The good news…

After an appointment to see the consultant about my arm it doesn’t look like I’ve fractured anything. The consultant sent me off to the physiotherapy department, who saw me immediately. I was very impressed by the treatment I received; explaining the purpose of the medication I was prescribed; measuring the range of movement I’ve got in my left arm (not much); advising me on when to rest the arm, when to exercise it, when to use ice and when to stop. The NHS gets a lot of criticism but I can only praise them for the job they’ve done so far.

Ouch, that’s not good

This morning, while walking from the car to the office, I slipped on some ice and fell. Somehow I managed to bang my left elbow quite badly. At first I didn’t think it was that bad but the growing pain and difficulty of movement quickly changed my mind. Luckily I work in a hospital so it was a short walk to Accident & Emergency. Now I’m bandaged up and full of pain-killers (which just take the edge off the pain).

Of course I can’t drive at the moment, which is incredibly annoying. Not only does it make the daily grind more difficult but I had some writing work planned which involved travelling and, of course, driving. At least I’ve got some ideas that don’t require me to get behind the wheel. All I need to do is improve my one-handed typing speed.

Why don’t I get gifts like that?

On 12th February Sandown Park racecourse will host an auction of classic cars. The auction is being run by Barons, which is celebrating ten years of car auctions. This is the first auction of the year and a tempting selection of cars is going under the hammer. If you fancy a convertible you could have one of two Jaguar E-Types, a Jaguar XJS Cabriolet, Porsche 944S2 Cabriolet and a charming 1939 Rover P2 open tourer. One exceptionally rare convertible is the ex-factory, RHD 1981 V8 Triumph TR8, one of just 18 RHD models built in 1980/81. Very few genuine TR8s exist outside the USA, except for pre-production examples, and this particular car was originally supplied to the Quality Control and Reliability Department of British Leyland – there must be a cheap joke to be made at the expense of BL. The TR8 is estimated to fetch £10,000-£12,000. There are plenty of other interesting lots but particularly a highly original 1969 Cooper S, described - rather poignantly - by the vendor as “an unwanted gift” (estimate £6,000-£9,000).

For more details go to www.barons-auctions.com

Interesting idea from John Simister in The Independent

The Independent may no longer be producing a weekly motoring supplement but it still producing some decent motoring content. Road tests from John Simister are a particular highlight, John has been testing cars professionally for over 20 years and knows what he’s talking about.

Recently the Renault Laguna estate came under his scrutiny and he was somewhat critical of the modern trend towards nose-heavy car styling. The problem is that a lot of cars have their engines mounted ahead of the front wheels. To conform with regulations the engines must be surrounded by sacrificial crumple-zones which pushes the front of the car further and further ahead of the front wheels.

It is possible to make cars that follow the established mechanical layout and conform to the regulations for occupant and pedestrian protection, Audi do it well and Citroën did a magnificent job with the C6. On the whole, however, it is a bad idea both in terms of styling and engineering to have so much of the car ahead of the front wheels. Simister suggests,

“One of these days a mainstream car maker is going to take a deep breath and reconfigure its front-wheel-drive powertrain so the driveshafts run in front of the engine instead of behind it, but until then, cars are condemned to be ungainly.”

Which reminded me that Jim Randle, formerly head of engineering at Jaguar, suggested the best driveline layout for high-speed stability was front-wheel drive with the engine mounted behind the driven wheels. It is a layout that probably wouldn’t suit a small car, even though the Renault 4 and the original Renault 5 used exactly that layout. It does recall some of the greatest old French cars including the Renault 16, Citroën SM, DS and the father of them all the Traction Avant. It is an idea long overdue a revival.

Books Lately - On the Edge: My Story, by Richard Hammond

There can’t be many people in Britain who don’t know who Richard Hammond is. Given the worldwide popularity of the BBC show Top Gear, which Richard co-presents with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, there must be plenty of people around the world who know his name. Back in September 2006 Richard suffered a near fatal crash whilst driving a jet-powered dragster for Top Gear.

