Mercedes Learns to build cars and quits Construction Business

Hi all
This is an important post for me.
Back in the day when the Mercedes A Class was just a sketch, me and my dad has a big discussion.
I still remember it because it happened during a visit to an "water slide park" and instead of enjoying the slides, we got into the most nerving discussion sited by the towels area and having a sheet of paper with the picture of an ugly car between the 2.
As soon as he commented out loud "And here we are... mercedes are entering the VW Golf world" things started.
Looking at the car I immediately stated "It's as ugly as it can be without being mistaken with sillyputty (the computer game toon)".
Than I took about 5 more seconds and stated "Either the newspaper picture is not well scaled, or this car will be an assassin and will be unable to go around bends".
That was it...my dad beat his hand hard on the towel and replied "ohhh I see, so now you know better that mercedes engineers! You! A kid!"
This bothered me immensely. Kid or no Kid, I studied physics and in my particular case I was very devoted to motion dynamics and cars.
The discussion went on all afternoon and ultimately ended with my father pointing out how stupid I was, assuming all that from a simple newspaper picture and that my well known BIASED opinion against mercedes was taking over my judgment ability.
This issue was "closed" with this statement and me being hurt by my father's lack of trust in my physics knowledge that, in turn, he WAS paying good money for me to build up!
I didn't knew than that EURONCAP was starting to test all cars against a possible immediate road obstacle avoidance procedure by unsettling the chassis brutally on the lateral G scale.
It didn't took long to read the shocking news that the A-class mercedes (together with the soon to be released Smart) failles this test catastrophically. I'm going to be honest with you... I WAS THRILLED and LOOOVED the horrifying news. In part because it was a failure of what I consider a classic mercedes problem (comfort over dynamic efficiency) and in part because my father would have to come around and apologize.
This is the Video of that wonderful test.
Those were times of pure triumph. Dad looked shocked in both on how could they engineer a car that bad, and also how could I jnow better then them and predict that outcome just by looking at the car's pictures.
Every one knows the evolution of the A class project. Extreme, desperate measures to make the car usably stable. Huge brakes to cope with the always under usage ESP and even so, just don't go hard around bends unless you want to sample a different view of the world.

The second version of the A-Class was still a failure... and the B-Class with it.
In terms of engineering, is has flaws that the recently arrived into the market Koreans didn't do. Honestly! Next time you follow an AClass V2 or an BClass, take a good look at the rear suspension arms. The right one is a simple, straight design, but the left one!? The left on is the same as the right arm, but with a bent in the middle!!! Why? well it seams that mercedes engineers built a chassis design and then remembered "VAIT ZE CARR MUST VAVE ZE TAIL PIPE! VERE ZHOSE ZIT GOES?" and then decided to bend a vital suspension element around it.
It's not problematic that the A Class left rear arm weights more that the right rear arm... a car like that will never race and there fore misses a balanced and equally biased chassis in the same way I miss Alicia Keys songs. But still that's JUST BAD ENGINEERING.
It seams to me that Mercedes is having a bigger a bigger misdirection of what is a car and decided to start building houses. Does the A Class have room? hell yeah.. It's built in hight like the sky-scrapers... it must have room to live-in, throw a party, have an orgy.... but the problem is that my building has the same but it doesn't have the pretension to go around bends... and the A-class does.
It's simple physics...building a car out of steel with is higher than wider, fitting some comfortable suspension (A.K.A. SPRINGS) underneath-it and then trying to left-than-right-turn will ALLWAYS...ALLWAYS end upside down.

If there is something that characterizes German car makers is their rather obsessive control of the owner's usage of the car.
AUDI for instance, builds EXCELLENT chassis and some pretty decent engine/gearbox packages, built within a good quality product, but then they ruin everything with their suspension settings making the car under-steer on the grip limit. This is very frustrating IF you know how to drive properly...if, however you don't, the feeling of loosing the car control will make you either lift-off or even brake, making the Under-steer setup a solution for the idiot driver.
I'm just stating this because the Knowledgeable driver will be extremely frustrated by not being able to explore the VERY expensive car he just brought, but the idiot driver will be confident he is the best is the world and happy with the car.
In a sentence, AUDI invests blindly in chassis engineering quality, and then throws most of it away while assuming that the driver can't drive.
Mercedes on the other hand seams to be building poorly engineered cars, and assuming that the driver will know how to drive. This would not shock me if somehow mercedes had been brought by an american car giant like chrysler or GM... but it just isn't so.

It's time for a confession...I'm not a Mercedes guy. I hate their concept of comfort to the extreme and then you end up with either a 2 story car like the A-class, a funerary mobile like the B-class, or a 2 or 3 tones saloon like the rest of their cars. I'm the guy that thinks that extreme comfort is something for the living room because it stays put instead of going around bends. In the same way, a car should be dynamical efficient and if that means discomfort... then be it, because it's meant to go around bends. That way, if you want to relax, go home and watch a DVD. If, on the other hand, you want excitement, go and destroy a set of tires around a beautiful mountain road on a discomforting but brilliant car, then have sex and then shower.

Following this line of thought, the ONLY Mercedes I ever liked is the original Gullwing with a tubular steel chassis light enough a man lift-it by it's self... that one WAS quite something... from that point onwards, all they've built was sofas, living-rooms and full duplexes on wheels, making Mercedes a company in the construction business.

But then, alter years building houses, Mercedes decided to look to AUDI on their right side, and then to BMW on their left side... and some kind of miracle happened.
I don't know if they've just had a corporate wide enlightenment, of decided to contract their competitors engineering teams, but I like the news.
The new Mercedes A-Class is a sort of copy between the BMW and the Audi A3 merged together with a Mercedes C Class front grid.
Now if this was a normal car building company, I would say it's a design without identity and simply copying it's rivals instead of improving, but being a Mercedes, its actually something to cheer for. It actually looks like a car that could be driven...
... congrats Mercedes, looks like you are planing to move out of the construction business and start building cars again... let's see how it goes in the future ;)

--------------------> UPDATE <-------------------
The prototype has been built and it's very close to the initial sketch. I love it and I've already wrote a new article HERE

The Toyota FT86 and the EVORA.

Not too long ago I was  Face-booking and I saw an article from the TopGear Facebook page showing the the Toyota FT86 and making interesting parallelisms with the Lotus Evora. On the Comments page, we could read all sorts of comments from the exceptionally bright ones passing to the nonsense ones all the way to those stupid comments made in strange foreign languages that no one except the commenter understands (somebody should explain the basics of communication to these people... either that or just plainly explain that commenting on an article means that other should read and comment back eventually).
The most interesting comment came from a girl (and this proves that girls are not just knowledgeable on Louis Vuiton matters). Megan stated that the comparison between the FT86 and the EVORA was a nonsense as the EVORA was a Lotus and, being so, supercar territory.

I loved the comment. Essentially because the Girl was enlightened enough to understand a Lotus and get the point of the Article... although in the wrong discourse direction, but still she got the basic question while most blokes just commented trash like "My twingo beats'em all" or "Toyota Prius forevaaaa".

As I replied to Megan(that's her name), the article parallelize the two cars on purpose... making a lot of sense.
Historically LOTUS has patterned with other big manufacturers. They not only sell consulting services (helping some of those mass-produced-cost-oriented-dull cars we see around handle decently), they also accept outsourced production of small quantity models and they buy mass produced engines for their own cars:
-Todays Elise and Exige use Toyota Engines.
-The now ended production Opel Speedster and Speedster turbo were, in fact a lotus chassis with different body panels and Opel engine... produced by lotus in a parallel production line with the Elise.
-The first Elise, Exige and R340 all used Rover K series Engines.
-The Lotus Elan V2 had ISUZU engines
-...prior to that you can immediately remember the Lotus-Omega
-...and if you want earlier examples; just google on the brilliant little Lotus-Cortina.
It's not just a today's trend; in Lotus, joint-venturing and cross engineering, is Business as Usual.

