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SSC Tuatara revealed at Pebble Beach with 300 mph target https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ssc-tuatara-revealed-pebble-beach-074002333.html After years of waiting, it's finally here. [uPDATE] SSC North America has contacted us to share a press release (attached at the end). The company says it's ready to start production of the Tuatara and is currently accepting orders, with only 100 cars to be made. These will be assembled at a new factory located at home in West Richland, Washington. The only information released about the hypercar's performance is its ability to exceed 300 mph. SSC has "full confidence" it will hit that mark. The heart of the hypercar in detail Formerly known as Shelby SuperCars, SSC North America has introduced this weekend at Pebble Beach the final version of its Tuatara hypercar, some seven years after presenting the concept. A press release hasn’t been issued yet, but all the juicy specs have been published on the company’s website from where we were able to source the adjacent images. Without further ado, the twin-turbo 5.9-litre V8 produces 1,350 bhp when feeding on premium unleaded and as much as 1,750 bhp on flex fuel. The mid-mounted engine – which has a redline of 8,800 rpm - weighs 194 kilograms and sends its output to the rear wheels through a seven-speed “computerised manual” gearbox featuring “robotic shift system.” The high-performance coupe has a dry weight of just 1,247 kg and an aerodynamically optimised body with a drag coefficient of just 0.279. To achieve that remarkably low weight, SSC used carbon fibre not just for the body and chassis, but even the wheels are made from carbon fibre. The 20-inch set comes wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tyres measuring 245/35 at the front axle and 345/25 for the rear wheels. Named after a lizard-like reptile originating from New Zealand, The production-ready Tuatara is 4.42 metres long and comes with a wheelbase stretching at 2.67 metres. According to the specs sheet, the hypercar is 2 metres wide and just 1.1 metres tall. Details about performance are not available at the moment of writing, but we’re expecting it to be one of the fastest production cars ever made considering the high power, low weight, and extreme aero setup. It remains to be seen whether it will try and claim the record for the fastest street-legal car, which currently belongs to Koenigsegg and its 277.87-mph Agera RS.

Hi All, Just to check still these cars are hit list in JB especially Honda Rav4 & Toyota Harrier? Would Honda Vezel be one of them?

This Chinese company real extreme ....... Yahoo news: Sales execs who missed targets forced to kneel on public bridge and chant 'We are sorry' For most sales people, failing to beat their targets might mean a private dressing down from the boss or missing out on a bonus. But these shamed execs in China were publicly humiliated for missing their targets – by being forced to kneel on a bridge and chant how sorry they were. Pedestrians who were using a busy crossover in the city of Xiamen, the capital of south-eastern China’s Fujian Province, were stunned to see the men and women in suits on their knees with messages in front of them detailing their name, age, and exactly what it was that they had done to bring such shame on themselves. One, named as Zhen Liu, 43, had the handwritten message on the ground in front of him saying: "I failed to beat my sales targets." Another, Ming Chou, 39, had the message: "I have to kneel down on the bridge for one hour as punishment for not finishing my job." The images of the named and shamed employees went viral after they were uploaded by shocked passer-by Zhu Ku, 29. She said: "I saw people spread out across the bridge with their heads bowed, chanting they were sorry. "There was no indication what sort of company they worked for but it certainly doesn’t look like a fun one. "After a while one of them decided he’d had enough and stood up shouting and grabbing a piece of paper and throwing it on the ground before marching off. "But the others remained, calmly accepting their punishment." Internet users were unanimous in saying they would refuse to work for a firm that demanded such embarrassing apologies and many wanted to try and find out the name of the company in order to name and shame them for such bad treatment of staff. link: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/sales-execs-who-missed-targets-forced-to-kneel-on-public-bridge-and-chant--we-are-sorry-144915151.html

