Warp wrote:

>   I don't have even a driver's license.

Fun fact: I passed my driving theory test first time. One of the 
questions was this:



[Picture of a sign. It's red, octagonal, and says "STOP" in large white 
letters in the middle.]

What does this sign mean?

A. Stop.
B. Stop if there is traffic coming.
C. Stop if you feel like it.
D. Go.



I'm not kidding. That's really what option C actually said.

I can see somebody geniunely thinking that B might be the correct answer 
I suppose. But beyond that, the only sane reason I can see for this 
question even existing is that some applicants might be so bad at 
English that they can't actually comprehend road signs. Certainly there 
are plenty of signs far more obscure than this.

(For example, a blue circle with red edges and a red cross through it. 
Wanna take a guess what that means?)

Post a reply to this message

>> On the contrary, it appears that unless you're in 6th gear, you can't 
>> exceed about 65 MPH.
> 
> Wow.  Are you really saying that at 60mph the RPMs in 5th gear are at 
> 6000 or something?  That sounds more like 3rd gear in my car - I can see 
> now why you are annoyed!

I didn't actually check the rev count, but in 5th gear, the car seems 
very reluctant to go much faster than roughly 65. Which means that if I 
want to drive on a motorway, I literally *have* to switch to 6th - 
difficult as that is. If it weren't for this, I probably just wouldn't 
use 6th at all.

Like I say, in 1st gear, accelerating generally isn't an issue, no 
matter how whimpy your car is. It's when you're zooming down a motorway 
that there's no acceleration left, so that's where I would have expected 
extra gears to be added.

>> BTW, is drag proportional to speed linearly? Or quadratically? Or...?
> 
> Roughly speed squared.  But the power needed to overcome a certain force 
> is also proportional to the speed.  So in the end the power needed to 
> maintain a certain speed is proportional to speed cubed.

I see... That would explain the statistic about the Bugatti Veyron only 
needing 100 horsepower to get up to 100 MPH, but needing a further 800 
hp to get up to top speed. (Or something like that.)

>> It's news to me that it *is* the other way around. I thought F1 cars 
>> had drum brakes. (You'll be surprised to hear that I haven't actually 
>> taken too many F1 cars apart.)
> 
> You used to be able to see them easily before they started using those 
> silly bits of aerodynamic plastic around them.  You can also sometimes 
> see the discs glowing bright orange through the wheel under heavy braking.

Ah yes, F1 cars, the ultimate example of engineering in the raggid edge. :-)

Post a reply to this message

Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> On the contrary, it appears that unless you're in 6th gear, you can't
> exceed about 65 MPH.

Haha, I drive an 18 year old 1.1L peugeot (also 5 gears - there's another data
point ;-) and regularly exceed 65mph in 4th - indeed, it's often the only way I
can get up to motorway speed quick enough on certain slip roads!

Post a reply to this message

> Like I say, in 1st gear, accelerating generally isn't an issue, no matter 
> how whimpy your car is. It's when you're zooming down a motorway that 
> there's no acceleration left, so that's where I would have expected extra 
> gears to be added.

It seems your car is just badly designed then, in most cars I've driven at 
65 mph you can easily switch down 1 or 2 gears to get more acceleration 
without going anywhere near the redline of the engine.  In fact in my first 
few cars you *had* to do this when the motorway went up a hill, otherwise 
you'd gradually come to a stop!  MAybe you were in 3rd gear instead of 
5th...  It seems to be that in 3rd gear you'd get stuck at about 65mph and 
not be able to go much faster - I'll try it on my car on the way home :-)

> I see... That would explain the statistic about the Bugatti Veyron only 
> needing 100 horsepower to get up to 100 MPH, but needing a further 800 hp 
> to get up to top speed. (Or something like that.)

Yup, if you want double the top speed you need 8x the power!

Post a reply to this message

Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> In the category of "I realise nobody actually gives a damn but I'm going
> to tell you all anyway": I have a new car.

yet into that category, here's another useless tidbit:  I don't drive cars.  I
don't know how and I don't give a damn, I just take the bus or subway.

I suck at driving even at games so I thought I'd be putting people's lifes at
danger behind a wheel. :)

so, there you go:  a highly useful skill you've got and I don't.  should make
your day... :P

Post a reply to this message

Bill Pragnell wrote:
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> On the contrary, it appears that unless you're in 6th gear, you can't
>> exceed about 65 MPH.
> 
> Haha, I drive an 18 year old 1.1L peugeot (also 5 gears - there's another data
> point ;-) and regularly exceed 65mph in 4th - indeed, it's often the only way I
> can get up to motorway speed quick enough on certain slip roads!

My 4-gear Peugeot 1.1 seemed happy to do 60 or so in 3rd gear. But then, 
while it had a small engine, it was also pretty light too...

Post a reply to this message

>> In the category of "I realise nobody actually gives a damn but I'm going
>> to tell you all anyway": I have a new car.
> 
> yet into that category, here's another useless tidbit:  I don't drive cars.  I
> don't know how and I don't give a damn, I just take the bus or subway.

So you live in a place that *has* busses?

> I suck at driving even at games so I thought I'd be putting people's lifes at
> danger behind a wheel. :)

If driving a real car was anything remotely like driving that "thing" in 
HalfLife 2, most of the population would be dead by now!

> so, there you go:  a highly useful skill you've got and I don't.  should make
> your day... :P

Heh, I don't know about that... but I *am* going dancing tonight. ;-)

Post a reply to this message

Random unstoppable craziness:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Veyron

"At a constant 155 mph, the Veyron is using approximately 270 of its 
1001 horsepower; the next 100 mph requires 730 additional horsepower."

"The tyres will only last for about fifteen minutes, but it's okay 
because the fuel runs out in twelve minutes."

"2.46 MPG"



It has square pistons, 10 radiators, 4 turbochargers, 64 valves and a 
total displacement of 8 litres. Truly, this car is ****ing insane. o_O

Post a reply to this message

"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message
news:4b6852cb$1@news.povray.org...
> Random unstoppable craziness:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Veyron

It was the fastest production car in the world, now this is
the fastest:

http://www.shelbysupercars.com/car-specs.php


~db

Post a reply to this message

scott wrote:
> Funny, I usually take about 10 rental cars per year and I don't recall 
> any of them ever having 4 gears, even when I picked the absolute 
> cheapest one they offered.  Can you give any examples?

It's the age of the car. Go try to find a 64GB disk drive on the shelves 
today.  As technology progressed, more gears got easier to build in, so they 
did. It makes the ride smoother (on an automatic) and more efficient on a 
manual.

I tended to skip gears when I had a manual transmission, often going from 2 
to 4 for example.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
   I get "focus follows gaze"?

Post a reply to this message