Recent Comments:
F1 teams debating introduction of KERS for 2009 {Autoblog}
Jul 24th 2008 5:24PM Azzo-
The FIA is on crack, remember? The reason they are going to full slicks is to make up for the 50% loss of downforce we will see next year. After that, they will complain about the cars going too fast on the straights, knowing the FIA. Christ, they are so insane.
Mercedes still rumored to buy out McLaren {Autoblog}
Jul 23rd 2008 4:52PM You talking about the race team only? I hope so, if McLaren Cars gets bought by MB I will cry myself to sleep tonight. Mercedes is not exactly the sports car maker McLaren is, and while it's unlikely anything can ever live up to the McLaren F1, if MB buys the car company too, then it will certainly never happen. And that would be a shame.
Audi system detects stop lights, tells drivers to floor it {Autoblog}
Jul 23rd 2008 1:16PM Bungle-
What you're saying about lights near you is certainly an issue, the lack of peds can make things sort of complicated, but often lights will automatically give peds the walking man even if no one hits the button, so that's generally pretty reliable. I notice that busier intersections around my place often have a sensor set about 10 car lengths back from the intersection, which gives me some faith in this "stoplight democracy" you speak of, and I think that this is absolutely how it should work. Dynamic > Static. However, lights are so damn stupid I'd be surprised if they did anything but tell it how long it needs to stay green. Oh well.
Audi's new S tronic gearbox can handle 406 lb.-ft. of torque {Autoblog}
Jul 23rd 2008 1:06PM probably because it isn't provided by borg warner, even though they wrote that initially. It's a correction. You look at the comments? Try reading nagmashot's comment. This isn't really complicated. You never seen a strikethrough before or something?
Audi's new S tronic gearbox can handle 406 lb.-ft. of torque {Autoblog}
Jul 23rd 2008 12:02PM Well, they're gonna have to do a hell of a lot better than that for the R8 V12 TDI.
Audi system detects stop lights, tells drivers to floor it {Autoblog}
Jul 22nd 2008 11:26PM Ah, but I can see into the future! lol, of course, I can't tell how stale a green is, but I can look at other clues- how much traffic is stacked on the cross streets? What is the crosswalk for my direction of travel doing? The best is when there's a timer for peds, that's (obviously) a dead giveaway. I guess the point is I'd rather be thinking of it myself than listening to my car telling me what to do. Keeps you awake, and the mental activity isn't a bad thing on the morning commute.
And I think the traffic lights with the ground sensors can tell if a car is there and it's moving, as they just detect magnetic interference. It doesn't matter if you're going 60 or 0, your chassis will still interfere. As far as I know, of course.
In any case, point taken, and while it's a cool system, I'll pass on it. Cars already look in my blind spot, ahead of me, behind me, and now they know when the light will turn? What driving is left for the person behind the wheel?
F1 mechanic gets a big shock from KERS {Autoblog}
Jul 22nd 2008 9:12PM That's exactly what I was thinking, aren't those grounding straps there for the purpose of keeping sparks from coming around the gas cap? Seems like, uh, grounding the car would stop it from grounding on a crew member. However, since they were testing, it's possible they weren't using the straps. That's my guess.
Audi system detects stop lights, tells drivers to floor it {Autoblog}
Jul 22nd 2008 9:10PM Oh, I have a system that "detects stop lights, tells me to floor it" too..... it's called "my brain." I love german engineering, don't get me wrong, but this seems a bit excessive. Common sense solves a lot of problems.
Y'all ready for this? Porsche Panamera will start at $127,000 {Autoblog}
Jul 22nd 2008 4:56PM The 944 and 968 weren't failures, you've clearly never driven one if you think that. They're pretty awesome cars, actually. Get more attention in the 944 than I do in a Boxster, so there ya go. That point aside, I'm hoping this is inaccurate possibly due to european or something currency conversion. They don't list their source at edmunds, and if it is from europe, cars are a lot more expensive to buy and own over there, so this might be accurate if you ran a straight currency conversion. If it is accurate? That's absurd. More than a 911 turbo to get in, with a V6? give me a break. I just don't see how this can be true though. That's simply too expensive, even for Porsche.
London 2008: Lotus unveils the Evora {Autoblog}
Jul 22nd 2008 1:00PM Yeah, that's pretty heavy for a Lotus. My Mazdaspeed 3 is less than 200 lbs heavier. I'm not impressed.
