Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Mazda's New Coupe?
Ben mentions a Jalopnik story on a Mazda concept coupe, probably/possibly based on the MX-5 platform.
Oh, how I hope there is some truth to these rumours! There's a few things I see being different here, though.
While I understand the assumption that it would use the 2.0 litre engine of the MX-5, it makes sense for it to use the 2.3 litre powerplant of the SP23 Mazda 3 and generic Mazda 6 models. I hope that it is essentially a hardtopped/coupe-ified MX-5, in the way that a Porsche Cayman is to a Porsche Boxster.
And I know it's a longshot, but I pray for it to use the Renesis rotary engine (be it the RX-8 13B, or the much-rumoured "wide-rotor" engine). Or at least I hope for a rotorised variant, like days of old, when Mazda would produce both a piston-powered mainstream car, and a rotary-powered low-volume option.
I think the use of the RX-3 moniker is a step too far, but then, stranger things have happened.
Oh, how I hope there is some truth to these rumours! There's a few things I see being different here, though.
While I understand the assumption that it would use the 2.0 litre engine of the MX-5, it makes sense for it to use the 2.3 litre powerplant of the SP23 Mazda 3 and generic Mazda 6 models. I hope that it is essentially a hardtopped/coupe-ified MX-5, in the way that a Porsche Cayman is to a Porsche Boxster.
And I know it's a longshot, but I pray for it to use the Renesis rotary engine (be it the RX-8 13B, or the much-rumoured "wide-rotor" engine). Or at least I hope for a rotorised variant, like days of old, when Mazda would produce both a piston-powered mainstream car, and a rotary-powered low-volume option.
I think the use of the RX-3 moniker is a step too far, but then, stranger things have happened.
Fatigue Kills (it didn't, but it came close)...
I had a great weekend at the MotoGP, with bikes, beer and surprisingly for Phillip Island, sun.
The trip down on Friday afternoon wasn't so great. I drove my wife's Falcon ute down, with our Ducati tied down in the tray. She flew straight to Melbourne from Sydney, so I would meet up with her at the Island, and she would ride the Ducati back from the Island, and we could pillion about while down there.
Anyway, just north of Jugiong on the Hume Highway, I had a moment of indiscretion. I had just passed a truck, and looked down at the speedo to do some calculations for the distance to Gundagai (the next scheduled fuel and rest stop). By the time I looked back up, I had put the two right hand tyres off the road, and into the grass verge of the median strip seperating the dual carraigeway.
This lead to me trying to get the car back on the road, a series of swerves/fishtails, and the ute leaving the road at around 100km/h into the shrubs in the median strip.
I don't know how the car didn't roll. I don't know how I picked a section of road with no substantial trees/drains/posts/lightpoles/etc. I don't know how I'm still alive.
The ute came to a stop with vegetation everywhere, damage to the front bumper, front right guard, drivers door, rear bumper and not much else. With some assistance from a retired(?) couple and the truck driver, I managed to get out of the bog in the median strip and back on the highway, but I am incredibly lucky that the whole incident didn't end in tears.
At the time I didn't think myself fatigued, but now I look back, I probably was getting a bit tired. Given the amount of kilometres I do on the highway, I suppose it was going to happen eventually, but I never thought about it happening in daylight, under those circumstances. I wasn't being an idiot, I wasn't over-tired, I wasn't speeding, and was generally being a good road user. In the end, I definitely consider it my fault.
Luckily, I live. And hopefully, I've learnt.
The trip down on Friday afternoon wasn't so great. I drove my wife's Falcon ute down, with our Ducati tied down in the tray. She flew straight to Melbourne from Sydney, so I would meet up with her at the Island, and she would ride the Ducati back from the Island, and we could pillion about while down there.
Anyway, just north of Jugiong on the Hume Highway, I had a moment of indiscretion. I had just passed a truck, and looked down at the speedo to do some calculations for the distance to Gundagai (the next scheduled fuel and rest stop). By the time I looked back up, I had put the two right hand tyres off the road, and into the grass verge of the median strip seperating the dual carraigeway.
