The typical Singaporean psyche to problem-solving is unique. Any difficult situation or social ill should first be addressed by taxes, tariffs and tolls. Thus, the running joke about Singapore as a "fine" city.
Recently the ever-controversial topic of car prices and their effects on traffic flow patterns came up in conversation. Apparently some of the commentators believe that the current low prices of cars have led to an increase in car owners, therefore contributing to road congestion. Their solution? Why, raise car prices of course! The reasoning is that with the higher price of cars, they will be able to out-spend their competitors and thus assure themselves of a "rightful" place on the road.
I was incredulous that these highly intelligent and well-regarded individuals would suddenly lose their minds and come up with such a stupid idea.
It is not unusual for an individual with high net worth to be the registered owner of 5, 10, 25 or even more cars. So you're Joe Shmoe who needs to commute from Loyang to Tuas every day, and you're up against Richie Rich who is angling to complete his Ferrari collection. There's one COE left on the market. Guess who's getting it?
Car prices in Singapore are already artificially inflated through customs duty and taxes. Additionally, the COE system has proven to be flawed as a way for controlling the car population, since that does not address usage and is simply a flat tax, as explained in the paragraph above. Thus the raison detre and implementation of the ERP scheme, which is sound in theory. The only problem is that existing car owners have been subsidizing the ongoing costs without reaping the benefits of the ERP system, leading to discontent.
In the meantime, in typical fashion, the powers-that-be have, you guessed it, raised ERP prices on congested roads during peak hours. So existing car owners are screwed over twice, a problem that is essentially created by ourselves (because we're the ones who asked for the COE and ERP system in the first place. *ahem*).
So there you have it, the current state of commuting in Singapore. Surprising? Hardly. We're just a nation of pampered whiners.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Ferrari F50 GT
Meant to be raced in the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours, only 3 were ever built. Here's a dyno run...
More info on Wikipedia.
More info on Wikipedia.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Google Zeitgeist for Singapore
Popular queries in January 2007:
1. friendster
2. wikipedia
3. mercury interactive
4. women's health
5. starhub
6. singtel
7. singapore airlines
8. men's health
9. death note
10. dbs
11. cpf
12. iphone
13. street directory
14. chinese new year
15. singapore pools
Google zeitgeist for other countries. Interesting to see that Korean searchers are obsessed with celebrity.
1. friendster
2. wikipedia
3. mercury interactive
4. women's health
5. starhub
6. singtel
7. singapore airlines
8. men's health
9. death note
10. dbs
11. cpf
12. iphone
13. street directory
14. chinese new year
15. singapore pools
Google zeitgeist for other countries. Interesting to see that Korean searchers are obsessed with celebrity.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Stressful week
Went to dyno tune an E9 GSR earlier this week.
First, a baseline pull before dyno tuning... came up to 400 HP. Fine. So I spend the next hour or so trying to get the fueling just right, making sure there's no detonation etc. After this the car makes another power run. 350 HP! I immediately load the map before the dyno tune to see what's wrong. Logically it should also produce close to 400 HP, or the same power it came in with.
Nope, it still showed 350 HP! All temperatures were normal between runs.
At this point in time it was getting late and the owner decided to bring it back and refuel. He pulls into the gas station and we hear something similar to brake caliper pistons getting knocked back into the seats. i.e. if the calipers seized they might be preventing the car from accelerating, hence explaining the loss in power. So we head back to the workshop and take it apart, but we find nothing. The pads are in good shape too. :(
The next day, the car went onto the dyno again, and another baseline power run. Now it is 340 HP! Loaded back the other dyno-tuned map, it is still 340 HP. At this point in time the owner made a decision to just trust what I've done so far. OK... so I mess around with the map a little more, taking out a little bit of fuel and advancing the spark in small increments. Nothing too radical. After about an hour I make a couple of runs. The dyno shows 370 HP. The owner decides it's enough and make a final power run. Here is where it gets weird. Final numbers are 420 HP @ 7000, peak torque of 440 Nm @ 6000. We take the car out on the street and it does seem to have a much better pull, especially on 4th and 5th gears.
In summary, we went from 400 to 350 to 340 to 420 HP. Very strange. All tuning and power runs were done in 4th. The ambient corrections were either 2-3%. I can understand the 350 to 340 HP drop since conditions may vary enough such that a 3% loss in between runs, while significant, is possible. But the 50 HP drop is still unexplained, same goes for the 340 to 420 HP gain. Could it really have been the brakes? It also doesn't explain why I saw 370 on the dyno yet the print out showed 420 HP.
From the figures, the following would seem to make more sense. 400 HP via some conversion factor becomes 350 HP. Net gain of 20 HP gives 370 HP. 20 HP gain applied to original 400 HP yields 420 HP. Comments?