Back to the new Toyota and the article comparing it to the EVORA; the lotus-toyota joint venture MAKES perfect sense.
I'm not trying to speculate about what I don't know for sure. I'm, however, betting in a lot of LOTUS DNA made on to this Toyota chassis.
Let's just think about this:
-The older Toyota AE86 excelled and it's competitive even by today standards. Replacing it will be quite a venture.
-Toyota has no RWD, 4 seater, front engined chassis in production. Making one from scratch would up-price the project.
-Toyota no longer has a true sports car. They killed the Supra and transfered it's flagship all the way to the brilliant Lexus LFA; They killed the Cellica 4wd Rally-like; They killed the brilliant Little MR2... Today's toyotas are in fact dull cars. I'm not going into details on just how stupidly Toyota and Honda are evolving; you can read about this on my other articles on this very same blog;_ but fact is that Toyota is loosing edge on building good cars.
-They have nothing to support their new "reborn AE86" in their part's supply chain... it would have to be a 90% new parts car.
-They have channeled all their R&D towards electrics and hybrids; BUT they still have a good thing going on with LOTUS.

And this takes us to the relationship behind Lotus and Toyota... and this car, the FT86.

LOTUS is building chassis and using Toyota Engines. One could resume the "relationship" to a simple CustomerLOTUS-SupplierTOYOTA case. However, things are deeper that they look. The LOTUS assembly line is 100% JustInTime manufacturing. This shows pure Toyota Quality Assurance and Control implementation all the way to LOTUS core.

Let's try to understand the FT86 project from Toyota's point of view (and I will remind you all again that this is the way I interpret things and that, at this time, I have no official data to support this).
LOTUS build the EVORA to be a RWD, 4 seater. The extra weight made them shift from the 4cyclinder Toyota engine to a V6 and allow more torque to maintain agility.
Toyota has the exact same need... The AE86 was a 4 seater and the FT86 is so, the AE86 was a RWD car and the FT86 is so, things get messy however when you try to fit the "the AE86 was front engined" on this equation.
The Evora chassis, is an MR chassis. This puts the engine between the rear seats and the rear axle, leaning-it towards the rear axle so that under power it will squeeze the rear wheels to the ground and improve tire grip.
So if the FT86 chassis is indeed inspired on the EVORA chassis, that phrase "the AE86 was front engined" is already a problem, considering the weight increase of today's passive security systems and room for 4 souls, that the 4 cylinder engine is not an option. And placing a V6 under the bonnet is for sure beyond original chassis design, meaning more changes and R&D... leading us back to the original Toyota-only-builds-hybrids-and-has-no-R&D-budget-for-cars problem.

This is where the Subaru boxer sourced engine comes in to solve the issue. The Subaru engine is a 4 cylinder, but since it's a boxer unit (a V engine with 180degree) it will both be compact and the center of gravity will be extremely low. I would imagine that the Lotus EVORA chassis, with a rear installed gearbox + differential, and a front mounted 4cylinder boxer would work almost right out of the box. Either Turbocharged (witch I disagree) of just big bored, shorted stroked, it would be very compact and efficient in almost every dynamic way.

So all the sudden, a TOYOTA with a LOTUS chassis and a SUBARU engine made sense. Is it pure TOYOTA Rev happy madness as the original AE86? NO, but it will surely be very very interesting and fun.

I'm not saying this IS the reason. I'm just posting a way to explain it and, to me, makes perfect sense. If you read my very first posts on this blog, you'll even find an almost "genetic" linkage to this. I've been saying for years that the Japanese manufacturers are now building crap hybrids and stop building real cars. I posted these subjects about Honda and Toyota mainly, and also posted that of the great Rising Sun giants, only a few prevalents building good interesting cars... on this short list you can clearly read SUBARU... and guess what, now that they can only build hybrid crap, Toyota are raising their hand and asking for some help with a true sports engine... funny how the world goes arround.

Don't get me wrong...I know toyota builds excellent engines. The ae86, the celica gt4, the supra, the MR2 had excellent engines. But the 4 cylinder engines from today's toyota are not good enough to take on competition. They are no as good as, for instance, a 4cilinder (former)Honda engine... and the V engines, well the best one they have came from yamaha by no chance.
The 1.8vvti is good for a lightweight LOTUS, but the prototype racing K20a LOTUS will just outperform it easily.
The 4seater FT86 would be too heavy for a 4pot 1.8vvti... and fitting a honda sourced K20A inside the FT86 would be a way to pull-it, but the damn treehuggers just found a way to kill-it with the bullshit emission regulations, and the hole car would see it's mass center shifted higher that the subaru engine allows.

Also, If toyota uses the subaru design, but builds the engine in-house them selfs, it will endure a lot more than the subaru's own built, rendering it tunning capacity with Toyota reliability... something that IT AE86 important heritage.
My ONLY issue is the turbo part. It's not clear in the article if it's going to be NA or Turbo.. I'm hopping for NA cause a turbo should always be AWD and a AE86 successor SHOULD be RWD.

Again on the engine vs chassis matter, having a boxer engine will allow it to seat closer to the firewall, clearing more space under bonet and allowing more generous wheel arches to increase lock angle...something excellent in the AE86 and very important in a drift natured car.

The damn treehuggers still make a mess out of the car world, but this mess here look very interesting indeed, in the same way that the Frankenstein monster was an extremely interesting fiction story. Wedder or not this is fiction... later research will tell ;)


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>UPDATE<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Later research is indicating that the Chassis it self is Toyota-Subaru engineered. So I would trust it to have the same underpinnings an impreza has, but at least this does look good (so far).
Sadly this makes the entire article (like I was stating... before) just an engineer's wet dream, but still interesting to dream of.

Renault the Ripper

If you've known-me for long, that this article will be just another boring "I know, you were right" reading.
If you don't however this will be an interesting story.
Back in the day's when Nissan was a car company, the French giant approached and proposed a joint venture. Back than, just like most Japanese car makers, Nissan placed 90% of it's engine R&D budget on petrol engine units. It made perfect sense as Nissan produced essentially with the American and Japanese domestic market in mind, an was regarded as a company able to create brilliant passionate cars like the Skyline.
This didn't mean that Nissan's Diesel engines were not good... cause they were. I can remember the good old Nissan BlueBird's 6 cylinder diesel put out 2 million kilometres without needing to be rebuilt, pumping out more power and torque than it's "Long Runner" rival Mercedes 180D 2.0 4 cylinder unit witch was know for it's respected 1 to 1.5 million kilometres without rebuilds status.
The problem was that emission regulations were getting tighter on the diesel side (and although it's a stupid trend in the petrol engines side, in the oil burner's side makes some sense). Since building powerful, clean diesel engines was getting too costly, Nissan patterned with Renault and sourced it's (under heavy development) DCi units.
It looked like a simple Customer-Supplier relationship, but then Renault started to use Nissan's chassis knowledge. Back then I immediately said: "this is it, buy you Nissan TODAY and keep it safe... or just admit that your next Nissan will be a Renault".
Nissan was in fact starting to slip into Renault's hungry-for-High-Tech mouth. Guess what?
Not 2 years after the initial "partnership" Renault increased it's share. Later on, the Renault Laguna V2 came up with an interesting benchmark publicity video: an high speed slalom where the huge saloon outperformed an Porsche Boxter clean. How is this possible? Remember the Nissan Skyline Computer and it's way of maintaining stability without disrupting agility (unlike the dull clumsy Bosh ESP that most European cars used back then)? Guess what: Renault sourced it out.
This event issued some pretty loud "I TOLD'YA SO!" statements from me.
It didn't take long and Nissan's Fair-lady project switched from the expected RB26DETT engine to an american-stile lazy V6. And latter the R35Skyline was rumored to be a V6 too... That was it. Nissan was dead and their R&D was clearly doing stunts for the French to like-them enough to maintain them an independent brand after the buyout.
And so it was... The RB26DETT engine was terminated and the dark ages came to Nissan. Renault took complete control and in the GTR debut (it's no longer caller Nissan Skyline R35 GTR as it's no longer a Skyline) it was clear that the entire engineering team was very nervous about how Renault's chairman would react to the extremely technologically advanced GTR.
Renault's chairman loved it (evidently.. the car is almost perfect being spoiled only by it's bad V6 engine when compared to the Godzilla's RB26DETT capable of going all the way up to 1300Bhp).
One of Nissan's flag ship technology of the Nissan Skyline GTR line, is, among the ATTESSA AWD, the Super-HICAS AllWeelSteering System.

