Friday, August 31, 2012
Oulton Park Gold Cup 2012
Yes, I know that the Oulton Park Gold Cup was held last weekend - an eternity ago in news terms. I also know that, despite numerous invitations to go, I couldn't make it because newspapers don't really do Bank Holidays, so while everyone else was getting soaked at a race circuit in Cheshire I was in Southport, typing away at my desk.
Petrolhead and friend of Life On Cars Katie Massam did make it to the event, though, and sent these pictures over for anyone into a Scandinavian flick:
Have you got a story you'd like to share with Life On Cars send an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or simply leave a comment below...
Thursday, August 30, 2012
OPALA - CARRO TODO REFORMADO PARA ESTE ANO DE 2012
Modificações externas:
- OPALA SS 1978
- RODAS ARO 18 VINDA DO MUSTANG 2010
- FREIO A DISCO NAS 4 RODAS
- AR CONDICIONADO
- CAMBIO 5 MARCHA
- KIT XENON
- MOTOR 4X100M MECANICA DO DIPLOMATA 92
Modificações interna:
- INTERIOR EM COURO MARRON
- BANCOS ELETRICOS BY UPGRADE
- VOLANTE DE LANCHA
- MONOBLOCO TODO REVESTIDO COM MANTA ASFALTICA
- SINTONIZADOR DE TV DIGITAL
- BUZINAS DO FILME OS GATÕES (GENERAL LI)
Som:
- DVD PIONNER
- KIT DUAS VIAS PIONNER
- 4X 6X9 PIONNER
- 2 WOOFERS EROS 18" - 3000 WATTS RMS
- 1 AMPLIFICADOR TARAMPS - 3-5K
- 2 AMPLIFICADORES TARANPS T 400
- MEGA CAPACITOR 3.5 FARAD CSL
- CORNETA SELENIUN DE 405
- FONTE TARAMPS 100 AMP
- 2 BATERIAS MOURA 100AMP CADA
- OPALA SS 1978
- RODAS ARO 18 VINDA DO MUSTANG 2010
- FREIO A DISCO NAS 4 RODAS
- AR CONDICIONADO
- CAMBIO 5 MARCHA
- KIT XENON
- MOTOR 4X100M MECANICA DO DIPLOMATA 92
Modificações interna:
- INTERIOR EM COURO MARRON
- BANCOS ELETRICOS BY UPGRADE
- VOLANTE DE LANCHA
- MONOBLOCO TODO REVESTIDO COM MANTA ASFALTICA
- SINTONIZADOR DE TV DIGITAL
- BUZINAS DO FILME OS GATÕES (GENERAL LI)
Som:
- DVD PIONNER
- KIT DUAS VIAS PIONNER
- 4X 6X9 PIONNER
- 2 WOOFERS EROS 18" - 3000 WATTS RMS
- 1 AMPLIFICADOR TARAMPS - 3-5K
- 2 AMPLIFICADORES TARANPS T 400
- MEGA CAPACITOR 3.5 FARAD CSL
- CORNETA SELENIUN DE 405
- FONTE TARAMPS 100 AMP
- 2 BATERIAS MOURA 100AMP CADA
Premium Rush: A Bike Rider's Review
A new movie, Premium Rush, casts Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a Manhattan bike messenger, gives him a MacGuffin that a bad guy wants and hijinks ensue. I'm a sucker for any movie that has bikes in it, so today Christine and I went to the theater and watched Premium Rush.
I'll try to keep this review spoiler-free, so I'm not going to give a play by play of the plot. There actually is a plot but it mostly serves to drive about an hour's worth of really good bike chase sequences. Both Christine and I really liked the movie. We lived for years in White Plains, NY and got into Manhattan often and NYC in this movie feels like the real thing. I know a lot of bike messengers, I've ridden fixies for years and I've even raced in some alley cats and I can honestly say that the folks who made this movie got the biking right.
Fixies don't coast and unlike in some movies (Quicksilver, I'm looking at you!) in Premium Rush they never coast. Car doors pop open, traffic sucks, there's a lot of skidding. There's a lot of very quick maneuvering. There's a bunch of really good camera work. One neat film technique slows everything down and shows the character Wilee (like the Coyote) thinking through the various lines through crowded traffic. These thought experiments play out in crashes until he finds the line that just makes it through.
