June 20, 2004
Gone Racing
Went back to Indy for the F1 USGP.
At the Bridgestone pedestrian bridge between turn 7 and 8:
Approaching Turn 8 under braking (note the Bridgestone / Potenza bridge to right):
Turns 9 and 10, the slowest section of the circuit:
Kimi's McLaren-Mercedes (foreground) exits turn 10; Jaguar (middle) leaps
from turn 9 to turn 10; Toyota (top) enters turn 9:
Ferraris open up a lead over Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams-BMW (Montoya stalled
on the grid, re-started from the pits in his spare car, and climbed up to third place):
Ferrari dominates, as usual in 2004:
Michael Schumacher waves back to fans on victory lap:
Detail:
The track surface is 'zambonied' free of sand, gravel, litter, and misc. car
parts and tire shreds.
June 17, 2004
BMW iPod control in steering wheel
The first seamless integration of iPod and automobile. Connect with your music like
never before. With the installation of an integrated adapter developed by BMW and
Apple -- now available for the BMW 3 Series, X3 and Z4 -- you can control your
iPod through the existing audio system and multi-function steering wheel. Which
means no loss of power. No loss of sound quality. And no loss of control.
Links: Motoringfile and MacMinute.
March 14, 2004
Audi A6: hit with the Bangle stick ?
Note the ridge between the glass and the door handles.
Note the outward flare above the rocker panel at the bottom of the doors.
Note the absence of any bodylong, bumper-rub-strip to bumper-rub-strip
door edge moulding.
Note the high horizontal seam between the rear fender and rear
bumpercover which begins at the wheel arch.
First is the BMW 5er (e60) which debuted a year ago, and which defines
the mid-200x decade midsize sedan form.
With all the same style follows the new Audi A6, which debuted last month.
Previously:
If money were no object, what vehicle would you be driving right now?
Audi RS6; and Lotus Elise; signing the stop Chris Bangle petition.
March 06, 2004
New season for f1, autocross
The Formula1 circus comes to town in Australia.
The red cars go fast ! More ridiculous smack-talking from
disgruntled Formula One ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone on
Saturday after once again putting Ferrari in pole position
for the Australian Grand Prix.
Ecclestone had sounded dismayed at the prospect of the
Italian team, who have won the constructors' title for the
last five years, embarking on another triumphant year
after dominating Friday's practice.
This is not the sort of day we were expecting or wanted
to see," he had told reporters. "It's a disaster. Ferrari were
not supposed to be going this fast. They were supposed to
have all sorts of problems with tyres and their engines but
it doesn't look like they have.
Nice impartial comments from the top man in the sport's
management. [News Credit: AtlasF1.]
In other motorsport news, year 2004 national level autocross:
The National Tour, Pro Solo come to Castle Airport, Atwater, Northern California.
2004 SCCA National Tour Autocross at Castle Airport, Atwater, CA.
2004 Pro Solo SCCA Pro Solo Autocross at Castle Airport, Atwater, CA.
Both hosted by San Francisco Region SCCA.
January 18, 2004
Measure how busy auto traffic on a street is
How do you measure how busy auto traffic on a street is ?
Pleasanton city traffic engineer Jeff Knowles explains this new method
the city is considering adopting to measures the impacts of traffic on
residential streets that would rely less on numbers and more on
"quality of life" issues.
Instead of looking only at how much traffic streets can bear, the new
standards would try to gauge how traffic volume effects residents'
ability to walk across the street, ride bicycles, or get in and out
of driveways.
Under the current system, the flow of traffic on streets and
intersections is graded on a A-through-F letter scale, with "A"
describing traffic that's flowing smoothly, and an F describing
gridlock.
If the city's computer models show a new development would push
traffic in the area past the "D" level, its backers must scale their
projects back or pay for road improvements that address the problem.
That system has worked for major arterials, where the goal is to
prevent traffic congestion. But on residential streets in
neighborhoods, residents may notice increases in traffic long before
streets reach their carrying capacity.
October 04, 2003
MINI agenda
2003 Oct 10-12: GM's Autoshow in Motion, UMB/Riverport Amphitheatre, Earth City, MO.
2003 Oct 14-17: Kumho Tire Challenge at Ikea, Schaumburg (Chicago, IL).
Kumho has MINIs, not Minis like this:
2003 October 18: Southern Missouri road Rally.
For those in St. Louis:
There will be a meet-n-greet at the Home Depot/Borders Parking lot at Watson Rd. and Lindbergh Blvd in the Sunset Hills Plaza.
We'll leave the parking lot at 9:30AM.
From there we'll take I-44 to the formal starting point in Cuba, MO.
Official Start Location (THIS IS A CHANGE):
The official starting location will be the Wal-Mart parking lot in Cuba. This is on the Southeast side of I-44 and Hwy. 19. The exit for Cuba, MO is Exit 208, exit and head south, Wal-Mart will be on the left hand side. The group from St. Louis should arrive between 10:30AM and 10:45AM. We'll leave the parking lot around 11:00AM.
