Flashback to 15-20 years ago… You’re a small kid who just became a car fanatic after seeing his first Ferrari on TV. You spend hours drawing up cars, trying to design the fastest supercar of all time, but not realising that straight lines don’t help with aerodynamics.
As you grow up & learn a lot more about cars, you wonder why people aren’t building faster cars? Why are all cars so “boxy?”
You marvel at the Concorde, but remain perplexed why isn’t there a car that commands the same reverence?
You fight with your friends over which Ferrari, Porsche or Lamborghini is better but deep down you know that there is not a single car that overshadows every other car.
That was until 2005, or to be more precise 1999, when the EB 18/4 Veyron concept was unveiled. The engineers had only three targets – a top speed in excess of 400 km/h, 0–100 km/h in less than 3s & an engine with more than 1000hp. & the designers had the task of harmonising this engineering masterpiece with the aesthetics of contemporary art.
A boyhood dream come true, it was. A car that was set to change the rules, defy all expectations. The one car to rule them all…
It took 10 years for the Koenigsegg CCR (403.45 km/h) to beat the McLaren F1’s 1994 production car land speed record of 371.8 km/h.
The original Bugatti Veyron broke that record two months later at 408.47 km/h.
"… the greatest piece of engineering ever. No, I'm sorry, this is the greatest car ever made and the greatest car we will ever see in our lifetime." - Jeremy Clarkson
A top speed that has been verified by the slowest man on Earth – James May.
2 years later, in October 2007, tragedy. The SSC Ultimate Aero TT sets a new record of 412 km/h. Dismay for all petrol heads as the SSC Aero doesn’t possess even 1% of the aura of the Veyron.
Two weeks ago, the balance has finally been restored. The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport has set a new production land speed record of 431.072 km/h.
On a memo leaked 2 years ago, it was described as the Bugatti Veyron GT, with a top speed of 425 km/h & an engine of 1350hp. The new Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport has only 1200hp and with the modified body can reach 415 km/h (electronically limited to protect the tires).
At the Geneva Auto Show, a new fighting bull was unveiled...
Remember the white Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4, which even a dog could drive... The 2011 LP 570-4 is the superlight version of the LP 560-4, where every gram of excess material has been removed or replaced with carbon fibre parts. The weight? A mere 1340kg... That's 70kg lighter than the LP 560-4 & 90kg less than the previous Superleggera.
In addition to the weight-loss therapy, the tuned 5.2L V10 now delivers 562HP, giving a tremendous weight-to-power ratio of 2.35kg per HP. 0-100 km/h - 3.4s 0-200 km/h - 10.2s Top speed – 325 km/h By comparison, the fastest Lamborghini, the Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce with its 6.5L V12 can do 0-100 km/h in 3.2s, has a top speed of 342 km/h & is ranked 10th in the Power Lap.
Couple that with the AWD & what you have is a supercar even Enzo Ferrari would be jealous of...
The design of the LP 570-4 is typical Lamborghini, given that it entails 5 months of raised eyebrows, 7 months of dropped jaws & a whole year of drooling! Still like all its Gallardo relatives, it doesn't have the legendary scissor doors...
The unique body paint with side stripes in distinctive Italian colours will convince even the most die-hard environmentalist that yes, this is one hell of a green car! Actually, it has lower CO2 emission, since the fuel consumption is 20.5% less than the LP 560-4.
The massive front intakes are directly inspired from the Revènton, with a secondary function of scooping snow & a tertiary function of saving suicidal cats.
Carbon fibre spoiler, carbon fibre diffusers. carbon fibre exhaust tips, carbon fibre underbody, carbon fibre mirror carings - the LP 570-4 looks like it was crafted out of a huge block of carbon fibre straight out of the mines of Pandora.
The aluminium rims on the 19-inch wheels send out a bold message - every bull has its day.
A fabulous supercar, but only a teaser of the forthcoming Murciélago replacement. The Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera is a purebred racetrack car, a Mona Lisa of carbon fibre, a symphony of V10 pistons... As Jeremy Clarkson would say, you don't just drive it, you'll have to tame it.
So if you ever hit the jackpot in the lotto or lottery, now you know which car to buy...
