NISMO Stuff

1967 Datsun Sports 2000 Roaster For Sale

2012-01-25T10:43:00.000-05:00

Wow is this a beautiful vehicle.

Looking immaculately restored and in museum condition this is a wonderful example of Datsun/Nissan's early driving heritage.

Available on Ebay if you have the cash...

More info on vehicle here: 1967 Datsun Sports Roadster...

Nissan Wins the Dakar!!

2012-01-24T12:28:00.001-05:00

OK...not really...in fact Nissan vehicles did particularly poor this year with only a few entered and fewer finishing including a number of the usually solid Dessoude Nissans that included the fastest and most capable Nissan driven by Christian Lavieille that was out of the event after only a couple stages.

Not all is lost however!!

A very unique Nissan powered vehicle did finish and was the first ever of its kind to do so.

The #370 OSCar Eo became the first electric driven vehicle to ever finish the Dakar ending up in 77th out of the 78 official finishers with a time that was inclusive of 24 hours and ten minutes of penalties--but hey!! They did finish!

So what does this have to do with Nissan? Well, one couldn't rightly expect an electric driven vehicle to make it through the Dakar at this point right? I mean even the best of these vehicles have a very limited range when driven under the most pedestrian of conditions. So...In goes a Nissan V6 to the vehicle--but not to drive the wheels. Instead the ever reliable Nissan V6 was used as a generator to create electricity with which to charge the batteries which would then power the wheels. Carrying a 60 gallon tank of gas combined with the original charge of the batteries each day gave the vehicle the range to complete each stage and thus through many trials and tribulations (the specifics of which I do not know as I don't speak Latvian) the #370 Nissan powered OSCar Eo became the first of its kind to ever finish the Dakar...website and news release links below that include some decent video of the vehicle in action.

Nissan powers first electric vehicle to finish Dakar!

OSCar Eo Homepage...

New Nissan Racing Team!!

2012-01-19T21:05:00.000-05:00

So it looks like the Continntal Tire series will have a number of Nissans in it this year.

2011 saw the return of Nissan with the entry of one and then by the end of the year, two 370Zs fielded by A.M. Performance. While not on the entry list yet for the 2/4 Grand-Am 200, A.M. Performance does list their next event as being this opening round of the 2012 Continental Tire season.

In addition to this team it appears there will be a new Nissan effort as well.

What had been a Honda based team in the recent past has seen its name change from CA Sport Racing now to Skullcandy Team Nissan. Evidently getting sponsorship from the publicly traded Skullcandy maker of headphones and more, the team has evidently received two Altima coupes and is taking them (or at least one of them) racing. Already on the entry list for the Grand-Am 200 it will be interesting what they might be able to do with this platform. Certainly its not the sportiest rigs around but the livery sure looks cool. Can't wait to see it and follow along.

Skullcandy Team Nissan Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skullcandy-Team-Nissan/128725147241851

Skullcandy Team Nissan Web Page: http://www.ca-sport.com/

BBR: Brief Beer Review--Peak Organic Nut Brown Ale

2012-01-15T20:37:00.000-05:00

Was really struggling with what to drink this weekend and ended up with a six pack of this.

A mild ale this Peak Organic offering is very mildly hoppy and leaves you with only a minor aftertaste--not close to anything you would experience with an IPA or the like.

The aroma is not really noticeable out of the bottle, nor is there anything really here to distinguish it as being "organic" as compared to any other beer. I guess you'll just have to take their word for it.

Overall its a beer...that's about all I can say for it. Nothing really memorable in its taste. Light bodied, it could be drunk multiple times in one sitting but not overconsumed.

My big issue here is its carbonation. It is (at least the six pack I had) WAAAAY overcarbonated. It refused to be poured and every sip disappeared in a foam of bubbles within my mouth making the beer more of something I inhaled rather than drank. Not the most pleasant of experiences.

Thumbs down overall...there are better and cheaper choices.

