Just been playing cat & mouse on the F3 again.

When I was a boy the rules of the freeway (it was a toll way back then) were simple.
If you could keep up with the traffic, do so. If you couldn't, get out of the f#cking way of those who can.
Best of my knowledge it hasn't changed.

UNTIL YOU DRIVE A VW ON THE SAME FREEWAY.

There is something about a VW badge looming in someones right wing mirror that scares shit out of them & all of a sudden their throttle works again. This is particularly true if it happens to be on a van.

Between the weigh station & the top of Moonee Moonee I was catching a car. Til I was about 50 feet off him, then I wasn't catching him anymore. I've been gaining on him at 110, now I'm doing 125 trying to get around this wanker.
I ended up snookering him behind a truck up the north side of Moonee Moonee.:P

Further up the road I cruise past a Renno, 5 km later she sails past me like I'm sitting still. My speed hasn't changed.

Then of course, everyone who has broken their neck to get around me, hits the anchours at the speed camera & I go round them all again. Because my speed hasn't changed so I don't need to slow down.

Got them all back though.
By the time I got to the twin servos, I was just cruising in the slow lane, BUT, there are two shredded truck tyres in the fast lane. That caused some havoc, but don't think for two seconds I was moving for anyone

hey you havent see close till you look in your rear view mirror when your doing 110 and all you see is the middle 2 letters in kenwood. thats fucking scary. i agree there are no rules on the f3 apart from "thou shall not be passed by a vw"

LOL......ooooh man...I need to get my Bug on the road.

Ah Spook the F3 is the bane of our lives. I feel your grief.

And Barls as for trucks.....I just gradually get slower and slower - usually time my throttle lift off for when they're at the bottom of a hill.

Doesnt just happen to VW's it happens to Fords though not quite as often.

I set the cruise control and have no trouble catching the tail of people. as soon as the right hand indicator goes on to pass, they whack on an extra 5-10 kays.

Driving the F3 can almost be considered sport... :thumb

Yes, it happens in all vehicles... well most....
some people don't like to be passed....

I think You are pretty brave driving a VW on the F3...

I try to keep out of the way of Semis... & B Doubles..
I acknowledge they probably have another few hundred kms to drive ...
if the highway is clear I slowdown to let them overtake me
and give them a couple of Right Side blinker flashes..
and away they go....
If the road isn't clear I speed up until they can go round Me... especially at the bottom of hills...

Only Rage I get is when someone pulls in front of Me...
and I have to brake heavily ....
I usually give them a long blast on the air horns --
but it doesn't do any good...
thats when i wish i had a 4WD with large rubber bumpers on the bullbar.... and then i wouldn't brake...

Lee

Trucks aren't really an issue. I've been sharing the roads with them for a lot of years, just give them the room they need & you wont have a problem.
Although I did get overtaken once by a bloke who, I think, had forgotten he had a B double. Major evasive action was called for!!

The F3 isn't really a challenge to a VW.
My bay has a cruising speed of 90, so overtaking never entered the equation.
The T3 will cruise on 120 all day.

My speedo was broken for a while so I used to cruise along with the traffic, letting people pass me whenever, but now its fixed I find other road users must be ashamed to be passed by an old car, having plates the state its a '68 is an incentive for them not to let me get by or they make sure they pass me even if I'm doing 130km (80mph)!

I have a 1973 Beetle with Herbie stripes and numbers on it which has a very rattly engine on start up, so I limit it to 80 km/h. I drive down the Mitchell and Kwinana Freeways at 80 in the left lane and I am in the way. Everyone wants to pass me on the inside and they have no patience with me. I just dak along and smile sweetly at them when they glare at me. Not only that, but it's very fuel efficient at 80. Bugger 'em.

Know what ya mean about the F3, to me the left lane gets me there quicker every time, seems others think its a point of shame to be in the left lane so thats the one for me. Knight I picked up the buggy from Sydney was a fun night, rain started just as I got on the F3 at Hornsby, no lid and never driven the little bugger before, shit those truck tyres are high up when your sitting on ya arse at 120 trying to get past and hoping the big bastards can see ya way down there.

My favorite trick is just before I get home.

Just before you get to Gwandalan, the road from the highway goes from 80 to 60, then on to a roundabout.

I'm sure I'm the only one that actually does 80, so nine times out of ten you'll have some dickhead tailgaiting. Usually it's a P plater, I've even had a learner do it to me (taught him a valuable lesson )

Now, I've got a steel truck, with a steel bumper bar & a steel tow bar, & most of these clowns have the fully sick plastic ricer.

So what you do is drop it back from 5th to 3rd & drop the clutch the second you hit the 60 sign, then watch your mirrors.
This truck will drop that 20 k's in the space of 20 feet, WITHOUT THE BRAKE LIGHTS COMING ON !!

Like I said, watch the mirror. Not to see how close they get, but to see the look on their face. It's a real "OH F#CK" look.

[ Edited on 17-11-2006 by Spook ]

I agree, the F3 is a bit of a race track at times!

Spook was they in a BMW by any chance

I'm with Amazer,

Set the cruise control and you'll notice how erratic some people really drive.

As for truckies, I find generally they are OK. Some companies (McColls for instance) seem to have a policy that you must be a tool to work for them. Consider other road users, and the problems they face, and everyone will get on fine (most of the time).
:beer

hehe, get a big ugly steel bullbar on the front of ya bus, that sure scares them at slow speeds anyway

Swap the F3 for the M4 - at least you can get to 80kmh on the F3. M4 is a car park, just like the M2, then there's the M7, which just links one car part to another - via the biggest out the way loop possible. Why do people live in Sydney? - well apart from the few that live somewhere cool, the rest of us live on the M4/M2 car parks for most of our lives.

Looking forward to the F3 next year for sure.

Trust me, it depends on time of day. And which day.

I only use the F3 if I start or finish very early in the morning, which means I have the road to myself, or I'm heading in to Sydney when others are heading out, or the north trip is lunch time like yesterday.

But you'll see traffic stopped from the train between 6 & 8am week days.
Sunday afternoon is a f#cking nightmare. No one has any idea how traffic is meant to merge at the top of Hawksbury, & it comes to a grinding halt.

Im sure that it is not just limited to the F3 (although I have to admit that driving on it coming back from Valla I was thanking my lucky stars that I got off alive ..... and I drive a new beetle!!!), some of the freeways in Melb are just as bad!