So now that the trillion dollar stimulus has been dumped into the economy things are turning right around.
Uh...not so much. In what is sure to be overshadowed by the ongoing wrangling with the debt ceiling issue comes news that the economy has more or less ground to a halt.
Released today were the Commerce Department figures on 2011 Q2 and revised Q1 GDP statistics. Somehow what had originally been stated as a rate of 1.9% growth in Q1 (a slow but at least improving rate of growth) was massively revised downward to only a rate of 0.4%. How they got the figure that wrong in the first place is astonishing and indicates that the economy effectively stopped in the early part of 2011--thus the backsliding jobs picture found during Q2.
The results for Q2 (initially at least, who knows how they will be "revised" at a later date) reflect only a rate of 1.3% growth which is substantially below the 1.6% growth that had been predicted and is no where near the 3%+ rate needed to bring down unemployment, get the housing market back on its feet and government coffers filling with tax revenues.
Current predictions for a Q3 and Q4 growth rate of 3.2% are so massively overinflated it isn't even funny. We're 1/6 into the 2nd half of '11 already and with the debt ceiling issues and numerous large layoff announcements the US economy will be extremely lucky to see a single quarter in '11 with growth over 2% and I would bet on sub 2% growth in both Q3 and Q4 with continued basic unemployment rates of over 9%. Of course the response to this will be--"Just imagine how bad things would be if we HADN'T confiscated a trillion dollars of your hard earned money for redistribution!"
With all the interest lately in vintage off-road race vehicles, cars that have sat in barns unused for sometimes decades are coming back to light.
Such is the case here with a late 70's model Hi-Jumper Ascot 2 model found out in California. Slightly modified for additional headroom it carries a Datsun 1200GX motor with an 8000 rpm redline and is adapted to a bus IRS.
The owner intends to keep the Datsun motor and have it reworked. Hopefully the car will show up at the 2012 NORRA Mexican 1000.
This past weekend had the TORC short course series running in Charlotte, NC--the farthest East any short course series has come in recent memory.
With Nissan's recent re-entry to short course racing as a factory effort in TORC this was a great opportunity to show the brand off. Nissan drivers did not disappoint.
In Pro 2, the Boss Snowplow Nissan Titan of Chad Hord (the only Nissan in Pro 2) finished Friday night's race in 6th place and improved upon that result, grabbing a podium spot on Saturday in third place behind only Bryce Menzies and offroad superstar Rob MacCachren.
In the Pro Light class where two Nissan Frontiers reside, drivers Casey Currie and Brad Lovell took three out of the six podium spots on the weekend with Currie winning both the Friday and Saturday races while Lovell finished in third on Saturday.
Perhaps shockingly in Nissan's first year back as a (minimal) factory effort they are actually competing for a season long manufacturer championship. There is virtually no chance they'll win it given there are only three Nissans running between all the classes, but just getting their name up there is a start!
Mr. Troy Kyajohnian passed away some two months ago from an undiagnosed heart issue. Being no older than I this came as a great shock to me--the more so as he had done extensive work on Project Retro-Runner including the dash, wiring and suspension changes.
Troy left behind a wife and child and a great portfolio of work including the bike you see here to your left. He was a wonderful craftsman and leaves a big hole to fill in numerous respects.
This past weekend, Keith Dube of Dube's Custom Machines put together a charity bike/car ride from his shop in Hudson, NH to the Broken Spoke Saloon up in Laconia to raise money for the American Heart Association to be donated in Troy's name.
The weather was perfect, the ride was wonderful with the NH State Police providing a guided escort to clear the way, lunch was great and a good time was had by all.
I guess this was from a few years back but damn its good. Aldrin was over 70 at the time and holds his temper pretty good given all the goading this nitwit does. Aldrin can take it no more when this Bible thumper calls him a coward and cracks him a good one right on the jaw. Oh, America, I despair for you as those of strong backbone like Buzz Aldrin become fewer and fewer...