First, a baseline pull before dyno tuning... came up to 400 HP. Fine. So I spend the next hour or so trying to get the fueling just right, making sure there's no detonation etc. After this the car makes another power run. 350 HP! I immediately load the map before the dyno tune to see what's wrong. Logically it should also produce close to 400 HP, or the same power it came in with.
Nope, it still showed 350 HP! All temperatures were normal between runs.
At this point in time it was getting late and the owner decided to bring it back and refuel. He pulls into the gas station and we hear something similar to brake caliper pistons getting knocked back into the seats. i.e. if the calipers seized they might be preventing the car from accelerating, hence explaining the loss in power. So we head back to the workshop and take it apart, but we find nothing. The pads are in good shape too. :(
The next day, the car went onto the dyno again, and another baseline power run. Now it is 340 HP! Loaded back the other dyno-tuned map, it is still 340 HP. At this point in time the owner made a decision to just trust what I've done so far. OK... so I mess around with the map a little more, taking out a little bit of fuel and advancing the spark in small increments. Nothing too radical. After about an hour I make a couple of runs. The dyno shows 370 HP. The owner decides it's enough and make a final power run. Here is where it gets weird. Final numbers are 420 HP @ 7000, peak torque of 440 Nm @ 6000. We take the car out on the street and it does seem to have a much better pull, especially on 4th and 5th gears.
In summary, we went from 400 to 350 to 340 to 420 HP. Very strange. All tuning and power runs were done in 4th. The ambient corrections were either 2-3%. I can understand the 350 to 340 HP drop since conditions may vary enough such that a 3% loss in between runs, while significant, is possible. But the 50 HP drop is still unexplained, same goes for the 340 to 420 HP gain. Could it really have been the brakes? It also doesn't explain why I saw 370 on the dyno yet the print out showed 420 HP.
From the figures, the following would seem to make more sense. 400 HP via some conversion factor becomes 350 HP. Net gain of 20 HP gives 370 HP. 20 HP gain applied to original 400 HP yields 420 HP. Comments?
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Ferrari F430
So today one of our friends dropped by to check on the progress of his Evo. In his red Ferrari F430. WOW!!!
Of course everyone wanted to know how it goes. "It feels slower than the Evo for some reason..." Yeah right! It's 4.3L worth of Italian V8 goodness dude!
So we're standing around admiring this exquisite work of automotive art and he says "Hey let's go for a ride." He didn't have to ask twice!!
The dashboard is in hand-stitched black leather ... nice :) Fires it up and the burbly V8 comes to life. Quick dab on the throttle brings the engine to a lovely hum, a lot more bassy than the F360's shriek.
Driving slowly out of the compound, we check for traffic both ways. Manettino set to "Race". All clear! Make a left turn, straighten the steering wheel, and floor it! The rear wheels chirp as the traction control struggles to bring the car in line, but we're still accelerating strongly to the 8500 RPM red line... upshift into 2nd, the gear change is hard and brutal. The car is still pulling hard, and into 3rd. A car ahead slows so he shuts it down.
Repeat.
My initial impressions... it's got good mid-range torque. He's right. It doesn't feel as raw as Sam's car in the first few gears. But the power never flags even towards rev limiter. Should be a real highway monster.
The car is on overrun when the foot is off the throttle so that should result in the occasional fireball out the exhaust. The sound of it is something that never gets old.
Hopefully he'll bring it to our next trackday so we have some idea of what it can do. I'll sure be looking forward to it. :)
Of course everyone wanted to know how it goes. "It feels slower than the Evo for some reason..." Yeah right! It's 4.3L worth of Italian V8 goodness dude!
So we're standing around admiring this exquisite work of automotive art and he says "Hey let's go for a ride." He didn't have to ask twice!!
The dashboard is in hand-stitched black leather ... nice :) Fires it up and the burbly V8 comes to life. Quick dab on the throttle brings the engine to a lovely hum, a lot more bassy than the F360's shriek.
Driving slowly out of the compound, we check for traffic both ways. Manettino set to "Race". All clear! Make a left turn, straighten the steering wheel, and floor it! The rear wheels chirp as the traction control struggles to bring the car in line, but we're still accelerating strongly to the 8500 RPM red line... upshift into 2nd, the gear change is hard and brutal. The car is still pulling hard, and into 3rd. A car ahead slows so he shuts it down.
Repeat.
My initial impressions... it's got good mid-range torque. He's right. It doesn't feel as raw as Sam's car in the first few gears. But the power never flags even towards rev limiter. Should be a real highway monster.
The car is on overrun when the foot is off the throttle so that should result in the occasional fireball out the exhaust. The sound of it is something that never gets old.
Hopefully he'll bring it to our next trackday so we have some idea of what it can do. I'll sure be looking forward to it. :)
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