The Life Guard and the RAF

It seems that former Life Guard and international crooner James Blunt had a bad experience trying to get to a morale boosting concert in Afghanistan.

On the face of it everything that could go wrong at the hands of the RAF did and the concert had to be cancelled.

As  former air force officer (in my case the RAAF) it really hurts to hear these tales of woe.  Being a fighter jock is great and glamorous but the real projection of strategic power in the sorts of conflicts we chose to fight these days can only be achieved by the so called “trash haulers”.  But it appears that they aren’t very good at it.  A big size 12 boot up the arse is definitely required here.

Close Air Support after Harrier

Now that the Harrier is history the question arises as to how we will provide close air support for land operations in Afghanistan.

Big fast jets, whilst being able to deliver a large precise punch are not really very good at sustained close air support (CAS) to troops on the ground.

During the Vietnam war although F-4s, F-100s and F-5s were all used successfully for air support one of the most effective CAS aircraft was the A-1 Skyraider in various guises.  It carried a big load of munitions and could loiter close to the forward edge of the battle area and so be on call at short notice.

The modern version is the A-1 is the Warthog but I can’t see us buying them for the CAS role.

But we could buy AT-6 Texans, probably quite cheaply at that and since the Mod has made the first step in buying non-Brit gear there seems no argument not to.

Rivet Joint morphs into Air Seeker

 

At last the coalition seem to have taken a sensible procurement decision to forgo “Made in Britain” kit and acquire three US RC-135 W Rivet Joint aircraft for the joint electronic intelligence role.  These will replace the ageing Nimrod R1s.

This will provide four advantages over the Nimrod:

• The RC-135 airframe is mature robust and virtually indestructible having been developed from the evergreen KC-135 tanker which is still in front line USAF service.
• The RAF will now have full interoperability with the US, unlike the Nimrod
• There will be three of them rather than only two Nimrods
• They're available now

Lets hope that the Government and its recently appointed new head of MoD procurement will will take lots more sensible defence procurement decisions rather than buying only British kit (because it keeps British jobs) like the previous and utterly incompetent government.

Same Again Please

Is it just me or are we entering a period, like the 70s, when all new cars seem to look the same irrespective of make?

Autoblog is currently covering the Los Angeles auto show so take a look at today’s blog and see for yourself.  The style isn’t exactly elegant!

Arriving at the Pub

When I was living in Surrey I used to frequent the Noah’s Ark in Lurgashall West Sussex, one of the most picturesque pubs you could imagine, situated on the perfect English village green where the gentle click of willow on leather can often be heard on the long Summer evenings.

I often wondered what car would be best to arrive in at the pub to create the maximum attention.  After much contemplation of the usual suspects: RR Silver Ghost London to Edinburgh, Jaguar XKSS, AC Cobra 427, Tipo 61 Birdcage Maserati, P4 Ferrari etc, etc. I concluded that something out of the ordinary would be better.  So I decided on a J2 Allard which seemed to me to fit the bill – masculine, loud and very hirsute.

I  have only ever seen one and that was at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu so my ambition seemed doomed.  But now a Canadian company is making replicas so good that they could be like a sort Sanction 2 a la Aston Martin DB4GT  Vantage Zagato. See: PistonHeads Headlines

Now all I need is the dosh and I can knock ‘em dead art the Noah’s Ark!

Spy Shots: Porsche 911 struts its stuff — Autoblog

From the always entertaining Autoblog:

Spy Shots: Porsche 911 struts its stuff — Autoblog

How terribly exciting  a New Porsche that looks, well er, like every other new Porsche for the last 20 years.

PistonHeads Headlines

Audi decides how cars will sound driving down electric avenue...

PistonHeads Headlines

I should have thought that the answer for Audi was fairly obvious…a loud Bavarian voice repeating endlessly Achtung, Vorsprung  Durch Technic, Dumbkopf

BBC - Earth News - New species of snub-nosed monkey discovered in Myanmar

Another new species of monkey discovered in Burma …BBC - Earth News - New species of snub-nosed monkey discovered in Myanmar

How wonderful that yet another large (-ish) mammal has been discovered, this time related to other snub-nosed monkeys found in Vietnam and China.