stick to one thread http://www.mycarforum.com/index.php?showtopic=2686205

Source: http://sbr.com.sg/economy/news/top-4-secto...ming-population

From STOMP: http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sg.../fast_cars.html Posted on 20 May 2012 'Unfair to blame or label all fast car drivers as speed demons,' says Porsche owner Miss Carena Chen, 40, owns a Porsche Carrera 911. She believes that the accident involving the Ferrari driver that killed three is an isolated incident and it is unfair to blame or label all fast car drivers because of it. She is one of the women who make up the 20 per cent of Porsche owners. Miss Chen also believes that women are probably safer drivers than men because they tend to be more cautious while driving. Chairman of the Public Transport Council, Mr Gerard Ee, also told The New Paper that accidents involving supercars continue to remain low. He says most owners take good car of their cars probably because they are very expensive. He also remarked that he sometimes sees them driving very slowly on the road, just to enjoy the purring of the engines. Mr Lester Wong, 40, also feels that not all supercar owners be blamed because the Ferrari driver made an error. He also feels that true 'petrolheads' make the effort to know the limitations of their cars, sharing a simple calculation to gauge when to slow down while travelling at a fast speed and what gear to use. Both Mr Ng Chwee Ping, 37, and Mr Gary Goh, 30, feel that if one buys fast cars because one has the desire to speed, one should go to the tracks because one should always be responsible on public roads. Mr Ng also advises that one should do so to know the limits of the car and how to respond should something go wrong. He hits the race tracks in Malaysia four times a year with his friends. Of course, there are also those who buy fast cars merely as an investment, as Mr Leow Ju-Len, 36, motoring journalist and STOMP Star Blogger says.

SINGAPORE - The Government is studying ways, including looking at the experiences of other countries, to deter frequent gamblers from visiting the casinos. It will also "soon" amend the Casino Control (Advertising) Regulations to make it "crystal clear to both casinos that they cannot target the domestic market", Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing said yesterday. Mr Chan added that as of Oct 31, there were more than 26,000 self-exclusion orders issued to foreigners. He was responding to questions tabled by Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah. In a written reply, Mr Chan said: "The regulations will also be widened to cover not only advertisements but any promotion of the casinos, which should prevent incidents like the heartland shuttle buses. We will make further announcements in due course." Noting the difference between frequent gamblers and impulsive gamblers, Mr Chan reiterated his ministry's concern on the former group. Mr Chan said that in Holland, for example, the authorities look out for frequent gamblers and interview them. Said Mr Chan: "Depending on their assessment, they may subsequently limit the patron's visits to the casinos or even exclude them. Depending on our assessment of the problem, we may consider different measures to deter frequent gamblers. What we put in place eventually, if any, will have to suit our local context and meet our needs and situation." Ms Lee also asked if the Government planned to raise the casino levy for Singaporeans in an effort to discourage gambling. Mr Chan reiterated that the S$100 entry levy is to "signal that gambling is an expense and not a means to make a living, and to discourage casual and impulse gambling". He added: "Some believe that a higher levy will be a more effective deterrence. Others worry that increasing the levy will only cause Singaporean visitors to intensify their gambling so as to 'max out' the upfront cost of the entry levy. The jury is still out as to which is the likely behaviour of Singaporeans if we raise the levy." On Ms Lee's suggestion to impose an casino entry levy on foreigners as well, Mr Chan said the ministry was focusing on a "targeted approach of combining education and casino exclusions". He added: "Such an approach also emphasises individual responsibility. For an individual, self-exclusion can be a much more effective upstream safeguard against problem gambling than even a downstream monetary quantum." The National Council on Problem Gambling will continue to work with the Ministry of Manpower and employers to advise foreign workers to apply for self-exclusion, Mr Chan said. Mr Chan stressed that the safeguards - while stringent - for foreigners and Singaporeans "should not and cannot replace individual responsibility". "Individuals must make the correct decision to gamble responsibly. In our Asian context, we also encourage families to play their part in helping their family members to do what is right," he said. http://www.todayonline.com/Hotnews/EDC1111...domestic-market

