Category Archives: Opinion

Opinion

Why the return of Caterham’s Drift Experience is an effective factor

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After a four-year absence, Caterham has revived its Drift Experience. The clue is within the identify to what occurs: it’s a day spent studying to float, in a Caterham.

While it’s rear-wheel drive, a Seven isn’t probably the most pure automobile on the planet through which to float. These are mild automobiles with quick wheelbases and unassisted steering: nice at scribing strains on a race circuit however not simply held sideways like an overpowered lengthy saloon automobile that has oodles of steering lock and a closely assisted rack.

So Caterham does its Sevens a favour. It takes the 360Rs it makes use of for different observe experiences, jacks up the rear suspension, places exhausting again tyres on its biggest-diameter wheels and over-inflates them. Voila: a automobile that may simply be despatched sideways and, with a little bit of observe, will keep there.

It occurs in huge empty areas at comparatively low speeds, at both Brands Hatch or Donington Park, however on broad open steering pads with cone programs laid out to steer round, reasonably than on the circuits. It’s all high-rev however low-speed stuff, so it’s appropriate for these with no observe expertise, or a great deal of it.

The automobiles are wider SV fashions so have extra footwell and leg area than narrow-bodied automobiles. And larger radiators as a result of a lot throttle use is concerned.

Back within the day, Autocar used to co-promote today. We would ship staffers alongside to satisfy our readers and have an excellent time squealing round (or into) cones in an enormous empty automobile park.

It has been years since I did one and I used to be initially out of shape, significantly since a few the check tracks we beforehand used for images and video are unavailable to us. But it comes again, and for me it’s a helpful talent. I’ve vowed to discover a option to sustain my observe.

Now, I may let you know that the day may be very helpful for studying automobile management, and that that is very worthwhile in emergency conditions on the highway, the place the Highway Code will let you know to steer into the skid, however which means nothing except you’ve skilled it earlier.

But except you drive a Seven or equal, you’ve most likely bought stability management anyway, so think about it extra about hooning and having a riot behind the wheel in secure situations.

At £359 they’re not low cost days, however I got here away drained from the quantity of driving, you’re inspired to make use of and abuse the automobiles, and the hospitality is nice. Caterham is organising 11 days this yr and all however three are offered out.

Opinion

The greatest vehicles in life are free… of pointless choices

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Diminishing returns is one thing I used to know nicely with vehicles.

It was a easy idea to know and it largely held true: the extra you paid for a automotive, the higher it was, though as they received costlier, they received higher extra slowly.

A £50,000 automotive was heaps higher than a £20,000 automotive, for instance, however a £100,000 automotive wasn’t so a lot better than the £50,000 one and a £200,000 automotive was a smaller quantity higher once more.

Of course, there have been exceptions and candy spots throughout the market: vehicles that have been by no means definitely worth the cash and a few absolute bargains. But the fundamentals have been what they have been for thus many shopper merchandise. You paid extra, and received one thing higher.

A producer had invested extra, due to this fact the product was superior and, as a purchaser, you’ll really feel it. A BMW 7 Series was higher than a 3 Series; a Ford Mondeo was superior to a Fiesta.

I don’t know if I’ve modified or the market has modified or it’s a mix of the 2, however this feels broadly a lot much less true than it used to.

Recently I drove house in a bog-standard, sub-£18,000 Renault Clio. And I cherished it. And not simply ‘look at what they’ve executed for the cash’ cherished it: I cherished it no matter its value.

It used to take an costly automotive to offer me the entire consolation and comfort options that I want, however the Renault has every thing I can do whereas driving and extra moreover.

Fine, there’s no variable ambient lighting or therapeutic massage perform, but it surely’s a automotive, not a sizzling tub, and I’d quite not lug a perform round if I’m not going to make use of it anyway.

Then there’s its dimension. It’s 4.05m lengthy and 1.80m large, which suggests it’s extra helpful, not much less, than a automotive that’s 5m lengthy and 2m large. It’s simpler to park and sneaks by way of gaps they’ll’t, due to this fact saving me time, and that’s probably the most valuable factor I’ve. If time is cash, then certainly a small automotive is value extra, not much less.

Opinion

Could retro French headlights remedy a evident subject?

