There's no Such Thing as a Blind Bend

As is my routine, I sat down last night with a chilled one to doom scroll on Twitter and consume some fresh YouTubage.

Up first was a fresh adventure from YouTube phenomenon Matt Armstrong. I like millions of others am a regular consumer of his activities - he’s got the magic sauce that every marketer wants, yet can’t reproduce. The car nerdiness is 100% and his European adventures resonate - who doesn’t enjoy a blat through Alpine tunnels with a V8 or better?

Lambo meets Lawn

What jolted me away from Trump nonsense on X was the downturn in Matt’s tone as he narrated his encounter with a “blind bend”. It had been teased at the beginning of the video and it’s part of his magic formula to build up the japes and then throw in some drama.

In this case, Matt was hooning around some narrow mountain roads in France and after navigating a tight bend, encountered a large bus taking up most of the road. He was left with little room for escape, chucking it onto a small grass verge and limiting the damage to a bash on the wing mirror and a scrape along the side of the coach. You might say he was ‘lucky’ that there was enough verge.

I write this with the benefit of experience and some training. I am not a driving god, I’ve just learned to keep learning. I’ve been on similar adventures in my youth and like most of us, I got away with some ‘incidents’. That doesn’t mean they’re inevitable for all those that follow in our footsteps.

Touring Deaths aren't Rare Enough

Before I’m accused of just being a dull old git, let’s just acknowledge that there have been a number of incidents this year involving car tours, with at least one death in Spain. We have to take enthusiastic ‘touring’ seriously if we don’t want the authorities to step in. These crashes aren't rare enough - even if they often don't make the news.

In Matt Armstrong’s case, he was throwing his V12 (800+ horsepower) Lamborghini Revuelto along that narrow mountain road and he encountered a “blind bend” as he described it.

There’s no such thing as a blind bend. Was that bend blind at 5mph? It’s can only be considered blind when you dial up the speed to a level where you can’t stop in time. I encounter it every morning walking my dog when drivers slam on the anchors in a bend as they see me and the mutt in the road. That’s no ‘blind bend’ either - it’s just a bend.

Professional vs Amateur

On a Driving Masters Course we’ll teach you the system for approaching bends that turns off your autopilot and makes you properly consider brakes, speed, gear, sight lines, vehicle balance and the rigour of using the ‘Vanishing Point’ or ‘Limit Point’ to dictate your speed.

However, as a regular enthusiast myself, I’ll offer this pragmatic alternative. If you don’t want to invest in learning fine driving, just consider every bend with the following:

• Imagine you are coming the other way at the same speed
• Image there’s a lycra clad obstacle lying in the road around the next bend

That should give a crude guide to what speed to choose.

Convoy UXB

And a word for those following - increase your distance! The internet is full of ‘impressive’ convoys of supercars weaving through the countryside nose to tail. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Younger me would probably read this and just think ‘yeah, but risk is where the adrenaline comes from’. To some extend maybe that’s true, but replace the risk with the challenge of driving intensively and getting it ‘right’ and you’ll find the reward is equal.

I doubt Matt will read this, but that’s two ‘incidents’ now. You’ve learned an immense amount about building cars - how about learning an immense amount about how to enjoy them safely?

The third time might not be so lucky.

PetrolTed

June 2025