Things I've been reading...

Sometimes I just don't have as much time to write as I wish. Maybe it would relieve a little pressure on my guilty conscience by providing a list of some of the articles that I wish I had time to write about:

Keith Veronese, "What is the most scientific way to optimize your driving time?" io9.com, 12/9/11. Online at: http://io9.com/5866122/what-is-the-most-scientific-way-to-optimize-your-driving-time

...For the sake of argument, let's say your average speed over the trip is 78 mph (126 kph) – eight miles above the limit in most states. You just risked a ticket, probably spent the last 3.6 hours of your life stressed out and paranoid, and killed your car's fuel efficiency to spend 24 extra minutes with your relatives - time that will likely be spent sitting in front of a television watching Storage Wars. You're a winner (in the game of life)!

If you take the national average for a gallon of low grade gasoline, $3.29, [less than today's prices] into account, along with a 12.8% percent decrease in fuel efficiency from driving the 70 mph speed limit, you just spent $4.51 for the privilege of spending those 24 minutes in expanded basic cable hell.

"Get ready to pay $5 a gallon for gasoline..."

UPDATE: 2/16/12 - There's more news from USA Today that the Obama administration is looking at summer gas prices to be higher than normal this year. ThinkProgress.org quotes Businessweek's report that new data indicates that the current price increases are not due to increases in domestic demand.

"Petrol demand is as low as it’s been since April 1997,” says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service. “People are properly puzzled by the fact that we’re using less gas than we have in years, yet we’re paying more.

Kloza believes much of the increase is due to speculative money that’s flowed into gasoline futures contracts since the beginning of the year, mostly from hedge funds and large money managers."

Documents released in September 2011 by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) lead to the conclusion that the high 2008 gas prices were the result of "rampant speculation" by "...noncommercial players, meaning they are companies that simply and buy and sell crude contracts with no interest in actually refining and selling the product."

Do it looks like speculators are back to making bets on the gasoline market and you and I are paying increased prices without getting any more gas delivered to the pumps.

UPDATE: 2/11/12 - News from AmericaBlog with a link to a CNBC article today that gas prices may peak at over $5.00 this year. The CNBC story starts:

Get ready to pay $5 a gallon for gasoline this year.

John Hofmeister, founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy and the former CEO of Shell Oil’s U.S. operations, warned that there is a “better than 50 percent chance” the price of gas will spike on continued heavy demand in emerging markets and weak public policy at home.

AmericaBlog then adds a note about the sighting of $4.99 gas at a service station in Washington, D.C. near the Watergate. Maybe the station is just getting an early start on higher profits with all the CPAC members in town.

Pundits and TV commentators can argue the need for more domestic oil production and acquisition of more oil from Canada. But the problem is also developing countries driving up the overall price of crude to support their own growing consumption of oil and oil-based products. In the meantime, American consumers have been ill-served for decades by car companies who promoted oversized behemoths that mostly obtained less than 20 mpg and gas companies who accepted tax subsidies while increasing their corporate profits with constantly higher gas prices.

If there's not enough gasoline and diesel to go around, the solution is to use less gasoline and diesel. The growing use of hybrids will help if you can afford them. But for most car owners driving around in cars and trucks that now average 10.8 years old the only solution is to plan now to use less gas.

The remainder of this article began several years ago during one of the earlier spikes in gas prices. It"s time to brush up on your technique. Getting more miles per gallon is really a simple process that can be learned by any driver. All of us can make sure even our old cars are well maintained, leave earlier for our destination and slow down just a little bit to make that $4.00 or higher gasoline or diesel go just a little further. Oh yes, and check the air pressure in your tires once each week.

The rest of the earlier article on getting the most mileage from every gasoline dollar starts after the jump...

Memories of Germany's Nurburgring

As usual, I accidentally stumbled across the September 5, 2008 New York Times online article "Around the Nurburgring in Record Time, Again".  What really caught my eye was was a YouTube video that contained old camera car footage showing the 1967 version of the Nurburgring. It was like going back in time. With the exception of the chicane just before the pits, the video is pretty much what the track looked like when I played "boy racer" in a few club sponsored events in the mid-60's. The footage preserved on YouTube is much better than the 8 mm hand held footage that I took in the 60's, IF I could still find the film and a Super-8 mm projector to show it.

There will never be another racetrack like Nurburgring as raced before and after World War II. The 1967 video doesn't include footage of the start-finish line and the old racing pits without even a hint of a safety barrier until the very end. At well over a 100 mph in small club racers and far beyond 150 miles an hour for grand prix cars, the wide combined space between the stadium seating to the left and the unprotected pits on the right quickly narrowed to a funnel while your right foot is still trying to push the accelerator pedal through the floor. Then a bright flash back into the sunlight while the exhaust still echoes off the walls as the road fades left and then with a smooth pressure on the steering wheel the car tilts into the long right hand banked 180 turn.

