The middle lane is defined by two sets of dashed white line.

That lane then splits before exit one, into two lanes.
The option to choose which direction you follow, is implied by lack of more prescriptive road markings, road signs.
Time to decide/make a choice.

However…. Would one need to indicate left, were they to take exit one…. Aargh!

The road marking are ambiguous at best and plain wrong, in reality.

I think some know this… Must be a slow day, in certain parts of the world ;-)

I say we sort this democratically.

Hold an STW referendum, whether to leave to the left or remain going straight ahead!

Cougar – Moderator
The fact is, the road markings are misleading; you’ve got two successive arrows in the same lane telling you two different things. Both of those lanes can clearly turn left into the two-lane dual carriageway despite what the earlier arrow says

Agree!

@Graham S.

Dude, selectively quoting only part of my comment specifically about joining the Mway and combining it with what I described as “my read” regarding the roundabout Q. Displays a pretty decent reading the thread fail.

“My read” Doesn’t = I’m correct, FACT.
Just so you’re clear on that now.
;-)

Etiqette for getting rid of a “Carpenter”

Wasn’t it always crucifixion?

agent007 – Member
Sorry but not sure if you quite get it?

Not wanting to upset anyone, but that comment made me think that actually, perhaps it’s the other way around.

If folk just stuck to what the HC says, there’d be no discussion.
It’s folk re-interpreting the situation and coming to their own answer is where it starts to get sketchy, imo.
Simpler to just stick to the rules on joining the Mway, from a slip road.

sbob – Member
On approach to the r’about,

Nope, I’m referring to the second arrow in the middle lane, on the roundabout itself. Ime, that arrow would have the combined straight and left arrow symbol.
:-)

GrahamS – Member
Thanks God someone agrees with me – I was starting to question my sanity there.

Or it could be you’re both as mad as a box of frogs.
:lol:

GrahamS – Member
It would if you were allowed to turn left, but on the roundabout I’m basing this on the middle lane only has a straight on arrow, which I take to mean “this lane is straight on only”:

Got it! The road painters temporarily misplaced the combined straight and left arrow, template.
;-)

My read is middle lane gets to choose to take exit one or exit two.

However, in recent developments <5yrs, I’ve witnessed cars start in the left lane as they enter the roundabout, stay there, circumnavigate the entire roundabout in the left lane, to eventually take the third exit. Oh yeah!
8O

doris5000 – Member
3) Are road arrows advisory, or are they instructions? Genuine Q, as I don’t know – but the answer could change the frame of this debate

Good Q. I’d assume (eek) that like all the other paint the relevant authority drops on to the road, it’s an instruction.

Yellow lines
Red lines
Yellow boxes
Chevrons
Zig zag lines
Pedestrian crossing
etc.

Interested to know the true answer though.

Not sure this picture is correct.

Ime, the middle lane would have a double headed arrow, one for straight ahead (as shown) but also an arrow head curving out to the left.

Cougar – Moderator
There’s an argument for that’s how it should work, but it contravenes THC

Exactly one of the points I was making. People thinking they can re-interpret THC according to their own logic.

aracer – Member

In real life you find the best gap you can to merge into – there will always be one if you adjust your speed. The point is that you can’t just indicate right and move onto the motorway ignoring the other traffic

Which is what I see each time I drive the Mway.

– if you’re joining it’s your responsibility to find a gap to move into and adjust your speed accordingly. By all means indicate right in the hope that somebody will give you space but you can’t expect it – personally I’ll always adjust my speed to find a gap even if that means slowing down to pull in behind a truck.

Totally agree. The onus is on the car joining the Mway to merge with the traffic already there, esp wrt matching road speed.

Of course during the last decade or so, I see folk who drive how they think the rules should be, as demonstrated by some of the posts on this thread. In this particular situation, these drivers appear to believe it’s the responsibility of traffic in lane one, to make a space for the car joining lane one. Which makes perfect sense to them?
:?

