September 2006
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News just coming through that The Hamster (Richard Hammond) is in a critical condition in hospital after crashing at 280mph today.
Kevin...
{PeterPerfect, mentions the following link further down in this thread, but it also deserves a mention here as well - DD}
Pistonheads have set up a related donations page for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, which can be found by CLICKING HERE
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If you wish to live and thrive, let the spider run alive.
MD
I took an MT01 for ride today, as per my recent ride on an FZ1 Fazer 1000 I thought one or two of the bikers on here might be interested in the experience.
www.yamaha-motor.co.uk/products/motorcycles/torque...p
To put it in perspective Yamaha market this bike as a big torquey V twin in a totally contemporary chassis. And that is exactly what it is, the chassis is state-of-the-art aluminum alloy with upside down front forks, dual 320mm floating discs clamped by radial calipers, fully adjustable monoshock rear suspension and bespoke Akrapovic under the seat exhausts. On the other hand the engine would be at home in a WW1 aircraft, a 1670cc rather under square air cooled V-twin with pushrod operated valves albeit with four valves per cylinder, the redline starts at a car like, almost diesel like, 5500 rpm and it pushes out a modest (in superbike terms) 90 bhp.
However it is not about power, it is about torque, you can troll along at 1500 rpm in 5th, about 40mph and open the throttle and it sounds like some is firing an Oerlikon twin cannon behind you, you can feel each power stroke, ?dom?, ?dom?, ?dom?, the rate of acceleration increasing as the revs rise and the sound becoming more like a Browning M2 on auto. It produces an immense, for a motorcycle, 150nm torque peaking at 3750 rpm, highish in this low revving engine?s range though the torque curve is very flat so it is probably producing 90% of that at less than 2000 rpm. One result of a large engine in a bike is huge engine braking, useful for rolling on/off the throttle over-takes though I reckon it would be easy to lock the back wheel by going down one gear to many on a wet, greasy road.
Although in car terms probably nothing would stay with it to 100 mph or more, and safe overtaking is just a flick of the wrist, through the gears it feels a little flat compared to four cylinder 1000cc plus bikes simply because the power drops of as it nears the 5500 rpm red line, just where a four cylinder bike would be really getting going.
Very easy to ride, stable, corners on rails, comforable, superb detailing and beautifully finished though really not my kind of bike, rather too many vibes compared to a multi cylinder bike and although full of character I would probably not choose one, on the other hand living with one would not exactly be a hardship!
Regards. Read more
I bought an FZR600 from Infinity in Farborough when it was Motorcycle City.
How much diesel fuel are you legally allowed to store?
Got 5p off a litre at Tescos so thought about filling my 5 gallon plastic tank and car at same time!
Has anyone else tried this?
Cheers, Ian Read more
put the shopping through the checkout
in 2 lots paying seperatly and getting 2 vouchers and use
one at the next tesco fill up? or do they need
to be used that day ?
I don't shop at Tesco, but don't you have to spend over £50 on groceries to get the 5p/litre fuel voucher, or have they changed it? So to get 2 vouchers, you'd have to spend over £100 in the supermarket?
Hello
I have finally decided to go for a new Toyota Aygo+. Its a wee bit over my budget but I am hoping it will last me a good 5 /6 years at least. So it will be worth it in the long run - I hope
I've been on the internet trying to research on them and I see that Peugot has made the diesel engine in the aygo, and there are special offers on diesel aygo ( 1.4 aygo+) . about £300 cheaper than petrol
However the boys I work with have told me bad stories about peugot cars , is this right ? does it apply to disel peugot engines ?
Which would be best to buy ,petrol or diesel ??
thanks folks for all your help recently when I have been looking at cars - hopefully now I have made up my mind and there will be no more stupid girlies questions !! Read more
I'venever heard of drive the deal - are they like motorpoint
- are the cars imports ? is that why they are
so cheap ?
The cars are not imports - ordinary UK spec cars from ordinary UK main dealers.
Drive the Deal are brokers and will put you in touch with a dealer that will sell you the car at a good price. If you click on the link to the right "Week's best deals ..." or the bit where it says "read more" - you will find a link to the Drive the Deal website.
Just got the job of fixing a rear fog light of a Fiat Stilo 2003, 1.4 petrol.
The onboard computer puts a warning in the dashboard saying that the rear fog light has failed.
Fine.
