More SEMA Silliness...

Out of all the things I've seen pictured from SEMA so far, the above is by far and away the one I want the most.

I have a Traxxas Slash at home already and love it.  Grown up toys for grown up boys.  I still love remote control vehicles like this which are far beyond any mere toy due to their complexity, expense and adjustability.  They allow you to have tons of fun right out of the box and yet provide plenty of customizable options for those who want to take their vehicle to the next level.  You won't be handing these vehicles over to your three year old.

Also note at the bottom that Bill Caswell has begun his BMW Baja 1000 build and DAMN, those are some large shocks for an itty bitty sedan...it will be interesting to see what this ends up as...

Some Early SEMA Pictures...

Every year I see pictures from SEMA I become less and less impressed.  90% of what is displayed it seems is purely form over function and little in the way of innovation or advancement is paid attention to.

So it is with 2010.

These are a few of the more interesting (to me) early pictures.

I like the Dodge Ram done up with the long travel kit and worked up it seems to compete against the Ford F-150 Raptor (seen jumping here).

The huge Oshkosh vehicle will soon be seen at the 2010 Baja 1000 as a special class for this vehicle was just recently created.

And the stripped BMW is, I believe, Bill Caswell's and the one he intends also to build to run at the upcoming B1K.

Of course there are a host of large wheeled 370Zs and other silly vehicles but we'll see what might pop up over the coming few days...

Nissan and Holowczyc Take Baja Portugal Win...

Though Holowczyc has signed on with BMW to pilot one of their machines in the 2011 Dakar, he retains his Orlen racing Navarra for his more "continental" pursuits.

This past weekends Baja Portalegre was an example of such an event and one that Kryzstof and his Nissan won.

In very muddy conditions he beat out some top competitors including Felipe Campos and Boris Gadasin to take not only the win here but the FIA International Cup for Bajas championship for 2010.

Baja Portalegre 2010...

Brave New World: A Book Review...

Ahhh...another overrated 20th Century "classic"...

Much like 1984 I found Brave New World to be a solid but certainly not earth-shattering novel.  Numerous "best of" lists put both books in the Top 10 of the 20th Century but I question whether those lists are created merely off of word of mouth or from actual readings of the works listed.

Brave New World is set in a future where individuality is lost via governmental imposed consumerism, stratification, conditioning and drug use.  Instead of the violent, fearful existence of 1984, here we find a world in peace and tranquility where individuality is not beaten out of you but where you have no desire to be different as every want and need is met.

There is not the tension, violence or suspense that 1984 contains simply because the antagonists aren't as strong as those in that novel.  Here, even the powers that be treat malcontents with kid gloves.  No beatings or torture here...you just get sent off to an obscure island to live in peace with others of your ilk.

One point I won't argue is the ability of Aldous Huxley to forecast the future.  Huxley has a keen insight into what was to come from Western society and science, predicting everything from what amounts to virtual reality, the over sexualiztion of society, genetic manipulation and psycho analysis.  He does more than just look at the immediate trends of the late 30's and extrapolate them.  He has delved deep into the burgeoning sciences of the time and shown whole new branches that would come to fruition.  Orwell saw Lenin and Stalin and saw police states.  Huxley wrote this novel before the term DNA even existed and yet projected the human manipulation of the genetic code to create a "worker" class and an "elite" class in addition to a birthing process completely separated from the need for human beings all together.

My largest issue with Brave New World is in terms of its focus on sex.  Yes, here again we have an overly educated English writer focused on sex.  Maybe I'm odd, but I find sex in general (not specifically to me) to be one of the LEAST interesting things about human existence.  Most reactions to sex are occurring on a biological level and not intellectual one.  Delving into a human being's desire for sex is like delving into a human being's desire for food--sure the steak may be delicious but I certainly don't wonder why one would want to consume the steak in the first place--We all love a good steak!