As described in this picture, you can clearly see how the computer decides to change the rear wheel angles independently (by dynamical tuning the suspension convergence and toe angles), depending on the speed and G-force involved in the turns.
Well my friends, the latest Laguna3 GT with the so called (4Control System) does EXACTLY that...

So if it was not clear for you that Renault just brought Nissan in order to source technology from it into their product lines just open your eyes wide and embrace the horror:
New Datsun 240Z? no... just a crappy v6 wannabe.
New skyline? NOP just a technical testbed for Laguna with a crappy american cheap style engine.
New Silvia? Noooo, don't think so.
New Almera GTI? New Sunny GTI?.... no!
You can buy a 2tonne Qasquai with an 1.5DCi engine though.

Nissan is now a test lab for Renault and a SUV maker.
Renault on the other hand is building beautiful (the new ones finally are able to be looked up without needing a sick-bag at hand) cars and making them better by the minute. The Megane Sport, The Laguna 3 top line... and more will come.

All I'm gonna tell something further on this matter is ...  much like "jack the ripper" liked to take organs from his victims, ultimately killing them and parting them up, Renault is doing the very same thing to Nissan, being the only remaining FLAGSHIP, the GTR (which is a rape of the original concept by it self), and I would guess that it's only survival is because it's better than a 911 at half the price and this will allow it to live as little over being a tech-R&D platform for Renault.
It's the sad truth about the death of another Japanese Giant.

Gallardo destroyed by slagde-hammering... at owners REQUEST.

The article taken from TOPGEAR Website:

Lambo Gallardo vs sledgehammers

Chinese man destroys his own supercar in protest over poor customer service
Posted by: Andrew Chesterton, 16 March 2011

If you thought the Brilliance BS6 was China's worst crime against motoring, prepare to have your mind positively exploded. This is, or was, a Lamborghini Gallardo - yep, the very same car that, in dog-eared poster format, adorned the walls of teenagers for the best part of a decade.

Its crime? Breaking down. Its punishment? A public battering with sledgehammers. So what, we hear you ask, the hell is going on?

Welcome to Qingdao, in Eastern China, where the owner of this supercar was so enraged after it broke down after a service, that he paid a group of blokes to take the car apart using sledgehammers before a crowd of rightly horrified onlookers. It was all part of a public protest for World Consumer Rights Day, an event likely to resonate with world's biggest companies as loudly as World Donut Day or World Handwashing Day. And no, we didn't make any of these up.


The pictures:

The Video:

 
My thoughts:
This one is an article that I particularly like.
But why would I enjoy a beautiful car being destructed? To prove my point!
I don't like Italian cars. That's a fact and most don't understand why. I hate them, not because they are beautiful, not because they are fast, or have brilliantly thought engineering principles... I hate them because they are built in Italy, by Italians.
Don't get me wrong, I'm Portuguese. I'm "a Latin" too. I know how Latin's think and work. We (in general) are extremely irresponsible and tend to "patch" things cosmetically instead of efficiently.
Of all "Latins", Italian are the more irresponsible type. They've been through a lot as a civilization and tend to "not care at all" about "just about anything" that it not immediately satisfying. So they like beautiful cars, beautiful girls, wine and party.... oh, football too.
The result is that they build the most beautiful cars... in the worse way imaginable... and they do that because, as long as the car isn't theirs, it can fail as much as it wants to ... cause it isn't theirs.

Of course not all Italians are like that, but I'm only picturing 90% of Italy's population here.
Disagree with me? Ok, than think of Berlusconi. Total incompetent and a crook... elected by the people.... by ITALY!

Portugal is the same thing... we have been electing Socialist Party for the last 15 years or so! And then shouting on the stupid political decisions and corruption just so we can re-elect the same crooks after 4 years. Can you imagine anything worse? Welcome to the Latin mind - If the music and party doesn't stop, the boose and drugs keep ON and football and girls are abundant, we just don't care about the rest or the consequences.

So, I've been pointing out for years that Italians build beautiful cars that:
Brake down mechanically in catastrophic propositions
Brake down electrically in BIBLICAL propositions
Rust instantly (at least they are easy to recycle)
Disassemble them selfs alone
Have HUGE design flaws just to be beautiful (you don't want to flip a Lamborghini over)
Catch fire
Loose brakes
Have huge quality conformities from EuroCAP tests to production models

This article show the result of the CLASH of Cultures. Orientals ARE NOT Latins... they are efficiency driven, so they do NOT TOLERATE this kind of Latin attitude... and they are absolutely right.

The new BMW6 series... beauty or beast!?!

I like-it just as much as I hate it!

Let-me explain... If Mercedes knew something about design, it would have designed the but-ugly CLS like this BMW... and it would be VERY good for a merc.

But being BMW this is completely UNACCEPTABLE.
It's not ulgy... it's just too ugly to be a BMW... just like the GT and the 1series and the X6!

BMW... what the hell is going on!?

First you brain-fart and take the glorious Inline6 out of the M3 and replace-it by and americanish v8.... now you've realized the mistake and decided to put the inline6 back... but then turbocharged it!?!?!? I rather have it turbocharged than having a V8, but still it's just not the best think for a RWD sports car... period, unless, the new M3 is an XM3 and it is a AWD :S.

Then comes this ugly design trend... If I would buy a bmw today it would be a 3series coupe or cabrio... or a new Z4. I mean... there is NOT ONE single other BMW that I can truthfully say I like from every angle.

Are you hiring 16 year old designer wannabes?

Time to re-think this GREEN MADNESS... and stop killing CARS

Those ho know me, are very familiar with my personal frustration on today's automotive industry and the GREEN Madness trends.
Now I know that I am VERY very caustic in my opinions at times (OK EVERY TIME), but that doesn't mean I'm not dead right. And I am!

After proving the inefficiency of hybrids and electrical cars and the stupid green without brains trend that walks hands-on with it, its time to unleash the bomb.

No, not the "electrics and hybrids are a bigger threat to the environment that gas cars"... that bomb has already been drop somewhere in the past months by me and some other credited minds on the motoring industry.

I'm talking about that issue that sometimes makes other people look at me like they look at their great-grand-fathers and their unwillingness to "evolve".
Most have been reading my articles as if I was completely living in the 70's or 80's and that I had forgotten the need for economic and green (a.k.a dull) cars.
Most think that I ignore the reality behind the fast that GAS is getting expensive by the second.

Well, I may have a bad temper and sharp tongue, but I also have I.Q.
Like I've always defended, the GAS is the ONLY fuel available because of the easiness of production, storage and relatively safeness's of usage...but also because the petrochemical industry is a powerful worldwide lobby.

Things are however turning around. The economic needs to support this monopoly are becoming unbearable. Alternatives are making people think (probably for the first time ever).
The Brazilians are MUCH smarter then the rest of us... they've been running their cars on alcohol for years now. The rest of the world use Nitro-methane and Methanol to race!
Why to we keep using gas!?
Honda unleashed the FCX clarity running on hydrogen, followed by a new discovered by a Japanese university on how to create hydrogen in a closed-loop water cycle system... things started to change.
In France, one can switch it's petrol car to a natural gas system, and if the standard system renders the car 10 to 20% less power, the new liquid gas system renders 20 to 25% more power.

It's time to sharpen the axe on the petrochemical industry. Time for the Synthetic Gas.
As you car read in this article, YOUR CAR can run on synthetic GAS and produce 0 CO emissions... and still be the same wonderful, entertaining car you've always had. And All that with a 1.5USD / gallon, and that's paying half for the same thing. AND THINK ABOUT THIS, because government MUST STOP charging that much TAX, since you'll have no impact on the environment.

SO, again, I WAS DEAD right on the Hybrids and electric vehicles are a stupid trend! Let's hope others out there give this new re-engineered fuel a chance.

Lawyers of the world: UNITE and start filing law suits against the city hall!

Why?
The next time you get your car out on the road, just check the conditions of the roads you are driving in.
We are taxed to pay for the roads building and maintenance. The problem is that build quality is normally bad and maintenance even worse.

Every car sold today has ABS. ABS stands for Anti-Lock Braking System. What it does is assist you when you brake harder than the conditions permit. Meaning? Meaning that either if you brake too hard, or your tires grip too bad (because of whatever the reason is... rain, snow, oil, polished pavement, bad quality rubber), the car will start puffing your brakes on and off very rapidly, maintaining the wheels turning and allowing you to steer away and/or reduce the otherwise skid distance.
Is it the best way to brake? No... but for 99% of the drivers out there is FAR better than them braking to a full stop. This is why it is now standard with every car.

