Smart Diablo vs. Ferrari
Let me introduce, Peter Bee. Peter is a sensible English fellow who took a liking to the Smart Car as soon as it was introduced, so he bought one. He found the car so much to his liking that he kept on buying them, great second car, nice for running errands, quick scoots around town, all very sensible. Problem is, Pete spends his days around MHP, makers of high performance exhaust systems. When you constantly see high performance vehicles of various sorts and drive a Smart, you soon get the urge to tweak it a bit and Peter did just that. He managed to get the engine up to around 100hp which isn’t a bad jump from the 60hp in the stocker, but Pete wanted more.
After seeing nothing else in the option list he looked further afield and started thinking GSXR1000. He talked to the fellows over at Z Cars, you know them, R1 powered Mini’s and the like, and they said “Sure, we can do that.” So Peter dropped off a brand new Smart Car and the fun began. He also talked to Phil Seton of Seton Racing who took a look at a GSXR1000 engine and found room for improvement. The result? Peter’s own personal pleasure button, a way to send his bliss-o-meter straight into the red zone.
Z Cars had to build a separate frame to house the engine along with a Cosworth differential and complete independent rear suspension. Phil Seton massaged the GSXR until it was putting out a reliable 180hp. Peter built up a full race MHP titanium exhaust system and then created a handmade wiring harness to integrate all of the Suzuki’s engine controls along with the tach, the one that goes red around 13,000rpm. Spax made up a set of coil overs with full height and damping adjustments. Then, someone thought they might want to slow this beast down and they added full floating wavy rotors up front with 6 pot calipers and solid wavy rotors in the rear.
They call the finished car the Smartuki. It’s the only one in existence and Z Cars is planning to offer it as an option. Does it run? 0-60 in 4.2 seconds, 1/4 mile in 12.4 seconds and tops out at 132mph. Definitely not your average Smart! Peter says running up to the traffic lights at 13,500rpm is always amusing since other drivers move over when they hear what sounds like a bike coming up fast. Autosport Magazine tested it against a Mistubishi Evo FQ-330. It didn’t win but fared better than the Subaru that tried a week earlier.
A few other features:
- One off LED lights in the rear
- A nice set of minilights
- All braided hoses throughout
- Brake bias with lock out for lighting the rear wheels
- Electronic shifter with full power shift ability
- Nice grill from Smarts R Us
- Full alarm with remote start and roof open and close
Check out thekneeslider.com for more Info.
All fixed…
Car all repaired..
Originally uploaded by S’mart.
The bodywork and indicator all repaired since the street fight outside where unfortunatly my car ended up in the middle of it..
poor little beetle.
Steve Irwin killed by stingray
Television personality and environmentalist Steve Irwin has died after being stung by a stingray while filming off north Queensland.
Known worldwide as the Crocodile Hunter, the 44-year-old was famous for his enthusiasm for wildlife and his catchcry "Crikey!”.
The Queensland Police Service issued a statement saying Mr Irwin collapsed after being stung at Batt Reef, Low Isles off Port Douglas about 11am. He had been filming a documentary.
"Steve was hit by a stingray in the chest,” said local diving operator Steve Edmondson, whose Poseidon boats were out on the Great Barrier Reef when the accident occured.
"He probably died from a cardiac arrest from the injury,” he said.
Police said after he stingray attack, Irwin’s crew called for medical treatment at 11am and the Queensland Rescue Helicopter responded with a doctor and paramedic on board.
Puncture wound
Mr Irwin had a puncture wound to the left side of his chest and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said Mr Irwin’s family has been advised and Irwin’s body was being flown to Cairns.
It is believed his American-born wife Terri was trekking on Cradle Mountain in Tasmania when the incident happened.
Police in Tasmania say she has been informed of her husband’s death.
The Irwins have two children, an eight-year-old a daughter, Bindi Sue, and a three-year-old son, Robert Clarence, usually known as Bob.
When asked if he had ever heard of anyone dying from a stingray barb Matthew Hurley, general manager of Quicksilver Group, whose company has taken tours to Low Isles for 26 years, said: "No, definitely not."
"We’ve never heard of or been involved with anything like that."
Ross Coleman, acting director at at University of Sydney Institute of Marine Science, told smh.com.au it was "quite rare" for someone to die from contact with a stingray and he couldn’t recall hearing of another incident.