Jakarta foils terrorist plot against Singapore Embassy A terror cell was targeting Singaporeans leaving the embassy in Jakarta. The terror suspects also had their sights on Singapore. Sun, Nov 13, 2011 AsiaOne, AFP Three men have been arrested for being part of a terror cell which planned an attack on the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta. National police spokesman Saud Usman Nasution said the arrests took place in Tangerang city on the outskirts of Jakarta. One of the suspects was shot in the leg by anti-terror police as he attempted to escape. "An investigation is still ongoing and we cannot reveal for the time being their involvement in terror," he said, adding that during the morning raid police seized two firearms and more than a dozen bullets. An unnamed anti-terror police officer told AFP the three were linked to 11 terror suspects arrested in July, including ringleader Abu Umar who planned the embassy attack. They also said that ringleader Abu Umar alias Zulfikar, 41, was targeting Singaporeans leaving the embassy in Jakarta. Abu Umar and 10 of his followers were arrested in various parts of Java in July. The terror cell had also intended to attack several police stations. Umar had close links with Ahmad Sayid Maulana, killed in a police raid last year at his house, where police found a map of Singapore's train network. The underground train station on Orchard Road shopping belt had been circled on the map. A map of an airport in the city of General Santos in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao was also among the items found in the house. Following the July arrest, national anti-terror deputy chief Petrus Golose said Abu Umar led the group planning the attack, but there was no mention of when they intended to carry it out. The group was also believed to be involved in smuggling weapons into Indonesia from the Philippines through Malaysia. Indonesia has been rocked by a series of attacks staged by the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah in recent years, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people. Brigadier-General Petrus Golose, a deputy at the National Anti-Terrorism Agency (BNPT), told The Straits Times that more members of Abu Umar's cell may still be at large. He said: "We are developing the case. Interrogations will reveal whether there are more of them from that cell and how many."

Feb 23, 2011 Levy hike sparks different reactions Target white-collar foreigners instead WHILE the Government's decision to lessen reliance on foreign labour to raise productivity is laudable, the wrong sector is being targeted ('Worker levy increase shocks businesses'; last Saturday). The Government should not focus on tightening blue-collar foreign labour as such migrant workers are needed in transient work. They work in jobs that better-educated Singaporeans shun, for example, unskilled or semi-skilled construction, cleaning or waiting at tables. What the increase in levy should aim for is to reduce the intake of white-collar foreign workers. These are foreigners in banking, services, manufacturing and other industries who compete with tertiary-educated Singaporeans for the same jobs. Most of them work and live here for a few years and affect crucial infrastructure like public transport and housing. The lax policy in granting foreigners employment passes has created tensions in competition for scarce jobs that Singaporeans are qualified to take up. Hiring foreigners because multinational corporations (MNCs) want them should no longer be justified. We have relied too long on the rationale that because MNCs create jobs, let them hire whoever they wish as long as Singapore gains corporate tax revenue and is able to leverage on MNCs outsourcing advantages to local small and medium-sized enterprises. Singaporeans need the jobs that the MNCs create. The current situation where employers need not justify their need for foreigners is not sustainable. The Government should require MNCs to adhere to a Singaporean-first policy in hiring and allow MNCs to resort to foreigners only if Singaporeans do not qualify. The Government should also introduce an effective levy and a quota for such professional foreign employees. These foreign professionals, and permanent residents, should also be placed in a higher tax bracket. Cheong Tuck Kuan This fella talking some serious sense.

