McLaren dashboard comes to RunKeeper March 17, 2010
Posted by richard in : Technology, What I learned today , add a commentRUNKEEPER seems to have now done it – installed live tracking so joggers can stream what McLaren F1 now streams!
On Sunday, I ran the Silverstone Half Marathon. The RunKeeper profile this generated at the end is staggeringly fascinating for running geeks like me. And those who like to see wiggly maps of F1 GP circuits (like me again, then).
What I was trying to do, though, was let people watch my run live. When I started, they would see my GPS plot, and then track my pained progress as I hobbled around the course.
Alas, the functionality wasn’t quite there: the report was only generated once I’d finished.
Would you believe, 2 days later, RunKeeper launches this exact facility! This video explains all: more briefly though, it basically does what the genius McLaren dashboard does.
Sure, my runs are waaaay less interesting than a F1 car in action – but it’s still a really cool feature that YOU can integrate into YOUR fitness schedule.
So, if you were wowed by the McLaren F1 dashboard over the weekend, now’s your opportunity to do the same. Next event I run, I’ll be sure to try it out…
McLaren F1 dashboard on the cheap
BMW drive back advice March 16, 2010
Posted by richard in : Minutiae of cars, flickr , add a commentBMW is launching the new 5 Series this week – and, on Friday, I’m driving one of the Brit cars back to the UK.
It will be a 24-hour flurry from the South of France to the Middle of England. Plans are afoot to blog it, photograph it, film it and Tweet about it.
Question is… what would YOU like to know? I have a day with the new 5, and will be putting 1000 miles on it. In that time, is there anything you’d like me to investigate?
I’ll also be speaking with the BMW chaps before I depart for home: any burning questions you have? Any details on the 5 you simply have to know, that I could possibly help with?
If so, drop me a line, and I promise to do my very best… join in now for your 5 questions (hopefully) answered!
BMW Z4 has 3 Series Convertible to thank
McLaren F1 dashboard on the cheap March 13, 2010
Posted by richard in : Motorsport, Technology , 1 comment so farF1 cars round Silverstone are being replaced for one weekend, by a few thousand bats people.
Among the throngs will be yours truly: yep, I’m entering the Silverstone Half Marathon.
Inconvenient, this, in so many ways – such as, for example, the fact I will probably fall apart by the end of it. Chief inconvenience, though, is the start time of the race. 12 noon.
Yes! Not only is it on the same day as the 1st F1 race of 2010, it is on at the same time. Groan. My only vain hope is that the good men of the BRDC pipe out the race through the race commentator speakers.
Here’s something, though: thanks to McLaren’s brilliant race dashboard, F1 has gone all ubertech for 2010. It’s now possible to track JB and Lewis in Real Time – see where they are, how fast they’re going, all sorts of stuff. This got me thinking…
… who fancies tracking my pained progress tomorrow? If you’ve got the computer up for the F1, maybe you could also pop open a window to check I don’t keel over en route?
Via the magic of Runkeeper, you’ll (hopefully) be able to do this.
I’ll be strapping the iPhone to my arm and, as the lights go out bloke with an air horn honks, I’ll press ‘go’. For, my lo-fi version of the McLaren F1 dashboard, on foot!
May work, may not… just in case, I’ll be posting updates on my blog while I’m not in action, checking on via Foursquare and Tweeting on the canny #f1silverstonerun.
About a billion people entered this last year, so I am in a small way looking forward to it. Mostly though, I’m dreading it. Share in my pain tomorrow, if you fancy a giggle…
View Silverstone from up on high!
I’m not the only one running – and so far, DealDrivers’ John has raised £750!
Citroen DS3 Racing past March 11, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Minutiae of cars, Motorsport , add a commentWHY only 1000 Citroen DS3 Racings, I asked the Citroen man at the Geneva Motor Show.
Surely you could make it a permanent addition to the range, underlining its MINI John Cooper Works-challenging status?
The reason why, he revealed, was a blast from the past. It’s a mainstream maker’s homologation special. Like the Ford Escort RS 1600i, like the Alfa Romeo 155 Silverstone, like the Mercedes 190 Evolution. And thus, for me, cool.
It’s even diverted off the production line for final finishing: Citroen Racing (for it is they) send the instructions to the production line men, who add on a ‘parts kit’ of bits that turn a standard DSport into a DS3 Racing.
