aiboart

There is no doubting your good intentions. Then again, there is also no doubting your naivety. I know some people who have globally based projects at the very bleeding edge of clean energy research. The research is being driven by investors, because, energy = money! If they, or one of the other teams around the world crack it then the world will change of its own accord and rapidly. It will be an unstoppable revolution as was the jet age, the PC revolution, the mobile phone revolution and the internet revolution. It will start slowly and then in the blink of an eye, it will be complete. Unlimited investment will flood in like a tsunami, and, the energy revolution will have nothing whatsoever to do with the (ex)Communist Gillard or the Communist Green's and their treasonous plan to destroy industry in this country with a trumped up 'Carbon Tax'.

Howard went to the 1998 election Promising He Would Deliver a GST. The People spoke, he won the election and as a result implemented the GST. Howard went to the 2007 election promising he would deliver work choices. The People spoke, he lost the election. Gillard went to the last election Promising No Carbon Tax whilst she led government. She leads government. She is a Pathological Liar who abused the Australian Democracy. With respect to what Abbot wears, well if what other men wear is important to you, well fine comment. As to his religion, yep its stupid but no where near as stupid as some others we have today. Also, unlike the Green Religion and the Religion of Political Correctness, Abbott's religion is not seeking to derail the Australian Industry and suck the life out of the country with tens of Billions of our taxes sent to foreign lands. Carbon Tax 57 Billion being paid overseas POLLUTERS will be spending $1500 per person on foreign carbon credits just so the nation can meet its ambitious target of reducing emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. But Australia's own domestic carbon emissions will have barely changed from the levels being belched out today. The long-term scenario revealed in Treasury's own modelling on the carbon tax shows that Australian polluters will be spending $57 billion a year on clean energy projects in other countries by 2050 to meet our own pollution abatement targets. The government claimed the number was small when viewed as a proportion of the economy in 2050, which is expected to have almost tripled to $3.6 trillion. It is also argued that without international abatement, the carbon price in Australia would be much higher. But the opposition said the modelling raised doubts about the government's ability to keep providing compensation to households in the future if companies found it cheaper to buy carbon permits overseas. The figures revealed in an extended Treasury modelling document show that Australia's own domestic carbon emissions would be 545 million tonnes a year by 2050 - only 30 million tonnes less than what is produced now. In order to reach our pollution target of reducing emissions by 80 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050, Treasury said that 434 million tonnes of carbon abatement would have to be sourced from overseas. Treasury's forecast of a carbon price of $131 by 2050 means that Australia will be putting $57 billion in today's dollar terms into the hands of foreign clean energy schemes to reach Australia's own abatement target. Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt accused the government of burdening future generations with a carbon debt. "Julia Gillard has committed us to sending $3.5 billion offshore to foreign carbon traders by 2020," Mr Hunt said. "But that figure will multiply to more than $1500 per person per year in today's dollars to be sent to unknown and unknowable foreign carbon traders by 2050. "This is about creating a permanent and growing black hole in the Australian economy and the Australian budget." Director of climate change policy at the Institute of Public Affairs Tim Wilson said the modelling suggested that the carbon tax would do more to help other countries reduce their emissions than it would to reduce Australia's.

I just bought a pair of the Goodyear Asymmetric F1 Mk 2 in 17", which are now fitted to the front of the car. The rear is still running Goodyear Asymmetric F1. So far I have not had the opportunity to do any real dynamic evaluations of the new tyres, however, the initially impressions of the Mk 2's, albeit as part of a mixed set of tyres are: They are again made in Germany! Sanity prevails. They are exceedingly quiet at speed. They are exceedingly light, this is very noticeable in the steering. They are also very smooth on broken surfaces. They are can run a higher air pressure without inducing harshness, or, high frequency vibration (ringing) into steering. Their day to day dynamics appear to be at least as good as their venerable predecessors. Regards, aa

There can be no argument. Aussie quality is OK but let's face it Aussies are a self styled heroic bunch who like to invent solutions to problems as they occur. This is anathema to QA and precision. These are in essence about following the rules come what may. Germany and Japan are rules following societies by nature and as a result the precision, if not the result, is brilliant. Chinese quality is an oxymoron.

