What’s going on at the beginning of 2014?
The bad news is that the green meanies are, it seems, about to get their way in two key areas within my world; one, by restricting the M1 to a “temporary” speed limit of 60mph for 32 miles between Leeds and Sheffield on the grounds that air pollution will improve in the area as a result; two, by refusing to issue my local Brighton and Hove Motor Club with a licence to stage the Brighton Speed trials in 2014 on the basis of dubious health and safety.
And just this morning I watched a video on the internet, posted officially by BMW GmBH, that shows a prototype M235i drifting perfectly around a steering pad, all by itself while the driver just sits there, arms folded, giggling.
The M1 speed limit proposal is a worrying, if not predictable move from Whitehall. Worrying because the 70mph speed limit itself was introduced on an “experimental” basis in 1965, only to become a permanent fixture just two years later (bringing an immediate 20 per cent reduction in casualties on motorways, it must be noted, but during a time when cars were just a touch more dangerous than they are today, it must also be noted).
Predictable because it’ll probably improve the traffic flow at peak times, according to government traffic research, although quite why drivers should be expected to trundle along a deserted M1 at 60mph, at three in the morning, isn’t stated in said proposal.
The Brighton Speed trials debate is an intriguing one to me, being a local lad. On the one hand it does seem rather sad that the UK’s oldest motorsport event is staring down the barrel of extinction on the grounds of health and safety. But on the other hand, the last time I went and watched the trials they did look quite, well, dangerous to be honest. And remember, they didn’t take place last year because the Motor Club hadn’t done much to change things down on the seafront since someone was killed at the event in 2012.
As for self-drifting BMWs, I know exactly where I stand on that one. It’s a stunt devised by BMW to demonstrate just how far down the road Munich has travelled towards autonomous driving; a way of telling the world that BMW, too, is just as clever as Volvo and Google et al when it comes to driverless cars. Some stunt, mind you, even if it will put me out of a job one day.
And the good news of 2014? I drove a Jaguar this week that’s at least as good, and at least as fast, as any Porsche this side of a 918 Spyder. One that’s already lapped the Nürburgring in just 7min 39sec. Can’t tell you any more about it just yet because the driving impressions are embargoed until this Sunday.
So, until then…