a wordpress plugin for picasa…

I really can’t understand why it’s still legal to use mobile phones without hands-free in Sweden.

A little info about this film:

Tredegar Comprehensive School and Gwent Police (Gwent is located in south-east Wales,UK) present a half hour drama entitled ‘COW’ –The film that will stop you from texting and driving,” with SPECIAL EFFECTS BY ZIPLINE CREATIVE http://www.ziplinecreative.co.uk (this is a trailer video)

** In the United Kingdom, a graphic public service film depicting the ravages of using cell phones in cars has spread virally on the Internet.

** The four-minute sequence involves British student actors and crews — and is part of a larger 30-minute drama produced and directed by Peter Watkins-Hughes — (visit http://bit.ly/AeYB4) — an award winning former BBC producer who is also a lecturer for the Documentary Film & Television department at the Newport School of Art, Media and Design in Wales. This drama was made for — and with — the Gwent Police Department, located approximately 150 miles west of London.

** WARNING the graphic clip is professionally staged — but does a fine job hammering its message home. In my view, it should be seen by every parent — and imported/licensed for broadcast or school use throughout the United States from Mr. Watkins-Hughes. His contact information is available above.

COW: Its all about Cassie COWan a nice girl from a Gwent valleys family who kills four people on the road because she used her mobile and lost her concentration for a few seconds. Gwent police is proud to have helped Brynmawr filmmaker Peter Watkins- Hughes in the production, which stars local drama students Jenny Davies as Cassie, and Amy Ingram and Laura Quantick as her friends, Emm and Jules.

It is hoped this film will become part of the core schools programme across Wales and the UK and ultimately worldwide.

Gwent Police facilitated the films crash scenes because we want to stop ALL drivers, but particularly young and new ones, from causing accidents.


Over 300 teenagers from all over Wales were auditioned to take part in the film, nine police vehicles were involved and both the police and air ambulance helicopters featured.

State of the art digital special effects were utilised to show the impact of what would happen inside the car during impact. 

Lyn Samuel, School Liaison Coordinator for Gwent Police said: We worked closely with the production team including the University of Wales Newport, Tredegar Comprehensive School and local partners including the council and Probation Service. The result is a very impactive road safety educational tool to help reduce the number of collisions involving young drivers across Wales. Chief Inspector John Pavett from Gwent Police Roads Policing Unit hopes the serious message in this film will hit home to viewers:

Making and receiving calls and texting whilst driving is still happening on roads not just in Gwent but all over the country”

Seeing a scenario, like the one Cassie goes through, played out right before your eyes makes you realise how extremely dangerous it can be and what devastating consequences it can have.

I hope that after watching this film motorists will think twice before picking up their mobile phone when behind the wheel and realise that a quick reply to a text message or answering a phone call is never worth putting theirs and other peoples lives at risk.

Info om Sporthojskurserna hos SMC finns här.

Hoppas bara att det inte regnar.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the last Swedish GP as well as honour the memory of Ronnie Peterson, and launch of a new historic race event: The Ronnie Peterson Historic Grand Prix, at the Masters Swedish Classic, to be held at Anderstorp on June 6-7-8, 2008.

We are looking forward to having the opportunity to welcome you to an exhibition of classic cars that contains all the ingredients to be a success and a pleasurable experience. Tjolöholm Classic Motor Show is one of the largest and most important exhibitions of old vehicles in Sweden. This year’s show is the Fifteenth.
The Tjolöholm Classic Motor Show is a tradition. Or as an Onsala resident said to us: “Spring arrives with the Tjolöholm Classic Motor Show”. For those of us who are now responsible for the project, two things have been important for this year’s exhibition and show: Firstly, we wanted to create the best imaginable conditions for the country.s car and motorcycle enthusiasts to meet up and display their valuable items. Secondly, we wanted to make the event more accessible for a broader and younger audience. We hope that we succeed in fulfilling all expectations and that everyone is able to find something at Tjolöholm Classic Motor Show.
The youngest visitors, the motor enthusiasts of the future, can have fun at the Classic Kids area while Mum, Dad, Grandma or Grandpa enjoy superb cars and other motor vehicles. We bid you and springtime welcome to Tjolöholm on Sunday 25nd May 2008.

From 120d on the r…

Jeeeeez, that was real fun, I definitely need a race car project. Well maybe there will be some 323ti crossing my way sometime.
This exactly why it’s worth the membership in the Swedish BMW Sport Club, this will surely not be the last race event I’m going to attend to this year.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725975-1,00.html

The Swedish government should read this article as they feign care for the environment by subsidizing these ethanol driven cars for being “environmental green cars”. The only reason for doing so is to save the Swedish car manufacturers as Volvo & Saab from suffering for their lack of high-tech engine alternatives – true communism…

I’m feeling sick of all this environmental hypocrisy and “little Sweden saving the world” populism.

