....and Things That Go

HUDSON'S, HUDSON'S and more HUDSON'S

2011-07-18T16:58:00.000-05:00

My wife and her sister wanted to go to Shipshewana, IN to do some shopping.

This is an Amish area in northeastern IN.

There was a Hudson museum in the town and I thought "How many Hudson's have the Amish owned?

Boy was I in for a surprise! It is an outstanding Museum.

The Hostetler Collection. Almost one of every year built.

From The first Hudson's a 1909 Model 20

A 1911 model 33 Speedster

A 1917 race car

1927 Firetruck

Hudson tried everything

1928 Town Car. A little more upscale.

A 1929 Mail truck. A little more utilitarian.

A 1936 Rumble seat convertible Series 65. A little too yellow.

Yes Hudson raced NASCAR and won.

Some of the cars were over restored but this one wasn't one of them.

A partial view of the collection

This 1928 Convertible tucked back in one corner just happened to be a winner of....

It's class at the 2009 Pebble Beach!!!!!!

What a collection.

Pretty Red Car

2011-07-15T18:00:00.001-05:00

Not much to add.

Ends of the Spectrem

2011-07-14T15:26:00.000-05:00

On a recent trip I got this picture in Indiana.

Which provided an unusual comparisons of things that go.

At a winery in Ohio I parked next to this. A big difference in transportation vehicles.

This did have a dancing horse on it.

I also visited a Hudson Museum in the middle of Amish country and will show those next.

....barges go, but slow

2010-06-10T10:44:00.007-05:00

Living on the Ohio river I sometimes forget what a neat thing the river is. This week Mary and I just followed the small two lane highway that follows the river. There are a lot of scenic vistas and overlooks along the river. At Cannelton, IN there is a set of locks and a dam. This point is about 670 miles below Pittsburgh, PA where the river starts.The dams along the Ohio are of the wicket and gate style. They are used to regulate the flow and level of the river to minimise flooding and to keep it navigable in the dry seasons.
These are the gates and they are raised and lowered to regulate the level. All the way up and they don't stop any water. The level is the same above and below the dam. They don't even seal. There is so much flow in the river they just slow it down and the river upstream rises.

These enclosures house the BIG hoists that raise and lower the gates.
You can also see a vulture cruising for fish below the dam.

Fortunately the was a barge locking through while we were there. He is waiting for the lock to finish filling so they can open the upstream lock gate and let them out.

The lock has been opened and they are moving on up stream. The Ohio river has a huge amount of traffic so this goes on around the clock. Another barge had pulled up waiting their turn to lock through.

....more Race cars that go

2010-05-28T09:20:00.007-05:00

My brother works grid at the MidOhio race track. He bought his wife a new camera so she tried it out at the race last weekend. Pretty good job with the new camera. All of these pictures were taken by Jenny and not me.A formula ford coming down the road from paddock to pre-grid.
My brother making sure the formula car drivers are all belted in correctly.

Here he is lining them up for the start.

Sometimes you have to be pretty explicit as the red mist may already have settled in.

Two sports racers leaning into the corner.

A friend finishing.

...race cars Go

2010-05-03T14:30:00.012-05:00

I got to crew this last weekend at the Mayday National at Heartland Park in Topeka Kansas. Because I was working most of the weekend I didn't get a lot of chances to get pictures, but I caught a few here and there with one short video at the end. When we get the in car footage I may include some more. Here is our paddock area. Front of car.
Rear of car. Always fiddling and diddling with things.

A Miata and a VW Golf going through turns 2 and 3.

The Golf is one of the popular small sedans.

A Lotus Super 7.

A Miata passing an SRF on the outside.

This Formula Atlantic wasn't having a good day.

Turn 4 and 5 is a busy place at the start of a race. The following video is from the regional race for Formula Atlantic's, Formula Continentals, C Sports racers and D Sports racers. This was our class but we didn't run the regional. We were saving ourselves for the National race Sunday.

....my favorites

2010-04-20T22:51:00.012-05:00

I am returning to more cars from the Lane Museum. This is a group of my favorites from the museum. I just like these.1985 Renault Alpine 310
1954 Panhard Ghia-Aigle

1938 BMW 320. There are only 17 of this Cabriolet left out of over 4,000.

1976 Lamborghini Urraco P300

1998 Lotus Elise. It's a Lotus thing.

1955 MG TF. Like it needs a label.

1935 Adler Trumpf Junior. After the war they made typewriters.

When I walked into the museum and they had a map of Le Mans built into the floor I knew this would be good.

A Special Post - Doolittle Raiders

2010-04-16T10:02:00.013-05:00

For today I am not posting any pictures from the Lane Museum. My brother lives in Ohio where Wright-Paterson Air Force base is located. This weekend they are having a celebration honoring the Doolittle Raiders of WW2. April 18, 1942 16 B 24 bombers took off from the deck of the USS Hornet to strike the first blow back at the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. There were 80 men in these 16 planes and only 8 are still alive. They are trying to gather all of the flying B 24's in the US to do a fly in at Wright-Paterson. My brother and his wife took all of these pictures so I offer a big thanks for them.As of Thursday evening there were 17 at the Urbana Ohio airport with more due today.
The nose art on the old planes is one of their great draws.

