Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Ferrari Digest, Vol 1, Issue 17

[Rick Lindsay (rolindsay]

I have always wondered if those machines inflate the displayed speed.  Since 
they are to be a deterent, it is only a small step to tweeking them to display 
on the high side.
   
  rick questioner-of-everything lindsay

JAshburne [at] aol.com wrote:
  
About the only good use of police radar around here in CT is the unmanned 
radar displays that are designed to flash your speed at you in order to shame 
you into slowing down. They may well work for that purpose but I find that 
their best use is to calibrate my speedometer!

John


In a message dated 8/29/2006 6:17:40 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
BRIGANDBAR [at] aol.com writes:

In a message dated 8/29/2006 3:28:39 P.M. Central Standard Time, 
ferrari-request [at] ferrarilist.com writes:

else just use a
decent watch and time the mileage markers.



Dennis et. al.

I'd like to add a caveat here. Most mileage markers, particularly those 
simply listing highway mileage on a post without precision additions such 
as 
decimal point measurements, are notoriously inaccurate. These are not survey 

points, but informational signals. Additionally, mileage actually traveled 
on a 
roadway may be affected by things such as curves with varying radii, etc. 
And 
then there is always the parallax issue relating to trying to time points by 

visually starting and stopping a timing device. Add to those "reaction time" 

issues in starting and stopping the chronograph and the error factor is 
further altered. Will these cumulatively result in an error rate of 
+/-10%? Most 
probably not, but it is difficult to determine if the errors are cumulative, 

or offsetting. Actually, one of the best ways to determine actual speed 
(at 
least in some semblance of the legal speed limits, is to find a friendly 
state trooper or local police officer who has an interstate highway within 
his 
jurisdiction and "beat" and simply ask him to clock the car on radar (while 
setting speed parameters that do not result in the issuance of a citation). 
If 
this sounds absurd to you, trust me, after 30 years of experience within the 

"community" prior to retirement from the public sector, and being married 
to 
a Chief of Police with about the same tenure, I can assure you that many 
police officers are car enthusiasts such as ourselves. And we have a 
pretty 
significant advantage in that in most jurisdictions these officers have 
probably 
not even seen a Ferrari at all, let alone in a "close up" perspective. If 
you really want to add to their enthusiasm, invite them to ride in the car. 

Unless you are in So. CA or an affluent suburb of a major (prosperous) city 
he/she may be the only officer in the department that has ever ridden in a 
Ferrari. I the circumstances are appropriate, i.e., if the officer is a 
neighbor, 
acquaintance, etc., offer his/her kid a ride. You might even be surprised 
as 
to exactly what speeds can be checked without a citation at the right time 
and 
location.

Dr. Steve 




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