Blogging For the first half of this year, my blogging frequency was pretty constant. But as soon as UOM resumed, the post count started dwindling down & this blog was almost threatened with extinction... I had to make a choice between Twitter studies & blogging. Instead, I came up with a compromise - at least 1 post per month, & I'm barely clinging to that resolution. This state of blogging lethargy is expected to persist for the next 2 years. :(
Total posts: 313 Total comments: 2207 Most commented – 110 comments: Orange ADSL & My.T prices decrease on 1st March 2009! Only 1 post did not have a comment – Nokia N86 8MP ;) According to Google Analytics: Total visits: 411,300 Total pageviews: 628,800 OS – Windows: 92.45%, Mac: 4.38%, Linux: 1.49% Browsers – Firefox: 51.99%, IE: 31.87%, Chrome: 7.24%
Orange Mauritius
On the 1st of March 2009, Orange doubled the internet connection speed while maintaining the same price… & the same slowness - unusable between 6pm & 11pm. My 512kbps connection drops to 100kbps. It gets worst during holidays when speed drops during the day. The only positive thing is that existing My.T users were given the choice not to pay for the additional TV channels.
A new fibre cable, LION landed in Mauritius, interconnecting Reunion & Madagascar for the time being, before extending to Mombasa in the future. The good news is that the network of fibre-connected DSLAMs is already being laid by both Orange & Emtel. But there is no backbone to exploit its full potential - Eassy & SEACOM cables are expected to be connected to Mauritius next year.
In 2009, I received tons of freebies. On the 1st of January, I won several Rapidshare accounts & gave away one of them. (No, I won’t be organising any contest next year. Sorry.)
In April, I received a USB-powered plasma ball from Rapidshare. A really stupid choice because that thing is utterly useless to me. :|
In May, I got the chance to participate to the Microsoft’s Qui Veut Gagner Un PC competition. I managed to clear the first round & was among the 10 finalists. I did pretty well in the semi-final until the last question. A simple binary to decimal conversion stood between me & a laptop. & my brain failed me. :( All I got was a Microsoft wireless keyboard & mouse. (& Sun got a PC!)
On Twitter, I won a domain from @NameCheap & a T-shirt from @District_Lines. I thought 2009 would be very lucky for me, but my personal record of loserness remains untarnished - I still haven't won any major contest, competition or giveaway. o_O
I had a mind-blowing experience watching Transformers 2 at the cinema - awesome CGI, massive explosions & Megan Fox gargantuan robots. But I have to admit that it had huge plot holes. That's why District 9 is the no. 1 film of 2009 for me. Star Trek fans will obviously disagree but D9 was the better sci-fi movie.
This list is quite constrained because I haven't had time to watch movies such as HP6, GI Joe, The Hangover, etc. & Avatar has neither been released in Mauritius, nor is there any decent rip on the web.
My track record with Hindi films is getting worst each year. I watched only 3 films this year!!
Music
The king of Pop, Michael Jackson died from an overdose of prescription drugs. A reminder of how not to live your life. Linkin Park released a great song, New Divide, as Transformers 2 theme track & Atif Aslam sung his way yet again to the top of the charts with Tu Jaane Na & Tera Hone Laga Hoon from Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani.
Lance Armstrong & Michael Schumacher
The great Lance Armstrong was back in the Tour de France after a 3-year absence. Nevertheless, he still managed to finish 3rd, which means that next year's Grande Boucle will be a showdown between Armstrong & Alberto Contador. The big news of 2009 - The Stig will be back in 2010! While he was unsuccessful in making a comeback for Ferrari as a replacement for injure Felipe Massa, Michael Schumacher will be racing under Ross Brawn for Mercedes. I can't wait for the 2010 F1 season to start! :D
We lost Ronaldo to Real Madrid (bastardos!), Tevez to City (losers!) & bought Antonio Valencia & Gabriel Obertan. & the biggest surprise - of all strikers United could have bought, it was Michael Owen who joined on a free transfer.
The 2009-2010 EPL season hasn't been good so far. Only 1 defender, Patrice Evra (our best player this season), was not injured. With key midfielders turning into central-backs, United's performance has been mediocre. Hopefully, the January transfer window will bring in some much needed reinforcements. But given the inflationary prices, I doubt we'll be able to purchase the crucial creative midfielder. The only consolation of 2009 - we won an 18th EPL title! (Which means that other club can no longer pretend to have won the most EPL titles, back in 1728.)