2012 New England International Auto Show

2012-01-15T17:53:00.000-05:00

Despite the New England International Auto Show being on the second (or maybe even third or fourth) tier of auto shows, I somehow feel obligated to go each year as it is only a half hour away. I'm not sure why though. I continue to be disappointed by it. Whether its the plethora of plain Jane models I have seen over and over again, the euro trash weenies from Boston who always show up with a boatload of cologne and unbuttoned shirts, the $7 hotdogs that are somehow passed off as "food" or the $12 parking on top of the entrance fee, it really pushes the limits of what I am willing to accept while keeping my sanity.

Nonetheless, I returned this year and there were a few items of note.

1--The new Ford Escape: Way too bland. The current and older versions of the Escape differentiated itself from its competitors in terms of its looks if not its capabilities. It used to have a more masculine, angled appearance. It looked the part of a small, capable SUV. Now? It looks just like every other mini-SUV, similar to the Nissan Rogue, Honda CRV, Toyota Rav4, Kia Sportage, Chevy whatever...and on and on and on...they all have the individual style of a bubble. Boring and a rare miss in design from Ford these days.

2--The Audi A7: Nice from the front, horrid from the rear. While the front carries the same solid good looks as the entire Audi line, the rear looks like the engineers fell asleep and merely extended the wheelbase with no thought of appearance. The rear window is bulbous and enormous...hell, it even reminded me of a AMC Pacer with the amount of glass back there...its not a good look.

3--Hyundai Veloster: Really nice. At only 130 HP its no screamer but the coming turbocharged version should help that. There are so many angles and crevices in it that it will be a detailer's nightmare but it all comes together well. Now if only they made the front scoops just beneath the headlights functional air vents to direct airflow over the brakes or to pull hot air away from the engine bay.

4--Mini Countryman: If I wasn't a big Nissan geek, this would potentially be one of my next vehicles. Not nearly as feminine as one would think the Countryman is a good looking small SUV that should be well built and handle nicely. Really hits the current sweetspot in the market in terms of style and price.

5--Buick Encore: What a joke. Really?? A mini, economy SUV from Buick? The style is a near complete retread of the Pontiac Vibe and about the same size, there is nothing distinguishing here except for its likely Buick-like over price point. Another fail from Government Motors.

6--Chevy Colorado--Nothing new here, perhaps the most ignored vehicle of the show. Which is almost a shame. I like its looks and middle of the road size but at over $31K for 4WD and crew cab, there is virtually no chance this is a player in the market.

Final LOORRS TV Broadcast Ratings for the 2011 Season!

2012-01-13T21:45:00.000-05:00

In a slight departure from my usual posting on these things...these represent the FINAL ratings numbers for the broadcast.

In previous posts I had always tried to post as soon as possible to the date of the broadcast and had used the "overnight" ratings which come out on Mondays. In this case, since I waited until the end of the week I am able to use the "final" numbers which are more accurate and inclusive. Additionally, they give a specific # of viewers rather than "broadcast households" so the numbers are in many ways better than the overnight versions.

Fortunately in this case, not only are the quality of the figures better but the rating itself matches that of the best LOORRS broadcast for the 2011 racing season. The 0.5 rating was the best of the last five broadcasts. The only higher LOORRS broadcasts that I know of were the 0.6 rating from the 5/1/11 broadcast that had a Supercross lead-in and the spectacular November '10 Thanksgiving weekend highwater mark 1.2 rating.

What to me is the most pleasing is the "viewers" number listed here. In the past I have always estimted the number of actual people watching these broadcasts to be approximately 1.1 times the # of TV sets tuned to the broadcast. For example, the recent World of Adventure Sports broadcast on NBC that included some Baja 500 coverage got a 0.5 rating and I had estimated at the time that this meant that approximately 638,000 actual individuals were watching the broadcast.

