T-98 Kombat

Having blogged about many performance cars which are beautiful, costly and fast, i have decided to blog on something else for a change. And this time round, it'll be on the topic of safety and off-road.

I have always wanted to be in a safe car. Who doesn't? But some cars, are taken to the extreme. There are many safety tests a car has to go through, for example, having a head on collision into an object, being side swiped by a large trunk, being struck by lightning, going up a 33.3% slope hill which is very steep and even wind tests to ensure that nothing breaks and flies off during a journey.

However, the T-98 takes it to a whole new level. Not only is it a 4 wheel drive off road car, it is also an armoured car. Mainly used to protect VIPs, celebrities, etc.

Although this car is an off-roader, and is rather fast for such a heavy car at almost 5 tonnes, it's interior is not compromised. It has electrical outputs and large comfortable seats. It even contains a satellite navigation which not really many cars have at the moment. The more extreme feature would be that it even includes a flat-screen television which can play DVD and also as a climate control interior containing leather seats and polished wood.

Despite having all these luxurious functions which sports cars such as the Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini would seldom or never have, it has an incredible safety feature. Not the normal kind where cars are rammed into walls, but instead, this car is being tested by firing rounds of ammunition at its windows and doors.

Its price however, isn't that cheap. It starts at around US$138,000 and rises as the features you request for. For example, at US$138,000, it is bullet proof against a 357 magnum, and at $168,000, it is bullet proof against a 7.62mm Kalashnikov.

At the moment, i have never seen this car anywhere is Singapore, neither do i think anyone owns it. Even if someone does own it, i doubt it will be allowed on the roads of Singapore. Having such a car in Singapore would also unnecessary. But still, its is such a cool car. I wouldn't mind having one. It would definitely come in handy in times of emergency and it would make me feel so safe to be in one of these... ...though no one is allowed to even own a gun in Singapore. Therefore, maybe having such a car in areas such as America or Russia would be more sensible, therefore, it is usually being sold in those areas. In Singapore, if you still want to have a bullet proof car, maybe a more sensible choice would be a Mercedes custom made car. The ride would definitely be better and it wouldn't catch so much attention.

END

Ferrari Enzo

The Ferrari Enzo, to me, is like the icon of Ferrari itself. Style. Luxury. Beauty.

The Ferrari Enzo is not just all about lookes. Despite being produced over 8 years ago, its speed is still extreme, its ride is surprising comfortable, and its looks, simply breath taking.

The Ferrari Enzo is one of the most special cars in the world, with only 400 produced. As limited as it is, Ferrari doesn't just sell this car. Even if you had lots of money, you may not be able to buy this car. This car is only being sold to people whom Ferrari pick.

Now, onto some specifications of the car.

This car is a 12 cylinder mid-engine car. It was built in 2002 using Formula One technology and built with a carbon-fibre body. It also has a steering wheel which has functions which are similar to that of real F1 car.

This car does a whopping 100kmph in just 3.1 seconds The top speed of this car is also another eye-opener, which would be an astonishing 363kmph. To give you an idea of how fast it is, the fastest ever recorded speed of a Formula One racing car during a race is 269.9kmph, not forgetting that the Enzo is a road-legal car.

As of now, there is only 1 owner in Singapore who is lucky and rich enough to buy the Ferrari Enzo. He is Tommy Goh, who also owns other exotic cars such as the yellow Zonda which i blogged about earlier this year. One of the most popular videos of the Ferrari Enzo in Singapore would be when it made its grand entrance into the science center. It really does look astonishingly dazzling under the lights during its stay in the science center.

The Ferrari Enzo in Singapore costs S$3,000,000. With this amount, it isn't hard to get an apartment, or even a few apartments, not forgetting the tax of such an expensive car. If a person were to earn $3000 a month, he would need to save every single cent of it for 83 years in order to be close to buying such a car. That is how expensive this car is.

In conclusion, this car, will forever be a classic. Even when hundreds of years pass, this car,

would surely be deemed as one of the most iconic cars in the world, a representation of Ferrari, a

representation exotic cars, a representation of engineering excellence.

To end this blog post, here are some pictures of this amazingly beautiful car... ...when it gets wrecked by careless drivers.

END

Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

The Bugatti Veyron was the world's fastest car back then with a top speed of about 407kmph or 252mph. However, not long later, a company came up and built the Ultimate Aero TT, which had a top speed of about 414kmph or 256mph.

And now, Bugatti has decided to improve on the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 which costs 1million pounds. The difference in price is 600,000pounds, making the Bugatti Veyron SS 1.6million pounds. Both cars has the same acceleration.

