Recently I had a talk with a good friend, and he asked a interesting question. What is or rather what makes a car good?
Most people would have shot of their first and or most near and dear exotic. Enzo, F40, Lamborghini, Carerra GT, Porsche 911 Turbo. Ok so you get my point right? Wrong! Often I think
the automotive world get's this very very wrong especially in a lot of magazines.

Is say a 2010 BMW 335i better then say a 1999 Porsche boxter, or is a Porsche 996 better then a 911 T or let us even go into vehicular blasphamy and discuss a Toyota Starlet vs 2010 Nissan GTR. Let us for good measure throw in a 1968 Mustang.

I think we have to take a look into the total driving experince.
" What makes an excellent race car does not always make an excellent or good car for the road. " I think many people miss understand this.


I think a lot of car owners sort of fall victim to the heat of the moment in their decision making. 

A lot of this is 50% trend of the moment powerd by a overwhelming need to asert ones own status. 25% common sense and 25% purity. A lot of time as we age nestalgia comes into play too, at least as a factor. I watch it happen everyday.

For exsample, present trends amongest youth's are really status and performance oriented. A lot of people today wish to see or view themself as sophsticated and knowledgible. 

For exsample if we whent back and looked at particular cars like say a GTR not a Skyline GTR but a Nissan R35 GTR, in terms of all it's electronics and wizardy it's a truely amazing peice of todays state of the art tech. However in terms of excitement and being timeless it will fade.

When we look for exsample at vehicles past such as the R32 or R34 we see that many critics will advocate that the previous Skyline GTR's were exciting and gave a emotional feeling even if not superior to the present R35 GTR. 

So what happend? 

If we look look at the past Toyota Corolla's for exsample. What sparked the cult classic's that bring so many together?
The rawness and excitement and feeling the brings to it's owner? Perhaps.

One of the biggest issues is infact that automotive manufactuors are more focused on cramming competitive new technologies into a vehicle that far exceed what the daily or average driver really need. They add overly innovative technologies that complicate the process of driving and or make a vehicle feel borning and dull. Or give a driver a false sense of security.
 

So how do we move foward with out holding back technologies and enable designers to be innovative but keep satisfaction alive and well.

One of the most important things is knowing where to add the technologies. Econ, Performance and so on all really need to be addressed more clearly. Today I think makers try to target to many areas of a vast and competitive market. 

Anyways this is just some food for thought.
 
 
 

Currently I have been reading a lot of amusing articals and
listening to that in which people think they need in terms of tuning.
Sometimes I am a little suprised at what I hear or read.

1. Avoid the trends.
2. Spend money where it is best suited.
3. Don't add ancelary items unless they are needed.

4. Gauges : Exhaust Gas Temp, Air Fuel Ratio, Knock Sensor or
Knock sensors are nice, not 100% needed. The problem is most
of these are ancelary devices in which do not work together or
better said in conjunction. All great, accept for the fact that most
modern management systems in production vehicles have 
integrated systems. Thus the management is capable of deciding
how much spark, cam timing, etc it want's to give at a specific rpm.
So monitoring is almost pointless unless you are extremely tuned
then again if you are tuned correctly you really don't need such
gauges unless you are running dangeriously. 

For turbochargers a boost gauge, oil temp and coolent temp gauge
are acceptable.

Most of the cars I see out there with a million gauges are not 
even tuned correctly or are the gauges installed correctly and or 
are the vehicles in question ( powerful enough. )

The problem is that a lot of the newest management systems
are extremely dynamic and most of what I am seeing and why
so many blown engines are showing up is due to DYI combined
with the ( tuner band wagon. ) Everyones a tuner now, just like
everyone is a was a Drifter post 2004.5. OEM Automakers 
spend thousends of hours and ( A LOT OF MONEY. ) on researching
and developing management and parameters for production cars.
Most tuners spend much less. Often TOP Pro race teams spend
hours upon hours and usually sacrifices a few engines in dyno
testing to produce a racer. Also they run some of the most 
sophisticated management and are religiously inspected. 

Management Systems in production vehicles are not come one 
come all and the same. Different years in the same generation
can have updated or new software or significant differences 
in the way systems communicate. Developement of products and
parts are very important. Often times you are trusting that the
tuner has spent the time in research and developement for 
you're vehicle to
  

 
Fundamentum 03/13/2010
 
About racing.

Currently I have had some questions from aspiring young would be future drivers. Today racing is a lot more then just about being a driver but the vast or so to speak " big picture " is very important in driver development.

My first bit of advise to anyone who is an aspiring driver it is that at no time ever should you give up you're dreams.
Giving up you're dreams equates you dying inside. However we need to be very real about a few things. Hope is good, but
it does not get the job done in terms of paying bills, and so on.

You need target objectives and structure in order to be succeed in you're ambitions. Nobody can say 100% at what level or for how long you will race but the average racing
drivers career life span is not exactly very long. So make
the time you are racing count.

Another fatal mistake many young or aspiring drivers make
is going to big too soon. Arriving a bit fashionably late is acceptable. Age does not equate Old and slow, just as Young does not equate fast and vibrant.

Racing does cost a lot of money and one must really consider the consequences for his or her actions. Often times when a individual goes to big too fast they end up hurting them self
economically and even as far as destroying family's.

I never recommend someone risking their future for racing.
Risk is fine, but a calculated risk key. Reckless and stupid well there friends is a whole-other discussion. One in which is
self explaining.

1. Getting a College Education. Do not settle for a trade school or simply a two year. A four year education pays for itself, racing or not. It also gives you more credit when conversing with team mates or a firm sponsors etc. ( Note : Chose something that is world applicable, not a easy A major. )

2. Working you're way up from the bottom breeds strength.
You are entitled to nothing, but with hard work you might
gain that in which you desire most. Listen to those who are willing to speak.

3. Keep you're contacts.

4. Keep you're word.

5. Be truthful, the racing world is small and liars etc. It is very
easy to burn bridges with great ease.

6. Keep Business as Business and Friendships as Friendships
do not mix the two. You'll save you're self a whole lot of heart
ache and trouble this way.

7. Alcoholism, Drug Addiction are paths in which will draw
you way from you're goal. Avoid both. Smoking will not help you're performance but it's you're own vice.

8. The Law : The law is something I suggest you do not abuse.
A lot of young people do like the idea of street racing. I don't
recommend it. 1. Any of the major governing bodies can and
will penalize you for such acts, DUI's, Reckless Driving, Racing
on the street, etc. All of which depending on the series and so
on can result in disqualifications, loss of sponsors or future
sponsors. Pretty much if you lose you're Civilian street license
you're racing license is no longer valid under most situations.

9. Getting a lot of speeding tickets, does two things. A. It raises your insurance sky high and B. Also can render you jobless in the automotive field. Shop owners insurance and or liability for a dealer etc will be too high to keep you staffed. So you won't be behind the for a good long while.

10. Practice, and Practice more. But remember to enjoy it.

M.