Tokyo Auto Salon Nissans...

Focus here is currently on the Detroit Auto Show and we'll turn to that soon with Nissan news this week but here are a couple of the Nissans (and a Subaru) from the Tokyo Auto Salon that has been occurring over the past few days and is Japan's version of SEMA (more or less...)

1976 Skyline

2015 WRX STi in full race trim..

GT-R NISMO

1996 Nissan 180SX as Lightning NATSeen...

180SX Custom Drift machine...

Nissan Micra Coming to North America!! But Not The US...

To Canada in fact.

The little Micra sold all over the world will be coming to Canada in early '14 as a 2015 model.  It will be motivated by a 1.6L, 4 cyl. engine that is also found on the Versa Note.  Elsewhere in the world it is powered by a supercharged 3 cylinder engine and often known as the Nissan March.  The Canadian version will put out a whopping 107 HP vs. the "world" version at 97 HP.

The Versa Note goes for $13,500 in Canada and the Micra is intended to undercut that, targeting the urban dweller in need of cheap and gas frugal transportation.  Which is why it is NOT coming to the US.  The Versa here in the States is already one of the two (I think there is a Mitsubishi that is a tad cheaper) cheapest vehicles available and Americans evidently are not expected to embrace an even smaller vehicle.

The Micra has been popular in the world of Rally around the world and was driven by veteran Swedish rally driver Per Eklund to the 21st position in the 1988 RAC Rally and a 10th place finish at the Acropolis Rally Greece in 1989.  Head to Great Britain or Europe and you will see the Mirca/March rallied competitively all the time.  So maybe there's hope a Canadian driver might put this little mini-mobile to good use in the near future!

Heck, give this TFL video a perusal...they test the 3 cylinder engine version....but it should be fairly close to the Canadian version...and hey, look!! A stickshift!

Tesla Model X Testing Spy Shot

The Tesla Model X with its Falcon Wing doors should be introduced to the world as a production vehicle next week at the Detroit Auto Show.  Testing of it however is continuing in real world conditions and some lucky West Coast enthusiasts are seeing them out on the streets.

This one was spotted in Culver City, CA.  As Culver City is quite a distance (370 odd miles) from the Tesla plant in Fremont, CA, this vehicle isn't on some sort of quick trip around the block and back so it is likely a very close to production version.  Perhaps even an early demo given to some Hollywood muckity muck who was supportive of Tesla early on?

Regardless we should be seeing more and more of these out in public.  It will be interesting to see if the same powerplant and batteries as the Model S can provide the same mileage and overall performance in the Model X--particularly when the soccer moms get a hold of it and stuff it full of kids and luggage--something that hasn't been a problem to date in the Model S.

Overstock.com Embraces BitCoin...

Remember this article a while back?  NISMO Stuff Man of the Year...

Well BitCoin has been growing daily.  Which isn't to say that its more valuable.  Speculators and various other issues have continued to drive the value of a BitCoin up and down like a pogo.

Despite that more and more locations are accepting BitCoin.  Today saw the biggest retailer yet jump on board.  The publicly traded, $700MM (market cap) Overstock.com began accepting BitCoins for anything you want to buy on their site.  This isn't too much of a surprise given its CEO had announced a few months back that it would begin doing so at some point in '14.  It is a surprise that it happened this quickly.  As more and more CEOs and founder in Silicon Valley express their libertarian leanings I think you will see a snowballing acceptance of BitCoin.  My bets on the next big companies to accept the cryptocurrency??  Uber or AirBnB.

So...make sure to get paid for the paintings you stole from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in BitCoins and then head over to Overstock.com and pick yourself up a couch or some new linens.

Overstock.com Begins Accepting BitCoin... 

2014 Nissan GT-R GT3

Competing and winning in the FIA's World Endurance Championship in '13 was the JRM GT-R.  Maintaining its winning edge requires constant updates and thus we have the unveiling of the '14 edition of the GT-R GT3 racecar.  Exhibiting additional aero tweaks and new wheels amongst other changes it looks ready to defend its championship.  Oh, and one can be yours for only some $486,000!!