They do. As noted above it is the phone itself that may cause an issue. So phone selection is important. What is not generally known is that the units can also stream audio into the car's sound system. My kids play DJ from the back seat using iPod Touch 8... and 32 GB. Also as noted above, iPhone 4 works. What is needed is a current list of phones that work acceptably with the system. The original list supplied by Ford is now somewhat dated. Ideally we would have a rolling list of at least the following: Nokia (Symbian and coming soon Windows 7) iPhone Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC (Android and Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7) Sony-Ericsson Regards, aa

Do you run drum brakes?

No, as billed that is the shape of the (near) future, really. Computer driven stability and agility and suspension, augmented by massive active aero. The design is exceedingly aerodynamically clean in the low drag configuration allowing for phenomenal top speed (400-500kph cruise) without massive power (the exact opposite of the Veyron pig design). On straight runs and gentle curves it may get airborne by design using ground effects. Goodness knows what the limits of something like that is (10+G lateral?? and 10+G braking) but you would need a G suit and the drive would be a battering. In short cool. Regards, aa

220-222kph frequently in autobahn runs in Germany, often in the wet. This was in an Audi A6 turbo-diesel station wagon and my colleague was finalizing the presentations at the time with his laptop. It sounds impressive but it is altogether very ho-hum. The roads aren't all that amazing either. The A6 is a very nice car, a great hauler. However the XR6-T is in every respect, dynamics, linearity, sophistication etc a jet fighter to the A6 commuter aircraft. It takes a while to trundle up to 220kph in an A6 TD. Interestingly no German cities exploded and no one made the national press whilst we were driving in Germany... Really, the attitude there is if you wipe yourself out in a single vehicle accident, it is your fault, not that of the government and no one really cares. Also interesting is that nearly all Germans drive crap low end hatchback cars pretty much everywhere you go in the country. Be ever so grateful for the high end RWD Fords and Holdens we have here. In Australia top speed with a superior car and comparable roads, 110.000000000000kph. Otherwise as we all know the cows will give sour milk and the trees will wilt, just ask the sanctimonious disciples of the Inner City Green Religion, as they set of on their next jet around the world, in the process burning up enough fuel to run a V8 for a couple years (half a decade if they go business class).

The Goodyear Asymmetric F1's were essentially out of stock in Sydney as of December last year. Goodyear did not known when new stocks would arrive. This may or may not be the current situation, but good luck trying to get any information from the 'Contact Us' section of the Goodyear website. The only Goodyear Asymmetric available as of December last year in the 17" XR6T OEM size came from China. The concept of Chinese quality control is meaningless in the pandemic of corruption that defines China at the moment. I do not want Chinese mission critical components on my family car. The Goodyear Asymmetric F1 is now obsolete. The new model is Goodyear Asymmetric F1 model 2. According to the buzz, the new design model 2 contains fundamental and significant advances on the original F1. Whilst tyre marketing hype is often difficult and more so pointless to penetrate, the F1 model 2 does sound to be as big news as was its illustrious predecessor. We will see for ourselves if and when it arrives. Goodyear Assymetric F1 Mk 2 In any case, direct import would seem the only reasonable means of obtaining non-Chinese made Goodyear F1 Asymmetric, whether they be the original version or the model 2. Regards, aa

It was an option on the BA/BF and listed on the Ford website. Price at the time was $140 fitted. I have one on my car. The kids like it as it shades the back seat. There is no additional wind noise whatsoever. As for what it does to deflect and trip the laminar airflow into turbulence over that nicely sloping rear window, rear wing and bluff rear end... well... who knows. The car has seriously linear handling everywhere all the time including in the wet, so there is definitely no pernicious effect as such. Regards, aa

Some of the Ford Dealerships carry a poster, which is a montage of the Ford wheel variants, up to the BF II, if I recall correctly.