You should understand that this is movie where the scruffy fixie-riding bike messenger is the hero. The really bad guy drives a car. The cops are not the guys there to help you. In the scale from good to bad, fixies are better than gears, steel is better than carbon. Lycra is used as an insult. (However Christine noted that it's a movie so of course the female messenger is wearing lycra!) But at least the sorta-ex girlfriend of the hero actually does some damn good riding in this movie.
While it would've been nice if the female characters had a bit more to do in the film and you would think that they could have come up with at least one cop who wasn't corrupt or inept, the movie manages to slam along nicely. The characters actually talk and think like bike folk. Real messengers and riders (folks like Austin Horse and Danny MacAskill) worked as extras and stunt doubles on the film but you never think "oh that's a double," you're too busy being amazed.
Premium Rush is good summer fun. It'll get your heart pumping. I enjoyed it and so did Christine.
Keep 'em rolling,
Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA
PENJAGAAN BUNGA TAYAR
Ramai yang tidak mengetahui tayar adalah sebahagian daripada sistem keselamatan kenderaan.
Tayar adalah satu komponen yang menghubungkan ken deraan dengan permukaan jalan dan setiap pergerakan atau kemalangan sentiasa dikaitkan dengan kegagalan fungsi tayar.
“read more” Ini kerana, tayar yang haus bunganya akan menghasilkan cengkaman lemah di jalan raya dan akhirnya daya membrek kurang berkesan sehingga mengundang kemalangan.
Oleh itu, jika kenderaan dilengkapi dengan empat brek cakera sekalipun, ia tidak akan memberi sebarang makna sekiranya tayar yang digunakan tidak diambil perhatian.
Perlu diingatkan, pemasangan sistem brek yang canggih pada sesebuah kereta perlu seiring dengan penggunaan tayar sesuai dengannya.
Ada dua jenis tayar iaitu tayar asli yang digunakan ken deraan penumpang manakala tayar celup pula lazimnya dikhaskan kepada lori atau kenderaan komersial.
Namun, penjagaan kedua-dua jenis tayar itu sama termasuk beberapa perkara yang perlu diambil perhatian.
Perkara paling utama adalah memastikan kandungan angin tayar mencukupi dengan menggunakan alat pengukur angin yang boleh didapati di kedai aksesori.
Tayar kurang angin menyebabkan penggunaan petrol tinggi kerana enjin kereta terpaksa bekerja lebih keras kerana berat kenderaan bertambah.
Seeloknya, paras angin tayar diperiksa pada waktu pagi iaitu sebelum memulakan perjalanan kerana udara dalam tayar masih sejuk dan paras anginnya minimum.
Paras angin tayar juga berbeza dari segi saiz dan berat bagi sesetengah kereta buatan Jepun dan Eropah.
Kereta buatan Jepun lebih ringan dan memerlukan paras angin tayar yang rendah berbanding kereta buatan Eropah.
Bagi kenderaan mewah, biasanya pengeluar akan me nawarkan tayar jenis lembut tetapi harganya sangat mahal, setanding kualitinya.
Ini menjadikan kebanyakan pengguna memilih tayar buatan tempatan yang lebih murah dengan kualiti yang boleh dianggap sederhana.
Selain itu, pemasangan rim tidak mengikut saiz yang dicadangkan oleh kilang pengeluar kereta juga memberi kesan sampingan pada kenderaan dan tayar.
Antaranya, masalah bunga tayar kereta hanya digunakan sebelah atau stereng tidak seimbang apabila memandu pada kelajuan sekata.
Masalah bunga tayar makan sebelah berpunca daripada kedudukan penjajaran tidak seimbang, sekali gus menye babkan stereng seakan berat sebelah.
Ia boleh membahayakan keselamatan pemandu kerana penjajaran tidak betul menyebabkan kesukaran mengawal stereng terutama ketika dipandu laju.
