Formula 1 Cars Go

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

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

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

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.

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March 79A Outside In

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

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.

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St. Louis Transportation Museum

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!