Now extrapolate this behaviour and you get cars float down the slip road, activate the “indicator of immunity” and then proceed to join lane one without any evident regard for traffic already in that lane. It’s crazy and probably goes some way to explaining why folk then decide to sit and cruise in lane two.

What appears to be logical to some drivers, actually leads to a complacent expectation that lane one cars will jump out of the way for traffic joining the Mway.

Wrong and dangerous.

Imo:

The folk who don’t use their indicator are selfish and employ this “technique” to gain priority.

The folk who use their indicators, incorrectly, are muppets.

However, the folk who think that indicating right, while joining the motorway = any traffic in lane one, MUST slow or move to lane 2.
Are oxygen thieves!

@GhostlyMachine.

Apologies if my posts have confused, you.

Just a remap, no hardware, elicits performance from my car, matching a more expensive model. As I’ve already outlined. If the business case supports it, a higher unit cost can and is mitigated by volumes, if you have those volumes. The OEM producing my engine knows full well it can reliably and durably produce a higher output, but decides to “fettle” outputs for commercial reasons.
Personally I’ve no issue with it.

Cougar – Moderator
Who knew?

With a mechanical Engineering backround, I’ve always viewed those trolleys as the devil’s work and treated them with a degree of caution.

However, such an experience would hopefully be good prep for the day you get a wheel chair.

While hopefully that day never actually comes to you. I was once promoted to wheel chair pilot, for an afternoon, and there are four middled aged Spanish ladies who probably laugh their sizeable asses off about it, even today!
:-)

Ref turbo cooling and engine oil. I tend to ease off, several miles from the destination, to allow the turbo to cool. On occasion I’ve also raised the bonnet and allowed the car to idle for a few minutes, once I’ve parked.

Ime, once the engine stops the oil which was passing through the turbo main shaft bearings, ceases to flow. The temp of static oil/water will elevate as the metal components are still hot. In the case of the turbo I’m lead to believe this situation can burn the engine oil and leave small fragments of carbonized engine oil in the bearings.
Then at start up these fragments momentarily get dragged round inside the bearing before being flushed from the bearing and circulating through the rest of the engine.
You’re unlikely to totally avoid burnt oil from occurring, but some mechanical sympathy can go a long way, imo.

Cougar – Moderator
Is that actually true any more?

There will be a variation in the performance characteristic of an engine oil, which is temperature related. Couple this to extracting high output figures and I’d suggest it’s best practice to be patient and get the engine oil up to temp. That can be a longer wait for a diesel, obviously, as is the case for me.

In extremis we see this with F1 cars where the vital fluids are brought to within an operation range before starting the engine, which typically there after, the engine will be working quite hard within a minute of starting.

Were I to be running a remapped car, or even a non-remapped car…. I’d be patient and wait for engine oil temp to reach operational range. Also, if the oil temp gets too far north of that range, I would ease up on the right pedal.

Possibly not to be confused with vehicles of the past using older tech oils and with stories about gearbox oils in such cars, needing to reach a temp before allowing ease of use.

gobuchul – Member
What is your problem with this?

No problem, I was commenting in relation to the OP, that bhps aren’t only going up, but are being manipulated for business reasons.
Not an issue for me, for the reasons you point out, lower insurance, for example.
:-)

michaelbowden – Member
Most important thing is not to push the engine until the oil is fully warm
[Threadrift]
I have “activated” the oil temp display in my car for this very reason. Nothing “happens” above 2Krpm in my car until the oil is up to temp.
[/Threadrift]

jimjam – Member
But have you actually checked that they are EXACTLY the same apart from the engine tune?
Perhaps I didn’t make my point as clearly as I may have.

It’s not about detailed component differences, but pricing a product in relation to it’s performance and to the performance of other cars in that range. The OEM in question can’t, imo, justify the price premium for an ‘S model if the TDi can make the same numbers.
So, it’s my belief the OEM has de-tuned the engine in my car, mostly via the ECU, to clearly differentiate between the two models and keep the number of bespoke components required, to a minimum.

