All the bolt on and tweaks which allegedly can make a standard production car more efficient than the manufacturer without having any downside to it have always been regarded with suspicion by myself.
However..... We have all noticed how much better a car runs (mainly petrol) on a cold wet night. This is obviously because combustion is helped by the air being denser, containing more oxygen and contributing to volumetric efficency.
Some large industrial boilers have incorporated this into design for efficiency purposes in the past.
Some years ago there were ads for a bolt on device which incorporated this system.
I also recall something on TVs Tomorrows World or something similar about this time.
Has anyone any experience of this device or if it worked.
If Chris's perpetual motion idea fails to materialise perhaps he could turn his inventive genius in this direction.
Alvin Read more

When Virginia motorist Ron Kronk was cited for a traffic violation recently, he was more than a little surprised. But when he found a second violation notice in the same mailing, also based on hidden camera pictures, he was sure there was something wrong.

The notifications he received bore the same photo, but cited different locations.

"The pictures are the same, everything else is different," said Kronk, who first told the story to Chris Core of WMAL radio in Washington, D.C.

The first violation notification claimed Kronk ran a red light at the corner of Wilson Boulevard and North Lynn in Arlington on Aug. 24. The second notice said he ran a light at the corner of Jefferson Davis Highway and 27th Street in northern Virginia on the same day - but showed the same photo.

"I'm going to court on this because I figure if the computer made one mistake, it can make two," said Kronk, a construction worker who will not receive financial compensation from his company when he takes time off to appear for a scheduled court appearance Dec. 7.

A spokesman for the Arlington Police Department said if Kronk supplies him with the data, the department would investigate the matter. "If a mistake has been made, it will be corrected," the spokesman said.

However, Kronk's case provides ammunition to a growing number of opponents of traffic cameras, who say the cameras impinge on people's freedom without enhancing safety.

"You're supposed to be able to face your accuser in court, but with these cameras, the accuser is a camera. There's no officer who can observe and testify as to what actually happened, just an automated device that may or may not be accurate," said James Plummer, a spokesman for the National Consumer Coalition's Privacy Group.

A San Diego judge threw out months of traffic tickets recently because the cameras weren't being operated accurately with regard to the placement of the sensors and the timing of the yellow light.

California Superior Court Judge Ronald Styn ruled Aug. 16 that the cameras do not violate privacy rights, but that they were "untrustworthy and unreliable." Vehicle owners received tickets even though the photo does not identify them. The system suffered from a "total lack of oversight," he said.

Styn ordered city officials to appear in court to make their case for installing cameras. The hearing, originally scheduled for Aug. 31, was postponed to Sept. 4.

Cameras are becoming more popular with state and local governments as a means to generate revenue. In the 10 days following installation of a camera system in the District of Columbia, cameras generated 15,000 tickets. District officials said they expect the cameras to generate $10 million in additional revenue annually.

Responding to criticism, District officials are seeking to set up a fixed-fee deal with a private operator of the cameras, instead of the current arrangement in which the contractor, Lockheed Martin, receives a cut of every fine paid.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) and the American Civil Liberties Union say cameras violate constitutional privacy and due process rights.

"There is only one answer to the so-called red-light running crisis," Armey testified before a House Transportation Subcommittee on July 31. "It's called sound engineering. It's called putting cops on the beat in the midst of our community to do their job."

Judge Styn said cameras enhance safety on the streets. "There is no question that there is a legitimate governmental purpose in installing red light cameras to promote safety on highways," he said.

Tucker from the National Consumer Coalition said a safety argument can be made, "But you know what Ben Franklin said about those who are willing to give up liberty for safety - eventually [they're] going to have neither. I think that's something very important to look at."

"And as far as safety goes, there are always unintended consequences where people who are so afraid of getting snapped by one of these red light cameras will stop short on a yellow light and the car behind them might not. That creates a different safety problem. So there are definitely downsides to it, even just looking at the safety side," Tucker said. Read more

At the last count there where thirty nine answers to Chris (dipstick) Watsons
stupid letter.I think we are drifting into fantasy island or maybe I am wrong and Star trek is for real And the enterprise is really a turbo lada with morris minor indicators and a volvo 340 perpetual motor as the power plant.I will put on record that if CW can produce any of these vehicles he talks about I will gladly donate a considerable sum to a charity of HJs joice. Read more

An interesting happening this afternoon one tractor pulling a trailer full of straw twice the height as the tractor on a dual carriageway, no warning light on the back but a whirly orange on the front (not seen from behind) and about six driving lights on the front. A mile further on a tractor pulling an empty trailer higher than the tractor same lighting arrangement. now I thought it was a legal requirement to have an orange flashing light visible on a slow moving vehicle on all dual carriageways. But they are not much use just being seen on the front and not the back especially on a dual carriageway. It is hardly little use to drivers approaching them on a single carriageway anyway. So if any tractor/JCB drivers (as the mechanical arms usually obscure the lights on JCBs) are reading this it's the lights at the back what count!! Read more

i am working on a car that is driven by perpetual motion, the only problem is that the does a top speed of 37 mph, i cant get the car to go any slower (37 - mph in a 30 zone means alot of speed tickets), i also cant get it to brake (the engine is always doing 37mph), the good thing is that it costs nothing to run the car. the other thing is a car run by air power. what do people think??? Read more