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Festive Season

Nanglebadger

By Nanglebadger,
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Nanglebadger

Nanglebadger

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Well my pretties, its that time of year again. The festive season is upon us, and that means office parties and work do's and diners, not to mention the Artic-esque weather we're having right now.

Road conditions are absolutely treacherous across the country, ranging from simply being wet, all the way through slush, ice, black ice and snow.

I would like to remind everyone to please please take care this winter and festive season when out and about on the roads. If you have to drive in these conditions, try to leave a little earlier than you ordinarily would to give yourself more time rather than trying to rush on the roads. Carry de-icer and even a scraper in the car, and keep an eye on those fluid levels - oil, engine coolant and especially the washer bottle! Try to top up your washer bottles when you get in for the night so she's ready to rock in the morning, and don't forget antifreeze if your car lives outside.

I don't expect too many of you to be washing your cars for weeks at a time, i know i'm not and the salt is literally crystallising on my bodywork. However, try to run a wet sponge or cloth over your headlights and break-lights once you're in for the night each day, this will keep your visibility up and also ensure that the person behind you doesn't miss your break-lights due to them being covered in crap! This is something I've been doing myself every day after work. And don't forget to wipe the number plates clean too, yes it looks daft having a filthy car and these shiny number plates, but why give the police an easy excuse to book you for having obscured number plates! it only takes two seconds and is cheaper than points and a fine.

For those of you attending Christmas diners and office do's, please please please don't be tempted to have a drink or two and drive home. I'm aware the legal limit will let u away with one pint before driving, but in these weather conditions if you are driving, ideally you want as many of your faculties about you as is possible. If you are having one drink for toasting purposes, please ensure you are having a large meal with it to do some soaking up and that you're not driving immediately afterwards. Also, please bear in mind that this year the police are focusing on THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE!!!! In other words, you go out for a good night, plenty of drinks, sleep it off on your mates sofa, get up the next morning, feel fine and bounce in the car, roll the windows down to waken you up and blast home....boom, police check point, breathalyser test, and even though you haven't had a drink for maybe 8 hours, your alcohol level is still above the legal limit by a fraction and you're staring at big points and big fine, potentially even worse for those already on points as this could see you over the 12 point limit and you will be registered as a high risk offender, meaning higher cost of a new licence, higher insurance and all the other delights that go along with it (I got a pamphlet stating all this with my updated licence in case you're wondering). We've all done it, i won't profess to be any different, many's a morning I've driven home from Fogdog's, got in and thought...hmmmm i probably shouldn't have done that...thankfully I've been lucky and have now caught myself on. Where possible, please ensure you have alternative arrangements for getting home folks.

The last thing I want to see this season is threads on "Oh shit, i've stuck the EP into a field in the snow". I simply don't want to see any of our members going through that, so please take care lads and ladies.

But most importantly, have a good one folks, I hope everyone has a great festive season with their loved ones and that we all, and our respective EPs, come out the otherside in one piece ready for the spring and snow-free roads, ready to get the cars all cleaned up and our fair weather wheels back on!

And for those of you partaking of some wintersports this 2010/2011 season, find some awesome powder guys, i know i'm going hunting in January for some!

Take care UKSC and have a great festive season! Listen to "Sensible Phil's" words of wisdom and hopefully we'll all see out this crap weather!

Cheers for reading guys,

Phil.

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Steve GT

Steve GT

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brilliant thread phil everyone take his advice

these are bad times for driving we want 100% of starlets here next year so be careful

Just want to say what a brill year this has been for UKSC as well. everyone pulling together making succesful meets and mindblowing numbers for all the events we have attended. every single one of you have done the club proud at these events and i believe weve really put UKSC out there amongst the bigger owners clubs

everyone take care and have a brilliant christmas and enjoy the festive season :lol:

steve

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Liam_D

Liam_D

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Yep my second year driving in the winter! And its so easy to get it wrong in this type of weather.

Drive carefully folks, would hate to see some threads about people crashing and stuff

Take care people.

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Bluebear

Bluebear

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Well said Phil!

This winter more than ever, you need to have your wits about you. It's bitterly cold, and on roads that don't get driven a lot, ice can form like nobody's business.

I've driven through three winters so far, and this has been the worst. I nearly got caught out the other day, and I was doing everything by the book (taking time to brake gently, gentle movements with the steering etc), but some snow or ice still caught the car out and managed to stop an inch away from a parked car. I shat major bricks.

If you have RWD vehicles, be extra careful as well, Dad's had his Hiace sliding about wherever he's been going, so much so that he went and bought some bags of sand and gravel from the builders merchants ahead of time, just to have the ballast in the back, so it is not down to lack of experience at all that you can get caught out.

Be vigilant guys!

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Nanglebadger

Nanglebadger

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i do have the odd sensible idea lol.

just wanted to remind folk that it aint nerdy or gay to be cautious over this period. none of us have anything to prove by driving like onions in this weather, one thing about UKSC is that we seem to have very sensible, mature members for the most part, who take driving in conditions like this very seriously and give it the respect it deserves.

i genuinely dont want to see any threads about it going wrong. it may happen, and sometimes there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, and in those circumstances, i hope that members know that the rest of UKSC will be here in support and we will do whatever we can should the need arise.

remember folks, in the really snowy conditions, keep the car in 2nd or 3rd, let the engine do the braking work as much as possible rather than using your breaks, and where possible, let the engine torque of 2nd and 3rd pull you along rather than trying to apply pressure through the wheels by accelerating. this is a technique i have used on the untreated roads and lanes that lead to my house. its also what Quentin Wilson recommended on this mornings BBC breakfast news lol!!!!!

Take it from an advanced driver, it is very easy at any level of skill to get it wrong out there, I've done it, hell, my dad had his new range rover in a 4 wheel slide at 5mph last week. Be as cautious as you feel appropriate, and if some C**T is sat up your arse because he thinks the laws of physics in relation to friction and grip don't apply to him, f**k 'im, don't let him/her pressurise you into going quicker in the conditions than you feel comfortable, if you hold him up THAT'S HIS PROBLEM NOT YOURS! the important thing is that you get to your destination safely!

Phil.

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Jozinobi

Jozinobi

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Some great advice from Phil there.

We are all feeling the 'quick freeze' everywhere and seriously, only go out in the car if its absolutely necessary.

Any refurbs will have to wait til Spring or until the white stuff fecks off :lol:

Stay safe all and enjoy the festive period for all the right reasons!

Joz

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daz gt turbz

daz gt turbz

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defo a thread everybody should read and take a min to think about it, my mate got banned last year for drink driving, nearly 18hours after he had his last drink, and he was more against drink driving than anybody i know as he lost a family member to a drink driver.

stay safe guys

merry xams and happy new year, hope to meet you all in person next year at all the shows! :(

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Galliano

Galliano

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I learnt the troubles of no washer fluid the other night, luckily i'm a fat prick and had some mcdonalds napkins to wipe the smeared crap off of my windscreen.

I highly recommend Wilko's own brand windscreen washer. Its only £2.19 for a 1.5l bottle of fluid and lasts quite some time. Also smells nice.

I'm just reppin' for work ^^, and I get discount so NE NE NE NE NE!

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