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I’m happy to see the government is to look into the issue of headlight brightness and glare – let’s hope they squint a bit – following a current RAC survey that discovered a lot of drivers thought dazzling was an issue.

There could, although, not be a fast legislative repair. The Department for Transport has already been speaking to a United Nations professional group on car lighting – who knew? – however proposals to introduce automated beam alignment, which might decrease beams as vehicles go over hills and the like, gained’t come into play till 2027.

And even then? Well, I’ve pushed quite a lot of vehicles with probably the most superior ‘intelligent’ lighting on sale, which robotically aligns the beam or limits the areas lit by excessive beam, and nonetheless discovered oncoming drivers flashed me as a result of they have been being dazzled. As in lots of circumstances of legislated know-how, a few of it isn’t as much as the job.

No, what we may do with is an answer, and sharpish. Some vehicles retain a change to decrease the beams in case you’re carrying a load within the again, however it’s an more and more small variety of them. In the overwhelming majority of latest vehicles, there’s not lots you are able to do about your personal glare.

It’s not like you possibly can take aside a £1500 unit with 1200 LEDs, every with the ability of the solar, to exchange the bulbs both.

Fortunately, the French used to have the right resolution, which you’ll bear in mind in the event you took a vacation there earlier than the Nineties since you’ll have needed to decide up a bit pot of yellow paint to daub in your headlights to provide them an acceptable glow.

An article I discovered means that transferring from white gentle onto a extra yellowy a part of the spectrum has an extended wavelength, which is sort of good for seeing it, and it displays much less off of water.

But additionally, conveniently, that daubing your headlights with a bit yellow pot of paint would, naturally, scale back the brightness as certain as letting them grow to be ever extra filthy. Limited analysis means that as long as each side of the automobile have an identical hue, MOT testers would give it a nod.

Now, I haven’t absolutely investigated the scientific rigour of this characteristic and given it may imply new Alpine A110s operating round in French blue and with yellow headlights, and that after each third automobile wash we’ll be refreshing the yellow tint to make it really feel like setting off on a Eighties driving vacation, I’m not about to. But past the jokes, may there not be one thing in it?

Opinion

Editor’s letter: Lotus is eventually being given the possibility to thrive

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Trips to go to Lotus in Hethel, Norfolk for a lot of the 2010s adopted a really comparable format.

There’d be an opportunity to drive the most recent variant of the Elise or Exige with just a few additional kilograms taken out of them, adopted by a chat with the administration of how higher occasions have been forward.

It was admirable the corporate saved going for thus lengthy in that interval after the chaos left behind by Dany Bahar who, no matter you consider his plans to develop the model and launch new mannequin strains, made the essential mistake of trashing the automobiles that wanted to be bought within the meantime. 

Opinion

How to clamp down on roadside garbage

There was a superb column in The Times just lately in regards to the state of Britain’s roadsides, which ceaselessly are liberally strewn with litter.

It recommended that we get critical about cleansing it up. Any marketing campaign to get that performed would obtain my assist, too. But I do not know that we must always really feel fairly a lot disgrace about litter’s existence as we typically do. I wager that, fly-tipping apart, most of it will get there by chance.

I am unable to place a bin bag exterior my entrance door late at night time to hold it to the wheelie bin on the finish of the lane within the morning as a result of by then a rat or a crow may have taken just a few chunks out of the bag and the whole lot inside may have began blowing across the backyard.

And there is a lay-by down the highway from me the place I usually see black luggage left poking from the highest of the wheelie bins. I’m positive the intent is sweet, however it’s not more likely to finish effectively, provided that Britain is a windy island within the North Atlantic with loads of scavenging wildlife.

Similar bin-cramming occurs on the town centres; stuff is positioned close to the highest of these bins which have a gap on each side, creating the proper wind tunnel for sucking light-weight garbage precariously positioned in them.

So by all means let’s get Britain’s roads tidy once more, however on the similar time let’s make a plan to stop it going flawed once more.

Often it is thoughtlessness over malice. So let’s have extra bins, higher designed, extra ceaselessly emptied and with large indicators about not overfilling them. And make native amenity suggestions free once more, too.

Opinion

Why Chapman Bespoke is true for the occasions

Last week, Lotus introduced a brand new programme known as Chapman Bespoke. It guarantees to supply higher personalisation and distinctive choices, proper as much as the manufacturing of one-off automobiles, in your Lotus.

