Chinese Cab Drivers

On a recent trip to China I took note of the efficiency, insanity, and general experience of what is riding in a cab in a developing country. I've seen videos of Chinese, Thai, and Indian intersections with cab drivers dodging bicyclists and weaving through oncoming traffic to get you to your destination, but actually stepping into a car with one of these guys is quite a treat. Over the 30 or so cab rides I took, I at no time felt like I was in danger just because the drivers are so confident as they merge into the next lane despite there being a car there - they'll move. Here are a few pictures.

Here's a typical intersection in HangZhou. Bikes, Buses, and cars. Look closely and you will see one tiny man directing traffic during rush hour right in the center of the picture.

Here's a close up of the bikes waiting in the same intersection. We saw two major bike accidents and usually the drivers are significantly angrier than the bicyclists since the rule is - The bigger vehicle has the right of way.

This is our cab driver in Shanghai. He would consistently read the newspaper at every intersection and somehow know exactly when the lights turned green. 6th sense maybe?

Here's a video that has been getting quite a few hits with a cab driver going to wrong way. Based on our experience, I'm not in the least bit surprised. Check it out.

Formula 1 2010

Tomorrow is the last F1 race in Abu Dhabi. Don't forget to tune it to see who wins the championship! There's still a four way fight between Vettel, Alonso, Webber, and Hamilton.

Stopping Traffic

I'm all about expressing yourself through music, art, or whatever the heck else your petrol loving heart desires. But when you do it at the expense of others by inconveniencing them, costing them time, and money then you need to be punished by the swift arm of the law. Imagine you're on the way to the airport, you're on time and ready to catch your $1200 flight to start your European vacation and a group of hoodlums pulls their box truck across 3 lanes of LA traffic and hop up on the roof to subject you to their heinous music. That's exactly what happened just a few days ago, and even though I hate to even post the video for fear that even that will give them a few hits on their you tube video, but you must see the stupidity yourself. Also, just to squelch your expectations, it's not catchy and it's pretty poorly written as well.

Mercedes Prototype Spotted

Driving on the 405 North through Long Beach I spotted a Mercedes SUV prototype with a single driver and at least 2 dummies riding along in the car. From what I saw it looked a lot like this ML prototype expected to be out in 2011.

I was suprised by how stealthy the exhaust is, but you can spot it underneath just barely. The shape of the grill leads me to believe they are also testing their active cruise control which they're calling "Distronic". Mercedes has certainly gone very mini van with the direction of the ML, making it quite unfortunate looking.

Here are some crappy cell phone pics...

Old School German Goodness

DTM cars are the epitome of race car Euro trash. Back in the 80's the battles on the circuit between the Audis, Mercs, and Bimmers was epic to say the least and this video does a great job of summing up the sideways action of these stiff bodied beasts along with some 2 wheeled door to door action. Even if you don't speak German, you are still required to keep the music going - for the ambiance of course.

Feelin' Fly Like a G6

I would like to take this opportunity to clear up a common misconception with a popular song that is making its rounds with the 20 somethings. In clubs you're going to be hearing the chorus, "feelin' fly like a G6". If you immediatley think of the Pontiac G6 then please remove the thing attached to your neck from your posterior.

The G6 is a Pimp Daddy jet that is cooler than the arctic and hotter than those Crocs Sandals that are already out of style.

Listen.

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3

Check out this Gallery of the AMG SLS Gullwing hanging out in Monterey this weekend. Most chromed out cars you see pictures of in Dubai look like giant baked potatoes, but this puppy is the bees knees. Click through for some gull winged, long lipped, car Pron.

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3

Lewis and Jenson Splooge All Over a Car

These two formula 1 world champions drive the most sophisticated race cars on the planet. With millions of dollars of development and hundreds of thousands of man hours into these beasts, they corner better and stay stuck to the ground better than any other car. Yet when Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are let loose in McLaren's warehouse full of race cars, they're drawn to a car designed in the 1980's: the McLaren MP4/4. This car was so dominant, that Senna won 15 out of 16 races in the 1988 season. Watch these proper British blokes spread their figurative man juice all over the cockpit.

