Techart Cayenne Needs Even More Power

I blogged about the Techart Cayenne and pointed out that the relationship between drag and speed was a squared one meaning that a Cayenne would need four times as much power to double its speed.  As my clever son pointed out the relationship above 200 mph or so is actually cubed meaning that it would need eight times as much power to do 400 mph or 5440 HP at which point it would spontaneously explode, scattering the Zuffenhausenian elves to the four winds.  For the love of God Techart don't do it!

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Another New Species in the Greater Mekong

I have written before about the discovery of new species and the irony of this occurring when extinctions are happening with increased frequency.  I have even raised the possibility of a species becoming extinct before we even know it exists.  Here is one new species, an exquisite tiny leaf warbler, to which this won't apply.  And it is most welcome because on the Mekong birds are not very prevalent.

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He's Back!

Schuey is back.  With a conjunction of Schuey,a M-B full works team with Ross brawn as technical director, and with World Champions Hamilton, Button and Alonso to be overcome together with no refuelling heralds the best F1 season for a very long time.  I have moaned about the current state of F1 previously.  Hopefully I won't have to next year.

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Monterey 2009: Blastolene's twin-supercharged V12 Peterbilt hot rod — Autoblog

When I was young, in my teens, I had a very strange psychiatric disorder.  You see at the time I was engrossed in F1, Le Mans and Ferrari 250LMs, a perfectly respectable interest for a 15 year old, I was also secretly grooving to US hot rods - something only coarse and common boys were into.  It is hard to imagine how different these two categories of vehicle were.  I have to confess that this split personality, this automotive schizophrenia, has never quite left me.
So it was with quivering excitement that I read the story in Autoblog of the Blastolene V12 Peterbilt hot rod.  What a machine, what a concept, what a name, wowee! Such a fantastical concoction so beautifully made couldn't help but stir the blood.  So see for yourself....isn't it quite something!
Monterey 2009: Blastolene's twin-supercharged V12 Peterbilt hot rod — Autoblog

Photo copyright ©2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

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Speed Limits

I see that the Government is wanting to introduce more 20 mph speed limits.  So this should help the sale of Techart Porsche Caynene Turbos then (see previous post)!

Techart Porsche Cayenne Turbo closes in on 200 mph at Nardo — Autoblog

This article tells how Techart have made a Porsche Cayenne Turbo reach almost 200mph.  On the face of it this sounds really clever but it is nothing of the sort.  It is merely basic Physics at work.
The maximum speed of a car occurs when the power available equals the power required to overcome the rolling resistance (the friction of the tyres and moving bits in the engine) plus the drag of the car travelling through the air.  The drag in turn has two parts: skin friction and form drag due to the size of the front of the car and the overall shape.  In aeroplanes there is a third type called "lift induced drag" which hardly matters here because the prospect of a 200 mph Cayenne lifting off is too terrifying to contemplate.  So to make a car go fast you need it to have lots of power, a small frontal area and a slippery shape.
For a Cayenne there is not much you can do about its frontal area or shape so the only way to make it go faster is by giving it more power - hence the 680 bhp of this one.  So theoretically one might imagine that doubling the power would double the speed so a Techart Cayene with 1,360 bhp might do 400 mph.  But it doesn't work like that because drag also increases with speed and not directly. It is a squared relationship so at 400 mph the Cayenne would need four times the power required at 200 mph or a whopping 2,720 bhp!!!    I suppose you could build a 2,720 bhp Cayenne but it would be like an AA Fuel Dragster.  It would need to run on nitromethanol and  would only last 10 seconds before either running out of fuel or exploding!
So you can see how silly this sort of thing is because it depends on only producing more power.  And for what?  Such a car offers nothing remotely useable over the highly capable standard Cayenne.  I suppose Jezza and the Hamster might be able to persuade little boys that it's wonderful but not me.