Whopping Antenna in Space to Provide 4G Wireless Service Soon | LiveScience

This is a genuine good news story, at least for me (Whopping Antenna in Space to Provide 4G Wireless Service Soon | LiveScience)

You see I can’t get a decent Virgin 3G signal here in Dunblane and entirely perversely can get a good one in a cave in the Maghreb Sahara!

BBC News - 'Vital' science spared deep cuts

 

Well it looks like the science budget has not been cut as much as feared (BBC News - 'Vital' science spared deep cuts).

This is good news and will enable “science” to get on with the jobs that are vital to all our futures.  Expect to see a raft of new research programmes designed to better previous endeavours such as :

• Why flies have wings;
• Why wildebeests aren’t blue;
• Why cross-eyed lions can’t see straight;
• Why the tops of mountains are cold (this will examine the counterintuitive argument that things closer to the Sun are actually colder than those further away); and (not forgetting applied science):
• How to boil an egg on an electric guitar.

How the leopard got its spots

 

 

The BBC is carrying this astonishing story BBC News - On how the leopard got its spots

It seems, following a research programme, that leopards have spots so they can hide in trees and not be seen – Doh!

Now I guess everyone probably knows this because it is intuitively obvious.

Cutting the science budget is possibly no bad thing if it is spent on this sort of ridiculous research!

BBC - Earth News - New carnivorous mammal species found in Madagascar

It feels good to be able to blog about the discovery of yet another unknown carnivore, this time from Madagascar - BBC - Earth News - New carnivorous mammal species found in Madagascar.

The importance of the discovery of new mammalian predators cannot be overestimated.  The existence of mammalian predators is indicative of a healthy ecology.  When a habitat starts to degrade the first species to go are the predators because the food chain “dries up”.

In this case the mammal is a vontsira (Salanoia durrelli), a little known animal of the family Eupleridae whose best known member is the Fossa, a type of true mongoose:

It has been given the common name Durrell’s vontsira in honour of Gerald Durrell, the founder of Jersey Zoo. It is thought that it lives in marshland and may prey on molluscs and crustaceans.

Tory Conference: Labour left 'ghastly legacy' over Armed Forces, says Liam Fox - Telegraph

And we know who’s to blame don’t we.  Macavity’s not there:he’s gone for good. Hallelujah!

Tory Conference: Labour left 'ghastly legacy' over Armed Forces, says Liam Fox - Telegraph

Aussies Steal a March on the USAF

While the USAF,Office of Procurement and vested aerospace interests continue to squabble over the specification and contract for the KC-X, the replacement tanker for the venerable KC-135, the RAAF is set to take delivery of its first A330MRTT tanker/transport, based on the Airbus A330, in the next few weeks. This aircraft is also on order for the RAF and will probably become the standard Western “full fat” tanker in the years to come.
The importance of the KC-X programme for the US’s global reach cannot be overestimated and is possibly the single most important USAF programme for a generation.  So it is perplexing that the Yanks can’t get their act together.  I am a great admirer of US kit and ways of doing things but sometimes they border on the pathetic.

More New Species Found in the Greater Mekong

I have blogged before about the discovery of new species in general and in the Greater Mekong in particular:
http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/09/extinction-is-forever.html http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/12/another-new-species-in-greater-mekong.html, http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/10/global-warming-in-greater-mekong.html and http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/09/where-have-all-birds-gone-on-mekong-at.htmlWWF is urging urgent action to ensure that new species discovered as a result of research in the Greater Mekong basin are not lost.The full WWF report can be downloaded hereBut the message is best summed up in this WWF video

New discoveries in the Greater Mekong from WWF on Vimeo.

Stuxnet Rolls On

 

Stuxnet, the malware that infiltrates Siemens plant control software and trashes it, has come to public notice since its attack on an Iranian nuclear reactor.  Indeed one could say that it has become an Important Issue having been featured on the Today Programme this morning.

I listened with fascination as the two “experts” talked with great gravitas about it.  Unfortunately the female professor, though articulate in that BBC way of speaking to the prols, couldn’t manage anything much more enlightening than it might be serious and showed new ways that bad people could attack in cyberspace.

Now call me old-fashioned but I happen to think that an ability to trash an oppressive and lunatic regime’s nuclear weapons facility remotely without a body count can hardly be called bad.

As I have previously blogged Stuxnet and its ilk may be the future of warfare and if that is the case then we need to plough significantly more resources into research and operations involving cyber war – particularly defending against cyber attacks-if we can do it to them they can do it to us.  Probably more than buying two new aircraft carriers which already are probably vulnerable to a Stuxnet –like attack. 