A 10W single-grade oil has only a kinetic viscosity of approximately 5mm2/s at 100 degrees Celsius. The HTHS value of a “W” single-grade oil is not identified but for a 10W oil it would be at 2.0 mPas as max, more likely somewhat lower.

Because of that you had to decide which oil to use and change motor oil quite often accordingly to the outside temperature. At temperatures below 0 and shorter journeys e.g. a 10W, for the transition period in spring e.g. an SAE20 and for the real warm months an SAE30 or 40.

If an SAE30 would’ve been used at temperatures of e.g. -15 degrees Celsius, the engine wouldn’t even have started, accordingly the engine would have been broken by using a 10W oil in the summer at high temperatures. The first multi-grade oils were still a bad joke compared to todays high-performance multi grade motor oils but a significant step forward.

A multi-grade oil is a multi-grade oil only if it meets the requirements of a “W” class oil in cold state and of a class without the “W” at 100 and 150 degrees Celsius. If we take a look at a 10W-40 oil for example, this oil behaves as a 10W oil at -25 degrees Celsius and like an SAE40 at 100 and 150 degrees Celsius. Furthermore it has to have a kinetic viscosity of 12,5 – 16,3 mm2/s and an HTHS of minimum 3,5 at 150 degrees Celsius if is classified as an ACEA A2/B2 or A3/B3. To accomplish this a VI of about 150 is necessary which is unreachable for a single-grade mineral based oil (they have about 90-100), that’s why multi-grade oils were not possible in the past.

Wintertime the average oil temperature during engine operation is lower, how much lower depends on the outside temperature and how much load is applied to the engine. It’s nearly no difference if it has +5 degrees in the winter or +15 degrees in the summer, if it differs from -15 degrees to +30 degrees makes already a difference for the oil.

Did you have a 10W in your engine and the temperatures rose significantly over zero degrees Celsius you had to drive very carefully and change your motor oil as soon as possible – something we fortunately don’t have to think about anymore.

I recently made my first experience with Mapodo, an online shop for motor oils and lubricants. As most of the high quality motor oils are quite expensive here in Sweden I’m always looking for cheaper alternatives. Mapodo was discussed on various automotive forums such as www.autopower.se or www.bmw-treff.de and the people were always very satisfied with their buying experience.

Normally I shouldn’t care about such things as motor oil changes as the bimmer has this 3 years / 80.000 KM free service agreement such as all new BMW’s have. But the oil change intervals are quite “extended” which means that they’ll change oil first after every 30.000 kilometers. As you might have recognized I read a whole lot of stuff about motor oil in the nearer past and came to the conclusion that I will from now on devide the intervals in two 15.000 KM changes instead. This means that I’ll have to pay for every second oil change myself.

That’s were the money comes into the picture, my E87 needs motor oil with the BMW LL-04 specification as it is equipped with a diesel particulate filter and these require “low SAPS” oils. What “low SAPS” stands for and why cars equipped with a diesel particulate filter benefit from these oils will be clarified in a later post, that’s part of my oil mania. Unfortunately my favorite oil (Mobil 1 0W-40) is not LL-04 classified but LL-01 because of it’s not “low SAPS” and I will go oil conform at least as long as the bimmer is in it’s guarantee period.
I chose the ARAL Supertronic 0W-40 this time because of it’s nearly exactly the same oil as the Castrol EDGE Formula RS 0W-40. Castrol and Aral are both subsidiaries of BP and if you take a close look on the technical specification for these two oils then you’ll see how similar they are. The ARAL Supertronic 0W-40 is LL-04 classified as well so there will be no problem with the guarantee.

But it was not only motor oil for the car I bought this time, I bought some 2-stroke oil (~4€ / L is quite cheap) as well. Now you may ask why did you buy that for, but the answer is easy – for the 120d also. It’s a good idea to blend some 2-stroke oil, in relation 1:250, into each tank of diesel in order to lubricate the common rail diesel pump. More on this in a later post about this issue.

Back to topic then, BMW LL-04 oils are quite expensive ~22€ / Liter for Castrol Edge SLX 0W-30 are quite a normal price at your local BMW dealer. Mapodo currently takes only ~9€ that’s less than the half of the price at the bimmer shop. This immense price difference relativizes the cost for my extra oil service tremendously.

The order process and the delivery from Mapodo were both very satisfying and their customer service is lightning fast. All product questions where answered almost directly and the goods was packaged safely.

Thumbs up for Mapodo – highly recommended!