Re: the 3 pictures posted yesterday of the 3 cars at 160-180+ or - mph....
01-23-2001, 06:49 AM
#1
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Re: the 3 pictures posted yesterday of the 3 cars at 160-180+ or - mph....
We stayed late last night with the intent of disecting and finding the flaws in a potentially altered set of pics. Since I do graphics for a living and have access to the latest high-tech/high dollar state-of-he-art software/equipment and do ultra close tolerance spec artwork for military, NASA, aerospace and even some very hush-hush projects, we thought it'd be a simple task to uncover any/every alteration contained within that set of pics.
My best tech took it upon himself as several watched and he systematically set about dissecting and unfolding layer upon layer of the images. First by color separations in RGB, then converting to 32 bit and CMYK. He broke every image down to individual pixels viewed on a factory-tweaked Nanao FX2-21 2100x2100 NI Monitor driven by two 256bit 24 meg Vram graphics accelerator cards installed in series/parallel. We had pixels literally 11.5" tall on-screen. He then set about finding any inconsistency, aberration or out-of-place tones, hues and colors as well as inconsistent bit-mapped vector geometry.
Bottom line is all three of those pics are as taken from the camera, unaltered and unquestionably real and valid pics. There's no way any of them are altered or faked.
As to some other contents, the one about temp doesnt seem to be of consequence as the temp on the DRO is in Celsius. I didnt do the conversion but I know it's a moderate, comfortable temperature.
As far as cooling temps, any of our cars could sustain top end at normal operating temperatures. Cas dont overheat going fast unless something is wrong or it has a woefully inadequate cooling system. My TT has seen 160+ and it didnt overheat even a smidge. In fact, at those speeds its probably more likely to run a tad cooler as every accessory is off and all coolant passages are open and flowing huge volumes of coolant. Plus there's a 160mph rush of air going thru the radiator and across the engine surface.
As far as finding a place to do those kinds of speeds, it's easy... maybe risky, but easy. I'm in Denver and within 25 miles of any number of farm-to-market roads that will accomodate those speeds as safely as possible. Smooth roads, with visibility to the horizon. Not to be confused with "interstate" type roads that are heavily-traveled, treacherous and in constant disrepair. These are glass-smooth roads with LONG stretches of no highway entrances and practically zero traffic cept during harvest season... just barbed wire and the occasional dirt-road feed that due to dust trails you can literally see cars about to cross or enter the highway from 15 miles away if only by their dust trail.
As far as if these pics were taken on the road or on a 4WD dyno is anyones guess. But at those speeds cooling can become an issue on a dyno. Hard to get the volume of air through a radiator in-shop with a fan as out on the open raod. And it's entirely possible someone pegged a speedo and tach needle while playing with the instrument cluster while out of the car and layed it back in with ignition on for a quick photo. Yes, if done correctly the DRO will read the speed on the gauge. But what a PITA for one faked photo, let alone three different ones.
But following Ochams Razor... the precept by which "all other things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one" I'm going with these pics are credible, probably real and as posted. Besides, 160 just really isn't "that" hard to do.
Now as far as driving 160 while taking a pic simultaneously... ya got *****, I'll give ya that!
My best tech took it upon himself as several watched and he systematically set about dissecting and unfolding layer upon layer of the images. First by color separations in RGB, then converting to 32 bit and CMYK. He broke every image down to individual pixels viewed on a factory-tweaked Nanao FX2-21 2100x2100 NI Monitor driven by two 256bit 24 meg Vram graphics accelerator cards installed in series/parallel. We had pixels literally 11.5" tall on-screen. He then set about finding any inconsistency, aberration or out-of-place tones, hues and colors as well as inconsistent bit-mapped vector geometry.
Bottom line is all three of those pics are as taken from the camera, unaltered and unquestionably real and valid pics. There's no way any of them are altered or faked.
As to some other contents, the one about temp doesnt seem to be of consequence as the temp on the DRO is in Celsius. I didnt do the conversion but I know it's a moderate, comfortable temperature.