The problem:
ABS is a kinda stupid system... good, but stupid. It just interrupts the braking force enough to keep the wheel spinning little enough to steer. It doesn't consider the harmonics of the car's suspension. The result is that if you activate the ABS in a bumpy road, the system will get confused because locking the wheel in the air will render it to a full stop and the abs will "ease on" resulting in even less braking force while the wheel touches the ground. Also, if initiating a brake while driving through a road bump, will trigger the ABS and it will keep on until the car stops or you lift off and re-press the brake pedal.
This is why ABS is so bad in a dirt road.

The conclusion:
You pay tax for DECENTLY built and maintained roads. You get crap instead.
But when you try to brake to avoid an accident or a run-over and you car just goes crazy on you because of poor road conditions, it's time to sue and maybe this starts being taken into account.

Having no responsibility or consideration for the road is inhuman and disrespectful. Making them pay and while having this attitude is a severe offense and asks for PUNISHMENT.

Just like I've been posting and debating for years now... battery electrics and hybrids are a stupid unsupported mania.

Everyone that knows me, is fairly clarified about my vision of electric cars and hybrids.

It's a stupid trend!

Hybrids create more impact than normal cars because the engine consumes more (especially when pulling, because of the lack of ENGINE... take a look at this video here) and even worse than that, they use batteries that create huge environmental impact in both creation and recycling (read the studies bellow).
The fully electrical has 2 categories:
1 - The stupid electrical car than draws energy from rechargeable batteries. These cars are heavier than normal (batteries are heavy) making it less energy efficient... and have more battery than a hybrid increasing the environmental impact... and then they have to be recharged using the electrical power grid... how is that energy created? Yup... more impact. And even worse... if most cities are having electrical shortage problems, guess what would be the result if every smart ass out there went to tesla on nissan and by a fully electrical "thing".
2 - The real future of mass automotive. The Hydrogen Fuel cell hybrid. Like THIS VIDEO HERE. It's dull but makes sense and I love it in that manner.

Now for the reality check on all those Hybrid fans out there, that by buying these crappy cars are creating a trend... making most (once great automobile manufacturers) create pure shit and end wonderful projects to divert funds (yup I'm talking about Honda and Toyota)... please READ THESE LINKS BELLOW:

Gizmag
Hybridcars.org
CNWResearch

Big brother is geting ready to watch US ALL!

Another great article from GIZMAG... but this one brings some bad news.
Take a peek HERE.

Humm. Looks like that by 2013, I'll be installing some fake license plates and start wearing a mask while driving.
Not that I don't like the principle of this thing... I just don't think it will be used to improve road safeness and rather be used to GET MORE MONEY from those perfectly stupid and scientifically unsupported speeding tickets.

Drive clearance according to traffic and weather conditions, seat belt wearing, etc etc are all good features.
Speeding however is a stupid definition. Those that state this should be put into a physics class for the rest of their life to try and learn something .

I can go 50km/h on a fiat punto with no ABS and with budget tires on the pouring rain and be PERFECTLY legal and NOT SPEEDING... but if I do the same thing on full packed Volvo... or a Porsche at 80 or 100, then I'm the messenger of death, son of the devil, responsible for the radiations levels and for Bush re-election... and should be crucified.

SPEED TRAPS Is just the best name for the thing. It's a trap! It's the way governments found out how to increase tax... without having to go public on it.
I recommend THIS topgear video on that subject.

The true killer and often overlooked is Excessive speed. This is not easy to define... but the above example IS VERY CLEAR about it. I f was in the PUNTO I would be in Excessive Speed...
Excessive Speed kills, murders and it can be as simple as a BAD driver getting the car out of the parking lot. As a bad driver... he or she should not be driving... even at 5km/h... making it UNSAFE at ANY speed.

Asterio vs AUDI's eTron and VW's BlueSport

If you are looking for the Asterio Roadster website, try this link.

Although I wouldn't buy an electric car... and definitely would never ever buy an electric Sports car.
And Diesel.. well no thanks!
The market, however, does... and so, they are comming!
I decided to take a good look on the Asterio's competition.

So let's meet our contestants:
1st - Asterio Roadster

2nd - VW BlueSport

3rd - AUDI e-Tron

Now lets just brainstorm on this:

1st - The design
They all look like brothers! The BlueSport looks less Audi than the Asterio... but they do share lines!
This is a clearly intelligent move from Asterio. Different enough to notice, but not enough to fall out of the "audi buyer" target... or maybe this design has an even deeper commercial purpose.

2nd - TheChassis
Here, and considering the fact that the Asterio's generis is F1, It's the CLEAR winner. No doubts. It's however not a beater because of some very very clever tricks audi just didn't let go... until now.
The BlueSports and ETron will probably share the same chassis platform (it's not clear to me as the drive train is so much different.. but the VAG modularity concepts should come through).
Asterio offers a MR solution for each and every engine.
VW offers MR for the BlueSport.
AUDI offers a AWD very clever Torque Vectoring solution... the Asterio might be in trouble here. I'm sure that nothing beats the steering feedback purity and on the limit handling that the Asterio provides with this kind of chassis, but the handling of grip cornering and over the grip limit recovery of the Audi might me something that's completely new and ultimately better.
The torque vectoring solution is an EXTREME solution to what the Nissan GTR active differentials are. Each wheel will put the necessary power to the ground depending on how you need it and how the pavement / chassis can apply-it. Being electrical however, it will have instant and maximum torque (this might just be pure dynamite). It should corner like on rails... and this is a real problem... Jeremy Clarkson's neck didn't handle the immense G's the GTR produced around the race track... how will it DIGEST this Torque Vectoring... better stay away from this one Jezza!

3rd - The Engines
Here the Asterio has a good positioning. You can buy an electric Asterio, 2 different Diesel Asterios and a very very impressive V8 11.000rpm Asterio.
VAG however is not entirely sleeping. The VW BlueSports is the Diesel offer and the Audi ETron the Electrical one... as for the TRUE sports models, well the VAG group offers the R8 but the price scale will probably just make people shift to the much better chassis suited Asterio.

Now on the Diesel front-end, Asterio Offers the 2.2 IL4 500nm and the 3.0 V6 700nm torque ... against what seems to be a unique offer of a 2.0 IL4 350nm from VW. Seems like the Asteiro has it fully covered and with a huge comfort margin.

On the Electric front-end, Asterio does have a problem. Audi is offering the Etron with 680nm electric engines... 680nm EACH... and since it's a 4 wheel car.. you have 4 engines! That's a combined 2720nm! Better start thinking of titanium roads and tungsten tires cause this thing will melt rubber and deform the tarmac. The Asterio is offering a very modest 440nm single engine driving the rear wheels.

4rth - The price Tags
The Asterio is offering the electric option at around 40k (admitting a 5k benefit on the Portuguese market for electrical vehicles)
The Asterio Diesels will come around 55k and 80k
The VW BlueSport will cost around the same price as an S2000 so target around 50k in the Portuguese market. Ok... 5K cheaper, but with 150nm less of torque. And being a Diesel... torque matters!
The Audi... hummmm ... 150k usd... so you better target around 170 to 180k euro in portugal! That's 4 times the Asterio's price... but again.. it's more that 4 times the engines too :)

Conclusions:
The Asterio is FAR better as a Diesel offering
The Asterio is much more affordable as an electric offering, but not even close dynamical (under grip limit).
The Asterio is a much better choice as a petrol offering (PERSONAL opinion completely BIASED toward my engine definitions)... but this is a different league.. for a different discussion.

So I'm very happy with this project. Good Job

People's biased opinions on car brands. Lack of knowledge, ignorance or plain stupidity?

Yesterday, I participated in a Facebook conversation that caught fire very easily.
After a cool down I decided to try and understand how and why should one of the participants have such a biased opinion when he clearly had no knowledge foundations to support his claims.
The "he's just a kid" justifications immediately popped in my mind (and by that I'm not targeting age, but rather behaviour)... I'm still convinced that I was right about this case...but latter I decided to think a little more about that issue and I realized that more mature people are also BIASED like hell... and so I had to try to explain this instead of just starting the distribution of "I'm an absolute ass" sticker on peoples foreheads. I came up with a theory that I post here... expecting some commenting.