Handwritten notes on my 1 DM map of the track indicate the 180 was "straightforward" (meaning there were no surprises). It was the calm before the storm. The 180 loop is followed by a quick dash behind the racing pits and then over the first of many bridges, a sharp left bend and down through the dark, dense forest. It was a tremendously thrilling way to start another 22.8 kilometer lap around the Nordschleife, the long northern loop. I think my blood boiled as we - the car and its novice driver - descended into what were the longest laps in my brief racing career.

The revised northern loop used in current video no longer includes the original track portion past the stadium. The pits and area near the start-finish line have been extensively enhanced for the shorter Formula 1 track used for the present German Grand Prix series that alternates with Hockenheim. 

Originally there was a link in the Times article also connected to a video of the 2008's production car record lap of 7 minutes 26.4 seconds set in the Corvette ZR1 driven by Jim Mero. That record was eclipsed in June 2011 when a 2012 Corvette ZR1 recorded an even faster lap of 7 minutes 19.6 seconds. The 2011 video is shown below. Nevertheless, the Corvette's impressive speeds and G-loadings are still impressive and fun to watch.

The June 9, 2011 record lap video below starts over the first bridge just about where I left off in my description of the old track several paragraphs above. You can also expand the newer video to full screen to get the full effect of a V8 engine at racing speed. You can also catch a few of the typical bobbles that happen on almost any Nurburgring lap. Keep an eye on the telemetry being recorded. The time? Seven minutes, 19.6 seconds; top speed, 183 mph; and in a production car that could be driven on the street!

You can easily contrast the speeds between the 1967 formula car video and the speeds recorded in the 2008 and 2011 videos. I recall the 1967 grand prix cars of the period were running lap times of about eight to eight and a half minutes at Nurburgring.

Of course any such records are meant to be broken. The 2008 Corvette record didn't last long. On August 28, 2008, a 2009 Dodge Viper ACR laid claim to the fastest production car record at Nurburgring completing a similar lap at 7 minutes, 22 seconds. Motor Trend has the video (which includes a short embedded commercial). Unfortunately, the Viper video lacks the telemetry and track location graphic included in the Corvette video to compare cornering and top speeds in different sections of the track. I suspect the differences in speed and g-loading might offer an interesting comparison. YouTube has a number of record runs by Nissan and others. Its a corporate version of "King of the Hill."

Development of telemetry and communications now available to today's professional racing teams are simply amazing. We didn't even think about in-car radios in the sixties or later when club racing with SCCA. Someone recorded the time for each lap with paper and pencil. The standard means of communicating lap times to the driver was often a cheap blackboard and chalk. Professional teams splurged on pit boards with interchangeable numbers and abbreviations. These boards were supplemented by informal signals which might include the team manager standing near a hay bale that sometimes separated the pits and the racing surface shaking a hammer or some other cryptic signal. Drivers sometimes signaled back with either prearranged hand signals of which several were sometimes less polite.

One of the secrets of Nurburgring (and Road Atlanta) in a small car was learning when and where you could keep your foot on the gas all the way down the hills (and where that's not a good idea). A slightly "improved" NSU Wankel Spyder with its single rotor engine got over 120 mph and maybe even 125+ on the downhills, but it was still fast enough to momentarily get the wheels slightly airborne in a couple of places where the track feels like it "falls away" as you crest the hill. The car would also feel very light topping some of the other hills and bumps. I never felt like I put in a "perfect lap" at the Ring. My fastest lap at Nurburgring during a club event was in the low 12's - that's 12 minutes and more than a few seconds. Thus my speeds were much closer to the speeds exhibited by the 1967 camera car. Once you've seen the two videos, you'll know why 12+ minutes didn't seem like such a bad lap time for a tiny 998cc NSU Spyder in almost stock trim.

I'm told very few foreigners ever really memorized the Nurburgring, but Lord knows I tried and studied films, diagrams and maps and even walked to sections of the track during other races when time permitted to observe other drivers on a particular turn. Years later, I tried to do the same at all the SCCA tracks too. NSU Spyders were competitive in the under one- liter GT class with Fiat Abarths, early Honda 2-seaters, and the factory NSU Spyders could out-run the fully prepared Sebring A-H Sprites. I was not embarrassed by my lap times at Hockenheim and Nurburgring given my really "amateur status." Heck, I could barely speak the language, but we always did the best we could both in terms of preparation and attitude. Nurburgring and Hockenheim proved to be good training for my later amateur racing adventures with the Central FloridaRegion, SCCA in the late seventies and early eighties.

