Despite IDsketching.com's best advice, another update

A recent posting on IDsketching.com, also syndicated on Core77, was of the opinion that maintaining a blog was the worst sin a design student can make. According to them, a personal blog was a form of self-mastabatory aid and should be avoided like the plague, with the eager student instead spending the time to further develop ideas. Good advice it may be, but a giant 'meh' is coming from me. Heres the latest for the SAE car...

Sprint auto parts Rally SA 2009

Sprint auto parts Rally SA finished last night, and by all accounts it was a successful event for us. Did we finish the event? Yes. Is the car still in one piece? Yes. Did we learn a lot? Yes. And did we have fun? Hell yes!
Whilst we lacked the outright speed of our more experianced competitors, we made up for this with consistent performance which saw us take 3rd place in our class, P6, and 24th outright in SARC. Whilst these results probably arent much to write home about, I think they are pretty good considering Ive never read pace notes before, David hasnt driven for 3 years and neither of us have ever competed in this car before.
The event started Friday night with the spectator Super Special stage around the Angaston oval. This was good fun although our slight off road excursion over the finish line was exciting - all the rally hardcores were laughing at my shock, I guess you get used to this sort of thing after a while.
Saturday kicked off with the Golfields and Tweedies stages, both fast blasts through the Barossa area. We saw 175kmh on one dirt straight down Goldfields which, for a dirt rally virgin, certainly got the blood pumping. After service we then headed into the Mount Crawford forest for the first of 4 passes, and this soon became my favourite stage. Long straights and sweeping bends down logging roads punctuated with 90deg turns in and out of the forest and the odd jump and water splash to keep things interesting. With a power steering system that was mysteriously loosing fluid we then raced over Mawsons Row and Kenton Valley, two stages held around the breathtakingly stunning Basket Range area in the mist and fog and then into another service. With another half litre of fluid added for good measure we then got significant air time over a jump in Mount Crawford again, before tackling the Mount Gawler stage - made even more interesting by our lack of pace notes. We then finished the day with another two runs around the Super Special stage knocking two seconds off our Friday night time- without the off road excursion of course!
Biscuits was due to be the first stage on Sunday morning, however this was cancelled due to the extremely slippy condition of the road, so slippy that 4 cars went off the road and hit the same fence in Recce! We cut straight to the Cromer stage before having yet another run over the Mt. Crawford spectator stage. After another service (and yet more power steer fluid) we tackled Honeysuckle, Kanmantoo and Charleston plus, all located around the Nairne/ Kanmantoo/ Harrogate area. Although messing up the pacenotes, Kanmantoo was another favourite stage of the event as it involved a massive jump, racing close to the freeway in the opposite direction and crossing the main Adelaide/Melbourne train line twice! After the last service, we tackled Mount Crawford for the final time. This was our best run of the event as we were really pushing the pace and exploring the limits of the car. We passed two cars in our class broken down and took 50 seconds from the car in front of us - very nice! Sadly this turned out to be the last stage of the event after Eden High was cancelled due to a big crash.
All up we had a great time, learnt a lot and made a lot of bad politically incorrect jokes (sex, homosexuality and disability being the main themes). Many thanks also to our service crew Adam, Simon, Zee and Mike - we couldnt have done it without you!

Testing times at Cromer - Rally SA '09

Well, we just got back from our test session at Cromer forest, located in the Mount Crawford forest not far from Mount Pleasant. Although we had a short day, it proved to be invaluable as it provided some good seat time in the Regacy as we tried some different suspension settings and tire pressures. In fact the only problem we encountered was that my Terraphone intercom speakers in my helmet ceased to work, I'll purchase a new set tomorow so hopefully that should sort that. Doing 150kmh down a little muddy dirt road and then scandinavian flicking into a 1st gear hairpin is fun...

