This article about the Colnago EPS is simply breathtaking. Beautiful stuff, done to the hilt.
(yes, they used the wrong photo to picture a Ferrari in the article, but the rest is good...)
"I just love racing, I love speed. I love the noise. One of the biggest
thrills of my life was I went to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona and I
watched from 50 meters to the right side of the runway, the flight of
four F-15c’s at takeoff, two by two, the second just five seconds after
the first, and the noise
! The ground shook! I was a guest of a colonel in the air force. I
said, ‘Will you be using reheat?’ — which you call afterburn — and he
said, ‘No, but if you want it, I can tell them.’ And I’ve never
forgotten it. The noise! The power! And they got to the end and they
went whoosh, it was almost vertical. Fantastic. Speed and noise."
- Sir Frank Williams
One of my favorite color schemes on anything with wheels -- cars, planes, trains, motorcycles, and bikes -- is white with black wheels. So I love the Rolf bike from Retrovelo.
photo credit: cleverchimp
The Harley-Davidson Nightster in Black Denim
You may have already seen this video, but with a "you've put your peanut butter in my chocolate" mix of two of my favorite marques, it's too good not to watch again.
I just stumbled upon this footage of Yojiro Terada demoing the Mazda 787B on a talk show. Kind of unexpected to hear a race car on a talk show, eh? But, I must admit, my general experience of Japanese society has been that it is very accepting of, and curious about, gnarlyness. I mean, can you imagine a race car being cranked up on a talk show in the United States? The lawyers would have a field day... "Oooo, you hurt my ears!"
And to do this with a 787B... total lunacy, total gnarlyness! Have you ever heard a 787B in the flesh? I'll never forget the first time I heard one running at Fuji in 1991; it's the only car outside of a nitro drag racer whose exhaust made my entrails do triple backflips. That stacked rotary motor isn't just loud -- any race car can be loud -- it's penetrating. If you ever get the chance to experience one at full bark, I quite recommend the experience.
Here's another video of Terada at the wheel of the same car. The picture quality is awful, but the sound is good, and it gives a good sense of the staccato pulse of a rotary racing motor:
And here's some high-quality footage of the car at speed:
I'm really geeking out here. Don't you just love this stuff?
By the way, if any of the engineers I met at Nissan while working in Atsugi in 1991 happen to read this, please send me an email!
Ferrari F450 testing at Fiorano. Gotta love the "prova" plates!
Watch Emile Bouret do a good impression of Walter Rohrl!
Forget the F60, bring on the F Smartie!
Thanks to UGG field photographer Paul B. for the shots.
If you like this video, you'll love this: 60 minutes of high definition coverage of the 2008 Race of Champions, starting tonight!
It's on Discovery HD Theater, airing at various times this month. Carl Edwards vs. Michael Schumacher... who will win?
Have fun!
The movie does a wonderful job of showing the human element of racing. After all, while the car is necessary, it's not sufficient. There's also driver and team. Truth in 24 is mostly about the team, and shows how tactics and strategy combine together to produce a victory. When I watch a race, it's that brew of strategy and tactics -- coupled with split-second decision making under pressure -- which draws me in and keeps me coming back for more.
You can find it as a free download on iTunes. Show it to your friends! It's an awesome thing to carry on your iPhone, too... here's the trailer:
As Howard Hughes knew, the incompressible nature of water makes for one helluva runway.
It distresses me to hear commentators describe folks as "defying the laws of physics". Horsehockey. They're called laws for a reason -- you can't break 'em. If you do, you get hurt. But you can take advantage of them.
Gnarlyness isn't about breaking the rules, it's about playing with them. Constraints can be liberating.
PS: all of us here at metacool salute Travis Pastrana yet again
Check out their debut announcement on SpeedTV at 12pm EST
Here's a sneak preview of tomorrow's events, via a Wind Tunnel interview with Peter Windsor: