I think you’re talking about ‘dumb iron’ which are the curved chassis extensions that support the front leaf springs.

I think roadster is an American term that we adopted from you and it’s certainly post-Victorian. Small, open-topped two or three seaters (dickey seat/rumble seat) cars were called ‘tourers’ in England until the American term took over.

Perfect example.

Nearly all of our weird and obtuse British car part names come from sailing vessels or Victorian coachbuilding - horse drawn carriages.

Whilst you’ve got the technical description correct, it’s worth adding that the Spark Negotiator is actually one of the first examples of a quantum device and is sorely overlooked these days.

I currently own a Bristol. I feel like I should say my name and admit to it as a kind of addiction in a circular group of people, but Bristol have been doing this since the 1960s.

You can get one. You’ll have to accept a Rolls built when Eisenhower was being sworn in for his second term and IBM announced Fortran as the language of the future, but you can get one.

I totally understand your viewpoint and on some cars a manual is the only real choice. Big, heavy GT cars with an excess of power and torque don’t really suit them and the characteristics are actually more appropriate for a modern auto - you wouldn’t put a manual in a Rolls Royce!

From £90k. From... Gulp.

Just the two. AWD, 8-speed auto. I’m not sure it needs a third to be honest (600bhp, 800Nm) and there is bound to be some paddle-esque multiple-clutch thing going on there.

Textbook stuff indeed and plays out like a well-executed simulator scenario.

It’s hard to find pricing info but in Australia the base model is being pitched at an equivalent of $40,000. Add on the 25% tax and it’s $50,000 on a straight exchange rate comparison but a lot of the time that kind of comparison is invalid anyway.

Ah. I understand what you’re talking about now.

Absolutely - frame rate of the camera taking the video. There’s a cracking video that someone took of a helicopter appearing to hover whilst its blades weren’t moving that illustrates this point perfectly - let me see if I can find it. (It’s also why prop blades look ‘bent’ in many videos).

I doubt you pushed C-17s that often! For anything other than airline transport (GA, military etc.), the beacon will normally immediately precede engine start and, having never flown a C-17, I’m sure it’s a fail-safe. The crew will have the option to turn it on and off manually as well.

Not quite - the red beacon indicates the aircraft is about to move or is currently moving. Beacons need to be on before pushback to stop all ground traffic near the aircraft and that can occur well before actual engine start.

Quick reply because I’ve expanded on this elsewhere - a lot of aircraft push back before they start engines for noise or because the tug is weak. Or an icy/low friction surface.

You won’t be allowed to start the engines by your ground crew if you neglect to put the beacons on. On the ground, flashing red means that nothing on four wheels will pass behind you, in front of you, near you without permission.

Boeing 777-300ER. I fly these regularly and can confirm that on 100% of the one occasion when birds were a viable hazard, the swirls failed to convince the birds not to be digested by 115,000 lbf of engine, inconveniencing everyone involved considerably.