Top Gear

[Grahame]

Best get on the mailing list now  ... http://db11.astonmartin.com/en-us

As you'll have to go to Walnut Creek or Los Gatos, Since they are no longer at Corte Madera ...

[n_maher]

Episode 4 was great, probably enjoyed it more than any of the Grand Tour episodes.  Very much looking forward to 5 tonight, especially the KOH portion.

[Dreadhead]

Just trying episode 1 now. Very enjoyable and less stupid

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

[n_maher]

It gets way better as it progresses.  

[Craig Sawyers]

Missed last night's ep - but will catch up today.

Matt LeBlanc is a first rate, top drawer anchor for the show. All shuddering memories of the ginger one are fading from the memory like a bad dream.

[Craig Sawyers]

Latest episode has a comedian called Ross Noble. He comes from Cramlington - 10 miles from where I come from (Ryton on Tyne). The accent you hear is a rather softened local dialect called Geordie. Which is basically my accent too.

If he had spoken in broad Geordie (in other words not softened) you would not have been able to understand much. Except perhaps Birgir - Icelandic has the same Scandanavian roots as Geordie.

[spritzer]

It's funny how much easier it is for us to understand the weird dialects of the UK compared to American's...   

[Dave R]

Ee by gum. ?

[Grahame]

Meanwhile, oops ...
Thankfully, Richard Hammond is OK (fractured knee aside), although how do you set an electric car on fire?

http://jalopnik.com/richard-hammond-airlifted-after-terrifying-crash-during-1795985170

[Craig Sawyers]

Thank heavens he is OK in a way he wasn't in the rocket car a number of years back.

As to what causes the fire - stored energy in batteries. Suppose you have 1000 hp - 740kW. And suppose you can run at that level for ten minutes. Battery stored energy 450MJ. A hand grenade produces about 800kJ. So the stored energy in that supercar batteries is equivalent to 600 hand grenades.

Even if that hand-wavey order of magnitude physics shit is wrong by a factor of ten, there is still massively enough energy in the batteries to cause a major fire or explosion.

Now, how badly do you want that Tesla?

[mypasswordis]

The liquid electrolyte in typical lithium ion batteries is flammable and enough external force will short the electrodes so they are indeed like grenades, and they are neatly packed together so if one of them goes off it can set off a chain reaction. Hopefully they will be replaced by solid-state or other safer kinds of batteries soon.

[EdipisReks1]

Of course, a battery isn't an explosive, and isn't designed for near-instantaneous detonation across the entire device, so you get something closer to a strong conflagration, instead of a true explosion.  Still, scary stuff. 

[Hopstretch]

Remember this?

 

[EdipisReks1]

That's not an explosion, it's a strong conflagration. Notice that there is smoke first, and you are able to see the thermal event proceed without a high speed camera.  

Edited June 11, 2017 by EdipisReks1

[Grahame]

He's not dead, yet

https://drivetribe.com/p/aKm2XPlnT_i1GSSjAfONtw?iid=Lbe6OB-SSV6kxD3rO2P70w

 

 

[Craig Sawyers]

Good to see his is relatively undamaged after that fearsome crash.

I also was not far off on energy storage in the batteries. From the Rimac website, the battery (650V!) is 90kWh capacity. Which is 324MJ, 27% less than my engineering estimate of 450MJ.

But it is a bit of a beast. 2.5 seconds to 100km/h, top speed of 355km/h, 1224hp, 1600Nm torque http://www.rimac-automobili.com/en/supercars/concept_one/

Edit

Just to put those numbers into context, I have an old early 80's, V12, 5.3 litre Jaguar. That takes 8 seconds to 100km/h, top speed of 250km/h, 350hp, 480Nm torque.

 

Edited June 12, 2017 by Craig Sawyers

[spritzer]

Stuff like this is why I find electric cars and their rapid development so fascinating.  They are going all out in solving the charge issues (hello high voltage) and the performance is just incredible.  I've been toying with the idea of picking up a used Nissan Leaf as they cost nothing to run here, the electricity is so cheap.  There are also new seat rails available which means I can fit in the bloody thing... 

[grawk]

the 20-30 mile range on used leafs in cold weather is a drawback tho.

[spritzer]

The data from owners here is about 100km of range in Icelandic weather so not great but given the cost of the cars and the cost to run them... it's not bad. 

[n_maher]

Meanwhile, and not necessarily "new" news...

http://jalopnik.com/top-gear-america-is-here-and-here-its-three-hosts-1793443905

Top Gear US would appear to be dead and now we've got "America" on the way in less than a month.

[Grahame]

Meanwhile ...

 

[Torpedo]

1 hour ago, Grahame said:

Meanwhile ...

 

Wow, he's got that alcoholic looks

[Craig Sawyers]

He's four years younger than me. Yeesh. Just goes to show that money and fame count for nothing.

[Hopstretch]

Do you drink 3 bottles of róse a day and smoke 60 cigs?

[Craig Sawyers]

OK - 210 units of booze and 420 fags a week is sure going to take its toll.

My dad was a 60 a day man (much less booze though). Had a femoral artery bypass at 65 and died at age 72 in 1995 through heart failure. Every photo I have of him (dozens and dozens) he has a fag between his fingers.

I only kept one small item of furniture, and when we moved it in, I washed it

 

And that is what Clarkson is heading for.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Craig Sawyers