Monday, January 31, 2011
Abbeywood Station
W237RGE: "This Road is for CARS, Not Perverts".
In the footage, the driver of Aberdeen Car Landrover Freelander Station Wagon reg. W237RGE makes a full and clear statement of his rights. These include:
- The exclusive right to the road, which is "for cars".
- The right to drive at speed directly at the users of other modes of transport who must at all times "give way to a car".
- The right to drive at any speed, regardless of road conditions.
- The right to indignantly dismiss the safety concerns of users of non-car modes of transport.
- The right to suspect anyone who is not in a car of being a predatory sex-pervert, and to accuse them of such.
That a statement of rights so complete, so concise and so correct that we believe it to be comparable in quality and importance to the US Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights should come from the mouth of the driver of an Aberdeen Car fills us with immense pride. Whadda guy!
Enjoy:
BMW 1-Series GTR racer by Senkyr Motorsport
This BMW 1 series Coupe GTR by Czech racing team Senkyr Motorsport is based on the E82 1-Series.
There's a reason it looks so much like an M3 GTR - the 1-Series coupe chassis was used to create a car similar to the Senkyr Motorsport's own E92 M3 GTR (see last 3 photos) by adapting it for the wide body kit featured here.
Powering the 1-Series Coupe GTR is a twin-turbo 3.0 liter inline 6-cylinder engine with a Senkyr intercooler. Total output is 300 kW (408 PS / 402 bhp) at 7200 rpm. Transmission is a 6-speed sequential Holinger RDS6 gearbox.
The racer features a KW Competition 3-way coilover suspension and KW springs.
Wheels are supplied by BBS Motorsport in 10 x 18-inch front and 12 x 18-inch rear wrapped in 270/650/R18 and 300/650/R18 tires, respectively.
Mercedes CLK 63 Black Series by RENNtech
U.S. tuner RENNtech has a new carbon-fiber aerodynamic kit for the Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 Black Series.
The body kit includes a front splitter, carbon air box, front brake air ducts, a rear diffuser and a DTM rear wing. That carbon air box features a vacuum chamber that adds up to 10 hp to the CLK Black Series total output.
But those 10 extra horses don't come cheap. The air box is priced at $2795 while the front splitter and rear diffuser cost $2450 and $3250, respectively. The DTM wing comes it at $3350.
All carbon components are available in either a matte or gloss finish.
RENNtech is also offering a suspension upgrade too with front ($1250) and rear ($945) adjustable camber bushings for improved handling and braking.
G-Power BMW M5 Hurricane GS
G-Power has unveiled the new Hurricane GS, which is the world's fastest LPG-powered vehicle.
Based on the BMW M5 (E60), the GS features an SK II package with an LPG conversion, two ASA superchargers, a water-cooled intercooler, and a remapped ECU. Thanks to these modifications, the 5.0-liter V10 engine produces 660 PS (485 kW / 650 hp) and 650 Nm (479 Nm) of torque. This enables the car to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 4.6 seconds, 0-200 km/h in 11.4 seconds, and onto a top speed of 333 km/h (207 mph).
While G-Power touts the fact that LPG is "50% less expensive per litre than petrol," the package costs a whopping €33,571.43 ($43,400) - excluding installation. Of course, if that hasn't dissuaded you, at least your CO2 emissions will be cut by roughly 15%.
The previous title holder for fastest LPG car was the AC Schnitzer GP3.10 GAS POWERED BMW 3-Series Coupe (E92) which achieved 318.1 km/h (197 mph).
Audi Q7 by MR Car Design
MR Car design has a tuning kit that turns the Audi Q7 4.2 TDI into the 'Floating on a Cloud Q-Seven'.
The German tuner, headed by Marc Reilly, starts with a few touches to the body including new LED daytimers and LED indicator strips.
For an output upgrade, the 4.2 liter TDI diesel engine gets a new K & N air filter and some ECU optimization that dials power up to 374 PS/275 kW (series 326 PS/240 kW) and 870 Nm (642 lb-ft) of torque (series 760 Nm/560 lb-ft). MR Car Design also offers to lift the "tiresome" (as they describe it) Vmax and remove any electronic speed limit.
The Erftstadt-based tuner provides the Q7 with new 22-inch alloy wheels, MRGT22, in 9.5 x 22 dimensions with Icebear (polar bear) W300 tires sized 265/35R22. Electronic suspension lowering is also on offer.
For the cabin, customers can opt to borrow the steering wheel from the current Audi RS6 - a special request option by MR Car Design.
