Pimp My Hyundai

I shouldn't pick on Hyundai, I own one for gawd's sake (actually it's She Who Must Be Obeyed's car, an Azera), but the announcement that Hyundai and Prada collaborated on a 'customized' Genesis sedan strains my ability to bite my tongue.

So here it is, special midnight blue paint, custom interior, and dark matte plated gold trim. Oh and 20 inch rims.

Reaction to the Bailouts

It's been interesting to read the reactions to the automakers bailout plan. It seems to be the subject of loathing on both the right and the left.

There has been a lot of criticism on the right of the ousting of GM's CEO, Rick Wagoner. It would be warranted if the current administration had decided that Ford's CEO should be deposed, especially since Ford hasn't bellied up to the public trough. Not so however in GM's case. GM sought public funding and agreed to provide a viability plan that met the scrutiny of President Obama's automotive task force.

GM put themselves at the mercy of the financier of last resort (you and me actually) and they have to abide by the decisions being made. I suppose if they objected they could give the money back and see if they can make it on their own. But they can't and they obviously couldn't, or they would never have agreed to the public funding. And that is in large part a failure of management. So is it any wonder that a change in management has been requested.

Now onto the other side of the criticism. The unions will not like some of the drastic changes that may occur to work rules. Amongst all the buzz about wages and benefits being the problem with automakers' viability, it is partially the constraints of the contractual work rules that have restrained the productivity of Chrsyler, Ford, and GM. The transplants currently aren't union organized (just wait for 'card check' though ;-) and subsequently they do not suffer the productivity inhibitors of inflexible work rules.

Of some merit, and receiving attention, is the notion that both Chrysler and GM could go through bankruptcy to assist the reorganization efforts. And that probably should have been the tool of choice all along - it would have saved Mr & Ms U.S. Taxpayer a bunch of money (as long as they didn't hold stock or bonds in the aforementioned entities.)

Of no small importance in this whole debacle is the fate of the suppliers. Cars aren't built from whole cloth (like they used to be at Ford's River Rouge plant were raw materials came in one end and left as cars on the other.) Suppliers provide more than just raw materials, they provide entire sub-assemblies in most cases and the work they do goes largely unseen. They employ large numbers of people, not just building widgets but designing and engineering parts/sub-assemblies for the automakers. There is definitely a trickle down effect to the pain of losing a major auto manufacturer.

Batteries

Electric vehicles are not high on my list of things to get excited about - primarily because you have to compromise performance to get any decent range out of the vehicles. You either pinch the electrons available, squeezing them to get the last possible mile, or you squander the electrons and get great performance and only get a block or two away from home. (Anyone who thinks electric cars are inherently slow hasn't seen an electric drag racer - they can be sneaky quick.)

The problem to date (and this is given 100 plus years of battery powered electric cars) has been battery technology.

The Chevy Volt will use Li-Ion batteries, but in their current state they are not all that the engineers desire. Here, however, may be the next big thing in electric vehicles. A Li-Ion battery that is not as reactive as the current designs and retains it's charge capacity longer than current designs.

From the MIT Technology Review: Li-Ion

Maybe they can finally build a decent battery pack for my electric razor. ; -)

El Mirage

El Mirage dry lake bed is another Southern California Timing Association site that's been in use seemingly forever.

Ry Cooder is a legendary musician (to some of us - who grew up knowing who John Fahey and Leo Kottke are).

Ry Cooder is featured in a number of New York Times pieces known as "Ry Cooder's American West". Here's the link to his piece on El Mirage. Click the Audio Slide Show (under the Multimedia tag on the left of the page).

For grins here's John Fahey playing 'Red Pony':



And Leo Kottke playing 'Hear the Wind Howl':

True Confessions

"I wrote the software that turned mortgages into bonds", by Michael Osinski

Some will remember the old grocery store staple, 'True Confessions'. Maybe you gotta be old like me to remember that rag. ;-)

Determination of Viability Summary for Chrysler and GM

The Wall Street Journal (among others) posted links to the Determination of Viability Summary for Chrysler and GM. (Link to the summaries here.)

