The Art of Manual Transmission: A Tale of Triumph and Tribulation

As we set out to tackle the manual transmission challenge, I couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation. My trusty Ford Pro Ace, with its stalwart manual gearbox, would have to suffice as my co-pilot for this arduous test. The opponent, a gleaming Mercedes, boasted a formidable engine and an air of superiority that threatened to intimidate even the most seasoned competitors.

"Come on, you ready?" I asked my van, as we prepared to embark on this daunting journey. "Lock it in, come on you go!" With a deep breath, I counted down from three, two, one, and engaged the manual transmission. The engine revved to life, and we began our ascent up the challenging hill.

However, our initial effort was met with disappointing results. Despite my valiant efforts to coax the van into submission, we failed to gain any significant ground on our opponent. "Oh dear, Babar thought... Oh lookey here lookey here lookey there!" The Mercedes seemed to be pulling away from us at an alarming rate.

Undeterred, I shifted gears and tried again. This time, the van sprang into life, and we made a valiant attempt to close the gap between us and our pursuer. Alas, it was not to be; the Mercedes continued to pull ahead, its engine purring smoothly as it devoured the distance.

With a sigh, I admitted defeat. "That Mercedes did it again... Wow! It's doing all the racing now." The van, however, refused to concede. With a newfound sense of determination, we redoubled our efforts, determined to make up for lost time.

Next up was the final challenge: a blistering 70-mile-per-hour sprint down the straightaway. With the scar in fast lane and Rob Mort away at the front, I gunned the engine, feeling the van's manual transmission stretch its limits as we hurtled toward the finish line.

"Come on, Jeff! Get right orbit to ass!" I urged my van, as we approached the first turn. A split-second delay seemed like an eternity as we awaited the clearance from the car ahead. Finally, it was our turn; with a burst of speed, we surged forward, the engine roaring in protest.

"Full emergency stop when you line here..." The instructions were clear, but the execution was far from smooth. My van danced across the finish line, its tires screeching as we narrowly avoided disaster.

Upon reviewing the footage, I discovered an unexpected twist: our van had been ordered with 136 horsepower, rather than the expected 163. A miscalculation on the part of the company's website had led to this discrepancy. While it may seem a trivial matter, the error had significant implications for our performance.

As we reflected on the day's events, I couldn't help but express my gratitude to our van's owner for unwittingly providing us with an opportunity to showcase their vehicle's capabilities. The experience was nothing short of humbling, and I would be the first to admit that manual transmission is not always the most forgiving or reliable option.

In the end, it was a mixed bag of results: we won one challenge, lost another, and failed to impress in our final test. While the outcome may not have been what we had hoped for, the journey itself was far more rewarding than any victory could ever be.

And so, as I look back on this manual transmission adventure, I am reminded that even in defeat lies a valuable lesson: sometimes, it's okay to admit when you're not up to par. The real triumph here is our willingness to laugh at ourselves and try again – for with every attempt comes the chance to learn, grow, and improve.