Changes include:
• Stiffer springs, lowered by 15mm
• New-spec front and rear dampers
• 30mm wider track front and rear
• 4-piston brake calipers
• Drilled rear brake discs
• 18-inch alloys
• Wing extensions
• Carbon-fibre air diffuser
• Remapping software for EPAS and ESP (including ‘off’ button)
Chuck in an interior makeover and STRICT limitations to 1000 units, and you have something that won’t be cheap but will be exceedingly collectable.
It’s quick, too. The 1.6 THP turbo has, at 200hp, 30 percent more power, plus 15 percent more torque. Thank uprated components, tuned turbo and remapped ECU for this. Rortiness is provided by a special exhaust back box.
But what is it homologation for? Next year’s new WRC rules, that’s what. These stipulate more real world cars with front-drive chassis. Kimi Raikkonen will be driving one of these next year. We’ll be able to buy one before that.
Citroen, you’ve sold me: add my name to the press fleet booking list now, please..!
Save BBC 6Music and the Ford Zephyr
Renaultsport past to inspire turbo future?
Why RenaultSports don’t have rear spoilers
Save BBC 6Music and the Ford Zephyr March 7, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Technology , 1 comment so farINSPIRATION comes in many forms. Today, for instance, down at the brilliant Goodwood Breakfast Club, a gorgeous Ford Zephyr was spotted.
That’s Ford Zephyr of Z-Cars fame – and, even cooler than that, was the sticker in the back… advertising Radio Caroline!
Music Radio fans of the 60s were proper tenacious in support for the pirate radio station that so riled the institution. It played great music, boasted emboldened DJs and was the real music industry’s never-miss must-listen.
Sound fami… well, indeed it does. But it was the fact this sticker was so proudly displayed that inspired.
Here, see, was public support for an under-threat radio station that music lovers loved.
What can it teach those who want to see 6Music saved? Well, to use yesterday’s car stickers like today’s Twitter and Facebook Twibbons.
By its very nature, DAB is a rarity in cars, but far more popular than many think in homes. Not to mention, of course, computers, via BBC iPlayer. Both are potential 6Music hubs.
Radio Caroline parallels and tips for 6Music campaigners ahoy, p’raps..?
Renault Raider is back March 6, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Minutiae of cars , add a commentRENAULT PR guys are insatiable car nuts, whose geekery for all things 1980s matches mine.
That’s why we were both clamouring over the Gordini Renaultsports at the Geneva show, and why I almost bowed down to them when they revealed a gem to me.
Special wheels on the Gordini Twingo and Clio? Complete with deep blue tint to the painted internals? The UK chaps have named them. What as?
Get this: Raider!
That’s as in Renault 5 GT Turbo Raider, the 1990 special edition that came with blue metallic paint and blue-painted alloys. Instead of naming the wheels after a French seaside resort or philosophical movement, the UK boys have raided (ahem) their history and gave me an excuse to drop a jump to a car many would kill for.
Heritage? The Clio Renaultsport Gordini oozes it. Already God’s own hot hatch, there will be fisticuffs in the MR office over who does the launch of this one…
Renaultsport past to inspire turbo future?
Why RenaultSports don’t have rear spoilers
Richard Branson’s Virgin F1 (Teenage) Fanclub March 5, 2010
Posted by richard in : History, Motorsport , add a commentVirgin boss Richard Branson takes to the F1 grid for the first time this year with his own racing team.
But it’s not the first time ‘his’ cars have been ‘in’ F1.
This, as you may suspect, is slightly tenuous. But for Indie/F1/car geeks such as, well, me, it’s curiously neat. And goes like this:
• Teenage Fanclub released a 1994 album called Grand Prix
• On the cover was a shot of a contemporary 1994 F1 racer
• That car was a Simtek
• Boss of the Simtek F1 team was Nick Wirth
• Nick Wirth now runs Wirth Research
• Wirth Research designed the new Virgin F1 racer
It may be a new team, but there’s heritage in that there Virgin setup, not to mention a good dose of jangly guitar musical brilliance. Sort of.
Question is, can you come up with a more brilliantly tenuous link between something random and F1 racing?
Motorsport and Twitter aim for Groundswell
Another most amazing save of 2009
Lexus shows GM’s Saab folly February 28, 2010
Posted by richard in : Green cars, News clues , add a commentLEXUS will open the 5 doors of its all-new CT 200h next week at Geneva.
