Some kind of detector or camera system - Do you know?
Discussion
Its a weather station, primary for winter maintenance (gritting)
From the top.
Ultrasonic wind speed and direction
Non invasive road sensors, the smaller one measures the road temp temperature, air temperature and humidity, and the larger one measures grip values of the road surface and provides a measure on depth of rain/snow on the road.
Most locations have sensors embedded in the road surface which can also measure the amount of salt in solution across the sensor head.
Lower crossarm are Cameras and infra red lamps. These are basically high end security cameras but used purely to take a static image every ten minutes.
Depending on the client (National Highways or local authority) then data is sent back to Birmingham, quality checked, processed then made available to the end user within a minute or so.
The roads maintenance teams can then verify road conditions are as forecast and react according if its looking different, which is pretty rare tbh.
Its much easier to have a display of camera images in the control rooms than a load of readings.
Some clients provide the data and images to the public, Cumbria's councils, North Yorkshire and of course transport for scotland.
This is all Vaisala equipment (my employer).
Hope that helps, but if you have any questions fire away
Rich
From the top.
Ultrasonic wind speed and direction
Non invasive road sensors, the smaller one measures the road temp temperature, air temperature and humidity, and the larger one measures grip values of the road surface and provides a measure on depth of rain/snow on the road.
Most locations have sensors embedded in the road surface which can also measure the amount of salt in solution across the sensor head.
Lower crossarm are Cameras and infra red lamps. These are basically high end security cameras but used purely to take a static image every ten minutes.
Depending on the client (National Highways or local authority) then data is sent back to Birmingham, quality checked, processed then made available to the end user within a minute or so.
The roads maintenance teams can then verify road conditions are as forecast and react according if its looking different, which is pretty rare tbh.
Its much easier to have a display of camera images in the control rooms than a load of readings.
Some clients provide the data and images to the public, Cumbria's councils, North Yorkshire and of course transport for scotland.
This is all Vaisala equipment (my employer).
Hope that helps, but if you have any questions fire away
Rich
rocket_ron said:
Man I really hate it when someone comes along on the internet and is actually knowledgeable on a subject / knows their onions.
What is the world coming to :;
I know right. Someone on PH could have spouted some pub-lore bullsWhat is the world coming to :;
t and we could have had endless arguments late into the night over who is right.Rich - knowledgeable spoilsport!
vikingaero said:
I know right. Someone on PH could have spouted some pub-lore bullst and we could have had endless arguments late into the night over who is right.
Rich - knowledgeable spoilsport!
I apologise in advance!! LOL, next time i'll make up some random stuff, with spurious facts, as is the PH way t and we could have had endless arguments late into the night over who is right.Rich - knowledgeable spoilsport!
Richspec said:
Its a weather station, primary for winter maintenance (gritting) ...
Thank you Richard. A very good detailed explanation.
I had always wondered whether the equipment is a sinister spy. Not that I ever do anything wrong, of course.
I did think that the top instruments are unlikely to be cameras, because pointing to the ground would not be of much use.
The second and third images are of equipment located within half a mile of several motorway cameras.
I see that you are a fellow classic Mini enthusiast. Mine is a Mk 1 Cooper, owned for decades.
I would hate to do you out of a job, but I think sitting at home with https://www.ventusky.com/ ,would enable me to decide whether sending out gritting lorries was necessary. I will delete the comment if that plan should remain secret.
Thanks again.
Edited by Jon39 on Tuesday 8th April 15:44
Theres a lot of technology on the road networks that people just drive by everyday and dont notice, just about anything weather related we'll be involved with somewhere along the line, and not just on roads.
The difference between the weather stations and cam sites is that weather stations are fixed cams and fixed intervals whereas the other cameras are live, moveable etc so you can see them in the same place sometimes, usually incident hotspots.
I dont think that app will effect us much!! and where do you think all these sites get the weather info from.!
I do get to sample some choice roads around the northwest and southern scotland, if i think its a blast in the van then it is often more so in one of my minis!
3 mk1's, an elf, a clubman and a spaceframe racer.
Rich
The difference between the weather stations and cam sites is that weather stations are fixed cams and fixed intervals whereas the other cameras are live, moveable etc so you can see them in the same place sometimes, usually incident hotspots.
I dont think that app will effect us much!! and where do you think all these sites get the weather info from.!
I do get to sample some choice roads around the northwest and southern scotland, if i think its a blast in the van then it is often more so in one of my minis!
3 mk1's, an elf, a clubman and a spaceframe racer.
Rich
Jon39 said:
The unusual aspect, is that the upper devices point down at 90 degrees to the traffic flow, so you would think it could only obtain a very brief glimpse, as each vehicle passes.
I wonder what this equipment is for?
Richspec said:
Out of interest where is that first one?
(So i can give whichever colleague looks after it some stick about the state of the cabling)
ta
Rich
(So i can give whichever colleague looks after it some stick about the state of the cabling)
ta
Rich
Sevenoaks Bypass, Kent.
Red marker shows the exact place.
Your spaceframe racer might have a motorbike rear mounted engine, but if it has an A Series, did you choose Swiftune?
Very powerful but surprisingly still reliable, which is a requirement because many of their customers compete in fairly long races.
Jon39 said:
Sevenoaks Bypass, Kent.
Red marker shows the exact place.
Your spaceframe racer might have a motorbike rear mounted engine, but if it has an A Series, did you choose Swiftune?
Very powerful but surprisingly still reliable, which is a requirement because many of their customers compete in fairly long races.
OldGermanHeaps said:
Are they mobotix cameras?
Yep M16's are the current ones, although i personally think the Hikvision bullet cams produce better images, especially at night.https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk/parking-s...
