Recent Comments:
Japanese firms working to make carbon fiber mainstream {Autoblog}
May 12th 2008 7:24PM More than thirty years ago a close friend of mine who worked as a chemist specializing in polymers told me that petroleum , which he assumed even then was a finite resource, was far too valuable a feedstock to burn as fuel. He predicted that as the price of oil rose over time, the need for petroleum as a feedstock to build durable goods would force us to burn something else as fuel.
Looks like we may be headed that way as we'll use polymers to build cars and electricity and bio-fuels to power them.
Revolving License Plates Help Chinese Speeders {Autoblog}
May 9th 2008 3:31PM I always thought that Goldfinger's guys should have just shot up every DB5 they saw. I mean how many would that be?
Having A DB9 disappear was much more effective.
It's happened: Boy hit by hybrid, mom blames quiet running {Autoblog}
May 8th 2008 2:34PM There are a lot of cars out there these days in the luxury class that make more tire noise than engine noise cruising at residential street speed.
And yeah, how did the driver not see the kid? And, uh, what about the horn?
VIDEO: Volvo wants to eliminate in-car injuries and death by 2020 {Autoblog}
Apr 30th 2008 7:00PM When Jackie Stewart and others pressed for safer cars and circuits in FI beginning in the late sixties, a lot of very "smart" people whose knowledge of racing was, I strongly suspect, far deeper than your knowledge of either physics or engineering said essentially what you are saying now, can't be done and racing be will ruined by the attempt to do it.
Flash forward. There have been no deaths or career ending injuries in FI since 1994. There have only been three deaths in F1 in twenty years. And those cars weigh 1.2 tons, not 3.
We're fortunate that professionals set "unrealistic" goals. If they didn't we wouldn't progress. And lucky you, you'll get to enjoy the fruits of the progress they make even if you don't believe it's possible.
NHTSA announces new CAFE standards through 2015 {Autoblog}
Apr 23rd 2008 12:04AM Part of the problem is that cars are getting heavier. Part of the problem is that cars are also getting faster. How do you make a heavier car faster? You give it more power. What does that do to mileage. It lowers it.
Take any category of car sold in this country from sub compact to exotic and you'll find that cars in that category are significantly faster than they were in 1990 (when they were also lighter).
The heaviest use of fuel when you accelerate the mass of the car from a stop or from a lower speed to a significantly higher one. Look at what's happened to 0-60 times in the last 20 years. Better, look at what's happened to them in the last forty. There are a of lot family haulers out there that will outrun a mid-sixties fuel injected Corvette in a quarter mile. What kind of snese does that make in a world with $120/barrel oil?
I understand why cars got heavier. That's regulation. But it wasn't the government that decided that as cars got heavier they also had to get faster.
NHTSA announces new CAFE standards through 2015 {Autoblog}
Apr 22nd 2008 11:47PM "keeping roof structures light will help compensate for the inherent lower stability of lightweight vehicles (think crosswinds, sharp turns)."
The way a vehicle reacts in crosswinds has more to do with its aerodynamics than it does with its weight. The most dangerous thing to drive in a really bad crosswind is the heaviest thing on the road, a Semi.
As for stability in sharp turns, the best handling cars in the world are those with stiff structures and light weight. Think Lotus Elise. A light weight car changes direction when turning quicker than a heavy one does and rolls less given the same (or even less) spring or rollbar stiffness.
That's why a Lotus is more stable in a sharp turn than a Hummer.
NHTSA announces new CAFE standards through 2015 {Autoblog}
Apr 22nd 2008 11:36PM Too late!
Thirty years ago it would have made a difference if ultimate MPG targets had been set with progress mandated according to a time table. Now the market is going to force car makers to raise fuel economy faster than the government is.
When I bought my car four years ago I thought getting 32mpg highway was a good deal considering that's where I do 95% of my miles. Now that gas prices have risen more than 50% since I bought the car, I want a 50% increase in mileage (at least) with my next one. That means mid 40's, not mid 30's.
So I want more than CAFE will mandate and I want it in 2010, not 2020.
Danica Patrick wins Indy Japan 300 {Autoblog}
Apr 21st 2008 2:18PM And by the way TdoG, the guy who beat Danica at the Formula Ford Festival in England in 2000 (where she finished 2nd, not 3rd) was Anthony Davidson. He was not, last time I looked "languishing in those lesser forms of racing or out of the game completely." He is in fact in F1.
But hey, I'm done. I learned years ago that when somebody really believes something, there's no point in trying to confuse them with facts
Danica Patrick wins Indy Japan 300 {Autoblog}
Apr 21st 2008 2:04PM TankdOg,
"A man with her record would be on the unemployment line long ago."
So that means that you think a man with 25 top tens in 50 starts would have been fired long ago.
Yes or no?
And stop evading the question. You put yourself out there, deal with it like a...person.
Danica Patrick wins Indy Japan 300 {Autoblog}
Apr 21st 2008 1:13PM tankdOg,
Bull! Tomas Scheckter is the son of an F1 world champion and came into the sport with great expectations. Mears, Waltrip and Foyt all come from racing families (as does Marco Andretti) and have all been expected to follow in the footsteps of their families' success.
Ralf Schumaker had a job in F1 much longer than he should have because somewhere along the line he was expected to show the kind of talent Michael has.
Were they hyped like Danica? No. Why not? They weren't the first of anything. Not the first sons, brothers or nephews and certainly not the first woman to sit on the front row at Indy. lead the race, and finish in the top five, all in her first race.
She's been hyped because she's succeeded where other women, Janet Guthrie, Lynn St. James and Sarah Fisher have not. If Danica had the same record as Fisher, we would never hear a thing about her. She's visible because of where she finishes.
And you still haven't responded to the replies to the most illogical thing you said: "A man with her record would be on the unemployment line long ago." That's what you said dude.
So that means that you think a man with 25 top tens in 50 starts would have been fired long ago.
You want to stick to that position or not? Yes or No?