http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/...ory_637789.html Target white-collar foreigners instead WHILE the Government's decision to lessen reliance on foreign labour to raise productivity is laudable, the wrong sector is being targeted ('Worker levy increase shocks businesses'; last Saturday). The Government should not focus on tightening blue-collar foreign labour as such migrant workers are needed in transient work. They work in jobs that better-educated Singaporeans shun, for example, unskilled or semi-skilled construction, cleaning or waiting at tables. What the increase in levy should aim for is to reduce the intake of white-collar foreign workers. These are foreigners in banking, services, manufacturing and other industries who compete with tertiary-educated Singaporeans for the same jobs. Most of them work and live here for a few years and affect crucial infrastructure like public transport and housing. The lax policy in granting foreigners employment passes has created tensions in competition for scarce jobs that Singaporeans are qualified to take up. Hiring foreigners because multinational corporations (MNCs) want them should no longer be justified. We have relied too long on the rationale that because MNCs create jobs, let them hire whoever they wish as long as Singapore gains corporate tax revenue and is able to leverage on MNCs outsourcing advantages to local small and medium-sized enterprises. Singaporeans need the jobs that the MNCs create. The current situation where employers need not justify their need for foreigners is not sustainable. The Government should require MNCs to adhere to a Singaporean-first policy in hiring and allow MNCs to resort to foreigners only if Singaporeans do not qualify. The Government should also introduce an effective levy and a quota for such professional foreign employees. These foreign professionals, and permanent residents, should also be placed in a higher tax bracket. Cheong Tuck Kuan

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1079916/1/.html Converting 10% of PRs to citizens "not a target": SM Goh's press secretary By Joanne Chan | Posted: 08 September 2010 1912 hrs SINGAPORE: The press secretary to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has said that the figure mentioned by Mr Goh about Permanent Residents who will be asked to take up citizenship, was only for "illustrative purposes". Mr Ho Tong Yen was replying to queries following Mr Goh's comments at a dialogue session at Marine Parade on Monday. Mr Goh was reported as saying that the government might approach ten percent of PRs in Singapore to take up citizenship and if they did not do so, their PR status would not be renewed. Mr Ho said that the Senior Minister was making a general observation to illustrate the point that the government would be managing the inflow of PRs and that some would be encouraged to become citizens. The figure of ten percent which Mr Goh gave was "not a target", and it is also not the case that all PRs who turn down the offer of Singapore citizenship would not have their PR status renewed, said Mr Ho. The government will continue to review and refine its policies to ensure that those who have PR status are an asset to Singapore's society and that those who are given citizenship are, in addition, assessed to be committed in their allegiance to Singapore, added Mr Ho. - CNA/ir

was watching tv a few days ago and came across this advert. from the accent, not sure if this advert is tageting at a particular group? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxyDQJf8OIs