Another cool moment was the chance to meet and speak with Neal Bates and Coral Taylor. As it turns out they were the only other crew testing with us, and it was really good to spend some time with them and have a close look at their S2000 Corolla. Its an insane little beast, and sounded incredible tearing around the little 1.7km test stage. The speed they were carrying through some corners was unbelievable... although they are seeded 1st which explains a bit. Anyway, bring on Friday night!

Rally SA '09 - before the fun starts

Well, we're now in the week of the 2009 Sprint Auto Parts Rally of South Australia and preparations are coming along nicely for our debut. Figured I'd stick up some info for the one, maybe even two, people who might ever read this!

First, the car. Its a 1989 Subaru Legacy RS Turbo thats been prepared to class P6 specs. Its running a full cage, DMS coilovers all round, a Link computer, boost controller, external wastegate and straight cut gears on 1st and 2nd. Its not the quickest thing out, but with 146kw and approaching 400nm of torque at the wheels its certainly enough to get us into trouble!

I am co-driving for David Rudzitis, and this will be my first time on gravel and my first competitive rally. We're simply out for fun, to learn about the car and each other and to hopefully finish the event. As proof of this the car is stickered with nerd memorabilia (a Larsens biscuits sticker on the fuel door al la Top Gear, Borat stickers on the fenders, Ejector seat stickers and a team name that relates to a hilarious video on collegehumor.com).

A busy week ensues - a day of testing, a full day of recce, ceremonial start, super special stages at the Angaston oval on Friday and Saturday nights not to mention the actual rally itself. The car seems to be as ready as it will ever be, so an enjoyable week is ahead!

AIPP 9hr endurance pedal prix race on the Clipsal track

On Sunday 26 July UniSA Motorsport (the Formula SAE team) fielded a vehicle in the AIPP 9 hour pedal prix race at Victoria Park under the guise of Team UniSA. The deal was struck at the last minute, and 3 weeks ago a brand new Formula Tri-Sled racing trike was delivered to us ready for preparation. After a few late nights the trike was ready for a quick late night run down Seaview road and then trailered to the event (with the addition of some Borat stickers of course!).

Everything was against us for the race, the biggest disadvantage was that we only had 4 riders, compared to 8 allowed by the rules - this would mean a lot of seat time for each of us! Whilst we were all reasonably fit, none of us had done any training for the event and apart from my quick late night runs none of us had actually ridden a HPV before the race.

Despite the fact that I was stuffed beyond belief, I had a blast. Sitting on the grid whilst the national anthem was played was memorable, as was the actual start itself. Perhaps the best memory of the race was speeding down the front straight at night, in spitting rain whilst following and passing a whole host of other HPV's, taillights flashing in the dark and water spray. Really just makes me want to go proper endurance racing...

In the end we started the race from 18th position on the grid, and 18th position in the open class. After 9 hours of racing we came 17th in class out of 23 (making up one whole place!) and placed 43rd overall. Not too bad considering our lack of experiance, and the fact that our HPV wasnt a terribly effective weapon in the open class. Cant wait for the 24hr in 2 months time!

MSCA Super Sprint Round 2 Mallala

After a gap of a few months, round 2 of the MSCA super sprint series took place on Sunday 5 July at Mallala. Whilst I didnt manage to beat my fastest lap in the little Alfa, it was certainly good fun. Practice and round 1 took place in the dry, however I spent these sessions trying out some new techniques including left foot braking around turn one. In the end the best lap was a 1.28.3, a little off our 1.27.7 best lap. However with the new spherical bearings in the front end and the right conditions a 1.26 isnt really out of the question.

Then the rain came in... and my god was it fun. Semi slicks in the wet means the limits of the car become much lower, vastly increasing the fun! A few times into turn 3 the back would come around, so you'd just wind on the opposite lock, feather the throttle and drive it sideways rally style through the corner... front wheel drive remember!

It was amazing how the faster cars slowed down in the wet, meaning we jumped a long way up the field. Although passing slower cars was a lot of fun, on one lap I was chasing a clubman close through turn two and it decided to spin in front of me. Trust me it was very close as he spun back and nearly t-boned me as I sped through.