First off, this is not a Photoshop. Picture was taken a couple days ago off the coast of Mexico where up to 60 of the largest fish in the world have gathered to gorge themselves on the Tuna eggs found floating there during the Tuna spawning season.
The diver was never in any real danger as the Whale shark is a filter feeder...but still...being this close to that large of a mouth on that large of an animal has got to be an incredible experience. Nicely done by the photographer, diver and Whale shark itself for creating this image.
Seriously. Does anyone actually think the US of A will return as a government funded entity to human space travel at ANY time in the future?
I certainly don't. And no, hitchhiking aboard a Russian rocket to the ISS doesn't count. The first kerfuffle over darn near anything and the Russians will simply say--sorry, but your people aren't welcome aboard our rockets and the ISS is now ours.
And so it is that what was one of the USA's defining characteristics (the desire to push boundaries, explore our world, discover the unknown, advance the human race) has come to an end. The US is so focused on itself and the issues here that it has lost its spirit and as the spirit withers, so shall the country from its place of prominence--unless, private individuals and companies take up the cause from the rotting body that is the US government. They very well may...but not in the immediate future.
So in the interim we are resigned to let Russia rule the heavens and, oh, yeah, let China rule the deep sea. An under-reported event this week is China's ability now to dive far deeper into the ocean depths than the US, making them capable of finding and extracting the valuable minerals and resources held there (as well as cutting communication lines, undersea sonar devices, etc.). Much like the US space program, our deep undersea capabilities peaked some 40-50 years ago as well and we are left with the 40 year old "Alvin" which can reach only 66% of the ocean the new Chinese submersible can. Great...
It is not often that I get to go out and enjoy a film in the theater anymore. It happens only a handful of times a year at best.
So when it does, I try not to waste the time seeing Beavis and Butthead Do America or the like. I try and pick out films that I am pretty sure I will either enjoy or that are significant in some way.
Terrence Malick's films are seemingly all worth seeing not only for the limited amount of films he directs but the quality and depth of the ones he chooses as his projects.
I genuinely love The Thin Red Line and found it stuck with me far more that Saving Private Ryan which was released at nearly the same time. Not that Saving Private Ryan was bad, just that Malick's juxtaposition of nature vs. man and its meditative pacing created a work that hit me at a deeper level than the more traditional story found within Spielberg's film.
The Tree of Life is shockingly more ambitious that his prior works, this time trying to encompass everything from the beginning of time and formation of like one earth to the existence of God within our day to day actions.
A few reviews of the film I have seen call Malick and this film pretentious and self-absorbed. I didn't find it that way at all. If Malick and the film had come across as preachy or had been done to tell me there is or isn't a god or how life should be viewed--I would find that to be pretentious and self-absorbed. Instead what I came away with is that Malick is a man full of questions without answers. Hope without proof and a love of human minutia with awe for the grand scheme of the universe.
A primary method of getting this view across in the film is with his use of fractal imagery. From trees to flames to stain glass windows, Malick's use of fractals to demostrate that a death in a family is no less a chaotic, impactful force than the creation of the earth itself is excellent. In the scheme of the universe is the destruction of a planet any larger of an event that the loss of a single human life?
Brad Pitt continues to show that he has little interest in modern Hollywood by taking on this project and Malick seems to like him, having used him in a bit part in The Thin Red Line as well. I find it kind of funny that two of my favorite actors (Pitt and DiCaprio) both started off in the young heart throb role early in their careers but have both transitioned to appearing in decidedly less commercial fare as they have matured.
The film has little speech at all and even less dialogue--a treat in its difference from most modern films that seem to try and talk you to death, explaining everything verbally as if they were uncomfortable with their own silence or needed to spell out the details of every scene.
As with music (and I think I've stated this before) a truly great work on film is not to be mistaken for the creation any other artist when seen (or heard). You will never mistake a Scorscese film for a Malick or a Malick for a Kubrick (or a Beatle for a Stones). They all have that inherent uniqueness that makes them a work of art. The Tree of Life is unquestionably one of the most impressive works of art on film in 2011.