as above

Not by wages alone... A few weeks ago there was this letter[Link] to the Straits Times Forum by former perm sec Ngiam Tong Dow arguing that a CPF cut would be a better strategic move than the Jobs Credit Scheme (JCS). He argued that a direct wage cut would be better than a wage subsidy because "subsidies cannot be sustained for long if our workers are no longer as productive as their peers in other, perhaps hungrier, countries, particularly in a knowledge-based global economy". He argued workers should bite the bullet like they did in 1984 take all the pain and sacrifice to get Singapore out of its current mess. I'm not sure what is so strategic or long term about CPF cuts - the CPF is suppose to be a provident fund for our retirement not an economic tool to bail the economy out everytime there is a recession. Why didn't he propose that landlords slash rents by 40% to help make the economy more competitive? That was what many retailers wanted[link]Why didn't he propose that other costs such as utilities, govt fees, etc be slashed to make Singapore more competitive? Why is it wages ...wages and always wages? A CPF cut is 'undoable' for several reasons - the HDB default is 8% going into this recession and a CPF cut will push many Singaporeans to the 'brink'...we are not talking about just taking 'pain' it will be agony. We are also going into this recession with the highest income gap in our history and the govt is already giving workfare which is a form of wage subsidy out of necessity. There are also many flexi-wage components in our wages today that can be cut by the employers if they choose to do so. Also, if wages are the issue and the businesses need those cuts to retain people, the employer can just initiate wages cut himself. Politically if the PAP is going for elections such a move is completely unwise because many Singaporeans are still waiting for the 'temporary' CPF cuts of 1984 to be restored...and this will be bad political strategy. For a while, I was quite amazed that Ngiam Tong Dow, a former top civil servant, can actually come up with such a suggestion. But the PAP govt itself did not miss this idea because when Minister Lim Swee Say debated MP Low in parliament he tried to counter Low by asking "CPF cut or JCS?"...which would Low prefer? MP Low said neither. Many saw this whole episode as Minister Lim trying to trick MP Low and MP Low not falling for it. I believe Minister Lim was more honest than that. I believe the PAP govt confronted with the current slump saw only 2 options which are 2 ways to do the same thing - cut wage bills of companies. There appears to be a box that the govt is thinking within...I will attempt to identify this box. Think hard. Where are we today actually? This is our 3rd recession in 10 years! This is Australia's 1st recession in 25 years (hmmm....do we blame people for wanting to migrate there?). When Ngiam wrote that we should cut CPF to be more competitive, what is this economic contest ordinary Singaporeans have signed up for? Is this a slimming contest with a buffet voucher for winners?...Or is it a slimming contest that allows you join another slimming contest if you survive the 1st one? 3 recessions within a decade.... I think Singaporeans will begin to ask fundamental questions about our economy and the old bureaurcat's solution to apply the same old formula to cut CPF and to fight the pain with more pain only serve to remind us how far down the tunnel we have gone applying old formula to grow our economy. Keep wages low relative to productivity, get foreign direct investments and export....and they kept applying this formula as income gaps ballooned and the ordinary Singaporean households become strain due to the rising cost of living. Wages were the only thing they kept low as housing, transport, etc were continuously raised. When wages were not low enough, the PAP govt open the floodgates to foreign workers who came by the hundreds of thousands. We ended up with an income distribution that is only found in 3rd world countries, an economy that was so reliant on export it became the 1st one in Asia to go into recession and right now is the fastest deteriorating economy in the region. Think about it ....if we keep applying this old tired formula, where will we be 2 decades from now? What would life be like for you and your children?! Lets take a step back...and see what is going on. Lets start with the Foreign Talent Policy. It was originally sold to us as a policy to attract the best talents from around the world for skills Singaporeans do not have. I think most Singaporeans supported this idea because it made sense - Singapore can only be better off if we brought in the best people. However, the Foreign Talent Policy became a cheap labor policy opening the floodgates to foreign workers to lower labor cost. Our govt policy to bring in foreign labor is not one of moderation - no other country has become so dependent on foreign labor than Singapore except for the oil rich states in the Middle East. The presence of such a large low cost foreign labor force allowed Singapore to grow its GDP - retaining industries that shouldn't be retained and growing industries that shouldn't be expanding if not for cheap foreign labor. These industries compete for scarce resources such as industrial space, transport services, etc causing the other costs of doing business to escalate. Enterprises that are build on the strength of Singaporean labor now have to face rising costs (rental etc) and have no choice but to keep wages low to stay profitable. Allowing the labor force to be so elastic when the other factors of production create distortions in the economy. In 2007, the rentals of industrial and office space escalated to record levels as the economy and there was no corresponding increase in wages. It was also painful for Singaporeans who needed to rent or buy homes when property market shot up to the stratosphere when wages remain flat. It is a no brainer that expanding labor the force by importing labor causes the GDP to shoot up the question is whether this is beneficial to Singaporeans in the long run. We just need to look at what happened in Dubai last month to figure out the downside of such a policy[Link]. What good is GDP growth if it is not sustainable or healthy? We have the type of economy in which things are bad for many Singaporeans when our GDP was growing and things are worse when the growth falters. Being able to import foreign labor in large numbers and implementing wage based solutions to every economic challenge we face is actually a moral hazard as it takes away the determination to find more sustainable solutions that requires restructuring of our economy. Entrepreneurship and innovation that creates new industries that don't depend on cheap labor remains lacking as we have made little political progress to create the environment that foster these and risk taking associated with entrepreneurship can only happen in a big way when you have certain social safety nets in place. We also need to be less reliant on exports and keep our domestic economy growing. When the Hong Kong population was our size, they had a far more vibrant domestic economy and Finland whose population size is comparable to Singapore has a far bigger domestic economy. Our domestic economy remains small as the disposal income of Singaporeans relative to GDP is small compared with many other countries. We have one of the largest household debt as a % of GDP in the world to service and that takes a toll on spending. It is as if we worked hard to earn the money only to hand it over to HDB for housing - HDB accumulates this to give it to GIC/Temasek to buy risk assets overseas. If we spend more of that money, it will go round in our economy creating jobs and improving the quality of life for Singaporeans. If you spend an extra $10 for a better haircut, your hairstylist may be able to eat better as he uses this to buy better food from the hawker and the hawker has an extra $10 to take his kid for an outing and so on. There is hardly any multiplier effect when we hand this $10 over to HDB to service our debts which than hands it to GIC/Temasek. "For every one manufacturing worker hired in Singapore, a company can hire three in Malaysia, eight in Thailand, 13 in China and 18 in India" - Goh Chok Tong, 2003.[Link] Very often when something goes wrong with the economy, our leaders blame Singaporeans for not being productive enough, for earning too much pay compared to their counterparts in Malaysia, India and China. But how does a Singaporean worker competes when he has to incur the cost of paying for the most expensive public housing in the world, utilities rate that is among the highest in the world and ministers along with a civil service that is paid the highest salaries in the world. But think even harder...what has wages got to do with being competitive? Finland has among the highest wages in the world and is the 2nd most competitive economy in the world. What wages have to do with being competitive depends on how successful we are at other aspects of boosting competitiveness. The fact that we have again resorted to cutting wage costs to keep this export dependent economy from sinking shows that we have not been successful anything else...