Pengimbangan tayar pula perlu dilakukan setiap kali me nukar tayar baru atau apabila terasa gegaran pada stereng apabila memecut pada kelajuan tertentu.
Pemilik perlu pastikan ketulan timah pengimbang pada rim roda tidak tercabut sehingga boleh menyebabkan stereng bergegar.
Untuk penjagaan keempat-empat tayar dengan baik, buat pertukaran secara silang setiap 20,000 kilometer bagi me mastikan kehausan bunga tayar berlaku secara sekata.
Concept vehicles by Stephen Chang
Let's get Stephen some more followers! Stephen's website.
Keywords: lucasarts senior concept artist stephen chang vehicle truck art illustration art center college of design graduate
Keywords: lucasarts senior concept artist stephen chang vehicle truck art illustration art center college of design graduate
The Nissan Juke is the modifier's car of the moment
I'm not one of the journalists lucky enough to be given a go in the GTR-engined Ferrari basher but the first time I came across it I heard it before I saw it, an almighty, industrial roar, following seconds later by an unlikely black blur rocketing past on a private test track. Offering the sort of pace Porsche customers are more familiar with in a high-riding hatchback off-roader thing is, you've got to admit, an incredible engineering achievement.
But the Juke R's real success - and I know Nissan's marketing men are probably nodding smugly at this - is that the Juke seems to have become, out of nowhere, the modifier's car of the moment. On increasingly frequent occasions, pimped-out Jukes have become visitors at car shows. The quirkily-styled SUV from Sunderland is treading the same territory the Ford Capri, the Vauxhall Nova and the Citroen Saxo used to call their own.
This is unfortunate, because not only am I yet to drive a Juke (although I've got a little experience of the bigger, duller and even more ubiquitous Qashqai), but, two years on, I'm still struggling to form an opinion on it. One moment I hate its gawky face and faux Paris-Dakar wheelarches, but then the next I'm quietly admiring the direction the stylists took, because while you'll either love it or hate it, you'll have an opinion of some sort on it. Try saying that about the Volkswagen Touran.
But - and I think it's one of the few cars I can say this about - the Juke does seem to take the Pimp My Ride stuff in its stride. Those wheelarches, for instance, are so enormous they make the standard model look a bit underwheeled, but I've seen a couple with enormous alloys and whitewall tyres that look the business. It also, because it looks like a bit bonkers to begin with, seems to suit silly spoilers and tinted windows. I've no idea why, but it's increasingly becoming one of those cult cars that encourages all sorts of automotive creativity.
Which is a good thing. Let me know if you think yours is a bit of a blank canvas...
Lada VAZ 2106 Low Rider
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
A PERSEGUIÇÃO POLICIAL + MAIS RAPIDA DO REINO UNIDO
|
BMW ART CAR
846
the First BMW art car
Alexander calder
Roy Lichtenstein
Franc Stella
Andy Warholl
all head a go at painting
bmdubbeljuus!!!
10 Good Books on Bicycles
One of the things I like about writing on this blog is the fact that I have full editorial control. All the typos, run on sentences and fuzzy thinking? All mine! If I want to post a picture of my cat, I do it. Want to tell a rambling story that has little to do with bikes? I'm there.
But it can also be nice to write something for other folks. I get to work with someone who edits my work and says helpful things like "you know this doesn't quite work" or "what the hell is this?" By the way, this reminds me of a joke:
How many copy editors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Do you mean install or have sex in? Please clarify.
Where was I? Oh yeah, rambling. That's where editors are nice. They cut out that crap. Editors are also nice when they work for organizations that have budgets and those organizations can actually do things like pay a writer for his words. That happened to me recently when Outside Online contacted me to come up with a list of 10 Good Books on Bicycles. I sent them a list and wrote some words, we did a little back and forth and the result is pretty good. And they're sending me a nice little check.
They made one teensy change in the title of the piece, one word that I differ with. I know my blog readers are smart. I think you'll catch the difference. I stand by my list, every book on it is very, very good. But there may be some better books out there. I'm sure someone else would come up with a different list.
