MOTOR-BLOG from Coventry

My work Colleague Keith Adams, spotted this in Coventry by the Ricoh arena last Friday. It appears to be a LHD Vauxhall Corsa so why the secrecy? Had it been undisguised no one would probably given it a second glance.

All I can think of is that these are cars being roadtested at MIRA. The brother of a friend of mine is a test driver up at MIRA, so I’ll have to pop around for a chat… I know that they were recently intensively testing the new MGTF and Rover 75 models there too.

Thanks to Keith for the picture, go to his website at  http://www.aronline.co.uk for more excellent car related joy. 

Corsa or not? Those wheels look more Renault than Vauxhall to me - what do you think it is?

I have a working classic car again - at last. Yep, Susan my Triumph Vitesse 6 aced her MoT again. Well I say aced, there were one or two little issues. Some welding to the sills is on the cards but they’re not structural anyway, being held on by self tapping screws.

Good old Triumph. The lack of development cash that forced them into using the old fashioned idea of a separate chassis in the first place, meant that the Herald platform could spawn a wide range of models quite cheaply. Good on them. This is why you can’t get heritage bodyshells for Vitesses unlike the MGB, we don’t need them. Ha ha! Not so clever now Mr rotbox MG are we?

Since the pass early yesterday morning, I’ve done about 60 miles in the old girl, a summer fete (see http://www.helenwoodward.co.uk ) and a car show. Brilliant. I’ve burned about a quarter of a tank of juice too, but don’t fret you environmentalists out there, the Vitesse tank is tiny, so the fuel always goes down quickly. It’s been far too long, and I intend to do a lot of driving in the old girl this year. Hooray for old cars!

My work colleague Keith mentioned the other day, that the spiralling cost of fuel seems to have slowed traffic down on the roads. I have to agree with him. I was travelling down the M6 tonight, as I do everyweek day night, and was cruising at between 70-75 mph. Usually this sort of speed would have instantly relegated me to the inside lane - only popping out into the middle lane occasionally to pass the lorries. The outside lane was a big no-no.

Not now it seems. I haven’t changed my driving style, but it seems that others have. At 75 I was zipping past 7 series Beemers, VW Passat TDi’s (infernal things) and a syrup of Mondeoey-focusey-golfey sludge that appears to have spread itself out all over our motorway system in recent years.

Ha ha! Guess what you commuters in your dull company cars - I can still travel at these speeds in my Nan’s Peugeot 106 and still return well over 45 MPG without even trying! Little cars are where it is now at folks, so start snapping up all of those sub £400 106, AX, 205 and Citroen ZX’s that currently inhabit the small ads section of local paper now, before they’re all gone…ÂÂ

Speed cameras are supposedly sited at accident blackspots -if there are a few crashes at a site, the likelyhood of one of the breed sprouting at that location are high. So what’s the probem with that I hear? We all want to be safe on the roads, and if a camera reduces accidents / damage / injury or death that’s a good thing - right?

Well yes it is, but only in places where excess or inappropriate speed is a factor in the collisions - put a speed camera at an accident blackspot that is caused by poor design / lighting / signage and it won’t do a thing - speed is not the problem at these places, and believe me - there are plenty of them out there.

I am, as regular users of the M6 around my neck of the woods will probably already have guessed , referring to the utterly dreadful, dangerous and regulary deadly Catthorpe interchange. I have been travelling through it for just over a year now - at least four times a week but not for a while - I avoid it now at all costs. During this year, I have seen many crashes, collisions, minor bumps and a fair few fatal incidents.

I’ve been in two road closures due to fatal incidents and been trapped for hours between junctions while the motorway has been closed for the air ambulance to land. I’m not moaning mind - I would never moan about delays caused by accidents, but it angers me - especially as many lives are being lost and ruined because of shoddy design .

Is it any surprise that our local air ambulance is based at Coventry airport - less than one or two minutes flying time from Catthorpe? It’s a good job it is as it is often called there - to pick up the pieces after yet another incident.

Yes Catthorpe has claimed another victim - another life has been lost today at this appauling intersection - making two so far this year as far as I remember which is at least two far too many no matter which way you look at it. This time, another lorry driver has been killed. When will something be done about this junction?

And guess what - despite of the regular carnage here there is still NO speed cameras present at this fatal site. Is this an admission from the authorities that excess speed is not the major factor of these regular fatalities, and that the cause is the ridiculous and negligent design of the junction?

I can see no other reason why current government policy has not been followed here. The blatant fact is that bad design caused by cutting corners and a lack of proper investment at the planning stage has, does and will continue to cause casualties at this point until the investment is put here and the junction is rebuilt as it should have been in the first place.

This is why there are no ’safety’ cameras at Catthorpe - we the drivers, and they - the government and relevant authorities know that excess speed is not the major problem here. So who do we have to sue to get this deadly junction put right? Can we sue the Conservative party? It was they who OK’ed this bloody nightmare…