What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Ruairidh Dunford]

It's a lovely car - enjoy it!

[robert regan]

my own street in Blackwood south Wales, is a very busy road with constant traffic its a thirty mile an hour area , every day you can see all sorts of vehicles going at 40 to 50 miles an hour and in 33 years I have never seen any attempt by the council or the police to monitor traffic speed and I do not think that they will put in appearance now the speed limit now 20 mph, or do you think I am just a cynic Regards to all Rob.

[Duncan Grimmond]

The French have a brilliant system to stop speeding through villages. They install "ralentisseurs" or slower-downers. A 6" high ramp to a longish plateau and then a 6" ramp down again, repeat as necessary. Self policing and idiot proof. Apparently British farmers think they will damage their equipment and make too much noise and so we can't have them...

[Hugh Barnes]

I drove quite a bit in the US this summer. In the main, the roads (and I mean country roads) were excellent but it was noticeable that every time we entered a town, the road surface had been left un-maintained and was littered with broken asphalt and small potholes etc. A genius speed restricting system at zero cost to the city...

[Charles P]

I drove quite a bit in the US this summer. In the main, the roads (and I mean country roads) were excellent but it was noticeable that every time we entered a town, the road surface had been left un-maintained and was littered with broken asphalt and small potholes etc. A genius speed restricting system at zero cost to the city...

I liked this app that the authorities in Boston, Mass (which has really very poor roads) implemented. 
It uses precise location and the accelerometer in your phone to identify road problems and prioritize resources to fix them. 
https://www.boston.gov/transportation/street-bump 

Charles

[Hugh Barnes]

That is very clever.. Great use of technology...

[Duncan Grimmond]

I don't think technology to identify potholes is really necessary unless it is put to immediate use.
On the 8 mile rat-run to my workshop there is a stretch of 6 miles which has approx 120 clunking (as in "da-dum") potholes including projecting gullies on the outward and about 80 on the return. Allowing for a slight overlap this seems to be approx 180 potholes in the stretch or 30 per mile. No wonder that over the course of the 6 years I've been using the road I've had to replace a broken nearside front spring and two shock absorbers on the modern car. (I only use the modern in the winter and when the forecast shows rain.)
There are a several notable holes which would do serious damage to a spoked wheel.
Should I invite my MP (Julian Smith) for a demonstration run to display the third-world status of many roads throughout our green and pleasant land?

[Dave Mann]

Come to Stockport we have plenty of "ralentisseurs", we also have speed humps on dedicated cycle lanes so the cyclists use the hump free roads and vehicles use the cycle lane as a parking lay by!     

[Denis Sweeney]

Not the place for this topic, but I’ll add my bit, the minor roads in Kent are appalling, recently travelled up to Norfolk and the difference was markedly better.
It’s not easy on on Ruby but far better than with the MGF.
This failed an MOT due to “damage” to the inside walls of all four tyres caused by travelling over too many 
ridiculously high pyramid speed calming bumps. I never travelled over these at any speed as the car having little ground clearance would bottom and do untold damage if I did.
The worrying aspect is that I would never have known anything about this problem with the tyres without the MOT.
When all four tyres were replaced, after less than 3 years and just a few thousand miles service, the man in the village showed me a number of splits on the inside walls caused by the side walls being pinched against the inner edge of the wheels riding over the slopping edges of the pyramid humps. 
There are a number of local routes now that are simply out of bounds for the MGF, even tho’ I have the suspension set slightly higher than the upper limits.
Rant over sorry

[Reckless Rat]

Two questions, Dennis on your MGF. You are quite right about bottoming going over what are known as "Berlin Cushions" - it is best to avoid trying to straddle them but to go over them (slowly) with just the offside or nearside wheels (dependant on the road and traffic layout).
However... has your MGF had the spheres regassed? If not it will ride like a skateboard. There is a guy in Telford that regasses them. See HERE
I have used them and they are really good.

Secondly, is the ride height correct? If it's too low then it won't make matters any easier. Proper height should be 368mm when measured from centre of the front wheel to the top of the wheel arch. If it's any lower than around 350mm then it'll need pumping, unless the car's got lowering pins fitted.

Sorry guys for the hijack.