I think there is something about Chris Nolan films that leaves me wanting.
I've seen both of the Batman reboots, Inception, Insomnia, The Prestige and now Momento. And they all leave me cold.
Whether its my inability to suspend disbelief or characters that Nolan tends to work with on film, there is something there that I can't connect with.
Yes, the films are well crafted and often unique in style but for me there is something missing.
In Momento it is the very thing that people remark upon most that I have an issue with. Yes, the backwards time structure due to Guy Pearce's character's inability to form short term memories is a cool prism through which to tell a story. But it feels like a gimmick.
Because you start at the end of the story and fill in details going backwards, you develop fully formed perceptions of the characters immediately which unravel as the story progresses--the opposite of typical storytelling where the details discovered as you move forward, add too and build upon your view of a given character. And here you end up with the negative view of the protagonists last. Carrie-Anne Moss goes from sympathetic abuse victim helping Guy Pearce find his wife's killer to manipulative, drug dealer who shrugs off the death of her boyfriend like a duck shedding water. Guy Pearce goes from an aggrieved, avenging husband to a misguided, self-absorbed, (possible) serial killer.
Yes, I know this is supposed to show how unreliable and unpredictable memories can be and I'm supposed to enjoy the twists and turns thrown at the viewer. I just didn't. The craftsmanship is evident and I would want to view the film for its place outside the realm of typical Hollywood drivel. But actually enjoy the film I cannot.
Not surprisingly this "found" toad was relocated in Borneo after some near century since its last sighting.
Really one of the more beautiful creatures I've seen and you can see why it is colored the way it is when you see how well it blends into the near fluorescent colors of its surroundings. Its official names include the "Borneo Rainbow Toad" and the "Sambas Stream Toad". I think the "Borneo Rainbow Toad" would be the name he'd pick if he could.
A video of Chad Hord and the Nissan Leaf in which he set the production, electric vehicle record for speed up Pikes Peak this year. As long as car companies are going to make boring electric vehicles and turn cars into toasters, I have no (OK, a little) issue with the changeover from internal combustion to electric vehicles...
Beyond just your slap on intake this re-routes the intake to an optimum spot behind the front bumper and also gives the intake a proper coating. Good work by them.
This is completely pointless and just a gimmick to get attention for the Juke...but it worked. How they do this and maintain the balance around corners and such I have no idea. Congrats on the feat...I guess???
Sometimes Import Tuner Magazine covers some really great cars. And this is one of them. While I'd like to see less close-up shots and more shots of the entire interior or exterior so I can get a look as the whole thing from a mid-range perspective. Overall this project looks really nice and has a good story behind it as well.
I've got a major sunburn on my head (forgot to bring my hat) and I learned a ton of valuable stuff about my truck and myself as a driver.
From little things (I have to superglue the insole of my left driving boot to the bottom of the shoe as it keeps moving around and making it feel like I have a rock in my shoe) to the bigger things (a near 4000 pound vehicle powered by a 160 hp engine is NOT an ideal hillclimb vehicle), I learned a ton and will only be a better driver/owner for it.
As always, though I had hoped differently, the weekend was a series of "hurry up and wait" events with the proceedings starting an hour 1/2 late on Saturday and about 45 minutes late on Sunday. Lunches on Saturday stretched from the supposed 40 minutes to over an hour and 1/2. Sunday lunch was less of an issue but mostly because a wrecked car had stopped the proceedings at lunchtime and needed to be hauled away for the event to continue--this got people moving. Needless to say, the number of runs taken by competitors suffered accordingly.