Here for the 1/7/12 LOORRS broadcast we can see the same 0.5 rating BUT we also have an exact number of actual VIEWERS and not just "TVs tuned to the broadcast". In this case we see 662,000 viewers for the broadcast. What this means is that while my previous estimates were likely in the same 96.4% accuracy range, they were also likely conservative and that more individuals than I had been estimating were watching.

So take it for what its worth. In my opinion the more info we have on these things and the more honest we are about it, the better off and more prepared to move forward we will be...

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RAT.	VIEWERS (000)
AFC Wild Card: Broncos-Steelers	1/8	CBS	4:41-8:13pm	24.0	42,371
NFC Wild Card: Saints-Lions	1/7	NBC	8:09-11:00pm	18.2	31,780
NFC Wild Card: Giants-Falcons	1/8	Fox	1:06-4:00pm	17.3	27,735
AFC Wild Card: Texans-Bengals	1/7	NBC	4:38-7:44pm	13.5	21,893
"The NFL Today"	1/8	CBS	4:00-4:30pm	9.8	n/a
AT&T Cotton Bowl: Arkansas-Kansas State	1/6	Fox	8:32pm-12:08am	5.0	8,363
"Fox NFL Sunday"	1/8	Fox	12:00-1:00pm	4.6	6,900
"Football Night in America"	1/7	NBC	4:00-4:30pm	4.6	n/a
U.S. Army All-American Bowl	1/7	NBC	1:00-3:56pm	1.0	1,372
Progressive Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular (taped)	1/8	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	0.8	1,297
NCAA Women's Basketball: UConn-Notre Dame	1/7	CBS	4:12-6:30pm	0.7	965
NCAA Basketball: Wisconsin-Michigan	1/8	CBS	1:30-4:00pm	0.6	897
PBR: MSG Invitational (taped)	1/8	NBC	2:30-4:00pm	0.6	886
Mexico Soccer: Queretaro-Club America	1/7	Telef	5:55-8:01pm	0.4	744
Mexico Soccer: Chivas de Guadalajara-Atlante	1/7	Telem	7:55-10:05pm	0.4	741
Off Road Racing: Lucas Oil Challenge Cup (taped)	1/7	CBS	1:00-2:00pm	0.5	662
Mexico Soccer: Toluca-Estudiantes Tecos	1/8	Uni	12:56-3:00pm	0.3	513
NCAA Women's Basketball: Michigan State-Penn State	1/7	CBS	2:00-4:12pm	0.4	491

Hip, Hip, Hooray!!

2012-01-12T21:15:00.000-05:00

The Nissan Xterra will live on!!

Car and Driver now confirms that Nissan is planning on coming out with a 3rd Generation Xterra and it will remain a low price (well, lower than the Pathfinder) and proper body on frame SUV. Many Xterra and Nissan fans have long resigned the Xterra to the dustbin...But it just isn't so! With Nissan's Carlos Ghosn confirming the in house development of the 2014 Titan it is not surprising that they will continue to offer a product to all market segments with a true SUV and full/mid size trucks.

Car and Driver Confirms Next Generation Xterra

Nissan Qualifies Well at 24 Hours of Dubai...

2012-01-12T16:14:00.000-05:00

With three lonely entries (as opposed to the hordes of Porsches, BMWs and Mercedes) in the 24 Hours of Dubai, Nissan is continuing to push their motorsports program forward.

The race which begins tomorrow will feature a Nissan GT-R GT3 class car in the highest end A6 class (fielded by JRM Nissan), a 370Z in the GT3A class (fielded by RJN Motorsports) and another 370Z from RJN in the GT4 class.

All of these efforts qualified well today. The JRM GT-R will be 3rd off the line in its 28 car class tomorrow with only two Ferrari 458's ahead of it. The GT3A class 370Z qualified 4th in its field of 7, giving away a ton of horsepower to the Viper and Corvette in front of it. Lastly the GT4 class 370Z qualified 2nd in its 18 car field behind only a typically well handling Lotus.

