I love these types of stories so I thought I'd post it. http://jalopnik.com/5497042/how-a-500-craigslist-car-beat-400k-rally-racers
Yakumo, how long did you live over there before you got a car? Did you have anything before the Subi while in Nippon?
Before my Subaru I had a new Mitsubishi ekWagon. It's one of those small cars called kei cars. Basically they have a 3 cylinder engine with a top speed of 140kmph or so the clock on the says. More like a top speed of 120kmph. My wife owns that now. Before that I had a very old Honder Civic. That was quite nice but the aircon was dead in it and you really need one in Japan. So it total I was here about 2 to 3 years before buying my first car. Yakumo
hehe, that would get in you in jail in several countries in Europe - ok, kidding, but here in Germany you get a hefty fine for using a mobile phone without a handsfree kit (and they really mean handsfree, even dialing a number on a keypad will get you fined in most places - the only thing you may do is press a single button to answer/start a call). You also get a point in the "Verkehrssünderkartei" in Flensburg - collect enough and your license is gone and you have to re-take the drivers test (and a so-called "idiots test" to test your mental fitness for driving a car). Granted, simple bluetooth devices are dirt cheap these days, and lots of car stereos have the functionality already built in. iirc, England even imposes fines on people rummaging in the glovebox or picking up objects from the floor during driving. I can see why though, last year in our neighborhood, an elderly person dropped her purse from the passengers seat while driving. When she reached for it in the passengers footwell she kept one hand firmly on the steering wheel and leaned over to the right... you can see where this is going... respectively where she was going. Luckily, she wasn't that fast, so major damage to the car, minor damage to her head and bones. I think though that driving should be taken seriously and be done by people who actually enjoy it more. Then we could do away with a lot of unneccessary traffic restrictions. In the same vein, there should be a better infrastructure of affordable public transport for those who don't like to drive, so they can text, phone, eat or do whatever they please on their way to work without endangering other motorists. I rarely glance at my passengers when driving even while speaking to them, I generally forbid them to use any of the in-car-controls (radio, heating etc...) - I will gladly set the temperature for them, but they have to keep their hands on their side of the car. If anyone touches something without asking / noticing me first, he/she gets a first and final warning. If it happens again, it's walking time. I'll call a cab for them, but that's it. Strangely, nobody has ever complained to me about that and I have never had to resort to dropping someone off in the midst of nowhere.
Yeah. I can't get in trouble for fucking with stuff in the car, but I can get in trouble for "unattentive driving" or whatever, usually tacked on top of another ticket. I don't do more than hit "next track" while driving, I only actually play with shit if I'm at a stoplight, and I hit a pretty long one (and a few other random ones) in that video.
GB has some pretty heavy (others would say fitting) laws for hurting/killing someone in a car accident. If you drove to fast / didn't pay attention to the road and hit someone you go to jail. They made some quite scary videos to hammer the message home, make you feel quite uncomfortable. On the other hand, they have this fabulous institution called "trackdays" on many smaller circuits where you turn up in your car, pay a fee, race around to your hearts desire and then go home again relaxed and all. Finland has something similar, called "Folk Racing" where even youths can go for a nice little race in an old banger, the cars are limited to a certain amound of money spent for them, so everyone is on more or less equal terms. More even, iirc if someone asks you after a race to sell your car to them and you placed better than they did you have to sell it for the maximum sum the rules allow (i.e. how much the car is allowed to be worth). This ensures that nobody takes it too seriously and puts more emphasis on the drivers than on the cars. And over here in Germany we have... not so much. Un-regulated Autobahn? Ha, if ever, not much left of that - instead of repairing them they put up speed limits but don't take them down if/when the roads finally get resurfaced. Under the disguise of regulating the traffic flow they install automated bridges with electronic adjustable speed signs - unlimited only between 10pm and 4am or so, but due to a small "glitch" they sometimes get set to 100km/h on a sunday with no freaking traffic at all (lorrys aren't allowed to drive on sundays if they don't carry fresh food). But the traffic cameras are all primed and ready to go so don't you dare ignore those signs... Still better than in Austria where the police are actually allowed by law to GUESS your speed and impose a fine based on their findings! Can't the isle of man just invade northern europe and impose their traffic laws upon us? Darwin will sort out the rest for the following months and then it'll be lots of spares and free roads for everyone (who's still alive)
YEAH! But it will have to wait now. I went to the shop to buy a gasket for it only to see that the heavens had opened when I came out . Looks like I'll have to wait until tomorrow now unless it clears up later on before night falls. Yakumo
I finally got the new exhaust on tonight after visiting a mate who had some nice tools that he let me borrow. I've got to say that I'm very surprised at the sound out of this thing. As soon as I turned the engine over for the first time a big smile spread right across my face. Man, it sounds awesome. Much better than the Subaru exhaust that came with the car. The missus isn't happy though. She says it's too loud but what does she know I only had my iPhone on me so the video isn't so hot nor is the sound but it gives you an idea. - http://www.segagagadomain.com/videos/new-exhaust.MOV Pictures taken outside 7 / 11 because it was the only place lit up. Yakumo
Can't get the .mov to work. Tried downloading through two different browsers, and watching within mozilla - no dice. Seems to be corrupt? EDIT Wait, Nevermind. Downloaded it again for kicks and it works. Hah!? Sixth time is the charm. Sounds nice and deep and thick. I'm surprised how nice the video mode on the iPhone is.
hehehe, that's for the people who drive but shouldn't really be allowed because they have no interest in driving ;-)
New video up taken with my Panasonic HD camera. This has a fantastic mic pick up so you canget a good idea of the sound. - http://www.segagagadomain.com/videos/new-exhaust.htm
Shiny and mean! I can understand the missus not liking that. I assume you're now the loudest thing in your little neighborhood, eh?
