Curran

The boss has just got herself an Rx8 and as we use what ever car is ready to go I get to share the lexus and the rx8. Both very different cars but it makes a nice change. The lexus is so easy and unfussy smooth etc but the rx8 wheel spins in most gears has an orgasmic engine note and fun to drive. I try not to think about fuel as both cars are under 30mpg and comming from a 55mpg diesel its a bit of a shock. We like the rx8 and have were able to pick up a 04 with 9K on the clock for 16K with an additional 2 year extnded warrentee.

It wasn't UK servicemen in a landy it was a US PrivateSecurityCompany. There is a bigger video I think I saw on www.arsse.co.uk that shows the before and after the ambush and it wasn't squaddies ( unless we are so undersupplied we are using US kit etc and into black tshirts etc

I first looked at gps recievers some time ago (eg early 90's) . If I remember correctly the american gps system has 2 recivers or data streams a rough approximation data the "L" data or the like and the "P" data. the "P" data is encrypted and designed for the US military the other data is available to anyone. The "L" data is subject to Selective availability at the behest of what ever american operational requirements need it to be. from what I saw of this meant that sometimes the cordinates would float around a 100m2 point eg I set it up in the house with a pc data logging and recorded the nema data comming out of the beasty. The intersting thing is when I looked closely at the datasheets for the first gps recievers available at that time eg "rockwell navstar devices" the operational specs for performance basically stated it could predicit its position while travelling up to about 800mph with quite high turn rates. This helped form my understanding of the american gps system background eg designed to support cruise missiles and its requirement for nape of the earth flying. The interesting failing of the reciever was that its height calculation was guarrenteeded never to be better than within 200m odd no matter what the positianal accuracy. As part of the sales blurb to try and get us to design the reciever into a product there was a small statement about the usage and availability of the reciever along hte lines of Due to the cost of getting 22 odd satalites in the sky congress bent the american defense department over the table and extracted a promise that would be available to US civies till I think something like 2007 where upon all agreements would be off and then it was up to the DOD what signals would be available. Of course an entire industry has been setup around gps and I think further promises were extracted. I don't think any US based GPS system can be counted on as life critical eg airbourne or ship navigation because of the fact if your not connected to the US goverment the signal could be turned off. I think because of this and its military connection the EU decided it would launch its own gps system that would be open and something industry could use without fear of it being turned off.

I am guessing it would be around £200 there would be 5 sensors supplied ( eg one for the spare) and a box slightly larger than big mobile phone. the electronics in the "box" has the abiliy to be plugged into a USB port so if there was enough demand it could be made to data log etc. To fit the kit it bascially requires the tyres moved from the alloy a sensor and value stem fitted into the alloy, the tyre put back on etc then balanced etc. Some of these products just have a led to indicate a problem eg low pressure etc but since we are currently working with a nice graphic mobile phone type of display showing individual wheels temperatures and pressures would not be a problem.

I work for a company that specialises in setting up car plants to deal with tire pressure monitors sensors (TPMS). The market is mainly the american market since they have recently passed laws stating that all new cars after I think 2007 have to have tire pressure monitors fitted ( eg 20K deaths a year due to car role overs due to partially deflated tires etc) As a electronic engineer I am currently jumping through hoops designing a hand held tool to allow garages etc to deal with car fitted with these systems. From this work we are in a very good position to develope an in car aftermarket system using the main stream TPM Sensors. Currently the main manufacturers of the tpms do not produce after market kits ( apparantly not enough it it for them) and the only ones I have seen are chinese kits where they use their own designed sensors etc and are supposidly not up to the job according to some automotive profesionals ( US, Korean and German) I have spoken to eg wrong pressures etc and can and do mechanically fail if the car does more than about 80mph For the company I work for its a departure from what we normally do eg very high value systems but not huge numbers to low value items at huge numbers so there is a bit of internal discussion about it the effort is worth it etc. Basically a system has 5 sensors and a reciever which is battery powered and goes in the car cabin. If the tire suffer a pressure or temperature change ( both up and down ) the TPMS start to alarm ( eg send out more messages) and the reciever in the cabin will displays information and more often or not tries to draw the drivers attention to the fact something may be wrong with the tyre by giving off an audiable warning. Each sensor has a unique ID number so from this you can tell which wheel has the problem eg factory sets up the ECU in the US with the ID of the wheel on each corner ( it can make things interesting if you rotate the wheels as some cars need a trip to a suitable dealer to change the ECU settings others have a self learning capability) you can also get other information from the sensor like gas temperature in the wheel/tyre assembly , if the wheel is moving and the direction ( only on certain types of TPMS) the battery life the tpms has left. I have 2 cars with low profile tyres eg the RX8 and a lexus is200 and as a result of nearly damaging a alloy on the lexus due to a nail in the tyre I will get my cars sorted with this kit if we go ahead and design it. Would any one here be interested in this type of equipement ?

the boss has just treated herself to a RX8 ( she fancied a sports car but had her sensible knickers on when she bought it).

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/realwhda.html Saw this on a RX8 forum. shows a DIY job on alloy wheel and it seems to have covered the damage very well

visiting the honda garage nearby saw the business park and went looking for a look around this business park (which seems to be growing all the time), any way on my quick trip round I was amazed to see 2 is250 sat outside this unit. With out doubt lexus has a very popular choice of car in Barnsley

I think that some like me until recently haven't looked at new car costs and have a unrealistic veiw of where lexus may sit in the market. Wasn't it on top gear or fifth gear recently that quoted the top or the range tricked out modeo thingy costing £28K only a small diffenace to a fully tricked out IS250. A mazda rx8 fully tricked out is approx £27K. As for the wrong type of people getting a lexus, if like me you have a is200 and paid less for that, than a new rover 220 sdi in 97( 15K) it doesn't strike me that lexus are there competeting with the german mafia. The car is nice but it is a thirsty thing and anything to make peole look at a car rather than dismiss it as a below 30mpg guzzler is a good move.

there today for an interview without coffee came out and a RX 300 reg S I RGXX was parked next to my jallopy ( dark blue IS200) Where you there also for an interview without coffee (IEE Ceng thingy)

an electronic engineer designing equipement for car tire pressure monitors eg tpms. In the US soon all new cars have to have them fitted as standard and bearing that in mind I am now developing a handtool that can interogate each sensor and get the ID etc then pressure and temperateure of air in the tire. From this hand tool we have to morph it into something that can be sold as an aftermaret system. Fun to be had as I tend to visit a lot or car plants and developement centers.

Is this a london centric thing or does it happen else where ? I have never heard of anyone being carjacked in Yorkshire but I would not be surprised if it did happen. Neither my self or the wife take any precautions when in the car

http://videos.streetfire.net/Player.aspx?f...6DDC8974C5&p=50 didn't know an is could go or sound like this

In my youth I used to marshall at cadwell and on the way there with a group of friends on bikes one hit a car at speed. The car was flipped on its side and moved down the junction. the passenger door was crushed to the gear box tunnel. there was no glass left in the car at all. the diver of the car had been on the pop and driving without insurance and basically thought he could turn in accross the road before the bike could get to him ( boy was that a bad guess) . the rider and pillion went over the car and the rider broke both his arms above and below this elbows and broke loads or ribs as his girlfriend used him as an airbag. I would have thought the rider would have been peeled off the bike and thrown over it

If its wynyard off the a19, there are already cctvs in the area.