As we wrap up this tale of manual transmission mishaps, I hope that you've enjoyed the ride as much as I have. Don't forget to hit that like button, subscribe to our channel, and turn on those notifications so you can stay up-to-date on all our future adventures – whether they're filled with triumph or tribulation. And if you happen to be a van enthusiast yourself, please feel free to offer your own insights and suggestions for how we might improve our performance in the comments section below. Cheers!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enall right everyone its Matt Watson here from Carlisle so we've got another drug race for you this time we're doing it in vans so gonna lure them right so this car it's a it's not car is it I'm just used to saying car on the bloody time anyway so this is a van and it's a VW Transporter next to that there over there is a toilet always next to that is a Ford Transit custom it's their special M s RT so I've been tuned and stuff but tell me more about enrollment after that at the very end we've got a Mercedes Vita now I wanted the van but I couldn't get my hands on a van so we're just gone for the one with windows and seats you know it's the same thing really this as a 2 litre diesel engine in it and it's got like summer I think it's that engine 50 horsepower now you can get one with Origin 70 horsepower but I'll come get one of those either so I'm just gonna have to wrong with that you know you just take what you're given don't you in this job where's about two ton got a 7 speed automatic gearbox so it should be easy for me to launch that's what get this right it's got a 2 litre diesel engine boys got on June 8 horsepower bloomin heck a Keith um a bog um II by blooming gum anyway 400 needed me as a talk six-speed automatic gearbox it weighs about won't put it and it's a bit light on this this is like 37 grand that one's like 36 grand but you pay money takes your choice don't ya moving on to the Fords so then only about 33 grand but that one because it's got all tune bits on it's not 44 grand now the two bits they include stuff like wheels and Lord suspensions and body kits also got this thing right it'll play like the eight noise they don't hae like the van rattling away like when you make and delivery of that thing all my days you know what's that and then they look out and it's just like badass wagging like that performance-wise it's got two little diesel engine hundred and seventy or four hundred and five of them Newton meters where it was it's not to turn like this really final one is that Mercedes veto so that's got a 2.2 litre diesel that's also got an automatic gearbox forget how many speeds it's gone hopefully we got some graphics which will explain it price-wise it's a bit cheaper than the others also a bit like my missus very big bugger that one weighs in at 2.2 tonnes that does anyway I didn't wanna wear this Ivy's you know boss it out to them you know I often say if didn't all that anyway let's get on with this race before we do right subscribe to the channel somewhere ah and this is it like a little bell apparently you can got press and it does some stuff got job to do now anyhow you excuse me I'll be back Oh launch controls the lar boys yeah I'll see you at the back of the day but Oh No Oh No here we go The Tortoise coming back a bit now can he catch me up or get blown about my weather what mattered it what happened in the Mercedes sounds a little bit post a bit driving van sounds like he had pay for education I went to comprehensive by the way in case you think I'm taking the piss out people who didn't have a paid for education anyway that's enough for that so what exactly happened well the VW completed the standing quarter mark in eighteen point two seconds the Toyota cross the line in eighteen point three seconds the Ford took 19 point three seconds and the Mercedes did it in twenty point two seconds time for second girl come on bear wheel spit oh the Mercedes off quickest all we've got race on now ladies and gentlemen that for may have more power but is dropping back here comes Pruitt Oh take the bloody line drop me on Baldy so then what exactly happened this time well the Toyota just about managed to beat the VW by a nose though they both covered the standing quarter mile in eighteen point two seconds with a better start and better gear changes the manual Ford took eighteen point four seconds and a much better start from the Mercedes meant it in the standing quarter mile in nineteen point five seconds this time around now we're gonna roll in race from 50 mile an hour vans in comfort relaxing economy ish mood I'm gonna count it in now three two one go kick down your bucket come on come on it's got manual gearbox so he's just gonna have to do it the way it does it yeah I look at that Pro ace running right off with this win again intense Ford Babar Ford order oh dear Babar thought Oh lookey here lookey here lookey here he comes now that poor line over there it is Mercedes got the best badge on his bonnet but no Pierce not today Wow it's doing all the race now we've gotten to same race again guys but this time we're gonna do it in manual mode so third gear lock it in come on you ready you ready I'm gonna count this in now come on three two one you go come on come on change it up come on get in that talk get all the talk oh yes or get blown about a bit here same result as last time really didn't work we bothered to waste your time alright that's enough for that Mercedes doing really badly alright so with a bit of a stewards inquiry you see that Mercedes it's got a lot of seats in it so it's gonna be a lot heavier than these vans so we've got to whip the old seats out and see if it makes a difference alright then come on let's go do this see if that way it almost makes difference 50 mile an hour here we are then all together