My top 3 goals of 2009:
Macheda vs Aston Villa
Ronaldo vs Porto
Michael Owen vs Manchester City
Climate Change
At the start of 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the US president. Big promises were made, some have already been fulfilled. In October, Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, for reasons that are oblivious to most of us. & at the Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference, he demonstrated his sheer incompetence at convincing world leaders for a united stand towards tackling global warming with drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. You could say that he had his hands tied by powerful lobbies & senators back in the US. But if Obama cannot lead the world by example, who can? For me, the epic fail of the year is Barack Obama. No, he couldn't. In Mauritius, we have our PM happily proclaiming how he got more money at COP15 from the rich countries. Will that money save Mauritius from sinking? Fighting global warming seems to be a lost cause...
Supercars
There were several supercars announced this year – the Aston Martin One-77, the Ferrari 458 Italia, the McLaren MP4-12C, the Lexus LF-A & the already available Lamborghini Murciélago LP-670-4 SuperVeloce & the Lamborghini Gallardo LP-550-2 Valentino Balboni. Best of the lot? No doubt the Ferrari 458 Italia. :P
Top Gear
Series 13 of Top Gear was pretty under-par compared to previous series, despite the unveiling of The Stig, Luckily S14 was much better & it was topped off by the best Top Gear episode ever, better than even Vietnam, Botswana & the Polar special.
The Bolivia Special was truly epic. An incredible journey throughout the Amazon jungle, the Death Road, one of the highest roads in the world at 5000m & one of the driest place on Earth, the Atacama desert (where the smallest living thing was Richard Hammond).
I did not even miss The Stig's South American cousin. Just one word - Wow! 10/10.
Windows 7
The best Windows OS of all time launched in 2009. Speed, reliability & usability were the main focus areas, not to mention the little tweaks & add-ons like DirectX 11, Virtual WiFi, XP mode, etc. that paves the way for future improvements. Although I have yet to install Windows 7 RTM, I've been using many such apps/hacks that make Windows 7 a powerhouse. The best one is Microsoft Security Essentials, a lightweight & free antivirus solution. I'll surely write a post on that next year. For the time being, there’s my review of the Beta 1: - Windows 7 Beta 1 Review: Part I – The Performance - Windows 7 Beta 1 Review: Part II – The UI - Windows 7 Beta 1 Review: Part III – The Bugs
H1N1
After the H5N1 bird flu virus, we had the H1N1 swine flu in 2009. Fortunately, the effects of this virus was no worse than seasonal flu. But the most worrying fact is that once a virus reaches pandemic levels, it becomes unstoppable. Even if you’re on an island in the middle of the ocean, you still can be affected. Now imagine if we have a deadly virus spread… :S
Mauritius - C'est un plaisir
Hey, Mauritius is the World's Leading Island Destination, & this is what they came up with!? Whether we like it or not, it's done now. We'll have to live with it. :|
Twitter
What can I say? 2009 was the year when I transformed from a mild-mannered helpful tweep into a Jeremy Clarkson-inspired noob-&-twoob-bashing vicious Twilight-hating @orangemauritius-thrashing ruthless twat. Wow!
The Mauritian Pyramids
Arguably one of the most entertaining posts I’ve ever written. Quoting:
- This is a freemansory invention to bring mauritian people to a false religion and these pyramid are use for satanic ritual...
- Some spheres in Mauritius is now comparing the Great "Sphinx" of Egypt with the "LION Mountain" of Mauritius. There is also the Amazing/famous Spiritual Park in Mauritius, which is near Pte Lascar. The unbeileuvable "Energy Vortex" at Surinam.( which is now internationally recognised.)
- Let me also point out that Mauritius has high energetic spots. It has been clearly pointed out of the Energy Vortex at Riambel, pt lascar spiritual park, we got the grand bassin, pieter both mountain as well as corps de garde, among other points.
- I can't miss to add concerning the 2012 phenomena. Its the date for a global ascension and i could see that Mauritius contains lot of these spots to help us for Ascension.
- we do have a phoenician past. just because we dont have documents does this imply that the phoenicians were never here..
- ..and let me add that the existence of portals/stargates are reported to exist round the planet...so y not one here?? mauritius is a mythical and mystical place, this is what i believe..