Now evidently you have people that bias just to chock others (and I reckon to be like that more often that I should... but people that know me understands a certain amount of comedy in my biased caustic comments). I'm talking about Jeremy Clarkson for instance, and in the other extreme "Captain Slow"... the mean in the TopGear show is "The Hamster". These guys are biased because they have a strong opinion and have to run a show that must be both entertaining and amusing.

But what about the rest of the world. Well, most people just don't have enough knowledge to understand... so they glue their hearts to a brand and stick with it no matter how stupid it's creations are.

It's however important that most people understand that MONEY talks... and it talks pretty loud in the Automotive industry.

Most BIG manufacturers produce dull products (in the pure motor sports and adrenalized opinion). But they do so because they have a huge infrastructure to maintain and can't afford to lose sales... sales that are made by people that really don't know anything about cars. So, evidently, and putting safety & quality improvements apart, they build what YOU buy... and if you have little or no knowledge about cars you will buy a dull product and be extremely happy with it.

Then you have some of these manufacturers that have a racing pedigree and continue to build some very impressive products.. but still in small production (compared to the rest of the line) and always in a compromised design. The Peugeot RCZ for instance. This car comes from the same people that created the brilliant 205GTI! But back on the RCZ, not the best chassis, but not that bad either, a fun little engine, but SHOULD do much much better. Still, its a product that will make more sells due to it's design then anything else... so, evidently, considering that the buyers no nothing about what they are buying except that it's beautiful, they fine-tuned the chassis toward a dull but very-safe-to-the-bad-driver UNDER-STEER behaviour. But don't get fooled about these facts, with small simple changes this car is a real performer... and it does reflect Peugeot's racing heritage.. but in metropolitan era.
Sure it's not half the car a 206gti was... but again, today's drivers are not ever near a quarter of what they were back then and politicians and environmentalists have quadrupled since that time!

And then comes the small manufacturers than have the freedom to create whatever they want because they have a small structure to maintain... And even these, went entering a competitive market have to compromise (see my other article about the brilliant little ASTERIO ROADSTER).

In between the Big with a racing heritage and the small, you can place most FORMER sports car producers... But these didn't resist the market squeeze that brilliantly and most got brought by the big groups. Some (if not all) as a way to "buy" racing pedigree that they didn't have... for example VW buying Audi, Lamborghini and Bugatti.

Now for the market... the humans buying the cars. Look around you and and try to place the people you know in the following drawers:
1 - knows about cars
2 - knows what they need on a car and looks at it as a transportation tool
3 - has no idea but likes cars
4 - doesn't give a damn and has cars... because

These drawers should be filled according to these division rules:
1 - A VERY HARD TO FIND 1 maybe 2%
2 - 20 to 30%
3 - 20 to 30%
4 - 38 to 59%

Now It's a little easier to understand why the market is getting duller by the minute. Most drivers on the road don't know how to drive, don't care about it.. an this attitude is a reflection of how they buy a car.
So big manufacturers have to follow this trends in order to survive. This is also the major reason for so much safety improvements in cars and weight resulting from it.
It's a really disappointing fact of this industry, Active Safety is being sacrificed in order to improve Passive Safety. It's a nonsense evolutionary factor that describes today's car industry... car are becoming big metal condoms. You have worse handling because of all that extra weight... and eventually you might crash... but if you do, airbags will pop out from every panel and the car's structure will deform completely but progressively and safe your sorry ass.
Me on the other hand... I rather have a car that can go around bends and avoid the crash :S maybe I'm too old fashioned.

The final tie.
People BIAS toward a brand because they really feel lost in this ever changing and trendy world, know little about cars and have very little culture about the automotive industry. If you have little knowledge, you follow design and specs... and automotive designers know this and tend to create lines that will keep you satisfied.

Most people in this country work their entire life to buy a Mercedes because every ass likes Mercedes and state poorly unsupported comments like "the star of the road", because they like the design, the comfort and think that they are in a safe inside one of these because of all the airbags and electronic gizmos and tones of metal. Most do this ignoring the fact that a benz is an (autobahn car) ... it's a well made decision to buy such a thing if you drive long distances and need a comfy, safe-in-a-straight-line car that, in a high speed crash would put it's weight's inertia into the crash and use other vehicles as an extra crumple zone (eventually killing other people in the process).
The truth is that most of these people then drive the car in mountain roads, and suffer the results of that huge living-room-on-wheels and all it's weight moving on top of a soft comfy suspension...and feel sea-sick in no time... and if they push hard, the lack of active safety will come on as an issue and eventually they could get surprised by the good old inertia laws (the same ones that could also kill people in other cars if having to deal with all that weight you are displacing)... and need all that passive safety that contributed to all that excess weight that made them crash.

My suggestion:
learn how to drive, learn physics and mechanics...and racing history... and then choose the cars you LIKE and that make sense to you and your needs, but on a knowledge base.

P.S.
I'm mostly an anti Mercedes person (mostly because I feel they are building better and better cars, so I'm trying not to BIAS as much), but has I can fully criticize an A class creation (and apparently I was very very spot on from the first sketch... being proved right with that catastrophic test failure and the later A class model being redesigned towards the audi A3 shape!!!) I can also say that I absolutely love the original gull wing! I admit my BIASing but I can explain it. I don't like ferraris and hate most V engines, but the Italia's engine is just something else... and I happily admit that I love it!

I'm also a pro-VOLVO person and recon that anything beyond the S40 and C70 is too heavy and ultimately dangerous to drive... and believe-me.. I know Volvos. I wouldn't want to be inside a car that crashed an XC90... I think that you have trucks out there that are a softer option to be crashed by...believe-me.
I'm also a Old Honda lover, I have one! And I'm the first to crucify Honda with it's recent ECO-Mania stupidification... I can state that the ONLY good Honda on sale today it's the FCX clarity... this is from the company that gave you the CTR, ITR, NSX, CRX, ATR, Prelude and S2K!

Stop being biased JUST BECAUSE... and start opening your eyes... good cars are being harder and harder to find. Learn to find them, or suffer the consequence of living in a prius / insight, grey, dull, world!

The ASTERIO Roadster Part2

If you are looking for the Asterio Roadster website, try this link.

Hi everyone.
Just came back from Autodromo do Estoril for the first ASTERIO Roadster presentation
I'll follow my report as I would like to read-it.
1- The company
Asterio automotive S.A. will  provide engineering and consulting services as a company in the automotive industry. It also has a brand called the Asterio Roadster. This will produce a small volume  production roadster car (1000 units/year max). The team behind all this is composed by a Portuguese entrepreneur and automotive fan Ricardo Baeta, two british engineers (Mike Rawlings with over 40 year of automotive industry experience in projects of lot's of sports and gt cars, another with over 20 years experience in building formula 1 and indy chassis), a designer, a production manager and a marketing director.
My initial thoughts:
The Lotus business approach and with British engineering with lotus and F1 experience... this might just be the BEST Portuguese project so far.

2 -The concept
A lightweight Sports chassis with a racing-to-road development approach.
The chassis design will allow several motorization options. This is very important to my point of view. It might just enable the company to produce a REAL project with some COSMETIC engines that the market buys.
My thoughts:
Nice... Racing first... than de-tuning to road homologation is THE way to build a sports car. Sounds good.
The modular chassis design does mean a lot... and even with a bad engine, you can always swap it. The lotus Elise was an excellent car... but a small K20A swap will make it a God, this could just be the case.

3-The chassis

My thoughts:
It's a semi-monocoque chassis built in steel-aluminum... sounds good.
The semi part uses a conventional double wishbone design, the front suspension has a push-rod type suspension and unfortunately the rear one can't because of the engine... but the front is the most important part on this equation. The Aluminum monocoque structure is F1 style built in aluminum extruded panels, rebited and glued with an honeycomb type sandwich. It's light and the design is very very F1ish and modular enough to change for instance.. the engine. Smart, logical.. GOOD! I'm all for this design an after talking to the engineer responsible for it, I'm extremely happy with the aims and targets he had before starting to sketch it.
The weight distribution is around 65% rear biased, but don't get fooled. This is an MR platform... not a 911 like RR. Being light... and taking the example of the engine seen in this demonstration (a 2.2 TD pulling 225bhp on a 500nm torque curve), reeving the engine and dumping the clutch will produce little over a 3 second time from not to 100km/h, instead of massive wheel spin (the V6 option will do 3seconds). The credit were goes entirely to the chassis... not the engine (evidently, being diesel....it's not the best point on the car). During that clutch dumping the car will squat and just go, as the suspension compresses and forces more grip into the rear wheels, the lightness of this package will make it JUST go before you break grip.