Techart Porsche Cayenne Turbo closes in on 200 mph at Nardo — Autoblog

Revealed: the new Ferrari P540 Superfast Aperta one-off

One-off custom Ferraris seem to be alive and well.  Following the recent  Zagato 550 GTZ Barchetta comes this little beauty based on the 599 GTB Fiorano and similar to the equally exotic 1961 250 GTE Fantuzzi NART Spyder, the Ferrari P540 Superfast Aperta is in the great tradition of the Carrozzeria-built Ferraris of yesteryear on which I have blogged previously.  These one-off cars were built for not only the rich and famous but also for the true tifosi.  They are what Ferrari is all about.

Revealed: the new Ferrari P540 Superfast Aperta one-off: "The first shake-down has been held at Fiorano of a very special one-off, the P540 Superfast Aperta"

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The Flight of the Turkey

Well it's finally happened!  It flies!!  But will it do the things we want it to and will it be good value for money?   More importantly how will we we pay for it?
And at the present rate of progress it should reach IOC about 2024.
(Article from FlightGlobal.com)
PICTURES: Airbus celebrates as A400M gets airborne: "The A400M took off on its first test flight at 10:15 local time from San Pablo airport in Spain ..."

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Infection Control: a huge joke.

I had occasion today to visit a large hospital in the Central Belt of Scotland.  I was waiting outside a clinical area which was accessed by a double door.  Only patients and hospital staff were allowed through into the area.  On the double doors were three prominent signs telling everyone who entered the clinical area to wash their hands with the alcohol gel that was provided from a dispenser on the wall next to the door.
I waited for about half an hour and during that time about a dozen people entered the area.

NOT ONE OF THEM WASHED THEIR HANDS

Infection control in this hospital is clearly a joke.

Clostridium difficile on Blood Agar

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Pot Calling the Kettle Black

So Iraq "amateurs" were to blame!
Army chief blames Iraq 'amateurs': "A senior official tells the inquiry into the Iraq war that 'amateurs' with limited experience were put into key roles in the country."

This is a bit rich coming from the  man who was "taken by surprise" and "unprepared for the speed of victory" in the Second Gulf War. During the First Gulf War the Iraqis were crushed in no time.  Did he think it would be any different the second time around?

Image from The Telegraph

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Airbus confirms A400M first flight this Friday

Almost there!  I've started holding my breath in eager anticipation.  Never in the field of aircraft development has so little taken so long.  As I have blogged before a hi-lo mix of C-17s and C-130Js would be better and cheaper. This is a purely political aircraft and it's now almost too late to save the taxpayer humungous sums of money.  Do you realise that if this aircraft didn't exist we could buy 67,983 IED-proof armoured vehicles and 6 million sets of body armour and put them to good use saving lives?  (Actually I made up the numbers for effect but I'm sure you get the point).

Airbus confirms A400M first flight this Friday: "Airbus Military has confirmed that its A400M transport is scheduled to make its first flight on 11 December, with aircraft MSN001 due to lift off from San..."

Source:

 

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Bullfinches

We had some bullfinches in our garden today.  So what?  Well we seldom get bullfinches despite them being described as "a common garden bird", and it has been shown that the UK population is decreasing so when we do see them it is a great joy.
Usually they appear as small mixed-sex flocks of up to 20 or so.  Today it was a male and two females only. They gleaned the plants on the garden archway for insects and then in a trice they were gone, rapidly zooming across the open ground to the West. Now you see them now you don't!

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Rumormill: Ferrari preparing hardcore 599 GTO?