All up a fun day, and bring on August 16!

Concept sketches of the Formula SAE car

Heres some concept sketches of the UniSA Formula SAE car. These sketches show a few different design directions, and in true designer fashion theyre being uploaded at 4am. My next move is to circulate these around for feedback, and make the changes based on what people tell me. I really like the Naked look at this stage though.

Delta Integrale - Driving a rally legend

Sometimes one finds oneself in the most desireable of situations, enjoying an experiance that will remain in the memory for a very long time. For me, that happened yesterday when at one point in time I happened to be behind the wheel of Jeremy Browne's 1990 Lancia Delta Integrale 16V. To make things even sweeter, I was piloting it down my favourite stretch of twisty road - the bit of blacktop that runs between Callington and Nairne. The precise chain of events leading up to that point started when I received a call asking if I would like to ride along on the Lancia register run one Saturday morning in the Integrale. I made a quick call to work and cancelled my shift, and told Howie I would love to come along. Jeremy would be driving his Lancia Fulvia 1.6 HF Rally car on the cruise, with Howie and I closely on his heels in the Integrale.

The first thing that got me was the sheer grip of the Integrale - its unreal. Riding as a passenger, we would enter corners quickly enough that I never thought we would get around, yet the car just hunkered down and make quick work of whatever we could throw at it. Not bad for a 19 year old car! For the first part of the run we were chasing Jeremy in the Fulvia up Montacute road . Now theres a mental image - riding in an Integrale chasing a hot rally prepared Fulvia up a twisty mountain pass!

Around 10km away from our morning tea stop at Mt Pleasant, Jeremy pulled over so that Howie could have a steer of the Fulvia. He then offered me the drive of the Delta, and it was amazing. I didnt push it hard at all, as it wasnt my car and having one of Australias best and most well known rally drivers sitting next to me was a little intimidating. I thought all my lucky stars had come at once, however after the drive Jeremy mentioned that I could drive it home if I liked. Which is how I found myself with the chance to drive it from Mannum to Mount Barker, including said favourite stretch of twisty road.

For those who are unaware, the Delta Integrale 16V is the road homologation version of the cars that Lancia rallied so succesfully during the late 80's and early 90's. The Integrale is an absolute cult car, and absolutely dominated the World Rally Championship, as had the Fulvia, Stratos and 037 before it. The road versions represent the pinacle of rallying technology at that point in time, and for true rally nuts there is no better car. The Lancia Delta is a common everyday commuter in Europe, much like the Toyota Corolla now and in standard trim is extremely dull. Integrales are rare in Europe, however they were never sold in Australia making them extremely rare here, its probably the only one in Adelaide. Jeremys car was privatly imported from Europe and then converted to RHD. The Integrale versions came with a 2.0 Intercooled turbo engine and Torsen 4wd, along with a host of other technological innovations. Being a 1990 model, Jeremys Integrale is a HF16v model, meaning it comes with the later 16 valve engine, revised ECU and better 4wd system, not to mention the pumped body with big flares that earlier Integrales didnt have. Its good for 200hp and a 0-100 time of 5.7secs in dead stock trim. Thats pretty good for 1990, and its still faster than most WRX's right up to now, including a lot of the STI's.

Its just simply awesome to drive. The grip is astounding, the shove in the back is addictive. In a straight line its not anywhere near as fast as the Lancer Evo 6.5 Makinen I drove, but for the average driver on the public road I think its faster. Its power is accesible and useable - the car doesnt scare you. It works with you, and as a tool for covering ground quickly its bloody marvelous. The pedals are perfectly placed for left foot braking, and the power steering is just sublime. It takes a little for it to build boost, but its very good for an 80's turbo car (I drove a Mitsubishi Galant VR4 once and the lag on that was just a joke) and once it comes on song at around 3000rpm it just keeps pulling right till the 7000rpm redline, no matter what the speed or gear. We came up behind a truck once doing 110kmh in fifth, I simply dropped it back to fourth and flattened it and it accelerated to 170 like nothing else Ive driven. Driving it on that twisty road was like making love to some kind of divine being - it was that good. It was very hard to give the keys back!

