Here is the 2009 version of Muammar Gaddafis "Saroukh el-Jamahiriya (Libyan Rocket)" a car which made its debut in 1999, exactly 10 years ago.
The “Libyan Rocket”, as the prototype is called, is described as an “elegant sedan” 17 feet long, more than six feet wide, with a 3-liter, V-6 gasoline engine.According to the BBC and Fox News, it also has airbags, an unspecified ‘electronic defense system’, and a collapsible bumper.
The car can go hundreds of miles on a flat tire, a feature that could come in handy while driving in the vast Libyan desert. Other safety features include a device to cut off the fuel supply to avoid a fire in case of accident.
Domenico Morali, CEO of Tesco TS SpA, an automotive design company based in Turin, Italy, said Qaddafi joined in discussions about the car’s styling and asked for an original car using Libyan materials including marble, leather and fabric.
The car was unveiled in Tripoli at the end of an African Union summit.
According to the BBC, construction of a factory to produce the car was to have began in October 2009 in Tripoli. (ANI)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Saroukh el-Jamahiriya (Libyan Rocket) 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
That Ruled.
(Look here for all my photos from 24 Hours of Lemons, Thunderhill, 2009.)
I had my best race yet and Snowspeeder ran like a champ for most of the race. The trip from Salt Lake was smooth sailing and got to enjoy the company of both Joe's Snowspeeder team and thh Knights Of The Round Track. This was among my favorite racing events.
I had my best race yet and Snowspeeder ran like a champ for most of the race. The trip from Salt Lake was smooth sailing and got to enjoy the company of both Joe's Snowspeeder team and thh Knights Of The Round Track. This was among my favorite racing events.
Rain poured as we set up Friday, but skys cleared in the afternoon and we had great weather for the rest of the weekend.
During the race I accomplished my goal to keep the car on track and out of the penalty box. I probably deserved a couple flags for two wheels off and passing under yellow, but the workers either missed them or were too busy with more serious infractions. I felt great about my relaxed, defensive driving, and even managed to hold our team's fastest lap until Randal got his next turn.
Joe's car was pulling strong and the suspension felt perfect.
Mid-Sunday though, problems started. First we burned through our front brake pads and wrecked a caliper. Paul had a whole front hub/brake assembly for us and we were back out in minutes. Then Joe came in with a shaky wheel that turned out to be a rear axle snapped at the hub. The wheel was only held on by the brake caliper holding the rotor. I'm sure this was cracked back at an Altamont race and finally gave completely. Another spare from Paul again had us back on the track in minutes. Then we started overheating. We saw a lot of air under the cap and it looked like there must be a decent leak. We borrowed Eyesore Racing's weed-sprayer coolant injector and hooked it up the way we did in V-RAM at Buttonwillow, but this didn't help as much this time. Unfortunately by the time we recovered from our final overheat, the checker flag was flying and we were not allowed back on course to cross it. Dang!
Oh yeah, the officials noticed mid Saturday our transponder was not working. Shit. It would have been nice to have all of our lap data and to know how we actually placed. With a few hours of our most consistent driving unaccounted, we finished 78th or something. We'll try to figure how many laps to add and make a corrected guess at our actual finishing position.
We didn't get to pit by Team Eyesore this race, but we did have Snowspeeder, Knights, Killer Bee, and Free Range right in a row. It was also great to have the Nerd Herd MR2 and the Cannonball Bandits Corolla FX16 on the other side of us. As always all the teams I met were great.
A couple notable entries at this race: Team Diplomatic Immunity with a V12 Mercedes. They ruffled a lot of feathers with such a blatant cheater that was valued at $130000 when newish, but it was so over-the top I had to applaud them from bringing such a wrong car. They weren't very competitive so no harm done, and the organizers exercised the claiming clause to discourage anyone from trying to pull a stunt like that again.
Also there was another motorcycle powered econo-box (like the Geo Metro-Gnome project) and my fave at this race: A dinky Honda Z600 powered by a Magna V65 engine.
A GREAT race overall. Among the best.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
T-Hill This Week!
We ended up not prepping V-Ram for Thunder Hill. I was lacking motivation after spending so much of my summer prepping for the buttonwillow race, and not feeling like enough of the team was serious about the present task. So covered the car, bought a new mountian bike and spent the my fall riding and camping.
I'll be racing with Joe/Snowspeeder, and some of the other drivers will be driving with Paul and the Knights Of The Round Track. We'll see if there is enough interest support 2 local MR2 teams next season, but if not I'm happy to keep driving with my bro or Paul.
