Britain's abandoned tilting-train lead

How might a British high-speed rail race with France have changed transport policy?

It could have sustained British tilting-train development instead of allowing the research to be sold and later bought back in developed form.

A sustained high-speed rail competition with France could have kept British rail research funded and reduced the later emphasis on roads. Britain had begun work on tilting trains before selling the research abroad. Japanese engineers invested further effort and turned those ideas into a practical system. Britain later bought developed tilting-train technology back, showing the difference between possessing research and carrying it through to reliable service.