By the way, you never see a full picture of the camera car in the first 1967 video, but the front suspension and narrow tires easily identify it as one of the original Formula Vee's that were quite popular in German club racing in the 1960's. The German auto club sponsored races had large fields of Formula Vee's (plenty of cheap Volkswagen spare parts available) and fiberglass was easy to patch. Early Formula Vee racing was always exciting to watch with a dozen competitive cars going wheel to wheel for the lead most of the race.

If racing is in your blood, I hope you enjoyed the video comparisons of the original and the present Nurburgring as much as I did when I found them. But I really cherish the experience of driving on the full Nurburgring track as it was originally intended for racing. I will always appreciate the hospitality of the Mannheim - Heidelberg Sports Touring Club members who helped me with their encouragement and patience with my limited German language and driving skills.

It was an experience of a lifetime. These days it's better to drive carefully, leave a few minutes earlier and reduce our highway speeds to save gas. Driving flat out at the original Nurburgring while young and foolish was fun while it lasted!...\B)

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Updated: 11/29/11 (during transfer to new website)

Arkansas has some of the best sports car roads in the nation!

Without a doubt, Arkansas mountains have spectacular scenery and some of Arkansas' scenic byways link to a world-class system of state parks, camps and park hotels that encourage its citizens and visitors to enjoy Arkansas. In fact, 14 state parks are located within a two-hour radius of Fort Smith and Van Buren.

Picture: The scenic loop in Mount Magazine State Park.
 
Offering spectacular vistas from the several pull-outs along the loop road around the perimeter of Mount Magazine's 2,753 foot summit and the new lodge, cabins and full service restaurant, Mount Magazine State Park offers a full range of activities for all age groups and interests. Sometimes it's just nice to drive over and enjoy a fine lunch and all the scenery on both sides of the mountain.

Picture: Fall colors extend as far as the eye can see from Mount Magazines pull-outs and short walking trails

Offering spectacular vistas from the several pull-outs along the loop road around the perimeter of Mount Magazine's 2,753 foot summit and the new lodge, cabins and full service restaurant, Mount Magazine State Park offers a full range of activities for all age groups and interests. Sometimes it's just nice to drive over and enjoy a fine lunch and all the scenery on both sides of the mountain. 

Almost any time of year, one of my favorite day trips is the Talimena Scenic Drive between Mena, Arkansas, west across the Winding Stair Mountains to Talihina, Oklahoma with a scenic lunch stop at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. 

Picture: Queen Wilhelmina Lodge, is just one of several first-class hotels and restaurants in the Arkansas state park system.   

UPDATE: 3/5/12 - Queen Wilhelmina State Park Lodge is closed for major renovations and will reopen in summer 2013. This temporary closure applies to the entire lodge including all guest rooms and the restaurant. The Lodge expects to reopen in the summer of 2013. The remodeled guest rooms will be more spacious with larger windows for guests to enjoy the view from the top of Rich Mountain. Two additional guest rooms increase the number of guest rooms to 40. Camping, trails and other facilities in the park remain open.

Picture: The lodge will expand from 26,335 square feet to 36,538 square feet to include a new hearth room with fireplace and a completely remodeled lobby, gift shop, and reception/registration area. Credit: Arkansas State Parks

The Talimena Scenic Drive has been listed by the U.S. Department of Transportation as an official American Byway. The 54 mile scenic highway, located between Mena, on the Arkansas side of the border and Talihina, in Oklahoma, provides spectacular views on both sides of the road as it follows along the mountain ridges of the Ouachita National Forest. Visitors in early October through late November can enjoy an extended Fall season.  

Picture: A tiny Junco was one of several Fall tourists who posed for pictures during our short November walk around Mount Magazine.


The spectacular Fall scenery as the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains turn yellow, orange and brilliant red are just two of the many reasons that kept drawing us back to Arkansas as we looked for a place to retire. Be sure to check out some of those Arkansas Forest Byways listed in the favorite links section and you'll see why many people believe Arkansas has some of the most scenic sports car roads in America. In the meantime, I'm having too much fun exploring more of Arkansas' scenery in my little Saturn "Super Coupe" and our Saturn VUE. Who wants to work when you can get away and travel the scenic byways in Arkansas. 

Special Bonus:
The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism offers a free collection of wallpapers with spectacular views of Arkansas State Parks. There even "how to" directions for PC's and Macs. If these photos don't encourage you to enjoy a visit to Arkansas, I hope you enjoy your Green Bench in St. Petersburg.
Arkansas Wallpaper - Spring and Summer
Arkansas Wallpaper - Fall
Arkansas Wallpaper - Winter

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Updated: 4/17/12 -Details of Queen Wilhelmina Lodge renovations. 

