I has a mk2 cortina in the 80s had to get out in a hurry got in turned the key and the battery went flat i got out went around the front and gave it a kick in the mouth my foot went through the aluminium grill and i fell over ,the wife came out to see where i was and started laughing as did passers by so got another battery but the car got its own back as i was driving home on a busy carraigway the bonnet flew up i pulled over and jumped up and down on the bonnet to shut but the hinges had streched so i tied it up with some wire people were still laughing ,

I got over those days but then cars were cheap the ford was £50 !

I've never owned a car that even has traction control. I doubt I have godlike driving abilities, yet have never managed to close a motorway or overturn a car.

I think in a way us older drivers, who could only afford older than us cars when we started have an advantage over new drivers who often have almost or new cars immediately.

We learned PDQ how little grip there was at the wheels, whether cornering accelerating but especially when braking, so we learned to read the road ahead and the surface and to take extra care when the steering went light, i don't think this has ever left us hence why we don't expect dry road grip on wet greasy or ice cold roads, nor do we expect the vehicle to drive for us to maybe the same degree as younger drivers.

This applies to vehicles of all types from motorcycles up to the biggest lorries, all of which had to be driven half decently or the journey was likely to end quickly for one reason or another, even on our bicycles those simple rubber brake blocks were virtually useless when wet so maybe we learned when still in short trousers.

Modern vehicles of all types can have grip and stablity capabilites that are fantastic in comparison, until that is this seemingly limitless capability runs out, when it does it's usually too late to recover from and disaster beckons.

This TC you mention or ASR as its called on my lorry is an interesting one, basically the lorry can still get wheelspin under power in the wet on a straight wet road in 11th gear of a 12 speed box especially when the drive axle tyres are down to about 5mm, what i have noticed is that its entirely possible, if you don't as a driver deal with it and cut power it can send you sideways quickly, interesting effect with an empty tanker on the back leaving a roundabout when oversteer then kicks in, when both wheels spin up the vehicle doesn't sense it so doesn't take over and cut the power, certainly not quckly enough, and i wonder how many inexperienced drivers come to grief because they have these electronic systems and come to rely on them, and find too late these wizard electronics aint quite as wonderful and infallible as we might be led to believe by the hype.

GB, your present lorry clearly isn't lacking in torque, wheelspin in 11th is impressive (if not what you actually want at the time!).

When I had a Ford Zephyr, wheelspin on wet roads and especially on the granite setts we had around here was easily provoked, when it snowed the common fix was a couple of bags of cement or paving slabs in the boot.

As far as cars being sentient, I sometimes threatened reluctant starters that if they didn't fire up they were going to the scrapyard, which did sometimes have the desired effect.

When loaded i can assure you @ 10bhp per ton, its seriously lacking in torque when needed :-)

The wheelspin is purely down to premium brand hard wearing tyres designed primarily for a long life, if they were fitted to cars the term ditchfinder would be applied liberally, fortunately i'm long enough in the tooth to have cut my lorry teeth on Michelin X's, enough said, i bet there are some here who had Mich X and ZX on cars and found wet grip to be 'interesting'.

Ah the old chuck some slabs or sandbags in the boot, a bit of weight and narrow tyres we managed pretty well as i recall on RWD, anecdote time, my youngest lad was in hospital at the time and a serious snowfall more or less blocked the roads between the towns, i had a good old Volvo 245 estate at the time and the back roads the only ones not blocked with stuck vehicles, came up to the high ground and found a works mini bus turning round because snowdrifts ahead, about 8 or 9 workers piled out the bus and started to make their way home on foot, i stopped and offered a we'll risk it offer, they all bundled into the old Volvo, lots of heavy blokes bodies in the boot and we went for it and got through seemingly impossible drifts with a bit of a lick on, i wouldn't have had the weight on the drive axle to get through without them, they would have struggled to walk it.

Were we all a bit more muck in and get along we each other then, would such a thing happen any more now unless in remote areas where people have a bit more community spirit about them, dare say in other countries they help each other without giving it the slightest thought.