Audi A1 1.4 TSI by Senner Tuning
Senner Tuning has unveiled a new styling and performance package for the Audi A1 1.4 TSI.
To give the car some extra pep, the tuner installed a new air box, a revised ECU, and a stainless steel dual exhaust system. Thanks to these tweaks, the four-cylinder engine produces 115 kW (156 PS / 154 hp) and 250 Nm (184 lb-ft) of torque - an increase of 25 kW (34 PS / 34 hp) and 50 Nm (37 lb-ft).
On the design front, the car boasts a 35mm reduced ride height and 18-inch Corniche Monza wheels with Hankook S1 Evo tires.
The package is priced from €4,590 ($6,125), but owners can opt for additional items including a sport suspension, carbon fiber trim, and LED tail lights.
Panamera Moby Dick by Edo Competition
If there was ever an appropriate name for an over-juiced tuner model it's 'Moby Dick'.
German tuner Edo Competition touts the Panamera Moby Dick as the most powerful Panamera Turbo around, and there is no evidence to doubt that.
The Moby Dick comes in a 750 PS (740 bhp / 552 kW) with the twin-turbo V8 dialed up 50 percent from its standard 500 PS (493 bhp / 368 kW). 0 to 100 km/h acceleration clocks in at under 4 seconds and top speed, depending on tires, can reach 340 km/h (211 mph).
The Ahlen (Westphalia), Germany-based tuner also provides a revised exhaust system with quad stainless steel exhaust pipes and butterfly valves fitted into a carbon rear diffuser. Edo Competition also provides a lowering module and 22-inch wheels.
An aerodynamics package from Mansory is also part of this unique Moby Dick, installed upon customer request.
For the inside, Edo Competition offers a highly-personalized finish with customers choosing their own leather and fabrics and trims in fine wood, lacquer, metal or carbon fiber.
Black Cat Chevrolet Camaro SS by Speed Box
German tuner Speed Box has a new compressor kit and a few other goodies ready for one of the most iconic American muscle cars - the Camaro SS.
That compressor kit for the newly christened 'Black Cat' dials up the power rating on the Camaro SS to 625 PS (460 kW) on the 6.2 liter V8 - up substantially from the series 432 PS (318 kW). The compressor kits is priced at €8,999.
Performance is also boosted care of the BORLA stainless steel exhaust system (€999 without tailpipes). Speed Box also adds H&R coilovers (€1,272) and offers optional H&R stabilizers for €530 for an improved handling on those curvy German 'Landstrassen' (country roads).
The Herten, Germany-based tuner also borrows some 22-inch rims from retailer Schmidt Revolution for the 'Rhino' wheels which feature 265/30-R22 and 295/25-R22 tires, front and back, respectively, wrapped around the 10 x 22" and 11 x 22" rims. Cost for the wheels package is €3,999. Rims are also available in 9 x 20".
It's a performance-oriented package but Speed Box also offers that 'Black Cat' matte body paintwork for the Camaro SS priced at €3,500.
Rolls-Royce Phantom EW by Wald International
Dubbed the Sports Line Black Bison Edition, the package includes a Bentley-esque front bumper, modified side skirts, and an extended rear bumper. Other goodies include front fender vents, LED daytime running lights, and a trunk-mounted spoiler. If that hasn't won you over, the company also offers forged 24-inch Renovatio wheels.
Since there are no engine modifications, power is provided by a 6.75-liter V12 engine with 453 hp (460 PS / 338 kW) and 720 Nm (531 lb-ft) of torque. It enables the car to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 6.1 seconds, before hitting a top speed of 240 km/h (150 mph).
Fire up the... Toyota Prius
It is the hybrid.
Unfortunately, that means a quick science lesson. Hybrids are, as the name suggests, motors which use a mix of petrol and electricity to get you moving, with the
Toyota's 1.8 litre lump doing the sterling job of not only moving you about, but also helping to charge an electric battery, which in turn helps with the duties of swooshing along silently in traffic and in low speed parking manouveres.
Cast your eyes over the latest version, the third generation of the car, and it's definitely a love or hate job. Some of my passengers were instantly put off by the unusual proportions but to my mind it's the best looking Toyota hybrid to date, ditching the dowdy looks of its predecessor in favour of some crisp detailing, like the edgy headlights and alloy wheels.
It's the same story on the inside, which looks more like the cockpit of a spaceship than a rival to the Golf or Focus. The dials are replaced with a brilliantly bizarre computerised screen in the middle of that deep dashboard, and the gearstick is a minute, translucent blue affair which you'd swear has been nicked straight off a gaming console.
