After several months of hard work I completed the installation of a Mac mini into my car. Well, almost completed, I still have some software and the main bezel to finish up. But the entire process along with pictures and video is documented at:
His name is Hoosier, but his friends call him speed.
Fresh off the heat cycle rack, a new set of Hoosier A6 competition radials with Z06 magnesium wheels arrived this week.
Larger than any race tire I’ve run in the past, these are 295/35/18 in the rear and 275/40/17 in the front.
I continue to be disappointed that Kumho doesn’t make competition tires this large, as they tend to last longer and cost less. I guess we’ll see if these are worth the cash.
The car is at the race shop being prepped for the first track day of the summer, next friday at Thunderhill raceway. The work order this time goes a little something like: new Z51 shocks, new front OE rotors, Hawk HPS front brake pads, steel braided brake lines, lowering ride height, dialing in some additional negative camber, and a loaner 5 point harness until my new one arrives.
Earlier in the week I installed a harness bar and camera mount. Pictures and a review of these in action is forthcoming. If all goes well, next Friday should prove fun.
Okay so it was more like 7 hours, but after 3 or 4 it all feels the same.
When the system fails
Due to a infuriatingly unexplained “glitch” in the automated e-checkin counter, the 10:20am United flight from Chicago left for San Jose with one less passenger this morning. Currently on my third stand-by attempt, I produced the follow observations for my own wifi starved amusement.
Big Brother uses email too
Chevy ad for Onstar Vehicle Diagnostics: My Chevy Truck blows through mud pits, eats cargo for lunch, and sends a monthly email that says how it’s doing. What does your truck do?
Well if that isn’t a reason for privacy advocates to grab their pitch forks, I don’t know what is. The vehicle will send emails without the users knowledge and with no vehicle based interface to proof the content prior to submission? Sure the point is to inform the user of problems, but who’s to say that’s all it’s sending…and who it’s sending to. We’ve all got small black boxes joining us for our daily drives, able to recall driving dynamics prior to an accident should one occur. Now those same reporting systems are able to transmit information too? Great. In a few years I’ll look forward to getting speeding tickets in the mail because my car ratted me out.
A.I., meet your dumber ancestor
The Lexus LS460 now includes a self-parking system. I’ve seen the TV commercial for a while, but how much is marketing fluff? My Car and Driver article here says it works, basically. Some user input is required to set visual makers on the touch LCD screen, and you must ride the brake to control speed since the system wont operate at full idle. 5-10 minutes later, like magic, you’re parked. For starters, why wouldn’t you just have an auto regulated “park speed”? After all that chances are someone with a Kia stole your spot while you were trying to convince your $70,000 luxury liner to park. BTW, who’s liable if the computer is driving and it hits a parked car? You or some programmer who knocked off early to play World of Warcraft instead of debugging that last bit of code? Like most revolutionary things, v2.0 will undoubtedly be much improved and like all revolutionary things, it will be criticized right up until everyone is doing it. USB on a computer, but why? DB-9 is great!
Bullet proof wheels
Ad for the new Goodyear Eagle tires explaining how carbon fiber and kevlar layers inside the tire make for less noise and a safer, smoother ride. In a year when inflation raised my rent $100, you’re telling me that a tire made with carbon fiber and kevlar isn’t any more expensive than last years model? That’s a good one. Now if only it looked liked carbon fiber instead of ruber, that’d be a sure fire Christmas gift for the Ricer on your list.
Hyundai Quality
Ad: Great things happen when 362 robots put their microchips together. Assuming this is an attempt to notify american consumers that Hyundai has the technical prowess of automated assembly, is this not countered by today’s trend to show that higher quality items are hand made? That new Jag comes with hand stitched leather seats and all the furniture in my South Hampton summer home is hand lathed. The associated cold, mechanical style visual contributes to producing an ad that feels lifeless and uninvolved. Much like their product. Finally, truth in advertising.
On to stand-by attempt #4.
What is it about watching a count down that demands human interest? Perhaps it was NASA with their huge yellow integers descending slowly until a Shuttle launch. But there is definitely something about that simple animation, numbers counting down towards an event that always manages to capture intrigue. At my previous job we had at least one major new software launch per year, and somewhere along the line someone thought more showmanship was needed. So the countdown was posted for all to see, and all who saw stopped, stared, wondered, and for brief moment, we owned them.
This morning at 12:04 PDT (who picked that time anyway?) many late night surfers sat watching a JavaScript countdown that promised to revolutionize high performance transportation. When the counter reached double donut status, we all held our breathe (or was it just me?). Partly because I was excited to see what laid beneath the red tarp, and partly because I feared that nothing would happen at zero hour. As it turns it, it was a combination of both and depended largely on which Internet straw you were sucking. After several hearty attempts by my browser to refresh, it was obvious a few to many people were as interested as I was (it was probably you 3am east-coasters). Somewhere in the dark, an Apache server was dying a slow death.
A few eventually made it in, but I for one was left with with my curiosity unsatisfied as I tugged on a red cover that refused to come off.
Quote of the day (week?), from their Jobs page:
“Without passion, you would find what we’re trying to do too difficult. There are much easier jobs.”
It’s a noble idea initiated by some impressive names. Check them out, but please, not all at once.
Smoke me once, shame on my miss-shift, smoke me twice…well, you might be faster than me.
Revitalized after laying dormant for 30 years, Pontiac’s new GTO continues to be full of surprises. For the second time in two weeks I’ve encountered a black ‘05-’06 GTO on the 280 freeway between 101 and 17. The first athletic encounter brought a shock as I downshifted to 5th gear and passed 4500RPM and raised the needle north of 125mph all while watching the GTO’s lead increase. Being all too familiar with the GTO’s .3 liter, 50hp advantage (making it an even 400hp), and 500lbs disadvantage I chalked up his impressive stamina to him having had a head start on the gas peddle. You know, inertia and all that. Today however I was sure not to let the same thing happen again. Sadly the gas peddle descended no more and the GTO passed me with a rather embarrassing haste. Maybe Sir Isaac forgot to carry the 1. Or maybe it was the Generation IV LS2. Either way it was a dark day for me, having been thoroughly whooped by a car who’s drab styling resembles something your father would drive. Yet another example of a company committing suicide by conservative budget, as sales of the new GTO have been disappointing. Instead of splurging for the brand new look the legend deserved, they seemed to have stapled on a blood relative’s skin, the Australian made Holden.
While my nemesis looked stock, I still wonder (read “hope”) it was the same car both times and he had some level of modification. It seems to me that 500lbs would out way the power advantage and make the two cars very close if not equal (although the stock GTO is rated .1-.2 seconds faster 0-60mph). If nothing else, the exhaust must have been aftermarket because even though it looked stock, it was far too loud for any factory GM product - it sounded great. The General could stand to take a few audio design lessons from Mr. Ford.
It’s clear Pontiac has awakened an authentic athlete, here’s hoping the 2008 model stops at a better plastic surgeon before it arrives.
I tried consoling her, but it’s becoming increasing clear that something has to be done. You can donate to the cause by clicking here.