Philips Extreme (X-Treme) Staggeringly good filament bulb technology. High beam result looks amazing. Low beam result also excellent but not as dramatic. The extent of effect in both beams is not necessarily apparent when looking at the headlight itself or when projecting the beam onto a wall. Get out onto a long dark road and.... wow! Based on the results above, I have also bought these for my fog lights, but have yet to fit them. Completely Legal filament bulb with a plethora of new technology improvements leading to one great result. Direct Bolt In Conforms to Ford's wattage specifications, will not overheat the wires. High quality filter block UV not damage your lenses or reflectors. Stay away from blue globes (even Philips)These: Are filter driven. The absorbed spectrum heats the globes resulting in short life (6-months) Remaining spectrum operates in a low sensitivity portion of the eye (green is highest). You are missing out on the most critical portion of light. Blue spectrum light is prone to scattering, which affects you and other traffic. In bad weather this gets worse. Deep blue portion of spectrum is difficult for the eye to focus (this is on top of the eye's relavtively poor response to blue light). If current is increased, globes heat up further and now wiring is also at risk. Large effective filament design means reflectors cannot focus beam properly, leading to more scattering and very poor light distribution. (A common perception is to interpret the hot spots as 'better and brighter', it isn't.) Cheap version have no UV filter, which damage headlight lenses. Stay away from Xenon (Gas Discharge) After Market (Non-OEM) They are illegal in pretty much in every country for good reason, many of which are as per the blue globe noted above.. The reflectors for these cars are not designed for gas discharge, they cannot focus properly producing poor distribution (see above) and scattering. An OEM gas discharge lamp is a complete system and has utterly different reflectors and supporting systems, most of which are not even part of a filament globe light. Cheap ones have no UV protection, they will wreck your lenses... these puppies can generate bulk UV. Things to consider with After Market Gas Discharge and Blue Globes OK it looks good, very dramatic. Acknowledged. Collecting data is boring and expensive. Perception sometimess interprets the dramatic (contrast, change) as being the most effective. This is often flatly wrong and misleading. One needs lots of very expensive equipment to collect data on: scattering back to the driver and to other traffic in different weather conditions light distribution emission spectrum physiological responses to the above durability effects Regards, aa

I have an XR6-T with 105k km. It has always run on 10W-40 Magnatec using oil and filter change intervals of 7k km. It runs absolutely perfectly in all respect. Power delivery (according to the G-tech accelerometers) and refinement are as new, actually better. It has never used so much as a drop of oil. Keep up with what you are doing. Change nothing. A thicker oil, say a 10W-60 increases friction, increases heat generation and reduces performance and economy. As it flows more slowly (in road conditions), it also reduces heat transfer by the oil and reduces dynamic lubrication (static lubrication is improved due to the viscosity increase). This is not ideal. However, when everything gets very hot, such as in track work, the above no longer applies. The hot oil is now at the required viscosity and the hence the flow rates are back to where they need to be to maintain dynamic lubrication and heat transfer. There is also no need to increase the value of the 'W' number, as in going from 0W-40 to 15W-40 The 'W' number does not denote the absolute viscosity of the oil. The 'W' number is a relative value. It means that, for example a 10W-40 multigrade behaves like a 10 weight monograde when cold and a 40 weight monograde when hot. Now for the puchline. A 10 weight monograde is many times thicker when cold, than the 40 weight when hot. In other words, the 40 weight when hot is much, much thinner than the 10 weight when cold. Regards, aa

Which powerplants? I6-NA I6-T V8 NA V8-SC Regards, aa

I had driver's side top mount fail. It first manifest as the most frustratinging, capricious PIA series of crap symptoms. Generally nothing would happen all summer. Come cooler weather however and the car would sound like the springs, or something big and heavy, were slamming against the firewall, or the floor. The noise level was approximately equally to thumping the structure hard with a ball hammer. It was loud. Road surface shape, though not amplitude, would send it chronic, with multiple train like instances every 5-20 seconds. At times it would disappear for a week, and then return as before. It nearly always disappeared when attempting to demonstrate the issue to the dealership... and return an hour later. After two years the issue became constant irrespective of weather, permitting a diagnosis. Two dealerships and three suspension places failed to ID to the root cause despite giving it their all. It cost me and the Dealerships a bundle. Eventually a star apprentice in the Ford Dealer system went all out and IDed and nailed the issue. It has been perfect since. The man is a genius. Good Luck. Regards, aa