In all we got three runs in on Saturday and four in on Sunday. Not great but in aggregate amounted to some 25 minutes of "max speed", technical driving that gave Retro-Runner a true shakedown. Retro-Runner suffered Zero downtime. Not a bolt was tightened, not a tire pressure checked, not a hose cinched. In truth I wanted to see if anything would pop up without looking the vehicle over as during a rally or other longer form event you could go easily 25 minutes under racing conditions without stopping to look the vehicle over. So if you count the downhill, non-timed portions of the event (very hard on the brakes and done at a very brisk pace to get everyone off the hill as quickly as possible, you are looking at some one hour of race or near race conditions over some 40 or so miles without a hiccup. Not bad.
She comes home now and will have her fluids changed, get cleaned up and have all the primary systems checked. She also will see some additional welding per Don Taylor (RallyCar scrutineer who was in attendance) of RallyCar in order to get her RallyCar logbook. He wanted some additional gusseting around the rear "X" brace before issuing the logbook and so, additional gusseting it will receive and then be brought up to Claremont, NH for final inspection.
So how'd Retro-Runner do? Well, lets go back and look at what I stated my goals for the weekend were. Quoting myself from a post last week:
"As to the event itself, it certainly does not bode well for the Retro-Runner...I've never driven in real, flat out competition before...the event is run on asphalt (not the best for big all-terrain tires)...and will be mostly contested by small, light, AWD, turbo'd vehicles like Subaru STis and Mitsu EVOs. All in all, I should be bringing up the rear of whatever class I end up in. So my goal for the weekend?...I simply want to make every run possible and not DNF. If you look at prior hillclimb events many competitors do not show for the event on the second day...or take a number of runs "off". I want to run every single one possible to get seat time at speed and test out the durability of the platform--of which I have placed my faith in to be one of the key beneficial factors in going with the 2WD, 4cyl Frontier. So simply if I can stay out of the trees, come home with the truck in one piece and not DNF I will be satisfied with the weekend. Anything beyond that is gravy."
By that fore stated definition of success this weekend went extremely well. I won my class which ended up being SP6 as given the lack of additional gusseting on my rear "X" brace I was not to be issued a RallyCar logbook this weekend. That there was no one else actually IN the SP6 class makes little difference to me. Not my fault no one else tries to run a vehicle as heavy and slow as mine up the mountain! Still, far more important to me than the class win was the seat time and experience I was able to gain. I showed continuous improvement all weekend long, learning better shift points for keeping the engine in its optimum power range under varying scenarios. I also learned to trust the handling and traction of the truck during times of sliding and squealing tires and that keeping the power down was the key to getting through the turns quickly and under control.
As I said above, the truck made it home with nary a scratch (just some lost rubber from the tires), is apparently in excellent mechanical shape still and made a huge impression on the attendees and spectators. It was easily the most recognizable and poured over vehicle in attendance. I can't wait to go back for another hillclimb or (hopefully) stage rally in the near future.
Just some of the vast array of vehicles here. Done with our morning practice runs, now for our afternoon ones.
So far?? I'm VERY slow in comparison to the other vehicles. But that's what happens when you put a 3900 lb. vehicle pushed uphill by only 160 or so HP against vehicles half the weight and twice the power.
None the less, I am in 49th out of 51 entries. One Subaru STi had his hood come off at speed putting him out of competition and Retro-Runner is faster so far than one of the motorcycle entries.
Most importantly I've made both my possible runs whereas numerous cars have had at a DNF or DNS. Additionally Retro-Runner and myself are still in one piece. So far the weekend has been a great success!
I am entered in the New England Hillclimb Association's (NEHA) Okemo Mountain Hillclimb scheduled for this Saturday July 9th and Sunday July 10th.
Retro-Runner is currently entered in the "Rally" class designated for vehicles possessing a co-driver and a Rally America/NASA etc. stage rally logbook.
