French Connection 2

Staying together

We need to stay together most of the time. If people get unstuck from the convoy and get lost it chews up a lot of time. Ten cars is approaching the limit of what is practicable to keep together. I'll make these suggestions:

Always be aware of the car behind you particularly through junctions. Make sure they are not stuck at lights in traffic.

If you are left behind and not sure of where to go then get in touch by radio or by phone immediately.

Naviagators need to keep an eye on the route at all times just to make sure. Clearly this applies to towns and juncions more than open road and motorways.

Signals

We are going to need to communicate between cars reasonably effectively if we are to make good progress. I suggest the following means of rapid communication:

Signal	Meaning
1 short flash or beep	Minor warning or rebuke
2 short flashes or beeps	OK - carry on
3 flashes or beeps	STOP - problem. (Most likely when someone has got left behind)
1 long flash or blast on horn	WARNING - TAKE CARE
3 short and one long	S2kiiiiiiiiiii - I'm having fun!

 

Overtaking

It is hard to overtake simply because the driver is on the wrong side. This means that to make good progress you are constantly relying on the passenger/navigator to do the job of checking the road ahead. Being in a group we should be able to make things easier for ourselves by folowing these suggestions:

Lead car overtakes and if they believe it is safe for the next car to do so then they leave their left (yes - left) indicator running and left wheels on the centre line. In this way the car next in line to overtake can still see the road ahead but has confirmation of a clear road from the lead car.

If the lead car does not think it is safe they cancel the inidcator as early as possible and pull right in. The lead car does not blast off into the distance but waits to help the second car past.

Once the second car has overtaken they help the third car through and so on. In this way everyone is helping the car behind to overtake.

Lead car can now move on. There is no point waiting for everyone. Move on to the next obstacle. Once you've helped the car behind past an obstacle you're OK to move on.

Navigating

Jude and I have no intention of leading all the way! It seems reasonable that everyone should take their fair share of being at the front as it is an extra burden.

The person who has planned the day may want to lead some of the more difficult stretches but it will help if we can get others to help out and study sections in advance. Let me know if you're not happy about this and don't want to do any.