The low-down on low-profile tyres words - Ken Gratton Ford Engineering Discussion - Link to Article Ford's Vehicle Dynamics Manager mounts a case for sticking with the rubber that came with the car It's difficult to pick any difference in ride comfort for the three grades of Ford's new SZ Territory. No matter whether it's the base-grade TX or the Titanium flagship, the spring and damper settings are the same. Not even the different wheel and tyre combinations count for much, according to Ford's Vehicle Dynamics Manager, Alex de Vlugt. During the local launch of Ford's locally-developed SUV, de Vlugt explained to the Carsales Network's correspondent that while the entry-level Territory TX rides on 17-inch alloy wheels and 60-series tyres, its ride quality is no better than that of the TS and Titanium variants on their 18-inch alloys and 55-series tyres. Ford specifies higher tyre pressures for the 60-series tyres of the Territory TX, according to de Vlugt -- and that offsets the stiffer sidewalls of the 55-series tyres fitted to the mid-range and flagship models. In the circumstance that Ford chose to recommend the same tyre pressures for 55 and 60-series tyres fitted as original equipment to the Territory, the 60-series tyres would offer the better ride -- but you can't have the base model riding better than the flagship and Ford engineers wouldn't want to mess with the Territory's ride/handling balance once they'd achieved the optimum calibration for all variants. But is it true, as TV motoring program Top Gear Australia discovered when track-testing two HSV models, that higher cross-section tyres can also provide better dynamic traits? Each case should be taken on its merits, it seems, but it's de Vlugt's view that the benefits of low-profile tyres can be overestimated. "It's true to say that you can oversize or undersize a tyre -- and then you work yourself into a compromise [such] that you can't find an optimal solution. "If you go to huge rim sizes with very little rubber around [them], then you do run into certain troubles that are difficult to compensate for. Probably [with] 20-inch wheels on something like a Falcon or a Commodore-size of vehicle, you're sort of getting into that territory where you're trying to make it too extreme and basically can't really compensate for that any more. "And one of the issues that you see if you go to extremely low-section tyres is that effectively the load-carrying capacity goes down again -- because you've got less air volume in the tyre..." In other words, with larger vehicles such as Late model camira and Falcon, there's more weight on the tyre -- especially during cornering or braking -- but relatively less air volume within the low cross-section tyre to handle the load. It's why FPV and HSV utes carry lower payloads than the humble Ford and Expensive Daewoo donors... but de Vlugt is specifically talking about the load placed on a tyre as the car is keeled over in a corner or diving under brakes. "If you go to extreme rim sizes and low cross-section, you get a phenomenon that, as the vertical load increases on the tyre, you really start to degrade the tyre properties. That's probably what you suffer from on such an extreme tyre, on a handling track. "You're starting to overload the tyre, for its design intent -- and what happens then, you get really exaggerated effects, from your anti-roll bar tuning, for instance. If the car's not properly tuned for that, it completely destroys the handling..." Everyone knows that lower-profile tyres can have an impact on ride, but the degradation of ride quality can also influence steering, according to de Vlugt. "Another thing that can easily go wrong... because the footprint becomes so very stiff, the slightest road undulation starts to determine where your pressure point is -- so your pressure point, the patch, varies all the time. "If you have slight road imperfections, that starts to really affect your steering precision at some point. If it's not all perfectly laid out, the car really starts to respond to those changes of pressure point. "Around a track that can really hurt you if you've got less than perfect track conditions. [it] starts to affect your steering precision, so you start to drive a little more conservatively, because you can't pick your line exactly any more -- where you want to have it in those fast corners. "And that's quickly where you start to lose capability... around the track. "Maybe a professional, very good sports driver could become a little bit faster, but most drivers are not able to squeeze it out of it, because they get nervous before they get to that point." It's a situation that doesn't just afflict grey imports from Japan with audio speakers and alloy wheels measuring the same diameter. It can also affect some very high-end vehicles, says de Vlugt. "When we did Territory the first time [in 2004], we benchmarked all sorts of vehicles for the stability control system. And believe it or not, one of the cars benchmarked was the Porsche 911... that's got an absolutely brilliant stability control system. "We had different variants -- because beggars can't be choosers -- so we borrowed one every now and again from Porsche Melbourne. And they gave us [each car] with different wheel sizes as well. "Very distinctly, on the 911, the bigger the wheels became, the worse [the cars] drove, in my perception. The smallest standard wheels [had] the nicest balanced steering and handling. "The bigger wheels -- the extreme ones with low cross-section [tyres] -- they are really there for the looks."