What would Colin Chapman, Lotus’s founder, after whom the scheme is called and whose signature adorns its badge, have thought?

No thought. Never met the bloke. One of my least favorite phrases in motoring hackery is “so and so (company founder] would have approved”.

It’s often proclaimed definitively on the finish of an article to point out {that a} automotive is a real thoroughbred and that it is match to put on the title.

But truthfully, how are we to know what WO Bentley or Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce would significantly have thought concerning the automobiles that come out of their firm’s respective factories right now?

Big cliché. Silly phrase. I’ve vowed by no means to make use of it so, apart from the events the place I most likely have already got, by no means will.

Anyway, famously, Chapman stated issues about simplifying automobiles and including lightness, which is definitely one thing he did on automobiles made for and derived from racing, just like the Lotus (now Caterham) 7, which was a path adopted by the Lotus Elise after his dying.

And on condition that he sketched out his first automobiles by hand and constructed them a lot the identical method, Lotus thinks he would have been into this Bespoke thought. Chapman was additionally partial, like most entrepreneurs, to creating a couple of quid.

Allowing any individual to color their Lotus the identical color as their favorite nail polish and ending the inside with gazelle disguise in the event that they’re ready to pay handsomely for the privilege (Bentley makes a median of £34,000 per automotive from its Mulliner programme) sounds just like the kind of factor that he may need been completely high-quality with too.

Opinion

Why UK velocity limits are complicated for pick-up drivers

Well, it is a little embarrassing. 

When I beforehand urged that each one drivers needs to be frequently reminded of their duties on the street, reader Phil Townsend wrote to recommend that I ought to not be overtaking vehicles doing 60mph on twin carriageways in my Ford Ranger Raptor as a result of its velocity restrict can be 60mph on such roads, owing to it being a light-weight business automobile.

Light business automobiles – vans and so forth – have totally different velocity limits to vehicles, as it’s possible you’ll know, and certainly as I knew. They’re the identical as vehicles for velocity limits as much as 50mph, however as for nationwide velocity restrict roads, they’re restricted to 50mph on single carriageways (not 60mph), 60mph on twin carriageways (not 70mph) after which revert to 70mph on motorways.

There are exceptions to this rule. Car-derived vans, such because the Toyota Corolla Commercial that can be at the moment on the Autocar fleet, have the identical velocity limits as vehicles. So do double-cab pick-up vans, that are classed as dual-purpose automobiles.

I don’t have the Raptor’s V5C doc, however I knew that’s what it was. Except it wasn’t. Because right here’s the factor: dual-purpose automobiles are solely such if their unladen weight is lower than 2040kg, and the Raptor’s weight of 2454kg is considerably over that.

I have to undergo the spec sheets for all the UK’s present double-cab pick-ups, as a result of I believe that not many are beneath that restrict.

On this level, it doesn’t matter that HMRC doesn’t deal with the Raptor as a van, owing to its sub-1000kg payload.

To qualify as a car-derived van, a automobile should weigh lower than 2000kg when totally loaded. So whereas the Corolla Commercial complies, the Land Rover Defender Commercial doesn’t.

Also, the velocity restrict rule for car-derived vans works just for vans spawned from vehicles, moderately than vans which have spawned passenger variations.

So the Corolla Commercial has automotive velocity limits however the Citroën Berlingo continues to be outlined as a van and due to this fact topic to decrease velocity limits (though I learn that later variants may need ‘car-derived van’ on their V5Cs, and this isn’t one thing that applies to the passenger variants anyway, so don’t fret concerning the 10mph you probably have a kind of).

This can all be fairly complicated, I believe, and is actually model-specific: Isuzu D-Maxes can qualify as dual-purpose automobiles, extra road-focused pick-ups won’t and no single-cab pick-up is allowed to.

Opinion

Finally: new security guidelines recognise that buttons beat touchscreens

To my aid, it appears like the reply to the query “is it just me?” isn’t any.

Too many automobiles in current instances have had me despairing on the variety of controls which have migrated away from bodily buttons and onto touchscreens.

In some circumstances that is barely annoying; in others I imagine it’s borderline harmful. Now the influential automotive security ranking organisation Euro NCAP has determined that, from 2026, it’ll award five-star rankings solely to automobiles that retain bodily controls for key options.

