by wenlocksimon » Thu Sep 22, 2005 11:02 pm
As a general (personal) rule, I tend to wait my turn in the queue unless I have just one vehicle on front of me preceding the offending slow vehicle at the front of the queue. This assumes, of course, that the vehicle in front of me is judging an overtake.
If not, then I tend not to overtake in a multiple line of traffic unless I see a gap between the two vehicles in front of me that will allow me to pass safely then return to the nearside lane without braking. I feel uncomfortable passing a car in front on a SC if I have to brake having overtaken. In such cases, it seems a badly judged manoevre.
If there are only two vehicles in front (one of which being the slow culprit), then I judge the road conditions, approaching traffic (hopefully none), visibility of the road ahead, and the overtaking ability of my car. If all are favourable, then I pass both.
Favourite overtaking tips (from motorcycle riding friends) are to i) look through the windows of the car in front to look further ahead; ii) in left-hand bends, move left to gain a possible better view; iii) know the optimum engine speed and gear of your vehicle for the quickest and safest passing manoevre. In my case, at 40mph, the engine is spinning at just over 1600rpm in 4th with max torque (246lb/ft) just 200rpm away.