The main difference is the speed and horsepower (from 1000horsepower to 1200). And the main reason for its creation, is to beat, the Ultimate Aero TT.

The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport was claimed to be able to go up to 258mph. Just 2mph more. However, when they tested it out on the Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien test track, a 5kilometer test track with a straight road which is one of the only places that could max the Bugatti's speed, it did much more. James May from top gear, aka Captain slow, did a maximum speed of 259mph on the Bugatti Veyron SS, meaning that it had broken its initial claimed speed by 1mph. Therefore, making James May the fastest driver on a road legal car in the Guinness Book of records.

However, after James May's attempt, the car was handed over to a professional test driver from Bugatti, who managed to max the car's speed to an astonishing.......431kmph or 268mph, much higher than both the claimed speed and James May's attempt, meaning, James May lost his record within a day.

The Bugatti Veyron SS is just an incredible car. It looks much more sporty than its initial Bugatti Veyron 16.4 model. In fact, many are amazed that the car still has a radio. Usually, cars which want to break records are usually saving as much as possible on weight. The Bugatti Veyron SS is no different, however, it still doesn't economise much on the luxury unlike other cars.

In the show Top Gear, in its latest episode yet, Season 15 Episode 05, i was just glued to the screen when i realised what an incredible piece of engineering the Bugatti SS was. I am unable to find a video link at the moment due to it being banned because of copyright infringements, however, i can assure everyone that the episode was extremely interesting, especially when the Bugatti was driven by captain slow, who also drove the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 to its maximum speed in an earlier season of the show.

The Car also then went round the Top Gear track. The old Bugatti was out runned by other cars such as the Koenigseggs. And at the top of the list is the extremely ugly but fast car, the Gumpurt, which has an equally awful name.

And when the Bugatti Veyron SS went round the track, it looked extremely amazing. The Gumpurt had a time of 1minute 17seconds.

And as for the Bugatti Veyron, it made it round the Top Gear track in, 1 minute...and.......
...............16 seconds!


The long record has finally been broken.


Here are some pictures of the engineering brilliance!......My new favourite car for sure =) especially with the new colour scheme and all the records even on the top gear track, etc.

Lamborghini Gallardo

Last Saturday, i went to Sentosa Resort World and Universal Studios for a 3 day 2 night holiday. The place was amazing and i had a reasonable amount of fun. Also, it gave me something to blog about.

I've seen this car 4 times already. And i ought to blog about it this time.



This car, is the Lamborghini Gallardo. 1st time i saw it, it was whizzing pass other cars on the express way, the 2nd was at Mandarin hotel, 3rd was the car park of Singapore indoor stadiums and now, i have seen it again, parked outside between the Festive hotel and hotel Michael's car park nearest to the Casino with other expensive cars.

This Lamborghini Gallardo should be the 2005 version. A 2010 version has recently came out.

The Lamborghini Gallardo has a top speed of 309 km/h. Its acceleration from 0 to 100km/h is an astonishing 4.1 seconds. It also does a quarter mile (400m) in 12.4 seconds, which is the time most of us can hardly get for a 100m dash. It also has a 5 litre V10 engine which produces 500 horsepower.

At Sentosa, there were also many other expensive cars parked there. Here are some pictures.

THE END

Claimed fastest cars

On this blog, i would be talking about two cars.

One, is the chyrsler ME Four-Tweleve. Its claimed to be one of the fastest cars in the world. However, it has never been officially tested.

The other, would be the Barabus TKR. If this was officially tested and its speed is claimed to be what it is, it would be officially the world's fastest car, fastest than the bugatti, faster than the aero TT.

First, lets talk about the chyrsler ME Four-Twelve. I first got to know it in a game. It was stated as the fastest car in the game. Faster than the Koenigsegg CCR. The ME Four-Twelve had a top speed of 248mph in the game. When i searched it on the Internet, few sources had information about this car.

Firstly, this car took less than one year for design and development. Chrysler initially stated that the ME Four-Twelve was a prototype intended to lead to production. They later put a temporary stop to the project after several protests from the SLR division of Mercedes-Benz.

The Chysler has a 6 litre V12 engine which produces up to 850 horsepower. The car has an ultra light carbon-fiber body, which is the reason this is one of the lightest super cars in the world. The vehicle’s cockpit is somewhat dome shaped (a low dome) to increase aerodynamics.

This car is claimed to be able to do a top speed of 390 km/h.

Here are some pictures of the car:
























The next car would be the Barabus TKR.

The Barabus TKR is a new 1005 horsepower supercar that is claimed to be capable of doing 0 to 100 kp/h in 1.67 seconds. The car has even reportedly have a top speed of 435 km/h. The Barabus TKR has a 6.0 liter V8 twin-turbocharged. The car has a full carbon fibre body and chassis.