three two one go it's helped it a bit no no no no oh come on throw aces bearing on through can I catch Ford no I can't catch him we said he didn't doing quite some bad way though but still it wouldn't win out let's move on to final challenge Brett test from 70 mile-an-hour get your noises level come on let's get up to 70 we can get there imagine Rob Mort away in the scar in fast lane and we need to get right orbit to ass come on let's get right up Jeff of car in front that's right full emergency stop when it line here we go oh yeah oh yeah look at that there that's lovely that is absolutely lovely do you know what I don't think that Ford did particularly well there let me have a look what's happened out there right let me have a look I never lock let me just go check this out well I think this is right well that I saw blooming claws between this and the prize now I'm actually gonna give it to this cuz this is my video or this is a max has changed slightly as well anyway that's really interesting we got two wins there for the place one for this here nothing foot forward and nothing for Mercedes I hope they enjoyed video I probably start to do it accent again and really can't do any more I'm just worn out just so much effort trying to do it how you do it the video please forgive me if you live north of Birmingham but I feel that it's okay for me as a millander to joke about people's accents because if you talk like this like Artie I mean gods it's the worst accents in the world eight anyway make sure you subscribe this channel hit that Bell icon turn notifications on I promise not to ever try and impersonate in northern person again in my entire life hi everyone listen I've got a little bit of a confession to make you see after we got back from shooting that van drag race and we're editing out the footage we realized that it said one one four on the back and when we checked that it meant that it was the van with 136 horsepower what we thought we ordered was one with 163 horsepower in fact when we were ticking the box of which family wanted on the company's website that was sending us the van it did say 163 horsepower but I think what's happened is the guy who was in put in the details for the company must have got the three in the six the wrong way around because they don't have one with 163 horsepower now admittedly if we'd have been really on a game on the day the sheet we would have noticed this and looked at the badge on the back and realized that it was the one with 136 horsepower because the one with 163 which we thought we had would have said one one six on the back but telling the truth we're not van experts we know more about cars you see so not up to date on the performance stats of all the vans and their badging and stuff like so really sorry about that I hope you'll forgive us it's an honest mistake I just want to be clear especially for the Mercedes fans out there we're not trying to stitch you up it just worked out that way and we figured hey we may as well show the video anyway and then say sorry afterwards it's just easier sorry we cocked up it's because the van guy who sent us the van cocked up I blame him blame him comment down below and tell him offall right everyone its Matt Watson here from Carlisle so we've got another drug race for you this time we're doing it in vans so gonna lure them right so this car it's a it's not car is it I'm just used to saying car on the bloody time anyway so this is a van and it's a VW Transporter next to that there over there is a toilet always next to that is a Ford Transit custom it's their special M s RT so I've been tuned and stuff but tell me more about enrollment after that at the very end we've got a Mercedes Vita now I wanted the van but I couldn't get my hands on a van so we're just gone for the one with windows and seats you know it's the same thing really this as a 2 litre diesel engine in it and it's got like summer I think it's that engine 50 horsepower now you can get one with Origin 70 horsepower but I'll come get one of those either so I'm just gonna have to wrong with that you know you just take what you're given don't you in this job where's about two ton got a 7 speed automatic gearbox so it should be easy for me to launch that's what get this right it's got a 2 litre diesel engine boys got on June 8 horsepower bloomin heck a Keith um a bog um II by blooming gum anyway 400 needed me as a talk six-speed automatic gearbox it weighs about won't put it and it's a bit light on this this is like 37 grand that one's like 36 grand but you pay money takes your choice don't ya moving on to the Fords so then only about 33 grand but that one because it's got all tune bits on it's not 44 grand now the two bits they include stuff like wheels and Lord suspensions and body kits also got this thing right it'll play like the eight noise they don't hae like the van rattling away like when you make and delivery of that thing all my days you know what's that and then they look out and it's just like badass wagging like that performance-wise it's got two little diesel engine hundred and seventy or four hundred and five of them Newton meters where it was it's not to turn like this really final one is that Mercedes veto so that's got a 2.2 litre diesel that's also got an automatic gearbox forget how many speeds it's gone hopefully we got some graphics which will explain it price-wise it's a bit cheaper than the others also a bit like my missus very big bugger that one weighs in at 2.2 tonnes that does anyway I didn't wanna wear this Ivy's you know boss it out to them you know I often say if didn't all that anyway let's get on with this race before we do right subscribe to the channel somewhere ah and this is it like a little bell apparently you can got press and it does some stuff got job to do now anyhow you excuse me I'll be back Oh