You have to forget the too-light steering and slightly stodgy handling and concentrate instead on learning the low speed coasting this car loves to get anywhere near the 70 miles to the gallon the Prius can and will do. There's even a game you can play to make it more fun; choose the animated display of the car's energy consumption on your car's Starship Enterprise display panel, and see how long you can get it to run on just electricity.
The Prius is also almost certainly a better bet than the rash of electric-only cars coming later this year, because after 100 miles on a longer trip you'll still be saving the planet long after the ‘leccy-driving do-gooders have run out of battery power and ground silently to a halt.
It's not an exciting car, but it is an impressive one.
As published in The Champion on January 26, 2011
honda shine repainted
great fan of him
Sunday, January 30, 2011
The Anatomy of the Aberdeen Street.
- Essential Services. The driver of the Aberdeen Van EJZ3361 is performing essential services, so may park with impunity on the single line whenever necessary.
- PaveParking. Aware that parking on the single line during normal working hours might attract a fine, the driver of this Aberdeen Van mitigates the harm this may cause to traffic flow (and thus economic growth) by PaveParking his way out of the traffic stream.
- No walking. The pavement is for bins. And temporary signs. And sign stanchions. And all other sorts of
urban cluttervital street furniture which supports motor transport.
Fun in the Forest
We're slightly worried that even our papers, like the Daily Telegraph, are expressing doubts. But frankly we don't care that much about dog walking, horse riding or other daytime leisure activities.
Some people may think we would be in favour of cutting down the trees, putting in more shopping malls, new suburbs. Motorways. But remember, we are part of a big society that uses those forests for night time activities too.
Who hasn't nipped up the M4, over the old bridge and up to the Forest of Dean, pulled in one of the laybys and had an intimate encounter with a complete stranger from time to time? It doesn't matter about your sexual preferences, it's classless: MP, priest, van driver, housewife, TV presenter of football or car shows -it's all the same in the dark. Anonymous entertainment, with only the bridge tax to stop us doing more than three or four times a week.
And with our van being a roaming retail outlet for the city's sex life's accessories, those trips can a big business for us. Selling safe sex accessories in the 'dean can be a nice little earner -some of those TV presenters have been round the block a few times, and you need all the protection we can sell you.
The proposals to sell of the country's forest to the highest bidder will interfere with small businesses all round the country.
There's a national campaign against this organising a petition; everyone should sign. There's also a local group, Hands off our Forest, working for the Forest of Dean itself.
These people have been very active, and have this lovely quote from their conservative MP Mark Harper on Jan 3 2011:
there are not and never have been any plans to sell off the Forest of Dean to developers who would cut down the Forest to replace it with recreation parks.This is beautiful. If they say, sell off half the forest to developers who cut it down and replace it with recreation parks, the MP was being honest. If they say, sell of the entire forest, cut it down and replace it with suburban housing estates, the MP can say they were speaking truthfully. And if if they do sell of the entire forest and have it cut down and replaced with recreation parks, provided the documentation shows the planning didn't begin until Jan 4, then again, he was telling the truth at the time.
For some reason it reminds of Bill Clinton's "technically we did not have sex" claims, or Tony Blairs' "The legal opinion was that we didn't need a second resolution". A statement which, from a legal perspective is honest, but means something entirely different at the time. We'll have to remember something similar the next time one of the team's drivers is caught in a compromising situation with a local MP up near the Forest of Dean.
This is why we not only support the Hood campaing, we propose a new slogan for the campaign " Fuck in the forest, not with the forest"
I Got An Email From Snapfish Today
Hi Cliff,
A few weeks ago, you uploaded digital photos to Snapfish. You earned a credit for 0 free 4" x 6" digital camera print in your account, but this credit will expire soon.
I became very excited. I need to act quickly. Like the time Ubawahna was promising me that $1 million for helping him hide from his evil relatives.
Life on the farm was never this exciting until I got a computer. Yea! I just might cancel my Directv. Who needs that when you've got the internet.
Sleeping with the enemy
Which is why we were very concerned to hear about a splinter group that is being formed specifically with the aim of attacking the rights of the motorist to drive where we damn well please. Who else but the tax dodging, lycra lout, cyclists, always whinging about our hard taxed money being spent on cycling "farcilities" that they should be grateful for. It seems that they want cycling infrastructure that is as good as the Dutch model (which, incidentally, we were very disappointed to hear does not involve David Walliams's wife.)
The meeting of this splinter group was in a far away forbidding place designed to strike fear in the heart of any motorist, yet we were spurred on by the recent revelation that the police planted an informer into an environmental activist group. If they could do it then so could we and so we fuelled up the white van and headed east, braving the congestion charge and the danger that we may need to have sex with some of them (despite being confident that they were all certain to be mamils.)