2014 GT-R GT3 Racecar revealed....

New Writing Work!

Some of you might know that as a side (VERY side) job I used to be a "Senior Editor" at Nissan Sport Magazine.  That was until about a year ago when the magazine went belly up for lack of subscribers/advertisers (a chicken and egg thing).  Being a "Senior Editor" in title meant being a content creator of sorts crafting various articles and doing various writeups.  It was NOT an editorial position in the sense that work came to me and I cut it up, correct it, and fit it into the various issues that Nissan Sport was producing--far more a "writer" there than an editor.

Since the magazine closed up shop, this Blog has been pretty much my only writing outlet of interest and only one producing any side income (yes, this blog does generate income for me...VERY minimal...but I'll take what I can get).  But now, in part because of this blog and its content, I have been asked to contribute on a semi-regular basis to one of the most visited offroad racing websites in the world and certainly one of the most influential.

My first article for Race-Dezert.com was posted today, directly linked here:Dakar Stage 4 Recap...

I am tremendously excited by this opportunity as the site is read by thousands of people daily and is widely consumed by the big names within the sport itself--both the racers and the media surrounding it.  Hopefully not only do I get to work on topics that truly interest me but that my work is satisfactory to the Race Dezert owners and I get a few articles a month to work on.  A couple articles a month would pay for a nice tow vehicle for the race truck after all!!  So I'll be posting here when I do craft a new article posted on Race-Dezert just to make sure you all don't miss it!

Book Review: Fahrenheit 451

More a novella at less than 200 pages in length, Fahrenheit 451 has been edited, banned, derided, argued over, taught, and ridiculed.  One thing it rarely, if ever since its publication in 1953, has been is ignored--and nor should it ever be.

Born out of McCarthy era America, post WWII and infused with a fear of "the bomb" it remains remarkably fresh to this day.  Numerous critics will cite its description of "seashell" earphones as foretelling of cell phones and bluetooth headsets while the wall size "parlor walls" are eerily reminiscent of our current infatuation with ever larger flat screen TVs.  The public's focus on the banal features of modern life and entertainment industry are seen here as is a society that moves from being politically correct to one of censoring thought.

And this perhaps is the biggest point that is missed in the novel.  While many speak of it as a novel warning the public of governmental control and censorship this is not the root of the problem in Fahrenheit 451.  Instead, the censorious and "evil" government seen in the novella is born out of society itself.  It was society, as noted in the work, that began tearing various sections out of books that they found offensive.  As group by group by group was seen to have equal standing in terms of being "hurt" by the written word, so it was that EVERYTHING must be removed from public consumption so that NO ONE was offended.  Thus, the government became merely a proper representation of the public's desire.  Society WANTED to focus on only the trivial, the meaningless, the comforting, the easy--and thus government followed suit.  In Fahrenheit 451 it was not the government that force society to be this way--it was the inverse.

This perspective on the book is give further weight towards the end where the protagonist, Montag, is recounted a story about the Phoenix who DESTROYS HIMSELF, only to rise again as well as the desire for there to be built massive mirror factories for society to look at themselves in.  Again and again Bradbury tells us the problem is US, and only by extension, the government.

I rarely sing high praises for any work, but here its worth it.  Short, direct, prescient, and frightening in its depiction of our modern world, Fahrenheit 451 is everything that a person--particularly a young person (in actual age or just in mindset) should be reading.

Ho-hum...Another SpaceX Launch Today...

For the second time in a month SpaceX will attempt to launch a satellite weighing about as much as two large sedans, to geostationary orbit some 22,000 miles up.  Far beyond the orbit of the ISS these missions are as if not more impressive than those of docking with the ISS that SpaceX is better known for.