Some more interesting than others.

I find all parts of the old plane fascinating. and good looking.

These old planes take a huge amount of maintenance to keep them flying. a true labour of love.

One beautiful airplane.

Shell feeds for the side mount machine guns. We still need to remember what these planes were designed to do.

Two arriving together with the first peeling off to land.

The last to land at sunset. Here is a short video of one rolling in to park.

...three wheels are better than Four?

2010-04-14T14:40:00.009-05:00

The lane collection of three wheelers is outstanding. Some of the "most interesting".This is one of Mary's pictures and unfortunately we didn't get much info on this car, but it is quite the looker. I don't know which is its best feature, the trunk in the front, the sidewinder starting handle or the wood trim pieces. No, its the nifty luggage rack!
Of course a lot of the micro cars are three wheelers. If you are going to leave off a lot of the car might as well leave off one of the wheels.

This is a 1950 Martin Stationette. I think it started life as a roll top desk and somebody left a gasoline engine in one of the drawers.

The 1932 Martin Martinette. Words fail me.

This is a 1934 B.S.A. TW33-10. This was a four cylinder car and they sold over 1700 of them. I have several friends that have old B.S.A. bikes and I bet they didn't know they were once in the car business. This is realy a very nice car.

Whats missing here? This is a 1958 Coronet. I liked this styling cue to make you think it had 4 wheels? This had a fiberglass body and Triumph front suspension.

Th 1948 Davis Divan got it's name from the fact that it is so wide that the front seat, the only seat, can seat four across just like a divan. What inspiration. There were only 16 built and every one still exists in private collections.

Four across if your all real good friends. I don't think we have seen the end of three wheelers and I wonder if the next one will have two wheels in front or in the rear.

Time for some race cars

2010-04-12T22:28:00.014-05:00

To say that the race cars at the Lane Museum are a bit eclectic is to say, well I don't know, here are some of them. I will have more later.A 1960 Saab 93 currently being raced in some vintage class?
A 1966 Citroen DS set up for ice racing. I wish I knew how this ended up in Nashville TN. Not your ice racing capitol of America.

1985 Renault 5 Turbo 2. One of the Killer B's rally cars.
1985 MG Metro 6R4. Another of the Killer B's. This one has the old Rover V8 cut down to a V6. That is the old Buick aluminum block V8 that they had in the early 60's that GM sold to Rover because nobody over here would buy it.

This is an Austin Healey Sprite running in the SCCA F/Prepared class. No info on who's are why its here?

A 2001 Dallara IRL car. I think this one was sponsored by Red Bull, not sure.

1967 Can-Am car with a 2002 PCD Saxon British hill climb car in the background.

1967 Caldwell Can-Am race car campaigned and still owned by Sam Posey. They have a TV in the background playing old footage from the races. It appears that the only time it was filmed was when higher placed cars were passing it. The cars here really are a lot of fun and a little of everything.

So small I would need two

2010-04-11T22:40:00.007-05:00

The Lane Museum Has a great collection of micro cars.Of course they would have a Messerschmitt with picnic basket.
1926 Hanomag with wooden spokes.

Just a few of their micros.

A Goggomobile Dart with a special body.

And of course the Peel.

When I see one of these I always think of Clarkson driving one through the BBC studio.

more things that go from the Lane Museum

2010-04-09T22:48:00.008-05:00

The Lane Museum also has four different propeller driven cars. I had the Tatra yesterday and here are the other three.This is a 1929 Wind Wagon. The plans were published in The Boy Mechanic magazine and this one was built by Sam Posey's uncle. Posey refered to this vehicle in his book "The Mudge Pond Express" and this was it.
This is the Harley-Davidson engine that powered this 1919 Leyat Helico. The car is a reproduction because none survived. Again this was built from original plans

More airplane than car. They didn't realize the efficiency lost through being propeller driven.

This view looks like Jules Verne designed it.

The 1932 Helicron. This one is original. Just think what lawyers would do with this today.

Just too cool.

The ever popular Tatra brand

2010-04-08T19:10:00.008-05:00

The Lane Museum has the largest collection of Czechoslovakia cars out side of you know where. Today I am going to show you the Tatra's they have. These are very interesting. The 1958 Tatra T-603. When the communist ran the country they decided they needed a big fancy car for party officials only, this is it.

This is a 1947 T-87. It was designed in 1936. After Germany took over the country in WW2 all of the German officers wanted one. It is rumoured that so many officers died driving the cars that they were outlawed from driving them. They had an air cooled engine so they didn't freeze up during the Russian invasion.

A 1934 T-57 Roadster

1950 Tatra 607 Monoposto. They built this car to run in Formula 1. Yes that is what I said Formula 1. Now don't laugh! They used it to test their V8 engine for the T-603. The peoples car that was only for the party officials.

This is the 1942 Aeroluge. This car was asked for by Hitler. He thought this would help them speed across the snow in Russia. They only built one prototype which is in the Tatra Museum. This one is a reproduction built from original parts.