launch controls the lar boys yeah I'll see you at the back of the day but Oh No Oh No here we go The Tortoise coming back a bit now can he catch me up or get blown about my weather what mattered it what happened in the Mercedes sounds a little bit post a bit driving van sounds like he had pay for education I went to comprehensive by the way in case you think I'm taking the piss out people who didn't have a paid for education anyway that's enough for that so what exactly happened well the VW completed the standing quarter mark in eighteen point two seconds the Toyota cross the line in eighteen point three seconds the Ford took 19 point three seconds and the Mercedes did it in twenty point two seconds time for second girl come on bear wheel spit oh the Mercedes off quickest all we've got race on now ladies and gentlemen that for may have more power but is dropping back here comes Pruitt Oh take the bloody line drop me on Baldy so then what exactly happened this time well the Toyota just about managed to beat the VW by a nose though they both covered the standing quarter mile in eighteen point two seconds with a better start and better gear changes the manual Ford took eighteen point four seconds and a much better start from the Mercedes meant it in the standing quarter mile in nineteen point five seconds this time around now we're gonna roll in race from 50 mile an hour vans in comfort relaxing economy ish mood I'm gonna count it in now three two one go kick down your bucket come on come on it's got manual gearbox so he's just gonna have to do it the way it does it yeah I look at that Pro ace running right off with this win again intense Ford Babar Ford order oh dear Babar thought Oh lookey here lookey here lookey here he comes now that poor line over there it is Mercedes got the best badge on his bonnet but no Pierce not today Wow it's doing all the race now we've gotten to same race again guys but this time we're gonna do it in manual mode so third gear lock it in come on you ready you ready I'm gonna count this in now come on three two one you go come on come on change it up come on get in that talk get all the talk oh yes or get blown about a bit here same result as last time really didn't work we bothered to waste your time alright that's enough for that Mercedes doing really badly alright so with a bit of a stewards inquiry you see that Mercedes it's got a lot of seats in it so it's gonna be a lot heavier than these vans so we've got to whip the old seats out and see if it makes a difference alright then come on let's go do this see if that way it almost makes difference 50 mile an hour here we are then all together three two one go it's helped it a bit no no no no oh come on throw aces bearing on through can I catch Ford no I can't catch him we said he didn't doing quite some bad way though but still it wouldn't win out let's move on to final challenge Brett test from 70 mile-an-hour get your noises level come on let's get up to 70 we can get there imagine Rob Mort away in the scar in fast lane and we need to get right orbit to ass come on let's get right up Jeff of car in front that's right full emergency stop when it line here we go oh yeah oh yeah look at that there that's lovely that is absolutely lovely do you know what I don't think that Ford did particularly well there let me have a look what's happened out there right let me have a look I never lock let me just go check this out well I think this is right well that I saw blooming claws between this and the prize now I'm actually gonna give it to this cuz this is my video or this is a max has changed slightly as well anyway that's really interesting we got two wins there for the place one for this here nothing foot forward and nothing for Mercedes I hope they enjoyed video I probably start to do it accent again and really can't do any more I'm just worn out just so much effort trying to do it how you do it the video please forgive me if you live north of Birmingham but I feel that it's okay for me as a millander to joke about people's accents because if you talk like this like Artie I mean gods it's the worst accents in the world eight anyway make sure you subscribe this channel hit that Bell icon turn notifications on I promise not to ever try and impersonate in northern person again in my entire life hi everyone listen I've got a little bit of a confession to make you see after we got back from shooting that van drag race and we're editing out the footage we realized that it said one one four on the back and when we checked that it meant that it was the van with 136 horsepower what we thought we ordered was one with 163 horsepower in fact when we were ticking the box of which family wanted on the company's website that was sending us the van it did say 163 horsepower but I think what's happened is the guy who was in put in the details for the company must have got the three in the six the wrong way around because they don't have one with 163 horsepower now admittedly if we'd have been really on a game on the day the sheet we would have noticed this and looked at the badge on the back and realized that it was the one with 136 horsepower because the one with 163 which we thought we had would have said one one six on the back but telling the truth we're not van experts we know more about cars you see so not up to date on the performance stats of all the vans and their badging and stuff like so really sorry about that I hope you'll forgive us it's an honest mistake I just want to be clear especially for the Mercedes fans out there we're not trying to stitch you up it just worked out that way and we figured hey we may as well show the video anyway and then say sorry afterwards it's just easier sorry we cocked up it's because the van guy who sent us the van cocked up I blame him blame him comment down below and tell him off\n"