Recent content by barryh

Sounds like they are thermally imaging the mirrors and then applying localised heating at the edges to even out the temperature which corrects any thermal distortion. Sounds like a negative feedback control analogous to active mirrors on telescopes that also correct for thermal distortion.

This headline says it all: Football 1 Felons 0 Spain win World Cup in triumph of football over Argentine thuggery.

Excellent game, played, won and lost in a good natured spirit in the starkest possible contrast to Argentina. That was as enlightening as the football itself.

When I was growing up in the 60's as one of 5 kids, a bench seat in the front and a column gear change was the only way of getting 2 adults and 5 kids in the car. 3 in the front and 4 in the back.

I ran my 79 BMW motorcycle on good quality car oil for 18 years. With a separate gearbox oil there was no reason to do any different. Motorcycle and scooter oil is usually sold in small over priced containers.

It would need to be more than a 10% pressure increase to get 1% improvement in mpg and even then it's subject to a law of diminishing returns with subsequent increases in pressure producing smaller gains in mpg. If the manufacturers recommended pressures have already been upped to chase fuel...

I didn't realise there were no statistics yet. For what's worth here are the European grades which show quite a range of rolling resistance from best. to worst. In practice almost all normal road tyres fall into grades A to E but that's still a 4.6% difference in fuel usage. Would I be right...

At the very least I would want to service a car several weeks before a long trip to give it chance for a few shake down runs to make sure everything is OK. I don't think age has much do do with the issue for a vehicle in good order and in regular use. The one and only time my 47 year old...

. Rolling resistance will likely make the most impact. A few lbs extra tyre weight will make some small difference to acceleration and therefore fuel use but it's hardly going to be measurable. Do you know what the difference in rolling resistance is either in grades or in rolling resistance...

In the UK, kick off was due at 1.00am. I slept from 10.30pm with an alarm for 1.00 am only to find kick off put back to 2.00am. Went back to bed and I got up again having missed the start but in time for Bellingham's 2 goals. It was daylight at 4.00am before I went back to bed and I was tired...

I replace rotors when they reach the minimum stated thickness and they'll go though several sets of pads before that happens. I see no reason to replace them prematurely just because.

They do say the universe is flat but they are not describing the shape of it. I find it a very confusing description because they mean it's Euclidean geometry is flat (i.e. parallel lines don't meet) rather than 2 dimensionally flat.

It's not about how long a turbo takes to spool down but about how long it takes to cool down so that it doesn't cook the oil after switch off. With modern oils that's not the problem it once was but it's still good practice to idle the turbo for a few secs if the engine has been under heavy load...

I would agree with that because you need to anticipate gear changes by reading the road ahead

I've used sat nav only twice in the last 18 months and both times only because I was lost due to a detour from the intended route. Planning the optimum route on a long trip is part of the fun. Been driving a 6 speed manual for the last 18 months too after 26 years in autos. I have a theory...