4 - The engine.
Asterio plans to introduce 4 engine packages to go along with this chassis (having minor mods like wheel size, brake size and suspension settings):
1 - Electron - fully electric package with 120Bhp 440nm 990Kg
2 - Tork 500 - 2.2 Turbo Diesel with 225Bhp 500nm 790Kg
3 - Tork 700 - V6 BiTurboDiesel with 350Bhp 700nm 890Kg
4 - V8 Edição Especial F1 Revival - 400Bhp 320nm 750Kg 11000rpm competition sourced V8

My thoughts:
1 - don't quite believe in it. Even after talking with the 2 British Engineers, and believe-me, it will have some UNIQUE features ... it's not my idea of how a sports car should be and how the future GREEN car should be too... But I will get back to this in a new post after mailing my opinion back to Ricardo Baeta.
2 - Diesel is not for the track. This was a disappointment for me as a pure sports car lover.
3 - Diesel is not for the track and a V6 Diesel is for the family saloon.
4 - NOW YOU'RE TALKING... and this makes the entire project make sense. This must have been the initial idea... and the rest it just cosmetics for the public's blinded view of how a car really is... Don't miss understand-me, In this green madness we live these days, every manufacturer is a rookie, so if you want to enter a competitive, mature market without no history to back your image up... you have to catch a new trend.. .This is by far the most important part on the justifications of the first 3 engine options. Still and very honestly, I wouldn't wan't them, and would immediately make the swap for a Honda engine. I don't like most V engines... but producing 400bhp from 3.5 liters makes well over my 100bhp/liter minimum requirement.
It's very clear to me that Asterio is making a MARKET move with diesel engines. For a non-expert-but-sports-car-lover, the torque of the diesel will seem immense; the international market will think ?! WTF?! but pulling 3s times from 0-100km/h will give-it a try; and the stupidly dieseled Portuguese market will think yummy!
Of course that I seriously doubt they will enter races with engines that have power surges lasting for no longer than 1500rpm... and the V8 will rule championships as it should.

5 - The design
Some pictures:

My thoughts:
I like it... but the front looks like a morph between the (now dead) s2000 replacement and an audi R8... and the rear is the result of a Lamborghini rapped by the very same R8 that rapped the s2000 for the front. But I like it!
And, again, if makes perfect sense. The Audi brand is very successful with it's design trend... why not follow the same trend? Especially if you are entering a competitive market and can't afford to loose a great chassis because of some body panels showing just how independent your design styling is.

Overall: GOOD JOB and congrats... but loose that diesel stuff and make it a petrol screamer PLEASE (4pot Honda sourced and revving over 10.000rpm preferably)!

Freedom is one step closer

As Jay Leno so eloquently said "the fcx clarity is important because, as the car set the horse free, this will set our cars free", the Honda FCX CLARITY is a "car" that works on Hydrogen. It produces 0 Co emissions and water from it's gas pipe.
The problem with this are:
1 - Liquid Hydrogen is expensive do produce
2 - Liquid Hydrogen is dangerous to store in a car
WATER, however isn't... and Japan’s FUKAI Environmental Research Institute has announced a new technology for obtaining hydrogen that it claims is less expensive and more efficient than anything that’s been tried so far.
The full article can be read here, but in short, they are producing hydrogen  in ways that are targeted to transform your car's gas tank into a water tank.
People that read my blogs tend to think that I have a profound hate on green cars.... but that's not the case.
I hate stupidity, and a hybrid car that doesn't go and has more impact on the environment is PLAIN STUPID.
I also hate the fact that the best engines ever invented are being taken out of production by laws that are even worse than the Stupidity that supports them... and to this I call the GREEN MADNESS DISEASE.

This, however is a totally different case. a Hydrogen Fuel cell car or house will have 0 co emissions... 0 Either direct or indirect. If you take this into comparison to a hybrid running on gas or a fully electrical being charged by the power grid, there is a clear advantage. Now think of all that process involved into producing car batteries and recycle them in the end... and now consider the impact of it's weight in the car's movement.

If you take 1 minute to think about this you will recon:
1 - The full process of building, recycling and using a hybrid or electrical car will generate more pollution and co than a normal car.
2 - The laws that kill the best cars are twisted. You should plant more trees with the taxes payed by our cars and that would even things... instead we tear down trees and increase tax and stupid emission laws.
3 - If you like cars and you think of buying one today.... chance are that you are already considering buying a second hand car from the time when they were interesting, instead of dull-green people carriers of today.

This process will enable the projects like the Honda Clarity to be a reality. The globalization of this reality will render our TRUE cars free... and that means that our sports cars will probably be less "runt down" by those absurd laws.

The ASTERIO Roadster first preview

If you are looking for the Asterio Roadster website, try this link.


--------------------->RE-EDIT<------------------------
I've noticed an increase  in pageviews over this article.... but not the second part of it with all the good news.. so check it out here
--------------------->RE-EDIT<------------------------

Hi Everyone,
 
I was saving this one for later, but then I decided that since nothing existed on the web about this vehicle (at least Google doesn't have a clue)... maybe I could write something.

Today, I feel a little like Jeremy Clarkson.

A good friend of mine is involved in the consortium to build the Portuguese Sports Car.
As we know each other for a long time now, and he values my knowledge about cars, he invited-me for the 1st presentation of this car due to happen this week.
I'm not yet disclosing data about what I know, because I don't yet know how much is to disclose... and since he is a very good friend, I'm being over zealous about this event and the car surrounding it (I would never put a friend in a bad position).
So, all I can say is that apparently Portugal built a prototype Sports car that is already running and under testing. Depending on the disclosure level entrusted to every attendee, I'll eventually continue this post... or include a "sorry, can't comment".

Independently, since this is the first post I could find about this issue, people visiting this blog SHOULD consider registering to be able to receive warnings on updates and new articles (and discuss the subjects).

 --------------------->RE-EDIT<------------------------
I've noticed an increase  in pageviews over this article.... but not the second part of it with all the good news.. so check it out here
--------------------->RE-EDIT<------------------------

Statitics are just a tool... and like a weapon, you can use-it the good or the wrong way.

Today at an abnormal Lisbon morning traffic... I saw one of those stupid traffic statistics.
Why abnormal? I was able to drive normally.. It was almost unreal! In a tunnel, 2 cars away from me, a truck was over taking... I clutched the engine, revved it to 8000... and a miracle happened the truck moved. Then the rest of the road was almost clear... but when it wasn't, people changed lane on my approach. This was just sweet. I managed to do home-to-work in under 20 minutes and without insulting people. This should have been filmed so that anyone can understand that respecting others leads to efficiency. Everyone made it's way into Lisbon, without accidents and much happier.

But back to the point, the stupid statistic:
"Drive carefully, during 2009, 316 people were injured in crosswallks inside Lisbon".

Now this is a bad statistic... it's too close to 1 person per day.
Is it the driver's fault? Sure... since it's a crosswalk, it's the driver's fault period. But should the driver alone take the blame for it? No.
Inside Lisbon (and across the country), and I dare you to visit the examples bellow, crosswalks are drawn in the worse possible places: intersections and roundabouts.
The driver approaching a roundabout, has to cope with breaking/accelerating it's car towards a road of incoming traffic of at least 1 direction (mostly 2 and sometimes 3 to 5!). He stops, looks and while he accelerates his car and turns in (accelerating will be important to avoid accidents) he still has to be ready to brake because some idiot at city-hall decided to draw a crosswalk exactly were he should be under heavy acceleration.
The same goes for roundabouts... the law (we call it the taxi driver's law) says you can drive all day long in the roundabout in the same lane, full throttle and don't give a damn about others cause if you are not changing lane, it's your right to do so. Taxi drivers, when approaching an overhaul will do so until they crash an then the victim will pay the repair (including the overhaul parts, pre-settled with the garage). Now normal people know that you should count lanes and exits and start from the inside and change progressively to the exit. During this risk maneuver, you have to dose acceleration and breaking and side mirror and most times take a pick over your right shoulder... and then you have a crosswalk!
Seriously, considering all this stupidity and lack of common sense, the statistics is VERY VERY GOOD!

