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.

Lance Armstrong's Bike

In Janurary '09 the Tour Down Under bike race was held in Adelaide. The biggest drawcard of this event was the return of cycling legend Lance Armstrong to the sport. After surviving testicular cancer, Lance is using his comeback as a promotional tool to fight the battle against cancer and will be entering 8 major races, of which Adelaide was the first. For each race Lance is having a graphic designer develop a new paint scheme for his bike, and after each race the bikes (worth around $55,000 I'm told) will be auctioned off with the proceeds going toward cancer research. I was lucky enough to visit the tour villiage as the mechanics were servicing the bike and got a good closeup look. The numbers on the bike all represent different cancer statistics, and look great at the same time.

Vietnam, Cambodia & Singapore September '08

I was lucky enough to visit these countries in '08, and found the whole experiance to be an eye opener. That whole part of the world is just so different I dont know where to begin, but for now I'll just keep to a few of the automotive observations.

The biggest one is the lack of copyright laws in that part of the world. I walked into the Fiat dealership and in addition to the new Bravo and 500, they had 2 4WD's on the floor that looked suspiciously like a Toyota Prado and a Chevy Silverado. Something didnt seem right, and on closer inspection they were 'copies' of these cars. I also saw fake BMW X5's driving around but I was unable to snap a pic. It would be cool to import one to Australia for a bit of a laugh!

Vietnam is a hectic place, and its very rare that you see nice expensive cars. However, when you did they really stood out. I dont know why, but I found something very compelling in the apparent calmness these cars provided in a sea of chaos. It was hard to photograph them without getting run over by the thousands of scooters than zoom around, but I managed a few. Ive tried to capture this 'stilness' and I think the cars make for interesting subject matter.

Rally of South Australia 2008

This is the first time I tried to take some action shots, and by fluke some of them turned out half decent.

There were some very nice cars, from the manic revving of the highly tuned 2.0 Datsun 1600 to the modern cracking and popping of the Subaru and Mitsubishi 4WD Turbos. A few months prior I was lucky enough to do a few stages navigating in the white WRX as a course car, and I can personally say that its very quick indeed.

Well, welcome to the world of blogging. I am totally aware that the sheer number of hours that will no doubt be put into this blog will go totally unnoticed by the world, however I still think it has some merit.

Blogging seems to be the contemporary diary, a place where random things can be recorded. I have created this as a way of recording my various observations and experiances as it sometimes helps to collate these in one place. As an Industrial Design student, I was told that keeping a record of various design related observations, no matter how random, is a good way to improve both design thinking and methodology. Its a way of reviewing and organising your thoughts for later use, much as you would lecture notes or meeting mintues. I am hoping to start doing design work outside of University under the 'EightEleven Design' banner and this blog will be a good way to collate and archive my work. Depending on how successful this plan is it may stay as a small time 'freebie' venture or it may hopefully turn into something that will one day earn a proper wage. Either way, I dont want to ever work a 9-5 job and my theory is that if I keep doing what I enjoy and am enthused about hopefully I'll find a way to make it pay.

I'm also into cars, and this blog will also serve as a record of cool and interesting cars I find, a few photos from car shows, updates and pics from my own motor racing endeavours and maybe a pic or two of my own restoration project, a 1979 Fiat X19. I wont update this blog with the details of the restoration, but for any anoraks the full story is told at http://xwebforums.org/showthread.php?t=919

I'll start things off by adding a few photos and stories from the past year or so to kick things along. I may be the only person that ever reads this, but if I'm not I hope you, the visitor, finds something interesting.

High Five!

The first post... one small step for man one giant leap for IT nerds or something....