On our way

i left my house this morning at about  7:00.  I am currently in PA near the amazing Susqehana river.  In PA, i have seen some cool signs.  One said "Buckle up, next million miles."  so that is basically what is happening.  we have been driving through snow and rain for a while.

Daytona 500 Results

The Daytona 500 was won by Matt Kenseth.  Probably the most interesting part of the race was Juan pablo Montoy's car breaking during a caution and slamming, at speed, into a jet dryer filled with 200 Gallons of jet fuel.  Unfortunately, all of this was lit on fire.  A gigantic fireball consumed the truck.  Luckily, everyone walked away

1st: Matt Kenseth
2nd: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
3rd: Greg Biffle
4th: Denny Hamlin
5th: Jeff Burton
6th: Paul Menard
7th: Kevin Harvick
8th: Carl Edwards
9th: Joey Logano
10th: Mark Martin
11th: Clint Bowyer
12th: Martin Truex Jr.
13th: Marcos Ambrose
14th: Bobby Labonte
15th: Dave Blaney
16th: Tony Stewart
17th: Kyle Busch
18th: Terry Labonte
19th: Tony Raines
20th: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21st: Ryan Newman
22nd: Landon Cassill
23rd: David Gilliland
24th: Regan Smith
25th: Casey Mears
26th: David Reutimann
27th: Elliot Sadler
28th: Joe Nemecheck
29th: Kasey Kahne
30th: Micheal McDowell
31st: Jamie McMuray
32nd: Brad Keselowski
33rd: Aric Almirola
34th: AJ Allmendinger
35th: Trevor Bayne
36th: Juan Pablo Montoya
37th: David Stremme
38th: Danica Patrick
39th: Kurt Busch
40th: Jeff Gordon
41st: Robby Gordon
42nd: Jimmie Johnson
43rd: David Ragan

I am looking forward to the Subway FreshFit 500 at Phoenix on sunday.

1954-63 AC Ace

The racing driver Cliff Davis bought a Tojero chassis, put in a Bristol engine, and had a copy of the Ferrari 166 Barcheta body made.  He had a succsesful racing season with the car in 1953.  then, the car was shown to the Hurlock brothers, who decided to put it into production.  It had a twin tube ladder frame and independent suspension by double wishbones and tranverse leaf springs.  Earlier, the car was powered by AC's 1991cc straight  six engine, with 80 brake horsepower in 1954 and 102 brake horsepower in 1958.  The Ace was very successful in sports car racing.  It finished 7th overall, and 1st in its class at Lemans in 1959.  In 1958 John Tojero built a special Ace with a space frame, de Dion rear axle and a body that was styled by Cavendish Morton.  It ran twice, at Lemans where it finished second in class despite a rear suspension issue.  It also ran in the Tourist Trophy where it had cooling problems.

Today updates

The Daytona 500 is scheduled for 7:00 tonight.  I am still getting myself prepared for my first WKA national race this weekend.  I leave for Jacksonville Wednesday.  I will still post on the blog as i am bringing my laptop.

Bertone Nuccio

The Nuccio is a very wedgy shaped car.  It is supposedly a mid or rear engined car.  It is supposedly a futuristic Berlinetta (little sedan).  It will debut at the Geneva motor show

Volkswagen's EA211 Engine

Volkswagen's cars may share various platforms, but the enginesare going to all be pretty similar.  In Germany, Volkswagen is working on the EA211 to replace the EA111.  The EA211 range ranges from 1.0 L to1.6 L.  The engine has 16 Valves, direct injection and a turbocharger.  The 1.4 L variant is most likely the only one coming to the USA.  It will debut with the new Jetta hybrid.  It could also replace the 2.5 L in the Golf.  The 1.4 L has 140 HP and 184 lb-ft and it peaks at 1400 RPM.  The engine is casted in aluminum with iron liners.  This saves of 42 pounds.  This means, according to VW, will increase fuel mileage by 20%.  And, oddly, the engines camshafts are driven by a belt.  All four cylinderds are used for accleration, but when you reach "cruising speed" two cylinders stop.  The two cylinders stop when the engine takes no 74 lb-ft.  This causes some wierd gear changing operations, but in the manual option, the driver can look at a little gauge indicating the gear they should be in.

Infiniti EMERG-E unofficialy revealed

The EMERG-E has lots of large curves and sharp creases on its body styling.  There are Also large intakes over the rear fenders.the EMERG-E has a mid-mounted electric engine.  It's steering wheel also lives on the right side of the car.  It is thought that the car was built in cooperation with Lotus.  If that is true, The EMERG-E may be ut on an Evora platform.

This week in racing history

Number 1:  SCCA is incorported in Boston
Number 2:  2 time WSC Champion Colin Edwards is born
Number 3:  Richard Petty gets his first NASCAR win at the dirt track at the Charlotte Fairgrounds.
Number 4:  Tim Mayer dies in a practice crash for the Tasman seriesnrace at Longford, Tasmania.
Number 5:  Jody Sheckter drives a Tyrell 007 to the win in the South African Grand Prix.
Number 6:  Micheal Andretti drives a Swift-Ford to a CART  win at the Grand Prix of Miami.  This is the first CART win for Swift.
Number 7:  The Intrepid with Wayne Taylor at its controls makes its IMSA GTP debut and finishes second at West Palm Beach FL.