This car is a masterstroke. It will take Lexus into the premium mainstream and give the brand instant sustainability. It will do what the A3 did for Audi, and ought to have Lexus car dealers in raptures.
Thing is, it’s so obvious, you have to wonder why they… no, forget that. It’s here, that’s the key. You have, instead, to wonder why blimmin’ GM didn’t let Saab so something similar!
I’ve yet to find out, but I reckon the CT 200h will use something related to the Prius platform, or the Auris platform (which, in upper-spec guise, has the prerequisite multi-link rear suspension). It thus needn’t cost a fortune to develop, nor take a million years or more to make reality.
GM’s Vauxhall/Opel, of course, has the Astra platform. Which is simple, cheap to produce and flexible enough to be made in a variety of guises. While no class-leader, the old-shape model was decent enough, and the Astra Sport Hatch proved there was loads of flexibility in the hard points.
How stunningly delicious would a premium compact Saab hatch been, then? Sporty styling, lots of aircraft cues (think Astra Panorama windscreen…), punchy turbo engines and a mad, torque-steering VXR-engined Aero Turbo range-topper to please the enthusiasts.
Computer-controlled damper availability – something you still can’t get on a Ford Focus, note – would have injected some extra Saab fan cool factor. And I’m sure they could have reconfigured the instrument pack to slot in a turbo boost gauge.
Vauxhall Astra TwinTop? What a great Saab 9-2 Convertible it would have made. Even the petrol engines are, Saab-style, called ‘Ecotec’.
It would potentially have been great. Fantastic. Brought to life all those great concepts that the firm continually showed. But, while it was mooted for years, GM ummed and aahed and never committed the money.
Had it have done, I’m almost sure Saab wouldn’t have floundered and fell from its grasp. The new Lexus could also have had a mighty all-new challenger to compete for the limelight at Geneva, too. Yup, a gen-2 Saab premium compact, based on the much-improved platform of the latest Astra.
Alas, it’s yet another car industry if-only…
Ad 1 Car 0: Vauxhall Vectra February 27, 2010
Posted by richard in : History , add a commentADS for cars can be as great or as tragic as the cars themselves.
So, in the first of a decidedly ad-hoc series, I’ll dig out some YouTube links to some of the most striking. And, in James Alexander Gordon-style, score them.
The first? A win for marketing and a resounding defeat for engineers: the Vauxhall Vectra. Even Bjork wasn’t enough to rescure it (and getting the licence for Play Dead, when the Icelander was in her heyday, can’t have come cheap).
Let’s shoot right back to 1995, and the days of Atomic Clocks and non-adjustable steering columns*…
* Of course, if you want to recreate a Vectra’s compromised driving position, go for a brand-new Vauxhall Corsa S. Stunningly, that doesn’t come with an adjustable steering column as standard, either…
BBC 6Music must be saved February 26, 2010
Posted by richard in : Technology , 3commentsBBC 6Music is a resplendent beacon of absolute and unbridled brilliance. It rocks.
It is witty, erudite, intelligent, entertaining, pure, diverse, and plays music that would be on anyone’s Godlike playlist for eternity. It is a digital station the BBC should be proud of, which the Governors should be streaming to every naysayer in the country in order to prove just what its unique structure makes possible.
Instead, it is rumoured 6Music will close.
This is tragic. Inexplicable. This, if it is true, would be a monumental loss, and not just for the Motoring Research office where I work, at which you will hear 6Music for 12 out of every 24 weekday hours.
6Music is a digital station. This is why the listenership is not huge. This is why pure numbers should not drive decisions such as that which is rumoured. (Not that the listenership is all that tiny, anyway).
After all, just this month, the BBC Trust recognised this, and praised it for the impeccable diversity it offers. Rightly so. Because it is an authentic, joyous, delightful treat to listen to, always.
The groundswell of support for 6Music is thus understandable. Because it is not just an asset, a token piece of output that, if quelled, will save a few pennies (is £6m a year really that much of a drain?). This, BBC execs, is the reason why I and hundreds of thousands of others are so evangelical about the Corporation, about the diversity that you proclaim, about the mission to which you say you aspire.
To close 6Music would destroy this support. It would malnourish those hundreds of thousands of loyal listeners. It would kill one of your world-class assets. It would be unjust, unfair. It would be tragic.
Please, BBC Trust, tell us it is not true. Please #saveBBC6Music.
Please.
