First time Ive been hit by a car in 63 years

[martin-w 3,315]

21 minutes ago, jcomm said:

At least you're fine 😕

Well, a lesson - I am sure you will get extra careful under similar circumstances from now on....

 

Yep, certainly will. My head will be on a swivel for vehicles behind. Made me a little nervous on that road for a few days. It will be safer when the builders have gone. My daughter works right by where it happened, and actually, she had said to me its tricky there. I learnt she was right.

[martin-w 3,315]

3 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

2004 Suzuki Hayabusa

 

A motorbike at 180 mph!!! You are mental Mr Rob. 😀

Nice bike. 

[birdguy 3,994]

22 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

I love aircraft turbulence for example

Me too.

I was once on a Frontier (Convair 580) flight from Denver to Pueblo CO.  The turbulence was pretty severe and they had to bypass the Colorado Springs stop.

The stewardess was handing out barf bags and when she got to my seat I turned it down and told her, "You pay a dollar a minute to do this at an amusement park."

Noel

 

[TheFamilyMan 287]

2 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

Maybe, or just a need for speed and bit of an adrenaline junkie.  I love aircraft turbulence for example, especially wind shear (if not too low altitude) and the feeling when differential pressure returns to the wings and it pushes me back down into the seat ... which is odd because I used to have a fear of flying in my youth.

Cheers, Rob.

Years ago I was seated opposite of two flight attendants when we hit a sharp wind shear several minutes after take off.  It was obvious by the dismayed looks on their faces it was the real deal.  If we all weren't belted in I'm sure everyone on that flight would have been considerably more airborne than desired for a second or so.

[Fielder 3,904]

American schools usually teach driver's ed to all students the year before they are eligible for a driving license. But old enough for a learner's permit which means that you can drive if a licensed driver is besides you in a front seat.

Our instructor was very stern about driving less than the speed which the traffic around you is going. This he said is the mark of a selfish and poor driver that is a menace to everyone else. Never do it he insisted. Stay under the speed limit but never go slower than most of the traffic around you is going, insofar as possible.

He was especially upset when entering a freeway traveling at under 50 MPH. He taught that this was extremely dangerous as everyone has to change their speed to accommodate you. Never make other drivers change lanes or change speeds if you can possibly help it is the key to successful and proper driving, he said. Changes in speed or changing lanes are the conditions where accidents happen. Every driver driving the same way all of the time is the main goal to try and achieve. If you can do that, then you are blending in and not a menace to other drivers, he said. Never try to play policeman and slow down traffic. If you try, then you are a bigger problem then they are, he said.

[birdguy 3,994]

5 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

What a nice aircraft ... (a few updates).

When I lived in Denver, and for a while in Pueblo, I flew on Frontier Convairs several times.

But my favorite flight was when I got to fly one, even if it was a very short time.

When I was building time for my commercial my flight instructor's buddy was a Frontier pilot.  One Sunday he was taking one of the Convairs out for a test flight after some maintenance had been performed and invited my flight instructor along.  My flight instructor invited me along.

The Frontier pilot and my flight instructor took turns flying it.

On the way back to Denver's old Stapleton Airport I was invited to sit in the left seat.  I was a bit nervous.  But my flight instructor told me, "Just make the nose of the airplane go where you want it to go and the rest of the plane has to follow."

I flew for a few minutes and the Frontier pilot let me fly the approach.  He operated the gear and flaps and throttle but I was following his directions as when to turn final.  He took over the controls as we crossed the threshold and he landed the airplane.

It was quite a thrill for me since all I had flown up to that time were Cessnas, Cherokees, and a Mooney.

Noel

[martin-w 3,315]

15 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

I love aircraft turbulence

 

Sounds like my daughter. She flew in a couple of years ago on a Flybe Dash 8 in a very bad storm. They were being thrown all over the place, passengers very concerned. In fact all flights after that were canceled.

She loved it and said the ideal flight for her is to almost crash but not quite. 😁

The sea was going bonkers too, over the sea wall and into the middle of the street. Unfortunately I wasn't here then and missed it. I love it when the waves go mental, it reminds me of the awesome power of nature. And the mostly untapped energy in the waves of course.