The fabulous Ferrari 250 GTO of the early Sixties was a true iconic sportsracing car along with others like the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR, D-Type Jaguar and Ford GT-40.  Every schoolboy knew all about the 250 GTO. Its designation, originally standing for Gran Turismo Omoligato, meaning it was approved for GT class racing by the FIA, was hijacked by lots of other cars in a show of the sincerest form of flattery e.g. the Pontiac GTO and the incredibly unlovely Mitsubishi Gallant GTO etc, none of which were remotely as great.  Ferrari used the designation only once more for the 288 GTO, an over-hyped ancestor of the great F40.  Ferrari GTOs don't come round too often!
So it is little wonder that the rumour of a a new GTO sets the automotive world's collective pulses racing.  Following on from the FXX Evoluzione, itself a road going derivative of the Enzo, the 599 GTO would be based on the gorgeous 599 GTB.  If it were to happen it would bring back some much needed style to fast Ferraris.  The Enzo and its ilk might be the last word in technology but they look like they belong in a Transformer movie.
So let us hope...
Rumormill from Autoblog
Rumormill: Ferrari preparing hardcore 599 GTO?: "
Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Geneva Motor Show, Ferrari, Rumormill

Ferrari 599XX - Click above for high-res image gallery

Ferrari often uses its World Finals event to unveil exclusive new versions of its most enticing road cars. The FXX Evoluzione was unveiled there a couple of years ago, and the 16M Scuderia Spider made its debut at the event last year. But aside from a mishap involving Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Luca di Montezemolo in a California convertible, this year's event at Valencia came and went with nothing new to offer. However, the latest churns from the rumormill indicate Maranello could be working on an exciting new project.



Supposedly leaked pre-order sheets reportedly refer to a '599 GTO Limited Edition', named in deference to the iconic 250 GTO (to say nothing of the ground-pounding 288 GTO). Based on the 599 GTB Fiorano, the GTO could be Maranello's answer to arch-rival Lamborghini's Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce.



Incorporating design cues and technologies from the 599XX program, the 599 GTO could benefit from a weight-reduction program to cut some 100-150 pound off the curb weight thanks to the extensive use of carbon fiber, while squeezing out as much as 700 horsepower from the Enzo-derived 6.0-liter V12. Pricing would be expected to jump by as much as a quarter to nearly $400,000, and if the reports prove accurate, the 599 GTO could be ready for debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March with the first of just 500 examples slated for delivery by this time next year.

Gallery: Geneva 2009: Ferrari 599xx

[Source: Autogespot]

Rumormill: Ferrari preparing hardcore 599 GTO? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7: The Curates Egg?

I finally made the switch to Windows 7 at the weekend.  Vista, which promised so much in the beginning, was slowly getting slower with many more episodes of the dreaded spinning wheel for no apparent reason, so I decided to take the plunge.  Having done my due diligence and read the feeds on W7 and pondered their meaning I decided to go.  I went for the Upgrade which came with both 64 bit and 32 bit disks.  Therein was the first puzzle.  Having checked my processor and discovered it would run 64 bit applications I looked forward eagerly to a new world only to have my expectations dashed when I discovered that you can only upgrade 32 bit Vista Home Premium to 32 bit Windows 7 Home premium.  Never mind I won't notice the difference thought I.
Knowing that preparation, belts and braces and spot welds are required for any change in an MS product, I took an image of my hard disk, backed it up with Windows back up and copied all my files across to my 1TB external hard drive so if all turned to shit I could rebuild the OS in Vista using the computer's recovery disk.
I also followed the advice of Windows Upgrade Adviser and uninstalled  iTunes and printed off hard copies of MS's upgrade instructions.
So when the software arrived I reckoned I was ready to go and eager to do so.  I inserted the disks and opted for "Upgrade" rather than "Custom Install" [I won't bore you with the technical reasons for going down this path].  Following MS's lead I chose to download any updates required before continuing.  Imagine my horror when I got a message something like "Cannot continue with Installation.  File 45cn90fhk.hgu [or something quite like it] cannot load!!!.  So after several retries that yielded the same thing and much puzzling I elected to proceed without downloading updates, assiduously ignoring MS's warning that if I did it may cause my entire computer to melt.  Success....installation started and then told me I had to uninstall my phone software which I could only do by aborting the installation.
Having done this and gone through the whole palava again it started to churn and it churned and churned and churned for about 5 hours, restarting many times, before I had my new operating system.
But then then the real hard-to-solve problems started.
My scanner wouldn't work and after much cogitation I found a site with a Windows 7 download for the scanner, an Epson V300 (not on Epson's UK site I might add).  I installed the W7 driver and it still wouldn't run so I tried running it in compatibility mode (W7's compatibility mode is much better than Vista's and really works well).  This worked but means that each time I run the scanner I have to tell the dialogue box that it's really OK to do this.
Nero 7 didn't work and Nero would not provide an update, instead saying you could upgrade to Nero 9 (Windows 7 Certified) for only £39.99.  Bugger that I thought: I don't really need it so I uninstalled it (more of this later).
Everything now seemed OK so I sat back to enjoy the Windows 7 experience.  And it was very good.  Quicker (except perversely Windows Media Centre  which was incredibly slow-again more in a minute), more intuitive and better looking.  In short the OS that Vista should have been.
Then I discovered that both my optical drives weren't being picked up by the OS.  Device Manager told me that their drivers had been corrupted and the registry entries were shot.  How did that happen but more importantly how to fix it?
Using the most useful and best piece of software MS has ever made, System Restore, four times I concluded that uninstalling Nero had somehow corrupted the Registry.  So I rolled it all back two days and recovered my two optical drives.  It had been, as the Great Duke once said, a damn close run thing.  Now it's functioning OK and like the Curate's Egg some of it is very good.  Except I have an un-uninstallable, completely useless piece of software which regularly sends messages about being unable to load.
The bad bits are that it runs slow with some software: Windows Media Centre and FeedDemon particularly, with no apparent fixes.  And Windows Media Centre although obviously a new and slicker version still has real problems with its interface - it is still a major and puzzling chore to get the media libraries set up properly.
Was it all worth it?  Yes is the answer.  It continues to get faster over time, rather like a child learining how to ride a bike, most applications run better and the interface is great.
If you are going to upgrade from Vista think carefully about whether you can bear the nausea of doing a clean install and then having to reinstall all your software and settings.  It's probably a better way to go than upgrading.  If you are running XP you have to do this anyway -there is no migration path.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

The rather elegant blog Defence of the Realm which is not only well thought out but has interesting and perceptive analysis is running a story on changes to tactical doctrine in UK warfighting in Afghanistan.  The new doctrine will be taught to all new army officers.  But is the doctrine really new?  It sets out the need to bribe the Taliban with "bags of gold" in order to buy them off.  This strategy for the UK has a long and ignominious history going back to William Pitt the Younger and the bribing of most of Europe to stand fast against the tyrrany of Bonaparte.  An analysis of British foreign policy over the last 300 years shows little evidence of the stupendously misguided concept, advanced by the late Robin Cook, of the UK having an "ethical foreign policy".  

This policy of bribery (exquisitely announced on the eve of the Queen's Speech which inter alia outlined  the  Bribery Bill, which will make it offence to bribe foreign officials and for business to fail to prevent bribery) also acknowledges that our counter-insurgency tactics, learned in Northern Ireland, don't work generally.  Perhaps this will put an end to the extremely irksome behaviour exhibited by some senior army officers of going round saying to anyone who will listen "Now pay attention you lot, we know all about the right way to conduct these sort of operations"

Hopefully this will all lead to a new generation of army leaders who actually understand how to prosecute these wars.  Unfortunately the admission that we have got it wrong will be of little comfort to the wounded warriors of the current conflict.

It seems that the young Independent Whig might have had it right after all.

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Quick Spin: Superformance MKIII R Cobra kickstarts our hearts

This is from Autoblog.  Whilst not the most beautiful car to me (unlike to the Autoblog team) this is what a real sportscar should look like.  And go like.  Now if only Ferrari would build retro cars like, for example the 250LM...