Two items may bump me out of this class but will not bump me out of the event. First and foremost is my lack of a dedicated co-driver. I don't think I will be allowed to enter the Rally class without one. As expected, it is quite hard to find someone who wants to plunk down some $2K on needed safety gear (helment, HANS, firesuit, shoes, underwear, time, split hotel fees, partial split entry fee, etc.) so I have enlisted the help of one Alex Grabau of Dent Sport Garage (one of the founders over there who has been of great assistance in getting my project built) who, in his "spare" time away from driving his own car in this event, may sit in the right hand seat for my runs--But who knows, that may not work out from a timing, feasibility standpoint for him and I may be left alone. If I can run in the Rally class on my own I will but if not, I will be bumped down into one of the "hillclimb" classes where most of the entrants run anyways (lower cost of entry and not as high safety standards as the rally class).
The second item that would keep me out of the rally class is if Retro-Runner doesn't pass its Stage Rally tech inspection and get its logbook from Don Taylor of Rally America who will be at the event and will be looking at her. I don't anticipate any major problems in this but you never know until you know. Again, this would bump me down into the "hillclimb" class but certainly not out of the event.
As to the event itself, it certainly does not bode well for the Retro-Runner. Let's start with the fact that I've never driven in real, flat out competition before (no, SCCA RallyCross doesn't count as its a wide open, obstacle free course designed to limit top end speeds with its numerous turns and I only co-drove in Best in the Desert events with Team Xterra Racing). Then you have the fact that the event is run on asphalt (not the best for big all-terrain tires), requires little suspension travel or ground clearance (of which I have lots) and will be mostly contested by small, light, AWD, turbo'd vehicles like Subaru STis and Mitsu EVOs. All in all, I should be bringing up the rear of whatever class I end up in.
So my goal for the weekend? Much like the RallyCross events I entered last year with Retro-Runner before she went under the big knives over the past eight months, I simply want to make every run possible and not DNF. If you look at prior hillclimb events many competitors do not show for the event on the second day, leaving their first day times to stand or take a number of runs "off". I want to run every single one possible to get seat time at speed and test out the durability of the platform--of which I have placed my faith in to be one of the key beneficial factors in going with the 2WD, 4cyl Frontier. So simply if I can stay out of the trees, come home with the truck in one piece and not DNF I will be satisfied with the weekend. Anything beyond that is gravy.
This is a video of a Suby STi running the mountain a couple years ago.
I will be staying in the Ludlow, VT area at a local motel--hopefully with wifi--and will provide updates here all weekend long beginning on Friday with info/pictures from tech and the hill itself. I will return from the event on Sunday night with results to likely be posted on Monday or shortly thereafter though I should know the results before I come home.
The third edition of Silk Way Rally is just around the corner so why don’t we take a look at who’s who at this year’s starting list and what chances do Nissan crews have.
ASO already published the third version within last two weeks but none of them will tell you who will be driving what. Based on known information, a bit of web-digging and Google translating and mostly thanks to my vast knowledge of rally-raid I was able to discover mysteries of entries.
Once Volkswagen has cancelled their Dakar program, another Germany team, that of X-Raid, is ready to take the honors. Stéphane Peterhansel will be driving brand new Mini All4 Racing once again. He won Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge with this car, no one can expect anything less than another victory also in a Russia. X-Raid will also plant three BMW X3 CC’s for Leonid Novitskiy, Krzysztof Hołowczyc (yes, who used to drive Nissan before) and Alexander Mironenko.
The only real threat for X-Raid pilots is Boris Gadasin with his powerful G-Force Proto. Last year he was closest to Volkswagens until he crashed pretty heavily. Unless all these drivers made some mistake or became a victim of mechanical failure, all other crews are condemned to fight for the fifth place at the best. Hungarian Balázs Szalay with Chevy powered Opel Antara could be one of them, as well as Bogdan Novitskiy with another G-Force Proto. Then there are plenty of 2WD buggies lead by last year’s class winner Matthias Kahle. Ronan Chabot and Stéphane Henrard will be his main contenders alongside Christian Lavieille.