I looked for two words - work rules - and found them in the summaries for both companies as an issue that must be addressed. While they aren't THE critical component of the viability of either company, the absence of those two words would have indicated a bias in my mind.

From my reading of the summaries, I am in general agreement with the government's conclusions. First a word about the structure of the summary documents. It would appear that they built a boilerplate document and changed items as required for the specific company's summary. Given that there are significant overlapping concerns for both companies, that's a minor quibble.

Their assessment of Chrysler's inviability as a standalone company tracks with my thinking. Chrysler does not have the current product or the resources to develop the product (R&D) it needs to be competitive.

GM, on the other hand, has the potential to survive - only if a more realistic reorganization plan is submitted - and one that reduces financial risk to the company and suppliers (sorry bondholders and share owners ; -).

Of note is that bankruptcy proceedings may be required to resolve debt issues with both companies. And if Chrysler can't swing some sort of meaningful accommodation with Fiat, they are as good as history - they will be done as a manufacturer, bankruptcy would be useful only to dissolve Chrysler at that point.

Only one thing caused me to smirk in reading the summaries and that was a reference to Consumer Reports in the Chrysler summary. Personally I'm not that hip on CR as the final arbiter of things automotive. I'm still waiting for their article/expose on rollover testing for adult undergarments. ; -)

Bailout: A Bridge (Loan) Too Far

Calculated Risk has a good post up on current thinking regarding the bailouts of GM and Chrysler here.

At some point in the next two weeks, look for short summaries of the history of GM and Chrysler on this blog.

Hallett Final Update

Hallett, OK - March 28, 2009
(Photo courtesy of Mark Bracewell)

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

GM CEO, Rick Wagoner, is leaving the company, reportedly at the behest of the Obama administration. I've avoided discussing the bailout of GM and Chrysler, as much because I've not kept abreast of all the twists and turns, and because I'm afraid that I can see no good ahead on the road the bailout is traveling. My worst fear is that we'll be merely creating zombie automakers; companies that aren't really competitive and that will eventually fail while merely sucking more resources down the drain in the interim.

Car companies have been going out of business since the car was invented. The 'Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile' is a three volume set that chronicles thousands of auto manufacturers. That there are now significantly fewer automobile manufacturers is lost on many. There has never been an equilibrium regarding the number of car companies in business. Companies with longer histories and better reputations than Chrysler or GM have folded before (think Packard and Studebaker as examples).

It is disheartening in that we all know people that are deeply and personally impacted by the decisions that will be made, especially if failure is the result. I hope for the best . . .

The (Formula 1) World Turned Upside Down

Yes the season opening Grand Prix was held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and was held 'upside down' (according to those bigots in the northern hemisphere. ; -) But the real reason it was upside down was the results. Neither Ferrari finished the race and reigning F1 champion, Lewis Hamilton, missed the podium when he placed fourth.

Even more amazing was the Brawn team's 1-2 finish. This is the team that Honda discarded. Now running with Mercedes power, the team managed spectacular results despite the staggering odds against them. (And what does that say about Honda power? ;-)

But Brawn may have had a bit of an edge. Grip, the ability to stick to the track, in F1 cars comes from two sources, mechanical grip (tires) and aerodynamic grip (wings/diffusers/barge boards and the like.)

The governing body of F1 instituted a number of significant rules changes this year to reduce aerodynamic grip in the hopes of providing a better on track product (namely passing - which has been rare in F1 races). They gave back a bit of mechanical grip when they returned to running slick tires (unlike the grooved tires they had used in previous seasons).

Mechanical grip is fairly constant regardless of speed but aerodynamic grip is not. Airflow across the surfaces is critical to producing the grip. Reduce the airflow, by following to closely to the car ahead or going to slowly in a corner, and you lose grip. The upshot is that the car does not handle well and more speed is lost whilst attempting to regain control.