There is worrying evidence that the defence review is looking in the wrong place.  Instead of bickering about the numbers of fast jets and special forces soldiers we should be going flat out to build our cyberwar capability at a fraction of the cost.  What’s needed is brainpower not kit.

Building our defence doctrine on the assertion that “Whatever happens we have got the SAS [or Trident] and they have not” (with apologies to Hilaire Belloc) is hardly a way of future-proofing the nation.

Iron Man-style power suits

Is this the future of warfare or is it a last gasp of the old way of fighting as compared with cyber war (see Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare LiveScience and BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers )
Click here for graphic demo

Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare | LiveScience

LiveScience (Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare | LiveScience) would appear to be supporting the thesis, discussed on this blog, that cyber war will significantly change the very nature of war itself.
Watch this space!

BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers

This is an item - BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers - about a virus that has infected Iran’s nuclear reactor that is designed to destroy it by attacking the Siemens plant operating software.   It is suggested that the attack is the work of a nation state.
Could this be the start of a new type of warfare, already much heralded but yet to be initiated?
Clausewitz reminds us that the aim of war is to disarm the enemy i.e. to defeat the enemy’s ability to wage war.
Sun Tzu tells us that the supreme act of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
What appears to have happened relates to both dictums with dramatic resonance.
But we shouldn’t ditch our conventional weapons quite yet.

Texas Pumas Rescue Florida Panthers | Big Cat Endangered Species, Wild Cats & Inbreeding | LiveScience

WHAT’s IN A NAME? 

This LiveScience article ”Texas Pumas Rescue Florida Panthers | Big Cat Endangered Species, Wild Cats & Inbreeding | LiveScience” is quite interesting but for a while I was wondering which animal was being referred to.  The talk, as shown by the title, was of panthers.  But I didn’t think there were any wild panthers outside of Asia and Africa so the bit about panthers in Florida had me a bit bemused.  So some Wiki Work was called for.

Turns out there are (at least) three wild big cats that wear the label Panther:

• Melanistic leopards (Panthera pardus), found in Africa and Asia;
• Black Panthers which are melanistic Jaguars (Panthera onca), found in the Americas; and
• Florida Panthers which are a blue-eyed subspecies of of the Puma [also known as a Cougar] (Puma concolor), also found in the Americas.

The one thing they all have in common is being big black cats.  So when you say Panther it depends on who you are as to what you mean. That’s exactly why scientific names are so important because each one is specific and unique.

In any event all big cats, with the possible exception of lions, are in trouble so the substance of the article is good news.

My top 10 most important cars in history. What are yours? - Anything goes

 
Autocar scribe Sutters has listed (below) what, to him, are the ten most important cars ever.  Needless to say I don’t entirely agree with him.  So here are mine
Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale – because it is the most beautiful car…ever
The Mini (Alec Issigonis’s one)- because it made small cars trendy and showed that a good big’un  doesn’t always beat a small good’un.
Lotus 7 and its heirs and descendents- because lightness is the soul of good engineering
Toyota Landcruiser- because it can go anywhere and is indestructible
Honda NSX – because it showed that anyone can drive a true supercar
Lancia Lambda- for showing that monocoque construction was a goer
Citroen Traction Avante- for proving front-wheel drive.
MG TC – for turning America on to sports cars
Toyota Prius – for being the first hybrid that people actually wanted to buy
My top 10 most important cars in history. What are yours? - Anything goes

BBC News - Seagulls 'may be spreading superbugs'

This item brings together two of my intellectual interests – ornithology (particularly Larids) and microbiology – both of which I studied at Monash University in the 70s.  It’s like bumping  into a couple of old friends.

But alas the contents of the item bring no comfort.  Given the numbers of gulls in urban areas in Scotland: Common Gulls, Back-Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, all of which wage merciless war on mankind, it is surely only a matter of time until they add biological warfare to their repertoire.