Last Sunday's disturbing 7th episode brought an end to the 13th series of Top Gear.
Was it the budget cuts? Or was it triskaidekaphobia? All Top Gear fans will agree that S13 was definitely one of the least exciting series.
Episode 1 started off with a bombshell - a car vs motorbike vs train epic race. Followed by Ferrari FXX posting an incredible time around the track – 1:10.7.
Then there was the massive stunt that was the unveiling of The Stig as some bloke called Michael Schumacher. Review of the Lotus Evora was ok.
Some say he invented the curtain… And that he recently submitted a £20,000 expenses claim for some gravel... for his moat. All we know is, he's called The Stig.
Episode 2 was still great with a superb review of the Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SV (same time as an Enzo!) & a drag race against the McLaren SLR 722.
Followed by a very funny cars-for-17-year-olds. James May's stereo hack was awesome! :D
An epic race - Bugatti Veyron vs McLaren F1, a bit too short to my liking.
Some say that last week, he was found locked in a room tied to a chair with German piano wire… And that this week, MPs turned him down for the job of Speaker. All we know is, that's three things he has in common with Margaret Beckett.
Things started to go downhill as from episode 3 with that cheap car challenge where the only funny bit was the dog challenge. Clarkson's review of the Mercedes SL65 AMG BLK was good.
The only highlight was James May's meet up with FaceTube & YouBook celeb, Ken Block in his Subaru Impreza.
Some say that he thinks crisps are animals… And that if he'd done well at Wimbledon once in a while, he might have been able to raise a smile. All we know is, he's called The Stig.
Episode 4 was bad with the boring Ford Focus RS vs Renault Megane R26.R. The Porsche Panamera vs letter on Royal Mail race had a predictable outcome.
Jeremy's Mitsubishi Evo vs British army with "live" fire was obviously scripted & looked straight off one of Jeremy's DVDs.
Some say that he's absolutely baffled by urinals... And that on reflection, this was a bad week to launch his debut Single; it's a tribute to Farrah Fawcett. All we know is, he's called The Stig.
Episode 5's only positive point was the Jag XFR review. The rear-wheel drive challenge didn't please me because it looked still too pre-arranged, especially the piano crashing the Morris Marina.
Jeremy's Range Rover & greenhouse trailer was outright stupid!
Some say he has 12 GCSEs, all in Domestic Science... And that he's been producing artificial sperm for years, even though we have repeatedly asked him not to. All we know is he's called The Stig.
The classic car challenge brought back life to Top Gear, reminiscent of previous great challenges. All the hosts got a perfectly suited co-driver, with James May coping with model Madison Welch.
Episode 6 also had the BMW Z4 & Nissan 370Z review, spiced up by animatronic dinosaurs.
Some say that on Thursdays, he becomes incredibly bulbous… And that recently, pigs in Mexico have started to die of something called Stig flu. All we know is he's highly contagious.
Episode 7 started with an uninteresting Vauxhall VXR8 & the Maloo review by Hammond. The car ad challenge was entertaining, with Jeremy Clarkson insisting on adding explosions every time - like Michael Bay. :P
It finally ended with that totally un-Jeremy-Clarkson review of the second best supercar in the series - the Aston Martin V12 Vantage.
Nothing was said about the car. But I confess that it took me by surprise - that was the best piece of cinematography I've seen on Top Gear. The shots of pristine nature were of such beauty that it'll even put National Geographic to shame.
“I just have this horrible, dreadful feeling that what I’m driving here is an ending. Goodnight.”
Some viewers thought that it was the ending of Top Gear... :|
Some say that he cut that man's hair… And that if he compensated a soldier for getting wounded, he wouldn't try to take it all back again. All we know is he's called The Stig.
Compared to previous series, SIARPC had more widely-recognised celebs than before - The Stig, Jay Leno, Usain Bolt, Sienna Miller, Stephen Fry.
But what really annoyed me was that many segments shown on the preview weren't shown in any of the episodes! Audi R8 V10 vs Corvette ZR1.
Airport vehicles!
To sum up, if I had to put Series 13 on the Cool Wall, I suppose it would be somewhere in between cool & uncool. If you're a new Top Gear fan, do not judge it from S13. I would rather recommend you to watch Series 10 or the Vietnam Special.
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