Ross Brawn is the principal of Brawn racing and he has a long and successful racing record (think Ferrari F1 during the Schumacher days). They found a 'hole' in the rules that allowed them to gain a bit of an aero advantage over their competitors (and why the rest of the teams, save two others, failed to exploit that hole too is THE big question).

While the rest of teams had some issues with rear grip, both Brawn cars were near perfect (Barrichello's driving during the race was anything but however). It was as if the Brawn cars were in mid-season form at the first race. This is going to be an interesting season.

PS - Well the stewards taketh away - Jarno Trulli, in P3 at the end of the race was penalized 25 seconds after the race and third place was awarded to Hamilton. What's an F1 race without the intervention of the stewards. It's almost as bad as NASCAR. ; -)

Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration

Blasphemy! Here in the Bible belt substituting watching an auto race for going to church? But Formula 1 beckons. The opening race of the season was held in Australia this weekend and a bunch of us gather on Sunday mornings during the F1 season and watch the races together.

The Australian Grand Prix is already in the books as I'm writing this, but I've been good and not gone out to discover who won. We'll have breakfast, settle into the couch and start giving each other a hard time watching what could be 'the world turned upside down'. (Not only because the race is in Australia but because qualifying found the usual suspects absent from the top of the grid, this could be a very interesting season.)

More to come. But here's a snap from the last F1 race held at Indianapolis in 2007. The current World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, works his magic in the McLaren-Mercedes.

Spring

Spring has sprung . . .

Hallett Update

A quick call down to Hallett, OK this morning found the intrepid automobilists coping with snow accumulating at an inch an hour and blowing sideways. Hmmm- the warm glow of the computer monitor seems like such a comfort at the moment.

Needless to say they aren't getting much track time but the word is they have the cylinder head off the Z car (and why that is is the $64 question. ; -)

Rat Fink

Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth was a member of the minor household gods when I was kid. He was the creator of totally whacked out kustom kars and the infamous Rat Fink character.

It's said that Rat Fink was Big Daddy's anti-Mickey - and anything that was contrary to Disney was OK to a rebellious youth.

As I grew older and learned more about Big Daddy it became apparent that this guy was a class A curmudgeon. And that's a good thing, but he led a pretty hard life after his brief moment in the sun in the early '60s.

Big Daddy created a number of cars which were destined to inspire model car kits from Revell. One of those cars, the Orbitron, had a mysterious life (and never became a Revell model). It fell off the edge of the known universe sometime in the 1970s and here is the tale of it's reemergence. A word of caution is in order, the tale is reminiscent of a great Hunter S. Thompson story, so be forewarned. But enjoy.

Land Speed Records

An earlier post mentioned land speed record racers on Ormond Beach Florida. After the first few years on the hard packed sands of the Atlantic coast (and equivalent runs in Britain), the speeds dictated that new surfaces for LSR cars be found. The American west just happened to have some ideal locations, Muroc dry lake, in California, being an early venue and also the Bonneville salt flats in Utah.

Jet powered and rocket engined LSR cars started making their way onto the scene in the 1960s and quickly stretched the top speed records. But they had another impact, they consumed large distances during their runs. Don't think of top speed, or time to speed, but rather think of distance to speed (and equally important, distance from speed to zero speed - these things don't have the best brakes. ; -).

Muroc quickly became too small (just as Ormond Beach had years before) and when the assault on the sound barrier came, Bonneville came up short. The Thurst SSC program used the Black Rock desert in Nevada to break the sound barrier.

Here's some vid of the Thurst SSC. (Did they use the Alan Parson's Project for background music? ; -)



Now comes an attempt to break the land speed 1,000 MPH barrier. (Hat tip to Motor Authority)



All in all these are heroic and peaceful endeavors and worthy of respect. But my favourite (since the British are so integrally bound to LSR attempts) is the JCB Diesel Max LSR. (And notice they used a bit of the Thurst SSC B-roll vid - the JCB Diesel Max and the Thurst SSC were both piloted by Squadron Leader Andy Green.)