If this car were to really be able to hit 435km/h, it would officially be the world's fastest car. However, many car enthusiasts are skeptical of such a number, especially about the acceleration of 0 to 100km/h in 1.67seconds.

Here are some pictures of the cars (a rather ugly car in my opinion):





















END

Koenigsegg CCX

The Koengigsegg is a Swedish brand of cars which is rarely known until they produced such fast cars. For me, i knew this car from games. I first knew this car from test drive, a driving game. This car was the 2nd fastest car in the game, and in real life, is the fastest car in the game. (the fastest car in the game was the chrysler me-four twelve, however, in real life, its speed has never been tested officially.)

So, i loved the car, its seer speed had an incredible effect. When i looked out of the window from the car, everything was in a blur. The only problem was that it was so difficult to drive.

The car was launched in 2006. It has a mid engine and is rear wheel drive. It's weight is an astonishing 1178.34kg, thanks to its fully made carbon fiber body.

As for its speed, it has an amazing acceleration of 0 to 100km/h in 3.1seconds. Its top speed is also 394km/h, making it one of the fastest cars in the world.

This car has a V8 engine and has a 4700cc displacement. It has 4 valves per cylinder, making it have a total of 32 valves. It produces 806 horsepower with American petrol, 850 horsepower with European petrol and if the engine is tuned to run on environmentally friendly bio fuel, this engine would produce 900 horsepower.


From the picture above, the doors are seen to open in an even more special way from other cars, however, is it really that practical? Sports cars usually have fancy doors, however, this is to prevent the doors from being scratched. However, for this car, parking near a curb would be a really bad idea.


This car also has the problem of its rear wheels being unable to fully grip onto the road. This is because of the lack of a spoiler.


When the car was tested on top gear, the car was eventually tested with a spoiler. This increased its weight, decreased its top speed, but increased its grip on the road, making it much easier to drive.


There's also the problem of a tiny view of the outside from its rear window, making it very difficult to park.


However, this car is still a master piece. Its power and speed has definitely made it a great car. And for all these power, speed and thrill, its price starts at US$540,000.


END

Roads (part 1: Most dangerous road)

On this blog topic, i would like to talk about one special road. The Yungas Road, also known as Death road. At the moment, there are 2 death roads. one in bolivia (Yungas road) and the other is in China (the Guoliang tunnel). The Guoliang tunnel was built by villages so as to allow them to connect to the city. They took 5 years to build the 1200m long tunnel which is 4m wide. However, i would like to talk about just one road on this blog post. And this road is, the Yungas road in Bolivia.

1: Yungas Road

This is also commonly known as, the road of death. This road is the most dangerous road in the world. It has claimed the most number of lives and the Top Gear drove on this road, and clearly showed why it is the most dangerous road in the world.

On this road, 200 to 300 travellers are killed yearly.

The road was built in the 1930s during the Chaco War by prisoners. It is one of the few routes that connects the Amazon rain forest region of northern Bolivia. The road ascends to around 4,650 metres before descending to 1,200 metres.

Because of the extreme drop offs of at least 600 metres, single-lane width, usually no wider than 3.2m and the lack of guard rails, the road is extremely dangerous. The surface of which the road is built on is also degrading and parts are falling off.

One of the local road rules specifies that the downhill driver must move to the outer edge of the road. This forces fast vehicles to stop so that passing can be negotiated safely.

One of the major accidents would be the accident on 24 July 1983, when a bus veered off the Yungas Road and into a canyon, killing more than 100 passengers in what is said to be Bolivia's worst road accident.

As seen from the pictures, trucks and vehicles have to pass each other, which makes it extremely dangerous for the drivers. Making it highly possible for them to make a slight mistake, and plummet to the bottom of the canyon.

Here are 2 videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niKX-x4bnvs

The link above maybe not be the Yungas Road (i do not understand the language the video is in), however, this is a very likely way most of the deaths are caused, by falling off the cliff on such narrow road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xClV7oRjj0o

The link above is about the Bolivian road by Top gear.

That's all for now, do look out for part 2 =D

Home Learning T2W10

Poem: Rainbow Death

Task 1:

Hubert Wilson was a Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF Security Service. Wilson, along with a dozen or so school graduates, trained at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in south eastasia in 1970.

Hubert Wilson's health problems started with unexplained headaches and limb pains. His central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. However, no physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. NO VA physician has ever rendered ANY medical assistance! My number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during his year there as an intelligence analyst. And since he felt that his brain was still functioning moderately and well had mobility issues, he decided to turn to writing, just like my late Father.

