One of the challenges for a hobbyist doing a vehicle restoration is finding inexpensive and space saving solutions to mimic professional level tools. For at least one situation, I have an alternative that is functional yet cheap enough you can recycle the material when done.
I can do math, but it is hard.
So I like to devise ways that I don’t need to do the math in common situations where math is required, situations like…
Needing to convert the number of ounces of oil to add to an odd number of gallons of fuel to get a particular fuel-to-oil ratio.
The racecar doesn’t have a speedometer, or at least not an accurate one. So when people inevitably ask “How fast?” I have to reply “about 5500 RPM” or some such number.
I am rewarded with a blank stare that says
I don’t SEE a second head, but there must be an explanation for what just came out of your mouth.
Back in the summer of 1997 I was a towheaded recent college grad. I’d spent the last several months working with a select group of hooligans (University of Delaware Mechanical Engineering Majors) building a Formula SAE car. When it was finally ready to run, I volunteered to be the first Test Driver. Here is the story, as told by my friend Brian Davison who witnessed the whole thing.
Back at the Mount Equinox Hillclimb in 2017, on the first run of the weekend, I melted the #2 piston in the Quantum Two. Now I am finally getting around to rebuilding the engine with a new piston. As part of that, I am cleaning and inspecting all the parts that I remove from the car.
In 1959, some racers in the Wilmington Delaware (USA) area built one of the wildest ice racing specials ever seen up until that time. It was known simply as “The Ice Racer”.
In the 60’s, John “Jake” Jacobson and his friends took a Lotus 23 and fitted it with a SAAB V4 engine. He said it wasn’t really competitive due to the engine’s high center of gravity and weight. Still cool though.
It was the summer of 1984. SAAB headquarters was in Orange, Connecticut and the New England Sonett Club held a meeting there on July 28th. I was 10 years old and fascinated by it all. I remember clearly arriving and looking down from a high parking lot at the collection of cars parked in front of the building.
I have a special affinity for SAAB specials and this is one of the most… Special. I’ve even been lucky enough to ride it once. It wasn’t the easiest bike to manage in traffic but once in the clear it was a real hoot!
Hello!
The previous version of AT-SPEED was built in a CMS version that is no longer supported by my hosting provider. It is old enough that there is no upgrade path available, at least not to a amateur like me. So I am starting anew.
There is a lot of content to recreate so this will take some time. Please bear with me as the rebuilding progresses. If there is anything in particular that you are looking for, drop me a line at my contact page and I will make it the next thing I post.