Edited November 12, 2021 by martin-w

[martin-w 3,315]

14 hours ago, Fielder said:

Every driver driving the same way all of the time is the main goal to try and achieve.

 

An impossible goal.  Being prepared for vehicles that aren't as fast as you and not tailgating and not breaking the speed limit and not changing lanes unnecessarily is a more realistic goal.

Again, there will always be vehicles slower. Many vehicles literally can't drive at the speed limit. When you drive on a UK motorway you encounter lorries in the slow lane doing 50, many with mandated speed limiters. You encounter caravans that cant drive at 70 and certainly shouldn't when towing a caravan that's likely to swing around. 

A qualified driver that has passed his test should drive in such a way as to accommodate slower traffic. That makes far more sense than trying to mandate that all vehicles travel at the same speed. They can't and that will never be the case.

And of course it depends on what you mean by slower. 30 or 40 on a motorway is obviously a very bad idea unless a vehicle has mechanical issues, but 50, 60 is not an issue if you know how to drive properly. 

[Mike A 357]

9 hours ago, birdguy said:

But my favorite flight was when I got to fly one, even if it was a very short time.

Back in the “olden days” (@ 1969), my wife was a stewardess for PSA, which had a reputation for hijinks. Once on a ferry flight on a 727, the flight crew put another stewardess at the controls. The aircraft was noticeably dipping & swerving a bit. My wife, who was 19 at the time, is very straight-laced & serious, so she marched up to the cockpit and told them to knock it off or else she would report what they were doing. Another thing the pilots would do was with the shorter stewardesses (my wife is 5’3”), they would pick them up and stuff them in an overhead luggage bin (of course not when any passengers were around). When they tried it with her, she read them the riot act, so they thought better of it and left her alone.

[psolk 3,257]

On 11/11/2021 at 12:14 PM, Rob_Ainscough said:

Haha, no it was my 2004 Suzuki Hayabusa with speed limiter altered (I'm always tweaking) ... gave me an entire new respect for MotoGP racers who do 212 MPH lap after lap ... the wind nearly blew me off my bike when I popped my head up over the cowling.  Also helped me understand the physics of differential pressure 🙂

Cheers, Rob. 

Incredible machines.  More power on a motorcycle than most cars sole in the UK and in the good old US you can get a motorcycle license with no experience and ride one off the lot an hour later.  

Heck that thing would probably rolling wheelie at 120 easy!  Incredible machines and the motors make some pretty good open wheelers too 🙂 

 

[n4gix 4,979]

49 minutes ago, psolk said:

in the good old US you can get a motorcycle license with no experience and ride one off the lot an hour later.

Well, that might be true in many states, but certainly not in Indiana! Here one has to have an automobile license first, then attend and pass a State Police conducted motorcycle driving test in order to gain a "Motorcycle Endorsement" for their automobile driver's license.

[martin-w 3,315]

1 hour ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

 

On a side note, she was a very interesting person, much younger, incredibly attractive, her dad worked for British Airways (Manchester hope was on BA), she was a mechanical engineer working for various oil companies and in the UK on business.  She also had her own side business in Texas scuba diving.  It's one of those rare (for me anyway) times where you can't figure out why such an intelligent attractive women would fire up a conversation with me. 🙂 

 

Rob, I'm sorry to tell you but she was probably winding you up. She was really a con artist after your bank account details. Either that or she was an alien time travelor who knew that in the future you would create an enormously succesful business selling super quiet super silent PC cooling chillers and was thus after your hand in marriage. Once married and after your millions have rolled in, she would divorce you and take half your money.

[psolk 3,257]

5 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

I have a class M which required written and riding test in CA, OR similar BRT/IRT course, don't know about other states.  I started riding motorcycles around age 12, gave it up age 47 due to wife pressures and many close calls with "distracted drivers" (aka texting while driving).  In CA lane sharing is legal, but most 4+ wheel drivers aren't aware and/or don't care and will act out their rage accordingly.  I keep looking at new bikes but I get the eye of disapproval from the wife (she's witnessed some of my close calls).