Quadrocopter UAV

The only thing cooler than a remote control helicopter is an autonomous 4 rotor helicopter that can fly through orthogonal gaps that are almost as small as it is. Check out the video below for a look at this bad ass piece of technology. Soon enough we'll invade a city with an army of these that will just post up on every wall with a camera and just stay there relaying info back to a safe area. Sweet doode. Sweet.

Turbo Blow Off Simulator for Retard Posers

The title says it all, but follow the link for a fantastic product that Bay Area tuner 034 EFI has put on the market. It's a real gem.

It sort of reminds me of the electronic devices you can plug into your car radio that make your car sound like a V8 or a V10. It's called sound racer and it's too expensive to justify even paying money for it as a gag gift.

Projects and Projekts

Most of us car guys wish we had the time, resources, and motivation to take one of our favorite old cars all covered in rust and the scars of a well lived life and strip it down to the metal. The satisfaction of taking what used to be beautiful and restoring it to a condition you can be proud of is both fulfilling and deeply rewarding. Being able to keep your creation and drive it whenever you like is a feeling like no other.

With that in mind, here are my top 6 favorite internet reads for amazing car creations.

1) Prospeed Audi S1

This recreation of one of history's most famed rally cars is really quite inspiring. Sorry it's not in English, but the pictures tell the story and Google translate can fill in the gaps.

2) DP Cars


Denis Palatov's website is dedicated to his creations including the DP1 which is a tube frame single seater that offers several aero, chassis, and drivetrain configurations. When I first started reading his site, it was dedicated primarily to the DP1 and recounts of his track days. It now includes his newest creations which have allowed him to start his own company and do what he loves. Check out the DP4, Hartley V8 powered Atom, and the electric drive train he's working on as well as the progress he's made over the past few years; it's quite impressive.

3) Midlana

Another site I've been following is that of Kimini and Midlana. These two cars are scratch built machines built for the track and street in a garage. The author also wrote a book about the experience and is creating plans for the car he's building right now so others can follow his example.

4) Bentley EXP Speed 8 Replica

This project might be right on the brink of absolute lunacy, but all the same it's impressive. The author is working on a replica of the famous Bentley EXP (arguably one of the best looking sports cars of all time) powered by an Audi 32 valve V8 and decided he needed to mill out his own body plug to pull moulds from. So he decided to make his own foam mill at his shop. Fantastic. He's got a ton of work to go, but I'll keep following to see the final product.

5) IMSA 90 Replica

If you haven't figured it out yet, I like old Audi race cars including Trans Am cars, which is why I've been reading through the build of this IMSA 90 replica which screams badassness like a 10 year old in a head lock.

6) Carbon Fiber Bodied Mustang

Having done quite a bit of composites work myself, it's been a blast to read through this guy's conversion of his Mustang into a plastic beast. He's done a great job with all the panels, although I'm not sure I agree with the car he's using to put all this effort into. From experience, I know what he's doing isn't cost efficient at all, but it's obvious he's not doing it for that reason. It'll be nice to see the final product and the amount of weight he has trimmed. Also, page 6 has a pretty detailed explanation of how he makes his panels.

Barrichello's Expensive Temper Tantrum

In case you didn't catch it, Rubens Barrichello chucked his steering wheel out of his Williams Formula 1 car in this weekend's Grand Prix in Monaco out of frustration after a mechanical failure on his car caused him to crash. Check out the poor quality video below.



F1 steering wheels are covered in buttons and dials for everything from traction control settings to limiting pit speed and getting a drink. Not only was Ruben's 10-year-old-like stunt dangerous as it put a steering wheel on track which became debris for other driver's to hit, but it's downright stupid. Without a steering wheel, the corner workers can't move the car at all, although in this case the missing rear wheels may be a factor for that as well. I'm guessing the team principal may have a bit of a word with him over this.

Good thing it wasn't Hamilton or Jenson's helmet though. The two former champions raced in Monaco with diamond studded steering wheels which would have been a bit costly to replace after this little shenanigan.

Honda Fit Type S low

I captured this gem driving home from work the other day. A Honda Fit with a Type S badge with a low emblem after it poking fun at ricers with multiple misleading badges adorning the rear of their car.

Porsche 550 Spyder

I'm sure I'll be writing about this for months to come, but now is a good time to share the first major milestone of a project I'm working on with a few good friends. This weekend Greg took the Porsche 550 replica we're working on to a kit car show in Pomona with it sitting on its own suspension as a rolling chassis.

