Recent Comments:
SEMA 2007: 1,000 HP ProPane Chevelle by Mothers {Autoblog}
Nov 3rd 2007 9:12PM Say I know this is incidental, and possibly even a little cheeky, and being the last comment after so long no one will probably read it at all, but wouldn't this be great for a day trip for a picnic.
Once you arrive, just plug the gas barbecue grill into the tank.
Only jokin'
Nice car though, and you should hear it running.
There was a short video clip at the Mothers forum in the blog from the last Power Tour when it made an 'unofficial' debut.
Tony.
Racing V8s at Queensland Raceway {Autoblog}
Mar 26th 2007 12:04AM This track has the racing going in a clockwise direction and as you can see from the track diagram in the Gallery, the top section has been shortened.
We here in Australia have a V8 Supercar series that has meetings at 14 circuits during the ten month long season. On 6 of the circuits the racing is clockwise and the other 8 anti clockwise. As opposed to US NASCAR racing, we have no oval tracks at all. The races come in at 500 Km with one at 400 Km as the shortest and one at 1000 Km the longest. Some races, mainly the ones toward the end of the season are staged as the one single race, the 1000 Km at Mt. Panorama Bathurst the Australian Classic over the 6.3 Km circuit up and down the Mountain, a gruelling circuit, arguably one of the toughest on the planet the long circuit at the 'Ring' notwithstanding.
The races earlier in the season are split over two, and in a couple of cases three separate races, so that the Series is indicative of the car and driver's ability over sprint and long distance races, testing endurance as well as reliability. There are two main protagonists, the Ford Falcon, and the Holden Commodore. Like NASCAR, the race cars are not those that you can buy at the Showroom, but in the Australian case, at least the cars look similar to the showroom models.
Oddly enough, our Champion from 3 years ago, and from the year before that also, Marcos Ambrose left here at the peak of his career to pursue his dream to race NASCAR, and all Australia, tongue in cheek, asked why?
He spent time trying to break in at the ground floor, spent two years in the Craftsman Truck series, and this year broke into the second tier Busch series, where he is currently just behind Juan Montoya as the leading rookie, and the highest placed driver who is competing in just that Busch Series and not in both it and the Nextel series as well. He sits in seventh place there, has been as high as fifth, and has been running at the finish in all races, the first 5 on the same lap as the winner.
The cars you see here in the article above are similar to the actual V8 Supercar race cars, and for a normal 'punter', are frightening to drive close to the limit on the actual race track.
These guys who run the outfit are doing good business and are flat out virtually every day, and they are not the only Company offering this package.
Hope I haven't bored you all with the long post.
I just love to keep in touch with what's happening in the auto industry, and Autoblog is one of the most informative ones around.
Tony.
Diet driving: Low-calorie diet produces false positives for alcohol {Autoblog}
Mar 21st 2007 4:28AM Still off topic, I realise, but this scene is indeed in Australia, and was taken in the Southern suburbs of the large city of Newcastle which is 100 miles North of Sydney
The shorts and short sleeve shirt are a Service uniform option for the summer months. The 9 Mil Glock is not optional.
As with most Service Uniforms here in Australia, be they Military, The Police Service, or other Departments that require the wearing of a uniform, and keeping in mind the heat of an Australian Summer, the wearer can elect to wear the optional shorts as long as long socks are also worn.
It's considered as looking Professional.
Tony.
Think daylight saving time saves energy? Think again. Or not. {Autoblog Green}
Mar 12th 2007 9:24PM Ah! Time.
Here's two examples that everybody can readily identify with, two high profile things.
Everyone remembers exactly where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated, and I'm one of them.
I was on the number one court playing tennis. Rod Flaxman, the coordinator of our junior tennis club poked his head out of the office door and yelled at the top of his voice, 'They've just shot President Kennedy.'
He did this immediately following the 9AM news on Saturday morning 23rd November, and it was at the Queens Park Tennis Club in Southport, Queensland Australia. In those days, it took about two hours or so for the news to reach Australia and be compiled for the morning news.
The second one I vividly remember was Neil Armstrong's moon landing. I was just about to clean out the Apprentice Club, and a bunch of guys were gathered around the television. Eager to put off a job that was going to take me a couple of hours I joined them and watched, fascinated, the live footage from the moon's surface as Neil took that 'one small step.'
The time was just after 8 AM Monday morning July 21, At RAAF base Wagga Wagga, New South Wales Australia.
History states the actual time of those 2 happenings as being Nov 22, and July 20, but they actually happened to me a day later, and to people in Europe, it was a different time again.
So, the time is noted as being where the event actually happened. (What was the time on the moon, then? They ran on Eastern Time, the time at Kennedy, as they called Canaveral in those days.)
Time is relative to where you actually are on the planet.
So, Daylight saving time starts as it ends in the US and ends just after it starts in the US, and that daylight saving is different again depending on how far North or South you are, curvature of the Earth and all.
DST will not work on the Equator because it is light and then it is dark. Blink blink.
In Alaska, there is light and dark also, but between that are numerous hours of half light, gradually diminishing to darkness.
See the point? Time is relative on where you are, as are daylight savings times.
It's not about saving energy. It's all about money.
Sorry to take so much space.
Tony.
VIDEO: When EVOs attack! The life and death of a seagull {Autoblog}
Mar 4th 2007 7:33PM I hope that you guys will indulge me for a minute with a memorable but true story from the late fifties, early sixties, that in a way resembles this story, and even though the story is humourous and may be perceived as being a joke, it was the actual truth.
There have been numerous versions but this would be the original, and it is not meant in any way to 'have a go at' my friends in your great Country, as I am an Australian, and I looked upon this as just another humourous story about a scientific interpretation issue.
Rolls Royce were developing high speed jet turbines for fitment to one of those original jet airliners, in this case, the early de Havilland Comet. To simulate the effects of bird strike and how it would effect the operation of their engines, Rolls developed a type of delivery device that fired chickens into their running engines.
When American scientists heard of this, they contacted Rolls Royce and asked if the specs could be sent over so they could use the device to hurl chickens into their design for a new high speed train.
The American scientists duly constructed the device, and tested it on the front of the unmanned train.
To their absolute horror, the engineers watched as the chicken smashed through the shatter proof glass, blowing it to smithereens, then smash through the console, smash through the drivers head rest, snapping it like a twig, and then embedding itself in the back wall of the cockpit of the train.
Severely chastened, they immediately sent off footage of this to the Rolls Royce scientists in the UK along with design specifications for the shatterproof windscreen, asking the Brits for their analysis and any suggestions they might be able to offer.
Rolls Royce responded with a one line memo.
'Defrost the chicken.'
See, even science gets misinterpreted sometimes, as do some of these posts.
Sorry to take so much space.
Tony.
How Automobile envisions the next Ford Escort {Autoblog}
Mar 4th 2007 5:45PM laserwizard
The 1997 Escort was, funnily enough, called a Ford Laser here in Australia, and was a rebadged Mazda both here and there in the US as well.
So, when you say 'eat that you Jap loving pukes', would that be an axiomatic oxymoron?
Tony.
How Automobile envisions the next Ford Escort {Autoblog}
Mar 3rd 2007 7:42PM 'Normal Hand Drive????'
Why run down those of us who have right hand drive as being less than normal.
I understand it's just one opinion, but we're not really less than normal.
The Ford Escort originally started life in the late Sixties when Ford had Ford Europe (Taunus) Ford UK (Zephyr, Consul, Escort, Cortina et al) Ford Australia (Our own designed Falcon) as well as Ford US.
This original Ford Escort was a 4 cylinder small car that had an absolutely huge following in the UK and here in Australia (you remember them, subnormal hand drive).
Tony.
VIDEO: The Magnificent 5 from Wide-Trac Country {Autoblog}
Feb 26th 2007 1:38AM All this shows me one important thing that I'm happy to say that I'm still learning, and that's the differences between two English speaking countries.
Shrimp to Camaro. Very clever.
We say Boot, you guys say Trunk
We say Bonnet. You say Hood.
We say Ute. You say Pickup.
And on it goes.
Each time I read something, I learn something new, like the Mercury Cougar and Plymouth Barracuda of that original ad, which now makes it a very clever ad altogether.
I just loved that 1968 Monaro ad, prices starting from $2575.
Tony.
VIDEO: The Magnificent 5 from Wide-Trac Country {Autoblog}
Feb 24th 2007 7:57PM Bob.
Thanks again.
We didn't get the Cougar either.
Monaro. eg Possum. Gotta love that. Yuk yuk yuk.
Dame Edna would be so proud.
Tony.
VIDEO: The Magnificent 5 from Wide-Trac Country {Autoblog}
Feb 24th 2007 7:14PM Hey thanks.
Of course.
We didn't get them here in Australia, other than the very rare converted import.
Chrysler did come here with that 'truly lovely??' Chrysler Royal, and then in the mid sixties, Chrysler set up here with the Valiant, and we got a smaller version of your Challenger, and called it the Valiant Charger, albeit completely reengineered.
All those muscle cars we only admired from afar, other than the imports, Mustang the most prevalent.
Tony.
