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I got the Thunderzord and Tigerzord from eBay. These are the 2 I had when I was a kid but life happens and they got thrown away while after I left home for the military.
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Love my Senns wireless gear... worth the money. Lower cost 2.5 and 5.8 wireless gear is getting too crowded for use on live stage.

I've went down the Universal IEM rabbit hole. I was never satisfied with universals, so wanted to try customs, so I went with Alclair for my first pair. I found that customs works best for me with my small ear canals. I used the Alclairs for 5 years, and upgraded to 64 Audio A12t's 2+ years ago. Didn't hesitate paying the $$$'s with no regrets.... but I did buy them during the annual Black Friday sale. I went with 64's because of the features... especially the APEX module. It's like an open back IEM. Very comfortable, and I can wear them longer with no built up pressure. They are great on stage and mixing sound... but they really shine just listening to music, movies, and gaming...

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I still have my Alclairs as backups.

$2K earbuds? 🥴
 
$2K earbuds? 🥴
Sickening... isn't it? 😅

I did buy it during the annual Black Friday sale, but still wasn't cheap. Bought it with my music and photography gigs I do on weekends... basically the fun/play money I make on the side... separate from my full-time job. Even sadder... those custom IEM's is considered cheap compared to all the gear I use in my music/office at home.

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All paid for from my fun/play money I make from music/photography side gigs...
 
My little desk based classic race car collection has two new additions on the way.

Porsche 917 Langheck 917-042 and 917-043, the two 1970 long tailed 917s that entered Le Mans the same year.

042 was the scary fast Porsche-Salzburg KG car with 4.9L 600hp engine, 5 speed manual and first car to ever exceed 150mph average speed lap at Le Mans. Top speed over 240mph. Drivers Vic Elford (RIP) and Kurt Ahrens Jnr. DNF 1970 Le Mans engine failure, broken valve spring.

043 was the famous “hippie” long tail 917. It had only a 4.5L engine but did win the index of efficiency prize. Finished Le Mans 1970 second with misfiring engine. Fuel economy was 40L/100km average in the race which is actually very good.

Photos coming when they arrive. Both 1:18 scale.
 
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1:18 scale Porsche 917 Langheck (longtail) chassis 917-043 Martini International, Gerard Larrousse and Willi Kauhsen, 4.5L 12 cylinder 580hp, Le Mans 1970. This was the so-called "hippie" car which caused a big stir. The colour scheme was done at Le Mans in the nearby Teloché workshop which the Porsche factory based itself out of.

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1:18 scale Porsche 917 Langheck (longtail) chassis 917-042 Porsche Salzburg, Kurt Ahrens Jnr and Vic Elford, 4.9L 12 cylinder 600hp, Le Mans 1970. First car to ever lap Le Mans at over 150mph average speed. Top speed 390km/h. 5 speed manual gearbox.

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SEV Marchal was the headlights sponsor, Goodyear supplied the tyres, Shell was the fuel obviously, Borg & Beck did clutches and Bosch did the fuel injection (the big "12-Stempel-Doppelreihen-Pumpe"). Porsche Salzburg was the quasi-works team that irritated the Gulf Porsche team which initially thought it had works status.

If you want to see 917-042 being driven in anger, watch Steve McQueens 1971 movie "Le Mans". Chassis 042 featured in the early parts of the movie. Today it still exists, but it was converted to 1971 long tail form with the Martini colour scheme. In 1970, 042 and 043 were the first production long-tail cars.

The previous two prototype 1970 long-tails were both destroyed in testing accidents at Ehra Lessien. Poor Kurt Ahrens crashed 917-040 severely when caught out by a sudden rain-shower. He aquaplaned across the road and hit the barrier so badly that the car was split in half and no front of the car was left. He was very lucky to survive that. He still has the broken steering wheel from that car.

917-041 also had a similar fate, driven by Willi Kauhsen. He however steered it against the barrier at the edge of the Ehra Lessien straight and prevented a more serious accident. The car came to rest after a very long distance and ended up with a road-sign embedded in its rear section. 040 and 041 had slightly different design to 042 and 043, the two prototypes had covered engine bays and tail fins without a spoiler between the fins. Interestingly 917-041 appears to have been rebuilt today in its prototype form.

A result of the testing and Le Mans 1970 proved once and for all that the Langheck form was the fastest for that 13km Le Mans circuit. Unfortunately unexpected mechanical issues scuppered the two long tails. 043 finished the race with a misfiring engine (probably due to the rainfall affecting it). 917-042 (the white #25 car) went out with engine failure caused by a broken valve spring, a result of a manufacturing fault in the valve spring. Without that issue, it almost certainly would have won by a great margin, it was much faster.
 