Extrapolate that situation and seeing as this is a significant volume car, it would almost certainly make a better business case to use the same base engine of a higher mechanical spec for all those vehicles and then bolt on an additional turbo, use a different map obviously. But you can also de-tune that engine to “enhance” the performance of a more expensive model.
BMW are now using the same base engine and just adding a turbo or two.
While that’s a simplified description, I can’t explain it any more clearly than that, I’m afraid.

FunkyDunc – Member
I would assume that the engine in an RS6 has different components to the more standard engine, at which point you would be stupid to stress the standard engine.
Also consider the RSX will be a low volume car, so the OEM will try to mitigate the cost of low volumes by maximizing component/assembly, commonality.
The V8 block will/should be designed to be shared with all RS cars as well as the non RS, V8 cars in that OEMs range of relevant vehicles.

It relies a lot on the business case for what you’re trying to achieve.
If an OEM needs to bring something to market which provides outstanding performance power/economy, whatever. Then they can go bespoke and take the hit. But for the more main stream stuff, the share holders would like to know the OEM is doing their utmost to commonize and reduce costs where doing so makes a business case.

flange – Member
I had one of my cars remapped and two months later the clutch was shot and it’d done a transfer box
I think there is a wide and varied spectrum of after market remapping.
Some test as OEMs do, taking many months, sometimes more than a year to test, refine and assess before releasing a product.
You pay’s your money….

flange – Member
Also, the new crank and rods use the same part number but are visibly different parts, much more beefy
That really shouldn’t happen for a few reasons.
Ime, each time a part is revised that is only the result of a process which involves new manufacturing and so new, additional funding. Again, ime, such processes rely on issuing a new part number for what should be obvious reasons. However, whether those part numbers make it into the public domain is another issue.
But frankly no OEM should be releasing differing parts with the exact same part number. OEMs I’ve worked for always change either a digit or the entire part number.

jimjam – Member
Examples please

I didn’t really want to go into detail. I have a V6 TDi, capped off to 245ps with a 0-62 of 6.3. However, if I were to (ahem!)take my car to a certain place, it “may” produce 309ps which makes the car as fast as the ‘S’ version. Hence the OEM isn’t going to be able to charge a premium for the ‘S’ version if my car mirrors it’s acceleration and Vmax. This is my view.

Cougar – Moderator
Playing devil’s advocate, I suppose potentially a beefier engine may require upgraded components in other areas to cope with the extra force?

This is a slightly different issue. In this case the same OEM can get 309ps from my Engine, but decided to place a biturbo onto what is likely to be as close a match to my engine as it can, to get 326ps.
Again this is the output for the ‘S’ version.

It’s about maximizing margin while minimizing costs.
One base engine, designed to reliably produce higher outputs can have it’s higher cost mitigated if you sell a higher quantity of that engine, where you can adjust performance via the ECU and a minimum degree of differing ancillary components.

retro83 – Member
However, it is not the feature Cougar is talking about. I think he means the Renaultsport Clio, which allows switchable sound generation.

Not sure the issue is whether the feature is switchable or no. But rather that OEMs think it desirable to play you a sound track rather than allowing the car to make it’s own sound, unadulterated by the stereo.
In the case of the Focus RS, the sound system actively cancels some sounds and places other sounds in there.

Make of that what you will.

gonefishin – Member
I will miss that sound.

I’ve heard folk lament the passing of the 5 cyl engine in that car.
Can’t say I’m familiar with it, myself.

However, as well as agreeing with our comment about what Ford have done to the Focus RS. I also has a confuse on this issue as the car has had it’s engine specifically adjusted to make a few pops and bangs, naturally. Weird by the sounds of it. I think that should have either left the sound enhancement off or at least given the driver the option to deactivate it.

Back to bhp. OEM’s also de-tune an engine to place it’s performance in their range of vehicles, commensurate to it’s pricing structure.

Example;
I have a car with an engine found in a number of cars in that OEM’s range. In my car that engine produces ‘X’ although that same engine is capable of reliably producing ‘X’ plus 65 bhp.
The only reason I can see for this is this way, the OEM in question can charge a premium for the faster car, which the OEM would possibly be unable to charge if my car had the additional 65bhp and identical “performance”.

