Shuff's General Chat Thread ... #73 - Talk about anything and everything...  

Couldn't pay me enough. Hideous things...

URGENT -- Russia quits International Criminal Court
Updated 1228 GMT (2028 HKT) November 16, 2016

(CNN)Russia will withdraw from the International Criminal Court under a directive signed by President Vladimir Putin, according to a statement released Wednesday from the Russian Legal Information Agency. The president instructed his Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform the UN Secretary General that Russia no longer intends to become a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Developing story - more to come

248 MPH Without A Gearbox: Direct Drive -- /INSIDE KOENIGSEGG
/DRIVE

Published on Nov 16, 2016
On this episode, it's a drivetrain nerd's paradise. Christian Von Koenigsegg talks us through the Direct Drive, gas-electric hybrid system that makes traditional gearing obsolete on the 1,500-hp Koenigsegg Regera.

SUMMERNATS
29 mins ·
DIRECT from DONALD-LAND to Down Under, in their only Australian appearance. STREET OUTLAWS Farmtruck and AZN! Start the new year in top gear at Summernats 30.

BREAKING NEWS: Barring any major catastrophe, episode 14 of Project Binky will be published on Friday 25th November at 8.00pm GMT! Unless you're a Patron and then you get it 24hrs earlier.

1500hp Bathurst Monaro Destroys 25 sets of tyres | Powercruise

all my contacts are rotary related

or more engineering / fabrication related. I'd say contact Ben @ RMS and see what he says, it can't hurt to ask. I believe that he's slowly getting on top of things with him employing a new mechanic to help him.

Where did Doc get all his work done? Cjs or something down southside?

Possibly try Mercury Motorsports.

You remember seeing the news last week about that Japanese sinkhole? Well they repaired it in TWO minutes, how good is that?



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^^^not sure why the videos so long, must be an editing error, or something hasn't rendered properly.

Everyone loves Grand Tour… except the bitter BBC! ‘Crybaby’ corporation is mocked over pompous review dismissing Clarkson’s £160m new show as ‘uncomfortably hubristic’

Jeremy Clarkson's new motoring show launched on Amazon Prime ahead of schedule last night
Opening £2.5m three minute sequence wowed fans and started with a joke about his sacking from the BBC
BBC Arts Editor's review said show was 'uncomfortably hubristic' and suggested a rift between its stars
James May says they're 'thrilled' after 'flattering' reviews, admitting leaving Top Gear behind was 'relief'
Clarkson admits Amazon are unlikely to fire him before cracking jokes about gypsies and animal sex
First episode - the Holy Trinity - sent fans wild as they took to Twitter to praise its opening scenes
In new 12-part series Clarkson teams up with pals Richard Hammond and James May for more antics

Jeremy Clarkson's new £160million Grand Tour show started with a series of jokes about being sacked by the BBC, whose top arts journalist has today been accused of writing a 'crybaby' review.

Fans have been enthralled by the cars, the explosions, daring stunts and the string of politically incorrect jokes that would make his former bosses panic.

The hour-long episode has also received a string of five-star reviews and James May said today that they were all 'flattered and relieved' that fans have already declared it is better than their own Top Gear, which has since floundered without them.

But BBC's Arts Editor Will Gompertz said it was 'uncomfortably hubristic', compared it to a middle-aged sitcom and suggested there was a rift between its stars.

He said: 'May seems more out of sorts. Clarkson has repeatedly said during his round of interviews to promote the programme how much he hates his co-presenters. The screen chemistry between him and May suggests there's a ring of truth about Clarkson's claim, which is not much fun to watch'.

In the opening three minute sequence - rumoured to have cost £2.5 million - Clarkson re-enacts leaving BBC Broadcasting House in the pouring rain after his dismissal for punching producer Oisin Tymon over a steak dinner.

It ends on a stage in the Mojave Desert in California, after Clarkson, May and Richard Hammond are accompanied by 150 cars worth a total of £150million, an army of 2,000 fans and a live band.

Fans loved it, but Mr Gompertz is less keen, writing: 'It opens with a scene so over-the-top and opulent you'd think that the Prince Regent was behind the camera. The cheesy smiles are not a set up to a joke, but a precursor to them taking to the stage in the manner of rock stars on tour. A huge crowd of cheering fans has amassed at their feet. There is no irony. It feels uncomfortably hubristic'.

Within minutes of the review being published Mr Gompertz was criticised online, with @Ana_Mitras tweeting: '@WillGompertzBBC review of @thegrandtour : bias, crybaby journalism'. Simon Lucas said: '@WillGompertzBBC strange how the rest of the critics loved @thegrandtour but the good old beeb full off bitterness writes this garbage'. Others suggested the BBC was 'obsessing' over the success of the new show.

Hillary Clinton's Popular Vote Lead Over Donald Trump Now Exceeds 1.5 Million Votes

It's been nearly two weeks since the November 8 general election, but the results have not remained static as ballots continue to be counted.

While the number of votes for both president-elect Donald Trump and his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton continue to increase, the gap is widening, with Clinton expanding her popular vote lead over Trump.

According to new figures released by The Associated Press on Saturday, Clinton received more than 1.5 million votes than her Republican rival.

As of Saturday, Clinton had received 63,390,669 votes, while Trump received 61,820,845 votes -- a difference of 1,569,824, according to The AP.

THIS GUY JUST WON A RACE WHILE SLIDING ON HIS ROOF! FIA GT WORLD CUP 2016!
by Jeremy | November 20, 2016
crashracingwreck


Laurens Vanthoor pulled off an improbable feat at the FIA GT World Cup by winning the very race he crashed out of. Vanthoor was leading the race in his Audi R8 when he was overtaken by the Porsche of Earl Bamber. As the pair entered a high speed right turn, Vanthoor pushed his Audi too far to the inside and upset the cars balance, sending it skidding across the track and into the left retaining wall. The impact sent the nose of the R8 into the air, sending the German exotic flipping onto its roof and skidding down the straightaway. The other racers have to take evasive action to avoid impacting the inverted Audi, which eventually skids to a halt well down the straight.