Driving two of GM's Orphans - BR's 1996 Saturn SC2 Coupe and 2004 Saturn VUE

Automotive Orphans in America

I've enjoyed driving a long series of vehicles that were later abandoned by their manufacturer or the manufacturer abandoned the US market and retreated back to Europe. In most cases, external factors influenced the manufacturer's decision. For example, I drove a second generation Corvair with its greatly improved rear suspension and a twin carb engine that was fun to drive with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, people continued to fixate on Ralph Nader's Unsafe at any Speed which was written about the very early model Corvairs. GM's corporate mindset made it easier to kill off the Corvair than to clean up the mess GM had made.

Thirty years later, I finally bought another GM product. In 1996, I bought two Saturns, an SC2 coupe for me and a SW2 wagon for my wife, Katy. I still own the coupe (pictured above) which I still enjoy running on the great Arkansas scenic highways and mountain roads.
 
In 2004, "fully satisfied" in Saturn-speak with my earlier two Saturns, I purchased a 4-cylinder Saturn VUE, which was a much larger vehicle for travel. Gas prices were already starting to creep upward so I opted for the manual 5-speed transmission model. Katy calls the VUE my "stupid car" because it isn't smart enough to shift its own gears. I smile, enjoy a few extra miles per gallon and relish that she's not constantly changing the seat, mirrors and other settings so she can drive my car. It works for me!

Both our current Saturns have over 100,000 miles and are still running strong. My favorite local service technician confirmed I still have 70 percent of the original brake pads and shoes remaining. The only things I've changed on the engine are the spark plugs, anti-freeze and the usual oil and filters. I'm running on my third set of tires. In 2009, the VUE achieved a combined average of 28.6 mpg for the whole year. Not bad for a car that EPA expects to achieve 26 miles per gallon on trips and only 21 around town. 

By 2009, Saturn had been pulled back under the close control of GM bean counters, dealers were selling mostly Opel designs manufactured on Chevy assembly lines. General Motors - with their reliance on ever larger cars, trucks and SUVs in an era when smaller, more efficient cars were needed - were finally overwhelmed by the double whammy of the Great Automotive Collapse and the Recession of 2008-09. In a calculated effort to save Chevrolet, Buick Cadillac and GMC trucks, GM put "For Sale" signs on the Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Hummer brands and four more vehicles joined Oldsmobile, LaSalle and a host of classic individual models that became orphan vehicles to be cherished while we can keep them on the road and maybe museum pieces when daily driving becomes impractical. We'll enjoy them while we can.

I still feel sorry for all the dealers who invested in the original Saturn dream of selling a radically new semi-independent brand that would beat GM's foreign competition. For many years, Saturn actually made very tough and reliable cars. Owners were supported by carefully selected dealerships that were in fact "different" in the best sense of the word. I never found a Saturn dealership that I didn't like.

Maybe in about 30 years, I'll consider looking at another GM product if they're still around. Like Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and so many original GM cars and brands they've developed or acquired and then mismanaged, GM started off with a good idea, made quality improvements, and then the corporate bean counters killed off the good cars so they could continue to squeeze out ever higher profits with mundane, over-sized, run-of-the-mill JUNK!

There is some solace to be found as I fire up my original Saturn. There's more than an even chance that a few of the original Saturns will still be on the road long after what's left of GM fails.

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"Success is never final." - Winston Churchill

Original Purchase - Local Dealer: Saturn of Lakeland
My current "project car" is still my 1996 Saturn SC2 special ordered in March, 1996 by Saturn of Lakeland (FL) as my half of a matched set of "his and her" Saturns. Katy special ordered a station wagon or SW2 in the same color. Both cars were similarly equipped with automatic transmissions, traction control and anti-lock brakes. In 1997, when the first picture was taken with an early digital camera, the car was still as delivered.  
Wanting a sports coupe that would be comfortable to drive on long trips, I initially concentrated on improving the stock handling. Most of the initial effort was spent on tires, wheels and a few suspension tweaks. Saturn Performance Systems, now just called SPS, provided the solid front and rear sway bars and front strut brace. Since proper sports cars should sound "sporty," SPS also supplied the Borla stainless steel exhaust and K&N air filter. BBS wheels and updated Bridgestone RE950 all season radials keep everything in contact with the pavement rain or shine.