Cougar – Moderator
Or have I just dreamt the entire thing?
Nope. Ford have “endowed” the latest Focus RS with just that feature.
Although after listening to someone who’s just taken delivery, it’s not something the driver can de/activate.

tomd – Member
You won’t get a choice with driverless cars.
I believe there are OEMs that would disagree with you.

Or you find a way to get fewer cars to transport more people faster to where they need to go.
700bhp, mini bus?

ninfan – Member
The stones and trees will say

“Crikey, 309 pages?!?!?!?!”

molgrips – Member
I enjoy a relaxed zip across quiet mountain roads.
Are you still stuck behind that tractor?…

But I don’t enjoy trundling along the M4 in rush hour.
Bring on driverless cars.
What you appear to be describing is a desire to have a car which comes with a rush hour, driverless, mode?

Cougar – Moderator
Next time it goes to the garage I’m going to ask them to have it demagnetised.

What’s your middle name, Lucky?

Cougar – Moderator
Is “driverless cars” the new “it’s a limit not a target” on these threads?
Small point here – I enjoy driving. So you can stick your driverless cars up your Google.
I don’t know what’s wrong with some people. In this fabled fantasy utopia we’ll all have driverless cars, robotic factories, riderless bicycles, computerised factories, we’ll all be sat at home unemployed and bored shitless, and yes someone will still be bleating on that their kids spend too much time on their bloody iPads.

Now that’s a post I whole heartedly agree with!
As far as I’m concerned they can poke those driverless cars, where the sun doesn’t shine, and no, I’m not referring to Grimsby.
;-)

medoramas – Member
My wife signed up to one of those properly controlled diet/exercise systems. She makes her own meals based on very strict ingredients lists, quite often very ridiculous – the amount of butter in some of them would kill me in a day! No salt, no sugar. On-line meetings once a fortnight. She has lost over 3 stones in 2 months, I kid you not!

Don’t you come round ere, with your high fat, low carb diets!
;-)
You should know, to do so is a hanging offence on this forum…….
And if listen, eeeeeeever so carefully.

Yeap, you can hear members reaching for their pitch forks.

RUN!

sharkbait – Member
He has a webcam in there to check things when he’s away but would this be illegal (as well as very weird) if someone was staying in the property?

Why should the only consideration be whether it’s illegal. As someone else had mentioned. What about plain old decency/morals?

lunge – Member
No snacks in the house, you hear me?
I’m having trouble hearing the writing in your post :-(

I’ve found 3 things helped a lot.
Planning and
discipline
No fear of hunger
A goal

Thats four!

wombat – Member
 No he isn’t, if he were an Italian taxi driver he’d have a tanned left arm

Well done, spotted sooner than expected.

However you appear to have overlooked the fact he evidently lives & works, as a taxi driver, in Bristol.
Note the orientation of the spanner handles.
;-)

Toddboy – Member 
Does your plumber know that you invite him around for those cheeky photo sessions? 

[Sherlock]
He’s no plumber. He’s a Italian taxi driver, note the heavily tanned right arm.
[/Sherlock]

maccruiskeen – Member
This man however is 100% trustworthy

You bet your ass!

Don’t park outside my house, park outside your own house!
Was how I explained my objection to the neighbour when they parked their horse transporter/truck outside my place.

My front door is ~1M from the property boundary, with no footpath, but a curb ~0.5M further.

So their truck was ~1.3M from my door, blocking light entering the sitting room window.

Plain inconsiderate.

I blame the local authority permitting developers to cram properties onto a development to the point where it causes problems. Garage is too small to put a medium sized car in, households with multiple cars. Its going to cause issues.

Misguided planning authorities thinking if they permit developers to build a brick shed and call it a garage. That somehow this will reduce/deter car ownership.

When I park, I don’t get hassled, but then, I park considerately.

Drac – Moderator
I bet the noise sound was immense.
;-)

duckman – Member
If there is a hell,

If?….

See you there.