Read more about LSR:
'Land Speed' Louise Noeth's, 'Bonneville Salt Flats'
Charles Jennings, 'The Fast Set'

Hallett

Well I was supposed to be on the way to Hallett, OK. The Hallett Raceway is the attraction, not the Budget ZZZZ motel in nearby Cleveland, OK (although it does have a certain charm, in a Bates Motel kinda sense ; -).

The group of ne'r-do-wells, Age & Treachery Racing, that allow me to associate with them are dragging their race cars out'n the basements, garages and caves for a spring adventure. Based on the forecast, they may need snow tires for Friday, possibly Saturday. Oh well, once the last car is off the track for the day, the drinking lamp is lit. That just means it (and us) will get lit sooner.

But this may be one of the most powerful early spring storms in generations, and since the German POS I drive does not have snow tires, I'm going to forgo the festivities. Have to make it to the fall races (and hopefully CVAR's car count for the fall races will hold up).

Oh and by the way, the current slide show is a collection of pix from the October '08 CVAR event held at Hallett.

When I get this old . . .

. . . someone needs to trot me out to the nearest former F1 track and let me take a hot lap!!

'The 106-year-old speed freak who celebrated her birthday by roaring round Brands Hatch at 108mph'

Hat tip to 'Hot Air'

Toyota Hybrids

I had my first drive in a Toyota Prius at its US press launch in 1999. A well done car, even in it's first US iteration - actually a home run for Toyota. The subsequent hybrid product, Camry, and Highlander were OK but didn't make as much sense to me as the Corolla sized Prius.

Word is out that Toyota has a Yaris hybrid on the way. Now we're talking! It makes some odd sense to me to optimize the mileage of the smallest cars. Maybe it's a corollary of the military proverb to not reinforce defeat that I find big-car/SUV hybrids to be such an oxymoron. And when you double down on making a small car a hybrid, it's a big winner.

Well that and Honda's newly revised Insight is real competition for the Prius finally. Couple that with the potential of a hybrid Fit from Honda and you can see how Honda's hybrid resurgence may give Toyota fits (puns intended, as always).

Financial Woes for Tata Motors

As a follow up to a previous post on the Tata Nano, Tata Motors has had it's S&P bond rating downgraded from BB- to B+. Seems they're struggling to pay an existing bridge loan used for the purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.

The full article is located here. Hat tip to the Detroit News.

Would CDs have done as well?

Something I've thought long and hard about since late October last year. The Financial Times discusses the true performance of equities over time here.

Hat tip to Real Clear Markets.

St. Patty's Day Leftovers

One of the great things about St. Patrick's Day (besides beer) is corned beef hash leftovers days later. Ummmmm . . . hash!!

Corporate Bonds

Here's an interesting article on the spread between corporate bond and treasury bond rates. And a recommendation that ETFs may be in order if you want to swim in the deep end (junk bonds) of the pool.

Gymkhana

The British run trials on asphalt known as 'gymkhanas'. It's different than the Americanized version, known as autocross, primarily because Americans don't require reversing on course (and the way most autocross events are run, a competitor backing up will cause chaos! ; -).

Well gymkhanas are a stiff test of car control, and here is a winning example!

Modern Car Technology

I've run across this book before, 'Modern Car Technology', by Jeff Daniels, and checked it out from the local library. (Most public libraries have pretty thin collections of automotive material. Subsequently, I've spent considerable time building my own library.)

This book can be used as a technical primer and would be a good addition to the personal library. So a quick check of online book sellers was in order.

Hokey smokes, Rocky!! The 2002 edition ranges from $750 to around $1450. Yikes, the book is good but this isn't a first edition 'Red Badge of Courage' for gawd's sake.

Fortunately there's a 2009 edition at considerably less than the 2002. One's on order.