BBC News - Seagulls 'may be spreading superbugs'

Goodwood Revival 2010 - pics - Motoring - Picture Gallery - Autocar.co.uk

Autocar has published a gallery of evocative  pictures of clasic sports and racing cars (plus a couple of warbirds, some buses and motorbikes) taken at the Goodwood Revival meeting.
Go on take the challenge and identify all of them (there are no captions!) – just click this link:
Goodwood Revival 2010 - pics - Motoring - Picture Gallery - Autocar.co.uk

BBC News - Pink-footed geese return to Scotland

 

 

The rhythm of the seasons continues unaffected by Man (and Woman for those who care about these matters)  and the pink-footed geese return to Scotland.  See this article on the Beeb site:

BBC News - Pink-footed geese return to Scotland

Internet Explorer 9

I am trying out the new IE9 and I have to say it is a vast improvement.  It seems as fast as Chrome but it has vastly more functionality.  I suppose its target competitors are, in the main, the heavy duty high functionality browsers such as Firefox and Opera and to a lesser extent the less functional high speed browsers such as Chrome and Safari.

Its functionality is pretty impressive including “Blog This” using Windows Live Writer which means you don't have to use the ghastly Blogger interface.  I’m drafting this using Live Writer.  And there are lots of other nice bits including a Google tool bar, a Button Bar like Chrome and a nice spell checker, ideal for ham-fisted typists like me.

But it doesn't do everything perfectly, which is only to be expected as it is still in Beta version, so don't un-install your existing browsers quite yet.  It seems fairly stable though if a bit slow in some of its bells and whistles.  Hopefully all will be ironed out when the final version is released.

You can download the Beta version at here:

Relaxing by Lake Como

A fortnight ago we spent a terrific week at Carate Urio on Lake Como with our Australian friends Christine and John whom we have known for years.  They are spending time in Europe and invited us to join them for a week on Lake Como.  So it was with great anticipation we flew out to Milano and met them the following day at Stazione Centrale in Milano and travelled to our appertment in Urio by train and bus.

We spent the next few days touring the lake by ferry, including a day in Como, and on the final day we crossed into Switzerland and visited Lake Lugano and its town.

Had a terrific time needless to say and it was great to see Christine and John once more.

We took plenty of photos of Milano, Lake Como and Lake Lugano.

Mekong dams threaten rare giant fish

This item from WWF speaks for itself.  As you will know I have blogged about the Mekong on a number of occasions.
See for example http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/12/another-new-species-in-greater-mekong.html, ,http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/10/global-warming-in-greater-mekong.html and http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/09/where-have-all-birds-gone-on-mekong-at.html


This mighty river is in dire Peril.  China wants the power, Laos wants the cash.  And the Mekong will decay forever.


Mekong dams threaten rare giant fish: "Wild populations of the iconic Mekong giant catfish will be driven to extinction if hydropower dams planned for the Mekong River go ahead, says a new report by WWF.



The report, River of Giants: Giant Fish of the Mekong, profiles four giant fish living in the Mekong that rank within the top 10 largest freshwater fish on the planet (see list of top 10 at bottom of page).




At half the length of a bus and weighing up to 600kgs, the Mekong River’s giant freshwater stingray (Dasyatis laosensis) is the world’s largest freshwater fish. The critically endangered and culturally fabled Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) ranks third at up to 3 metres in length and 350kgs.



Dam will present unsurmountable barrier for giant fish



“A fish the size of a Mekong giant catfish, simply will not be able to swim across a large barrier like a dam to reach its spawning grounds upstream,” said Roger Mollot, Freshwater Biologist for WWF-Laos. “This would lead to the collapse of the wild population of this iconic species.”



Current scientific information suggests the Mekong giant catfish migrate from the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia up the Mekong River to spawn in northern Thailand and Laos. Any dam built on the lower Mekong River mainstream will block this migration route.



The hydropower dam planned on the Mekong River at Sayabouly Province, northern Laos, is a threat to the survival of the wild population of Mekong giant catfish. The Sayabouly Dam is the first lower Mekong River mainstream dam to enter a critical stage of assessment before member countries of the Mekong River Commission advise on whether to approve its construction.



Mekong River home to more giant freshwater fish than any other



“More giant fish live in the Mekong than any other river on Earth,” said Ms Dang Thuy Trang, Mekong River Ecoregion Coordinator for the WWF Greater Mekong Programme. “Currently, the Lower Mekong remains free-flowing, which presents a rare opportunity for the conservation of these species. But the clock is ticking.”



The other Mekong giant fish featured in the report are the 'dog-eating' catfish (Pangasius sanitwongsei), named because it has been caught using dog meat as bait, and the giant barb (Catlocarpio siamensis), the national fish of Cambodia and largest carp in the world. At 300kgs each, these fish tie for fifth place on the global top ten.