Roundabouts:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=38.749965,-9.105099&spn=0.001234,0.003444&t=h&z=19

Crosswalks:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=38.747765,-9.139406&spn=0.000617,0.001722&t=h&z=20

These are small examples, unfortunately, much more exist.
Now... are the drivers to blame 100%?

---------------------------------> Second Edit <-----------------------------------

Today, exactly 1,5 days after writing this article, I became a victim of this twisted system.
Turning left, with a FULL GREEN LIGHT, following a "Laguna", some idiot that isn't worth the oxygen that he breathes, decided to go across a crosswalk (having a red light stamped all over his idiot face). The laguna (consuming all the visible area of my windshield) accelerated and then suddenly braked hard.
The S2000 is not made for slow starts (it has a recognized hick up if you start it slow) so I was starting to accelerate when that big ass laguna light up... I was doomed! I did brake... a little.. and then bumped into the laguna.

UNFORTUNATELY not even hard enough to make it go over the moron that started everything in the first place.... result? I'm the one paying for a fucking idiot's error and he walks clean because he was on a crosswalk placed in the worse possible place.
I'm now considering the possibility of passing this very same spot during the night and spray black ink all over that stupid crosswalk.... as many times as I can remember.

BOY I HATE TO BE RIGHT ALL THE TIME!.... and for those of you chocked with my words... let me make it quite clear: YES I do wish than the laguna had been projected hard enough to run him over... don't quite care about the outcome... killed or badly injured, he would have learned a lesson and made my money at least worth the joy of some "morality revenge". Being part of a system, one HAS to respect the basic rules of that system, and I've seen plenty drivers loose their license for passing red light (rightly, I should add)... but I've never once seen a cop fine a person walking a red light.

TWISTED and it just brings out the very worse and rough thoughts in me.
Having apologized to the lady in front, that was apologizing back for accelerating and then braking hard, I immediately told her that she had the law on her side... and that if only she had set the foot of her pedal and let the inertia do justice, we would have a guy going to the hospital and being identified by the police.
I would testify to protect her (proving that she stopped before hitting him) and he would have to pay for all the damage plus hospitalization (I would send the lawyer after that idiot's ass).
But since she avoided the collision with him... I'm the only part to blame!

Are there V engines that I like?! SURE!

This V8 here - CAPARO T1
And this V10 here too - Lexus LFA  - you can hear it sing right here
ohhh I like this V6 too - F1 - you can hear it here or in any senna's MClaren-HONDA races

Can you notice anything besides 2 of them being Japanese?
Yes, they rev really high, but more important is that all of them produce OVER 100Bhp/ton.. and that's engineering. ;)

My comments on the TT vs RCZ on the TopGear Facebook page.

The Thread: http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=282681245570&share_id=162662420416928&comments=1&ref=notif&notif_t=like#!/posted.php?id=282681245570&share_id=162662420416928&comments=1&ref=notif&notif_t=like#s162662420416928

Most comments I've read so far are completely OFF the purpose of these cars!
These are sports cars. They are supposed to handle and be fun to drive.

How on earth is a heavy under-steer oriented car fun to drive?
Why oh why would I buy a sports car thinking on how would it loose value!? Do you pick condoms that way too?
Why does the brilliant RCZ's design is wrong on being an imitation of the TT? I'm all for the learn, then do it better... it's called EVOLUTION!
There is one and one flaw on the RCZ... it's being FF. Should be FR or MR.
But I consider the TT even worse. Instead of having a REAR Biased 4WD, it has a FRONT biased 4WD.

I've driven lots of AUDIs and even had one (for 1 month)!
Are they well built? YEP
Are they expensive? F$#K YEAH
Are they beautifull?... hummm kinda
Are they powerfull? SURE
Can they handle? NOP.. They are TOO safe to let you enjoy the car.
It's one of the most frustrating cars because of the extremely intrusive way it's safety features are build into the product. It's a car that insults the driver by assuming it drives better than you, but it doesn't!

If you compare the A4 Vs the 407? Sure it's a clear win on the A4 side... same with the A6, A5, Q7... but this? THIS is about FUN and passion for driving and the RCZ is MILES AHEAD on that point.

Guilty or not!?

Am I the one guilty of plagiarism, or is Jeremy Clarkson's guilty!?

I would guess none of us, But it's very very strange to watch an episode of TopGear that I've never ever seen before, and find out so many thoughts in common with Clarkson (or the guy that wrote the script!!).

Let's just start with this exert of video @ 3minutes, and compare with my opinion (readable on the links) on smarts, semi-cars, hybrids and electrics.

Then in the same video @ minute 6:20, my opinion on how a "bad car choices relate directly to bad drivers (I called them NUMB drivers) because they carry the same lame attitude on buying cars to driving them on the streets"!

As if it wasn't enough, on that same episode, Jeremy test's a sirocco TDI with "Captain Slow". Captain slow claims that "the car has no power... then some power... and then 1000rpm later, it's gone". Jeremy reply's "That's the way diesels are, they show you some power but then it's gone!"... "this is the perfect example on how to spoil a good car". I don't have posts in English stating my opinion on how to spoil a good car (It's here and in portuguese and related to the RCZ hdi), BUT I do have one about engines and where the diesel engine really belongs and that's the HEAVY FAMILY SALOON.

Towing cars without permission... THAT's GRAND THEFT AUTO!

The news behind my post about this subject is very very interesting.
http://www.tvi24.iol.pt/portal-iol/psp-oeira-isaltino-ezequiel-lino-tvi24-ultimas-noticias/1191013-5281.html
Just like I posted, I'm not surprised that a politician has a shitty-abusive attitude, nor that the cops have the very same (politically induced) attitude; I'm completely overwhelmed by the pure fact that, in Portugal (the most dirty, corrupt place on earth) a couple of cops and a judge, had the courage to arrest and present to court... a politician! This is unique... I'm very inclined to contact the Endangered Species Rescue Group to consider this RARE RARE species and protect them at ALL COSTS, cause they will not survive too long.

But back on the POST subject... Police towing/immobilizing cars.

First comes the facts.
1- The road is public and, to use it, you must pay taxes. SO, if you don't pay taxes, than its the same as parking your car inside someone else's property and so loose all right. If you pay, however, the car is legally using a common asset and since the car is your property, towing it is thievery, just as immobilizing it just as illegal.
2- The road usage is ruled by law. This is so that it's usable as a common asset, not to increase TAX income. These rules and aspirations are created to allow us the best comfort.

The problem:
Mister X, for instance, parks his car on a crosswalk. He get's his car towed or immobilized.

Should he be punished? WHY?

The why:
Cause it's in the way of people that OCCASIONALLY cross the road? Not valid! One can go around easily.
Cause someone on a wheel-chair will be in difficulty... cause someone with a baby-cart will be in difficulty? Sure... SuperValid argument. But again, does the sidewalk have a ramp? If not, than the city-hall should be finned 10folds the amount a driver is!


The WHAT IF:
Most people defend that the guy that parks in a crosswalk is "Devil on earth and the messenger of death". For those of you, picture this -> Your wife calls you telling you that she is in a shopping mall, almost fainting because of uncontrolled bleeding... what do you do?
YOU, as any human,  will:  pass red lights, overtake like mad (because irresponsible motherfuckers will go as slow as possible, scattered across all available lanes, making it as difficult as they can... just because), you will park in the very closest spot you find and try to get her into the car, to the hospital.... just to find that some idiot towed your car or decided to immobilize-it. BOY I WOULD KILL SOMEONE if in that situation.

Conclusion:
If a car is badly parked (and that means crosswalks, double parking, outside the marks, too close to the next car....you name it), the cops should 1st fine, than if after 30 minutes the situation is maintained tow the car to the nearest parking space and leave a mark indicating (just like they do in Tokyo)... then charge the fine with the "deluxe parking service"... if recurrent increase the amount exponentially.
After the fine, the insurance company should (if not justified by a hospital bill or something like it) increase immediately it's tax on the driver because a bad social behavior is increasing the risk and the risk's consequences upon others, leading ultimately to more payments from that company.
If applicable, the city-hall should immediately pay a fine and be forced to solve the problem within a month.