Lloyd Ruby, RIP

Lloyd Ruby was an Indy regular, a great driver, and, by all accounts I've read, a real gentleman. Here's a link to AutoWeek's obit.

More from the Wichita Falls TimesRecord.

Tata Nano

The Tata Nano is a car the US may never see roaming its highways and byways. Autoweek got their hands on one and while it's pretty amazing it will never be confused for 'sporty'. With a top speed of 65 mph and acceleration that puts a new meaning on lethargic (over 30 seconds from 0-60), this car would not survive the on-ramp for an urban freeway. But it will be an important contribution to the emerging societies of what was called the third world.

Automobile magazine did a nice piece on the Nano a couple of months ago and it is worth the read. What stands out is the creativity they exercised in containing costs. That allowed them to meet price targets for the car. Its affordability and utility will make it the choice 'first car' for many families. And because it will replace scooters and bicycles, it will provide an increased level of safety for the families that move up to a Nano.

This will be an important car, much like the Model T and Austin 7 were, for a large chunk of the world that is now stretching its legs and getting ready to exercise its economic muscle.

(Image of the Nano from the Tata Web site.)

China Calls for a New Reserve Currency

This doesn't give me any warm fuzzies.

Robotic Pack Animal

This is interesting, now if they would just program it to cuss when it slips. ; -)

You Say Deflation, I Say Inflation

The Fed acts, people react. And just when I thought it was safe to swim in the commodity ETF pool. ; -)

Beware the Charger in the Rearview Mirror

More and more police departments are picking up Dodge Chargers as replacements for the Ford Crown Vic' to serve as pursuit and patrol cars.

A few months ago one of our wise (guys) at the Age & Treachery breakfast hinted that police departments were growing weary of the Crown Vic' image as a geezermobile when the Dodge happened on the scene.

I got a chance to drive this thing at the Chrysler Proving Grounds (outside of Chelsea, MI) a few years back and enjoyed it. With a significantly stiffer suspension (and what seemed to be a 'drop') the car was a blast around the inner loop. Yes it was harsher than the civilian version, but for some of us that means it was just right.

Powerful, poised and in pursuit of lawbreakers, coming to a Police department near you (as long as Chrysler's still solvent. ; -)

My Neighbor's Truck

My next door neighbor has been having problems with his truck for awhile. It blows a fuse that protects the dashboard lights (no I'm not going to link to Meatloaf) and the rear brake lights.

He's asked me to lend a hand troubleshooting and of course the first thing you think of is a 'short to ground' situation. Problem is he can run the lights for a day or so without the fuse blowing. He doesn't change the rheostat setting for the dash lights either. So something intermittent is occurring,

But more important than crawling under the truck tracing out suspect trailer harness wiring, was the time spent yapping with my neighbor. He's an interesting character - a retired teacher and tennis coach - with a skill and passion for photography that I'm envious of.

As spring blossoms, we'll interact more and more with the neighbors and we'll spend more time chewing the cud with the folks on the block. It's one of the benefits of the mild springs and falls in the mid-west, people still spend time outdoors. (Don't ask about the summers though.)

Oh, and it looks like it may have been the add-on trailer hitch wiring. We found a spliced connector that was coming unseated and had the potential to brush up against the chassis. The fuse hasn't blown in several days and that beats the previous record.

Horsepower

Picked up a copy of "Horsepower!: A Century of Great American Engines", by Mike Mueller. At 176, 8 1/2" by 11", pages, it isn't nearly as inclusive as one would like, but it does hit the highlights.

A quick read of the chapter devoted to the Offenhauser engine shows that it is well researched. I picked up a couple of tidbits on the big Offy that I was unaware of (and I've got a pretty good collection of Miller/Offenhauser material to base that on).

The big Offy was a descendant of a Miller marine engine. In various displacements (by twiddling bore and stroke), the big Offy OWNED the Indy 500 from the mid-1930s through the mid-1970s.