It was interesting to note peoples reaction to the car. The Integrale really is the ultimate sleeper - it blends in with everything else and then blows their doors off! For most people (police included) it just flew under the radar, however it made a big impression on people who knew what it was. I remember passing a stopped Alfa 156 and the driver literally had his head out the window watching us go by. Its almost the perfect car - enough street cred for the jap scene but its not rice, its a fine piece of Italian artwork that leaves you speechless!

Toaster for Braun

This is my work for the final handup of the home appliance revisited project, part of final year Industrial Design studio. The breif was to design some sort of appliance with the 'corporate style' of either Braun or Ferrari. Despite my love of cars, I chose Braun as I am against Ferrari branding crappy consumer goods with their logo. Either way, I digress...

I chose to design a toaster as I think there are some really interesting avenues that can be explored that are currently left alone by toasters on the market today. Some may call me strange, but I think the process of toasting toast is cool - red hot elements caramelising bread as it turns from pale white to golden brown (and, if I'm cooking, jet black). I decided I wanted to show this process, but being a Braun product I couldnt really place clear windows showing the tech package. In the end I settled on the small blue tinted windows on diagonally opposite sides that provide a snapshot as to what is happening without giving the whole game away.

As is always the case, I was working to strict due dates and henceforth couldnt spend as much time refining the features as I would have liked. From what they told me, the lecturers really liked my design and suggested some further modifications I could make. They suggested possibly changing the tint of the windows from blue to orange which I think would make the product more exciting without losing the Braun aesthetic. I also would like to increase the radius of the two curved corners (I did this on my foamie and it worked a lot better). There are a few other small mods to make, and once I've made these I'll do the renders again and keep it as a folio piece.

Choosing a logo for EightEleven

I thought I might upload some ideation for an EightEleven logo. These are really very basic and were just created so that I would be able to circle them around and gauge the feedback. Ive learnt quite a lot from these simple logos, the biggest thing being that I seem to be travelling in the right direction. I really like this style of simple and basic yet still interesting, so soon I will try using some of the features on Photoshop to create some more interesting effects. I'm also thinking of modelling the logo on Solidworks and possibly rendering it with various effects, however the logo still needs to be simple as its going to be plastered down the side of rally cars etc. Either way, heres my favourite two of the first batch

Spotted at the All Japan Day

Where else but Japan...

Easter Historic race meeting at Mallala

Once again, more of the pipe dreams. In the USA the 70's were a heady time for motor racers - not only were the big Can-Am cars roaring around but a new class was emerging, called Formula Ford. Today FF is for young, hard charging up and comers with big budgets, and there was an element of that back in the 70's at the pointy end of the field. However, it was possible for a person of moderate means to purchase a car that was a few seasons old and still race it reasonably competitivly. Fun times and much action came about. I think 70's Formula Fords look great, and these examples I found at Mallala perfectly stand for what I'm talking about. Pity theres a little thing called historic racing now and old Formula cars are worth a fortune.

I dont think I need to continue about my soft spot for old Porsche's, however I really liked this one. The owner was a nice guy who talked us through the car for a while, and this is very close to perfection. The interior has really inspired me for the X19, as this is the kind of look that I'm aiming for.

Cal-look at the day of the Volkswagen

I dont know why, but Cal-look Volksies really appeal to me. Maybe its more to do with what they represent, but I still like them. The thought of cruising the beaches of So-Cal in the 60's or 70's with your girl by your side in your hot beetle or going surfing with your mates on deserted beaches with the Kombi is a compelling one, even if modern comercialisation means it will only ever be a disant memory for a lucky few and a dream for most. Either way, this beetle and rare Samba van complete with period correct surf boards on top really caught my attention.

