Thoughts on a modified new idea?

[SteveR]

I remember reading this thread a while ago, but have thought about an enhancement after part-reading this review of the new BMW M5.

 

I was thinking, how about - instead of having lights that confusingly go on and off based on some timer - they changed colour representing a yellow and red line based on how high you were allowed to rev (dependant on engine temp/running time/something similar & achieveable!).

 

So in practice/for arguements sake you start the car from cold and the leds by the rev-o-meter would be yellow, at, say 3000 + 3250 revs and red at 3500 and above, then as heat builds the 3000 revs led would go out, the 3250 would stay yellow, the 3500 would change to be yellow and the 'redline' would shift to 3750 (and above). The redline & 'yelllowline' eventually shift all the way round to wherever the real ones are at which point they go off and you know you can safely 'gun it' so to speak.

 

Views? Can anyone do it?

[Digsy]

Apart from the changing colours, isn't that pretty much the same idea as in the other thread?

[SteveR]

Not as I understood it - the other thread had lights that went on, then off (or was it the other way round) and meant something along the lines of how far you were off being able to gun it, rather than BMWs idea of 'it is currently safe to rev this high'.

[Digsy]

We got as far as thinking it should be based on engine speed AND some other parameter (I suggested manifold pressure as a measure of load). Not sure whether anyone has been progressing it in the background.

 

The original idea was to arrange the lights around the edge of the rev counter to show you what the current "safe" rev limit was.

[SteveR]

If the idea was to show current safe max revs then maybe I didn't remember it correctly, stupid me