How I kept calm I'm not sure...

I never overtake like that though. As stated, why spend more time on the wrong side of the road then expected, even if they are doing 15 I'll nail it past asap and get back in. Should not HAVE to but yeah....scum in CTRs....

Agreed, I'll usually gun it past when overtaking. Before they even know whats happened - you're a blip in the distance. In my opinion if you're passing something reasonably quick you shouldn't even give them a chance to be an imbecile. Just destroy them and get back in asap.

A CTR shouldn't require biblical levels of power to "do" - 300 should result in few problems as long as you don't hang around.
 
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Assuming you are not pootling past you do not need BIBLICAL levels of power.


This surely depends on what you mean by "biblical"? But I'd want twice what the CTR has before I went ahead with the overtake, rather than drop back and leave the **** to it. I've had the same thing happen to me on at least three occasions (Vectra V6, Jag, and an Audi A4 diesel), and I've also had three vehicles swerve (or try to) into my path to prevent an overtake. That's why I seriously nail it to get past people, and my car has a fair amount of power: I want them to realise that the race is on, and over, at about the same time. But I'm a lot warier at night: if muggins decides to make a play then I need to be sure of how much extra road I have.


M
 
A CTR shouldn't require biblical levels of power to "do" - 300 should result in few problems as long as you don't hang around.

You will need more than 300bhp to safely overtake a CTR which is accelerating at full throttle unless your 300bhp is in a Caterham or something.
 
[TW]Fox;20924011 said:
You will need more than 300bhp to safely overtake a CTR which is accelerating at full throttle unless your 300bhp is in a Caterham or something.

You're right of course if the chap is sitting there in second gear just out of vtec, waiting to nail it...catch him off cam though and there's no way he'd catch up if you got the jump, if he has to change down two gears and you're already in the best gear with a speed advantage as you're alongside then he would struggle to keep up.

Most people I have encountered/observed who speed up when overtaking do not seem to plan for it by being in the optimum gear at all times to accelerate lest someone try to overtake, they just put their foot down when they notice someone trying to get past.

If you are already in the right gear and accelerating hard, by the time the idiot has mashed his foot into the carpet and pondered changing down a cog, you should already be well past, assuming you're dealing with a numpty in an average car and you're in something with reasonable poke.
 
I'm at least 95% sure that in Roadcraft they do not advocate using ultra aggressive acceleration. I'll have to find my copy and brush up, I know I have forgotten quite a lot of it.

From memory, you're supposed to sit 1.5-2s behind the car in front, complete the observational stuff, move to the other side of the road and then accelerate. No run-ups, no acceleration whilst steering. Gear selection should be in the lowest gear you can be in where you will not need to change gear during the overtake.

If nothing else, this experience has convinced me to find and re-read Roadcraft (something I'd strongly suggest to absolutely all drivers) and go on a full day Class One/Advanced Driving course to brush up.

As far as the gear selection of the CTR, he changed down the moment I went for the pass. Given my road positioning etc throughout my time behind the car I suspect it was reasonably obvious that I was going to try and overtake at some point. Not that you should "hide" your intentions of course, in fact quite the opposite.
 
Change up??? That's what the gearbox is for

I think the thinking behind it is that you want absolutely nothing at all in your mind to do with anything other than the road ahead. Gear selection also detracts from your overall control of the car, you should ideally have two hands on the wheel at all possible moments, especially when exposed to danger.

Obviously we're talking manual here, not flappy-paddle or automatics. I don't recall Roadcraft or any other Police literature mentioning anything like that.

Oh yeah and as Meridian says, hitting the rev limiter is embarrassing and extends your time exposed to danger quite a bit! :D
 
Obviously we're talking manual here, not flappy-paddle or automatics. I don't recall Roadcraft or any other Police literature mentioning anything like that.



It doesn't: the only comments about gear are to say that you should be in the gear with the best performance. Nothing about changing gear (or not) during an overtake.


M
 
Although being on a bike around someone like that civic driver could be dangerous! Wouldn't take long to get away from him, but I definitely wouldn't want to be anywhere near a cretin like that!

True - cretins like that Civic driver shouldn't be allowed on the road, or at least, providence should see to it that they get caught by the cops when behaving like tools.
 
Type R owner here :rolleyes:

You know it's weird, when I had my 1.6 Colt and someone used to try and overtake I will admit to trying to stop them when on a bypass or long straight main road. I never caused anyone problems with that car but I hated (and maybe it was due to my age then) that all the other cars were faster.
Since getting my R and now being 26, I will go as far as to ease the throttle/brake if someone wants to go past. Knowing I have the power to stop most cars is enough for me and if it's a slower car and the conditions are safe I'll let them pass and then overtake them myself.
I don't drive dangerously but we all like to have a bit of fun now and then, preferably without endangering anyones life.
 
So why continue to do idiotic things now?

I'll let them pass and then overtake them myself.

Drive at a speed you're comfortable with and drive consistently. Why would you drive slow enough to make the car behind you want to pass, to then go and overtake them back?
 
I always drive on the speed limit, if someone wants to be an idiot and overtake me because they have a point to prove I wrongfully get drawn in and will sometimes overtake again if the conditions are right. I don't do this all the time, it's literally once in a blue moon. Maybe I gave the wrong impression from my first post.
 
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