I have been driving extremely fast in my S for the past 3.5 months, and have been very fortunate to not get any speeding tickets. I am really curious if the front end of the S2000 has a "stealth" effect on radar. I have been "zapped" at least 6 times at close range, with no other cars around me, at 25+ MPH over the speed limit, and each time I was able to slam on the breaks and cruise right on past the cop (then check my pants). I have a Passport 8500, and the radar has been either K or Ka band. I also don't have a front license plate.

What I would like to know is if you guys have been getting many speeding tickets. Have I just been lucky?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gernby
[B]What I would like to know is if you guys have been getting many speeding tickets.

 

I was nailed by a laser radar from the front with no plate. Fortunately I saw him and slowed down quickly before he pulled the trigger. Still got me at 78 but thats better than 120+.

 

I can tell you from experience that the S2000
is not stealth nor is it invisible to radar !!!

 

Car and Driver speculated about this with the Corvette several years ago. They were testing radar detectors, and noticed that when they were comparing the radar profile of various cars, that the Vette allowed you to get nearly 500 ft closer at a particular speed before they'd get a good reading on you. Several people suggested that it had a great deal to do with the body being primarily fiberglass instead of steel, leaving perhaps only the engine as a major reflector of radar waves. I think the most interesting speculation (which I never saw confirmed) concerned whether or not the Vette engineers had tilted the radiator backwards (approximately 35 degree rake for the mid 80's models, if I remember correctly) to reflect radar waves up and away from the car.

Unfortunately, none of what I just wrote about applies to the S2000.

Tim

 

Ditto. That was the day I decided to order a V-1...

 

Tim,

Since metal is the best reflector of radar (and therefore the strongest signal is going to reflect back from it), the radiator tilt idea isn't far-fetched at all. I'll have to look into doing something similar with the cooler when I get my turbo installed.

 

So what about tliting an intercooler...

 

I'd say you'd have to consider whether or not it would dramatically affect the car's radar profile or not. In the case of the Vette, the body's 'glass, but the front of the engine would present a large radar target, particularly if the radiator's mounted upright. On the other hand, there's no getting around the bumper's structure as a large upright reflector.

In the case of the S2000, you have the bumper's structure, as well as the front part of the sub-chassis. Percentage-wise, I doubt that a tilted intercooler behind the grill would make a huge difference, given that there's metal underneath most of the plastic front of the car. To say for certain though, you'd almost have to do some testing.

Tim

 

All,

I have a MPH K-15-2 K-Band hand held Radar gun. I will set up a test and report back with my test results soon. Note that the radar guns used for baseball have to be adjusted and their range usually suffers greatly. However, most standard radar guns will measure a baseball at close range.

However, when it comes to radio waves, several factors have to be considered.

For example:
As for vehicle size (cross-sectional area), imagine looking at both your car in a photograph at a distance of 1000ft and a tractor trailer at 1300ft. Even though the tractor trailer is 300ft further away, measured 1:1 as in the photo, it is still bigger. A radar gun will most likely read the truck first. Aside from properly using the Doppler tone feature and good training It can not report the source of what it is actually reading, EVER. This is left up to the operator. This is a major problem with traffic radar.

I don't want to hear about that fastest target crap either.

As for Reflectivity, this depends on size, shape and material.

As for Range, this depends environment, radar gun model (Power, Antenna gain and frequency), and the target reflectivity.

As for variation by radar gun model on average:
X- Band: Long Range radar (10.525GHz)
K- Band: Medium Range (24.150GHz)
Ka- Band: Short Range (33.4 to 36.0GHz)


I hope this sums it up?

-Skip