Hill climbing? That's what you usually have separate rear hand brakes for, so you can lock up a wheel and spin the car through the gates... IIRC, they're called fiddle brakes. Google says yes: http://www.milneroffroad.com/fiddle.htm
The joys of living in caterham, being teased by the r500 in the showroom when you walk past it! One day.....
Not quite - I remember it used to be done in car parks etc, with a time-trial course of varying degrees of difficulty with stuff like slalom'ing in and out of cones, reverse handbrake turns etc. against the clock.
Well, if it's all tight turns and stuff, fiddle brakes would still be what you need. They'd be very useful in shopping centres when baddies in Corvettes are after you...
I'm still hoping they get there hands on the Levante now that will be fun. (plus I'm currently dying to get my hands on Evo magazine out tomorrow for first drive of the 370Z)
Hill Climbing has many forms. The one I know is where you start at the bottom and end at the top and go as fast as possible along a tarmac track. My dad does it in a custom built single seater with a motorbike engine. He used to race at Harewood Hillclimb near Leeds but now at Gurston Down.
I would like to ask the Hammond haters here just how many other TV presenters they can think of who have:- 1: Ploughed a field? 2: At nearly 300mph? 3: WITH THEIR FACE? I say Hammond has paid his dues, and deserves his place on the show!
i like hammond. he is absolutely necessary to keep clarksons ego in check and to liven up may every now and then. without hammond, it would just become the "jeremy clarkson ego hour", and i wouldn't watch it.
Jeremy Clarkson ego hour would be entertaining for an hour or so, but afterwards no thanks. Hammon isn't such a puppet, he likes different cars than Jeremy, more American muscle cars which is good for diversity. When Jeremy was ripping on Hammond about his Morgan with the timber in the roof, it immediately made me think of his S class Ann Hathaways cottage Mercedes
i haven't seen this episode yet due to iplayer not working for me is anyone else experiencing iplayer not working also? it just brings up not working try later and has been the same since sunday
First ten minutes of the show were just brilliant. Epic response to the Morris Marina club. Also loved the tone of his voice while they had the rocking chair, when he said "lets not dwell on 'oo killed 'oo" Instantly reminded me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They really ripped on Jeremy, great episode altogether.
i thought jeremy was a too hard on the tesla. and the leno bit was kinda awkward. leno seemed patronizing toward james, and james was a little patronizing toward leno. now i have to wait until after christmas for more
I agree about the Tesla. Jezza said it was "the first electric car anyone would consider buying." This implies there will be more "worth buying", and that they will be better. I'm waiting for the Tesla F (fuel cell version) that is sure to be in the pipeline somewhere.
Yes, was disapointed at the treatment of the Tesla. They didn't mention that you're not really supposed to charge it with a 13 amp plug... IIRC, Tesla have been installing 3 phase charging posts at the owners homes as part of the car package, and this charges it considerably quicker. And with them conking out - well - what do you expect, hooning around the track like that? If you did the same thing in say any super car, you'd be in the same boat - running out of go juice and having to refuel. It's just a bit more convinient to fill a tank that charge the car. The Honda is a great technical achievement - the first real production fuel cell car - but they (namely James) touched on the difficulties of creating the hydrogen required. "Its difficult to scrape off the other stuff" I believe was what they said. They didn't mention that the majority of Hydrogen produced in the world is from Hydrocarbon sources - i.e Oil or Gas. Splitting water for H is very energy intensive, and uses more power than it would create when used in a fuel cell. I still think batteries are the way to go. We're just about there on the capacity / range, we just need a better way of charging them. I did read about a system using a replacable liquid electrolyte, that can be drained and refilled in a matter of minutes, at a recognisable "fuel pump". It also recharged at home via the plug, and had regen braking. But out on the road, and low on juice? Pull in to the station, fill her up and you have another 300 miles. Jay had the right idea though. Whatever does provide the energy for our electric cars (they will be electric, lets face it), it'll save our weekend V8's
I read an interesting article a few months ago and it said there basically wasn't enough economically recoverable lithium in the world to convert the current (equivalent) car fleet to run on (li-ion) batteries. Hydrogen is the way to go for all its problems at least the energy for it can be produced from renewables nukes unlike petrol. I haven't seen the electrolyte idea, you got a link for it?