The only downside of each of these Nissan efforts is that they have no teammates with which to partner for a better effort and will have to perform to their best on their own. We will see...
24 Hours of Dubai...

Wait....Whoa...WHAT?!?!

2012-01-11T21:47:00.000-05:00

So I've noticed over the past few days a number of ads for the upcoming "reunion" tour of Van Halen...Now Van Halen was one of my favorite groups in my youth, especially (of course) the David Lee Roth Van Halen.

Now I'm not so interested in seeing them at this point. No Michael Anthony, Eddie's brat kid on bass, DLR in some sort of toupe'd Liberace getup but I still enjoy their music. Hell, if someone gave me tickets I'd go see them just for the the sake of saying "I was there, man..." But pay to see them?? No.

That being said I can still understand the desire of hardcore fans wanting to to see them live and hoping for some of the energy and deafening sounds of long ago.

But....

Then I noticed who Roth is smoothly announcing as the opening act for them on this tour.

Kool & the Gang...No really, I'm serious. Ummmm...did anyone think this through?? This reeks of an idea that Roth would come up with and foist upon his audience. I mean how many, drunk, white, 40-60 something, Van Halen fans are going to quietly sit through a rendition of "Cherish" do you think? I'm guessing not many...This has bloodbath written all over it...

Book Review: Rogue Male

2012-01-09T21:32:00.000-05:00

And these are the types of books that I fear will fade into obscurity with each passing technological advance.

How many people today are going to be clamoring for a digital version of these books? No, instead it will be the Harry Potter's and Twilight's of the world that end up digitized while many better works rot in mouldering collections.

This short novel was published in 1939 and contains all the key historical influences you would expect from that time.

Revolving around a proper English gentleman who, for reasons I'll leave to the story, is hunted down across Europe and throughout England by German agents is a remarkable book. Part of its excellence comes in its fantastic use of the 1st person perspective that plays with what the reader truly knows of the protagonist and his motives. Additionally the claustrophobic atmosphere (whether it be hidden as a stowaway on a ship or hiding in an underground burrow) is very well crafted.

The book is a ripping read and the perfect length with each page crammed with detail and thought. A very modern "thriller" in the truest sense Rogue Male is a bit similar in its nature and tone to a book I reviewed here previously (The Riddle in the Sands) but more precise in both its reading and its skewering of Germany and its people. Though Germany remains unnamed (as does the protagonist) throughout the novel, it is quite clear who the author is referring to and who is the root of the "rogue male"'s ire. I highly recommend reading the novel and enjoying every moment of a novel that is best read turned page by turned page and not clicked icon by clicked icon.

Film Review: Sin Nombre

2012-01-09T20:54:00.000-05:00

Just took a shot on this one given it was recommended to us by Netflix, likely on the basis of our enjoyment of other Gael Garcia Bernal films (he produces here).

This one is an average film, not containing anything groundbreaking or overly original.

The intertwined story of an MS-13 gang member from southern Mexico and a Honduran girl who both end up on an ill-fated trip as illegal immigrants to the U.S., if there's ever been a movie to help dispel the myth of the poor, underprivileged, who are just trying for a better life, this is it.

I don't suppose that was the intended message of the film makers but it sure is what comes across. Here we have a murdering gang member with a conscience who is trying to run away from even more pathetic and murderous gang members. On the other hand we have a uneducated, no skill, gullible, 15 year old girl from Honduras who wants to go to New Jersey and live with her other illegal alien relatives....Great...where do I sign up to get these people into the country?

I guess as an audience we're supposed to see redemption in the turn around of the MS-13 gang member nicknamed "Casper" as he goes from murdering and causing the death of his girlfriend to helping save the life of the Honduran girl but I just don't see it. You'd have to be dumb or blind to ignore the filth that these characters surround themselves with and are a part of. Oh, and hey!! This film REALLY was made in the train yards, gang lands and slums of Mexico and includes numerous real "migrants" in the filming!! Wonderful.