The Busa was an interesting bike, at about 140 mph it would surge again to about 180 mph thanks to it's RAM air tuning.  You'd see lots of Busa owners doing modifications and dyno tuning, but NONE of the dyno tuning shops were able to simulate sufficient air flow into the intake and/or over the cooling system so their tunes were WAY off at speed.  Some of the dyno tuning shops would just blow these big fans at the bike  ... completely useless at simulating air flow.  The only way to tune the bike correctly was lots of logging with high speed road runs or in a wind tunnel dyno (far and few between and most of them will not simulate 200 mph environment).

I did take the Busa to the drag stripe a couple of times but it was so hard to keep the front wheel down that my times were pretty bad, I think a 10.5 sec 1/4 was the best I could do.  In comparison, my road race prep'd Lotus Turbo did a 9.8 sec 1/4 (320 wHP & 1900 lbs with me in it and safety gear) and that was with on/off triple disc (7") clutch and setup for road racing not drag racing.

Cheers, Rob.

 

Both incredible machines!  The Decel on those Lotus is incredible.  Buddy took me for a ride is his race prepped Lotus and a few times I had to grab the harness and give it another snug after he laid on the brakes.  I have M here in NJ as well which required written and then road test. OR MSF, sounds similar to CA.  In NJ though you can pass your written, get a permit, rent a 50cc scooter for the road course then go and buy a brand new 1000CC bike and ride it off the lot.  For too many over here those are their first bikes with no real riding experience and the outcomes are far too often predictable.  I rode a 50CC for years, then a 250, 500, 850 and eventually a 1000.  Like you I stopped riding on the street after too many close calls including a distracted driver riding me off the road into a guardrail.  Ironically. I rode on home for 2 hours on the back of a Hayabusa on that darn little plastic hump not even the comfort of a rear seat with a crushed foot and broken ribs.  Full leathers and chest protector saved my life.  

2 minutes ago, n4gix said:

Well, that might be true in many states, but certainly not in Indiana! Here one has to have an automobile license first, then attend and pass a State Police conducted motorcycle driving test in order to gain a "Motorcycle Endorsement" for their automobile driver's license.

That is progress but still no limitations to go buy the most powerful Harley or street bike you can find after you pass the course correct?  

I like the GB model where I "believe" your CC's are limited your first year.

Glad @Martin is ok! 

[birdguy 3,994]

1 hour ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

On a side note, she was a very interesting person, much younger, incredibly attractive, her dad worked for British Airways (Manchester hope was on BA), she was a mechanical engineer working for various oil companies and in the UK on business.  She also had her own side business in Texas scuba diving.  It's one of those rare (for me anyway) times where you can't figure out why such an intelligent attractive women would fire up a conversation with me. 

Don't worry about changing the subject.  We all do it.

That's what I liked about travelling on Amtrack.  The dining car.  Not just the food but your tablemates.  Such interesting conversations.

I met an older couple from Britain.  He was a retired engineer from Range Rover.  An older couple from Sweden.  A deep sea diver who repaired underwater pipelines.  A couple of teachers.  People from all walks of life who have interesting stories to tel if you start conversations with them.

One American woman who lived in Britain and was travelling with her son who I guess was 13 or 14 years old.  She writes children's books.  Imagine my surprise when I looked her up after I got home.  She had had an affair with an MP or someone high in the government and created a scandal.  She had a child from that affair who I suppose was the boy who was travelling with her.  It's one of the delightful perks of train travel.

Noel

[n4gix 4,979]

16 minutes ago, psolk said:

That is progress but still no limitations to go buy the most powerful Harley or street bike you can find after you pass the course correct?  

That is true, unfortunately. Actually, one can buy and test with the motorcycle one is going ride, but that is a one time permit to ride TO the testing station. One best have a plan to get the bike back home should one fail the riding test!

The last motorcycle I owned was while I was living in Gainesville, FL back in the early eighties. It was a Suzuki GS450T similar to this one: