Project Retro Runner--Done!

At least in its current form that is...

Yes, I still have to paint the bare metal cage parts you see here and yes, later on in the year it will receive bump stops and straps to assist with situations where there limits of the truck's travel will be met or exceeded.

But for now, she is done and ready to rock and New England Hill Climb events and SCCA RallyCross events.

Even the bare metal upper and lower arms and uprights have actually already been powdercoated and returned--just no pics of that yet.

Project Retro-Runner will be picked up this Saturday and returned to my home this Sunday.  Some testing to occur in the next few weeks and then on to its first official event in its current state at the Okemo Mountain Hill Climb.  Can't wait!  Now I just have to find a co-driver who won't fall asleep at the slow speeds I will be driving!

The work here is wonderful and I can't thank Mr. Cyrus House enough for taking on this project on short notice and doing such a bang up job.  I am forever in your debt Cyrus.

Pikes Peak Practice...

Practice for this weekend's Pikes Peak International Hill Climb race began yesterday.

In total there are four Nissan (or Nissan related) vehicles that I can identify and two were captured on film yesterday.

The Nissan Leaf of Chad Hord and the Nissan Frontier of Brad Lovell were not seen in this series of pictures but should show up soon.

Here you have the #3 Dacia Duster powered by an twin turbo engine plucked from a Nissan GT-R and the 1995 Nissan 240SX driven by one Ken Stouffer who has been here a number of times before in this car.  Full race is this weekend.  Enjoy.

 

 

Book Review: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Yes, the book, not the film or films.

Just used the film poster here as its about as iconic an image as can be come up with for the novel.

Jules Verne's mid/late 1800 novel is often described as one of the early and seminal examples of science fiction.

My goodness, is science fiction really this bad?

Admittedly there is a lot herein to be admired--Captain Nemo's characterization, forecasting the rise of submarines, the growing environmental impact of humanity, etc.

Unfortunately (and I'll blame this on Verne's Francophone roots) the book, outside of a few initial and final chapters the book is an immense and overly long, bore.  Descriptions of Atlantis, underwater volcanoes, trips under the polar ice cap, the slaughtering of whales (somehow ignored by those taking an environmental viewpoint of this novel), etc. are all buried under an unceasing laundry lists of Latin names of sea life and the insufferable character that is Professor Pierre Aronnax.  By the end of the novel I just wanted Capt. Nemo to just be done with it and dispatch Aronnax, his pseudo-homosexual assist Conseil and the dolt that is the Canadian whaler, Ned Land and feed their bodies to the sea.

Verne evidently tries to portray Nemo as a dark avenging angel of which we are to be horrified given his slaughter of other sailors and their vessels.  Just the opposite.  Verne's most successful description of the entire book is saved for the final pages in which we see Nemo break down in front of a portrait of his family after having sent a ship full of men to the bottom.  It is Nemo in who I am invested in and care about, not the weak kneed protagonist.  Nemo is a man of character, resolve, courage and thought.  Verne's heroes are dumb (Ned Land), pathetic (Conseil) or just disinterested observers (Aronnax).

As I ripped through page after page of this novel I wished that Verne's editor had taken a chainsaw to the narrative and told him no one gives a damn about the Latin term for an orange bottom dwelling tropical sponge, but instead let him list said sponge, in Latin, and all its even remotely related spongey cousins ad infinitum.  Robert Lewis Stevenson quipped that Verne knew nothing of human nature and I don't think Stevenson was far off.  Verne's protagonists are weak, pseudo-intellectual, cardboard cutouts and yet he thinks we are to admire them.  I'll blame it on him being French...

Film Review: Taxi Driver

OK, its an interesting character study of societal outcast and his ongoing mental breakdown, but the film seems highly over-rated due to the director's name and the associated cast.

The Bernard Herrmann score was my favorite part of the film followed closely by the film's imagery--from the cabs coming through the steam and smoke of NYC to the seediness of old school Times Square the film feels as if its placed in a near post-apocalyptic future.

Combine the ever present filth of Scorsese's NYC (decidedly NOT the NYC of Woody Allen's films of the same period) with the slow build of Travis Bickle's derangement and you've got an iconic piece of cinema worth viewing numerous times and dissecting a number of ways.

I however came away focused on the areas I felt the film either lacked or went in a strange direction on.

First is its blatant racism.  Whether reflecting the mores of the time or not, Taxi Driver comes off as a decidedly aged film in terms of how it treats African Americans.  Filmed as drug users, prostitutes, pimps (Sport--Harvey Keitel's character was also supposed to be a black pimp but later changed, not that it took away anything from the character's "blackness" by having a white man play the character) or other degenerates and called "niggers" "spooks" and a host of other racist terms.  The camera and action portrays blacks as the lowest of the low and when Travis talks of a coming rain in which he hopes all the filth will be washed away it's clear that this filth includes blacks.

Now, I'm not saying that Scorsese is racist, or that the story promotes racism--only that the films POV--Travis's is a racist one and that all of NYC and its characters are viewed herein, through that prism.  This film would NEVER see the light of day in its original form, today.  It would be considered far too controversial as critics and producers would remove the film's racist viewpoint entirely.

In terms of what it lacked?  In my opinion, Travis lacked a real motive for his attempted assassination of Senator Palantine.  Was he angry at Betsy for rejecting his awkward and inept advances?  Certainly.  But to take out this frustration on Palantine just didn't make sense to me.  First off, Bickle's in cab conversation with Palantine went well from Bickle's perspective and Palantine actually gave an ear to his complaints--something virtually no one else in the city would have bothered spending the time to do.  Additionally, killing Palantine does not serve any of Bickle's misguided aims.  The elimination of Palantine does not "clean" the city as the killing of Sport, Jodi Foster's John or the Hotel Manager does.  Bickle's rage is directed towards Betsy--not towards those surrounding her.  If Bickle had attempted or completed the killing of Betsy, it would have been in like with his thinking and rage.  A misguided political assassination in order to indirectly get back at Betsy just doesn't fit.

So a deep and key film of the 20th century this certainly is.  It just does contain some "blemishes" that others may not remark upon in their heaping praise upon one of the modern masters.

Vancouver Rioters...Kissing??

In all of the stupidity and silliness surrounding the riots after the game seven win by the Boston Bruins over the Vancouver Canucks last night this may be the photo that takes the cake.

First off, this is a confirmed, real, un-Photoshop'd photo taken by a Getty Images photographer who had been covering game seven and then went and covered the riots.  He didn't even know he had the shot until his editors let him know after going over his nightly take.

Drunk?  High?  In love?  Lust?  All of the above?  I'm not sure but the juxtaposition of a young couple kissing in the middle of a debris strewn street with riot police all around makes for an incredible photo.

Engine Cage Nearly Complete With Shock Mounts Coming Today...

Now updating the engine cage which you can really see coming into shape here.

The ABS is being pulled and will not be reinstalled and the upper shock mounts are about to go into place.

The engine cage is nicely tied into the frame and the main cage itself as the engine cage goes through the firewall and connects to the main cage within the cab of the truck.

There will also be a removable crossmember going over the engine to tie each side together.  The truck drove like it was on rails before the creation of the engine cage and tieing the front suspension together so I am psyched to see an even further improvement in its handling after these additions.

I also want to thank Cyrus for taping off the fenders on the truck while he does his work as it shows the care and consideration he has for other peoples vehicles while working on them.  Very nice touch.

New Five Inch Body Lift for Titan and Frontier...

Another lift kit is now on the market for owners of the 2nd Generation Nissan Frontier and Nissan Titan.

From Performance Accessories comes a five inch lift kit complete with liners for both models.

I'm not a big fan of body lifts unless you are using them in conjunction with a suspension lift as all they do is lift the truck higher and allow for bigger wheels/tires.  But hey, if you're into making your truck look like a monster truck on a budget, there are worse ways to go...

5 Inch Body Lifts for Titans and Frontiers...

Red Bull Racing's Headquarters...

When you spend $300 million a year to field a racing effort, one would expect your headquarters to be well apportioned.

And at Red Bull headquarters in England, it appears no expense has been spared.

Motor Trend got a brief and highly controlled tour of the Red Bull Racing facility recently.  Sounds more like a trip to the NSA's headquarters given all the restraints...but still...it makes for a good story and pictures...

Motor Trend Visits Red Bull Racing's Headquarters...

Engine Cage, Front Suspension and Rear Wheels/Spacers...

So after coming down numerous "home stretches" (roll cage home stretch, fiberglass home stretch, paint home stretch, interior home stretch, vinyl home stretch, etc.) it appears as if the NISMO Stuff "Retro-Runner" is coming down its final 2011 home stretch.  After this it will be ready to run (pretty much) in whatever events I can manage during the remainder of the year.

The full on desert setup will wait for the winter of '11-'12 and will include the fuel cell, race radio, locker for the rearend, etc.

With the completion of the wheels, tires, spacers and long travel front suspension and engine cage, she should be ready for any hill climb, rally cross and maybe even a stage rally event in the remaining six months of '11.

These pictures are take at Cyrus House's shop in South Burlington, VT and reflect the new wheels, tires, spacers for the rear, beginning of the engine cage and parts of the long travel front suspension.  The rate at which this is moving now, I hope to see it completed by the end of the week and begin testing immediately thereafter...

Dacia Duster with GT-R Engine Video...

The Dacia Duster that will be taking on Pikes Peak in short order now has a new video out.  Lots of tire smoke and lots of power in what is a REALLY small car.  Didn't realize just how small this car was until this video and could get its perspective in relation to the driver and other personnel.  Enjoy the madness...

And We're Back...

The LOORRS TV ratings continue to return to their historic norm.

Yesterday's 6/12 broadcast garnered a 0.4 rating, the same as those for the AMA Motocross program that followed it.

The 0.4 equates to 0.4% of the 115.9 million TV households in America that were watching the program.  This translates into roughly 464,000 TVs that were tuned in to the program and using my conservative estimate of 1.1 viewers per TV means roughly 510,000 people watched the LOORRS race yesterday.

As always, these are not numbers to be sneezed at but the trend line for the LOORRS programs is one of a downward trend since last November.  It would be nice to see an increase somewhere along the way that would indicate a growing audience but I don't think that's really in the cards for a program that is more about advertising for its sponsors--much like the motocross broadcasts--than it is about building a larger TV audience.



NHL Stanley Cup Final: Bruins-Canucks: Game Five 6/11 NBC 8:00-11:00pm 3.2

"ESPN Sports Saturday" 6/11 ABC 5:00-6:00pm 0.6

NCAA D-I Men's & Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships 6/11 CBS 1:00-3:00pm 0.9

PGA Tour: FedEx St. Jude Classic: Third Round 6/11 CBS 3:00-6:00pm 1.2

MLB: (regional) 6/11 Fox 4:00-7:00pm 1.7

Track & Field: adidas Grand Prix 6/11 NBC 3:00-5:00pm 0.9

Belmont Stakes (pre-race) 6/11 NBC 5:00-6:15pm 2.6

Belmont Stakes (race segment) 6/11 NBC 6:15-7:00pm 4.8

"NBA Countdown" 6/12 ABC 7:30-8:00pm 3.8

NBA Finals: Mavericks-Heat: Game Six 6/12 ABC 8:00-11:00pm 15.0

NBA Finals trophy ceremony 6/12 ABC 10:45-11:15pm 14.3

Lucas Oil Off-Road Pro2 & Pro4 (taped) 6/12 CBS 2:00-3:00pm 0.4

PGA Tour: FedEx St. Jude Classic: Final Round 6/12 CBS 3:00-6:00pm 1.9

F1: Canadian Grand Prix 6/12 Fox 1:00-3:00pm 0.7

AMA Motocross (taped) 6/12 NBC 4:00-5:00pm 0.4

Ironman World Championships 70.3 (taped) 6/12 NBC 5:00-6:00pm 0.6

Nissan Takes Gold and Silver in LMP2 at LeMans!

Nissan had hoped to return to LeMans with a bang given its time away from the highest level of sportscar racing.

Boy did they deliver.

Nissan powered vehicles finished 1st and 2nd in the LMP2 class (open cockpit, less powerful than the top rung LMP1 class).

Greaves Motorsport and the #41 Zytek chassis took the win by a large margin over the second place Oreca chassis that was piloted by Playstation contest winner Lucas Ordonez who has gone from trying to get his MBA and playing racing videogames to a world class driver for a major international racing program in less than three years.

All four Nissan powered vehicles in the LMP2 class finished the race with no DNFs which is truly remarkable. 

For a complete recap go to the LeMans homepage: here

or the written recap of the Greaves win: here or here

Another Use For the Nissan Xterra...

Towboat?

Yup, evidently some enterprising individuals out West have decided that parasailing on lakes, rivers and oceans is not enough.

The Xterra is a near perfect vehicle for this pursuit as its offroad capable for traversing long stretches of unpaved terrain at relatively high speeds and is also large enough to carry the bundles of parasails, harnesses and other equipment needed for this, uh, "sport".

Not sure if I'd be up for this--the fear of dropping out of the sky onto rock hard earth from several hundred feet worries me a bit.  I'd probly do it if there (I'm a sucker for peer pressure) but its not something I would seek out at this point!  Regardless, hats off to them for thinking outside the box and using a Nissan to do it.

Xterra Offroad Parasailing...

Space Shuttle Endeavor and the ISS

Nuff said...

24 Hours of LeMans Nissan Spotters Guide...

Courtesy of Andy Blackmore Design comes the 2011 24 Hours of LeMans Spotters Guide.

I've included here only the LMP classes as that is where the Nissans are entered.  Three of them in fact.  The entire LeMans event this year happens to be sponsored by Nissan.  It's just a shame there is no GT-R or 370Z entered in the event.  Oh well.  Maybe in the future.  Baby steps at this point for Nissan Motorsports.

24 Hours of LeMans homepage...

Nissan Juke Aftermarket from Impul...

Now that the Juke has been around for about six months or so, some aftermarket companies are getting on board.