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1:18 scale Porsche 917 Langheck (longtail) chassis 917-043 Martini International, Gerard Larrousse and Willi Kauhsen, 4.5L 12 cylinder 580hp, Le Mans 1970. This was the so-called "hippie" car which caused a big stir. The colour scheme was done at Le Mans in the nearby Teloché workshop which the Porsche factory based itself out of.

View attachment 2558358

1:18 scale Porsche 917 Langheck (longtail) chassis 917-042 Porsche Salzburg, Kurt Ahrens Jnr and Vic Elford, 4.9L 12 cylinder 600hp, Le Mans 1970. First car to ever lap Le Mans at over 150mph average speed. Top speed 390km/h. 5 speed manual gearbox.

View attachment 2558359

View attachment 2558360

SEV Marchal was the headlights sponsor. Porsche Salzburg was the quasi-works team that irritated the Gulf Porsche team which initially thought it had works status.

If you want to see 917-042 being driven in anger, watch Steve McQueens 1971 movie "Le Mans". Chassis 042 featured in the early parts of the movie. Today it still exists, but it was converted to 1971 long tail form with the Martini colour scheme. In 1970, 042 and 043 were the first production long-tail cars.

The previous two prototype 1970 long-tails were both destroyed in testing accidents at Ehra Lessien. Poor Kurt Ahrens crashed 917-040 severely when caught out by a sudden rain-shower. He aqua-planed across the road and hit the barrier so badly that the car was split in half and no front of the car was left. He was very lucky to survive that. He still has the broken steering wheel from that car.

917-041 also had a similar fate, driven by Willi Kauhsen. He however steered it against the barrier at the edge of the Ehra Lessien straight and prevented a more serious accident. The car came to rest after a very long distance and ended up with road-sign embedded in its rear section. 040 and 041 had slightly different design to 042 and 043, the two prototypes had covered engine bays and tail fins without a spoiler between the fins. Interestingly 917-041 appears to have been rebuilt today in its prototype form.

A result of the testing and Le Mans 1970 proved once and for all that the Langheck form was the fastest for that 13km Le Mans circuit. Unfortunately unexpected mechanical issues scuppered the two long tails. 043 finished the race with a misfiring engine (probably due to the rainfall affecting it). 917-042 (the white #25 car) went out with engine failure caused by a broken valve spring, a result of a manufacturing fault in the valve spring. Without that issue, it almost certainly would have won by a great margin, it was much faster.
Super - thanks for the info too - great research!
 
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Glad to write it, this is a favourite topic of mine. Putting this up as another view of the two, with a comparison of the Kurzheck:

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043 is spectacular with those green swirling patterns. Its stunning colour scheme was the work of Anatole Lapine, the famous Porsche stylist. It wasn't so well loved by some insiders at the time, but Lapine knew what would get publicity and the "hippie" car sure did that! He was also responsible for the infamous "Pink Pig" 917-20 also known as "Bertha-Sau" or "Trüffeljäger von Zuffenhausen".

You can see the difference between the Gulf (JW Automotive Engineering) Porsche team 917 Kurzheck (short tail) and the long tails. The KH is lined up with the LH, the wheelbases are the same, but the LH has a slightly longer nose and the tail section is much longer.

The JWAE short tail cars had their own distinctive rear bodywork compared to a standard Kurzheck. It was flaired out slightly more at the sides and also the middle part of rear deck behind the engine was lower to give the driver better rear visibility. To offset that change they put an adjustable spoiler in the middle section.

In performance, the JWAE Kurzheck cars had 600hp 4.9L engines, the same as the Salzburg Porsche 917-042. However the top speeds were massively different, 042 could reach 390km/h, while the short-tail 4.9L might achieve about 350km/h - a massive difference at Le Mans with a 5km long straight. The Kurzheck was more agile and could be "thrown" about more easily while the Langheck needed to be "flowed" through corners with precision. Unlike the dangerous 1969 long-tail 917s, the 917 LH models were stable in a straight line.

I actually have the detailed bodywork construction drawings for 917-040 and 041 here. In theory I could use those and build a model in Blender and probably 3D print it. The following site has photos of 041 before its unfortunate testing accident:

https://pbase.com/archive_racing_porsche/917041

You can also see it running.
 
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The clutch for Mrs AFB Kia Picanto. Yes expensive. Nearly £700.

Clutch? Oh, right! For a stick-shift/manual transmission car! Been so long since I've driven one that I'd forgotten about the clutch. I still actually kind of miss my stick-shift vehicles, as they give me a feeling of being "one with the car" and having more control than driving an automatic transmission vehicle.

In looking at the photo I had the feeling that those things were somehow related to cars, but obviously they were not tires or wheels or decorative wheel covers!
 
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