About Cars and Autos

Santosh Electric Pocket Bike

A pocket bike is a miniature motorcycle.  Often referred to as MiniGPX or “mini-moto” and first made popular as ‘pit-bikes’ for drag racers to travel around in the pits during races in the late ‘50s.

These days pocket bikes are available in both gasoline and electric versions with engine’s ranging from 40cc to 50cc.  A typical mini-moto is about ¼ the size of a standard racing motorcycle and there are Pocketbike races across the country on tracks used for kart racing.  There is the Northwest YSR-50 enthusiast HERE or YSR Racing HERE.

Now we have the world’s smallest electric pocket bike.  Apparently the builder felt that the current generation of electric pocket bikes were just too big so they recently introduced Santosh pocket bike is literally quite small.   The bike is just 12 inches high and 18 inches long. The way Santosh pulled off this compressed miracle was to make the battery pack wearable, rather than mounted on the bike which is capable of running at speeds of almost 10mph.

Talk about a little guy speed junkie!  Check out the video if you want to know more.

Photo courtesy of Santosh bikes.

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I was really looking forward to this event, for a multitude of reasons. First, it marked the end of the off-season. Second, zMAX is one of my favorite sites. It’s a really large lot (on par with Michelin), and has really good grip. The bad part is that it’s really expensive to rent. On the plus side, they have real strict noise restrictions, meaning that we have to hold the events there on Saturday in order to get all our runs in before we lose light.

I arrived somewhere around 7:30, which normally would’ve given me plenty of time to get registered, teched and walk the course multiple times before the first run group. Unfortunately, they were still making changes to the course, even after I had gone through the registration and tech lines. I think I walked the course twice, and they made changes between my walkthroughs. Normally, I’m not very fond of being in the first run group, but given the length of the course and the fact that I didn’t get a very good look at it in the first place, I was actually somewhat happy about running first. My lack of knowledge of the course showed itself on my very first run. Towards the end of the lap, I was supposed to turn right and go back down the hill into the slalom leading to the finish. Instead, I went straight, which lead me back to another section of the course where a Saturn was currently racing. Fortunately, I noticed him in time and turned well before we made contact. That, naturally, red flagged the course. Not a great start to the day. My second run started off great until I noticed a very irritating scraping noise coming from behind me. It proceeded to distract me which slowed me down, but at least I stayed on course and didn’t hit any cones.

When I got to the finish line, Dave informed me that the scraping noise I’d noticed was my exhaust, which had fallen off and was dragging behind the car. I pulled the car into the paddock, and after taking a look, we figured out that the exhaust hangers had broken their welds , allowing the exhaust to drag along on the ground. I talked to several people, and finally found someone with some wire that we could use to rehang the exhaust, at least temporarily. Once the exhaust was wired in place, I found some duct tape to hold the wire. So effectively, my exhaust was held on by bailing wire and duct tape.

Having patched up the exhaust, I got back into grid and lined up for my third run. Everything was going great until I got back to the point where I’d gone off course on my first run. I came around that corner and the back end started to slide on me. I kept my foot in the throttle and counter-steered to correct the slide, but apparently I over-corrected as the back end snapped around, causing me to spin off course. In the process, I stalled the car and couldn’t get it to start again. Another red flag for me. Maybe I should start a collection. After a good 15-20 seconds, I finally got the car fired again and proceeded back to grid. My fourth run was actually quite uneventful, although not very fast. By this point, I had so many distractions that my head wasn’t really in the game.

When third run group came around, I went up to get a work assignment and happened to have my helmet with me, having just finished riding along with a friend to help him find where he was going off course. The worker chief assumed I was there to serve as an instructor, so I got to train a novice as my work assignment for the day. There were only two novices in third run group: one driving a Subaru and the other driving a Civic. I talked with the other instructor and it turned out she was more familiar with front drive cars, while I was more familiar with Subaru all wheel drive, so the assignments were obvious. The novice I was instructing started off very rough, but was a quick learner. By his fourth run, he was in first place in the novice class. He ended the day 4th out of 20 novices, which is absolutely amazing. I was proud of him, and to be honest, that really saved the day for me.