We're ready to roll out of town Thursday and everyone is excited for the race. 24HL has admited 160 teams (up from the usually 90-100) and will be running the full course. Thunder Hill is already a favorite course and certainly the nicest facility I have raced. EXCITED!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
honda skydeck concept
When automakers take a concept vehicle to a motor show, they offer all kinds of information about what the future production model would come with. However, every so often a car maker, let’s say Honda shows off a concept vehicle with no details, such as the Honda Skydeck Concept.
The SkyDeck is widely seen as a potential successor to the Odyssey, Honda’s current mini-van.This vehicle was on show at the recent Tokyo Motor Show, but Honda said that this six-seat MPV Hybrid is theoretical.
The interior of the car looks like something from the future, the first two rows are cantilever mounted to a center tunnel, the second row of seats are able to slide forward and can be stored under the front seats.
How far off is the SkyDeck? Who knows. For now, it’s just a concept car – a glimmer in the eye of a few top Honda designers.
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The SkyDeck is widely seen as a potential successor to the Odyssey, Honda’s current mini-van.This vehicle was on show at the recent Tokyo Motor Show, but Honda said that this six-seat MPV Hybrid is theoretical.
The interior of the car looks like something from the future, the first two rows are cantilever mounted to a center tunnel, the second row of seats are able to slide forward and can be stored under the front seats.
How far off is the SkyDeck? Who knows. For now, it’s just a concept car – a glimmer in the eye of a few top Honda designers.
More Hot Stories:
carrie prejean tape
nicolas cage broke
Jim Nantz’s Wife Gets $916k
tyra show
brandon spikes eye gouging video
kim kardashian halloween costume
johnny damon double steal video
Meb Keflezighi Wins NYC Marathon
Anderson Cooper and Benjamin Maisani Picture
no ceilings lil wayne
Chastity Bono/Chaz Bono pics surface
Colin Egglesfield & Ashlee Simpson Leaving “Melrose Place”
lil wayne going to jail
Adam Jasinski Arrested for Drug
Garrard mcclendon’s parents killed
Miss California Pageant Sues Carrie Prejean
hasselbeck nipple slip
Lindsay Lohan and Balthazar Getty Spotted Getting Cozy
tony gonzalez
dante wesley hit
john mccain’s daughter
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
New Buttonwillow Tech
A few people have asked for pics of our air scoop and on-board cooling system re-filler. Here are close-ups.
Fabbed this scoop from a cardboard box and attached it with sheet metal screws and washers, packaging tape, and a those two steel rods that originally supported the front wheel fender. It worked great and survived at least 4 off-road excursions.
When our overheating issue returned at the beginning of day one we considered our options. We decided to suffer through the day refilling the cooling system as needed implement a fix in the evening. After watching Paul do a 7 hour head gasket job only to still have overheating issues, we decided to it would be better to find a more effective way to refill and bleed the cooling system than tear the engine open.
I'd seen Team Eyesore's weed sprayer with a pressure fitting on their cooling system and suggested we copy them. Randal took it a step further and mounted the bottle in the cab so we could refill on the track. The pressure bottle feeds through a ball valve and into the heater circuit on the engine. We would pump the bottle a few times on the front straight and if we thought the engine was getting warm, we opened the valve for a few seconds. Not really a solution, but certainly an effective temporary fix. We didn't overheat again during the race!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Back At It
We've been accepted to Thunder Hill. I've had a nice vacation from so much as thinking about cars and now I'm ready to wrench.
Met with teammates and potentials for brunch Saturday to plan. Our big issue is still the overheating problem, likely a head gasket. Combined with some mediocre compression, it is time to get serious about rebuilding or replacing our engine. There are some good arguments for either solution. There is an interesting thread about a 1ZZ engine swap underway on MR2OC forums. I love the idea of a lighter, modern, reliable engine with a mild HP increase, but our engine is a known evil and we'll likely just rebuild.
The team for this race is taking shape. Mark Jr is back for more. Tim, a friend of Mark's who has even less experience with cars than me, has been lending a hand and is in. I met Bill down the street working on his Corolla FX. He spent a lot of time helping me prep for Buttonwillow and is trying to arrange to drive or crew with us. There are a few others thinking about it.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
The Revo (off road champion)
The South African built Revo is a perfect example of true innovation at it's finest.
It was built by, Achim Bergmann of Thompson Racing, for the Motorite Racing team.
The car is of a space frame construction with a fiberglass body. Tubing is 4130 cro-moly and uses a LS2 6l V8 engine coupled to a Sadev SC90 six speed sequential.
Shocks are American Radflo with secondary pistons in the coil-overs and an external bypass shock per corner. Wheel travel 300mm all round. A Works Bell Paddle Shifter NEO Universal is used to trigger up and down shifts controlled by a Motec M800.
A custom made dust seal was used to seal the paddle shifter from the extreme dust and moisture conditions encountered in off road racing. Up shift cuts ignition and pneumatically selects gear, down shift activates a pneumatic clutch, blips throttle and selects gear.. works very well.