In Brave New World we have a situation where "everyone belongs to everyone else", to quote from the book and Huxley has created a world in which there is no "ownership" as it were of a sexual relationship with anyone else.  Humans are portrayed as a pack of overly intelligent bonobos, comingling when, how and with whomever they wish--though at least Huxley presents females in as powerful a position when it comes to sex as men, exhibiting an attitude much more advanced that many in the 1930's would ascribe to the Western female.

So, yes, Brave New World does do some excellent work in terms of showing what human society could become if allowed to go way off the tracks.  It projects a number of innovations, developments and consequences that we are all familiar with some 80 years after Huxley wrote the novel and casts a critical eye towards a number of Western trends.  But all this is done through a very conventional story structure, conversational, rather elementary English and stereotypical characters.  It would take a lot more than just the ability to forecast the future for me to anoint any one book as being amongst the "best" of a given century.

Transsiberian: A Movie Review...

Miscast and kinda snore-worthy...

While not a bad film, Transsiberian is a mostly forgettable film except for the complete miscasting of Woody Harrelson.  Whoever thought that Woody Harrelson should play a meek, simple, church-going, train geek should never work in Hollywood again--as should the makeup artist responsible for his awful hair-piece found here as well.

The rest of the film contains a premise I thought had potential--two disparate couples find themselves colliding on a train making week long journey from China to Moscow.  The claustrophobic conditions lend themselves to the creation of tension and the near-arctic environment leaves a blank slate on which the characters can develop.

Unfortunately the story lets them all down and despite Harrelson, Ben Kingsley and Emily Mortimer (whose performance and character was the near sole reason the film remained watchable) being in featured roles, no single image or scene stands out.  This could easily be a TV movie that you flip by or watch momentarily on a lonely weekend but then move on to something else...just about anything else...

Bear vs. Bison: Who Ya Got?

I'll take the 800 pound grizzly thank you.

With all the Photochopped garbage out there one's first thought is that this must be faked.  Certainly I've seen higher quality Photochopped images similar to this (huge waves, large animals, etc.) and questioned their legitimacy immediately.  This, however, has confirmation from the National Park Service that the photo was taken last Winter near Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.

The buffalo looks good sized but certainly not a dominant male and thus likely made for an easy choice for the bear.  Good for the grizzly, I understand his hunger--Bison burgers are good eatin...

http://ecopolitology.org/2010/10/26/officials-say-photo-of-bear-chasing-half-mauled-bison-in-yellowstone-is-authentic/

5th Ain't Great...

But it ain't too bad right?

Well, whether its that good or not, that's what we have at this past weekend's Human Auto 400 race in South Africa.  The top Nissan in this event (out of 27 entrants in the production vehicle category) was SP05, the Regent Racing Navara, piloted by Terrence Marsh.  Two other Navara's were entered in the race--SP11, the other Regent Racing Navara, which finished in 11th and lastly the SP22, the Barden Tyre Navara of Thomas Rundle which DNF'd.

At least the pictures came out great!

ABSA OffRoad Championship--Human Auto 400 Results...

Sumo GT Team on Podium Again...

Been a while since I talked about these guys but I should mention them more often given the results...

For a first year team they are doing amazingly well as evidenced by the team's 3rd place standing in the overall GT1 2010 team championship.  Fielding a two car effort the Sumo GT boys have been lucky most of the time that when things have gone poorly for one of their cars, the other one has picked things up a notch.

As was the case this past weekend in Navarra, Spain.  While the number 23 GT-R of Dumbreck/Krumm was punted early on and DNF'd after only 6 laps, the number 22 GT-R of Campbell-Walter/Hughes ran really well all day and ended on the podium in third.  With numerous podiums and one event win on the season the Sumo GT team sits in third place for the year with two South American events left on the calendar.  Anything less that rounding out the year in third will be a disappointment at this point but the team should be rewarded by Nissan regardless of how things finish up as they have run near the top of the leaderboard all year and put the GT-R on the map across Europe and the world.

Sumo Power GT-R, Navarra, Spain report...

Seats and Harnesses...

Closing in on the date for the truck to go in for its cage and finalizing some of the accessories that will go inside at the same time.