On the Edge opens with Richard, post accident and pretty much fully recovered, learning cross-country skiing for Top Gear’s race to the North Pole. From there we learn of young Richard’s daredevil antics and his love of machines, particularly the bicycles he loved riding and repairing. From there the story moves quickly through Richard’s career in local radio to where he joined Top Gear. You get an idea of the creative process behind some of the Top Gear stunts.

The events leading up to the accident and the crash itself are described in great detail. The long and traumatic story of the days and weeks of recovery is told by Richard’s wife, Mindy. Even though you know Richard pulls through you can sense, just a little, the tension, the fear and the suffering felt by Mindy and all Richard’s friends and family.

It is a moving story, occasionally funny but always tempered by a sense of just how serious Richard’s situation was. At the end of the book you feel so happy that Richard has recovered. But not, I suspect, as happy as Richard and Mindy are.

Hard Year's Drive 2007 - Part 5

Final installment, a Honda "soft roader" and Peugeot van.

There was one more new car Honda CR-V 2.0 i-VETEC which was almost entirely unremarkable. Honda did an impressive job making the CR-V feel car-like. I remember the original CR-V felt much more cumbersome. Honda have made good automatic transmissions for years and the one fitted to the CR-V was better than any other I’ve encountered. Most of the time there was no sensation of shifting gears and it always seemed to be in the right gear. What a shame Honda decided to spoil things with an awful, stiff and counter-intuitive selector. Normally when I evaluate a car with automatic transmission I start by leaving them in Drive to see how well they cope as most people will use them. I also like to try any manual over-ride or means of holding gears as, under some circumstances, this gives better results. Just moving the CR-V's selector from Park to Drive was enought to put me off using the selector any more than necessary. I had thought Honda would standardise the Tiptronic-style selector, first seen on the NSX and currently in use on the Accord.



Finally, a house move this year meant hiring a Peugeot Boxer van. It did a perfectly acceptable job although the arrangements for changing gear took some getting used to. Every other gear lever I have ever encountered has moved in a gate that involves forward, backward, left and right movements. In the Boxer, however, the lever was at an unusual angle so that all the movements were diagonal. It never caused me any problems but you have to wonder why, when the conventional gate has worked so well for so long, Peugeot felt the need to change it.

This year was a little disappointing but it was interesting to see that I drove exactly the same number of cars in 2007 as I did in 2006. New cars arrived at a rate of less than one a month, which suggests a lack of effort on my part. I must try harder in 2008.

The End

Hard year’s drive 2007 Part 4

This is the penultimate installment. The Saab 9-5 is one of the longest running models on the market. Maybe that is why the best version is so good - Saab have had years to carry out fine tuning.



One of the most satisfying cars of the year was a Saab 9-5 estate Aero HOT. There was nothing to suggest that it would be any good, the prospect of a powerful front-wheel drive car with a large 4-cylinder engine was not particularly mouth-watering. On the road any misgivings soon disappeared; the driving position took a lot of fine tuning and the steering wheel wasn't nice to hold on a long drive. When driving it those failings faded into the background. There was a solidity to everything about the Aero; even the ride, which was firm but never uncomfortable. The linear, predictable and utterly dependable response of the steering, brakes and even the turbocharged engine offered tremendous assurance. There was no doubt that the 9-5 would do whatever was asked of it. The only worry was the frequency with which the traction and stability control intervened. Even on a perfectly dry road a moderately energetic left-right-left flick around a roundabout had the warning light coming on - at least the traction control is subtle in its behaviour rather than suddenly cutting power.



While I had the Saab Aero I drove another 9-5 estate; a 2.3 BioPower, which runs on E85 bio ethanol or normal unleaded petrol. The idea is that, by running on a fuel derived from growing plants (E85 is bio ethanol plus 15% unleaded petrol), the BioPower will reduce the quantity of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. The engine produces more power when running on E85 - a difference you can feel - but to take advantage of the benefits you need to live near a petrol station that sells E85 and there aren’t many yet. The penalty is that fuel consumption on E85 is somewhat higher and the small tax break on the fuel does not cover the difference. I was slightly saddened to find that the BioPower was softer in its steering response and yet no more comfortable. The differences under the skin may be small but they add up to a big difference on the road. When you take away the power boost from the bio ethanol and the 9-5 BioPower felt slightly disappointing.


To be continued ...