Thanks but as nicely shot and as solidly acted as this film is (and it is both of these) the characters are so unsympathetic that none of the rest of the film matters.

Ahhh...Roads, Roads, Roads and More Roads....

2012-01-06T17:13:00.000-05:00

Things move quick sometimes don't they?

While working on one location for a RallySprint event and having two others now quite as far along I had been looking forward to a trip and information on one area when a brief conversation with the man in charge of one of the secondary locations moved things along at a rapid pace. A very rapid pace.

Obviously nothing is set in stone but at this point NISMO Stuff Racing LLC is being invited to visit the site and review the appropriate roads for where we would like the race to be run and conduct a more in depth conversation with the controller of said facility. This will be conducted either in a vehicle supplied by the facility or potentially at least in some part, via a vehicle brought by NISMO Stuff Racing LLC.

Since I will likely be driving my Camry to the facility that still leaves the door open for someone with perhaps some free time on their hands to accompany me, perhaps drive their vehicle on the potential roads and at the least, get out on these roads in vehicle provided by the facility and explore their potential.

During my conversation with the man in charge I was asked how much room I was looking to use for this event and when I stated 3-5 miles of roads to be traversed forward and backward I was told again, similar to my conversation with the other potential site, that this was extremely easy to accommodate and that if more road length was needed/wanted they could likely make it available.

So there it is. And now I am in need of my first volunteer. I need someone preferably with a rally vehicle they might be willing to run on some of these roads and who can spend a day traipsing around the woods looking at how appropriate it would be for rally vehicles. If you have interest, please shoot me an email at: spalind@yahoo.com and let me know what weekends over the next two months you have free and we will coordinate between ourselves and with the facility to head down and conduct some "recce" as it were...

Nissan GT-R GT3 Racer Revealed

2012-01-06T12:13:00.000-05:00

Now that is a sexy beast!

The new Nissan GT-R GT3 racer was just revealed and will go into action in a week at the 24 Hours of Dubai. Unlike its counterpart that took the GT1 championship in '11, the GT3 GT-R is actually powered by Nissan's twin turbo V6 that is to be found within the stock version of that car vs. the transplanted V8 that goes into the GT1 racer.

The GT3 class is supposed to represent a much closer to showroom stock (though by no means "stock") versions of racecars. That being said, Nissan is not skimping on the drivers it is putting behind the wheel with GT1 driver Michael Krumm and others behind the wheel for its first event. Can't wait to see the results. Nissan looks to be going hard into motorsports in 2012!!

Nissan unveils its GT-R GT3 Racecar....

Fancy Smancy Juke To Be Created...

2012-01-05T15:38:00.000-05:00

Fox Marketing, a well known creator of "show" vehicles for SEMA over the past many years has now turned its attention to the Nissan Juke.

Supposedly the end product will be boosted to a power output of near 400hp and contain a "race prepped" interior as well. Its a shame it will be rolling on some decidedly un-racelike wheels and tires and likely sporting a gaudy body kit and be lowered to induce fear in all speedbumps...

But at least the Juke is getting attention. The more the better for this hopeful future Juke owner...

New Life--Cthulhu and Yeti Crabs!

2012-01-04T09:21:00.000-05:00

Showing once again that there is still much about our own little world that we do not know or understand is the discovery of a boat load of new species in the deep Antarctic including this cool looking octopus.

A recent research team went looking around deepwater hydrothermal vents in the Antarctic and came back with a ton of new species and data. Other new species include Hairy Yeti Crab that farm bacteria fields on their chest for sustenance.

Love stories like this...

Cthulhu and Yeti Crabs Found!

Oh, Please Let This Happen!

2012-01-03T10:45:00.001-05:00

Having visited this area I am highly in favor of this "unmanned" border crossing being put into effect on the border of the US and Mexico--similar in nature to many that exist on the border with Canada in remote locations.

