Owning a sports car in the UK

This is a typical non-trunk "A" road in Britain. Plenty of bends and opportunities for hazards to appear out of nowhere. This is a typical good run, dodge the cyclist, get down the only overtaking stretch you'll see for miles, hit the back of a bunch of traffic held up by somebody in no rush at the front, followed by people unable or unwilling to overtake.

My car is over powered for the most part, but this is where it's useful, as overtaking five cars on a straight stretch is easy to do safely as you can, in a blink of an eye get up to a safe overtaking speed and pass a small bunch in one swoop. You have to be very careful when passing a bunch that somebody else further up doesn't have the same idea and pulls out into your path. This is no different really to riding on a motorbike.

Unfortunately, these short blasts are mostly counted in the seconds before something else brings you back down to dull trudging speeds.

Speed bumps, speed bumps everywhere. Say goodbye to fuel economy whilst you grind to a halt. Say goodbye to your shocks and geometry as you add unnecessary wear. Local residents petition for something to be "done" about noisy motorists using the road they spend lots of money moving to live along, and then realise that having cars slow and speed up repeatedly is even worse.

I would never (if possible, natch) buy a house next to speed bumps, it's got to be horrible.

An indicator of the speed differential between road users. Nowhere to pass, no chance of a yield. No speed limits broken either.

I'm wary of getting too close to other road users, it tends to just incite the haters as there is even less chance they'll let you past. I tend to stick to around a 1-2 second gap depending on how much attention I'm paying. I find this gives me ample reaction and stopping distance on roads like this where you don't know what is round the next corner. Having a more sporty orientated car means I can bring myself to a halt a lot quicker than the car in front, at these sorts of bimbling speeds that is effectively an instant halt.

COME ON!! YOU'VE PRACTICALLY STOPPED!!! I can cycle faster than some of these drivers.

I hasten to add, I'm not a lone driver going faster than everybody else.

On this bend the car in front has to bleed off a lot of speed due to traffic. Yes, there is a line of cars held up by one single road user at the front, pootling along in no rush in particular. Roads like this have very limited overtaking opportunities, and on a quiet day there is the potential to maybe pass one or two, but with everybody bunched up, there is no way of making progress safely without being a dick and cutting people up.

Sorry for the low FPS, upload limit.

God damn mobile speed cameras. They rock up everywhere - apart from you know, places that make sense. You'll never see one outside a school, or in a dangerous cross roads. They'll always be in the place that catch the most people, like this. On a straight road with minimal buildings, all set back from the road and a 20mph limit, on a hill. Easy money. I'm not savvy on the details, I believe mobile cameras can only be placed in a place where it's technically safe to exceed the posted limit (go figure).

Still, it could be worse, at least in the UK they're brightly painted and fairly easy to spot. It's a lottery "justice" system, where they put speed cameras in unreasonable speed limit areas and catch out motorists who aren't looking out for them. So far I've been lucky and avoided them.

The closest I've come is driving my slow leccy car where I find I pay a lot less attention to the road. In a fast car I tend to pay a lot more attention to what's going on as I'm looking for overtaking opportunities and potential hazards. Where the boring car I'm just waiting for my soul to be sucked out.

Tractors, they appear out of nowhere.

You have to be prepared to get muddy and a few twigs in your wheels sometimes.

The "I have just as much right to use this road as anybody else, and I'll do so at 20mph and not yield" brigade.

Cycling is great, it's good for the cyclist, it's good for the environment, it's good for society. Being a dick and holding up traffic is just being a dick. Sure, car drivers are dicks too, but my personal experience is the percentage of dicks cycling is higher than those driving.

Cat tax! Middle-aged now, still likes to chase mice, birds, rabbits. Pretty well behaved.