This is the 1925 T-11 built for the Targa-Florio.

How many Citroen's are too many?

2010-04-07T22:29:00.010-05:00

Last week while returning through Nashville, I spent several hours at the Lane Automotive Museum. What a blast. I am going to feature a lot of cars from the museum over the next few weeks. I am going to start with just SOME of the Citroen's they have. They have about 400 cars so they can't put them all on display. Finally a 2CV that knows where it is going.
What????

Your basic racing 2CV.

An SM, how appropriate?

This is the Citroen that the French were going to take to get to the front during WW2.

The classic "Bad Guy" car.

Daytona into the night and day

2010-02-02T09:48:00.005-06:00

As they run into the night it starts getting more interesting.Not the best line.
OOPS!!

Most interesting pictures at night.

And the winner is! A Porsche V8?

....they Go at Daytona

2010-01-30T16:21:00.009-06:00

We are 2 hours into the 24. It has started wet but is starting to dry at 2 hours.
WET!!!

They don't let water spread them out.

New Camaro doing OK.

Starting to get a little sun.

Second lap. Ugh!

Kites can really go

2009-07-30T10:23:00.008-05:00

I was able to do one of my favorite things this week. Fly a kite. Considering my current employment condition I should have been flying more. Mary likes to photograph clouds so we both got to do our thing.I really like stunt kites which give you total control, you can even fly the kite down or do loops.
Here I am flying horizontal. Please play close attention to Mary's clouds.

Trying to gain altitude after flying close to the ground. The following video gives you a quick view of flying. The wind was light so it limited the speed and performance.

Autocross Season

2009-07-19T16:55:00.016-05:00

I have gotten behind on posting autocross photo's. The first autocross was back in May. You can tell its the first by the amount of grass growing up through the concrete. The second autocross is one we put on for the local performance car part company. All kinds of American iron showed up for that one.

Porsche headed into the first left hander.Bob's LeGrand headed toward the finish.Craig's real Super 7.Paul's Porsche with plenty of tires.Trying to take your Datsun through the lights backwards is not the fastest way.Beautiful July day. Big iron lining up in the grid.A GTO. Maybe not the best handling car but it looked great.An old Chevy made to look old was pushed hard until a radiator hose gave up.This Camaro was immaculate and with the custom air ride suspension cornered flat and flew.Same cars carbon fiber splitter and wheel. Beautiful.This Camaro was really nice but had way too much engine for the suspension.Another fast air ride Camaro.The Orange Camaro beat this Porsche by 2 seconds. Yikes!

.....Got it Going Again

2009-06-16T20:36:00.005-05:00

The Queen is out of the garage. I ran into Ryan Friday and he said "Let's get your Z running. I'm off Monday." He came over yesterday and we got it running. This is my 1972 Datsun 240Z that I bought new and drove it off of the showroom floor.Now I just need to replace all of the fuel lines, put in a new fuel pump, bleed the brakes and flush the radiator. Oh, and clean out the mouse crap.
Here is Angle's and Ryan's next to mine. Looking at his Webber set up we discovered that he needs a new water pump. Old cars always need TLC.

I have had it under a car cover for several years and I actually forgot how pretty it is.

WINNERS!

2009-05-25T08:43:00.011-05:00

Here is a row of winning cars from the 90's back to the 60's.
This one gets special mention as it is Shiersen Racing's 1990 winner driven by Arie Luyendyk. My formula Atlantic was an ex-Shiersen car. He had owned March's for years. Changed to a Lola and Arie and won!

A March 83C driven by Tom Sneva won in 83.

You get two pictures of the March.

Jim Halls Chaparrals. The 1980 winner driven by Johnny Rutherford in the foreground.

1973 Eagle driven by Gordon Johncock.

1972 McLaren driven by Mark Donohue.

68 Eagle driven by Bobbie Unser.

Carb Day at Indy

2009-05-23T11:53:00.011-05:00

Here are a few pictures and videos from Carb day at Indy. Carb day consists of one hour of practice to get your race setup. When you get to a video TURN UP THE VOLUME!Here are the cars getting ready. For your $10 you also get to go almost anywhere at the track to watch.

Typical.

After practice if you go to the right spot you can get all kinds of good pictures.

One of many I took as the cars headed back to Gasolene Alley.

This old guy shows up every year for the 500.

Start of the Indy lights race. It was a very good race from the top 5 guys.

Lotus at Indy

2009-05-20T07:48:00.017-05:00

Having been a Lotus owner I have to have a special day just for the Lotus of Indy. I am going to start with the type 38 that won. To see a fantastic painting of the car go to Car-A-Day.
Nose

Goodwood stickers.
I just love the bundle of snakes.

This is the type 29 that Jimmy Clark got 2nd in 63.

Very simple but effective.

The office.

The type 56, the turbine powered car. This was Graham Hill's. He qualified 2nd and was running 4th when it broke a suspension member. Certainly a different design for Lotus and a car I still haven't made up my mind if I think it looks good or not.