Here are my chosen seats and harnesses, both picked up from HMS Motorsport in Peabody, MA.

The seats are the least expensive FIA compliant seats I could find (hey!  I'm not made of money you know!) but will still fit the bill just right.  The Cobra Monaco seats are comfy without being soft and supportive without being confining.  They are tube frame in nature vs. a carbon fiber shell (which is what makes them relatively inexpensive) and weigh slightly more than their expensive brethren as well.

The Schroth Racing harnesses are made of 3" webbing and do NOT have the camlock latching mechanism picture on the box as those are not allowed in the dirty environs of the desert/rally due to the danger of jamming.

Now back to sorting out the technicalities of building the roll cage...

Last King of Scotland: A Film Review...

Meeting a near dictionary definition of a "thriller" The Last King of Scotland will not satisfy action fans looking for gunplay and explosions.

It does, however, slowly build tension and suspense from the beginning and culminate in an end that resolves little, leaving the viewer without a nicely tied up package, and without a clean ending for anyone.

Whitaker's portrayal of the psychotic/schizophrenic Idi Amin is fantastic and McAvoy is just as solid as the fictional and naive Dr. Garrigan.

The story mixes both the historical and the fictional to take a closer look at Idi Amin beyond just the surface headlines that most are familiar with.  Still beloved by many Ugandans to this day for his "connection" to his people, his is a familiar story of a dictator whose people often look beyond the horrors of a regime they have been deluded into believing is operating for their betterment.

This is not to say that "whites" are given a free pass either.  McAvoy portrays your typical over educated, idealistic Westerner who travels to the ends of the Earth in an attempt to satisfy his lust for "adventure" under the guise of helping others and delving into another culture.  In fact, like most Westerners, he is driven out of a lack of satisfaction with his comfortable life at home in Scotland, can't keep his pants on and has no thought for the repercussions of his actions.

Lastly, the film is directed by the same man, Kevin Macdonald, who helmed Touching the Void, another  very good film (better in my opinion that this) that can also be thrown into the "thriller" category.  Macdonald, a Scotsman himself, concentrated early in his career on biographical films and has branched into biographical recreations (Touching the Void), and mixtures of history and fiction (The Last King of Scotland) with equal aplomb.

This is one to defiantely enjoy.

8th Internext Rally Vsetín: Four championships' conclusion

Cross country rally Vsetín is the only Czech race that has survived for more than two years. Since 2003, when the first edition took place instead of another cancelled race, "Vsetín" became extremely popular amongst drivers and fans. This rally is very specific and is more sprint than long-distance rally. Special stages are usually 10 kilometers long with eight or nine timed sections.

This year’s edition of "Vsetín" has been hit hard by bad weather. Five days of heavy rain has made part of the track very difficult to cross and organizer had to skip this most attractive part of the race. Nevertheless the race didn’t suffer from lack of competition or thrill. The stakes were high, Czech and Polish international championship titles were still in games as well as FIA CEZ Trophy.

In previous seven years only two men shared the title; Miroslav Rís (2003-2005) and Miroslav Zapletal (2006-2009). Now two pilots had a chance to become new Czech champion; provisional leader Zdenek Porízek and Viktor Chytka. Under normal circumstances Chytka with T2 Mitsubishi Pajero wouldn’t stand a chance against Porízek’s X-Raid-produced BMW X5 CC. But with last-minute change for state-of-art Hummer H3 Evo Chytka’s chances rose significantly.

The first to hit the road on Saturday Chytka fully took the advantage of a clean track. He stormed the selection with stunning 24 second advantage on the second Wlodzimierz Grajek (Mitsubishi Pajero MRT). This section was repeated twice and while almost everyone improved its time only Chytka and Grajek were slower due to much dirty track. The second portion of the race consisted of three gravel specials across the forest. Chytka utilized the familiarity of home track and maintained his lead. Chytka is the only one to take part in every “Vsetín” since its creation. Relatively quietly Porízek moved up the order, he overtook Zoli Garamvölgyi (Nissan Pathfinder) and Károly Fazekas (BMW X5) and was only 4 seconds behind second placed Grajek.