Dams will amplify the impact of climate change on fisheries and agriculture 



However, the impacts of lower Mekong River mainstream dams are not restricted to these Mekong giants, they would also exacerbate the impacts of climate change on the Mekong River Delta, one of the world’s most productive regions for fisheries and agriculture.



Building the Sayabouly Dam would reduce sediment flowing downstream to the Mekong River Delta, increasing the vulnerability of this area to the impacts of climate change like sea level rise.



There are alternatives



WWF supports a delay in the approval of the mainstream dams, including the Sayabouly Dam, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of all the positive and negative impacts of their construction and operation.



To meet immediate energy demands, WWF promotes sustainable hydropower projects on tributaries of the Mekong River, prioritising those that already have hydropower dams developed on them.

The Global Top 10 Giant Freshwater Fish

1. Giant freshwater stingray (Himantura chaophraya) 600kg (500cm, 240cm disc width) Mekong River Basin
2. Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) 500kg (700cm) Yangtze River Basin
3. Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) 350kg (300cm) Mekong River Basin
4. Wels catfish (Silurus glanis) 306kg (500cm) Widespread in Europe and Asia
5. Giant pangasius (dog-eating catfish) (Pangasius sanitwongsei) 300kg (300cm) Mekong River Basin
6. Giant barb (Catlocarpio siamensis) 300kg (300cm) Mekong River Basin
7. Arapaima (pirarucu; paiche) (Arapaima gigas) 200kg (450cm) Amazon River Basin
8. Piraíba (laulau; lechero) (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum) 200kg (360cm) Amazon River Basin
9. Nile perch (Lates niloticus) 200kg (200cm) Nile River Basin
10. Alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula) 137kg (305cm) Mississippi River Basin

"

Scots seabird numbers take a dive

Scots seabird numbers take a dive: "The populations of some Scottish seabirds have almost halved in the past decade, according to a new report." (from BBC Scotland)

This is terrible news.  We need to do something NOW!

Porsche 918 Spyder will be made

Porsche 918 Spyder will be made: "Porsche has confirmed the 918 Spyder hybrid supercar concept will be put into production." (from Autoblog)

The news that Porsche will make its 918 Spyder show car from Geneva is welcome news.  All the right ingredients: electric motors, 500BHP petrol engine, gigantic price for a new hypercar for the 21st Century, embracing the now desiderata.  Only one real problem.  It looks like a can opener!

Now that Volkswagen has bought Italdesign - Giugiaro there is some hope that Porsche will no longer make the ugliest cars..........in the World.

FARNBOROUGH: Hawker Beechcraft flies in armed AT-6 testbed

 Flight International is carrying this article on the proposed AT-6 which crosses a T-6 Texan trainer with the mission package of an A-10  "Hog" .  The article sort of suggests that customers of an AT-6 would be getting a cut price Warthog.  Not so!  The heart of the Warthog is the gun, the GAU -8 Avenger.  An antitank gun firing DU 30 mm rounds at over 4,000 rounds per minute, powerful enough to shred the frontal armour of a main battle tank.  The gun, when firing, produces 10,000 lb of reverse thrust!  So you need a solid airframe and lots of thrust to carry it.

So a cut price tank buster...I don't think so!   A super hot COIN bird...maybe.



FARNBOROUGH: Hawker Beechcraft flies in armed AT-6 testbed: "What do you get when you cross a basic trainer with one of the world's most potent ground-attack aircraft? Hawker Beechcraft believes it has the answer,..."

Captain Slow No More: James May hits 259.11 mph in Bugatti Veyron SS

Captain Slow No More: <i>Top Gear</i>'s James May hits 259.11 mph in Bugatti Veyron SS: "
Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Etc., Videos, Bugatti, UK, Luxury




Last week, we told you that the Top Gear crew was smirking about having some sort of involvement in the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport's land speed record. And while it was easy for us to chalk it up as simple Top Gear embellishment (they did take credit for the erupting Icelandic volcano, remember), it appears that the TG team - James May, specifically - had a pretty big part in all of this record-setting madness. Apparently he wasn't the 267.81-mph record-setting driver, but Captain Slow did manage to pilot the new Veyron Super Sport up to an extremely respectable 259.11 mph, and the high-speed tale is recounted in the magazine's August issue, which should be hitting newsstands as you read this.