Yes, that’s another Nissan down. Lavieille was quite good with Dessoude prepared Proto 05, now he will tackle demanding rally behind the wheel of a new BMW-powered buggy. Yet still as a part of a Dessoude Team. Now let’s stay a while with Nissan cars, shall we? Team Dessoude’s Fréderic Chavigny is the defender of T2 class victory from yesteryear. Once again he will start with Nissan Pathfinder. Hardbody Pickup derived Proto 05 will be in hands of Chinese Jihong Zhou, but hardly we can expect him to be in forefront.
Belgian Team Overdrive originally announced two cars to start on SWR 2011, but in most recent starting list there is only Roman Briskindov. He started on ADDC 2011 with G-Force Proto and was pretty fast, yet he ended upside down and in hospital. Rally driver Aleksander Zheludov will start with Nissan Frontier, probably some older evolution purchased from Overdrive. He might be able to make a top 10 result. Then there are four T1 class Nissan Springbok cars by SARL Sodicars team, one of Dakar legends Etienne Smulevici will drive one of them.
For the first time ever a Slovak crew will start on Silk Way Rally. Juraj Ulrich and his wife Danka will take their faithful Nissan Navara Doublecab D40 for its hardest test so far. As usually they will race in T2 class. Probably in the same class will be racing also three Patrols from Turkmenistan and some other Russian Pathfinder and French Patrol.
Now just brief mention on some others. Former biker Thierry Magnaldi will take his chance with single-seater Polaris RZR in T3 class in which he will fight against two Dutch buggies. Loris Calubini doesn’t give up and tries to finish some rally with his tiny Fiat PanDakar 4x4. Let’s see how this attempt ends. Two Czech-built Hummer H3 cars (Toyota powered) will start too, as well as two Mercedes G-Klasse based Lensson CC prototypes from Germany. The only female crew is that of Elena Golubkina and Elena Pravdina with Mitsubishi Pajero.
But the NISMO Stuff blog has just passed 100,000 unique visitors since opening some 2 1/2 years ago.
2009 saw some 31,000 unique visitors followed by another 37,000 in 2010 and already 30,000 so far in 2011.
For some reason the viewers keep coming in greater and greater numbers. No, its not Facebook, but it does show growth that I would expect to continue given the upcoming "active" phase of the NISMO Stuff Retro-Runner.
I'd still like to get other writers for the site (pay=doggy treats) to add more content to, so if you feel like you want an outlet for your random and particularly, your motorsport related thoughts on a site that has an established and growing audience, let me know. Otherwise, I'll just keep carrying on by myself.
In what I had originally intended to be the first event for my Retro-Runner, the 2011 Mt. Washington Climb to the Clouds saw three Nissan/Datsun entries of great interest. Some really unique cars here.
Why didn't I end up in this event? #1) Retro-Runner wasn't finished nor tested, #2) the entry fees were REALLY high and would have prevented me from entering a number of other events later in the year and #3) it was an "invitation only" event to which you had to apply and only those with significant experience were accepted given the limited number of entry spots available.
Given my decided lack of experience, even if the truck had been ready and tested and I had sufficient funds to cover not only this event but others during the remainder of the year, the chances of me being selected to participate in the event were slim to none.
Regardless, there were three Nissan/Datsun entries deserving of note.
The 1989 240 RS of Bill Washburn whose car is listed as a DSG (Dent Sport Garage) vehicle--the same shop to which I sent my truck to receive its roll cage. The 240 and Bill finished in 10th overall out of 52 entries and 2nd in class. His time was 7:21:20 vs. the winning Subaru STi of David Higgins time of 6:11:54.
The 1971 Datsun 510 of Dave Patten of Futo Fab (Datsun 510 aftermarket specialists) may look a little rusty in places but still ran strong finishing 30th overall and 3rd in class with a time of 8:12:45.
Lastly there was the 1991 Sentra SE-R of Tim Mather who finished in 18th overall and won his class (H3 which was production vehicles with less than 2500 cc engine size) in a time of 7:40:54.
The beautiful shots are from New England photographer Pete Kuncis who runs his On a Limb Rally Photography and takes some of the best shots in the sport: On a Limb Photography...
