Kick Those Shoes Off and Relax. It's the Delta 2017 Tea Break

[Peter Mallett]

Not in our lifetimes? 10 years I'd give it. The pace of technology is increasing exponentially. The Tesla and McLaren stories will be "old hat".

[Mike Bell]

Max is on the button re SIM racing, and I read the other day that Airbus Industry are working on an autonomous FLYING personal transport module (car).... I had to check it wasn't April 1st!

I can't see who driverless racing would appeal to- except the engineers and compooter wiz kids building the vehicles! And who's going to fund them- manufacturers? They are surely more interested in getting the tech working on roads cars?

Now SIM racing......

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

They are surely more interested in getting the tech working on roads cars?

If they were autonomous, they would be road cars.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Max is on the button re SIM racing, and I read the other day that Airbus Industry are working on an autonomous FLYING personal transport module (car).... I had to check it wasn't April 1st!

I can't see who driverless racing would appeal to- except the engineers and compooter wiz kids building the vehicles! And who's going to fund them- manufacturers? They are surely more interested in getting the tech working on roads cars?

Now SIM racing......

It's not just autonomous flying (surely we already have that with drones?). I keep getting e-mails inviting me to autonomous shipping symposiums & the like. That could make crossing the Channel interesting!

All this of course means human beings will be entirely superfluous & the world will happily operate without us. Sometimes I wish I was even older than I am - maybe even as old as Bauble!

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

It's not just autonomous flying (surely we already have that with drones?).

Not only drones. Most modern airliners are capable of flying between two points without real-time human intervention. Once they are lined up at the beginning of the runway, humans are only required to switch on the automatic systems and the aircraft would then require no human input until the aircraft has landed and wants to turn off the runway onto a taxi-way.

The next step will be when airport authorities build in the infrastructure that would allow the aircraft to taxi to their designated parking places next to the terminal. That technology hasn't been installed at any major airport yet (as far as I am aware, although I believe that one or two small airports have been experimenting) but the aircraft are pretty much ready to go already.

[bauble]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

It's not just autonomous flying (surely we already have that with drones?). I keep getting e-mails inviting me to autonomous shipping symposiums & the like. That could make crossing the Channel interesting!

All this of course means human beings will be entirely superfluous & the world will happily operate without us. Sometimes I wish I was even older than I am - maybe even as old as Bauble!

Indeed growing old does have it's compensations, and not living to see the 'Virtual World' that looms on the horizon is one of them.

But never mind in the brave new computer world everyone's life will be measured and terminated once the allotted span has been reached, when life support will be switched off.

However Heaven awaits the righteous so I am not worried.

[bauble]

At the risk of being labelled a pervert I think this thread was much more cheerful when concentrating on Viva's underwear, it has become quite depressing of late.

I like choirs singing songs, of Y-fronts, boxers, slips and thongs.
Everyone should own a pair, plus a couple more as spare,
Striped, spotted, or plain white, change the item every night.
And here's the thing for high kickers, Viva wears his lady's verbottens.*

*Courtesy of the 'Goon Show'.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by bauble

At the risk of being labelled a pervert I think this thread was much more cheerful when concentrating on Viva's underwear, it has become quite depressing of late.

Well done Bob.....

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Not in our lifetimes? 10 years I'd give it. The pace of technology is increasing exponentially. The Tesla and McLaren stories will be "old hat".

I don't doubt the tech is there already, but the infrastructure, governmental will and acceptance of the people isn't. Let alone the complaisance of the oil/car companies.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by bauble

At the risk of being labelled a pervert I think this thread was much more cheerful when concentrating on Viva's underwear, it has become quite depressing of late.

I like choirs singing songs, of Y-fronts, boxers, slips and thongs.
Everyone should own a pair, plus a couple more as spare,
Striped, spotted, or plain white, change the item every night.
And here's the thing for high kickers, Viva wears his lady's verbottens.*

*Courtesy of the 'Goon Show'.

Thanks for resurrecting this aspect of the thread, I was almost enjoying my 10 minutes of fame! (No publicity is bad publicity as Bernie would say...)

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by midgetman

I don't doubt the tech is there already, but the infrastructure, governmental will and acceptance of the people isn't. Let alone the complaisance of the oil/car companies.