Quick Spin: Superformance MKIII R Cobra kickstarts our hearts: "
Filed under: Classics, Convertible, Performance, Quick Spin

Superformance MKIII R Cobra - Click above for high-res image gallery

It's mea culpa time. While it's probably best not to begin a review with an apology, this author would be fairly derelict in his auto bloggin' duty if he didn't admit that not only does this review represent his first time in a Cobra - ever - but that he went in wanting to love the car. After all, not only is the Cobra Daytona Coupe the single greatest car yours truly has ever driven, but it's fair to call me a Shelby-head. At least once a week, the fiancee is hollering to put one of several several Shelby books back in the bookcase. But still, before today, these hands and feet had never driven a Cobra.
Of course, purists will argue that's still the case. This gunmetal gray beauty wasn't built on Princeton Ave. in Venice Beach. Nor was it built at Shelby America's hanger near LAX. In fact, it wasn't even built in America. No, this particular Cobra - the Superformance MKIII R, a special version of their MKIII - is built in South Africa. Recently, too. The MKIII R actually has a modern, square-tube spaceframe chassis with different hard points and suspension than you'd find underneath a classic Cobra's skin. Perhaps it's not a 'real' Cobra, but here's what Carroll Shelby has to say about Superformance's efforts, 'It's not a true Shelby, but I've endorsed and licensed the car for being as close to correct and well-built as possible.' Good enough for us.

Gallery: Quick Spin: Superformance MKIII-R

Photos copyright (C)2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.
Continue reading Quick Spin: Superformance MKIII R Cobra kickstarts our hearts

Quick Spin: Superformance MKIII R Cobra kickstarts our hearts originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shooting the State Capitols, USA

Edward Crim is a photographer from St Louis, Missouri, who has undertaken to photograph all the State Capitols across the US. So far he has done 39.  This is a terrific project and one after my own heart.  As you'll see from my Flickr photos I am prone to shooting buildings but I'm not in the same class as Edward!  You can see Edward's photos here.  Roll the mouse over each city to bring up the key photo; click on the city to see the set.
And to start the ball rolling here is Melbourne in the early 1990s:

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VIDEO: Jay Leno drives the 1970 Hotchkis E-Max Challenger

Jay Leno seems to like the Hotchkiss E-Max Challenger as well.

VIDEO: Jay Leno drives the 1970 Hotchkis E-Max Challenger: "
Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Dodge, Celebrities

Jay Leno and the 1970 Hotchkis E-Max Challenger - Click above to watch video after the jump

Well, well, well -- look who's jumping on our Hotchkis bandwagon. It's none other than Jay Leno behind the wheel of the 1970 Hotchkis E-Max Challenger! What a wonderful beast of an automobile.



To refresh your memory a bit, the suspension gurus at Hotchkis wanted to build a classic muscle car that not only looked and sounded the part, but that handled like a modern performance car. In fact, they wanted to take things a step further, so they went and built an auto-crosser. To quote ourselves, 'Tooling around the 'hood a bit I'm slightly amazed at how much the bright yellow Dodge feels like a go kart. A gigantic go kart, but a go kart nonetheless.'

And guess what? Jay feels the same way. Well, not quite the same, as he compares the handling to a Lamborghini. We're not prepared to go quite so far, but there is no question that as far as 1970 Mopars go, this is the best handling one out there, period. One thing Jay does that we didn't get to do is place the E-Max on a lift and get a guided tour of all the fancy-pants suspension components from none other than John Hotchkis himself. They examine the poly-bushings, the shiny tie-rods and the elegant A-arms that make up the E-Max's sophisticated front end, as well as the less-than-modern (but still nifty) solid-axle leaf-sprung rear. Then they venture out into the streets of Burbank for a little hoonage, including a smoky burnout. Watch the video, after the jump.

Gallery: Review: 1970 Hotchkis E-Max Challenger T/A

Photos copyright (C)2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.



[Source: Jay Leno's Garage]

VIDEO: Jay Leno drives the 1970 Hotchkis E-Max Challenger originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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