It actually traces its true origins one step further back to the 1912 Peugeot grand prix engine, a double overhead cam (DOHC) four cylinder. The Charlatans beat everyone to the punch with a fabulous DOHC hemi headed four of quite small displacement for the times. Bear in mind the FIAT 14 litre monstrosities were still running strong when the Peugeot arrived on the scene and changed everything.

But enough of that digression rearward, back to the Offy. The Offy was unusual in that its cylinder head was cast integrally with the cylinders. And that little piece of design genius allowed massive supercharging (in the Miller Indy cars of the 1920s) and high boost turbocharging in the Offy engines that ran the USAC circuit.

The book manages to capture those points and more, and while there is less pure technical information than I'd like, it still has a wealth of details on some pretty important engines in American automotive history.

I've embedded a snap of an Offy 270 sitting in a sprint car that was lovingly recreated by a gentleman in Kansas City.

Time and Two Seats . . .

. . . is the title of Janos Wimpffen's epic two volume book on sports car racing. The annual running of the Sebring 12 Hours is underway now. Sports car racing has had a nice resurgence worldwide and a number of manufacturers are participating. One can only hope that even with the current economic downturn that participation won't decline significantly.

Midway through the race the competition is still fierce in the premiere division.

Man it's nice to be back in racing season (and gawd I really hate basketball ; -).

Friends of Chamber Music

One of the most compelling pieces of music ever written for two string quartet's is Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat major, Opus 20. A few months ago Rob Kapilow was in town presenting a 'What Makes it Great' on the Mendelssohn Octet. Rob's presentation highlights the amazing skill that Mendelssohn exhibited at the age of 16 in crafting this piece. Follow this link for some of Rob's thought's on the piece.

Tonight the Guarneri and Johannes Quartets will perform the piece at the Folly Theater in downtown KC at 8 pm.

The Friends of Chamber Music has a number of resources on their Web page.

And I must recommend Rob Kapilow's NPR piece, 'Over The Rainbow,' From Kansas To Oz. Once you hear the story of how Over the Rainbow was written, you'll appreciate it even more. (And come to think of it, it's coming up on tornado season here in the midwest.)

What Retirement?

The heart of my 'golden years' will be spent trying to pay for this: $9.3 trillion to be spent in ten years

Beach Racers

Just picked up Dick Punnett's, "Beach Racers: Daytona Before NASCAR". It appears to be a repackaging of his earlier, "Racing on the Rim" (now in a smaller format with matte, rather than glossy pages).

This is a decent history of land speed record racing on Ormond Beach at the turn of the 20th Century. A little of everything ran there, electrics, steam, and gasoline. For a long time it was the speed capital of the US attracting a number of pioneers, wealthy sportsman, and struggling manufacturers (like Henry Ford).

The pictures are important as Punnett manages to have included three of J Walter Christie's front wheel drive (FWD) monsters. There isn't much information available regarding Christie's cars in popular automotive literature, and not much mention of them on the web. Someday, a scour of a couple of automotive libraries may yield more details.

Age & Treachery Breakfasts

Saturday mornings are spent with the Age & Treachery Racing gang in Kansas City. A non-club for car geeks, the lack of formality (and officers and dues) is refreshing. Best way to spend time, among friends as demented as you.

One of the great things about Kansas City is that it has most of the amenities of larger cities and yet is small enough that you can inadvertently run into someone you know almost anywhere. No mountains, no beaches, hot as hell in summer and yet quite livable.

Truth in 24

ESPN is running the story of the Audi Le Mans Prototype diesel. Two hours of wishing I were in France this June.

This is a well told racing story from the 'stick and ball' network. Speed could use some good competition.

And how about a little linkee goodness: Truth in 24

L'Aventure Automobile

'Best Wheel Forward' was the title of the English translation of Jean Albert Gregoire's autobiography. This blog has a primary interest in cars, racing, and other odds and ends that fill up the days in flyover country.

Don't expect the profound, but rather, the arcane (and a perpetual habit of bad punctuation - but it beats smoking. ; -)