Not necessarily in the UK but you can bet there are countries who are able to implement it. I commented on the fact that here in Albania they have extremely good 4g coverage and when compared to the UK it is miles ahead. I was reminded that in the UK the investment in the original architecture means that you are restricted whereas somewhere like Albania who 20 years ago had only a few landlines, they can invest and implement because there's no legacy, or baggage as we might call it now.

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

I can't see who driverless racing would appeal to- except the engineers and compooter wiz kids building the vehicles! And who's going to fund them- manufacturers? They are surely more interested in getting the tech working on roads cars?

Surely that's what the manufacturers want? They use racing for learning, "Improving the breed." It's all part of the great marketing plan, getting autonomous cars into the public consciousness.

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Not necessarily in the UK but you can bet there are countries who are able to implement it. I commented on the fact that here in Albania they have extremely good 4g coverage and when compared to the UK it is miles ahead. I was reminded that in the UK the investment in the original architecture means that you are restricted whereas somewhere like Albania who 20 years ago had only a few landlines, they can invest and implement because there's no legacy, or baggage as we might call it now.

I agree. The telecoms thing is a perfect example of what I mean, countries that aren't beholden to BT have missed out the copper cable step. Here, fibre and 4G are struggling and old-fashioned tech is ruling the roost.

Bauble, this isn't depressing it's fascinating, exciting and a huge challenge to make sure we personally can benefit from the future.

FYI there is another problem with electric vehicles. Yesterday at a kart track in the Midlands they put a salt substitute down to combat the frozen surface first thing in the morning. Then it rained, and the ignition systems failed regularly plus some drivers got electric shocks from their karts. Imagine if those were full-on electric vehicles. It seems the British weather combined with Elf'n'Safety may yet have the final say over our technology!

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Surely that's what the manufacturers want? They use racing for learning, "Improving the breed." It's all part of the great marketing plan, getting autonomous cars into the public consciousness.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Not necessarily in the UK but you can bet there are countries who are able to implement it. I commented on the fact that here in Albania they have extremely good 4g coverage and when compared to the UK it is miles ahead. I was reminded that in the UK the investment in the original architecture means that you are restricted whereas somewhere like Albania who 20 years ago had only a few landlines, they can invest and implement because there's no legacy, or baggage as we might call it now.

Back in the late 80s, possibly early 90s I was a business trip to Madrid visiting the Spanish office of a Scandinavian client who were a leading name on the telecomms market.

It was an interesting couple of days working out how Spain sort of functioned. I had, as usual, planned my trip to make some spare time available to help them with answers to any questions they might have about their software implementation. So I have a morning to spend with them, FOC time paid for by the Corporate Head Office.

The project manager seemed vaguely interested in this but had to send a fax to one of their other offices a few kms away before we could start any useful work.

It took him the entire morning as the comms lines were so bad. Apparently that was normal. (I did watch - it looked like a genuine problem not a work excuse.)

A decade later Spain had one of the most advanced comms and mobile networks in Europe and had taken positions in that market all around the world.

BT suffer form the same problem as IBM. Lots of old tech, built to "last" and written off in the books over extended periods - waaayyy too long for the modern world.

Or is it?

It's the opposite of a throwaway society (at least in part) and do we really really NEED ever more speed in comms?

I'm not sitting here thinking I need faster internet access. Copper works for me so what's the problem?

As one ages the idea of NOT HAVING TO DRIVE on our ridiculously crowded roads (compared to past times) appeals a lot. And the thought that just possibly should one survive to an extreme age but with some infirmity, personal travel might still be possible to get from A to B without having to run a gauntlet of public transport hubs or upset the irascible motorists of a much younger generation has attractions.

If I can do that without having to own and maintain a vehicle then so much the better.

My guess is that the majority of people would like such changes.

Now, if the same concepts of fully controlled autonomous travel were applied to bicycles in London travel in the "New Smoke" might become bearable.

[bauble]

Bauble, this isn't depressing it's fascinating, exciting and a huge challenge to make sure we personally can benefit from the future.

FASCINATING???

Poor chap, completely delusional, seeking a future where your thinking is done for you by a machine.

Virtual fathers ambitious for their virtual sons, sitting them at virtual keyboards to drive virtual karts on virtual tracks to try and win virtual fame and riches.
Naturally the karts are tuned by virtual preparers.

All of this peek in to the future is depressing, I much prefer to have a good laugh at things like VivaGT's underwear, Delta trying to fit hoses too short to his racing car, Colin travelling half way round the globe to smash his sump driving off the boat.
Little things like this make living worth while.