Here's a link to the article:
THE 10 BEST BOOKS ON BICYCLES
I hope everybody out there is having a good day.
Keep 'em rolling,
Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA
But it can also be nice to write something for other folks. I get to work with someone who edits my work and says helpful things like "you know this doesn't quite work" or "what the hell is this?" By the way, this reminds me of a joke:
How many copy editors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Do you mean install or have sex in? Please clarify.
Where was I? Oh yeah, rambling. That's where editors are nice. They cut out that crap. Editors are also nice when they work for organizations that have budgets and those organizations can actually do things like pay a writer for his words. That happened to me recently when Outside Online contacted me to come up with a list of 10 Good Books on Bicycles. I sent them a list and wrote some words, we did a little back and forth and the result is pretty good. And they're sending me a nice little check.
They made one teensy change in the title of the piece, one word that I differ with. I know my blog readers are smart. I think you'll catch the difference. I stand by my list, every book on it is very, very good. But there may be some better books out there. I'm sure someone else would come up with a different list.
Here's a link to the article:
THE 10 BEST BOOKS ON BICYCLES
I hope everybody out there is having a good day.
Keep 'em rolling,
Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA
Fire up the... Vauxhall Astra GTC
YOU know you're living in more stylish times when you can freely use “Vauxhall Astra” and “good looking” in the same sentence, but it's true. This new Vauxhall Astra is genuinely good looking.
There are, even if this aesthetically enlightened age plenty of cars you could call striking or challenging but the Astra GTC achieves something much more remarkable, it is one of those coupes that rings all the right visual eyes with almost everyone who takes it in.
Then again, twenty years ago the company's Calibra dissapointed drivers when it was launched, because under its equally striking skin were unexcitingly ordinary Cavalier mechanicals. In order to impress against the likes of Volkswagen's Scirocco and Hyundai's Veloster - which also offer sleek coupe lines with a hint of hatchback practicality - it'll have to offer substance to back its style up.
Like the Veedub and the Hyundai, the GTC's really more of a three-door hatchback with added glitz than a truly no compromises coupe, and while that means you might lose a little in glamour what you gain is big practicality, with genuinely useful headroom and legroom inside, even in the back, where most of its rivals lose out.
The 1.7 diesel version I tried offers plenty of punch too - it's a shame about the slightly tractoresque soundtrack you get when you start it up, but the tradeoff is a claimed 62 to the gallon and lots of low down torque to play with. Even more impressively, it's well equipped, coming with no less than six airbags and a stash of gadgets as standard.
Is it worth spending your £21,200 on? If you're looking for something with a lot of pose factor probably not - it's attractive but not attention-grabbingly so and interior's little staid for all its solidity, but if you're looking for a great looking car which appeals to your head and heart in equal measure it's well worth a look.
I'd still go for a Scirocco first but if the VW's not your bag, you'll love it.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Snow in August, it's Labor Day Weekend.
Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, and everyone is making their last minute plans for the long weekend with a bang. Fireworks, outdoor concerts, local fairs and barbeque.
Even in these very challenging times, Americans enjoy celebrating the enduring values of our labor force who have shaped this great nation with the highest standards production and ingenuity.
On the heels of the season we will be getting ready for Fall. The long-range forecasts are out for the Northeast corridor. Get ready for sleet, snow, ice and brutal subzero temperatures.
Paul Pastelok, long-term Accu-Weather forecaster predicts that this November to experience "above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation. By January and February it’s going to get pretty cold.”
Old Man Winter can deal rough weather.
Start thinking about if you need a snow-battling 4x4 setup, and join the Audia family as we all pay tribute this Labor Day to our nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.
Motorbike parade in memory of Ben Gautrey is a poignant success
A POIGNANT parade which paid tribute to a Southport motorbike racer who died last year has helped to raise hundreds of pounds for a charity set up in his memory.
The Benjamin Gautrey Foundation, set up by friends and family of the 18-year-old rider who was killed at a race at Cadwell Park in August last year, said that a fundraising stall and tribute parade at last weekend's Ormskirk MotorFest had been seen by thousands of visitors, with more than £255 being raised to help the charity's aims of promoting grassroots sports.