Results and videos below:

Final

RAW

PAX

Note that the video for run 3 isn’t posted because I forgot to turn off the camera.

Run 1:

Run 2:

Run 4:

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I’ve been on a mental roller coaster with all of this USF1 team development, ups and even more downs!  The only strange thing was that we have had no anticipated dates for anything with the new North Carolina based team, which in Formula 1 is a huge confidence killer.  I was a believer though, the team passed several FIA inspections since they signed up for competition, and seemed to have the financial aspect locked down.  Jose Maria Lopez was going to be able to bring in 8 million dollars in sponsorship funds and with Youtube backing, it seemed to me that USF1 had its cards in a row.  However, teams should be able to have an estimate on when they can have every single stage of their project completed (at the very least!).  Even the FIA lacked confidence that the U.S. team would ever develop into something real, with the huge logistical nightmares of transporting racecars and equipment across the world, and the costs of doing so, it never seemed like anything more than a dream.  As of late Jose had been rumored to be in talks with other teams, Youtube and several other sponsors have also been said to have pulled away from the team, and the North Carolina based operation has been silent, only fueling rumors that its all over for our home team! 

That was yesterday.

 I read a report today that says Jose and his posse visited the USF1 headquarters and now have a better understanding of where the team stands and had a very positive meeting, and Peter Windsor saying that the team is very much alive, all I can say was the talks of the teams demise may have been a little premature!  Only Time will tell, but it will be soon with the pre season testing concluding today in Jerez, Spain (Jenson Button posting the fastest time of the day at his new McLaren-Mercedes home!).

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I couldn’t catch the guy in blue, but my 20:19 finish (I’m in the yellow) was good enough for second in my age group. Photo by Amber Trotter

I made a deal with myself last night. If I woke up this morning without chest congestion, then I would go ahead and run the race. Lucky me, 6 a.m. arrived and it was all above the neck.

There was no information on the course online, so I couldn’t plan a strategy as I like to do. The maps that were passed out at the start had no elevation information, so even last-minute planning was out of the question.

The best I could do was talk to some older guys while looking on in disbelief at some of those mommy workout leaders tried to lead us in some warm-ups. (The women were initially confused by our lack of enthusiasm, then realized the high knee, side kick and side step moves they were showing us weren’t exactly safe in a crowded starting corral.) They told me there was a pretty good hill in the middle, followed by another slight hill at the end and a good downhill section leading into the finish line.

They even had gold-, silver- and bronze-colored medals. How Olympic.

Even though I’ve been fighting a cold for several days, the first mile was great. I hit the marker at 6:10, feeling like I was running much slower.

Then I got to the hill – steep and muddy. And it was followed immediately by another uphill section on pavement. It was a long climb and took more energy than I’m used to. Maybe that whole racing sick idea wasn’t a good one.

When I hit mile 2 at 15:10, I figured it was a little off. There was no way the second mile took nine minutes, even with those hills! I was right, because I hit mile 3 right around 20 minutes in. I mean, unless I actually ran 6:10, 9:00 and 4:50 splits. But I don’t think so.

The last uphill part wasn’t that bad, but it slowed me down enough for one guy to pass me up. I tried catching him on the downhill through the finish line – even though he wasn’t in my age group – but didn’t have the energy to push that much.

After waiting around for about 15 minutes, the results started being posted. My official time was 20:19, and even though that’s my worst 5K time so far, it was good for second place in my age group.

My wife pointed out that it was second out of three – because she understood it quicker, not because she’s mean – so I had to look for the third finisher to make myself feel better. If he had come in over 24 minutes, I probably would’ve felt a little less satisfied, but he finished under 22 minutes. First place? Some guy decked out in blue-and-white 2-inch split shorts and a singlet from the Running Center in under 17 minutes. I haven’t been running long enough to be that good, but finally placing still felt pretty good!