Misc. cars at the Indy museum

2009-05-19T09:22:00.015-05:00

One of the great things about the Museum at Indy is that they like race cars, any race cars. So they have some really cool cars from other forms of racing that you can see.The 1991 Benetton. Driven by two guys named Schumacher and Patrese. I think some guy named Brawn was involved with this car also.
Oh, look! A diffuser, what does that do for a car?

Going back to the roots though, here is a 1906 Renault. Lets put Alonso in this and I bet he would get everything he could out of it and then some.

Do you think Aerodynamics is the new trick? This is the 1906 Laurin & Klement which is in the lineage of the current Skoda company. Look at the nose, sloped for extra downforce. Notice the fin in the back. It was actually tied into the steering to help get the rear end around corners without skidding. A movable aero device to help with oversteer.

A 1907 Italia.

What collection doesn't need a Bugatti. Here is a 1929 model 35-B.

Front view.

1954 Mercedes W196. Does this look like a 55 year old design?

1961 Birdcage Maserati. I wish I could get a picture with the skin off.

A rare Scarab. An American race car that competed in several levels of racing.

Their 1965 Ferrari 250LM. One of the prettiest Ferrari's ever built. This car won the 1965 24 Hour of LeMans.

A.J. Made Things Go

2009-05-14T17:47:00.010-05:00

Here are two of the cars that A.J. Foyt drove to wins. The first is the 1967 car for his third win. It was a Coyote (Foyt's) chassis and a Ford engine

Notice the chassis offset to the left for left turn ovals only.
They were starting to pay attention to aerodynamics.

Zoom in for all the info.

I love the little flipped up tail.

Here is the 1977 winner his 4th winner. This car was all Foyt's even the engine was a Foyt. It was still pretty close to the Ford Cosworth.

I really like the lack of restoration on this car. It is pretty much the way it came off of the track. Notice the nice high tech rope for pulling the protective plug out of the turbo. You can also see the sideways "T" part of Foyt cast in the engine cam cover.

The engine and mechanical bits are still oily and a light covering of dust. They keep the body shiny but that is all. The cover plate on the header was where they bolted on the pop off valve to control the amount of boost.

Really nice sway bar adjuster.

Engines That Make Them Go

2009-05-10T18:36:00.015-05:00

Here is a brief history of some of the major engines used during the first 50 years of the 500.This is the Cummings diesel 400 cu. in. engine, it is NOT a major engine from Indy. They tried diesels twice in the 30's and twice in the 50's without much success. The diesel was tried because it could go 500 miles on a tank of diesel without refueling. However the car was so heavy that it wore out tires quickly and they had more pit stops to just change tires.
This is the 1920 Monroe-Frontenac engine. A 4 cylinder 16 valve double overhead cam design. The Meyer-Drake Offy running in 1966 has the same configuration.

The 1920 Duesenberg strait 8 engine. Duesenberg ran Indy all through the 20's with basically their production engine. If you bought a Duesenberg for the street you got this engine. Today it would be like buying a Toyota Corolla and getting their F1 engine in it. Ooh doggies!

The 1926-29 Duesenberg. Eight cylinders and 90 cu. in.

Their biggest competition was the Miller supercharged engine. 91 cu. in.

During the 30's Duesenberg fell out of favor and Miller really took over. Here is the 1932 Miller-Offenhauser. 220 cu. in.

Here is the basic Offenhauser block used up until 1966. Very simple but very rugged. Everybody thought they had a better idea on how to coax a few more horsepower out of it than anyone else.

Another version of the Miller engine used during the 30's. The differences where mainly caused by the Miller race cars being front wheel drive so the engines were in their cars backwards.

In the 50's Meyer-Drake took over building what had been the Offenhauser engine. This would be the engine of choice until 1966.

The other side of the Meyer-Drake.

This engine based on a stock Ford block was designed by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth and opened the door to all sorts of engines. However the Cosworth engine has probably won more major races than any other engine.

The car that changed American racing!

2009-05-08T08:47:00.007-05:00

Here is the 1961 Cooper-Climax driven by Sir Jack Brabham. American racing was stuck it a rut. They had taken the roadster design as far as it could go. This car qualified for 9th and finished 9th. Not very earth shaking, but it did. A lot of people fought for several more years to run roadsters but they were doomed.I wish they had put this car next to a roadster to show the size difference. This car is tiny.
Front suspension. An adjustable shock and a simple swaybar adjustment.

Simple rear suspension.

Nice and simple office space.

Here you can see the large gas tank.

Doesn't look like a world changing car.

a Brief Indy History

2009-05-05T08:44:00.008-05:00

In the early days at Indy they would have all sorts of events to try and make money. The track was in financial trouble from the very start. So anyone that wanted to put on an event was welcomed. They even had balloon races starting in the infield. Motorcycle racing was one of the more popular races that were put on. Mary has been posting some of the history and a lot about all of the trophies. Here is a link to her blog http://thisthatotherthing-mary.blogspot.com/ The Indy museum has a few of the old bikes. An early Harley.
The real racers back then were Indians!
Another Indian.

A Geugeot. Not quite as well known brand.

And now today they are racing bikes at Indy again.