After a few tense moments, Vanthoor would climb from the wreckage and walk away, seemingly uninjured in the tumble. In an unlikely turn of events, the crash caused enough damage to the retaining wall to cause the officials to call the race, meaning the scoring would be ended at the end of the lap before the crash. Since Vanthoor was in the lead at the end of that lap, he would be declared the winner of the race, despite being the lone car involved in the crash that ended the event.

WILD RIDE Rotary RX7 - Layin Bacon Strips
1320video

Published on Nov 17, 2016
Over 1,000HP out of a 1.3L Rotary engine is absolutely INSANE. Laying it down, is an even more difficult task when you have the FACTORY IRS suspension. Len Bacon wasn’t afraid of this challenge, which he seemed to enjoy as the car continuously gets more and more ROWDY while SKATING down Maryland International Dragway! World Cup Finals is definitely the home of the widest array of BADA$$ cars we see likely all year long!
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Comment: The Australian Overtake… and why we shouldn’t be proud of it

Practical Motoring
Robert Pepper

There's an overtaking manoeuvre unique to Australia, and it's nothing to be proud of.

So there you are, cruising at 100km/h exactly on the freeway, in the middle of three lanes. Ahead is another driver doing 98km/h, and eventually you draw close enough for an overtake.

In order to pass you might pull out when you're say five car lengths behind, and maybe pull in when you're five ahead. Call it ten all up, or about 50m.

That overtake at a speed difference of 2km/h means you'll need 90 seconds to get past, over which you'll travel 2.5km. And that's assuming you maintain an even 2km/h overtake rate. The car being overtaken might speed up just a fraction, or you may slow down a touch. Then you're in overtaking limbo...unable to complete the overtake, but unwilling to drop back and start again. You certainly don't want to increase speed to say 103km/h as you run the risk of a fine. Instead, you're side by side with the other car for the rest of eternity, a dual-lane rolling blockage.

This scenario does not make for safe, efficient or stress-free driving, but it is the Australian Overtake and it is a problem.

Aside from the frustration of both drivers involved in the overtake, when someone else comes up behind you they have to wait a long, long time before they can get past, which is why passing on the left - undertaking - happens. Undertakes are not safe, but they're very common in Australia because of the Australian Overtake. The driver behind could also slow down and wait, and some will wag sanctimonious fingers, saying that's what should happen.

Back in reality - if someone is travelling at say 102km/h they aren't likely to want to drop to 97 or lower just because there's a blockage ahead, and that's a simple fact of human nature. And even if they did, then their slowing down will cause the car behind to slow down a bit more, then the car behind that a bit more again, and that's exactly how traffic jams build up over time.

Now let's say this trio of cars - two in the Australian Overtake, and one behind - happen upon another car which is doing say 95km/h in the middle lane. The original car being overtaken either has to speed up to get around the slower car, or drop their speed further, or change lanes. None of these are good options.

All of these problems can be sheeted home to the fact that in Australia, we have 95% of drivers trying to drive between 96 and 103km/h, so overtaking takes a long time, frustrations run high and freeway blockages are frequent.

Is there a better way you may wonder? Well, yes there is and we need only look at Europe. I know how that works because I lived there for years and drove about 100,000km a year around the place. European freeway speed limits are typically 120 or 130km/h, and people cruise between 100 and 150km/h. Yes, above and below the limit. European freeways are giant proof that if speed limit tolerances are increased not everyone will take advantage. And Europe has a greater volume of cars than we do. Australians think they know traffic jams, but that's like Europeans thinking they understand heat.

This is how proper freeway driving works: you're cruising at 120, passing a bunch of cars doing 110. At at 10km/h overtake rate it's only 18 seconds to overtake and 600m even at 120km/h. A faster car from behind appears, doing 140. In Australia, you ignore them and turn on the hate, mentally composing a 'every other driver on the planet is a tool' Facebook post. In Europe, you wait for a gap in the slower lane, nip in and let the faster car by. In return, the faster car scoots through, overtaking in a matter of seconds, allowing you to come back out into your original lane without you needing to slow down at all, before you catch the car in front. It's a maneuver of beauty and I love it no matter which side of it I'm on. But in Australia you can't do it as the relative speeds aren't great enough.

The only time I've ever under-taken a car is in Australia, because it was either that or sit at 85 in a 100 zone. Never, ever in all those kilometres of driving across Europe and the UK did I even feel the need to under-take let alone actually do it. Surely that says something about our freeway culture?

Another example. In Europe, if someone really wants to crack on they drive in the fast lane with their left indicator on (Europe, remember). This is a signal to say please let me through fast, and people do let them through. In return, that driver then really has to overtake quickly because they've advertised their intent, and they do. It works. Nobody's ego is broken, and everyone moves that bit quicker. Now in Australia, what's going to happen if a car sits behind you with the right indicator on? It'd be melted by the hating.

The Australian Overtake is frustrating, inefficient and potentially dangerous. The solution is simple. A freeway where people can drive a range of speeds is more efficient and less frustrating than one where everyone is trying to drive at exactly the same speed. Just take a drive around Europe's freeways and you'll see for yourself.

Logan Enhancement Project - Final Design Flythrough
go via network

Uploaded on Nov 21, 2016
The Queensland Government has approved Transurban Queensland’s $512 million Logan Enhancement Project to proceed to detailed design and construction.