Mad About Cars

We all know and love those 3 little letters that include NOS! Yes we strive to soop our cars up on the gas in order for it to literally FLY!!!

But have you ever wanted to know exactly what it is???

Well, Nitrous Oxide – commonly known as ‘laughing gas’, is a colour-less non flammable chemical compound that is used as an oxidizer in rocketry and motor racing engines to increase power output.
It has 310 times more impact per unit weight than carbon dioxide, and is prepared by carefully heating ammonium nitrate which decomposes into water vapor and nitrous oxide.

And now for the exciting part!!!…

Nitrous allows an engine to burn more air and fuel, thus resulting in higher power combustion.
It delivers more oxygen than atmospheric air enforcing breakdown at extremely high temperatures, although it is not a flammable liquid.
As it is compressed, the expansion of liquid nitrous in the manifold causes a drop in temperature in the intake charge – the results are a denser charge, allowing more mixture of air and fuel into the cylinder.
In some cases, it can actually produce enough power to seriously damage or destroy an engine.
Wow! Now thats Power!!!…

GPS Tracking units are commonly found on/in a vehicle, person or asset of some substantial value. It is attached in an attempt to track the positioning of these at regular intervals…

‘GPS’ stands for ‘Global Positioning System’, the recorded location is stored in the tracking system, or alternatively transmitted to a central data base, or computer connected to the Internet, using Radio, Cellular GPRS, or Satellites – a modem embedded into the unit itself…

Using customised software, the location of the particular can be seen on a map backdrop, however, although this seems to be a global breakthrough, amateur radio operators have been using GPS-based nationwide real-time (APRS) since 1982. APRS is Automatic Packet Reporting System…

Usually GPS tracking systems tend to fall into one of the following categories;-

• Data Loggers
• Data Pushers
• Data Pullers

Data Loggers – have an internal memory that logs its position at regular intervals. This is usually in the form of a memory card, internal flash or USB port, some act as a USB Flash Drive which allows the data to be downloaded for further analysis in any computer.
An example of this may be – A Sports enthusiast, who mainly use these device types as they are most suited to for activities such as outdoor sports like backpacking or jogging… On their return, the information logged is transferred onto a PC to calculate length and duration of the journey…

Data Pushers – Push Technology, Security industries, as a common example, push information (sends) its position at regular intervals to a particular server instantly analysing the data.
Many companies actually provide “push” technology data, enabling complex GPS tracking in business’s that specifically employ a mobile workforce.

Some examples of usage are as follows…

• Vehicle Fleet Control – Companies will put trackers on vehicles to establish their position along a route/journey i.e – Taxi’s or Delivery Vehicles, and Armoured Trucks.
• Stolen Vehicles – Owners of high valued cars will fit tracking devices to be activated in the event of a robbery, so that they can locate the vehicle quickly and efficiently.
• In some cases, trackers can also be put on wildlife maybe in the form of a chip in the collar. This allows scientist to study animal activity in the wild.
• Control in racing events – Some sports can benefit from using trackers where the judges can identify participants taking short cuts or cheating, or to monitor how far apart from eachother the contestants are. Gliding is a good example of this…
• Internet Fun – Some surfers have created their own web pages with personal trackers, in which others can monitor their whereabouts.

Data Pullers – are devices which are always on, continuously queried as required – It is Pull Technology.
A computer with Internet connection and also connected to GPSD is an example of this kind of device. It is not as yet widespread technology but are becoming more and more common amongst devices containing a GPS receiver with a cell phone that when sent a unique SMS message, replies with a message with details of its location.

Potentially, these tracing devices can be abused, and raise alot of concerns about peoples personal privacy, as over time, a typical pattern of movements can be revealed. In the US, the use of GPS trackers with police can require search warrants in some cases……!

Tyre choices are an important aspect of motoring, and with many budget tyres being temptingly cheap compared to brand name rivals.

Budget tyres may seem to make sense financially, but in recent tests by Autocar a set of budget tyres were found to perform far worse than their branded counterparts.

When used under extreme conditions such as harsh braking, along with aquaplaning, the budget tyres on test were found to perform far worse. In one of the most alarming statistics, the worst finishing ‘Linglong’ tyre was still travelling at 27.8 miles per hour after the car fitted with a branded tyre, a Continental’ had stopped.

Typically, budget tyres represent a false economy for the driver, in terms of lower production standards, higher rates of wear, and far worse performance in adverse weather conditions, along with high speed performance driving.

A more realistic way to try and save money on tyres would be to consider the wide range of mid-range tyres that are available, many of which offer comparable performance to branded tyres but at lower cost.

Another consideration may be the internet, many tyre shopping website now exist where customers can buy tyres directly, with most websites including fitting and balancing in the purchase price.

One of the biggest names linked with the UK modifying scene is Ripspeed. Since its acquisition by Halfords in 1999 the company has become one of the biggest names in UK car modifying.
The company originally started in 1973 as a performance tuning and accessories mail order company. Founded by 1970s Rallycross champion Keith Ripp, the company took his surname and from its base in Enfield, Middlesex, predominantly sold performance parts for Mini owners.
The company steadily grew before being sold in 1996, however in a bid to expand the new owners moved the company from its traditional Enfield base in a bid to expand to several stores nationwide, with more of an emphasis being placed on the sale of cosmetic modifications at the expense of performance tuning. However the ambitious plans were thwarted two years later when the business folded.
The Ripspeed name was bought by Halfords in 1999, who use the Ripspeed name as a sub-brand, representing the car-modifying arm of Halfords. One of the major changes to the Ripspeed name since 1999 is the virtual abandonment of performance tuning, with the brand now concentrating solely on cosmetic modifications.
Ripspeed is now one of the UK’s biggest car modifying companies, although since its Halfords takeover the brand is often heavily criticised by ‘serious’ car modifiers who claim that the company’s relatively cheap, low quality items and the focus on cosmetic modifications give it a cheap ‘boy racer’ image.
However, Ripspeed is now one of the few ‘mainstream’ car modification retailers in the UK with Ripspeed branches in Halfords stores across the UK.

One of the most famous names in the world of in-car entertainment is that of Kicker. The company was founded in 1973, under the name of Stillwater Designs, named after the town of Stillwater, Ohio where the company was originally based (and still remains to this day)

The company originally started by building specialist audio equipment for sites such as churches and auditoriums, moving into the world of car audio in 1980, where they made one of the world’s first high-performance specialist audio systems.

Today, the company is seen as one of the leading names in the world of car audio, with modifiers around the world choosing to equip their cars with Kicker equipment. Modified in-car entertainment systems featuring Kicker equipment have countless car audio competitions or ‘sound-offs’ over the years.

Kicker are well known for being one of the earliest producers of square subwoofers and loudspeakers, which are said to produce clearer sound quality, even from relatively small ten and twelve inch subwoofer systems. Although the company is famous for its subwoofer and large speaker systems, they produce a complete range of speakers, including high-range tweeters and general mid-range speakers.

Although the company is better known in America, in the last ten years the company has made real inroads into the UK market, against traditionally strong rivals like Alpine and Kenwood.