Posted by
Shane – April 3, 2009
I never thought this day would come, but I am realizing that a US car maker has actually made a few cars that I don’t hate. Specifically the Ford Edge, Ford Fusion and forthcoming 2011 Ford Fiesta. The Fiesta is getting a lot of buzz right now, and I think it may actually be deserved.
I had long since given up on any US offerings from the “not so big 3″. Up until now they have utterly failed to excite any of my senses. There are a few holdouts from years past, but they aren’t the mass market cars that normal people can afford or that are practical for everyday life. That being said, Ford looks positioned to be rather successful in the coming years as both GM and Chrysler spiral ever downwards towards their inevitable end.
Now all Ford needs to do is embrace clean diesel technology with both of these cars and I may line up to buy one. Unfortunately, Ford doesn’t seem to planning to offer either of these with a fuel-sipping diesel. The european market Fiesta ECOnetic, with the fantastic little diesel engine gets 65 MPG! 65! That easily best the fuel economy of a hybrid drive system like in the Toyota Prius or forthcoming Honda Insight without the environmentally unsound use of NiMH batteries. While the diesel engine equipped Fiesta is certainly no rocket ship (it only has 88 HP), it would get me back and forth to work on 1/2 of a gallon of gasoline!
So, Ford, wake up! Don’t let your middle-America biased, all placating, uninspired market research teams and penny-pinching accountants turn your otherwise exciting products into something resembling your offerings from the past quarter century. Do something bold, be a leader. Offer the American people a car that they don’t know they want! Show them that you are capable of designing a good looking, fun to drive car that is environmentally sound. Market them as vehicles that will decrease American independence on foreign oil and help free us from it’s shackles. Do this and I think you will begin to see more Ford’s on the road than at any time since the Model-T era.
Posted by
Shane – July 17, 2008
So I finally got my new iPhone 3G! This is an amazing little device. In a matter of minutes I was reading my Gmail, corporate Exchange email, syncing contacts from Gmail, syncing calendars with Exchange, using Twitter (via: Twitterific), remote controlling my AppleTV and listening to Last.fm. Setting all of this up was ridiculously simple and I had no issues whatsoever.
My next task is to get the VPN working (there is an issue with my work’s VPN that is causing problems when issuing keys to new connections). Once that is up and running I should be able to work, from my iPhone!
The UI is fantastic, the built in applications are solid, the downloaded applications are seemless. It is remarkable how simple and effective the entire device is. It is also remarkable that nobody else has been able to accomplish this yet.
Posted by
Shane – November 6, 2007
Posted by
Shane – June 18, 2007
Formula 1 racing returned to the United States this weekend. While always enjoyable, this race typically leaves quite a bit to be desired. The design of the track forces the teams to set their cars up for high speed runs through a portion of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While it is great to see these marvels of engineering hurtling down the track, I prefer to watch them battling through the infield. Unfortunately, the infield racing at Indy is less than spectacular. The trade-offs the teams have to make to achieve high speeds down the straights mean that they have to remove a majority of the aerodynamics that provide the necessary down-force for high speeds throughout the rest of the track. I think it would behoove the FIA to find a track in the United States that better lends itself to the spectacle that is F1 racing. They need a more balanced track. If I wanted to watch cars going fast in straight lines, I would watch an IRL race, or even NASCAR, but I don’t care about that kind of racing. I want to see cars slicing and dicing through tight corners and high speed arcs, not flying down a straight road.
Posted by
Shane – May 28, 2007
The governing body of Formula 1 (F1), the FIA, has prescribed a roadmap for engine development in F1 that would have the teams use smaller engines running on bio-fuels in the 2010 racing season. This was decided as a result of the FIA’s decision to have the research and development of the F1 teams provide a more direct impact on the automotive industry. F1 teams have enormous development budgets, if even a small percentage of this is spent helping to increase fuel mileage, or alleviate the dependence on fossil fuels, then I am all for it.
Hopefully, this decision by the FIA will lead to some significant advancements in the automotive industry. I for one think that this is definitely the direction the FIA should be taking. In addition to these changes, I would like to see a few more changes to the rules that I think would benefit the driving public even more:
- Decrease fuel cell size to a point where 4-5 pit stops would be required to get through a typical race with current fuel mileage ratios. This would help to increase the miles/km that the cars achieve in order to reduce the number of pit stops that a driver must make to get through a race.
- Reinstate a number of the electronic assistance devices that have been removed from the cars. This would help the motoring public immensely by providing safer cars as a result of advancements in traction control.
- Remove the mandate of the use of the V-8 engine configuration, but keep the displacement restrictions in place. By allowing the teams to use any engine configuration imaginable they would be using their enormous development budgets to figure out which engine they can squeeze the most power out of.
- Allow hybrid technologies in F1 racing! Notice that I said “allow” not mandate. If an F1 team can develop a car that performs better while utilizing some hybrid technologies, then why not allow it? If they decide that storing energy from regenerative braking is worth the extra weight of a dual drive system and batteries, then why not let them do it?
Posted by
Shane – July 6, 2006
Oh how I enjoy Formula One. I am not an insane fanatic of sports. I enjoy Football (U.S.A. style) and racing, especially F1. I also watch basketball, soccer, rugby, and a few other sports as well. I typically do not plan my life around any sporting events though. I will, however, record an interesting football game occasional. The one sport that I will plan my Sunday around is F1. So, if you have nothing to do on Sunday, watch the Grand Prix du Canada, I know I will.
Posted by
Shane – May 22, 2005
I just watched the Grand Prix de Monaco, and I can’t get over how amazing those cars are. They are quite simply the absolute apex of automotive engineering. I find it hard to believe that man is able to engineer a machine that is capable of going as fast as these cars go and for as long. They traveled a total of 260.5km (162 miles) in 1 hour and 45 minutes. That works out to an average speed of 148kph or 92mph. The engines in these cars are 3.0 liter V-10′s that operate at up to 20,000rpm. Now compare this with the average car that operates around 5,000rpm and you can see that these engines revolve an amazing four times faster. The cars produce so much downforce at speed that they would literally be able to drive on the ceiling of a tunnel. Absolutely amazing!
One criticism that I have of Formula 1, and of racing in general, is that there is little emphasis on fuel economy. The FIA (the governing body for F1) has made a number of rule changes coming into the 2005 season, but none of them are aimed at improving fuel economy. The current generation of F1 cars gets, at best, .66 liters per kilometer (3.5 miles per gallon). Now, I am not a proponent of radical rule changes altering the nature of F1 racing, but I would like to see some minor changes to help improve fuel economy. I look at most forms of racing as, first, a very exciting sport but then as a testbed for automotive development. F1 has been absolutely instrumental in advancing the safety of vehicles, increasing horsepower, advancing aerodynamics and improving handling. The budgets of the top F1 teams probably equal budgets of most major automakers. I think it is time, especially considering the current strain on oil reserves, for F1 to pour some development money into improving fuel economy.