Indy has had its ups and downs over the years but if they could get F1 back along with the 500, the brickyard 400 and the MotoGP they would truly be the Motor Racing Capitol of the World as they have long claimed.

My next post will be about the engines of Indy.

...a Place To Go Fast

2009-04-30T17:49:00.016-05:00

OK. this is the month of May. I was born, raised and live in Indiana so the month of May is the Indy 500. I may like a lot of different styles of racing, preferring a mixture of left and right turns, but the 500 is the 500. This year is the 100th anniversary of the track, 2011 will be the 100th anniversary for the 500. The track was originally built as a test track for all of the cars that were built in Indiana and they were trying to make Indiana the car capitol of the world. Henry Ford built his factory in Detroit and the world changed.This is the 1903 Premier Special built in Indy. It was built for the Vanderbilt Cup Race but was 300 pounds over the weight limit. Race cars then had a max weight limit! The engine is 923 cu in with 100 HP at 1000 RPM. It's best speed was 59.21 MPH
Here is the 1911 Cole 30 built in Indy.

1914 Marmon Roadster Built in Indy.

1903 Premier built in Indy. See the Special in the first picture, win on Sunday sell on Monday.

1908 Richmond Surrey. Built in Richmond Indiana.

1909 Haynes built in Kokomo Indiana.

1914 Stutz built in Indy. Their most famous car being the Bearcat.

I have not include any Auburn's, Cords or Duesenbergs the big three of Indiana.

Sometime in the future I will hit that museum.

And the winning car from the 1911 first 500 the Marmon Wasp (picture by others) built in Indy.

I talked to one of the museum people about the color of the car and he said that it should be more orange but during an early restoration it was changed but it was so long ago that color photo's don't exist.

Motorcycles were also raced at the track. Some of those will be next.

....and Things That Go by Human Power

2009-04-27T19:27:00.009-05:00

While taking my wife to a local nature reserve I stumbled upon Civil Engineering students from My Alma Mater practicing with their concrete canoes.

Girls team

U of E. When I went we didn't get to do such fun stuff. They now build Formula SAE cars, Off road car and such.
Boys team. They didn't seem too energetic. The girls were the other direction.

This is Sam. We go to church together. Sam was showing off his new 24 speed trike that he is planning to ride across the US starting in Maine this June. He got the bike last week and put 300 miles on it in 5 days. Sam is quite the character. He had a bad motorcycle wreck when he was 16 and his right arm doesn't work and his right leg barely works.

I think this is his plan to scare off big semi's.

2009-03-20T11:34:00.010-05:00

I have visited the Air Force bone yard in Tucson before. This is where they have planes saved for use later or for spares for what they have.This year I went down the street to a private junk yard where they take the items that have been totally stripped and recover the base metals. They also let you wonder through a lot of the area.

Old jet engines fascinate me. The old burner tubes. I would love to take one apart.

Instruments are useful.

Landing gear and wing tanks.

Old F-86 Fuselage's. These are at least 50 years old. Someone just doesn't have the heart to melt them down.

Jet canopies. What could you use these for?

Old radial engines are works of art.

It looks like they needed the jugs, but not much else.

....A Sky Watch That Goes

2009-03-05T21:52:00.005-06:00

I took my wife to a nearby wetlands area to check on some wild swans and an eagle nest we saw last Tuesday. One Bald Eagle was sitting in a tree a long way off, see the header. It took off and flew almost over our head and I was able to catch it in flight. They are pretty fast when they want to be. To see a Bald Eagle in flight is breathtaking. Thanks to the people that sponser the Sky Watch Friday. Follow the link to the rest of the Sky Watch Friday Blogs.

....and Some Things Go FFAASSTT

2009-02-28T16:24:00.014-06:00

The picture in the header is the start of the SCCA National Championship race last October. Tom is on the right. He finished third.The stripped down chassis. It has a reinforced space frame. All of the body work and undertray are carbon fiber.

I made an error in my initial blog when I stated that it had an 1100 cc engine which is really a 1000cc engine.

....things that go slow

2009-02-26T15:06:00.010-06:00

On a recent trip to Tucson Arizona I found this colection of wagons and carts at a gas station on the way to Tombstone.Most were the 1 HP versions. Early pick up truck.
Most had also been uprated at some point with rubber treaded tires. I imagine it made a huge difference in the ride:-)

Early single seater. Not sure what formula it fell under?

The four seater saloon, 2 HP.

The classic station wagon or shooting brake, depending on which side of the ocean you are on.

2 HP SUV caught at full throttle

This could really GO!!! So Watch the Sky

2009-02-04T10:09:00.015-06:00

It has been a while since I posted anything and this is not a car post. Snow and ice have made me think of going to Arizona to get away from it and that is where I visited the last Titan II missile silo that has been converted to a museum. This is not so much a Sky Watch as a Watch the Sky post.

This is a display of the engines used. The big double first stage engine, the large second stage engine and the small steering engines for the war heads. I wish I knew how much HP each would generate. This is a good reminder of the "Cold War" and how close we could have been to a Hot War.

This is the concrete silo cover. It is in the retracted position. If they needed to open it for actual use explosive would have been used to move it.