A6 Shap is Hikvision.
Richspec said:
Jon39 said:
Your spaceframe racer might have a motorbike rear mounted engine, but if it has an A Series, did you choose Swiftune?
Very powerful but surprisingly still reliable, which is a requirement because many of their customers compete in fairly long races.
Interesting.
My motorbike engine guess was correct, but I was picturing the cars that have rear mounted engines and no glass/perspex in the rear windows. I think a firm manufactured (perhaps still does) a number of those. My bike knowledge is limited, so had to look up r1.
180 bhp front wheel drive might be a challenging with torque steer and inside front wheel spin. I expect you must have special gearbox/differential components to help with that.
I follow CTCRC and Goodwood (FIA rules) Minis in Pre-1966 classes.
At Mallory Park last year a Swiftune engine Mini won both races outright, twice out cornering the leading Ford Falcon, to take the wins by a considerable margin.
That same car, at a special CTCRC invitation British Touring Car Championship support event, could only achieve 11th place!
Very fast cars suddenly appeared in that CTCRC event for the first time. There was an ex-Formula One driver, a Le Mans winner and an Indy 500 driver. The standard was instantly ramped up above the usual dedicated hobby driver atmosphere. Fortunately for the regulars, 'normal' racing has been resumed.
In these races the vehicle regulations require a certain amount of originality (particularly the FIA events), so I am interested in which races cater for the specification of your spaceframe Mini? In the 1970s, there were races for what were nicknamed 'silhouette' saloon cars. As usual with motorsport, the engineering soon ramped up to reach the level of single seater racing cars fitted with bodies to give the appearance of saloon cars of the day. Several Hillman Imps and a Skoda, which were rear engine based. so ideal choices when there is a single seater underneath.
A Chevron B23, rebodied as a Skoda coupe, won 29 races over two seasons.
I follow most of the different types of motorsport that you can use a mini, so am well aware of the differences in a Goodwood FIA Mini, Appendix K and then the Class D cars and the variations in between! Its very nuanced and can be contentious but its also why some are so hideously expensive.!! Was the car in mention the blue Simes car? Can be a front runner or mid pack depending on where or what its racing?
My spaceframe will be hillclimb and Sprints in Sports Libre class, pretty much a catch all class where I'll be massively outgunned but a beginner licence restricts me to 1100cc.
Its taken a LOT more time and work to go from a trackday car to competition car than i thought it would but I want to do it correctly, the few runs I've done have just made the job lists bigger each time.
The modsports were at Donington yesterday racing with the CSCC and theres a new class where a home is being found for the extreme minis that cant fit into any category and only race in August at the Fastest Mini race at Brands.
The rear engined bike Minis are the Z-cars, still made somewhere down south.
Oh and your weather station at Sevenoaks, I gave my colleague Kev some stick about the state of it and he'd just finished installing the new replacement one next to it, so you'll see that in passing. Its 1 of 125 new upgrades.
Rich
My spaceframe will be hillclimb and Sprints in Sports Libre class, pretty much a catch all class where I'll be massively outgunned but a beginner licence restricts me to 1100cc.
Its taken a LOT more time and work to go from a trackday car to competition car than i thought it would but I want to do it correctly, the few runs I've done have just made the job lists bigger each time.
The modsports were at Donington yesterday racing with the CSCC and theres a new class where a home is being found for the extreme minis that cant fit into any category and only race in August at the Fastest Mini race at Brands.
The rear engined bike Minis are the Z-cars, still made somewhere down south.
Oh and your weather station at Sevenoaks, I gave my colleague Kev some stick about the state of it and he'd just finished installing the new replacement one next to it, so you'll see that in passing. Its 1 of 125 new upgrades.
Rich
Richspec said:
I follow most of the different types of motorsport that you can use a mini, so am well aware of the differences in a Goodwood FIA Mini, Appendix K and then the Class D cars and the variations in between! Its very nuanced and can be contentious but its also why some are so hideously expensive.!! Was the car in mention the blue Simes car? Can be a front runner or mid pack depending on where or what its racing?
My spaceframe will be hillclimb and Sprints in Sports Libre class, pretty much a catch all class where I'll be massively outgunned but a beginner licence restricts me to 1100cc.
Its taken a LOT more time and work to go from a trackday car to competition car than i thought it would but I want to do it correctly, the few runs I've done have just made the job lists bigger each time.
The modsports were at Donington yesterday racing with the CSCC and theres a new class where a home is being found for the extreme minis that cant fit into any category and only race in August at the Fastest Mini race at Brands.
The rear engined bike Minis are the Z-cars, still made somewhere down south.
Oh and your weather station at Sevenoaks, I gave my colleague Kev some stick about the state of it and he'd just finished installing the new replacement one next to it, so you'll see that in passing. Its 1 of 125 new upgrades.
Rich
My spaceframe will be hillclimb and Sprints in Sports Libre class, pretty much a catch all class where I'll be massively outgunned but a beginner licence restricts me to 1100cc.
Its taken a LOT more time and work to go from a trackday car to competition car than i thought it would but I want to do it correctly, the few runs I've done have just made the job lists bigger each time.
The modsports were at Donington yesterday racing with the CSCC and theres a new class where a home is being found for the extreme minis that cant fit into any category and only race in August at the Fastest Mini race at Brands.
The rear engined bike Minis are the Z-cars, still made somewhere down south.
Oh and your weather station at Sevenoaks, I gave my colleague Kev some stick about the state of it and he'd just finished installing the new replacement one next to it, so you'll see that in passing. Its 1 of 125 new upgrades.
Rich
Your spaceframe Mini looks great. Always good to see such a well presented car.
No, not Barry Sime. Here is the results sheet.
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