If successful, it should put SpaceX on equal footing with United Launch Alliance--the Boeing/Lockheed Martin venture that is the sole provider of DoD/NASA security and science satellite launches.  Orbital Sciences is not currently certified for such launches but may also be in the future.

Irony here comes from the fact that Orbital is the manufacturer of the satellite that is aboard the SpaceX rocket being launched today and is a major competitor to SpaceX.  The Thaicom satellite being launched will provide High Def TV broadcasts to Africa and Asia.

This launch will also be Kennedy Space Center's second major launch in a month, returning the facility to regular use as SpaceX is scheduled for a VERY busy 2014 with 15 launches on its current manifest for this year.  You can watch today's launch scheduled for a window beginning at about 5PM Eastern via the SpaceX website.

SpaceX Launch article...

Baja 1000 World of X Games Ratings...

This one came up as a bit of a surprise.  It didn't seem like were a lot of people who knew about Roger Norman getting ESPN/ABC on board with broadcasting the one hour show covering the 2013 Baja 1000.  Not only did it get broadcast once but it got broadcast twice, once on ESPN and again on ABC in the middle of this past Saturday.

The ratings did not end up being spectacular but were again in the same range of recent shortcourse shows on similar networks at similar times--though at the upper end, exceeding many as well.  Additionally while the broadcast was tied for the lowest rating of the weekend, it was tied with a large number of other broadcasts including NBC's coverage of Premier League Soccer.

Another point of note here is that the Red Bull Signature Series Year End Wrapup which contained lots of shortcourse racing as well as the Frozen Rush coverage grabbed a 0.6 rating.  The 0.5 rating means that some 571,000 TVs were tuned into the Baja 1K coverage while some 685,000 were turned to the Red Bull program.  A conservative estimate of 1.1 viewers per TV (my household had three people watching it) grows the audience for each broadcast to 628,100 and 753,500 respectively. So between the two shows, well in excess of 1 million viewers took in offroad racing coverage of some kind this weekend...

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RATING
"World Of X Games"	12/28	ABC	4:00-5:00pm	0.5
"ESPN Sports Saturday:	12/28	ABC	5:00-6:00pm	0.7
"NCAA Men of March: Rick Pitino"	12/28	CBS	1:00-1:30pm	0.5
"NCAA Men of March: John Calipari"	12/28	CBS	1:30-2:00pm	0.5
College Basketball: Villanova-Syracuse	12/28	CBS	2:00-4:30pm	1.1
College Basketball: Louisville-Kentucky	12/28	CBS	4:30-6:30pm	2.1
EPL: Sunderland-Cardiff	12/28	NBC	12:00-2:30pm	0.5
U.S. Olympic Trials: Speed Skating	12/28	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.7
Golf: Long Drive World Championship	12/28	NBC	4:00-5:00pm	0.6
"Red Bull Signature Series Highlight Show"	12/28	NBC	5:00-6:00pm	0.6
"The NFL Today"	12/29	CBS	12:00-1:00pm	3.0
"NFL on CBS": (regional)	12/29	CBS	1:00-4:15pm	10.7
"NFL on CBS": Ravens-Bengals (62%)	12/29	CBS	4:15-7:30pm	12.0
"Fox NFL Sunday"	12/29	Fox	12:00-1:00pm	3.6
"NFL on Fox": (regional)	12/29	Fox	1:00-4:15pm	10.5
"NFL on Fox": Packers-Bears (63%)	12/29	Fox	4:15-7:30pm	15.2
"U.S. Ski Team 36: Bode Miller"	12/29	NBC	1:00-1:30pm	0.5
U.S. Olympic Trials: Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined	12/29	NBC	1:30-3:00pm	0.9
U.S. Olympic Trials: Speed Skating	12/29	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	1.0
Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping	12/29	NBC	4:00-5:00pm	0.8
"Dew Tour Year In Review"	12/29	NBC	4:00-5:00pm	0.6
"Football Night in America"	12/29	NBC	7:30-8:15pm	5.1
"Sunday Night Football": Eagles-Cowboys	12/29	NBC	8:30-11:45pm	16.8

Foreign Cars Now Available For Import...