The missile in the silo. Notice the hole in the side of the nose cone. Every day a Russian satellite does a fly over and takes a picture to make sure that hole is there and that there is NOT a war head inside. The old "trust but verify" still is used.

After going down an elevator a long way, and they wouldn't tell us how far, we had to go through four blast doors to get to the control room.

This is the tunnel from the control room out to the missile. The large cans along the walls are shock absorbers that can withstand anything except a direct atomic bomb blast.

Looking up out of the silo at the nose cone. they have built a glass cover to protect the missile because the cover has to be left open so the Russians can look at it each day, smile.

This is the control panel where the Presidents code would have been entered into the group of thumb switches that opened the oxidiser valve so the missile could launch.

The "safe" for the keys that turned everything on. I wouldn't have thought of a filling cabinet with a few locks on it. High tech at its best. Wonder what it cost?

The Titan II had three individually guided war heads. Here is where the targets were set. Hope they don't have my address. As an engineer I found this really interesting but thinking of what would have happened if these had been used is pretty scary.

Sometimes things don't go!

2008-12-29T22:07:00.014-06:00

Winter is the time for garage racing!

I took these at a friend's.

These aren't going now, but just wait for good weather.

What could be under these?
What could possibly be under this? A car cover and cardboard. A big V8 wrapped in plastic.

This doesn't help much.

Carts! I asked why 4? One for tracks, one for street circuits, one for a friend and one for sale.

OH! A Sunbeam Tiger in tube chassis form.

New fiberglass body panels.

A TR2 in wonderful condition.

Pretty in here. Cleaner than a Triumph should be.

A Norton.

Another Norton

Finally the fab shop. What a wonderful place to spend the winter.

Formula 1 Cars Go

2008-12-03T20:23:00.014-06:00

2007 US GP

Talking about things that GO, F1 cars go. The US GP is gone. A certain short chubby person that wants all of the money has fixed that. It was such a fun event. We even let the Fins come. Maybe that wasn't the smartest but they know how to have a good time.At the end is a video of the start that I thought would be easy to do. Wrong!
Looks like the red cars were chasing the silver cars.

The race for 5th was the best racing all day.

One of the support races was the Formula BMW.

These guys aren't afraid of anything!

All alone.

Some young kid.

and Now for Something Different

2008-11-10T21:23:00.012-06:00

Here is something that goes. A Russian submarine. This was a Cobra class sub built in the mid 70's. NATO called it a Foxtrot. The Russians tried to make their subs sleek. This was about the last diesel class of boats they built.

The rear torpedo room. This tube was so rusty from a leaking outer door that it couldn't be used. Poor maintenance.

Captains small cabin. Enough room for Lenin.

Front torpedo room. Doing maintenance on one tube.

Engine room. Best shape of anyplace on the boat. You could almost eat off of them.

Diving controls. Hope it comes up as easy as it goes down.

Dymaxion - Car of the Future

2008-11-06T20:08:00.009-06:00

I live in a geodesic dome invented by Buckminster Fuller. When we built it my wife's father said that he had met him once when he was building his Dymaxion cars.My Father-in-law was a student at George Washington University in Washington DC studying Civil Engineering in 1935. He also had a part time job working for the Bureau of Public Roads who were working to develop smooth roads.
At the same time Fuller built 3 of his Dymaxion cars and needed someplace to test them and the BPR was one of the few places that had plenty of roads.

My father-in-law took these pictures the first day that Fuller showed up with his car. The drawings were taken from the patent application material.

Can you imagine how this car was looked upon when people like Ford had only quit making the Model T a few years earlier. Four seats, three wheels, mid engine and front wheel drive. We believe that Fuller is in the dark suit on the left.

My World Tuesday

2008-10-27T19:35:00.011-05:00

My World in HO Scale.

This post combines where I was born, raised and live with model trains.

A win/win.

This is the County Court House with one of the oldest churches in town.

The local model railroad club has built Evansville, IN in HO scale. Of course the city is much larger than this but everyone of these buildings are modeled after the real thing. Some however no longer exist.
This was the Grand Theater. A very classy theater that became a movie house. When they tore it down the demolition crew wrecked a friends brand new 63 Split Window Corvette!!

The building with the stripped roof is the Post Office and Tariff House. Evansville is on a bend in the Ohio river and was a major riverboat port. When the Wabash and Erie Canal ended here they built the tariff house right between the two so they could collect both ways. It has been beautifully restored.

At one time the train did run right through the middle of town down Division Street cutting the town in half.

The old McCurdy Hotel. A grand old hotel that has become a retirement home. They are getting ready to boot out the oldsters and take it Condo. They are actually going to build the oldsters a brand new place so don't worry.

The old train Yard on the west side. My Grandfather was an engineer for the old L&N Railroad and worked here.

Another view of the old train station. They tore it down to build a Pawn shop! The pawn shop was just torn down so the cross town expressway could be widened. Such is progress.

Thanks to the people putting on My World.

You can see more by using the link on my sidebar.