Man gives false information on Mas Selamat to get rewards THE police have served a Court summons on a man who provided false information on escaped Jemaah Islamiah (JI) leader Mas Selamat Kastari. The man, a 50-year-old bus driver, also made up false information to implicate an innocent party with whom he had had an unpleasant encounter with before, the police said in a press release on Saturday. The man called the police on March 1 at about 8pm, saying that on Feb 27 he had seen a man resembling Mas Selamat board his bus and who later alighted at a bus stop along Lentor Avenue at about 8.30pm. He added that the passenger had emerged from the Old Police Academy at Thomson Road before boarding his bus at about 7.30pm. The police were immediately despatched to comb the Lentor Avenue area. On the same day, at about 11.15pm, the man told the police that he saw Mas Selamat riding pillion on a motorcycle and provided the registration plate of the motorcycle. He said Mas Selamat then alighted at a bus-stop along Thomson Road, near the Singapore Polo Club at about 8.15pm. Upon investigation, the police found that the owner of the motorcycle had been involved in a road rage incident with the caller at about 10pm that day. The man, had intentionally deceived the police 'in a bid to get the rewards being offered by various private organisations and individuals' for the arrest of Mas Selamat, the police said. The man is due to appear in court on March 10 to answer to three counts of giving false information to a public servant. Anyone convicted of providing false information to the authorities could face jail term of a year or a fine of up to $5,000, or both. The police encourage the public to call 999 immediately if they see any suspicious person or activities, no matter how trivial the information may seem. However, they warn that those who intentionally provide misleading information will be dealt with seriously as such deliberate disinformation distracts police resources and compromises on-going efforts to capture the fugitive. http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/...ory_214707.html

i just got a massive bird poo attack whilst parked at clementi central carpark. not the first time i kena. i do a bit of detailing here and there so my black car was relatively shinier than the cars around me. and they didn't get a single slodge of bird crap. cursed and swore but what to do? LL come home and wash. 'nice' way to spend a sunday night. the dust has just settled and i'm just wondering. is there some truth that birds target more reflective surfaces? perhaps it's an instinct to poo into water bodies? what do you fellas think?

Ferodo Zero vs Ferodo Target pads: which is the better one? Thanks.