2003 Oct 19: autocross and MINI meet at Tire Rack, South Bend, IN.
October 03, 2003
What I Drive (for Friday Five)
It is better to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.
1. What vehicle do you drive?
2002 MINI Cooper.
2. How long have you had it?
1 year, 6 months. 19,000 miles.
3. What is the coolest feature on your vehicle?
Handling on transitions between corners, thanks to quick steering, and a
responsive suspension. An excellent car for a slalom.
The buttons on the steering wheel which control an iPod are also cool.
Thanks, Bridger.
Also note the cat-rescue mode, as seen in the owner's manual.
4. What is the most annoying thing about your vehicle?
No limited slip differential available as a factory option.
5. If money were no object, what vehicle would you be driving right now?
Audi RS6; and Lotus Elise.
If I had the money for the RS6, I'd not buy it but keep the MINI
and enjoy it more, on closed course private roads.
Also, with the money left over from not buying the RS6, I'd get a
Subaru WRX STi.
July 10, 2003
Driving, NJ, not in a SUV
DRIVING: An S.U.V.? Oh, That's So Over!
The hills around the Vernon Valley in northern New Jersey have curving stretches
of graded, tree-lined back roads, and almost no traffic. It was here that Mitch
Joseph led a group of other car owners on a Sunday afternoon drive. Mr. Joseph,
38, an electrician from Elizabeth, N.J., likes to explore, looking for hidden roads
with what he calls rhythm, and a couple of times a month he shares his
discoveries.
As their all-wheel-drive Subaru Impreza WRX's hugged the twists of the two-lane roads
against a backdrop of autumn's peak display, the scene looked like a car commercial set
to a turbo-charged beat.
''I like the stealth aspect of my car,'' Mr. Joseph said. ''It doesn't look like a sports car, but
it performs like one.''
By ANNA BAHNEY, NYT, 2002 Nov. 11.
The WRX is great. Review forthcoming.
And the rear differential looks lie a mace. Great fetishizable kit.
Here's Keith Casey of Somerset, MA, in his WRX Hatchback/wagon.
June 23, 2003
Silly CostCo maps
CostCo is a warehouse style big box retailer.
The goal is to find a CostCo near you (assume you are in zip code 63011,
or Clarkson Valley, MO).
Search by town and state, or by zip code.
This finds a reasonable list of CostCos.
The results show the CostCo on a map with detailed context,
and the results list each address. All good so far.
Selecting the South Saint Louis link brings a page exclusively about
that particular location.
Note that
1. The location's street (Rusty Road) in not shown on map
2. An exit route from freewys is not shown.
E.g., From I-270, should I exit from I-270, or change to I-55 then exit ?
3. The street (Rusty Road) is different from street listed on previous search
results page (South Lindberg (Lindbergh?).
Apple is much better:
Also good is the map from Pro-Retail.
May 22, 2003
Driveway
I need a driveway like this:
(Virginia internatonal Raceway), or like this:
(Michael Schumacher's backyard).
April 02, 2003
MINI mug good; Chris Bangle ?
This coffee mug fits the MINI just fine.
In other BMW-related news, I signed the Stop Chris Bangle petition.
Mr. Bangle worked on the lovely Fiat Coupe of 1994, but since then has corrupted BMW's tradition
of taut, svelte athleticism with his garish and gimmick-ridden indulgent designs, such as the
new 7er (2002+) and 5er (2004+).
March 22, 2003
Taxing clean cars
Trade in your SUV for a clean car ? Pay more tax in the USA.
Something for Clean Air For Life to think about. Why are there no tax
breaks for LEMs and ULEVs, even as the California Vehicle License
Fee (VLF) triples. ?
Background: LEV, ULEV, SULEM explained; Californian incentives.
The Mercedes-Benz E500 gets no tax break for meeting the ULEV (ultra low
emissions vehicle) standard. This roomy sedan cannot plead the light truck
exemption, so it pays a fuel economy surtax of $1,000. -- NYT.
If you like cars, the E-series is a great car.
If you like driving, the BMW 5er is still better.
Update: 2004 Jan 30
The Assembly on Thursday defeated a proposal that would have taken
away business tax breaks for big vehicles such as Hummers and some
sport-utility vehicles.
The measure would have given Californians tax incentives to buy
reduced-emission vehicles instead. [MotoristNews, BATN].
Update 2004 May 08:
Should CA to buy back polluting clunkers with gas tax funds ? yes, maybe.
February 06, 2003
Recession, downsizing
How to note a recession in California:
Among cars, California[n] preferences reflect those in the other 49
states, as the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Toyota
Corolla, Ford Focus and Ford Taurus were the bestsellers. But the
relative wealth of California is apparent as the Mercedes-Benz
C-Class, BMW 325 and Lexus ES300 were all among the 20
top-selling passenger cars. [SJ Mercury]
If there was no recession, the Southlands (LA / Orange County / San Diego
/inland) would be full of E-series Benz, and Bay Areans (SF / Marin /
Peninsula / Silicon Valley/) would be driving BMW 330 s.