Baby Adrianna at 1 years old

16 more years till a driving license.

Starting them young or spoiling them rotten?

Ferrari Beline Type I/II/III Child seat

Canon 24-105 F4L IS and 70-200 F4L

Birthday gift to self, albeit 1 month late.

Raynox DCR 250 Macro conversion lens

Raynox DCR 250 mounted on Canon 450D + 18-55IS kit lens.

Picked one of these 2nd hand in very good condition. Initial test seems quite impressive for the price.

Shot with Canon 7D + 50mm F1.4, Wireless Flash backlight with Canon 430EX and on board flash for fill.
1/250, F1.4, ND8 filter


Test shot


The screw is actually only 4mm long from the tip to the bottom of the picture.
DOF is insanely shallow even at F20.

Shot with 7D + 55-250IS + Raynox. Wireless flash using 430EX

Great TV ads. AUDI

These are some of the best Ads seen on TV by a car maker.

Sheer marketing brilliance.

I've watched them originally on TV many many years ago, but I've decided to put some here as a collection.




(in case you can't see the logos, from left to right, Alfa Romeo, Volvo, BMW, Mercedes Benz)



Ironically, thier 3 best ads don't even show the cars.....

With these sort of ads, little surprise Audi has been propelled from junk status in the 1980s and 1990 (I'm sure some would remember the Audi 100, 200 and 5000) to where it is now, even surpassing BMW for the Yippy factor.

Kumho SPT Review Update

Review Update - Dry Grip.

Did a good 100kms or so to scrub them in and tested them a few hours ago on Camerons with a mild pace. After all I haven't really driven up in a good part of 1/2 year so it would be wise to keep the pace reasonable (or reasonably quick depending on how you look at it - had a Waja try rather desperately to keep up.....:p).

Judged as a UHP tyre;

I'm seeing about 5-10% off the cornering pace at the tight sections, suffering from mild understeer that is easily correctable with a slight lift of the loud pedal. Considering my tuned Satria's usual non-understeering demeanor, I can only imagine that on a normal car, the understeering would come earlier and more severe.

That said, couple that with less aggreesive driving and none of the tail out malarky tonight (that helps the car turn in), the understeer probably feels worst than it is.

What's more important, is that the steering feedback is also more vague than the RE001 and PP2 partly because of the softer sidewall and perhaps the soft thread blocks. Straight line grip is also down about 5-10% from the earlier tyres. As confidence takes a beating, I'm finding myself taking corners at less than full attack due to not being able to feel what the tyres are actually doing, or how far up the limit it is.

Would I have managed to make up that 5-10% pace difference with a change of style and line? Probably, but as the steering feedback it poor, it would be bordering on scary/stupid instead of a being a relaxed drive.

Conclusion.
If I had taken this ultra High performance tyre (UHP) as face value, it would have been quite the disappointment. But if taken it as a budget alternative, its fairly good value for money, given that it does most things right for cheap. The softer sidewalls are quite comfortable and the tyre continues to run fairly quiet.

It is not playing at the same level as the Bridgestone Adrenalin and Michelin PP2 (and the other UHPs like the Yokohama AD07), but it is more than a match to the Yokohama Parada and entry level offerings from Dunlop's DZ101, any of Silverstone's performance offerings and even close to the Goodyear F1 GS2.

It is a fairly decent offering from Kumho, sacrificing about 10% of out-right dry grip performance for 40% less $$$.

I figure it would be a compelling buy for someone that needs decent tyres (as long as that someone doesn't intend to do too much apex hunting on a daily basis).



EDIT 26/07/2010 : Found some old reviews of the KU31 from old issue of Evo mag.

As my own conclusion, looks like the expert reviewers felt the tyre was decent but lacks steering feel.

Hello Kitty engine oil

5w30 3L for small K-cars.

Sure makes everything sound cuter than it is.

Wondering if BP would rename itself after the mouthless cat after the disaster boils over. Sure could use the PR.

Kumho Ecsta SPT KU31

Just got them mounted today.

Long time readers may remember that I posted about this tyre a good part of a year ago, but ended up getting the similarly priced Paradas.


Shop offered me the same price ($165 each...from last year!) which seems like good bang for the buck not seen since the Silverstone FTZ Sports ($128) and the Yokohama Parada II ($155).

So how does it perform?

To early to tell yet since I have not scrubbed them in..traction is almost nil.

But it seems to be very very quiet and sidewalls are softer than both the Adrenalins and Pilot Precedas. Will update when I get some miles on them.

Michelin Pilot Preceda 2

Got them a good 1/2 year ago and they are holding up well....partly because of the absence of frequent trackdays.

Its performance belies its very conservative looks. This is one very good tyre.

Dry performace matches that of my old Bridgestone Adrenalins and has stiffer sidewalls, yet somehow more comfortable AND quieter. I have very high confidence on tight high speed corners....they just dig in and bite hard into the corner with no drama.

Wet performance against aquaplanning can be better but its real party piece is its predictability at the limit. Its a very communicative tyre, allowing you to dial in just the right amount of torque and steering lock without breaking traction.

If the Bridgestone RE001 scored 80%, this comes in at 85%.


Paid $190 a year back...but it seems prices have gone up. It also looks like Michelin has a new Pilot Sport 3 out that is raking in just as impressive reviews.

Ingu 1992 -2010

Ingu
1992 - 2010

R.I.P.

It doesn't really hit you until the next day, where its just plain different that there is no one to greet you at the gate when you come home from work.