Well I've set a new record for Landrover ownership...

On 2006-11-11, Austin Shackles <[email protected]> wrote:

> some of the modern trucks are capable of (in theory, grip permitting)
> pulling full weigh ton about a 50% gradient - the top-end units are over
> 600BHP now and more torque than a whole raft of 4236s.

It's more the bazillion gear changes it takes to get them to more than
about walking pace up a steep hill, most truck drivers would sooner
throw five quid notes out the window than scrub off an ounce of speed,
hence the tailgating in the first place. Mind you I don't know if
technology has caught up in the last 5 years, auto gearboxes?

> The only reason they don't all cruise at 80-odd is legislation.

Despite plenty of people talking about truck drivers being "highly
trained" and "expert drivers" etc, it's funny how come they have to
resort to draconian measures to keep them to reasonable speeds eh.
Well trained for sure, some of the reversing feats I've seen beggar
belief but some of the driving I've seen from truck drivers scares the
bejayzus out of me.

--
Blast off and strike the evil Bydo empire!

Ian Rawlings wrote:
> On 2006-11-11, Austin Shackles <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> some of the modern trucks are capable of (in theory, grip
>> permitting) pulling full weigh ton about a 50% gradient - the
>> top-end units are over 600BHP now and more torque than a whole raft
>> of 4236s.
>
> It's more the bazillion gear changes it takes to get them to more
> than about walking pace up a steep hill, most truck drivers would
> sooner throw five quid notes out the window than scrub off an ounce
> of speed, hence the tailgating in the first place. Mind you I don't
> know if technology has caught up in the last 5 years, auto gearboxes?
>
>> The only reason they don't all cruise at 80-odd is legislation.
>
> Despite plenty of people talking about truck drivers being "highly
> trained" and "expert drivers" etc, it's funny how come they have to
> resort to draconian measures to keep them to reasonable speeds eh.
> Well trained for sure, some of the reversing feats I've seen beggar
> belief but some of the driving I've seen from truck drivers scares
> the bejayzus out of me.

Anyone watch BBC1's Traffic Cops this week? My experience of truck drivers is very much in line with the
outcome of that program. It was actually properly horrible to watch. Of course, it's not easy to shift
that kind of vehicle around without upsetting other road users, but in the main, they are ignorant,
murderous ****s.

--
Ta!

Nige

Subaru WRX (54)
Land Rover 101 GS/Ambi (Morph)
KTM 520 SX

On Sat, 11 Nov 2006 17:06:56 +0000, Ian Rawlings
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Mind you I don't know if
>technology has caught up in the last 5 years, auto gearboxes?

One of the Volvo 44 tonners I was loading last year was auto but the
driver didn't rate it, it also got stuck very easily ;-(.

AJH

On 2006-11-11, Nige <[email protected]> wrote:

> Anyone watch BBC1's Traffic Cops this week? My experience of truck
> drivers is very much in line with the outcome of that program. It
> was actually properly horrible to watch.

I didn't see the programme but I know that around here, while the
roads aren't crowded it's very common for HGVs to outnumber cars on
the small twisty roads. Very scary when they come round a corner very
quickly on the wrong side of the road. There was an accident in a
nearby village some time ago so the truckers all got on their CBs to
warn each other and to suggest a route around, unfortunately the
suggested route was a single-track road, you can imagine the chaos
when two queues of HGVs with unsuspecting suckers (e.g. me)
interleaved travelled along the single-track road in opposite
directions from opposite ends. Thankfully where I was in the queue
was close enough to a tiny side-road for me to hoof it down the verge
in the landy and escape.

--
Blast off and strike the evil Bydo empire!