To qualify, a automotive will need to have buttons, stalks or dials for its indicators, windscreen wipers, hazard warning lights, horn and SOS perform. This record of things is welcome however not as exhaustive as I would really like.

You must be some form of psychopath to not need these controls instantly accessible the place they all the time are, wouldn’t you?

Given that only some automotive makers have moved any wiper exercise from bodily controls and, to my data, solely Tesla has made the baffling and idiotic resolution to place indicators on clean, unfeelable and shifting buttons (on a steering-wheel spoke within the newest Tesla Model 3), this resolution ought to forestall extra mission creep however largely units the bounds at the place we are actually.

I would like Euro NCAP to ask that issues which can be changing into widespread be undone.

The Volvo EX30, for instance, which final 12 months drove me to distraction by having no bodily controls for its door mirrors, wiper sensitivity, local weather management (excluding a roof-mounted and never feelably delineated demister button), lights (together with the foglight) or driver help techniques, nor a rapidly turnable/pushable quantity management, may nonetheless qualify for 5 Euro NCAP stars. I needed to burn it.

Opinion

The authorities is making its personal EV goal unattainable to hit

As anticipated, there was no monetary assist to incentivise the uptake of electric cars within the chancellor’s budget this week. And with a basic election now being tipped for as early as May, it’s extraordinarily unlikely that any assist will likely be forthcoming this facet of autumn – if ever. 

Several automotive makers have reacted furiously, the underlying sentiment being that EVs have been pushed to patrons at a set share whether or not they need them or not and automotive makers are those on the hook in the event that they don’t attain that threshold.

As a reminder, the UK must get EVs to 22% of automotive gross sales this 12 months however has been stalled at 16% for a number of months now.

Opinion

Should UK motorists must take driving licence refresher programs?

On the entire, I don’t like telling folks what to do. Where governments have a transparent selection about whether or not to intervene in folks’s lives or not, I often assume they shouldn’t.

Overreach is tiresome and we’ll most likely get alongside simply high-quality with out it, so until it’s actually apparent that one thing wants intervention, governments ought to simply facilitate what we moderately wish to do and in any other case go away us alone. I suppose I don’t belief ‘them’ to not mess issues up.

I’ve at all times felt this fashion about driving. Yes, maybe it’s daft that you would be able to go a driving take a look at at 17 and barely take into consideration your licence once more till your grandchildren discover that you simply hold nerfing the storage door and within the meantime you’ll be able to choose a automobile off the shelf that weighs 2.2 tonnes and goes from 0-60mph in 2.0sec with none further coaching.

But regardless of that, the UK nonetheless has the fifth-safest roads on the planet, narrowly behind Japan and solely marginally bettered by Norway, Sweden and Iceland, so we have to be doing all proper. Leave it alone.

Then I took three lengthy and completely depressing drives final week. It was half-term, which by no means helps requirements, however nonetheless, on a Friday night and over a weekend, I’ve by no means been so irritated by the quantity of dismal lane decisions, poor pace decisions, hopeless signalling and clear distraction.

After that, I used to be pushed round by, effectively, let’s name him a household pal to maintain him nameless. He drives quite a bit, but it surely has been a long time since his final instruction. At six roundabouts, he didn’t handle to as soon as sign accurately, and he usually drove on the similar pace whether or not on an A-road or on the town – too sluggish on one, too quick within the different.

And the extra I take note of it, the more severe I feel our driving requirements are getting.

Bad driving, notably in the case of selecting lanes on motorways, is an epidemic. We’re a nation of ditherers and dimwits who assume that as long as we don’t get nabbed by pace cameras, we have to be doing issues proper. We’re not.

In a automobile, negotiating traces of vehicles steadfastly refusing to depart the center lane and signalling appallingly at roundabouts is irritating. If you’re making an attempt to drive a lorry amongst these folks, it have to be infuriating to the purpose of self-combustion.

And so, with a heavy coronary heart, I feel life could be improved by… ugh… intervention. A scheme. A coverage. Interference. I’m not suggesting that we should always all must take one other full driving take a look at, however I do assume some sort of necessary replace or refresher coaching to remind drivers of their obligations could be useful.