This project all started with a bit of a crazy idea that a friend of a friend had to put a Porsche engine into a Porsche 550 fiberglass body with a kit car frame available from a company down in San Diego. If you're not familiar with the 550, you may remember it as James Dean's car fondly named "The Little Bastard". I came in to the Orange County shop where the frame was housed along with the built motor and had no idea what I was getting myself into. There sat a 3 inch side railed frame with a De Dion front end and enough rust to require a Tetanus shot if you looked at it close enough. In the coming months, this simple assembly and minor fabrication project turned into a massive build from scratch project involving welding, bead rolling, water jet cutting, machining, milling, turning, and a little bit of suspension and chassis design to fuel the fire. We couldn't just use a frame we bought from a kit car builder, we had to start from scratch to do the car justice.

With Greg as the vision, Matt set out building the engine and I began collaborating with the fabricator Josh to design and build the chassis and suspension.

The engine was chosen to be a 3.8L Porsche Carrera 993 air cooled motor and it was decided the Porsche 997 all aluminum suspension would be used. To make it work and fit in the 550 body we had to start from scratch making jigs for the 997 suspension and building a tube frame from scratch to hold everything together and act as the back bone of the car. In short, the car should be a 300+ HP car weighing less than 1800lbs. It has an inboard rear suspension and custom built everything including fuel tank, oil tank, frame, headers, steering column, and the list will only continue. Stay tuned for more updates in the future. Until then, here are a few shots of the car at the show this weekend.

Buemi's Chinese GP Practice Crash

In practice this past weekend, Sebastien Buemi had a bit of a problem with his car in the form of a catastrophic upright failure. Upon applying full brakes under what is probably the most severe load case an upright sees, the uprights absolutely disintegrate causing the wheels to fly off. Most F1 uprights are made of metal matrix composite and are very notch sensitive. However, a failure like this is most likely the result of a very bad mechanic's mistake, or worse, someone who should be thrown out of the design office. Check out the video for yourself...

Russian Backhoe Climbing

Simple Physics + Backhoe + Russian Insanity = This Video

Luxury for a Bargain

Every now and again you find a real gem. It's a car that is overlooked by most yet contains a little something special that just isn't quite reflected by the price tag. When I was driving to work yesterday, I was reminded of this by a VW Phaeton that shared the lane next to me.

It really got me thinking about what a great bargain the car is. The Phaeton was a car that came to the US in 2004 and had both a V8 and a W12 engine offered. The car was not well accepted, and although the factory that produced the car could make 20,000 cars a year, only 25,000 cars were made in a total of 4 years. I think the reason is that most people didn't want to pay upwards of $80,000 for a car that looks a bit like a Passat and an Audi A8 had babies and then came out with too many V's and W's and not enough rings. Most people don't realize, though, that the VW actually shares more in common with a Bentley Continental than an A8. It shares the same basic steel platform of its Bentley brother and takes the strong engine lineup from the Audis.

When new, the W12 Phaeton fetched about $95,000 while today, you can find them on ebay and craigslist for less that $25,000. That's amazing considering the car you're getting is basically a Volkswaggened Bentley that goes 0-60mph in 5.9 seconds using it's 420hp 6.0 liter engine. Not only that, the car has 4Motion and an air suspension system that load levels based on the mass in the vehicle. Every seat has a heater, and the front seats are massaging 18-way adjustables that will relax you as you listen to the 12 speaker audio system and remain at a steady temperature since the windows are made with metalized foil that reflect heat. I really don't think you can find a better deal for a luxury car.

Joke

What do you call a Knight who becomes a Nascar Driver?

Sir Leftalot

A Purist Car Commercial

Show the exterior, show the exterior, show it power sliding, show us what it sounds like, and use dramatic music. Pagani has hit a home run with this one.

2010 Racing Season Begins

Today marks the official start of race season with the F1 Grand Prix taking place in Bahrain. The petrol is thawing from my veins and the red mist is slowly returning so here's your race season preview of what's on my radar.

Formula 1
With the failure of USF1 to make the grid this year, there are 3 new teams.