Of course it could just be me.

[Lancsbreaker]

Haven't been in here for a week or so for a variety of reasons......my, that took some catching up!

Started about being exciting with talk about Alfasuds (that one at Anglia will be real value if anywhere near estimate!) - only new car I ever ownedfor 7 years from 79, and had one or two since - even got one tucked away in the garage now, waiting some minor fettling, and we rallied a Sud Sprint back in the 80s. 205 Rallye - remember doing the Swedish in the early 90s in one of them - great little car....we even got a finish, partly because my mate had sold it just before the rally, so we had to get it back in one piece........

After a bit of bewildering delving into the mysteries of Viva's Y-fronts, which may leave me scarred for what remains of my life, some interesting thoughts on the impacts of autonomous cars on racing. What actually intrigues me is that whilst its a relatively simple matter for an engineer to set-up a car to do repeatable laps round a circuit, and presumably for the car's ECUs to learn from the yaw sensors etc just when optimium grip is being maintained, surely its a huge leap for such vehicles actually to be able to compete in real time - as they must have sensors to ensure they avoid collision so when in close proximity to another competing car would presumably have to take avoiding action.........assuming cars had reasonably similar performance levels you would never get any overtaking?

On one of the other topics - I remember a mate leaving his (NHS company car) Merc and his wife's Polo to de-ice and warm up outside his house a few years ago..........oddly the Polo was still there but not the Merc, when he'd finished brekkie. The NHS's insurers were distinctly underwhelmed and he was still fighting their claim for the value of the car about two years later when it was actually recovered - although of course by then worth a lot less. Now he has his own car I believe he uses de-icer........

[PeterMorley]

Originally Posted by bauble

FASCINATING???

Poor chap, completely delusional, seeking a future where your thinking is done for you by a machine.

Virtual fathers ambitious for their virtual sons, sitting them at virtual keyboards to drive virtual karts on virtual tracks to try and win virtual fame and riches.
Naturally the karts are tuned by virtual preparers.

All of this peek in to the future is depressing, I much prefer to have a good laugh at things like VivaGT's underwear, Delta trying to fit hoses too short to his racing car, Colin travelling half way round the globe to smash his sump driving off the boat.
Little things like this make living worth while.

Of course it could just be me.

In the virtual world of the future there will be no need for underwear, given there will be no reason to leave the house there will be no need for clothing...

And no need for sumps or aeroquip because they will all be computer generated...

Hopefully those thoughts are depressing enough to keep you happy!

[grantp]

Originally Posted by PeterMorley

In the virtual world of the future there will be no need for underwear, given there will be no reason to leave the house there will be no need for clothing...

There might be need for clothing if only to keep warm during the winter power failures when everyone is on their PlayStation equivalents and trips the grid when the wind stop blowing.

Does anyone remember the days a while back when the World Chess Championship would be a battle consistent of a match every day or so for about 2 years between two Grand Masters?

Have you seen how chess is played these days?

On line live (for those who are interested) and with match replays or the opportunity to dice in and make your own moves to see how you might have played the match. (Sort of).

For anyone interested, have a look at Chess24.com

I wonder if one could do something similar with F1?

[delta]

Well that's interesting Peter . BTW Delta Motit Sport now have a 50% share in a 3 D Printer . With another tenther . 😀

[grantp]

Originally Posted by delta

Well that's interesting Peter . BTW Delta Motit Sport now have a 50% share in a 3 D Printer . With another tenther . 😀

Do you have to print three Ds often Iain?

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by grantp

Do you have to print three Ds often Iain?

I suppose there's more call for that since Double Diamond went out of production...

[grantp]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I suppose there's more call for that since Double Diamond went out of production...

Crikey, that goes back some way.

Suddenly had a mental image of a Party 7, though as I recall DD was not something that came in that size - or at least not in my necking of the woods.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by grantp

Crikey, that goes back some way.

Suddenly had a mental image of a Party 7, though as I recall DD was not something that came in that size - or at least not in my necking of the woods.

Wasn't a Party 7 Watney's Red Barrel?

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by grantp

Crikey, that goes back some way.

Suddenly had a mental image of a Party 7, though as I recall DD was not something that came in that size - or at least not in my necking of the woods.

When we were too young to drink in the pub one of the girls we knew at the time was "well endowed" for her age so she would go to the bar to get us the drinks