We had the skid plate shown the other day in an earlier post and here we have a whole host of additions courtesy of the Japanese tuner Impul.

There is a rear spoiler, a number of aero additions, some front grill inserts and a bunch of tweaks to the ECU and exhaust.

The prices are all in Yen but should be available should you want to spend the coin.

Impul Releases Juke Aftermarket Accessories...

One Millionth Nissan Frontier Produced...

Nissan announced today that they have built their 1,000,000 Frontier.

Now I don't know if that includes the overseas Navara (same exact vehicle pretty much, different name) or if it's just in the US--I think it might be just in the US.

The Frontier has been produced for two generations of trucks the first running from 1998-2004 and the second generation from 2005 to the present.

The third generation of Frontiers should be arriving in MY 2013 in conjunction with the 2nd generation Nissan Titan.  Though never king of the sales mountain, the Frontier has been a steady plugger and is now behind only the Tacoma in terms of "small truck" sales in the US.

1,000,000 Frontiers produced by Nissan...

Nissan Wins Again in GT1...

Fending off a hard charging Aston Martin and Corvette the #23 JRM GT-R finished at the lead of the pack of three to take the win this weekend at the Silverstone GT1 event.  These top three were separated by a total of a 1/2 second.

This marks the 2nd win of the five the have been held so far in 2011 for the #23 JRM Nissan GT-R and drivers Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr.  The win also puts both JRM drivers at the top of the GT1 drivers standings and the #23 car in second place for the team championship.

This marks the half way point of the GT1 season with five remaining races.  Nissan is in an excellent position to put at least one car on the Championship podium and even run for the overall 2011 GT1 win.

JRM Nissan GT-R takes Silverstone GT1 win...

Short Film of NASA's Cassini Mission...

This is a two minute film done by Chris Abbas.  It is a series of black and white images taken by NASA's Cassini probe and edited to the music of Nine Inch Nails.  This is well done and somehow, creepy, despite it being just a series of several thousand static shots with some piano music.  Enjoy.


CASSINI MISSION from Chris Abbas on Vimeo.

BBR: Brief Beer Review...

Mmmm...a lovely IPA this is...

The Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA is an excellent introduction to IPAs.  Yes, its hoppy but not overly so.  Bitter without being distastefully so while maintaining a medium level of carbonation.

This is a wonderful tasting beer and could be consumed in large quantities if it weren't for its substantial alcohol content (6%).  It finishes clean with the proper IPA aftertaste and smells heavenly.

A tad expensive for what it is--$9+ at my local store, it is still worth it for the quality of beverage this represents.  I understand that Dogfish Head also makes a 75, 90 and 120 Minute IPA (increasing in "hop" flavor as you go up) that I would be willing to try in the future but the 60 Minute IPA found here is a wonderful balance for those looking for a light-ish IPA.

Wheels, Tires and Front Suspension...

Its been a bit since I've provided an update on the race truck.

It is still in upstate Vermont having its front suspension and wheels and tires put in place.

The front tires and wheels and long travel kit from BTF are now installed--to be removed for the front suspension parts to be powdercoated at a later date--and the engine cage with the upper shock mounts are to be fabb'd in the immediate future.

Comments here--Yes the setup is wide, wider even than the fiberglass fenders.  This was driven by a number of factors including the need to go to a very low backspace wheel (4.06"s) in order to clear the steering and upright components.  The width should improve the stability of the vehicle--key given the more asphalt, hill climb, stage rally, rallycross events it will see.  In regards to the tire impacting the fender--even if it had been tucked into the fender well, it still would have impacted the fender liner at the same point of impacting the fender, so I'm not losing any potential uptravel.  And lastly, hydraulic bumpstops will be installed to prevent the tire from destroying the fenders--yes, this will limit uptravel, but this build is not about getting the most travel out of the platform and making the biggest jumps possible.

Onto the wheels.  I was at first very concerned that my choice in wheels--more driven out of a need for a particular size--17" to clear the calipers and aforementioned backspace to clear other components--than than it was for looks and cost that they would be too "blingy" for my taste give the chrome.  However...they actually look incredible, in my opinion and are a great modern interpretation of the wheels seen on the original Nissan factory Hardbodies of the mid 80's which also had the round hole style of wheels.

As always, I hope this phase of the build is done shortly...but we'll see...baby steps...

Real Steel Skid Plate for the Nissan Juke...

Looks like someone finally made a real skid plate for the Nissan Juke.

Unfortunately, that someone is located in Greece.

Tessera 4x4 is now making these steel skids to protect your Juke on its "Rally-esqe" adventures.  The price is reasonable at some 100 Euros...the shipping though??  Ouch...I can imagine that it might be as much as the skid itself.

But if you want to protect the underside of your Juke while racing down your local fire roads or at your SCCA Rallycross events this is a great find.