Ben's mother Lorraine told Life On Cars: "The event was excellent and went far better for the foundation than any of us could have expected, with lots of people coming over to have a look and find out more about the charity. It isn't just about motorbike racing, but about all the sports Ben took such a keen interest in.
"The parade in particular went really well, with the bikes looking spectacular as they went around the streets of Ormskirk. Everything was done in a very poignant way and it was very emotional for everyone involved, but I'm delighted that it went so well and that so many people took an interest in what we're doing."
The charity not only had a stall set up in Coronation Park, where thousands of visitors to the event went to see the classic cars and bikes on display, but also had a special parade around the town centre, which was led by a replica of the 600cc Gearlink Kawasaki which Ben rode during his final race.
An additional tribute to Ben was also paid at Cadwell Park, the Lincolnshire circuit where he was killed in a race a year ago, with supporters planting a tree in his memory.
Charity supporter Alisdair Croft, who took also took part in last year's MotorFest, said: ”The foundation's supporters are absolutely delighted with how it all went, and it's clear that a lot of interest was generated and that a lot of merchandise to promote the charity's work was sold on the day.
"The parade too was a big success, and we're adament that the Benjamin Gautrey Foundation will be back at the Ormskirk MotorFest next year, and hopefully with some big names riding some of the bikes in the parade."
If you'd like to find out more about the Benjamin Gautrey Foundation, visit the charity's website at www.thebenjamingautreyfoundation.org.uk.
Picture courtesy of West Lancashire Borough Council
BMW 3200 Michelotti Vignale
Memories Of Fall
Photo by Marilyn Morrow
The sights and sounds and smells that trigger our brains into remembering the past, are for me, most active in the fall. About this time of year, I once asked our local hardware store merchant how he was doing. It was an off the cuff remark by me that I really was using in place of some other greeting. He took it as a very serious question. He said, “Well Cliff, this time of year always makes me feel melancholy.” I asked him why and he continued, “Well, all of the trees and plants will soon be dropping their leaves, and well you know, dying off and I know that winter is not far behind.”
I have a different take on it. Out here on the farm we plan and plant and cultivate and make decisions all year but then September comes. The first couple of days of low temperatures in the upper 40’s and highs in the 60’s are so very refreshing. Stepping onto the porch early in the morning and drawing in that first big breath of cold dry air is almost intoxicating. It is indeed nearing the end of life for our plants in the field but for those of us who farm, we see the finish line and it’s straight ahead. The reward for a long season of work is nearing and the weather is steadily getting colder.
I call it ‘lost sweatshirt weather’. Every morning when you get ready to go you can’t find your sweatshirt. Your mind rewinds to yesterday when you had it on when you went out of the door but had to take it off because… “Oh yeah, I remember now, it’s laying in the old truck.”
This time of year the blackbirds begin to ‘school’ into groups of thousands and flit and flutter and dive in what seems to be a carefully choreographed production to rival the Olympic opening ceremonies from China
For me, a trigger for the memories of fall include the apples turning their bright red color. It takes me back to the times I would walk the two miles home from our little country school. In the fall I would stop and procure an apple from the neighbor’s orchard
I have the memory of being put in a wagon to help kick ear corn down into the elevator. It sounds dangerous but thinking back on that, it’s evident that Dad put me in there so that he would know exactly where I was and that he wouldn’t need to worry about me getting into the large series of gears and drive shafts that powered the elevator.
The smell of burning cottonwood leaves, the sound of the banging of the irrigation pipe being retrieved from a nearly mature corn field, and the sounds of geese and ducks flying overhead and the occasional barrage of gun fire from nearby hunting blinds all serve to bring back good memories of fall.
You too are about to get busy in the fields and you have your own set of memories to build on. If you have children or grand children, make sure they get a good start on their future memories and that they are pleasant ones.
Okay, I’ll agree with our hardware store owner. I get a little melancholy too.
Winter is right around the corner.
But then again, so is spring.
Be careful out there.
This was published in my column in the Midwest Producer Magazine back in September of 2008 but I just reread it and still thought it to be relevant.
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