Frog SUV?

Stupid Useless Vehicle.

So after receiving an email from Jay at Local Motors (an ambitious new car company) regarding his hope that I will regurgitate my Frog into an SUV for their current competition, I've sidetracked from my recent lethargic state and given it some thought. Two weeks worth, actually- and 3 days for the crap model. Being lazy- and by lazy I mean "professionally efficient"- I went from two dirty sketches right into alias- no flashy/ colorful/ warm-cool/ art center-style renderings here. Eff that- no time for that crap...

I have to apologize for my lack of proficiency in AliasStudio- the model is admittedly crap in terms of surface quality.

Speaking of Local Motors.. Pretty interesting concept, actually- "bring democracy to car design." Though by aiming for design democracy, I feel they're not actually advancing design, but rather stagnating it a bit by giving power to the people. I am excited by their enthusiasm, though. All correspondence has been extremely friendly and enthusiastic. I wish them luck...

local-motors.com

ps. vote for mine please.

The Fix Daily

My ongoing love-hate relationship with the twin turbo 13B rotary. How genius is Tom? (matano)

A quick Sunday jaunt through Paradise Road loop in Tiburon.

Fairfax-Bolinas Drive!

Time to dust off the Z and explore unknown twisties.

Thanks to google, I was able to find this excluded road not far from my parent's house. Though it was the twistiest piece of road I could find on google, it proved to be less challenging than the map otherwise suggested. Oh well. At least the elevation changes made it worthwhile, though it was bumpier than I would have liked. Not a great coilover road, but excellent for it's scenic views.

T36 progress...

aero what?

No, it's not a magazine, and yes, I am literate. (like an elementary school book report, haha)

Competition Car Aerodynamics, by Simon McBeath.

Read it.

This literary masterpiece is an eye opener if you have any interest in the factors that dictate those complex shapes in F1 or Le Mans. Terminology is explained in plain english to schmoes like you or me, and the concepts are all extremely easy to understand. Always wanted to know more about Bernoulli's Theorem, Anhedrals, Dynamic Pressure, Pressure gradients and Reynolds numbers? Yes, yes, and yes please.

Surprisingly, a lot of the aero devices in use in competitive motorsports are actually NOT engineered to be the most aerodynamically efficient- a ton of it is to satisfy FIA regulatory requirements intended on DECREASING downforce, not to mention increase advertisement space. Who woulda thought? Further coolness points for the brief introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

And if you still can't get enough, or just want to look at pretty pictures and aren't literate- go to Mulsanne's Corner. (warning- you'll waste away your entire work day...)

http://www.mulsannescorner.com/

F1, Le Mans, and Super GT!!!

Yes.

908 HDi vs R10 TDI.

ALMS- Peugeot beats out Audi for pole, then loses it due to a technicality because of Madza. I know, it's crap.

starting grid for tomorrow..

1 Capello/Kristensen/McNish (Audi R10 TDI), 1m 43.195s
2 Minassian/Sarrazin/Lamy (Peugeot), 1m 44.271s
3 Luhr/Rockenfeller/Werner (Audi R10 TDI), 1m 45.090s
4 Dumas/Bernhard/Collard (Porsche), 1m 45.220s
5 Maassen/Long/Briscoe (Porsche), 1m 45.999s
6 Fernandez/Diaz (Acura/Honda), 1m 46.029s
7 Franchitti/Leitzinger/Lally (Porsche), 1m 46.348s
8 Herta/Fittipaldi/Andretti (Acura/Honda), 1m 46.632s
9 Field/Field/Berry (Lola), 1m 47.358s
10 Smith/Dyson (Porsche), 1m 47.567s

also-

51: percentage of ALMS fans between 25 and 49
48.3:percentage of ALMS fans with an income of $90,000 or higher
http://americanlemans.com/assets/pdfs/TheAmericanLeMansSeries.pdf


What else is going on this weekend? F1! And Super GT! (!!)

...stupid Speedvision and their coverage of mostly middle-america-moonshinerunning- i mean Nascar.. rumor has it that they are no longer covering WRC either.. (after the demise of DTM coverage I didn't think my angst would be any worse..) Their sellout status is only second to Ferrari.. (which aids my slow conversion to Lambo fan instead.. but that's another blog alltogether)

Million in cash.

Here's what it looks like.