The horrible truth behind motoring laws.

Its a sad truth. In a world where speed is the matter of word, were you want to get the fastest internet connection, the fastest PC, the fastest software, the fastest medical treatment, the fastest delivery of your supermarket shoppings... in other words we have less and less time to spend on futile, unproductive stuff, so we try to make those tasks as FAST as possible... another way to put it is that we seek efficiency.
We do however go slower and slower in our cars.

Does this make ANY sense? Evidently not. It is however a difficult matter with an even more complicated solution.

You have to have some fact together with 3 or 4 points of view on the matter to even start to describe how things work. And you must start by pointing out facts.

Fact 1 - The motoring industry is producing faster and safer cars. And for some reason they all go above 200Km/h standard, knowing that those cars are to be driven on standard roads, by standard people in normal countries. Why oh why don't they all come limited to 120Km/h from factory? Japan did that for 180Km/h and 280Bhp... Germany does it for 250Km/h...

Fact 2 - Our roads are an extremely complex system. We have several roads (some poorly built, others poorly maintained, others just fine), several cars (again some pretty bad ones, some good cars but poorly maintained and some just fine) , several people (most don't know how to drive), several weather conditions (getting worse as we screw up the planet and invent worse ways to fix it than the ways we found to ruin it in the first place... and yes, I'm pointing my gun out on hybrids) and depending on the time of the day different levels of mass stupidity.

Fact 3 - The people that drive those cars are teached on absolutely nothing about driving a car. They teach how to understand standard city traffic, how to work the steering, pedals and switches of a car and that's about it. Learning  the very basics of how to drive in a complex system by trial and error. The problem is that most of the trial and error is done by causing constraints and sometimes great pain on others.

Fact 4 - Speed doesn't kill. Speed only increases the consequences and reduces the chance to react.
As you gain speed on a motorway, you are increasing the energy within your movement. This means that if you crash and eventually stop in a couple of millisecond (yes, eventually because of inertia... something to discuss in another topic) that energy has to dissipate. That's where a crumple zone gets to work and deforms gradually, absorbing the energy. No crumple zone (point my guns to semi-cars as the NOT-SO-SMART) means that your body will have to deal with your organs smashing hard against your bones... and eventually parts of the car, resulting in severe and normally fatal injuries. More energy that the crumple zone can handle will result in uncontrolled vehicle deformation and eventually injuries.

Fact 5 - Going over the speed limit is not the cause for accidents and death. Going over the speed limit means one and one thing only. The number of your speedometer is higher that the one on the road signs. THAT's IT! I'm not even arguing that the speed signs are good or badly placed.
The true killer and messenger of death is another concept with is excess speed. That is a much complex definition. It means that your's going too fast for, in that particular moment in time, at that particular system (road condition, traffic, your ability to drive, the car's safety and condition, your knowledge about driving, the weather, and so on), if needed, stop the vehicle or avoid an incident, safely.
Excessive speeding could be as simple as driving your car on the road under perfect weather, car, tires, traffic and road conditions... but without really knowing how to control a car in a slalom. This SAD and WORRYING fact alone means that 90% of all drivers are in excess speed the moment they enter the road.

Now on to the point of views:

The point of view of the numb driver - The numb driver chooses cars as they choose the toilet paper. It's paper, it works, job done. Takes on the buying of a car with the same attitude and therefore the road. He doesn't care much about driving so he doesn't mind going at 10Km/h to work. It is used to drive at 10Km/h to work so we gets up 1h earlier, compensating the inefficiency of his transportation method.
Some of these are conscious of this fact and try to occupy the right-lane only, minimizing the impact of his inefficient way of transportation has on others.
There are however (and unfortunately those represent the majority) the "I really don't give a rat's ass about others" drivers. These scatter across all lanes and make it impossible to use the lanes with minimum efficiency and freedom. They are abusive in their way of interacting with others and using a common good - the roads. These drivers are mostly responsible for the loosing of patience from other drivers and ultimately they create the most frustrating accidents and walk away clean.

The point of view of the driver - The driver is the kind of person that buys cars considering it's real use. Either a sports car or a minivan to take the kids to school. Evidently, someone that takes it's car seriously, sees it as a project with a purpose. It takes this attitude to the road and it's life's schedule. These drivers get really annoyed with the numb-disrespectful driver and this; this its completely understandable.

The authorities point of view - This has a lot to do with who they are. If given the choice, would you rather be an executive on a high payroll, of a traffic cop? No need to answer. One get's to be a cop because they really didn't care much about studying (99% of them), or has a severe psychological problem (1%). It's even a way of punishment for disrespectful cops. If the detective doesn't respect the inspector, he get's transfered to traffic. Evidently, all these folks have a severe social jealousy that they take out on the drivers that also pay taxes... taxes that are also used to pay for the cop's salary, so ultimately they are being tough on they employers. It's the only way they feel powerful. And its a very very stupid way to try to enforce power.

The government point of view - This is by far the most chocking of all. Government really don't care about you. They care only about your money. They want to find a way to stork money from you. So they grab a bunch of frustrated and quite furious people (a.k.a traffic cops) and enforce rules. Now here enters the "Going over the speed limit" part. How do you tell a monkey algebra? You don't. So evidently, you cannot explain most cops what is bad or good driving. You have to give them a number to work with. Soooo they compare the number on their radar with the ones on the road signs and voilà more taxes disguised as a speeding ticket. And because you really don't want people to think too much about the obvious truth, they go on TV and brag about it all the time.
For those of you that are chocked with the "monkey" comparison to the "traffic cop", I'll explain it. A complex system HAS to run on tolerances otherwise it will have a catastrophic failure. You can't go on TV and say words like "Zero Tolerance on speeding" without making a fool out of you.
Traffic cops are however an asset. They belong to the road system and SHOULD be helping to control and solve problems. Instead they are being used in an abusive and disrespectful manner.
The government is so stupid that taxes cars based on the price and engine of the car. They clearly never ever rented a videotape in their life. The longer you use a common asset, the grater you'll have to pay to it! This should be the same with our roads. If you are SLOW, you are using the asset longer than others and preventing others from using the same asset witch they should have the very same right to, as you do.
Even being completely and disrespectfully money driven, it's easy to implement limitations on cars, based on the drivers abilities, and therefore, toll taxes based on the time they take to drive a distance.
They could be earning a lot more than they are, and avoid drivers hates on cops.

I recommend THIS topgear video on that subject.

Conclusions:
How offended should a cop be? VERY. They are getting used and controlled by government with a sole intention of fracturing, making anyone loose all respect on them.
How offended should a true driver be? EXTREMELY. You are paying taxes to buy YOUR vehicle, and use the public road and have a couple of people willing to help out the flow and sort out accidents and prevent bad drivers (the cops), but instead you can't use your vehicle because any jerk can have a license and spoil your day in a number of ways, and the cops protect them and try to fine you any way they can.
How offended should a numb driver be? If conscious, a lot. If not conscious... no, not really YOU are the insulter number 2.
How offended should the government be? Not a bit. They should apologize publicly and return the money for their lousy management and insult. It's disrespectful to charge taxes, not care about the drivers needs and interests while using the infrastructure THEY pay against them to earn more money.

About your attitude towards the road? Place yourself into one of the categories and if you are:
A Numb Driver that really don't care about others, sell your car and use public transportation... it's why it exists.
A Numb-conscientious driver, avoid using other lanes than the right/slow one, and if you must, try to understand that you are causing other people's delay while doing it... so be quick.
A real driver, avoid being too aggressive with Numb-conscientious drivers. They might be carrying their kids inside the car and avoid speed to make them safer... or just to avoid being ripped-off by cops.
A cop in the 99% frustrated group, change job or try suicide.
A cop in 1% decided-to-be-a-cop-since-birth group, ignore orders and work with your TRUE objectives in mind.
A politician, try suicide or try to change the world. If going for the second bet, keep in mind that you'll have to kill most of your incompetent colleagues first.... you will however guarantee reelection.


Independently of the groups, keep in mind that the road is public. So try to use-it quickly and without causing disturbs to others that are paying to use this same asset, the same you are.