The last part of 8th Internext Rally Vsetín happened on the same track but in reverse order. Chytka gave Hummer the second win in Vsetín after last year Zapletal’s triumph. On the very last special Grajek failed to keep Porízek behind and lost the second place. Six minutes behind the winner Dariusz Zyla (Mitsubishi Pajero) finished the race on eighth position to get third place in Czech championship.

Legendary five time Dakar winner Josef Machácek (Yamaha Raptor) came to Vsetín to get his first national title and he succeeded. Second placed youngster Václav Bazika (Yamaha Raptor) tested new machine from Machácek’s production. In thrilling fight for the third place Vlastimil Tosenovský (E-ATV 690) lost to Rudolf Sajan (Gas Gas 450 HP) but kept trio of Polish rivals behind. The only woman behind the handlebars of quad was only 17-year old Sandra Ulrichová.

Note: Cup of Slovak Republic was running concurrently with Czech championship with the same race schedule and classification and thus with the same results.

Final standings of Czech international championship - cars:
1. Zdenek Prízek / Marek Sýkora 85 points
2. Viktor Chytka / Zdenek Ulehla 75 points
3. Dariusz Zyla / Malgorzata Zyla 62 points
4. Juraj Ulrich / Daniela Ulrichová 44 points (1st in T2 class)

Final standings of Czech international championship - quads:
1. Josef Machácek 100 points
2. Klaudiusz Rostowski 82 points
3. Vlastimil Tošenovský 49 points

Thanks to slightly different points’ distribution four pilots were supposed to fight for Polish title; Porízek, Chytka, Zyla and Grajek. Chytka as an event winner took maximum of possible points which shifted him to second place in general ranking of RMPST (Rajdowe Mistrzostwa Polski Samochodów Terenowych) just one point ahead of Grajek.

Note: Rumors that last event of RMPST, planned to take part in Sopot, would be cancelled turned up to be true. This made Zdenek Porízek Polish champion, too.

Final standings of Polish international championship – T1 class:
1. Zdenek Prízek / Marek Sýkora 24 points
2. Viktor Chytka / Zdenek Ulehla 20 points
3. Wlodzimierz Grajek / Rafal Cieply 19 points

Final standings in Polish international championship – T2 class:
1. Juraj Ulrich / Daniela Ulrichová 17 points
2. Zbigniew Wieclawek / Ryszard Wieclawek 12 points
3. Grzegorz Szwagrzyk / Piotr Brakowiecki 8 points

Final standings in Polish international championship – TH class:
1. Robert Lyzwa / Michal Krotiuk 6 points

For second year cross running country rallies have their own Central European Zone Trophy. Premiere edition was won by Balázs Szalay. He had the best conditions to regain the trophy but decided to skip “Vsetín.” So the doors became open for a whole bunch of others. Károly Fazekas was provisional leader, Zdenek Porízek was two points behind, Dariusz Zyla another three and Viktor Chytka with 20 points also had a chance to replace Szalay. At the end Porízek managed to outrun Fazekas and took the honors.

Note: Last round of CEZ Trophy, Baja Montenegro, was called off again this year.

Final standings of CEZ Cross country rally trophy – T1 class:
1. Zdenek Prízek / Marek Sýkora 34 points
2. Károly Fazekas / Péter Maurer 32 points
3. Viktor Chytka / Zdenek Ulehla 30 points

Final standings of CEZ Cross country rally trophy – T2 class:
1. Juraj Ulrich / Daniela Ulrichová 57 points
2. Grzegorz Szwagrzyk / Piotr Brakowiecki 32 points
3. Zbigniew Wieclawek / Ryszard Wieclawek 25 points

Final standings of CEZ Cross country rally trophy – TH class:
1. Robert Lyzwa / Michal Krotiuk 30 points
2. Dávid Czirkelbach / Péter Szász 18 points