March 79A Outside In

2008-10-25T10:15:00.014-05:00

Here is the anatomy of a 70's vintage Formula Atlantic Race car.This is a March 79A chassis #4. March only built 3 of the 79A's. They were originally set up for Formula 3 (I think) in Europe. Doug Shierson here in the US bought it and had March rework it to Atlantic specs, hence the chassis #4. The car weighed 1130 LBS. WITHOUT driver.
The basic aluminum tub with a forged aluminum front bulkhead and a machined magnesium rear bulkhead. This view shows the sub frame that carries the radiator and front body work

Right side rear view.

Rear end showing the wing mounted to the transmission, oil cooler and sway bar

View of the office.

Notice all of the room.

I'm 6'-4" and there was room for me.

By 1980 Atlantic's became sized for less than ample people.

Notice the brackets for supporting the side pods are different on the right and left. I think this is because March just did what was needed. nothing sophisticated.

Cosworth BDD engine, 1600cc. Approximately 200 HP.

It would turn 10,000RPM and sound sooo good.

Hewland FT 200, 5 speed transmission w/ inboard brakes

The rear suspension was definitely different than most.

It has a lower "Z" arm with a single trailing arm.

The front edge of the trailing arm could be adjusted high to low and the lower "Z" arm had extra toe adjustment. However nothing seemed to change as things were adjusted.

It was very neutral - almost too much.

By the way---FAST!!!

My World Tuesday

2008-10-20T20:21:00.003-05:00

This is the Amanda Blast Furnace of AK Steel in Ashland KY. As an engineer doing consulting design I work in a lot of various industries. We have installed equipment on the downstream rolling mill section where the final steel sheets come out. This blast furnace runs 24 hours a day seven days a week to produce the molten steel that is then carried over to the casting mill where large slabs are produced.This looks like a dirty old piece of equipment, which it is. It was last updated in the early 60's. But if you show up at the plant early in the morning before the sun is up and get to see the 50 foot tall blue flame blasting out of the top it is a sight to see.

If you have anything made of steel this is how it started out.

For more of My World Tuesday's click on the icon on my sidebar.

Thanks to all of the people hosting this.

St. Louis Transportation Museum

2008-10-19T21:28:00.016-05:00

The St. Louis Transportation Museum has a huge amount of train engines. These include the biggest diesel and steam locomotives ever built. Which are really impressive.

This is one of the two only "Big Boy" steam engines that were built. They were built during WWII to pull the heavy trains of war materials from coast to coast.
The Big Boy was a 2-16-4. It had two sets of eight drive wheels and the engine was so long the the drive wheel sets are articulated in the center with their own sub-frames. Again they proved the old axiom that there are size limits to everything. They were just too big and consumed too many resources.

This is a very early streamliner. It began a trend during the 20's and 30's.

Here is a GM streamliner from the 50's. I see some of the same lines that were in the 57 Chevy.

A huge snow plow for mountain work.

This engine was just too happy for its own good.

This is the way to go to school. I don't remember where this was used.

The last thing I expected to see at the train museum...a Tug Boat!

...Autocross goes

2008-10-15T20:40:00.009-05:00

Here are a few views from the last autocross of the year.An autocross starts with walking. Here an experienced driver walks the novice's through the course. See the video at the end for a view at speed.
A little bit of everything usually shows up.

Two mild mannered econobox's. Maybe.

The Miata corner.

Old race cars can run for ever.

Some old race cars run forever very fast!

One of Paul's runs in real time.

FAVORITE AIR CRAFT

2008-10-11T17:31:00.014-05:00

My favorite airplane is one that really goes..... There are a couple of reasons that I like this plane. 1. It is the fastest operational plane ever built.

2. It was one of the last planes designed using slide rules.

Since I was one of the last groups of engineering students to learn and use slide rules I feel a real attachment. The tire in the banner has so much aluminum in them to dissipate heat that the rubber even looks silver. Even inside this plane the temperature was extremely high.

What is it? The SR-71

Here is one at Wright-Paterson
Here is one at the Pima museum in Tucson AZ. This one also has one of the RC drones that they could launch into real tough places.

Another view of the one at Wright-Pat.

One on display at Eglin AFB in Florida.

This one is in Balboa Park San Diego CA.

Mobile AL is home to this one along with other planes at the USS Alabama museum.

The Boeing Museum in Seattle has a YA-12. A two place plane that the CIA used.

HMMM. Wonder what for?

SKY WATCH - LST

2008-10-02T19:41:00.013-05:00

This is the only functional LST in the US. It is on display here in Evansville. During WWII Evansville was the largest "Corn Field" (not on a sea coast, inland) shipyard building LST'sHere a 20mm machine gun points at the sky.

40mm These are all operational. They even cranked it around to show how easy it worked.

Ships wheel. Old and worn. This LST was involved in the landings on Sicily, Italy and Normandy. It worked after the war into the 60's helping land supplies in Antarctica during the expeditions there. The US then gave it to the Greek Navy and was rescued from them a few years ago.

Engine room. They wouldn't let me go down there.

Tank deck.

They could put 20 tanks in here. The dark square at the end is the ramp door where you unloaded vehicles.

Bridge with the Greek emblem still in place.

65 year old radio. This may not work.