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html#Rainbow

Task 2:

1.

Point:Point of View


Evidence:“America did not foresee” and “Now Thinking Twice?"

Elaboration: This poem is written from the view of a person who has witnessed the devastation of the war and maybe even felt the effects of the war. The poem was also probably write from an American's point of view.


2

Point: Situation and Setting

Evidence: "reflective about all the illnesses, birth defects, prematurely dead"

Elaboration: It shows how devastating the effects of the war are and how these effects will actually be passed on to the many generation It shows the cruelty in war and how much it impacts the people.

3.

Point: Language and Diction

Evidence:“America did not foresee” and “Now thinking twice?”

Elaboration: Has a tone of sarcasm. Not only was America unable to foresee the devastation and pain they would cause to the people, they failed to think whether what they were doing were worth it and human. This shows their guilt in having killed and cause so much torture to the people.

Evidence: Rhyme scheme of ABAB

Elaboration: It makes the speaker read fluently and rather quickly, increasing the effects of the sarcastic tone used, as well as a little anger.

Evidence: “Generations untold will PAY”

Elaboration: Shows America has caused such a big impact on the Vietnamese that the future generations will feel and suffer the effects of which the Americans have caused the Vietnamese. This shows the severity of war.

4

Personal Response:

I feel that war is not the best way to solve conflicts as it causes too much hurt to people. This can been seen in the poem "Generations untold will PAY". Not only will the generations during the war suffer, the future generations too will suffer, whether with defects, or guilt. Also, the poem further shows that war should be avoided as regrets and guilt will surely be felt after the war, as seen from “America did not foresee” and “Now thinking twice?”.

Mercedes Benz E250

This blog will be about a Mercedes. A new model, a new era. All the pictures are taken by me over a few weeks and a few locations. The description too is written from real life experience for about a few months. So, i hope you will enjoy this blog post =D.

Ever wondered why this car is so special? Mercedes Benz's E-class cars are all rather large with a round bulky shape and are quite "tall". It seems too much like a family car which sports 4 doors and seats for 5 people. Whereas for the Mercedes Benz's C-class, it is sporty and low, but a tad too small. As for the CLK series, it has 2 doors, is rather small and looks sporty.

So, the aim of the new E250 is to take the good points of these three classes and combine them, giving us a new era of the E-class model, the E250.



The E250 is sporty. It is low. It is generous in length, width and space (not height). And it doesn't look like a family car anymore, it looks like a sports car. It has two doors, 4 seats and a lot of new features. This really looks like an ideal car.


It has a S-4 engine which produces a top speed of 250km/h and does 0-100km/h in 7.4 seconds. It also has this new feature called the BlueEFFICIENCY, which is eco-friendly and saves petrol (money).

So, let's have a look at the exterior and the interior of the car to see if Mercedes has achieved its aim in building a car with good points from 3 different models.

Lets 1st start off by talking about the key and the interior.

This is the key of the E250. It's small, looks cool and is very useful. It doesn't function like most keys where you put it in the door and unlock. Neither is it the old "press the button to unlock or lock the door" key. This key is a sensor. And when the owner of the cars walks near it, he can unlock it by just placing his hand on the door handle and pulling it. And to lock the door, all he has to do is to make sure that the key is near to the car, eg. in his pocket, and just use the side of his hand and place it on the door.
As for the interior, it looks awesome. I personally like the cool design of the meter cluster, i.e. speedometer, fuel gauge etc. The speedometer also has a digital screen which can show many things such as the speed, distance travelled, radio channel in play, etc.
The next interesting thing about this car would be the seat belt. Due to the large car door, the seat belt is situated too far back from the front seats. Therefore, when a button is pressed, the seat belt would "move" towards the front seats. A special sensor on the seat also can tell whether someone is sitting on the seat. This allows the seat belt to know when to "move" forward.

This is definitely a very good design which took very long to design, make and test. However, it is also sometimes a little annoying as a button has to be pressed to make the seat belt move forward.

Next is the steering wheel. It has lots of buttons on it which makes it like a video game steering wheel. These buttons can allow changes to the radio channel, the things displayed on the digital screen etc.

As for the car horn, it is rather difficult to press compared to other cars' horns.

Now, on to the seat adjustment buttons. Although this is not new, but the lock and unlock door being at the side of the door is a new feature. It is commonly placed at the front panel of buttons which makes it difficult to locate which is the lock and unlock door button.
This is also a new feature, the blinds. This allows the passengers at the back to be shaded from sunlight. Just by pressing a button, the blinds will come up.
This is the digital screen displayed in the front panel of the car. It can show which song is being played, the radio channel, and it even has a feature which allows the user to change the volume of the music being played in different parts of the car. Eg. The music can be played 70% loudness at the back and 30% loudness at the front.
Next up is the cubbyhole area where items like books, sunglasses, etc can be stored in. This is a picture of the button which has to be pressed.
And this is where the items are stored. Being a driver who is on a busy highway or extremely narrow road or in other situations, opening this compartment is really really very difficult. The button to open it is placed at the wrong place, making it seem like a really silly design.
Another flaw in the design would be the glove compartment. Commonly used to store books, maps or parking tickets. This is how it looks when it is fully opened.
However, when someone is seated inside the front seat on the left, this box is extremely difficult to open. This is not even halfway open and items can hardly be taken out. Also note that my legs are not very long. Imagine this car having adults or bigger sized people, this box would really be extremely annoying. This is another flaw in the design.

Now, we move on to the exterior of the E250.

This is a picture of a E250 and a CLK. Both have 2 doors and 4 seats.

As you can see, Mercedes Benz has definitely achieved its aim.

The E250 is sporty. It is much larger in terms of length and width. It is also lower than the CLK.
This car is definitely a very nice car. Rarely seen and is the 1st of its kind. Having taken a picture of 2 Mercedes sports cars, the CLK really does look inferior in terms of exterior design.

The E250 really is, a very nice car. It's much lower off the ground than other cars are. It really does look very sporty. It also has 2 doors, but can fit a family of 4 inside. It is also beautiful when all its windows are wound down. It also has a luxurious interior. And also, its headlights look magnificent.
This car truly is magnificient. Presenting to you,

The new, Mercedes Benz E250 coupe.

END

Home learning Task B

My stronger areas according to the test are: Logical, followed by Naturalistic and a tie between musical and linguistic. Since there isn't a logical component, i shall be do the tasks on Naturalistic and Musical.

Naturalist:

a. Do a research on the natural habitat of mockingbird. In your research, include the kind of flora and fauna you think exist in Maycomb and explain why the mockingbirds live in Maycomb.

A mockingbird is a songbird which has small heads, a long thin bill with a downward curve, and long legs. Their wings are short, rounded, and broad, making the tail seem much longer in flight.

Mockingbirds are overall gray-brown, with two white wingbars on each wing. The white outer tail feathers are also obvious in flight. The Mockingbird enjoys making its presence known. It usually sitting on high vegetation, fences, telephone wires. Found alone or in pairs throughout the year, mockingbirds aggressively chase off intruders on their territory.

As or its habitat, all year-round the Mockingbird is found in areas with open ground and with shrubby vegetation like hedges and fruiting bushes. It also likes grassy areas, rather than bare spots. Common places to find Mockingbirds include parkland, cultivated land, suburban areas and in second growth habitat at low elevations, which can be backyards as well.

A picture of a mockingbird.

Mockingbirds usually like to be in hedges.

Mockingbirds also enjoy being in parkland.

Mockingbirds are also found in cultivated land.

Mockingbirds usually live in suburban areas.

Here is a picture of a mockingbird in someone's backyard.
I think that there are quite a lot of trees and forested area in Maycomb compared to high buildings or big building structures. There s probably a lot of green in Maycomb. Maycomb is also possibly a suburban area where people have backyards with trees, hedges and maybe even fruiting bushes. This are reasons why there are mockingbirds in Maycomb and even in people's backyards.

Since there

Source:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Mockingbird/lifehistory
http://www.peilandscaping.ca/editor_images/privet-hedges-01.jpg
http://www.wentworthcastle.org/files/eastparklandpopup(3).jpg
http://surguja.gov.in/images/Field-3.jpg
http://www.vienna.cc/wienpix/vorstadt2.jpg
http://images.new-jersey-birds.com/uploaded_images/Northern-Mocking-bird-734541.jpg
http://www.thegarden.org/images/backyard.jpg

Musical :

b. Write a poem on the Tom Robinson Trial / life in Maycomb/ any other incident.

I swear to tell the truth vowed the Ewells,
But this was not so as the evidence tells,
Tom Robinson was accused,
For something he did not abuse.

Tom Robinson was just being kind,
But ended up being stabbed from behind,
He was innocent, but he was black,
Which is why the jury attacked.

Prejudism was the word to describe the jury,
Making the hearts of others build up with fury,
Atticus was being courageous,
But Whites thus felt outrageous.

Tom robinson was charged with rape,
And tried to escape,
He ended up being shot,
And the Ewells were not caught.

The Whites in Maycomb then were so unfair,
Everyone was surely aware,
But things in America would not stay that way,
As the people would soon show that being treated that way was not okay.

END