This is Africa's first serious attempt at four-wheel drive Class A Special Vehicle. Power comes from an American built 500hp 6-litre engine and is delivered to all four BF Goodrich tyres via a 6-speed gearbox. Despite a serious air restrictor fitted to keep it in line with the other Class A entries it pulls strongly.
With so much torque on hand, ratios can be kept short but top speed is slightly limited when compared to some of the past competitors. A top speed of just over 180km/h is calculated, which might appear slow but trust me when you doing that off road and approaching a metre deep rut it is insanely fast.
Nigerian Armoured Vehicle
Nigerian Armoured Vehicle
A Nigerian made armoured car was on Thursday launched by President in this month of August 2009 at the eagle square in Abuja.
It is the first home made armoured car, with most of the materials used in its production sourced locally, while others were imported.
It was built by two Nigerian brothers who recently relocated from the United States of America. The brothers; Victor and Johnson Obasa, came back home to use their talent to boost security and also create employment in the country.
The brothers are based in Ekiti State and the duo own a company named Mobile Truck Technology where they nurtured and built the first Nigerian armoured car.
According to Johnson Obasa, the local production of the armoured car would help in upgrading the nation's security status. "It will promote up to 50 percent security in the country, it is something to protect the armoured personnel in their line of duty and it can work anywhere. It is designed to help the nation's security; we also did it to create employment," he said.
Also, Victor Obasa in a conversation with the press stated that they were in a better position to create this kind of cars since they are in Nigeria and understand the Nigerian terrain.
He added that they were willing to do it for the government at almost half the price of importing it. "We would do it for Nigerians for almost half the price they get it outside," he said.
The truck which was tested with different kinds of ammunition, from a far range had little or no mark left on it, but from a close range left peripheral marks.
On how they created such a truck with products from Nigeria, Johnson said: "It's been a little bit of up and down's. When we encountered some challenges, the Senate president encouraged us and at the end of the day we were able to put this together."
The other brother Victor pledged that they would produce a vehicle carrier that would meet international standard at a reasonable price.
The Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Adamu Aliero who represented the president at the launch said it was commendable that Nigerians with talents will come home and contribute to the nation's development.
He disclosed that the President had directed the Inspector General of Police to meet the fabricators on what they required to produce the vehicle to specification.
He also called on Nigerians within and outside the country with such talents to come out and contribute to the development of their country.
"This is also to call on other Nigerians with similar talents to also come back home and join us to contribute their own quota to the country and for other Nigerians with this kind of talent to put it to use," Mr. Aliero said.
Present at the event to inspect the vehicle were top police officers and the Minister for science amd Technology, Al-Hassan Zaku who said the ministry would send a team of engineers to the base where the truck was fabricated to further examine the product.
"We will examine it thoroughly and work with the police to ensure that it is properly produced to the standard they want," he said.
courtesy of Elizabeth Archibong
Cairo car.
Here is the work of the Technical and Vocational Institute at the Arab Academy (for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport) in Alexandria Egypt.
This is Egypt's first electric car project, entitled the Cairo car.
Serious research to develop and create localized technology towards producing a fine example of Egyptian ingenuity. This research is based on reverse engineering as well as self innovation to help achieve a national goal of a purely made in Egypt quality product. Its a 4 seater, and the platform has being successfully been tested. No details on the possibility of the Cairo car reaching production.
The Harper sports car
The Harper sports car. (South Africa)
The companies vision for building this car is as follows.
To produce a stylish, safe, fast, comfortable, fun, low maintenance sports car to be enjoyed on public roads and on the race track.
A one-make series will encourage owners to test their driver skills as cars will be placed against like for like engines. The key is: "Drive it to the track, Race it, Drive it home".
The specifications are as follows.
Power Plant
Engine: Mid mounted 4AGE 20 Valve 1600cc Toyota
Gearbox: Toyota 5/6 speed
Brakes: Toyota (disc all round with adjustable limiting valve for rear brakes)
Total Weight: 650kg
Power Output 120kw (160hp)
Engine Management: Gotech MFI
Performance Exhaust: TNT High performance branch and silencer
Construction: Mild steel space frame with composite non-stressed fibre glass bodywork
Although owners can choose from a range of transverse engines/gearbox, (eg; Honda VTEC, Nissan SR20DET, VW/Audi 20 Valve turbo etc), we recommend the Toyota 4AGE 20 valve engine for it's performance, reliability, low cost and availability.
The MENARA
Buttonwillow Summary
How was Buttonwillow? Great! More details to follow but in a nutshell:
Joe and Randal left the Snowspeeder home for this race and drove V-RAM with me. We were also joined by Dan Barnes, a friend of the Eyesores who we met at Thunderhill last winter.