NSW Liberal Speed Camera Audit and Actions SMH Speed camera audit to target cash cows Alexandra Smith State Politics April 8, 2011 .There are likely to be fewer speed cameras on NSW roads after the Premier promised to rip out any cameras that do not improve road safety or appear to be only raising revenue. Yesterday Mr O'Farrell instructed the Auditor-General to audit the state's speed cameras. The audit of 172 fixed cameras, six mobile cameras and 60 safety cameras will look at before and after analysis of crashes at fixed camera locations and how speed cameras could be refined to improve road safety. Mr O'Farrell said he did not envisage any extra cameras being installed even if the audit found the cameras were effective and lowered the road toll. ''Fixed cameras can be useful, there is no doubt about that; red-light cameras can be useful,'' he said. ''What we want to make sure is that … there is an audit to ensure motorists know whether or not cameras at certain locations are delivering that better road safety outcome, or whether it is just in fact about revenue raising.'' Mr O'Farrell said he feared the cameras became a cash cow under Labor and at the very least the audit would ''remove scepticism and cynicism''. ''At best it will demonstrate case by case whether these cameras are achieving their outcome,'' he said. Road safety experts have repeatedly pointed to evidence showing speed cameras save lives, but Mr O'Farrell said his government preferred visible marked highway patrol cars to nab speeding drivers. He promised an extra 100 highway patrol officers and additional police vehicles. The announcement of the audit follows a directive from the Deputy Premier, Andrew Stoner, to the Roads and Traffic Authority to reinstate and increase the tolerance given to motorists caught speeding. Mr Stoner ordered the leeway to be reinstated just days after he was sworn in and was so eager to see it rectified that he did not even wait until the Roads Minister, Duncan Gay, was sworn into cabinet. Days before last month's election it was revealed that the previously undisclosed leeway was 3km/h and it had been axed.

Enjoy your new ride! This is a most elegant and effective example of brand building, viral promotion and account management. We need more of this direct customer action. The fact is the Ford Australia and Expensive Daewoo design and build world beating hi performance low cost sports-GT sedans, yet all that works investment in design tooling and know how is completely undone with the low grade performance of the dealer network. That is really disrespecting the company capital. When the Ford Australia and Expensive Daewoo bosses stop reading reports gleaned from unrepresentative focus groups that are put together by useless market research hacks and go out into the market place to meet the customers face to face, they will learn that their new cashed up demographic is awfully impressed with their technology, but that their aftermarket support is in general a basket case. The technology can command a good margin but the product value is generally undone by the aftermarket support. It really is that simple. The experts in franchised quality service delivery are the fast food chains. They employ 'mystery shoppers' and employ all manner of management techniques to ensure consistent service delivery in a exceedingly dispersed environment. The system keeps the franchise owners and the untrained workforce under control. It can and is done as a matter of course. The root cause issue currently at both Ford Australia and Expensive Daewoo are in the thrall of the franchise dealers. The franchise owners call the shots (this is straight from the top...). Until the Ford and Expensive Daewoo grow some gonads and get the franchises under control and on song and up to a service quality standard, which more than likely is going to take some series commercial and cultural work, they are more or less spinning their wheels commercially. Regards. aa