Initial Retirement - Local Dealer: Saturn of Tallahassee When I first retired at the end of 1997, the coupe came into is own as an ideal vehicle for trips with two people.  Often used for travel as an educational consultant and for short vacations, the coupe was at its best when exploring new country roads. Trips were much more fun off the beaten path where handling was more important than top speed.

I tend to admire innovators and innovative organizations. In 2002 while attending a state education conference, my SC2 and I visited the site of Smokey Yunick's garage just across the bridge from Daytona Beach where he built some of the most innovative racing cars in the world. In their own unique way, the Saturn Corporation and the original S-series automobiles made in Spring Hill, Tennessee, were likewise some of the most innovative vehicles in the world in their original designs, manufacturing innovations and unique marketing.

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Speed costs money.  How fast do you want to go? - Smokey Yunick

FSU Auto Show

In April, 2004, with over 130,000 miles on the odometer and the original paint job, Greg Berger, Parts Manager at Saturn of Tallahassee, encouraged me to enter my SC2 in the annual FSU Auto Show at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. With little more than a good detailing, my 1996 was berthed right next to Greg's 2004 electric blue Saturn Ion show-stopper.

At the awards ceremony that afternoon, I was pleased when Greg received a well-deserved first place. I was completely surprised that my green SC2 was awarded 2nd place in the same "Domestic - mild" category. Both my car and I were among the more "senior" competitors in the event.

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The Zen of Saturn Maintenance
Installing all the modifications with helpful advice from SPS and with an occasional suggestions from our local Saturn mechanics has always been a form of recreation away from my day-to-day work with computers. I also believe the trick to enjoying trouble-free use, even with higher performance, has been Saturn's excellent dealer service network, following Saturn's basic service plan at regular intervals and keeping the vehicle in compliance with all emission and safety regulations. Keeping good records is also important. The complete maintenance log is kept in the glove box and updated after each service is performed.

I suspect most Saturn owners will miss their local Saturn mechanics. From my personal experience, Saturn trained "technicians" were always well-trained and had the quickest access to quality Saturn factory parts and test equipment. Because my SC2 is "almost stock," it can still be repaired by any competent local mechanic and I think I've found one. Parts may get scarce in a few years however. I've been using NAPA parts recently since I discovered the NAPA valve cover gasket was shipped flat in a cardboard box rather than folded and stuffed into a tiny plastic bag like the similar GM original equipment gasket found at a Saturn dealership just before it closed. I liked the NAPA valve cover gasket better than the stock GM item. But having a quality dealership network provides real peace of mind while families are on long trips away from home. That's the difficult part of driving an automotive orphan.

But overall, I'm still amazed at the overall durability of the original S-series cars made at Saturn's Spring Hill facility. A couple of examples from the maintenance log:

• The original spark plug wires and ignition coils were finally replaced in January 2005. Part of my 2004 Christmas present, the red SPS wires and MSD coils were a finishing touch to the new aluminum AEM air intake. The wires and coils really dress up the engine bay but change was mostly out of a "guilty conscience" for not having replaced the wires any sooner. The originals had lasted over 130,000 miles. 
• The original stock brake pads were replaced at 107,000 miles, but then "old racers" were taught to carefully use the brakes and even then no more than necessary.

There is a strong argument for making quality cars right the first time - the original Saturn way.

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Races are won not by the fastest, but who slows down the least. - Anonymous

Second Retirement - Local Dealer: Saturn of Northwest Arkansas

Now retired a second time and moved to Northwestern Arkansas, my Saturn and I found another excellent service department and some of the most scenic sports car roads in middle America. The Saturn dealerships in Lakeland, Tallahassee and Fayetteville were super to work with keeping this particular Saturn owner "completely satisfied" on all of Saturn's frequent owner surveys.

My wife, Katy, and I particularly enjoy birding and the scenic views found along Hwy 71 in the Boston Mountains north of Mountainburg during the Fall. The Boston Mountains Scenic Loop is always worth a Sunday afternoon drive no matter what the season. When Lake Fort Smith State Park reopened in 2009, the new park also provides lake access, camping and picnic area for residents and out of state visitors.

It's important for a racer to have complete confidence in his race car and the mechanics whose careful preparation allow a driver to win races. It's equally important to have full confidence in the mechanics who maintain the car you drive every day. That's the confidence I felt about the Saturn service technicians who helped maintain all my Saturn automobiles for the last decade.


Sadly, all three of my original dealerships have closed. GM still sends an occasional flyer offering a thousand dollars discount for buyers loyal to GM. I've twice experienced GM's loyalty to their customers. Right now, I'd rather give some other manufacturer, domestic or foreign, the same thousand dollars to drive a better, more reliable car from a more dependable car company. The journey continues...

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Updated: 11/27/11 (during transfer to new website)