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BEST trackday thus far for sure! And the BEST trackday organizer to date as well. Mark Duncan, owner of The Track Club (www.thetrackclub.com), organizes one brilliantly professional and fun group. He was friendly, knowledgable and he is definitely hands-on wih his program. He worked tech and helped me out on the best way to go about everything since I had never been there. All of his instructors are fantastic as well. I think the biggest difference I noticed with The Track Club and Buttonwillow is the lack of squid-arrogance and cockiness that usually goes on in the paddock and on the track.  It was a hugely different crowd than at other tracks.   Which isn’t necessarily the track itself or the other track day organizers, but rather the attendees that are indigenous to that area. Truth is truth.

I worked on my bike for two days beforehand.  Granted it should have taken one but I was not in the mood to work all day long so I broke it up. We drove down the night before (left about 2 AM because the bikes weren’t finished, well MINE was) and got we there at about 6 AM.  There is no armband to buy like at Willow, so we just parked and slept for a few hours in the race trailer. 

We woke up to the usual sounds [love that!] bikes whizzing past, the announcer on the loudspeaker, countdown to the riders’ meeting, etc.   We opened the doors and windows and watched the preparation unfold before us. It is such a wonderful way to get you in the mood for a great trackday. I started the day with making some coffee. I do not function without my morning coffee, so coffee was first–bike second. I discovered there were no coffee cups so I made some containers out of water bottles and then grabbed a cold breakfast sandwich from the previous night’s drive up. No thank you. “I don’t think I can do this.”  So I made some instant oatmeal and afterwards started prepping my bike.

Off to registration I went and spoke with Mark,who  teched my bike himself. I adjusted my tire pressure (I believe I had a slow leak in my front tire from the valve stem), and got my bike on the stands and warmers. It was already warming up and the sun was starting to shine, warming up the track.   I was off to a great start!

Today was going to be a fun day. I was not familiar with this track so I started out in Level C (beginner group) and would have an instructor follow me around to determine my level.  I started out on my site lap and during the first horseshoe after the esses, my rear tire slid all over the place. Okay, cold tires, slick spot, remember to adjust tire pressure. I eased off the throttle and when out of the danger zone I gave her some more. Then I got stuck behind a lot of riders and I honestly thought to myself, “are we under a red flag” why are we going so slow?”  Then I realized that the C group, although safe and friendly, were just honestly slower than I was. Now, not long ago when I first started, I was in the middle of the pack in C group so I am not bragging. I realize I am not ready to hit the Daytona 200 or anything, but C group was not for me anymore.  Then I saw a waving yellow at the next station while passing a rider, so I knew someone went off the track. Sure enough someone was sitting on their bike in the grass. Kevin, the instructor, followed me around and as I got to know the track, my lap times increased (I unfortunately had no transponder this time). When we pulled off after the session was over he told me that I could move up to B group and that he would bring my new sticker.

Kevin met me back at the trailer and said he decided to get a second sticker because the first one was B-13 LOL! How very thoughtful because I don’t know how I would have felt about that. lol So I got B-50!  I realize it is just a number and that Melissa Paris-Hayes has the #13, but psychology is psychology so I was thankful for the number switch.   I adjusted my pressures Sand back out  I went when B group was announced. I had noticed I was dropping about 4 psi per session from the time I went out hot to the time I returned. I knew the track was cold but I was not pushing it enough to keep it hot. I usually drop about 2 psi at Fontana in the morning so this was confusing me. 4 psi was a lot. Must go faster.

It took a few sessions to get my tire pressures dialed in and I learned to add a bit to the front before I went out.  My fuel leves were kept at about 5 liters, sometimes only 3 liters added on the residual if I felt I wasn’t using enough.  My fuel sensor is still malfunctioning so between eyeing my level and measuring fuel before going out, I kept my bike at its lightest with enough to last 20 minutes.  My bike was runnign really well, honestly the best it has run all season. My temperature was about 190 when I came in and I noticed it was running waaaay better than at Fontana or Willow when it’s hot and I am running 215+ by the time I get to the pit. I realize my temperature at pace is cooler than 215+, but there is definitely a difference. Another great thing is that my gearing was great forthis track as well. I honestly don’t think I got out of 3rd, although I was just under rev limitor and could have used a 4th gear. But by that time I was getting ready to brake. Since it wasn’t a race, why really go through the trouble for an extra second that day. Blasphemy I know, but this was for fun.