This isn't May's first experience with the Veyron, of course. We all remember that the Captain did a similar test run in the standard-spec Bug, hitting 253 mph out on Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien high-speed oval. (We have the video available after the jump for those of you who want to re-live the experience.) Now, the one question that remains - is the Super Sport fast enough to finally reconcile that lost race between Hammond and the jet fighter? Hot tips, PS3 and Brandon!

Gallery: Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sports land speed record

[Source: Top Gear]
Continue reading Captain Slow No More: Top Gear's James May hits 259.11 mph in Bugatti Veyron SS

Captain Slow No More: Top Gear's James May hits 259.11 mph in Bugatti Veyron SS originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Petrol Heads really don't have a clue what a Typhoon can do.  See also http://peterfarr.blogspot.com/2009/09/typhoon-vs-veyron-contest.html

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458 Challenge debuts at Maranello

Ferrari debuts the 458 Italia Challenge, a sort of souped up version.  And doesn't it look great!

458 Challenge debuts at Maranello: "Maranello – The 458 Challenge has made its world premiere debut in Maranello during the Annual Dealer Meeting, a traditional event that brings together the representatives of Ferrari’s international sales network."

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Richards new UK armed forces head

Richards new UK armed forces head: "Gen Sir David Richards is named as the next Chief of the Defence Staff - the head of the British armed forces."

This comes as no surprise given the amount of trailing that has gone on.  Whilst it is inevitable after the rather unsuccessful  CDS incumbency by Sir Jock Stirrup it doesn't make me happy.

I have no doubt that General Richards is a skilled and courageous soldier whose service in Sierra Leone and his tenure as CGS during the current war in Afghanistan give him peerless credentials for the post and thereby lies the problem. General Richards is a soldier, an armoured warfare man, a boots on the ground military commander.  He is ideal to lead a military engaged in a deadly asymmetric struggle with a dangerous adversary.  But we have larger and far more dangerous potential enemies.  Potential enemies that have nuclear capability, powerful air arms (I would remind everyone that the Taliban has no aircraft) and maritime power projection (the Taliban hasn't any of that either), capabilities that General Richards is hardly instinctively well-disposed towards.  Will he be a powerful voice in Whitehall to advocate a much wider strategic view?  Well we'll soon see with the forthcoming Strategic Defence Review.

So my worry is that we will take our eyes off the ball and throw out the baby with the bathwater (to mix my metaphors).  I am afraid that  it might be no aircraft carriers, no new Typhoons, no Joint Strike Fighters and maybe even no Trident.  Moscow, Tehran and Islamabad are probably much cheered by the appointment.

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2010 Bixby Knolls Car Show & Cacklefest ignites the senses

Autoblog is carrying this item about drag racing.  I have blogged before about the paradox of grooving to both Ferrari 250 LMs and AA Fuellers at the same time; an infantile affectation that I have never grown out of.    But the fact remains that AA Fuellers still summon up the adrenaline and set the pulse racing, and it's nothing to do with the blond hair in the foreground!

2010 Bixby Knolls Car Show & Cacklefest ignites the senses: "
Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Racing

2010 Bixby Knolls Car Show and Cacklefest - Click above for high-res image gallery

When a 3,000-horsepower drag racing engine fires up, a few things happen. Your head jerks around to see where the deafening noise is coming from, your eyes start to tear up from the burnt and unburnt fuel emanating from the short, upturned headers, the ground rumbles beneath your feet and your chest pulses with the timing of the engine.



Last Saturday night we had the distinct pleasure to experience that scenario several times at the fifth annual Bixby Knolls Car Show & Cacklefest in Long Beach, California. Long Beach is a great town, but most of us probably associate it with IndyCar or the Scion celebrity derby that makes up the Long Beach Grand Prix every April. Dragsters, especially the vintage ones assembled in Bixby Knolls might seem a bit out of place at first, but for those with a decent memory or a fondness for obscure racing nostalgia, Long Beach once was the home of Lions Drag Strip. Follow the jump to read more of our day in Bixby Knolls.

Gallery: 2010 Bixby Knolls Car Show & Cacklefest

Photos by Frank Filipponio/Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
Continue reading 2010 Bixby Knolls Car Show & Cacklefest ignites the senses

2010 Bixby Knolls Car Show & Cacklefest ignites the senses originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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