As far as cooling temps, any of our cars could sustain top end at normal operating temperatures. Cas dont overheat going fast unless something is wrong or it has a woefully inadequate cooling system. My TT has seen 160+ and it didnt overheat even a smidge. In fact, at those speeds its probably more likely to run a tad cooler as every accessory is off and all coolant passages are open and flowing huge volumes of coolant. Plus there's a 160mph rush of air going thru the radiator and across the engine surface.
As far as finding a place to do those kinds of speeds, it's easy... maybe risky, but easy. I'm in Denver and within 25 miles of any number of farm-to-market roads that will accomodate those speeds as safely as possible. Smooth roads, with visibility to the horizon. Not to be confused with "interstate" type roads that are heavily-traveled, treacherous and in constant disrepair. These are glass-smooth roads with LONG stretches of no highway entrances and practically zero traffic cept during harvest season... just barbed wire and the occasional dirt-road feed that due to dust trails you can literally see cars about to cross or enter the highway from 15 miles away if only by their dust trail.
As far as if these pics were taken on the road or on a 4WD dyno is anyones guess. But at those speeds cooling can become an issue on a dyno. Hard to get the volume of air through a radiator in-shop with a fan as out on the open raod. And it's entirely possible someone pegged a speedo and tach needle while playing with the instrument cluster while out of the car and layed it back in with ignition on for a quick photo. Yes, if done correctly the DRO will read the speed on the gauge. But what a PITA for one faked photo, let alone three different ones.
But following Ochams Razor... the precept by which "all other things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one" I'm going with these pics are credible, probably real and as posted. Besides, 160 just really isn't "that" hard to do.
Now as far as driving 160 while taking a pic simultaneously... ya got *****, I'll give ya that!
01-23-2001, 07:52 AM
#4
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Very interesting....as to high speed runs AKA pulling red line in top gear-
..I don't know why but I have always liked to know if a machine will pull red line in top gear. This is just something that fascinates me and I just like to know. I prefer a set up that WILL allow the motor to pull to redline full well knowing that "redline" is not necessarily a hard fast number. Certainly you can change a motor's power curve with any number of modifications and thus allow it to make more power at high RPM and in turn push red line up, as long as you stay within mechanical limits (which can also be move up). Well I have found most stock setups will not "hit the red line wall" and need to be tweaked to do so.
I agree with your description of a "good road' and once I find one I always (actually I should say use to, as I haven't done any "top ending" for a long time) drive the route up and back. I also will bail in strong gusty side winds when top ending a bike and sometimes a car also. It really makes you feel good to see red line on a bike, that would fall way short, after an exhaust and jetting change, there is just something 'right' about it. I also have found that it is very hard to 'top end' a machine that has decent speed potential when you have never done it. It took me years and progressive steps to get comfortable on some of my circa 1970s motorcycles, but given the weird handling most machines from that era exhibited, maybe that is not too surprising. If you have ever ridden Kawasaki's from that period you know what I mean. In truth I think it just takes time to develop a comfort level regardless of what you are piloting. This activity also seems and is dangerous and can culminate in a catastrophic ending, maybe that's why it's so much fun. The trouble is that where I live there just aren't any of those good roads left as urban sprawl has gobbled them all up.
I agree with your description of a "good road' and once I find one I always (actually I should say use to, as I haven't done any "top ending" for a long time) drive the route up and back. I also will bail in strong gusty side winds when top ending a bike and sometimes a car also. It really makes you feel good to see red line on a bike, that would fall way short, after an exhaust and jetting change, there is just something 'right' about it. I also have found that it is very hard to 'top end' a machine that has decent speed potential when you have never done it. It took me years and progressive steps to get comfortable on some of my circa 1970s motorcycles, but given the weird handling most machines from that era exhibited, maybe that is not too surprising. If you have ever ridden Kawasaki's from that period you know what I mean. In truth I think it just takes time to develop a comfort level regardless of what you are piloting. This activity also seems and is dangerous and can culminate in a catastrophic ending, maybe that's why it's so much fun. The trouble is that where I live there just aren't any of those good roads left as urban sprawl has gobbled them all up.