Now that they have turned 25 years old (well, in a matter of 48 hours or so), these car models from 1989 can now be brought stateside--legally!

My favorite is of course the Nissan Skyline but also of note is that we now gain another year of Land Rover Defenders available for import!  Still want one in canary yellow as my dream offroader to tool around town in....

The others on this list do not exactly fill me with desire, though maybe they do for you.  If so, get out your shekels and off to your local government entity or licensed importer to bring them your way...

Cars Now Legal For Import!

Book Review: The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

Picking up this book from a recommendation on the "War on the Rocks" website was an excellent choice. I had head Maugham's name before but never read any of his works. I now will likely read a number more.

The Razor's Edge straddles the periods of the worlds of English literature between say Hemingway and Fitzgerald and that of say Kerouac and Ginsberg. Here, published in 1944, some 13 years prior to the printing of On the Road we have a book covering the search for individual enlightenment involving Eastern philosophies attained via a visit to India by the protagonist. Additionally we have frank discussions of sex, homosexuality, drug and alcohol addictions, religion, social castes, rampant materialism and the choice to "drop out" of societal norms. To say that Maugham was ahead of his time is an understatement.

Leaning back on themes more prevelant in Hemingway and Fitzgerald however, The Razor's Edge concerns a WWI aviator who is traumitized sufficently by his experiences that he comes home to reject all the comforts afforded him as a well to do member of Chicago society. He wants nothing of the cushy investment job offered to him, nor anything of the beautiful but material/society driven woman he had been betrothed to. Instead he wants to "loaf" meaning to search out a greater meaning in life that than offered by modern American society.

Maugham's style is clear, direct and conversational. There are few minced words or sublteties and the book is eminently readable. The structure to the novel is also excellent as Maugham places himself within the story as an observer coming into and out of the lives of the protagonists over the course of many years. The reader observes the rise, fall and self destruction of all involved and no one escapes with their "self" intact.

The weakest part of the work comes when the lead character--Larry Darrell, sits with Maugham and explains just what it is he has found upon his long stay in India. Larry's recounting of his time spent with a guru and learning to find his highest self through meditation and other Hindu practices comes off as a college freshman's dabblings in alternative religions and neither powerful nor explanatory in any satisfying manner. Western culture's coming interest in all things Eastern is forecast quite nicely here.

Outside of this one chapter however the book is quite powerful and riveting. The characters are real in that, to use a cliche, you feel as if you could almost reach out and touch them--likely because we all know people in our lives quite similar to them. If you can get through this work without a twinge of sadness for the tragedies and intellectual searchings befalling those who exist only on the printed page herein, you have a harder heart than I. I always view books that can stir my emotions and my thoughts in the best of regards--and that's what The Razor's Edge has done for me.

Why I Will Continue to Visit Jalopnik But...

seek to point out the hypocrisy and sleaze that exists as the ownership/editors of the Gawker media group within the Jalopnik and iO9 communities.  Sorry but I can't stand it anymore...I REALLY like Jalopnik and iO9 and their auto/sci-fi related content but I can't support the Gawker media group any longer...

I've often turned my nose up at the moronic and race/sex/economic baiting posts presented on their sister sites like Jezebel and Valleywag and often blanched at the nutjob left wing posts in some of the iO9 content but I didn't know the depths to which the owners/editors hypocrisy went...This article spells out a number of insane levels of scumbaggery they step to...We'll see if any of my future comments are posted on their sites--I doubt they will as calling out hypocrisy is almost never allowed...For all the crap that Gawker site Deadspin gives a site like Bleacher Report for being merely a search engine aggregating machine looking for clicks, at least Bleacher Report is open to virtually anyone with a computer to post and thus virtually agenda-less besides its search of the highest click through rates whereas Gawker has an inbred hypocrisy and political agenda pushed by one of the more disgusting human beings around.  Lets see how much we can irritate AJ Daulerio and Nick Denton shall we?

