Author Topic: Industrial Birmingham  (Read 38614 times)

JudithM

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #154 on: August 19, 2019, 01:28:00 PM »
OK, folks, time for a pub quiz style question - the prize for getting the correct answer? Eternal admiration from fellow Threaders(?!)....... I'll publish the answer in a future post. O0
Peg.
I'd guess at the fat one (more grip etc), but it could be a trick question.  Depending on the age of the Ferrari it could be the skinny.  Then again, it could be both  ;D
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

Edmund Fifield

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #155 on: August 19, 2019, 02:05:31 PM »
Is the question from the time you worked there or now.?
Make every day a day to remember
Because this ain't no rehearsal
And you ain't coming back

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #156 on: August 19, 2019, 05:07:19 PM »
Is the question from the time you worked there or now.?
Good question, Ed, let's say present day (ignore the old 1970 Pirelli calendar on the garage wall, it's been left there because the mechanics are smitten with the model).
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Ian Dalziel

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #157 on: August 19, 2019, 08:08:23 PM »
Perhaps the skinny one is a 'get-you-home' tyre if you puncture.
Let's make the best out of a bad situation.

Ian Dalziel

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #158 on: August 19, 2019, 08:16:55 PM »
Perhaps the skinny one is a 'get-you-home' tyre if you puncture.


Just found it - the skinny wheels are used to raise the height so the F1 car can be loaded onto a trailer. Also, they may have been used when initially setting up the suspension.   https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/5bga9s/1980_ferrari_312t5_f1/ 
Let's make the best out of a bad situation.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #159 on: August 20, 2019, 09:21:24 AM »
OK, folks, time for a pub quiz style question - the prize for getting the correct answer? Eternal admiration from fellow Threaders(?!)....... I'll publish the answer in a future post. O0
Peg.
Hi Folks, the answer is: Both, I've been unable to verify Ferrari's claim they invented the skinny sparewheel (or space-saver as the trade call it) in response to their cars getting lower and wheels wider, which gave rise to the challenge where do you put the sparewheel in a car which already has only enough space for you girlfriend's over-night bag?
Here's a thought - If your Ferrari has just enough space for a skinny sparewheel where do you put the full-sized flat you've just removed? - A flat? Bound to happen when you are on your way to an evening at the casino, wearing black tie and with a glamorous lady on your arm, right?
Peg.
P.S. I know what you are thinking: Would a Ferrari owner really change his own flat?
P.P.S. Judy chanced across the age-old question: Do wide wheels grip better than skinny ones?
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

JudithM

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #160 on: August 20, 2019, 01:13:33 PM »
 ;D

I suppose it depends on the road surface & weather conditions!
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #161 on: August 21, 2019, 05:01:06 PM »
Wide wheels DO NOT out-perform narrow and in some cases (notably in the snow and wet) they can be inferior, the Laws of Friction (i.e. grip) state the area in contact is immaterial (i.e. although a wider wheel has more road contact it makes no difference), all wide wheels achieve is to spread the weight of the vehicle over a wider area, which is undesireable: on snow (because wider wheels sit on the surface, narrow have more of a chance to cut through to a firm substrate) and on a wet road, because the wider wheel is more likely to act like a surfboard and aquaplane, i.e. climb onto the wave of water the tyre is trying to displace during forward momentum.
What does increase tyre grip is the grade of rubber, soft rubber will out-perform hard, but wears quicker.
It's not all theoretical! - I know personally of occasions when the driver has had a white knuckle experience with wide wheels in the snow and wet, but I've bored you enough for now so I'll leave them for the future.
Peg. 
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #162 on: August 22, 2019, 07:49:09 PM »
March 1996, a year on from my secondment at Reliant and somehow they have escaped liquidation, with a buyer on the horizon who purchases the company in April 1996 (more than a year after Reliant went into administration). I'm now travelling daily to Motor Panels in Coventry.
The new owner of Reliant will face a big challenge finding a market for a 3-wheeled plastic car and his problems wont end there - new EU laws of the day mean new cars will have to contain a high percentage of re-cycled material - GRP does not lend itself to re-cycling.
For some reason the Dutch liked the 3-wheeled Robin and agents continued to purchase right up until the company went into administration. :-\
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #163 on: August 23, 2019, 09:28:44 PM »
Wide wheels DO NOT out-perform narrow ......
It's not all theoretical! - I know personally of occasions when the driver has had a white knuckle experience with wide wheels in the snow and wet, but I've bored you enough for now so I'll leave them for the future.
Peg.
I'm heading for work one morning and at the Castle Bromwich Island I pick-up the collector road which runs parallel with the M6 and head north, rain has stopped but the road is still a bit wet. I approach the first island (junction with the Birmingham Rd, I think) and I see a small sportscar on the opposite carriageway coming towards me, but all is not well. He just about makes it around the island but as he leaves he loses control, veers off the road and disappears down a steep embankment, I stop to make sure the driver is Ok as does another driver. As I get closer to the car I recognise it as a small Reliant Scimitar, a tiny 2-seater, a shadow of Princess Anne's much loved Scimitars, as I get closer the driver emerges shook-up but unscathed and I recognise him as a foreman at the Reliant Two Gates Plant who was one of a small team who stayed on after Reliant went into administration, anyway he is OK and the other driver who stopped offers a lift so we part company.
I recount this story because I think the wide wheels on the light sportscar just made the car act like a toboggan, sliding over the top of what was a wet road, but not one that was particularly dangerous.
Peg. 
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #164 on: August 24, 2019, 08:57:08 AM »
OK, Folks, what better way to start the August Bank Hol weekend than with a motoring conundrum? How can the two cars in the attachment be at opposite ends of the automotive spectrum and yet in the same class, in one crucial aspect? :-\
Hint: If you understand Italian you'll be ahead of the game.
Peg. 
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.


 

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