After eventually taking off the nuts and unscrewing the light fittings I can't find this fog light - only 4 light bulbs (breaks, indicator, reverse and side lights). So - assume only one fog light in the car and do the same to the other side - problem! Only 4 light bulbs again.
Thing is - the side lights on the rear have 2 fillaments (not broken) - not sure if there is a hint there? But the Halfords replacement bulb only has one fillament. Hmm..
Does anyone know where the fog light is in this type of car?
Thanks in advance. Read more
The Euro standard Fog/side lamp bulb (designation BAZ) has the pins offset in angle only, not height. However, you can use a 380 (pins offset in height only) if you file off the offending pin. If the holder is adequately designed, the bulb still sits square.
Thanks to this Euro lunacy, there are two types of bulb where one would do, but 30 secs with a file sorts that one out.
659.
Brother in law has a 2002 130hp diesel sports passat. He has the climate control always switched on. According to him if he switches and leaves it off there is a small pool of water under the engine on the passenger side when the car is left standing for a while. He did mention the coolant level goes down a bit as well. He does say this does not happen if he leaves the air con on when driving. is that a common occurance/problem?
I have heard that if the air con is used during summer/hot weather it is normal to see a puddle of water under the car due to condenstation.
any advice/links greatly appreciated Read more
Every car I've had with air-con has left a pool of clear water under car when parked after air-con was used. My last Megane was particulary good at it.
Anyone know the exact rules on wheels/tyres protruding from the cars arches? My wheels are sticking out and the tyre is by a little.
Thanks Read more
Went up to the local MOT place and they do insist that there is nothing in the MOT manual saying that the wheel.tread or anything should NOT stick out of the arch. So no worries it seems!
I've narrowed my choice to replace my rather unreliable Octavia (broken air-con after 6 months - not covered under warranty - and an exhaust that rattles like a samba) with a used Mondeo Mk3 1.8 - at around 4 years old these are amazingly cheap at about £3.5k.
Question is, why are they so cheap - is there something wrong with them ? They seem like such a good car ! Read more
">Is there a huge difference between the Mondeo (Mk3) 1.8 and 2.0?<"
The Mk3 is a big car, the 1.8 struggles, the power-to- weight ratio is poorer than the Mk2 1.8. Get the 2.0.
As a buyer, the field is yours. The last Mondy I bought had sat on a forecourt for 4 months, the locals buy German or 4x4 so the dealer had no chance. The price dropped and there I was at the doorstep. I should have offered even less than I did, but the buying/selling experience is all part of the game.
I just wish it was game I could make some profit from :-( ... or at least reduce my losses.
The majority of people seem to now be diesel-heads - a salesman at a local main dealership told me that 75% of all new cars he sells are diesel. BUT....why?
OK, you get a few more miles to the gallon. But then diesel's more expensive (up to 7p a litre at some places), and common-rail diesels are far more complicated than an average petrol engine, and have a few fundamental problems - high technology at a low price etc etc.
Take a Ford Mondeo as an example. 1.8 Graphite petrol does 0-60 in 10.6 secs, and returns 37mpg. The 2.0TDCi (115ps, same model spec) does 0-60 one tenth of a second faster (hardly worth mentioning), and returns 47mpg (figures taken from Parkers website).
I've sat down and worked out (yes it's sad I know...) that to repay the £984 difference in list price, bearing in mind diesel being around 4p/litre more expensive (as is the case in my neck of the woods), you'd have to cover nearly 50,000 miles before the diesel engine started paying for itself. Add in the higher servicing costs of a diesel, and that figure may well rise to 60-70k.
So, why on earth would Mr Average, who drives 10-12k a year, wish to spend his hard-earnt cash on a diesel, when he won't see any money back for over 4 years, by which point he will have most likely sold the car?! Read more
Diesels, environmentally friendly?
If you think that you are stupid. See link.
www.inlinediesel.com/multimedia/
Then again there is no explaining americans!
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I think that the reaction and coverage over the last two days has been staggering and for Mr Hammond himself quite humbling.
Somebody mentioned to me today that this sort of coverage is simular to Stirling Moss's terrible accident at Goodwood in 1962 when the nation held its breath for several days while Stirling was in hospital and gradually came out of a coma.
Stirling was the nations favourite son then as is Richard today.
Stirling has remained a houshold name some 40 years later and through unfortunate circumstances Richard will be too.