Look Who’s Gawking: Inside Nick Denton’s phony, hypocritical class war against tech workers (via Pando Daily)

By Paul Carr On December 26, 2013 “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” – Warren Buffett “Hypocrisy is the only modern sin.” – Nick Denton Last Friday morning…

---

Skullcandy Nissan Returning in '14 to the IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge

The black clad Skullcandy Nissan Altima's will be returning to the race circuit in 2014 after a solid effort in '13.  Its two car team finished 11th and 20th overall for the year out of 39 teams with one race win and a number of top ten finishes within the ST class.  It also looks like they have added a 370Z to their racing stable and will compete in the next rung up, GS class, in the IMSA CTSCC, having shown a fully race ready Z at SEMA '13 a couple months back.

The factory based series often runs on the same weekend as the high end TUDOR United SportsCar Championship (formerly the Rolex series).  The 2014 season will be 12 races long, up from 10 in '13 with the first event coming on 1/24/14 at Daytona prior to the 24 Hours of Daytona TUDOR event.

Skullcandy Nissan 2014 Plans...

2014 Tokyo Auto Salon--Nissan Models

 The Tokyo Auto Salon takes place the weekend of 1/10/14 and is Japan's answer to SEMA, showcasing not only concept and tricked out versions of vehicles from the major manufacturers but those from aftermarket companies as well.

Nissan is a regular attendee and '14 will be no exception.  As is typical the models being presented range from the hardcore race ready to the merely whimsical.  Japan has a love for what we probably would deem to be "silly" vehicles (Hello Kitty adorned kei cars for instance) but...it sure keeps things interesting.

Two GT-R models will be present including the GT-R Nismo GT500 racer that competes in Japan's Super GT Series and a GT-R Nismo with a special option package tuned for the Nurburgring.

The Deltawing derived ZEOD RC that is due to enter LeMans will be present as will the X-trail X-tremer concept (the future Xterra here in the States??  Perhaps).

Less hardcore are the Aero Style Leaf, Nissan March NISMO S and a gold and pink accented Dayz Roox Highway Star (a Mitsubishi co-produced product) amongst others.  So, if this isn't anything revolutionary at least it gives us something to look at direct from Nissan.  Hopefully there will be some other non-factory related showings as well.

Book Review: The First War of Physics--The Secret History of the Atom Bomb 1939-1949

Been a bit since I've posted anything--holiday season and all so we'll start off slow.

The above titled book by Jim Baggot is no lightweight coming in at nearly 600 pages. Baggot has generally kept the scope of his writing to Physics related topics such as the Higgs Boson, Quantum Theory and other modern topics.  TFWOP reaches back some 70+ years to cover the creation of the first atomic and hydrogen bombs.

The scientists that take part in this story read like a laundry list of Nobel Prize winners including Einstein, Fermi, Bohr, Teller, Heisenberg, Feynman, Oppenheimer, etc., etc. and the book covers them all in one respect or another.  If you are looking for an in depth examination of the Manhattan Project or of the Russian intelligence program that stole many of the US developed "secrets" or of the military history behind the use of these weapons, or a detailed scientific treatise on the physics behind the bombs--that's not what this work is.

What Baggot achieves here is a broad overview of the worldwide effort towards the development and use of atomic weapons during this period.  You get the Germans who were off to an early start but fell behind for numerous (and readily debatable) reasons, you get the Russians playing catch-up with the Americans via their communist sympathizers in the States and England, you get England who had a well developed program but without the necessary resources and you get the US who is the beneficiary of massive industrial scale, and a combination of its own scientists and the flight of brilliant European theoreticians due to Hitler's policies.

