scott wrote:
>> Hehe... All the classic cars rush past sounding like a pack of angry 
>> bees, and then an F1 car comes out, sounding like an angry mosquito.
> 
> Something to do with the F1 car engine rotating at 3x the speed of the 
> classic cars.

Yeah, probably that. ;-)

Actually, what was notable about the F1 cars wasn't so much the speed, 
but the *acceleration*. You see the cars go past on a straight, and it 
looks just like any other road full of traffic. But we sat at 
Silverstone on a corner. The cars would come up to it, go round it quite 
slowly, and then just *VANISH* off into the distance like they wer toy 
cars made of paper... it was pretty insane.

Also, watching an F1 car going round the tiny, twisty indoor circuit at 
the RoC, I noticed that it sounded like the engine was on a limiter the 
whole time. It produced a constant note like a tuning fork. Then the 
driver did a few dounuts, and it's amazing how quickly the engine revs 
up and down. Like it just has no flywheel at all! Heh.

>> I don't know about that - I tried driving my car with no silencer, and 
>> it was *actually impossible* to exceed about 25 MPH. The car simply 
>> would not accelerate, even on the flat.
> 
> OK, so maybe you need to redesign the other parts of the exhaust system 
> that were designed with the silencer in mind.  But there's a reason why 
> race cars don't have silencers.

Fo' shizzle! ;-)

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"Mike Raiford" <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:497872c7$1@news.povray.org...

> Though a decent tuned exhaust does sound nice ...

   Agreed. There was motorbike back in the late 70's, early 80's called the 
Honda 400/4. I think it was the first to use a 4 into 1 exhaust sytem at 
that engine capacity. Hugely popular simply because it sounded fantastic. 
(It moved a bit too!) :)


> And whatever you do, don't get me started on Harley Davidson motorcycles.

     Me wants. :)

     ~Steve~


>
> -- 
> ~Mike

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> Actually, what was notable about the F1 cars wasn't so much the speed, but 
> the *acceleration*. You see the cars go past on a straight, and it looks 
> just like any other road full of traffic. But we sat at Silverstone on a 
> corner. The cars would come up to it, go round it quite slowly, and then 
> just *VANISH* off into the distance like they wer toy cars made of 
> paper... it was pretty insane.

Acceleration is determined by the power to weight ratio.  A "normal" family 
road car has perhaps 70-90 HP per ton, a fast sporty road car perhaps 
130-150.  A formula 1 car has about 1300 HP per ton.

> Also, watching an F1 car going round the tiny, twisty indoor circuit at 
> the RoC, I noticed that it sounded like the engine was on a limiter the 
> whole time.

Probably, without an electronic limiter the engine would likely self 
destruct quite quickly.  And for demo purposes I guess they turn down the 
limiter to quite a low RPM to avoid needlessly damaging an engine.  And the 
driver probably just had his foot to the floor bouncing off the limiter the 
whole time.

> It produced a constant note like a tuning fork. Then the driver did a few 
> dounuts, and it's amazing how quickly the engine revs up and down. Like it 
> just has no flywheel at all! Heh.

Pretty much no flywheel, no, that's why whenever some non-F1-driver tries to 
drive one they usually stall it immediately.  Once the car is moving of 
course there is not really any need for a flywheel.

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scott wrote:

> 
> OK, so maybe you need to redesign the other parts of the exhaust system 
> that were designed with the silencer in mind.  But there's a reason why 
> race cars don't have silencers.
> 

Hmm. Good point, though. Just about any racing engine is painfully loud.

And that logic may only apply to certain kinds of noise, and maybe only 
to street vehicles. Something about how the resonator in the exhaust 
pulls more of the exhaust out of the cylinders, allowing for a better 
mix of fresh fuel and air.

Of course, it could all be made up by some anit-noise group...

-- 
~Mike

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St. wrote:

>> And whatever you do, don't get me started on Harley Davidson motorcycles.
> 
>      Me wants. :)
> 

Just don't put a straight pipe on it and drive around neighborhoods at 
2:30am.. Or rev the engine incessantly next to someone in a car with the 
window down. Its just not nice...

-- 
~Mike

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> Just don't put a straight pipe on it and drive around neighborhoods at 
> 2:30am.. Or rev the engine incessantly next to someone in a car with the 
> window down. Its just not nice...

And try not to set off too many alarms on parked cars!

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"Mike Raiford" <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:49787f6f$1@news.povray.org...
> St. wrote:
>
>>> And whatever you do, don't get me started on Harley Davidson 
>>> motorcycles.
>>
>>      Me wants. :)
>>
>
> Just don't put a straight pipe on it and drive around neighborhoods at 
> 2:30am.. Or rev the engine incessantly next to someone in a car with the 
> window down. Its just not nice...

 LOL, I totally agree. My mates have Harley's and I've often wondered what 
locals think about the noise.

   ~Steve~


>
> -- 
> ~Mike

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scott wrote:
>> A bit like those people who buy a Vaxhaul Nova and then try to make it 
>> look like a Ferrari.
> 
> The key word here is *look*.  I prefer to get a car that looks like a 
> Vauxhall Nova and *goes* like a Ferrari :-) 

I had a friend who did rally racing. He had a car that looked like a VW 
beetle that had been rolled down a hill. (It was.) It had a V8 in it, with 
racing tires, two sets of brakes, all that. Was fun to blow away the camaros.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Ouch ouch ouch!"
   "What's wrong? Noodles too hot?"
   "No, I have Chopstick Tunnel Syndrome."

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St. wrote:
> Hugely popular simply because it sounded fantastic. 

"But the Mazda goes Hmmmmmmmm!"

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Ouch ouch ouch!"
   "What's wrong? Noodles too hot?"
   "No, I have Chopstick Tunnel Syndrome."

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Invisible wrote:
> - It appears that "solid state harddrives" are now reaching useful sizes 
> and sane pricing levels. (E.g., when I first looked at this it was 


> 
Only problems are: a) slow (faster isn't much faster, and costs double), 
and b) limited number of "write cycles". And, no, the 250GB one is not 
$2/GB. lol

-- 
void main () {

     if version = "Vista" {
       call slow_by_half();
       call DRM_everything();
     }
     call functional_code();
   }
   else
     call crash_windows();
}

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