The last session was the best as Shawn was able to go out with me in B and get some great footage with a headcam and an onboard GoPro.  It was a lot of fun shooting it!

Video link:

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If you wanna see some pics I’ve taken over the past summer, you may want to head over to www.sjoproductions.com, it’s the homepage for the Michigan Fair Supercross Series. I attended a few of their events last year and took pics. Well, their new, redesigned webpage features JQ Entertainment photos exclusively. Also another webpage to check out is mattsheafor.com, this is the website for professional motocross racer Matt Sheafor. I snapped a few shots of him last year as well and his website displays some of them. I believe there are a few on there I didn’t take, but all the action shots under his photos link I took.

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Lotus Racing – The story so far!

Here is a really cool video showing the progress from Lotus Racing as they try to get ready for the 2010 Formula One season. The video starts at the Lotus factory with former F1 cars to them knocking down walls as they get the factory underway. You can see the whole team working hard to get this project underway. Its pretty cool as Lotus Racing is back in Formula One! Video after the jump.

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This is a Lancia Delta, however it isn’t what you think when you think Lancia delta do you.

Oh no you think of this

This

The Delta Integrale took Lancia’s run-of-the-mill hatchback and turned it into something memorable, we owe all of this awesomeness to Group B. The Group B regulations fostered some of the quickest, most powerful and sophisticated rally cars ever built. However, a series of major accidents, some fatal, were blamed on their outright speed.

Group B regulations also said that 200 road legal models had to be sold to the public, this rule gave birth to some of the best cars including the totally awesome Audi Quattro and the Ford RS200  Hell the porsche 959.

That’s a car everybody could love

The thing is  cars can do fast so much better than they could do when Group B was removed from the calendar, The technology has advanced considerably and cars are now safer.  Imagine the possibilities if we brought Group B back from the dead, it could also be a tribute for all of those who gave their lives behind the wheel

source: Wikipedia

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Well…

I havent written anything in a while, but I finally have something on my mind. FORD! That’s right an American car manufacturer. In fact the only one who didn’t take any money on the Gov’t bailouts. I have never been into American cars as much as imports, but I recently made the decision to purchase a 2009 Ford Mustang Bullitt edition. If you don’t know the Bullitt is different from the regular GT in a few ways in which make it extremely better over the GT in my opinion. It comes with 3.73 gears, Cold Air Intake from Ford Racing division, more aggressive tune, different exhaust, and a few other nice items that make it both handle and appear better. It definitely was good enough to get my attention away from a few other top choices at the time. I also lucked out and got a decent deal of $4k off the MSRP and 0% interest for 72 months. So I picked up the nice 330hp RWD muscle car. I definitely enjoy it. Which brings me back to other good things Ford is doing right now. They have finally decided to go back to putting a revised 5.0 engine into the GT which is awesome the car definitely deserves to carry the 5.0 badge. This also means horsepower will be increased to just over 400. Which isn’t bad considering it’s lighter than both the Camaro SS and the Challenger R/T. So with this new found power we might have a new king of decently priced muscle cars…  On an even more powerful note the 2011 GT500 will also be receiving an upgrade. Ford has decided to drop the cast iron block of the 5.4 liter beast in lieu of Aluminium, this translates into a 102 pound weight loss for the notoriously nose heavy GT500. That is one hell of a diet. They have also mixed things up a bit and managed to now pull 550hp out of the supercharged motor.  This Mustang is quickly moving up the monster Hp ladder. There will also be an SVT Performance package that will add a new limited slip differential, lighter wheels, stiffer springs, and a higher rear axle ratio. Personally I cannot wait to see both 1/4 mile and track lap times of this new Stang!  I might even be willing to trade in the Bullitt for it…

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