lowering my tyre pressures???

He is testing the government's new GPS location device, directly connected to the ECU.

Is this the Smart car? I haven't tried it, but ride is said to be quite hard to help stability.

Having a hard ride wouldn't do much for stability... but I know what you mean!

It's more associated with skinny tyres up front and fatter tyres at the back, to encourage understeer.

After hitting one, the next one is so close, that's the best one can accelerate to.

That isn't as far fetched as it first appears: The company I work for is having its entire Mercedes Sprinter fleet restricted to 60mph after they looked at the GPS satnav/tracking data over the last few months and discovered somone had cracked 100mph. They also found that drivers regularly exceed the 50 and 60mph max speeds on single carrigeway and dual carrigeways.

Sounds like a kneejerk reaction to me.

What old to what new?

Underinflated tyres will overheat leading to rapid wear and possible blow-outs.

Using the lowest recommended pressure should be fine but do try the high speed/load pressures too as they may, surprisingly, prove more comfortable.

My E39 Alpina B10 rides as smoothly as my old E38 740 despite running on wider 40/35 profile rather than 55 profile tyres and stiffer springing.

How? Low unsprung weight thanks to light wheels and aluminium control arms, allowing suspension to be compliant, yet stiff.

E39s with high profile tyres must be very smooth.

I like the ride handling balance I've got :)

Mine too, 40% on the front...

The secret is to have plenty tread so that 35% of it gives you enough sidewall. :)

It is turbocharged, RWD and mid engined (or is the Smart rear engined?), but it's not a smart...

Not at 40 mph. ;-)

Not the best, but more than adequate.

As I said, each to his own.

Similar except the volvo one is computer monitored and adjusts in real time to requested and actual yaw, roll and pitch angles.

my dad's S60 D5 has no settings but is meant to be adjusted in real time still i believe and it's VERY good, can throw it round like the car is half the weight it really is!

Duty of care, longevity and economy of vehicles and also better for the drivers. Many of my clients have installed similar systems - one had a lot of problems having to rotate drivers who kept getting disqualified....

If it has 4c suspension then it has the 2 settings, if hasn't got the 2 settings then it's just a traditional setup - has it got the sport pack (18" BBS split rims, lowered and stiffened suspension and little boot spoiler)?

They do handle far too well (the DSTC helps a lot too) and can be quite entertaining, especially for scooby drivers trying to keep up.

I feel that as far as my employer seems concerned, people are disposable.

Today I read an email on tyre replacement (pretty much unrelated to speeding I know), and I think the rules are just getting silly. It goes something like this: For every millimetre over 2mm left on the tyre, the department in charge of the vehicle will be charged £9.50 per mm. There is also an extra premium charged before 8:30am and after 5:30pm for tyre replacements. Busy departments may require their vans to be in use between 9:30am and 10:30pm and the callout lead time can vary, anything from between 45 minutes to an hour and a half. When I add in the uncertainty of whether or not the tyre will be changed in time for the van to leave with its deliveries on time, I think it is little wonder that extra costs are incurred when a descision is made to get tyres changed at a time that will suit the department rather than the accountant.

However I think the main driving force behind the speed limiting scheme seems to have been cost. The courts levy large fines on companies who can't (or refuse) to reveal who was driving a vehicle when a speeding ticket comes through, the company can't always provide an accurate record, or leaves it untill too late to provide the info as there was more "important" stuff happening at the time. I think that they've worked out that if they get done speeding many times in a worst case scenario it'll outweigh the cost of paying some chap to restrict all 750 vehicles nationwide to 60mph.

However, I am a cynic. Perhaps it is all for me and my colleagues benefit after all.

Douglas

I have that video too for some odd reason...

I have an S60 now on GT4. The wheelspin is maximum comedy :) Touch the accelerator when turning, at all, the fronts light up and you tram off the road :D TC is a must...

Although it is better than my 450bhp (with NOS) 206 that spins the wheels in

There are many things one could say in response to that ;)