You know you are a (wannabe) race driver on the road when...

[dr-baker]

When you by chance are on the first on the traffic light queue and tried to launch as soon as the red light dims/green light turns on

In 's-Hertogenbosch, a city near where I live, they actually are running an experiment on traffic lights. They count down from 3 to 1 before the green light appears. It makes launching a lot easier and it feels like you're in Need for Speed games or something alike.

I'm not sure about its actual benefits for traffic flow, by the way.

It's not that experimental, i've even seen this in third world countries

And in Britain, our traffic light sequence goes red -> red and amber together -> green -> amber -> red. I suppose our red-and-amber is equivalent to what's being described above?

[dinizintheoven]

There are other countries where there's a red-and-amber phase, but none of them I've seen are as long as ours. Norway, as I remember, has only about half a second before the lights turn green.

[dr-baker]

There are other countries where there's a red-and-amber phase, but none of them I've seen are as long as ours. Norway, as I remember, has only about half a second before the lights turn green.

Oh I didn't know that. You learm something new every day. There you go. Tomorrow, I'll probably go away to find out what some more of those countries are.

[LovelyFondmetal]

You get very slow away from traffic lights and pretend you're Mark Webber.

You accidentally set off from the traffic lights in 2nd gear and pretend your Nigel Mansell in Mexico 1986.

Or accidentally set off from the traffic lights in reverse gear and pretend your Nigel Mansell in Long Beach in 1982.

or you wave to someone on a hairpin and accidently switch off your engine and pretend your Nigel Mansell in Canada '91

Or when you are too portly to fit in your car, so you give it to Mark Blundell for 6 weeks, get it back, then decide it's too slow and never drive again soon afterwards like Nigel Mansell in 1995.

[ibsey]

When you by chance are on the first on the traffic light queue and tried to launch as soon as the red light dims/green light turns on

In 's-Hertogenbosch, a city near where I live, they actually are running an experiment on traffic lights. They count down from 3 to 1 before the green light appears. It makes launching a lot easier and it feels like you're in Need for Speed games or something alike.

I'm not sure about its actual benefits for traffic flow, by the way.

It's not that experimental, i've even seen this in third world countries

In some countries I've been to it the red light seems to means nothing at all. In fact been told in South Africa if you stop at a red light, people will know you are a tourist & you are more likely to get car jacked. So its better not to stop. IIRC Button got car jacked whislt stopped at a set of red lights in Brazil in around 2011.

Or when you are too portly to fit in your car, so you give it to Mark Blundell for 6 weeks, get it back, then decide it's too slow and never drive again soon afterwards like Nigel Mansell in 1995.

I like where this is going. Or when you've eaten too many drive thru's in the car and are then too portly to get out of the car and you pretend you are Nigel Mansell during practice at Canada 1984.

Or when you kick the car tyres to check they are still inflated and pretend you are Mansell after his crash at Monaco 1984. Watch the 1984 FIA season review if you are not sure what I mean about the above too incidents as Clive James' comments about this was hilarious.

Or when your car breaks down and you push your car home and then like Mansell in Dallas 1984 you collapse in a dramatic fashion, just to get a cup of tea & some sympathy from the missus.

Or when you are racing to beat the lights changing to red and just miss it by a split second. But by then its too late so you carry on and pretend you are Nigel Mansell at the start of Canada 1990 & fail to notice the lack of cars around you.

Or when a good song comes on the radio and you start whistling to yourself like Mansell supposedly did when he was dominating races.

Or when you park in a car park space and look out the side window to line your car up in the box & pretend you are lining your car up in a grid slot.

[WeirdKerr]

suddenly this has turned into a Mansell Bashing session.... LOL

[Boomstick]

suddenly this has turned into a Mansell Bashing session.... LOL

....you take the air out of the rear left tyre, and drive along Dequettevile Terrace (Brabham straight in Adelaide) on your way to work in the morning and hope for it to explode?

I guess that one wouldn't go down well as a good excuse with the boss....and no he doesn't use a wheelchair

[ibsey]

I guess that one wouldn't go down well as a good excuse with the boss

Nah a better excuse would be not showing up to work, and when the boss asks why. You tell them you haven't retired yet, but instead they have to wait & see what happens. Bit like a certain Brummie after 1995

suddenly this has turned into a Mansell Bashing session.... LOL

We can always pick on another driver if you prefer. Like my childhood hero Alesi...

...When you stall your car at the traffic lights and pretend you are Alesi stalling after his pitstop at Brazil 1999.

Or when you jump the traffic lights like Alesi did at a non F1 race in Barain a few years ago.

[Boomstick]

I guess that one wouldn't go down well as a good excuse with the boss

Nah a better excuse would be not showing up to work, and when the boss asks why. You tell them you haven't retired yet, but instead they have to wait & see what happens. Bit like a certain Brummie after 1995

Or you throw a tantrum on your contract negotiations...actually I'm doing that at the moment, however with a more than a little irony given what we are working on at the moment: Active suspension

[Bleu]

I drove last week on the road where there is lot of repair work going on. So I had to use temporary road and instantly think, which racetrack it resembles.

[dr-baker]

Just watching a programme from earlier in the year with Guy Martin and David Coulthard doing a series of challenges between the Manx TT BMW bike and Red Bull RB8. Apparently, drinks would get so warm in the F1 car that Damon Hill would take advantage of this by having a black tea to drink mid-race...

[Boomstick]

So I got rear ended at the traffic lights this morning.....

if I was a race driver, who would I be and how much of a tantrum would I throw?

(Btw I was rear ended by a new Skoda and I drive a Holden/Nissan)

[WeirdKerr]

So I got rear ended at the traffic lights this morning.....

if I was a race driver, who would I be and how much of a tantrum would I throw?

(Btw I was rear ended by a new Skoda and I drive a Holden/Nissan)

Piquet on Salazar? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG6ZGWA_xiA