YouTuber euverus modded Cities: Skylines to demonstrate how 30 different types of intersections have dramatically different amounts of traffic flow. A four-way intersection with no traffic lights gets a flow of 191 vehicles per minute, where a stack interchange can handle 1099 vehicles in the same time frame.
The mods used, Traffic Manager: President Edition and Network Extensions 2, are both available for free on Steam.
The big surprise for me was the roundabout, because we rarely have them in the Midwest or the West Coast. They seemed like a lot of extra space needed for an incremental benefit, but it appears they can be more efficient and safer, even weird ones.
• Traffic flow measured on 30 different 4-way junctions (YouTube / euverus) Read the rest
YouTuber JerryRigEverything had a chance to fire some bullets at a bullet-proof car. The physics are interesting to watch as the energy disperses into the materials in slow motion. Read the rest
This commentary titled Never Just A Car is a nice montage of iconic cars in films, making it fun to guess the film as each car whizzes by. Read the rest
Deep-sky photographer Rogelio Bernal Andreo did the calculations, then managed to catch footage of Starman and the Tesla Roadster that were launched via the Falcon Heavy rocket. Read the rest
This week's most widely-lifted viral image is this delight from a car owner whose vanity plate, "Cruz Fan," has evidently led to embarassing misapprehensions in our new golden age of loony conservatives in government. I have no idea who the owner or the photographer were, sadly. I would love to credit both the particle and the observer for generating this tiny quantum of joy.
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Some of these near-misses would probably have been catastrophic and unavoidable without predictive autopilot. Read the rest
On Sunday night, Orange County Fire Authority tweeted images from Santa Ana, California of a car that hit a center divider and flew into the air before embedding itself in the second floor of a building. Amazingly, both people in the car only suffered "minor injuries."
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Runaway Match, aka Marriage by Motor, a 1903 silent film directed by Alfred Collins, features the first car chase in a movie. For a directory of movie car chases, zoom on over to VARACES: the Car Chase Community.
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Bonhams is auctioning off a 1966 Mini Cooper 'S' once owned by Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. It's expected to fetch US$120,000 - 160,000. From Bonhams:
The Mini was the standout motoring icon of the 1960s, so it was only to be expected that that era's defining popular music act – The Beatles – would all own examples of Alec Issigonis' motoring masterpiece. But while it is relatively easy to carry your guitar around in a Mini, a set of drums is another matter entirely, and it is said that Ringo stipulated that his must be able to accommodate a drum kit, making it different from those purchased for the other members of the 'Fab Four'. The solution to the lack-of-space/accessibility problem was a hatchback conversion, which coachbuilder Harold Radford was offering as an option on its up-market Mini de Ville GT, introduced in October 1965.
(via Uncrate)
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BeamMG.drive is a driving simulator that's acquired a cult following due to its uncannily realistic modeling of soft-body physics. YouTube is full of crash videos created with it: the thanato-erotic Ballardian lure of mangled automobiles, but with mercilessly bad electronic dance music.
The driving feel is authentic and visceral, and crashes are realistic and violent; yet the physics are accessible enough to drive with a keyboard or gamepad while still being authentic with a full racing wheel with uncompromising realism.
Environments and vehicles in BeamNG.drive are hand-crafted with passionate attention to detail. With years of meticulous design, research, and experience, we authentically recreate the feeling and excitement of real world driving.
Enjoy "Insane Trucking Crashes #1":
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Here are new images of Apple's self-driving car technology (Project Titan) mounted on a Lexus RX350. That gear on the top is a rack of six LIDAR sensors that use lasers to collect spatial data about the vehicle's surroundings.
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A deadstock DeLorean mechanic's jumpsuit turned up on eBay, and it's yours for $199. Better grab it quick or you'll be outtatime.
Original Delorean Corp. Stock - DELOREAN MECHANIC'S UNIFORM - for the original KAPAC liquidation stock. I purchased this unbelievable find directly from KAPAC in the early 1990's once they got hold of the remaining Delorean bankruptcy inventory. It is new, never worn. It was sold to Delorean dealer's for mechanic's to wear as their uniform when servicing this amazing vehicle. They had a couple of these and I bought all that they had. I have worn mine to Delorean conventions - it is a great piece of Delorean history!
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Some models of Russian GAZelle Next commercial vans and trucks have Tetris integrated into the instrument cluster as an Easter egg. Here's the Google translation of the YouTube poster's instructions of how to bring up the game:
1) Turning the ignition on
2) Start a car
3) Three times the right turn signal
4) Two times distant
5) Five times on the clutch
6) raise the speed to 2000
and at that moment we light the arrow to the left
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The Dragettes were a Kansas City drag racing team that operated out of the legendary Kansas City Timing Association drag strip. They preferred souped-up convertibles over hot rods. LIFE magazine's Francis Miller
showcased them in a lovely series in 1955.
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German police, spotting a car that appeared to have been in a horrifying collision, pulled over the driver for a chat. But
the enormous blood-spatter was just a realistic decal, and they sent the man on his way.
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Along with directing such classic films as Escape from New York, Halloween, The Fog, and The Thing, John Carpenter also composed the soundtracks. For those who want a survey of Carpenter's synth stylings, I recommend the new compilation from Sacred Bones Records, titled "John Carpenter Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998." The celebrate the release, Carpenter created this music video for the theme from Christine (1983), in which a woman summons an Uber and the demonic driverless 1958 Plymouth Fury shows up. Just kidding about the Uber part.
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