Tag: cars

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2006 October 21 Tagaytay

Drove to Tagaytay last weekend for a [very] late dinner. My co-driver (feeling WRC hehe), Billie, and I took the SLEX. Traffic was light so we were moving pretty fast and completely missed the Sta. Rosa exit. We took the next exit at Greenfields. From there, the road to Tagaytay was well-paved and had almost zero traffic but it was sooo dark. Once at Tagaytay proper, we again missed the turn we’re supposed to take. We were looking for the landmark McDonald’s but didn’t see it. We ended up somewhere in Nasugbu where we retraced our route, met up with Joel who drove out to meet us at the turn, and followed him to Ninoy’s place.

After a quick dinner we drove back to Makati. We were on a convoy with Tina and Rob in another car. The drive down from Tagaytay was pretty uneventful though we did pass by a road crew extricating a pickup that went off the railing. But that’s their event :D When we got to SLEX, it was pretty much deserted so I honked at the other car as a friendly “see you around”, opened up the throttle, and went ahead. Tina could’ve been the one to go ahead as she was on the mighty B16A and I was only on the GA16DNE but I guess she was being nice :)

The drive made me realize that I need auxiliary lights. It’s a glaring (hehe) deficiency with my current driving equipment as the roads, especially at Greenfield, were really dark.

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E10

E10 is a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline. When I learned that the neighborhood gas station started selling E10, I made it a point to fill-up with it on the next refuel. Aside from directly reducing imports of crude oil, E10 has many other advantages (from Journey To Forever):

  • It is a renewable fuel made from plants
  • It is not a fossil-fuel: manufacturing it and burning it does not increase the greenhouse effect
  • It provides high octane at low cost as an alternative to harmful fuel additives
  • Ethanol blends can be used in all petrol engines without modifications
  • Ethanol is biodegradable without harmful effects on the environment
  • It significantly reduces harmful exhaust emissions
  • Ethanol’s high oxygen content reduces carbon monoxide levels more than any other oxygenate: by 25-30%, according to the US EPA
  • Ethanol blends dramatically reduce emissions of hydrocarbons, a major contributor to the depletion of the ozone layer
  • High-level ethanol blends reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 20%
  • Ethanol can reduce net carbon dioxide emissions by up to 100% on a full life-cycle basis
  • High-level ethanol blends can reduce emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) by 30% or more (VOCs are major sources of ground-level ozone formation)
  • As an octane enhancer, ethanol can cut emissions of cancer-causing benzene and butadiene by more than 50%
  • Sulphur dioxide and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions are significantly decreased with ethanol.

So what are you waiting for? Fill up with E10 now!

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Philips VisionPlus Headlight Bulbs

Yesterday, as I was driving out from the basement parking at work, I kind of noticed something amiss with my headlights. I couldn’t place it until later when I noticed from my headlights’ reflection on the car in front of me that my left headlight was dim. The bulb was busted. Thankfully, I was able to get home without any incident (mulcting cops come to mind).

So this noon, Paul and I went to Han’s at Shangri-La to get replacement bulbs. Paul had recently upgraded his headlight bulbs to brighter Philips DiamondVision white-light bulbs. His headlights looked absolutely great and I have decided I’ll also get Philips bulbs though not the white-light version. Also something that doesn’t require upgrading to ceramic sockets and relays which he needed to do because of his bulbs’ higher wattage.

Luckily for me, Philips has just such a product: the VisionPlus. It has 50% brighter than stock bulbs without requiring the aforementioned ceramic sockets and relays. We installed the bulbs earlier this evening just before leaving the office. It was pretty easy and in no time they were installed. I flicked the switch and lo and behold: There was LIGHT! I’m not sure if it’s 50% brighter but it sure is brighter. They work just as advertised and, considering the importance of light, I don’t see why people shouldn’t go for these bulbs when their stock bulbs eventually fail.

Rating: 5/5

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Trigger Happy Cops

There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the training of cops (or lack of it) in the Philippines. A few months ago, anti-carnap cops of the Traffic Management Group (TMG) gunned down three alleged carnappers. Now they’re at it again. They shot at the car of a pharmaceutical executive.

Luckily, the guy was able to continue driving and the cops weren’t able to give chase. Had things been different, we probably would be reading in the news about a drug crazed executive (it would be hard to frame him as a carnapper) killed after firing at the cops. Of course, the scene will be complete with a sachet of shabu and a Jericho pistol. Maybe even a wounded cop.

But back to training. There’s the matter of proper flag down procedure. There’s the matter of car recognition. And finally, there’s the matter of the objective of anti-carnap cops being not to just stop carnappers, but also to recover stolen cars. Unless there is a clear and present danger to other people, they should just let the carnappers go if there really is no way of stopping the stolen car but to start shooting. After all, what good is recovering a bullet riddled car?

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Racer Dudette > Racer Dudes

Racquel, Rein, and I went to SpeedZone earlier this evening for another [rather unexpected] go at karting. I was planning to go back but not THIS soon. But since there’s nothing else to do I decided to go.

When we got there, we did the usual registration, gearing up, and waiting our turn. Then Racquel proceeded to soundly trounce both Rein and I. Her best time of 1:12.868 was almost 2 seconds and 5 seconds quicker than my and Rein’s best times respectively. Those are huge margins! It’s the genes I tell you :P

Afterwards, we went to Blue Wave to meet up with Eeya and watch the World Pyro Olympics 2005. Unfortunately, due to the severe traffic congestion, we missed the first show and just glimpsed the second show from afar. We had to content ourselves with just dinner at this forgettable place where the food is not worth it.