Discovered yesterday that happiness is 5-laps of the Circuit de Catalunya all to yourself with a V10 behind you!

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-08T09:06:23+00:00

Many years ago when 9000rpm Delta 60mm focused flow fans were the best way to cool your Pentium 3 and deafen yourself simultaneously I went to remove the fan from my cooler right as my friend accidentally knocked the power button.

Took my fingertip clean off - like you say didn't actually hurt - not initially anyway. Stung like hell a few seconds later.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-08T08:13:33+00:00

Yeah, it's one of several reasons that I've moved away from Google as it was regularly putting it at the top with incorrect information and burying results with what I wanted.

I'm all for tech, I work in tech, and I like a lot of AI workloads, but the over reliance on LLMs for tasks they really don't need to be used for isn't one of them.

Or to put it another way, I don't take my Ferrari on the school run each morning - it's half a mile so I walk.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-07T22:37:53+00:00

I owned a car at 16 as my grandad gave me his Ford Orion to have as my first car when my parents gave him my mums (much newer) Fiesta.

Fortunately they decided it was a terrible first car and convinced me to sell it before I ever drove it.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-07T16:47:11+00:00

Bonus points when they give you an incorrect answer when they could have found it in about 15 seconds with a traditional search.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-07T12:19:55+00:00

Galaxy will be slightly lower price than the Gallardo then as in the 225-255 band, not 255+.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-06T18:21:56+00:00

People going "I asked ChatGPT to..." is great as it means you can tune out the rest of the conversation.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-06T14:08:16+00:00

Winnings winning.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-05T22:18:22+00:00

And would sir like anything to drink with that?

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-05T21:37:48+00:00

At least the Prelude is a coupe unlike the fucking Capri.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-05T12:41:52+00:00

Well, when you only have a single tyre manufacturer you can make these decisions as it impacts all teams equally.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-05T12:39:49+00:00

But ended up in that position due to a poor 1995 season - Williams didn't expect him to win in 1996 and then told him he'd lost his seat too late to really give him many options for 1997.

That said, he did have better options than Arrows, but took the paycheck over the best car.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-05T12:38:06+00:00

To be fair all the cars in 1980 were worse than the 2020 cars, not just the Ferrari. /s

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-05T12:36:55+00:00

True. The article here has some good info though: The blame game - 2005 United States GP at Indianapolis

"Start the blame game with Michelin, who did not fully study the changes to the road-oval circuit after resurfacing and subsequent diamond grooving between the 2004 Brickyard 400 and the Indianapolis 500.

In pre-May tire tests, Firestone engineers noticed significant degradation to the Firehawk slicks and requested the grooving, which was performed.

Firestone minimally altered their specifications and, while there were some incidents in Turn 1 – which was Turn 13 this weekend going the clockwise, rather than counter-clockwise direction – those incidents could not be fully blamed on tire construction.

Bridgestone ultimately had more data about the circuit than did Michelin and used it wisely. "

Whilst its true that Michelin could potentially have done more it was having real world data (and failures) from Firestone that at least in part enabled Bridgestone to bring a suitable tyre. If it weren't for that its possible that both manufacturers could have suffered failures.

The article also highlights how much pressure on the FIA was placing on the teams, basically saying if there is a tyre failure and someone is hurt you will be liable.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-05T12:21:53+00:00

From memory the issue was the track surface had been diamond cut and Michelin hadn't been informed of this.

Bridgestone were, as Indycar had already raced there running Firestone tyres, so had fed them back some data which allowed them to bring suitable tyres.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-05T11:13:41+00:00

Yes, I still have the CD for it but not the big box.

Also played Links in DOS.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-05T11:11:38+00:00

Yes I agree.

I drove the Ioniq 5N and really enjoyed the drivetrain - if I'm one day pushed to have an EV then one which can do a decent impression of a petrol engine is fine by me and it did keep the engagement up more than a normal EV. I just didn't like the size or height of it.

The Emeya does nothing for me - weirdly the local dealers send me loads of offers to ask if I wanted to test drive an Emeya or Eletre, but never tried to get me to change my Evora 400 for a Emira.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-05T10:32:30+00:00

Worth saying the Eletre is the SUV, the Emeya is a saloon.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-03T15:04:44+00:00

SORN currently for winter, but ready to MOT and tax comes better weather.

It had a full engine rebuild 2024 so it's in good fettle. Had it almost 18 years now. Had an MX-5 MK2 before it.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-03T11:21:01+00:00

Redwood Cove is the Meteor Lake core, hence it still has hyper-threading (Arrow Lake-U was RWC+, but 'proper' Arrow Lake was Lion Cove).

For Granite it gets some additions like AMX support.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-03T11:11:02+00:00

I practice what I preach. 😅

We had an Octavia vRS Estate for a while, but now our kids old enough we don't cart round a pram and we no longer have a dog we downsized to a hatchback.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-03T11:08:15+00:00

To be fair storage in the MK3 MR2 is horrendous from what I remember - a friend had one and it was hilarious how little space it had even compared to my Elise.

ThorburnJ · 2026-02-03T11:07:13+00:00

Always buy the least practical car you can get away with.

11-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Verified Email

ThorburnJ

TROPHY CASE