Soldier bunk area.

These were all along the port side between the tank deck and the hull.

For more Sky Watch Friday click on the link on my side bar.

LVT - Alligator

2008-09-30T19:22:00.006-05:00

Here is a watery LVT-MKIV-AlligatorThis is another vehicle that Higgins developed during WWII. There is a bunch of military vehicle owners that come to the area near the LST here to play with their toys. With all of the LCVP's and LVT's in the area the military reenactors come here to do D-Day each year.

Here it is climbing out of the water. This allowed the 20 soldiers it held to land with dry feet.

For more Watery Wednesday posts click on the icon on my sidebar.

Thanks to Eyes, Mind, Heart for hosting WW

Ships That Go

2008-09-28T14:38:00.016-05:00

Here are a few of the ships that I have been on or seen. Actually a few of these are boats.This is the LST here in Evansville. It is a fully operational ship and just got back from a tour up the Missouri River.
A Higgins boat on the LST. Mary asked what was the difference between a boat and a ship. A ship can carry a boat, but a boat can't carry a ship.

The USS Laffey at Charleston, SC. A hero of the Leyte Gulf Battle

Russian Sub. More on this later.

USS Drum at Mobile, AL.

USS Yorktown at Charleston.

Stern of the Yorktown.

USS New Jersey at Camden, NJ. This was my dad's ship during WWII. He was a member of the first crew. My brother and I took dad to see his ship in 2003 which was 60 years later.

Engine room, I always end up in engine rooms. If you visit this blog much you will get to see all kinds of engine rooms. I'm a mechanical engineer .........sorry.

Bow of the New Jersey from the bridge.

My Father in front of the big guns!

B-17

2008-09-25T19:45:00.012-05:00

I recently visited my Brother in Ohio and he took me to the airport at Urbana where they are rebuilding a B17. This plane had been restored once and crashed and is being rebuilt again by a very dedicated crew of men spending a huge amount of their own time trying to save an important part of American history.

Here is the cockpit section of the fuselage.
The rear gunners section. Some new parts some old parts.

The rudder is ready for paint.

Rear fuselage section with gunners windows.

Part of an engine.

Inside rear fuselage section.

Wing spar. I was blown away by how the wing was constructed. There is a tubing skeleton inside with spars and then a very heavy corrugated aluminum under skin. A thin smooth aluminum skin then covers all of this.

Parts, parts and more parts. Engine cowling, machine guns and fake bombs.

Good engine in a display case.

The skin that was removed from the wing. Blow up the picture and you will see the names of three of the men that originally built the plane in the 40's. They signed their work. I took the picture upside down so the names would be right side up.

Cars That Went and Go

2008-09-22T21:06:00.015-05:00

A brief history of the more interesting cars in my life.'58 Chevy convertible. Was so rusted up if you opened both doors at the same time they wouldn't close without you jacking up the center of the car. Burned a quart a week in its 348.

62 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce Spyder. Unbelievable car unless you are in college trying to finish your degree. College or Alfa pick one only.72 Datsun 240Z. Bought it within two weeks of graduating. Drove it off of the show room floor, still have it after 36 years!

'76 Mike built. Z wasn't fast enough. Built my own Formula V. Won the '79 Central Division SCCA D-Mod championship in a driving rain. Not enough power to spin the tires.

Actually a kit car based on a Chevy Chevette. Just because I could!

'67 Lotus 41C Formula B car. Only car I have ever owned that the frame even leaked oil. Got to love the British! But a wonderful car! Colin knew how to build them.

March Cosworth 79A Formula Atlantic. I can't describe how fast and neat this car was.

Same car with the full body work on. Competing at the SCCA Solo II Nationals in Topeka KS.

Current daily driver Volkswagen GTI 1.8 Turbo. Easy to modify and make go really fast, old mans race car.

Indiana Train Museum

2008-09-21T14:49:00.010-05:00

I am starting this blog to put all of my pictures of the different things that go. I am starting with trains because my grandfather was an engineer for the old L&N Railroad. When I was a little kid spending the weekend with the grandparents he would take me to the round house on Saturdays to help him pick up his paycheck. I got to see, smell, hear and feel the big old steam engines being worked on. He also took me to see the last steam engine to leave town. This day is dedicated to him and the path he set me on.These pictures are taken at the Indiana Train Museum in French Lick Indiana recently. This small diesel engine was used at a large grain mill to move the cars around. It's diesel is actually a truck diesel with a truck transmission and then a secondary gear reducer to get the speed down.
This is a 4-4-0 engine. I didn't get the makers name, that doesn't interest me as much as the design details. The cab enclosure was added late in life to give the engineer some weather protection.

This is a really nice engine that I hope they can get running. This is a 2-6-0.

I always appreciate the conditions that the old engineers had to work under. Wide open to the weather and a red hot boiler just feet away.

The full instrument package. Water level on the left and boiler pressure gauges on top. Don't let the pressure get to high or it's too bad!!!

A more conventional 2-6-0 engine.

As this blog goes on you will see a great range of things that go. I am a 36 year member of the Sports Car Club of America with a love of planes, trains, cars and boats.