I thought it was funny that I was able to recognize the Twin Rings of Motegi track in one of the videos I posted on the Facebook Page because I had driven it in Gran Turismo 5. This is video of another one of the GT5 tracks, Tokyo Route 246. It turns out that it’s a real highway in Tokyo. This guy drove his Caterham around the whole route used in the game early one morning while wearing his Stig helmet.
Author Archives: Will@FluxAuto
The Creators of Tomorrow
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson was in North Carolina this past week to give a few lectures at the North Carolina Science Festival. He’s a very well spoken astrophysicist who is known for his promotion of science and engineering. Tyson shared that he knew that he wanted to be an astrophysicist at the age of 9 when he first saw the stars at the Hayden Planetarium in New York where he is now the director. When a little girl from the audience asked him what the best part about being an astrophysicist was, his replied, “Everyday I wake up I know there’s something about the universe that I don’t know yet.” During one of his lectures he also said, “The problem is most education tells you what to think rather than how to think it. Science is a method of inquiry. It’s the capacity to judge. That’s the scientifically literate mind.”
I’ve always found Dr. Tyson’s speeches inspirational for my personal engineering ventures. Some of my projects, including this blog and the electric RX-8, may seem like pipe dreams to some people, but I am not ashamed of that. Much of the work will be things that I will be doing for the first time. That means that I’m not guaranteed a 100% chance of success, but that’s point. Not following an already set path means there’s a sense of exploring and adventure. We live very safe lives in this modern age. Our survival and day to day living is pretty much guaranteed. That means our last frontier is here in science and engineering. I started this project not knowing how I was going to do it, just that I could and should. I hope listening to one of Dr. Tyson’s speeches will spark that sense of adventure in you as well.
This high resolution video of the space shuttle launch was just posted recently. This is what can happen when people are not afraid to dream and to create.
The FT-86 and the Age of the Car Forum
Motor Trend just posted this video review of the Scion FR-S. It’s got me pretty excited because I was worried about how well the FR-S and it’s twin, the Subaru BRZ, would be received here in America. I’ve noticed a bit of a disturbing trend in enthusiasts lately that involves taking tuning too far. Everybody seems to be dreaming of massive power numbers or some sort of intricate fabrication intensive way of doing something that nobody else has had the resources to try. I overhear a lot of these delusions of grandeur at car shows where some guy is talking really loudly about how the car that he’s going to build is better than the one everybody is looking at. This kind of mentality bothered me to the point where I cancelled my subscription to Modified magazine when they decided to turn all of their weekend warrior project cars into unlimited budget time attack racers and then raised the cover price to pay for it. I’m not willing to pay $35 a year to read tech articles on how to install a $12,000 carbon fiber wide body kit that’s not readily available here in the States. I was thinking about it today and I think at least part of the responsibility for this mentality is due to the age of the car forum.
The internet makes it a good time to be a car guy right now. All of the cars that I have owned have had their own dedicated forums where I’ve been able ask questions and do research. I’ve even been able to download free PDF’s of all of the factory service manuals that I’ve ever needed. This sharing of information makes car forums great, but it’s not without its downsides. Just like the rest of the internet, problems arise when some people realize that they have access to a large audience of people to impress. That’s when sensible tuning philosophy goes out the window. “I sharpened up the turn-in of my car and did some autocrosses” simply doesn’t carry the same weight in digital text as “I made 800 hp with my custom turbo setup.” I think that’s why a lot more people are too eager to go over-budget on a project that’s well beyond their skill level. It could also be that I’ve been in the car scene long enough to turn into the equivalent of the crotchety old man who yells at all the young kids and their big turbos. Get off my lawn!
Either way, I was pleasantly surprised when the guy doing this review of the Scion FR-S, Carlos Lago, starts talking about how well balanced the car is. He realized that the driving experience the car provided was the result of the engine power, steering, brakes, tires and suspension all working in harmony. That’s exactly why I’ve been so excited about this car. This is what it means to be a driver’s car, not “Check out how hard you get pushed into your seat as I mash the throttle to the floor and get a speeding ticket.” Lago even goes on to ask the tuners of America not to ruin the car by putting turbos on it. They then proceed to do the standard barrage of tests and hand the car over to Randy Pobst to drive on The Horse Thief Mile at Willow Springs. I would say this is the best review for the FT-86 that I’ve found so far.
Source: Motor Trend on YouTube
Cheap Truck Challenge
The guys from Hot Rod Magazine and Peterson’s 4 Wheel & Offroad got together to do a cheap truck challenge. The premise was simple: build the best all around off-road truck on a high school kid’s budget. They set the parameters of being able to spend $2000 on the truck and $2000 on modifications. The three teams ended up fielding an old Toyota truck with a Marlin Crawlers transfer case, a Ford Bronco and a huge Chevy Suburban. They drag raced them, hill climbed, jumped some sand dunes and some strange test where they taped a gallon of milk to the hood and ran a course trying to get the fastest time while spilling the least. Basically they got some beaters and flogged them as another tribute to the mentality of “You don’t need to spend a lot of money to have fun.”
Source: MotorTrend on YouTube
Who Needs Music When You Have Motorsport?
These are trackside videos presented without background music and without commentary. It’s just the pure essence of racing and race cars. I recommend playing these videos in the background instead of your music. The first video is a compilation of clips from the 12 Hours of Sebring. It starts with a pit crew practicing their stops and then moves to different spots on the track during the race. It’s kind of interesting listening for the distinctive exhaust tones of the Ferraris, Porsches and Corvettes.
Source: Drive on YouTube
The second video is of the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 doing some track testing. All you hear is the magnificent roar of the 6.2 liter V8. It’s one of the best sounding engines that is currently on sale.
Source: YourCarPress on YouTube