• Virgin Racing - This team brings the technical expertise of Nick Wirth's Digital Flow Systems company which will develop the aerodynamics on the car entirely in Computational Fluid Dynamics, his engineering company Wirth Research, the Manor Grand Prix racing team, and Richard Branson's money. It's rumored that Branson's Virgin money won't last the team the whole season so its results in the first half of the season will determine their longevity. With major reliability problems such as hydraulic failures and the front winning falling off Timo Glock's car at the beginning of the season, the teams has many doubters.
• Lotus Racing - With some historic colors and Malaysian money, Lotus has returned to the sport of F1 that fills its rich racing history with success and fans. Despite the company having no affiliation with Lotus other than in name, it's exciting to see the car on track. The car's early season reliability has been rather impressive although the simplicity of the car (other than the front wing) has gained criticism due to its blocky shapes and seemingly undeveloped exterior. I expect to see good things from the team as the car develops through the season and as its race winning drivers become comfortable.
• Hispania Racing Team - Formerly called the Campos Meta team, this group has somehow managed to make it onto the grid. The car was designed by Dallara in Italy and only made it to the grid due to an 11th hour monetary bailout which prompted the name change. The car was up to 11 seconds off the pace in the first practice sessions where only a single car made it on track. In fact, the sport's first Indian driver didn't make it out onto track until his qualifying run. I don't expect much from this team other than as back-markers who will slowly improve but still without sufficient pace. It will take quite some time for this team to get settled and begin developing their car.

The championship team of Brawn GP was bought out by Mercedes GP and promises to be a formidable competitor to the other front runners of Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren. BMW Sauber, Torro Rosso, and Renault don't seem to be much of a threat to the front runners, but only time will tell.

American Le Mans Series
With Audi and Acura's P1 cars not being present at the season opening 12 Hours of Sebring this year it seems a bit of a slow start to the season, but I hope I'm wrong. At least Aston Martin is bringing their P1 car to the US to compete with Peugeot. However, Aston won't have much of a chance against the diesel as the rules certainly still place a handicap on the petrol cars in comparison. In any case, watching the Dysons duke it out with the Patron Highcroft Acura ARX-01c will be fun to watch along with the new challenge series which promises to match equally matched cars against one another for a true driver battle. In GT2 this year the battle will be fierce between the Corvettes, Porsches, and Ferraris. Also Jag is going to put in a full season this year, but based on their performance last year I'm not expecting much.

More later...

Big Boy Car Show

Yesterday afternoon I took some free time to go check out a local car show just to see what showed up and if I was interested in anything there. We showed up at half past 4 and there were only a few cars which were mostly very mediocre American cars. It was still neat to take a look at what people had been working on and to see the amount of chrome the one mustang had. I took a few pictures as well and you can check out the So Cal Car Culture website for future shows at Bob's Big Boy in Signal Hill.

A Revelation

Our cars are used for many things these days. We have our commuter cars that are fuel efficient beaters that get us from A to B to our luxury beasts that exude maximum 'ballerness' to the hyper cars that cruise the strip removing panties as they rev. However, one of the most important parameters for a young man with petrol flowing through his veins and a libido the size of a Rolls Royce Phantom is a car's ability to attract girls

On my drive to work yesterday I passed a Toyota prototype vehicle that was camouflaged and looked much like a tamer version of the $450,000 Lexus super car called the LFA I'm sure you've heard about. As I passed the car kicking myself for not having a camera ready to capture a picture for my readers, I began to wonder:

What is the best car to buy to attract young, beautiful females?

Being the level headed and logical person that I am, I began to determine the return on investment for different vehicles I was interested in.

Porsche Carrera GT - Cost: $414,800
You get a bad ass car that can pull 1.5 lateral g's and will cost you $50k a year at minimum to maintain, not to mention you'll probably put it into a wall since the clutch is a digital device - on or off.
Chick Magnetism: 9 (out of 10)
Return on Investment: Poor

Bugatti Veyron - Cost  $1.2 million
At 1001 bhp you'll probably never be able to get out of this car without a raging stiffie so I hope your dates don't mind just staying in the car for a few minutes once you park. On top of that, if you peel out in this puppy a new set of tires costs 7 grand to mount as you have to send the wheels to France to be mounted and a new set of Michelin rubber will be about $25,000. Ouch.
Chick Magnetism: 10 (out of 10)
Return on Investment: Poor

At this point I've decided to let you in on an idea so epically magnificent that I feel bad even giving away my new unfair advantage since this morning I purchased the absolute perfect chick magnet.