The very last thing the new Liberal NSW Government can afford is to become associated in any way with the foul goings on of the Criminal NSW Labor Party. This is what destroyed NSW Labor. Politically, the despised speed camera scam, a private tax collection system owned by the NSW Labor Mates is an obvious target for the new NSW Liberal Government to 'review' immediately. Doing so will produce almost immediate and endless political capital, at no real cost. It will also disable the donation machine and the family 'consultancies' scam of the Criminal NSW Labor Party. There are likely to be the usual impediments thrown up to such action, non-disclosure clauses and commercial confidentiality and the like. All of these impediments can be easily overcome in less than a week with judicious use of political, bureaucratic and legal tactics and with no potential for liability to the State and People of NSW.

The FG G serie styling language is the one used by the Euro executive car makers. In essence its a European dark tailored suit, with some bright accents such as watches and cufflinks. Its a styling language from the whole Euro aristocratic thing that says, ' I have tailored clothes and therefore don't work hard physically and I own shiny things, and you don't...' (Anyone with a Euro background will be more than familiar with this crap) So in terms of cars the material and finish palette translates to: Rich dark metallic or pearl dark colors, or, metallic or pearl light neutrals (no primaries, no primary complements, no luminescent, no optically variables, no pastels, no flat finishes) No high contrast colour schemes Moderate-heavy use of chrome accents (windows, grill, rear) Busy grey or other neutral grill that obscures machinery No overt wings, small spoilers only By contrast classic American muscle styling (such as found in the 1970 Mustang and XR/F6 series) says, I don't care what you think, this kit and I will kick your behind very far. Its into wings, bulges, exposed machinery, big fat wheels, tyres... whatever. It is (ideally), or purports to be, an exposition of high technology, power and physical potential. So for any wheel to work styling wise with the FG G series it needs to have: a large I.e. factory diameter no dish! bright silver finish no evident black contrasts no color highlights high spatial frequency spoke design, I.e. certainly more than 5 spokes and probably 8 or more the spokes may prefererentially exhibit some complexity, refinement or detail It cannot have: high contrast colours exceedingly thin evidently structurally optimized spokes fat spokes or big blocky forms Regards, aa

It ends tomorrow night. Entire RTA car hating cycle-Nazi executive out. New requirement for all RTA executives: must have a current license must own a car must drive at least 15,000km per year in NSW There is nothing like eating your own dog food to understand how it really tastes.

The 'Made in China' marking is exceedingly difficult, even for 'experts' skilled in locating tyre markings who have in fact owned numerous sets of the tyre. I certainly could not find the mark within a reasonable time when picking my car up from the car dealership. This is despite expressly checking for such markings and also having owned several sets of the tyre before. Nor did the Tyre dealer, a good guy, have any idea of what had happened. The ' Made in Germany ' mark is very large and very obvious. The ' Made in China ' mark is of significantly smaller font and camouflaged inside a complex symbol. Remember this is marketed as exactly the same model of tyre... I understand that the model has now been withdrawn from the market and something called the Goodyear Eagle Asymmetric II is on the horizon.

Any idea if the cooler and line kits are available for BA?of the cost of the kit from Ford?the cost of fitting the kit? Regards, aa

About $1150-1200 for the shocks alone. They all come from the same place so the price is quite consistent. The Bilstein people know the part numbers off by heart for the XR6-Ts/F6 etc. Make certain you specify BA/BF/FG and series I, II etc. Delivery is usually overnight. You already know what the sway bars do so if you are happy with that, its fine. The bars affect body roll and weight transfer (hence F and R handling) in transient and steady state cornering. The shocks have a vast effect on controlling (almost preventing) body roll, and weight transfer (hence F and R handling) in exceedingly high rate transients, however their effect decreases as the duration of the maneuver increases and they have no effect whatsoever in steady state cornering. Regards, aa

Keep the stock springs. Keep the stock sway bars. Fit the Bilsteins. The car will remain at stock height. It will remain a true general purpose vehicle for all roads and all conditions, but, every part of its dynamics, comfort and refinement will improve out of this world. They are that good on this fantastic chassis.