Clipsal 500 2009

If you look closely, past the bogans and the booze and the feral chicks, there are some really interesting things at the Clipsal 500. These are 4 of my favourite things I found. I happened to walk into the Team Vodafone garage after the final race on Sunday and snapped this pic - an almost identical one made the front page of the paper. I thought the color scheme of the new Nissan R35 GTR safety car was simple yet attractive, and despite the obvious doubts of the message its giving I thought this cartoon-esque signage on the Team Vodafone transporter was really interesting. And I know its just so bogan, but c'mon a Dukes of Hazzard motorcylce is just so cool!

All Porsche day

Ok so I have a soft spot for early Porsche 911's, espicially race or competition prepared examples. 1973 911 Carrera RS, hot engine, half cage, race seats... perfection! I think the first photo just shows what a classically beautiful design they are and in my opinion no other 911 looks anywhere near as good. The 80's and 90's versions became over adorned yuppie mobiles and the newer ones are technically far superior but in my opinion they don't posses the same character and charm as the first model did.

The Porsche 914 was widely unloved by most people, and to be honest I can see why. They look a little awkward, and when new cost nearly as much as a 911 did. However, I still love them - particularly the 914-6. A proper flat 6 911 engine in the proper position (mid mount) in a lightweight bodyshell. American photographer Jeffery Zwart proved how good they are in the mid 90's by winning the Panama-Alaska rally in one, and I think that they are what the Fiat X19 should have been. There was a nice blue one getting around Adelaide a while back that sported wide period correct wheels, half cage, Sparco seats and a loud exhaust. I used to see it driving around the city sometimes, and it would make me stop in my tracks - the memory of that thing launching with a loud roar into a gap in traffic ahead of the bus I was in is burnt into my retina's. The shreak of the flat 6 drowned everything out, and I was sitting inside a public bus with about 50 other people! So I guess thats a long winded way of saying I really liked this 914-6....

UniSa O-Week Formula SAE display

As assistant team manager of UniSa Motorsport, the University of South Australia's Formula SAE team, I was roped into helping take the display car to the Uni open week on my 21st birthday. This enabled me to spend my birthday pushing undriveable racecars, hiring trailers from bogans and backing said car trailer down a long and narrow driveway into the Magill Campus. Why is this such a big deal? Well, I designed the logo for the team, the very logo you see in the white banner in the first photo. This makes it the first thing Ive designed thats actually gone into real life use, albeit at a very low level. Kodak moment! The last photo shows the chassis of UniSA09, this years Formula SAE car. My final year Industrial Design project is to design the bodywork of this car so look out for more updates about the SAE car!

Test drive - Electric powered Fiat X19

I first met Edward Booth when he came to our home to inspect my Fiat X19 to determine its suitability for conversion into an electric car. About a year later we recieved a phone call inviting us to come down for a drive, so we did!

The electric engine and battery packs are purchased as a kit from the USA and can be fitted into pretty much any car. The X19 is ideal as it allows the engine to remain in the middle, with batteries in the front and rear boot compartments. The kit replaces the conventional gasoline engine with an electric one and still drives through the stock gearbox meaning driveshafts and hubs dont need to be changed.

Its an odd beast to drive, as the only sound to be heard is the rolling of tyres over the road (that and the infamous Fiat rattles). It almost feels quicker than a 1300cc X19, however this might be an illusion due to the extra torque. The electric engine has about the same power and lots more torque, however the weight of the batteries means its probably about as quick as a stock X19. You only use the clutch to change gears, and let me tell you taking off and coming to a stop without using the clutch just feels wrong. But its cheap transportation - Ed charges it from his solar panels on the roof so it really is free energy... but it still has a few issues, the biggest being its 300km range and several hour charge time from dead. Its a very interesting and fun creation, but not really a solution for the masses.