In essence you get a primer on all four of the major atomic efforts at this time and a look at why each one succeeded or failed and their influence, either direct or indirect on one another.  There is enough here to satisfy the "spy enthusiast" involving secret missions of sabotage and assassination as well as the amateur physics buff with "lensing" discussions, stories behind the discovery of the various elements and their isotopes and the trial and error development of how to achieve a supercritical mass.

I feel vastly more knowledgeable about the events that went on to largely shape our modern world over the following half century or more than I was before reading this book.  Most impressive to me is that all of the work attributed to these scientists was done wholly without the benefit of modern computing power.  All theories, formulas, calculations, experiments, monitoring, and measurements were done with what we would view as archaic devices and methods, doing things by hand that we would task to an electronic device today.  That they were able to develop these devices in such an environment is astonishing--and this book should leave the reader with the appropriate sense of awe over just what the force of the human mind can accomplish.

Body Armor Outlet Item of the Moment

This is another fantastic product available for immediate pickup at the Body Armor Outlet retail store in Salem, NH.

The 5.11 Tactical 1/4 Zip Job shirt is more of a sweatshirt than a "shirt" as its 11.6 ounce weight 82/18 cotton/poly blend is thick, warm, soft and stain/fade resistant.

What is not immediately visible in looking at this item online are the numerous, well placed pockets and options built into it.

In each shoulder and just slightly visible photo below are the microphone clip pockets present in each shoulder.  There is a pen pocket built into the sleeve of the left arm.  There is also a large, lower chest "breakthrough" pocket in the front with velcro closures--a vertical pouch of sorts to safely hold your gear.  Lastly, there are of course side seam handwarmer pockets and secure cuffs and hem.

The shirt comes in all your normal sizes plus has "tall" options as well and available colors are navy blue, black and a light grey.  Perfect for cooler weather or as an warm layer under a waterproof shell the 5.11 Job Shirt could be your new best friend for any "shoulder" season.

BodyArmorOutlet.com...

Movie Review: True Romance

A relative failure at the box office, my two viewings of this film come some 20 years apart having first seen it on VHS back in my college days and then again this past weekend.  True Romance was the public's second chance to encounter Quentin Tarantino and though he didn't direct the film (that was done by Tony Scott of Top Gun and brother of Ridley Scott fame) his fingerprints are all over it and it remains memorable for its violence, dialogue and fantastic cast.

The actors involved make up a long and well known list--Christian Slater (in his best role?), Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Samuel Jackson, Chris Penn, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer, James Gandolfini, Michael Rapaport, and Tom Sizemore.  Looking back its fairly amazing that all these players got together in a single film and some in quite limited roles.  Despite the lack of screentime for some of these established actors, most are VERY memorable--Gary Oldman's scarred drug dealer Drexel comes to mind as does Pitt's portrayal of the stoner roommate Floyd.

The dialogue is as sharp and witty as any Tarantino film with the "Sicilian conversation" standing out and not likely to ever get green lit for film ever again as it is so far outside the realm of political correctness I'm surprised Jesse Jackson isn't still protesting to this day.

Tony Scott always was a great action director and this is no exception here.  Slater's bloody fight with Drexel is a whirlwind of blood and glass while the final Mexican standoff shootout is a cacophony of gunshots and crashing furniture.

Tony Scott and Tarantino would team up again a few years later to produce the also excellent Crimson Tide (with another stellar cast) and made a great combination for glossy, popular, smart action films.

True Romance saw many compare it to a "modern day Bonnie & Clyde".  While it doesn't have the overall impact on cinema that this older film did, it does serve as the peak of performance for Slater (who really looks every bit "young Nicholson" he was supposed to be) and the early work of one of films best dialogue artists.  Tarantino was doing Chuck Klosterman before Klosterman globbed onto it and turned it into a snarkfest.

There are worse ways to relive the '90s than watching this film and given that Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today...well, listen to some grunge and revel in the violence with a heart of gold that is this film.

Baja Portalegre 2013...

This Rally Raid event took place a couple months back.  In reality for such a small country Portugal certainly has its fair share of big time offroad events including the WRC Portugal event and this, long form Rally Raid contest.