Overheating was not resolved. The new water pump helped but we were still getting air in the cooling system. Saturday Randal rigged a weed killer spray bottle to our cooling system (little idea we borrowed from Eyesore) and strapped it into the cab. We could pump water into the system while driving down the front straight. It worked GREAT and we didn't overheat once on day two.
We stayed up until 1AM replacing our pogo-sticks with new struts. They were an immense improvement.
I rigged a cardboard radiator scoop that was surprisingly durable.
We melted our ignition coil Sunday afternoon leaving Joe dead on the track right in front of the observation tower.
(That's all I have time for now. Pics and more details to follow.)
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Honk If You're Horny
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Three steps forward, ten steps back.
I had hoped for a successful test last weekend resulting in confirmation that the car is ready to roll. Instead we finished with more problems than we started with.
A subtle buzzing noise was agreed to be nothing to worry about. So I took it out for a spin.
First I drove into some giant ruts.
This bent the radiator mount and a fan shroud. Miraculously the radiator itself was unharmed, until we punctured it with a screwdriver while we tried to fix the shroud.
While assessing the damage I notice the subtle buzz was now quite distinct and smoke was coming from the timing belt cover. We had scored a FAIL on our timing belt job reassembly and part of the tension mechanism had fallen ad wedged between the lower cover and the belt.
FUHHHHHHHG!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Fear And Loathing
Buttonwillow scares me.
It's going to be miserably hot.
It's going to suck hauling my car there solo from Salt Lake over passes and through the desert with my little truck.
It's stressful to have an out of state team relying on me to have the car prepped after the overheat problems we've had.
I hear the track is the most technical in the 24HL series. I felt good about my skills at THill, there was no room for skills at AMP, and Reno I felt like I had my ass handed to me.
Despite all of this I'm pretty excited for this, my most adventurous race. Mark Jr and I got the water pump and timing belt done. First attempt the engine barely started and response was horrible. We noticed we were off one tooth on the exhaust cam. Second attempt she fire up immediately and sounded great for about 15 seconds before we slipped the timing belt. Too loose. Third time was a charm and the engine sounded FAB!
We then did a compression test. After all the overheating we've punished V-RAM with I expected to have valve/head problems. It made 150, 165, 155, and 180 psi. Not bad at all for a $250 car that has been flogged! I may be hesitant about this race, but V-RAM is chomping at the bit.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Reno Footage And Pics
I posted a few pics in the blog but I have a bunch more here.
Someone got some nice footage of V-RAM over-cooking a corner on top of the course.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Reno Fernley Race
I never get used to the comedy, creativity and chaos found in the paddock. Being new to 24HL, my team was overwhelmed.
We got through tech and BS inspections without a hitch, set up our pit, and once the track was closed to cars we walked the course.
Joe's team had a great start. The starting flag dropped with them in second place. The moved up to #1 and held it for 25 laps. After that they started to see some of the weird ignition problems they had seen at previous races.
Like Thunder Hill last winter, our pit neighbors were Eyesore and Free Range. I was with my own team Volatile RAM and Joe was there with the Snowspeeder. Also Paul's car and team Knights Of The Round Track were there. Unfortunately Paul's car fried some bearing test day and didn't get to race.
Mark Jr started the race for us. He reminded me of me at my first race with his enthusiasm, and spinning out of control off the track. [sniff] I'm so proud.
Mark Z drove our second leg and our over-heating problem from V-RAM's first race last year returned and plagued us the remainder of the race. It took us out of competition, but with the pressure off we could just relax and have fun.
We all managed to take few black flags. The Judges were very generous to us though and usually just sent us to switch drivers and
Eyesore finished first place overall. I attribute their success to a brilliantly innovative car, fantastic driving skill, an organized pit routine, and me letting them sit in my chair. With all their track effort they are also have a great time. This race it was Elvis costumes and a pink Caddy theme for the Franken-Miata.
Toward the end of day two I was t-boned by the Let It Ride CRX in the apex of the first uphill turn. I saw them in the penalty box after that but didn't see them on the track again. I wonder what happened to them.
Mark Jr and I decided to stay in Reno for a night before heading back. On the way there I spotted a bunch of kids jumping jumping in the river off the freeway and had to pull over. Next Fernley race I'll definitely be going for a dip again. We hung out with a few of the Eyesores, decided Salt Lake strip-bars aren't all that bad, and slept in before the drive home. Success.
Mark Jr and I decided to stay in Reno for a night before heading back. On the way there I spotted a bunch of kids jumping jumping in the river off the freeway and had to pull over. Next Fernley race I'll definitely be going for a dip again. We hung out with a few of the Eyesores, decided Salt Lake strip-bars aren't all that bad, and slept in before the drive home. Success.
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