This lead to me trying to get the car back on the road, a series of swerves/fishtails, and the ute leaving the road at around 100km/h into the shrubs in the median strip.
I don't know how the car didn't roll. I don't know how I picked a section of road with no substantial trees/drains/posts/lightpoles/etc. I don't know how I'm still alive.
The ute came to a stop with vegetation everywhere, damage to the front bumper, front right guard, drivers door, rear bumper and not much else. With some assistance from a retired(?) couple and the truck driver, I managed to get out of the bog in the median strip and back on the highway, but I am incredibly lucky that the whole incident didn't end in tears.
At the time I didn't think myself fatigued, but now I look back, I probably was getting a bit tired. Given the amount of kilometres I do on the highway, I suppose it was going to happen eventually, but I never thought about it happening in daylight, under those circumstances. I wasn't being an idiot, I wasn't over-tired, I wasn't speeding, and was generally being a good road user. In the end, I definitely consider it my fault.
Luckily, I live. And hopefully, I've learnt.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Entry-level motorsport?
Ben posted some thoughts on "entry-level" motorsport, and in doing so, asked two questions (see below). Here are my thoughts, by way of answer, and some other things besides...
I think of entry level motorsport as motorkhanas, hillclimbs and touring assemblies. It is a lot to get organised into your first motorsport event, and the licencing levels (particularly the split between 2S and 2NS licences) can lead to confusion and frustration.
There are various entries into motorsport, but they aren't popularised, they don't recieve the focus by CAMS that I feel they should. Brett Lee and Ricky Ponting are used promote club-level/juniors cricket, various elite athletes are used to promote their sports, but you won't see Marcos Ambrose or Mark Skaife at a club motorkhana, or ads on tele telling people that this is the sport that they could get involved with.
That's the real failing. Motorsport doesn't focus on the growth through entry-level. The focus remains on the top end of town. It makes sense. That's where the money is. But it doesn't make it right, nor smart...
- Are the barriers to entry into motorsport too high?
I think of entry level motorsport as motorkhanas, hillclimbs and touring assemblies. It is a lot to get organised into your first motorsport event, and the licencing levels (particularly the split between 2S and 2NS licences) can lead to confusion and frustration.
There are various entries into motorsport, but they aren't popularised, they don't recieve the focus by CAMS that I feel they should. Brett Lee and Ricky Ponting are used promote club-level/juniors cricket, various elite athletes are used to promote their sports, but you won't see Marcos Ambrose or Mark Skaife at a club motorkhana, or ads on tele telling people that this is the sport that they could get involved with.
- Is there enough information out there on how to get started?
That's the real failing. Motorsport doesn't focus on the growth through entry-level. The focus remains on the top end of town. It makes sense. That's where the money is. But it doesn't make it right, nor smart...
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Meme Digression: Mack the Knife
I'm sure this is the first in a series of meme progressions/digressions that I'll discuss with you all...
Ben posted up about his Jazz/Swing based Mercedes mix tape, and I commented that it sounded cool, but missed that hep-cat tune "Mack the Knife" that seemed to fit with what I knew of the tunes he'd mentioned.
Of course, Ben put me onto the Wikipedia Entry on Mack the Knife, which lent a completely new outlook for me on the basis of the song. Before now it had been a tune to me, with some odd and morbid lyrics, much like a Nick Cave song.
Straight Dope confirms the Wikipedia story, and now I've got some thinking to do about the origins of more songs that I like. That, and trying to track down a production of The Threepenny Opera, and a CD of Bobby Darin featuring the tune that started this thought...
Ben posted up about his Jazz/Swing based Mercedes mix tape, and I commented that it sounded cool, but missed that hep-cat tune "Mack the Knife" that seemed to fit with what I knew of the tunes he'd mentioned.
Of course, Ben put me onto the Wikipedia Entry on Mack the Knife, which lent a completely new outlook for me on the basis of the song. Before now it had been a tune to me, with some odd and morbid lyrics, much like a Nick Cave song.
Straight Dope confirms the Wikipedia story, and now I've got some thinking to do about the origins of more songs that I like. That, and trying to track down a production of The Threepenny Opera, and a CD of Bobby Darin featuring the tune that started this thought...