Stingrays were "dangerous if provoked", he said.
"As a recreational diving instructor you hear of people getting injured by standing on them … but they rarely die."
Trouble over croc feeding with son
Irwin won a global following for his daredevil antics but also triggered outrage in 2004 by holding his then one-month-old baby while feeding a snapping crocodile at his Australian zoo.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who used a photograph of his family at Australia Zoo for his official Christmas card last year, hailed Mr Irwin for his work in promoting Australia.
Mr Irwin was heavily involved in last year’s "G’Day LA” campaign.
"The minister knew him, was fond of him and was very, very appreciative of all the work he’d done to promote Australia overseas,” a spokesman said.
The Crocodile Hunter program was first broadcast in 1992 and has been shown around the world on cable network Discovery.
Irwin came 20th last year in BRW magazine’s top 50 entertainers.
The magazine said the hugely popular Crocodile Hunter spent most of 2005 filming and launching his new television series, New Breed Vets, to appear on the pay-TV channel Animal Planet.
In February, Irwin received an award for his contribution to tourism from Tourism Australia.
Over the last 12 months, he has also expanded his Australia Zoo wildlife park on the Sunshine Coast.
Pop star Justin Timberlake last month recalled visiting the zoo on his Australian 2004 tour.
"I know he got a lot of flak, but there’s something in that dude’s blood, he’s like one of those animals," Timberlake told the Courier Mail newspaper.
"We got in the cage and he said, ‘I want to show you how the crocs hunt’ . . . all of a sudden it pops out of the water, we jump back, it came up on the land and he saw how its temperament was and he told us to step back.
"He’s like Dr Dolittle, for real. He knows what those crocodiles are thinking."
Oh well,
I can’t believe that the week is over already, still its wasn’t too bad I had wanted to goto the coast for a couple of days but the weather just wasn’t giving me the opportunity.
I did enjoy myself on wednesday and it was fun to meet up with my neighbors and enjoy the day…
Well, my car goes into the body shop tomorrow to get some work done on it, can’t wait to be driving around in the loan car – a Rover 100 oh well… Should have it back by mid week..
Google Image Labeler
From: UNEASYsilence.
In an effort to improve the results returned for Google Image searches, Google recently unveiled a user-driven service known as the Google Image Labeler.
You’ll be randomly paired with a partner who’s online and using the feature. Over a 90-second period, you and your partner will be shown the same set of images and asked to provide as many labels as possible to describe each image you see. When your label matches your partner’s label, you’ll earn some points and move on to the next image until time runs out. After time expires, you can explore the images you’ve seen and the websites where those images were found. And we’ll show you the points you’ve earned throughout the session.
Sounds kind of like some sort of contorted game of Pictionary. It might be something to do to kill kill time.
Ultimate Hacking PC Cracks 300 Wi-Fi Nets
Link: THE RAW FEED: gadgets, games and geeks.
A custom-build PC called the "Janus Project" can scan 300 WIRELESS NETWORKS simultaneously, capturing all the traffic and storing it on its hard drive. Builder Kyle Williams, of the Janus Wireless Security Research Group in Portland, Oregon, says the system can focus eight Wi-Fi cards on a single access point to break its WEP keys in less than five minutes. Captured data is automatically encrypted (hey, there are a lot of hackers out there) and the case itself is waterproof.
Unwrapping my new ipod
Well here it is, still wrapped up in its potective little wrapper…
Ok Apple I’m impressed
Ok I have to admit I’m impressed with Apple’s online ordering…
I ordered a peronalised ipod 60GB player (laser inscribed) on tuesday afternoon on the web page, 48 hours later it was delivered by UPS all wrapped up and correctly inscribed… Very impressive!
So, anyone want to buy my 2GB white ipod nano, with cover and docking station?
Thorpe Park, I forgot how much I like theme parks
Nemesis Inferno
Tidal Wave
The SLAMMER
STEALTH – Tall and FAST!
Get one of these, allows you to short-cut the queues
Went to Thorpe Park today as the weather was good, and I forgot how much I enjoyed roller coasters and the overall feel of theme parks. Thorpe has a couple of new rides since I was last there – including "The Slammer", "RUSH", and new this year "Stealth" which is 205ft high, and does 0~80mph in 2.3 seconds (I went on it twice!!).
So here are some pictures; you can see more in Flickr.