Our fears were realised; not the sex part unfortunately, but the purpose and organisation of this subversive organisation. Calling themselves the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain, it was a group of diverse, passionate and probably even intelligent people that are trying to take road space away from the motorist and give it to pedestrians, cyclists and communities. We were disturbed that there were so many attendees and as far as we could tell, not one of them was actually wearing lycra (apart from us trying to blend in), in fact the ringleader was wearing a suit!
It may be humble beginnings but we really fear that this group could actually make a difference with this manifesto. Whatever you do, do not encourage this behaviour or talk about the set up of their "Embassy" or before you know it there will be 20mph zones and no pavement parking for starters.
Do you really want this to happen to Bristol's gloriously car centric streets?
Jan 30: republic day
There's a probably lesson there, if only we could think of it.
But for now, the next person you greet today, say "Happy Republic Day!". We can start a new tradition.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Question for the folks using Google Reader
Anyone have a similar issue?
Thanks!
Red Bull? We thought they were on our side!
This sounds quite fun, we thought we could join in with the van. We swing past the racers, cut in and park on the uphill side of the road to do a delivery gambit, helping to get our main line of business -discreet delivery of sex toys to all parts of the city- a bit of publicity. But it will not be.
Red Bull, whose side are you on? You sponsor a formula 1 team, the cars above, yet now you seem to think encouraging cycling will keep your business going. This fills us with resentment and fear
Friday, January 28, 2011
Bike Parking Rollout
- These are all paid parking spaces that are being taken away, and who pays to park? Only losers who don't know the secret places.
- By not building the bike racks on the pavements, they are keeping them clear for our vans.
When Top Gear used to have facts in it
THE chap at the bar, despite being someone I'd never met before, turned to me and went all car enthusiast on me.
"Where's your Mini, then?" he asked, deducing that as I was in the pub with mates from the local Mini owners' club, my notoriously fickle example would be outside in the car park, rusting quietly.
"Sold it. I've got an MG now," I responded, expecting that to be that, but a glint in his eyes somehow revealed I wasn't getting off that lightly.
"What sort of MG?" he asked.
"An MGB," I said, smug in the knowledge that the MGB, of course, is a proper MG, crafted centuries ago by stout chaps in the actual Morris Garages factory in the good old days. Not for me some Rover 25 with a Halfords bodykit. Unfortunately, I still wasn't going to be let off that lightly.
"What sort of MGB?"
Now usually I'd panic at this point because - as regular readers - will know, I'm a fully committed car enthusiast but not one who actually knows anything about how cars actually work. This could be a proper grilling from someone who actually knows how carburettors work. This could be embarrassing.
Luckily, the night before, I'd watched an old Public Information Film, which usually cover things like the Highway Code and why not to fish next to electricity pylons, but in this case it was an old Top Gear clip I'd found which might as well have been called Things you should know if you're about to get grilled by an MGB enthusiast. For once, I've actually learned something!
I'd like to lie and show you this clip I found on YouTube for the benefit of everyone who has even a vague interest in old sports cars, but really it's for the benefit of my dad, who despite knowing a trillion times more about cars than I do admits even he's got gaps in his knowledge of Britain's best selling roadster.
What's more, it's from an episode of proper Top Gear from ye olden days, so you get the idyllic image of an enthusiastic bumble through the countryside and some facts.
So there you have it, Mr Man at the Bar; I own a '72 GT in Harvest Gold with the 1.8 litre, BMC B-Series engine, four speed box with the desirable Overdrive option, Webasto sunroof and Rostyle steel wheels.
What's more, it's nearly finished and there's a summer of blasting it down country roads in the sunshine just a few months away. I can't wait.
I'm Jealous... "Barn Find" Reader ride RD400 Daytona from Seattle.
Steve,
Here are a couple pictures of the RD400 I just picked up. It has been sitting since 1992 and is in pretty decent shape. There is some chrome pitting and a bit of rust here and there but over all it’s a diamond in the rough. It only has 4880 original miles on it. It still has the stock tires. Wow.
I plan on cleaning it up but keeping it stock. I’ll send more pictures as I tear into it.
Chris in Seattle
That's one heck of a find! Congrats!
Reader Ride. An Oregon S2 Daily Rider!
Well the seat is torn but its my transportation on a dry day! best sounding bike in town.
Cheers
Long live kawi triples!
Nice rider Alex. Doesn't need much at all and seat covers are available! Take care of those pipes. They're not exactly common!