Ladies and gentlemen, a fire truck.

1975 Mack RD 686S Cost $3,995
At a whopping 285hp this bad boy is sure to dissolve female pants without a second glance. On top of that it pumps out over 1000 gallons per minute of water which means you can fill a pool faster than a Veyron will go through a set of tires.
Chick Magnetism: 14
Return on Investment: Exemplary


What? No? Doesn't do it for you? Hear me out...

What chick do you know that doesn't have a firefighter fantasy? The list is short. You buy a truck that you probably don't even need to drive and since the ladies will flock to you if you have it parked outside the maintenance would be almost nonexistent. Plus, now you'll have a valid explanation for that pole you have installed in your living room and the dirt on your face which is really from not showering since last week but serves as away to tell these women about the multiple children you saved from burning buildings in recent memory. Maybe I should copyright this idea.

3D Scanning

Scanning in the last few years has certainly taken leaps and bounds. In the past few years, it has saved my ass and sped up the process of many projects I've worked on where CAD data isn't available or the owner isn't willing to share the data.

For those of you with no idea what I'm talking about, the technology I'm describing involves a scanning gun, camera, or probe to produce a cloud of points that can be connected to produce a surface in the digital world that very accurately represents the real world. So you can scan your cars then make a part to fit onto it without ever going to Ferrari and asking for data!

At the Performance Racing Industry show last year in Florida I checked out the Dynamica booth which is a company that offers scanning services to small race teams throughout the country so they can turn their production cars into racing machines. As a demonstration, Tim had me put my hand onto the desk and he waived his magic wand (well really a 3d scanning gun) and there was my hand in 3D. Freakin' amazing.

Unintended Acceleration

I'm sure many of you have heard about Toyota's recent recall involving unintended acceleration and the effect that it has had on Toyota sales in the last month. In order to see for ourselves how easy it would be to recover from an unintended acceleration event, my buddy Lars and I went out to Toyota's headquarters in Torrance to do a few tests of our own. Our predictions were that the car's brakes would be significantly more powerful than the engine. Have a look at the video to see for yourself.

Alan and Lars' Toyota Test Video

We completed 3 test. First, Lars put the gas pedal to the floor at about 45 mph and used his left foot to slam on the brakes. The car stopped easily. Next, he pegged the throttle to the floor and shifted into neutral. The car bounced off the rev limiter and the hand brake brought the car to a stop. Finally, Lars brought the car up to 45mph and turned the key to the off position so the column did not lock but the engine died. The brakes still worked to bring the car to a stop.

So what are our conclusions? Even if your Toyota accelerated suddenly without warning, an application of the brakes will stop the vehicle quite easily.

Disclaimer: Do not try this at home. Lars is much like the Stig. He's well trained and his heart is actually made of chocolate pudding.

Simulator

Simulators are becoming more an more prevalent in the automotive industry. They're not the arcade games you used to sit in when you were a kid and begged mommy to give you a quarter for. Now big budget race teams are buying their own 6 degree of freedom simulators to develop their cars and drivers. On top of that, they looking freakin' awesome. One company that offers a system is Moog. Most F1 teams are using this technology including Ferrari, Red Bull, and the Nick Wirth's Virgin Racing Team. I wouldn't mind a few laps in one of these bad boys if nothing else than to see how realistic it really is. With tensioning seat belts to simulate massive brake loads and realistic view of what the road looks like from inside the cockpit, it would be a great ride.

On the other hand, a simulator you may be able to afford is the new Toyota Driving Simulator. Although I feel bad for Toyota as mistakes certainly do happen to all the OEMs and not just Toyota, it doesn't hurt to poke a little fun at the situation.

Tool Transporter

Check out this impressively terrible picture I took of a tool transporter in Hollywood on Friday night on Sunset. I call it a tool transporter because the only person who pays money to rent one of these bad boys for the night must be a complete tool. The rear has 4 solid axles on a frame which was polished to a mirror finish, which means there was probably little if no interior room past the first axle. It really does take all kinds.

A 'gasm for Your Ears

I know it's been a while since your ears have been treated to a V12 flogging so you're due for a view of this Ferrari 'Through the Years' video which features race cars from different eras driving on the streets showing off some awesome eargasmic engine sounds. Take a listen.

Ferrari Video Link