M4 to Pembrey Circuit through the heart of Traffic Taliban territory will sympathise with that. Never seen so many speed limits, cameras or humps in my life. No wonder hardly anyone races there. I shan't be back in a hurry - even if it were the only coronavirus free racetrack in the UK!

Edit - errr, not replying to Morning's alternator tale of course!


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[Gerard C]

Didn't you forget some 45km/h, John? I used to have a small company in Compiègne, many of my clients were at Arras and Amiens. I remember endless negotiations with "Ecole de Gendarmerie" at Roye. Promptly, my 505T and my Bell detector became famous. Once they've caught (again!) I was happy to mention to the tribunal that I was the supplier of the products they had to use for the tribunal building… Not sure but this day we were talking about 148 instead of 70 km/h… Not my fault mam', was in a hurry…

[morninggents]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I blame all the farting cows

I thought it was sheep.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Didn't you forget some 45km/h, John? I used to have a small company in Compiègne, many of my clients were at Arras and Amiens. I remember endless negotiations with "Ecole de Gendarmerie" at Roye. Promptly, my 505T and my Bell detector became famous. Once they've caught (again!) I was happy to mention to the tribunal that I was the supplier of the products they had to use for the tribunal building… Not sure but this day we were talking about 148 instead of 70 km/h… Not my fault mam', was in a hurry…

I think they forgot about a 45km/h limit! Probably no room.

Don't know if you have driven that road recently but much of it has been upgraded, particularly at the Arras end, & is now dual carriageway, but interspersed with a few roundabouts. That peters out at Croix with a crawl through the village, then it is single carriageway with occasional short dual bits to Hesdin - just a bit of everything really. From Hesdin to Montreuil is a superb dual carriageway with only one camera.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by morninggents

I thought it was sheep.

...or maybe the Larkins!

[Gerard C]

No havent been driving in this area for a while now. I do remember that the mix mud/betterave (beet) is quite slippy when spread on the road…

[grantp]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

You need to go to Specsavers Grant! I wrote "20km/h speed limit reduction...", meaning 130km/h down to 110km/h, for example.

Ah, right. Probably was wearing the wrong specs John!

Here the 20mph around built-up areas rules seem to be spreading as are the 40s and 50s across various counties.

Fortunately, as traffic picks up once again it is not difficult to stay within the limits since there is almost always another road user around who will be safely travelling at 10mph below the posted limit without a care in the world.

Well, until they reach a built-up area where many of them continue at whatever speed they were using cross country.

[Gerard C]

Covid info, "breaking" news… Dear itn travelers, you gonna have another source of pleasure. After nasal swabs, chinese authorities proudly announce that an anal test will be mandatory soon. Seems someone in Japan asked if the swab will be changed between two "runs" and of course change between two "clients" if they dont belong to the same family!
Second hand/mouth tooth brush, anyone?

[S griffin]

Well there's a turn up for the books. Don't worry, it will only be a minor inconvenience. After you've passed all the tests, you are free to do what you want, although I think the question that was raised in Japan is valid. And I do like that tooth brush reference! I think we've all been there

[Peter Mallett]

@rse.

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

@rse.

Le mot juste, je quoi


The only comments I could have made were definitely politically incorrect, so I behaved, for once.......


Although you do wonder about the mindset of the scientist who decided this particular test was to be tried.......

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Although you do wonder about the mindset of the scientist who decided this particular test was to be tried.......

Cant imagine what it could give at any airport… At least thieves and other drug dealers will be caught right away. You can't run fast when your trousers are reaching down to the ankles!

[Peter Mallett]

Reminds me of the time I worked at the Waterloo Eurotunnel terminal when it was being constructed. The customs "rooms" where they searched and locked possible miscreants, had some interesting contraptions, including a toilet with a false bottom.

[Gerard C]

Hence the famous "when the coke hits the fan, it spreads" may be?

[Peter Mallett]

Or the equally famous " make sure your bottom isn't false". 😀

[Mike Harte]

Ooh, you are being cheeky!

[Peter Mallett]

Well at least we aren't talking ********

[S griffin]

There’s still plenty of the year left for things to happen to leave us bewildered. Wonder what the next piece of this bizarre world will happen next?

[Tel 911S]

I was looking at some circuit stuff the other day and thinking that there was one corner that I never really mastered .

The Shell Oils bend on Oulton Park.

The normal idea of "brake hard to the outside , turn in , aim for the apex and try to get the acceleration on as early as possible " , did not seem to work there .
And with the high banking it seemed to want a line of a smooth arc around the middle of the banking .

Did anyone else find a something that really worked well there , or no problems with that one but a different bend somewhere else they could never get quite right .

[Mike Harte]

I cannot recall having a huge problem with that corner, although I only raced there about 3 or 4 times as it was a long way from North London where I lived and worked but it was still a circuit that I really liked.

However, the corner that caused me untold problems was Bottom Bend at Brands. I must have raced there, as well as taking part in multiple testing sessions, dozens of times and never, ever got the corner right. The camber changes and the double apex that existed back in the 60s just defeated me and the Anglia.

I don't know if it was the fully locked diff that was at the heart of the problem, but I do know that it caused difficulties for me in Druids, as well as the hairpin at Mallory and the aforementioned bend at Oulton.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Tel 911S

I was looking at some circuit stuff the other day and thinking that there was one corner that I never really mastered .

Very interesting point, even though I can't help with any of your tracks. What I see is that when the surface is redone with new macadam, sometimes you can find a new trajectory compared to what was efficient before.
Dijon is a perfect example, Spa too (Bruxelles and Pouhon corners for instance).

[Lancsbreaker]

I know what you mean about Shell - I generally find if able to take a free line that a late turn in and a late apex seems to work best, but it is one of those bends I often feel I've never quite got right. There are many others I haven't got right, but at least at most I feel I know what I should have done, and have managed it on occasion, but I'm sure like many late-comers to the race circuits I'm only extracting about 80% of the car's capabilities.



I do remember thinking when I first started racing that although generally considered to be a quick driver in road terms, it was only on the circuit that I really started to try to work out just how late and how little I could brake, how much I could lean on the tyres, etc - and how vague and undefined those parameters could be. Its often only by tagging onto a quicker car that has passed me that I've discovered a gain of a second or so a lap just by the determination not to let it pull away too quickly, leading me to corner quicker than I thought possible. The trick is repeating the performance when there's no-one to tail