Mallard

I found out who it was and, while I didn't know him personally, he did have quite a bit of driving experience. From the sounds of it, he has been driving a lot of Vipers, so it's not a case of someone that just happened to get ahold of one for the first time. It is a good thing that no one else was hurt, but it didn't have to end like this either.

I will say that if it was an engineer he could have been stopping for any number of reasons. Cars with M plates are driven in order to find issues, so it doesn't necessarily mean he was out joining. He could have been starting or stopping any number of data recorders, looking at something that had just happened, taken a phone call, etc. Also, the Viper is a very low car and the windshield is hardly structural. A cable will cut through that fairly easily without going extreme speeds. Not making excuses for the guy, but giving him the benefit of the doubt until more is released.

http://jalopnik.com/this-is-the-first-2013-srt-viper-to-crash-on-a-public-r-472880453 The description of the accident scene is gruesome. I never liked these barriers because they're like a cheese grader for bikers, but they don't work that well for cars either. I'm hoping I don't know who this was, since I used to work with a lot of the SRT guys.

It's an HP Touchpad with CM9 (Andriod). I'm basically looking for anything I can get that will keep him quiet on the plane. He love SpongeBob, but I've been looking for any children's show (Sesame Street, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, etc). I'll be happy with a variety of anything at this point. It could be a long flight to Hawaii.

We're taking a family trip soon and it includes a few long plane rides. I'm trying to load up a tablet with as many games and video's as possible so I can keep him entertained. Does anyone know a place where I can download kids tv shows (cartoons, sesame street, etc.)? Is there an easy way to download content off of YouTube? I see there a a few different programs that I could download that would do this, but has anyone used one of these.

Well, to be fair, you can get a Cadillac ATS 2.0LT (260HP/260 ft-lbs) with a 6-speed manual for $34k too. No manual with AWD either, though.

...well that escalated quickly....

Lol @ RC K9's comment on his FB. "How's the block coming? Are all the gussets done yet?" (or something to the effect) Who the hell decides to weld on a Lambo engine block? Maybe he needs it when he makes 1000 n/a HP.

I get this magazine at work. Does anyone want to work some photoshop magic? http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h92/mallard1055/NASA.jpg

Still have to start in the intro's forum for a few days. D'oh.

Nice job! I love that color.

For those that have no fucking clue that this is based on a true story... http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_x1w9f3kXWq8/TITz30kjqPI/AAAAAAAABhI/R2sEp4Juh0M/s1600/Lauda+crash.jpg http://mpomy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20110623forma1nik2.jpg http://www.gudangmoge.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/wpid-La-pelicula-Rush-narrara-la-vida-de-niki-lauda.jpg http://www.yallaf1.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Niki-Lauda-Nurburgring-1976.jpg

It can also be the difference between detecting a different hue between two colors, so we would see it as one color, but the more sensitive would be able to distinguish it from others that all appear the same to us. I was reading an article a couple months ago where they are investigating how some women have a 4th cone, they developed a test to see if they could in fact see a different hue, and they found one women who could do it 100% of the time. IIRC, the genetics of it are it has to be the daughter of a color blind man, or something like that. edit: found the article http://www.discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/06-humans-with-super-human-vision#.UWVeJKKmhpk /non-lol

Except this story is real.

Yes. I can't wait to see it, but I'll have to wait for DVD. It sounds like they stayed pretty true to the actual events, which is still an incredible story.

That's exactly what I was thinking too.

Did the shop do a compression test after installing the new head? What's causing the loss of compression? Were the cams installed correctly?

I guess my point was that the government/federal regulations and management crap have nothing to do with the long development time in order to get a vehicle on the market. It has to do more with the engineering involved and the long lead times associated with sourcing components in large volumes.

1st, the picture is of a concept from over a year ago, so I would not hold my breath on that being the Chevelle. 2nd, with the Chevy SS coming out, why wouldn't a coupe version of that be the Chevelle? 3rd, with the new TT V6 coming out in the CTS there has been a rumor of an Alpha-based Buick, which would revive the GN and GNX nameplate. This holds water because Mark Reuss's father was partially responsible for the original GNX.

It's still an art, but the tools have and will continue to evolve. As Draco said, cars today may be easier to get big gains out of with simple changes, and today's ECU's may have made it easier to mod. Then again, they are getting increasingly complex and a tuner needs to know what he's doing. It also takes an experienced coder to hack the stock ECU, which will continue to get more difficult to do. In the past a guy with simple tools, a grinder, and a welder in his garage could modify almost anything on his car. But today you need a computer, as well as well designed hardware. Future tuners will have access to CAD, CFD, 3D printers, and simple CNC's. To me, that's just as much an art as the methods of the past.

Haven't heard much from them lately. There's no denying the performance of this car (even if it's grossly over priced), but the Veyron is still the better car.

I wouldn't say the long development time is due to government regulations, but it's more about setting up the supply chain in order to deliver thousands of parts per year. Sure this is a bigger issue with a large volume vehicle that's built in volumes of 300k+, but it's still an issue with a small volume car like this. There are a lot of ECU's in a vehicle like this, some which may have long lead times on certain processors, then once the design is finalized it has to go through testing, and not to mention tuning of the vehicle. One part my company orders has a 9+ month lead time. Granted, that's for a small volume order and it could get shorter if we ordered higher volume, but the point is it's nite like driving over to Micro Center and buying a USB drive.

The only way that MY17 is going to happen is if they platform share with the BRZ, and they would still have to really f-ing hurry. MY17 projects are out for quote at suppliers now. By the end of the summer the window on MY17 is gone.

I seriously can't stop thinking about the hand thing. I walked into the lab at work today and said, "Hey, you guys doin the hand thing?" and they all looked at me like I'm stupid.

It may not be easily delete-able, but it doesn't mean you can't work with or around it. The hybrid drive has no traditional starter, so the electric assist motor cranks the engine on start up, but can also act as a generator. It can drive the wheels directly, or it can provide an assist. Once someone hacks the ECU you'll be able to do what you want. I think this relates well to the "golden age of modding" thread. The tune market will never disappear, but the tools and education of tunes will change.