This was the 27th year of the Baja Portalegre, making it one of the longest held Raid events in the world and as it is held annually in early November, serves as the final warmup for numerous teams heading to the Dakar--including the Mini team in recent years, Colin McRae in his first every Rally Raid (in a Nissan pickup) and the dominant VW Toureg team featuring Carlos Sainz and American Mark Miller.

For reference out there, the base entry fee for the event was 2,000 Euros and the Special Stage mileage was 418kms.

At the end of the day it was the Mitsubishi Racing Lancer of Miguel Barbosa (a local Portugal driver) taking the win with an average of 71 kmph.  The top flight effort and Dakar Mini driver of Krzyszstof Holocwzyc finished second and the Overdrive Toyota HiLux of Reinoldo Varelo of Brazil finished third.

The top finishing Nissan was the Polish team of Marek Dabrowski with his Navara who ended up in seventh.  Other Nissan entries finished 10th, 15th, 21st, 25th, and 27th among the 34 finishers and approximately 42 entrants.

Oh and the BMW shown was  of two 325s in the event with the other one taking the class win for "cars" showing there's no excuse for rally cars not to do these more WRC style Rally Raids...

Nissan Navara/Frontier Build For Dakar 2015

Yup...2015...

No, we're not in '14 yet but builds for Dakar '15 are already underway.  One of these happens to be a Nissan being built in South Africa for Johan van Staden.  This Dakar spec vehicle it is being built by Stuart Thompson Graeme Thornton and Achim Bergman, also of South Africa who built the recent BMW X3 which took the last win of the South Africa Off Road Championship in '13.

I'll let those who are more technically inclined and knowledgeable than I to pick apart just what the particular parts of this vehicle are in terms of shock placement, suspension geometry, etc. What I can tell you is that the little grey box in the rear of the cab is an air conditioning unit sourced from Glyn Hall at Hallspeed of S.A. (the former Nissan Motorsports manager and now overseer of the Toyota team heading to Dakar), the engine in the Frontier/Navara is a V8 (VK56?) and that the fuel cell is 480 liters--almost 127 gallons!!   Are those shocks Reigers??  I believe I spy a sequential gear shifter--a Sadev??  Are the rear links beefy enough?

I am unsure of what the rear diff is though the previous Navaras built for Dakar and RallyRaid events have replaced the standard diff with that from a Nissan Patrol and they may have done the same here.  The have also gone from a rear leaf spring on the stock Navara/Frontier with a coilover setup (4 link?) and widened the front track (though not by a ton and those arms look a little wimpy for my tastes) and they have sourced some fiberglass parts that I haven't seen available anywhere as well.

Please chime in with what you see here in terms of the design and parts used.  I'm interested in what people with more knowledge of these builds than I think about it.  I've reached out to try and get more details of the build and will try to update this if I get more info.

Cool Photo From Germany...

No, I won't use the "N" word here (rhymes with Yahtzee) as that just brings up all sorts of ugly feelings and makes people think that one is promoting a certain political or sociological agenda.

I just have a fascination with aircraft, militaria and technology in general and thought this was a cool photo.

You have here a Messerschmidt BF-109 undergoing wind tunnel testing.  It always amazes me how advanced some things were some 80 years ago, yet so undeveloped at the same time.  Nowadays this would all be done in a computer or at the very least, in a computerized windtunnel.  With this photo?  Maybe they used high speed (film) cameras and pieces of yarn to try and get an idea of the flow of air over a vehicle.  Lots of slide-rulers and pencil and paper were expended that's for sure.

I also enjoy seeing photos like these as in my minds eye, historical vehicles just kind of appear on the scene and I don't think about all the infrastructure, time, testing and calculation that went into their development.  Seeing one such famous airplane in its build/testing phase just seems kinda cool--as does the scale of the huge windtunnel vs. the airplane itself and the little engineers below.