A number of years ago, prior to 9/11, I visited Big Bend National Park on my own. It is truly one of the most wild and wonderful areas the US has left within the continental states. Home to mountain lions, black bears, javalinas, and event the occasional jaguar I believe, Big Bend National Park is an incredible place to spend time.

So why would I want an open border to the Mexican side? Well, you'd really have to go there to see what a non-issue this is. When there I paid something like three dollars to have a Mexican boatman ferry me across the Rio Grande to Mexico (illegally, gasp!!) where I paid another three dollars or so to a young Mexican boy to ride a burro (donkey?) up the hill to the Mexican town of Boquillas Del Carmen. Feeling eversomuch like Don Quixote I rode into town not knowing what to expect.

What I found was a truly eye-opening experience. I sat in the residents little adobe homes and feasted on real Mexican tacos at a dollar for three each time. Ice cold beers?? A dollar. A pack of Marlboros?? A dollar. No one spoke English but it didn't matter, the locals were as nice as could be (except the young boy with the burro who whipped the poor thing too many times in my opinion, but my Americanized sensibilities and my perceived views on the treatment of animals digress).

While having tacos I ran into another friendly American tourist (border jumper) to share lunch with. He and I walked across the dusty street (now feeling like Clint Eastwood) to enter a dusty Mexican bar where we continued to down one dollar beers, smoke Marlboros and waste away the day. Offered cocaine, pot and who knows what else while sitting at the bar (all politely declined thank you) it was obvious I was a bit out of my suburban league here and while pissing in an adobe horse trough out back (what served as the bar's bathroom) I must say I was a bit concerned for my safety. Later in the afternoon the local Mexican drunk was literally thrown out the front door opening (for there was no door) and I knew it was time to leave.

Upon beginning my walk back down to the Rio Grande my taco and drinking companion and I noticed that the Federales had arrived in their green camouflaged Hummer looking vehicles for one of their rare but steady visits to the town. Taking the boatman back to the US side of the border (again, illegally!!) I had safely completed my Mexican sojourn and was none the worse for wear.

So why would I want an "honor system" border crossing there? Because there is NO border crossing there currently. With 300 miles of open border at that spot along the Rio Grande (nothing in either direction for 150 miles on each side of that point), no real roads leading to Boquillas del Carmen from the Mexican side, no electricity, no phone, no water, etc., etc. at Boquillas, the chances of that site becoming a haven for illegals is slim to none. Those who want to cross illegally or bring illegal drugs to the US have hundreds and hundreds of miles of open border to cross should they wish, implementing a self service kiosk isn't suddenly going to draw criminals to the area to scan their passports while they come and go. Add to these facts that Customs and Border Patrol man roadblocks on the ONLY roads leading out of Big Bend (trust me, I sat under their sunglassed glaze for some time when I left) and you have one of the safest border areas along the Mexico/US line.

What has been hurt by the post 9/11 crackdown in Big Bend on travel between the two countries is the town of Boquillas and the sense of adventure one gets from going to one of the last few "wild" locations in the US.

Boquillas has lost 1/2 its population (now down to about 100 individuals) and its lifeblood of tourism (illegal though it may have been) along with access to the Big Bend convenience store have been eliminated. One thing that always interested me about the area local to Boquillas was the number of stalactites and stalagmites that were for sale by the locals when I was there. They had obviously raided local caves for these, sheering hundreds if not thousands of them off to sell to visiting gringos. Given the remoteness of this area and issues surrounding the border here I would imagine there could be quite a few caves worth preserving.

Reopen the Big Bend National Park/Boquillas Del Carmen border crossing!

More on the self-service crossing due to open this spring here: National Park Border Crossing to Open...

and a great description of the area, its remoteness and thinking behind the reopening by a similar normally conservative minded individual here: http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/43198

The "Park Bar" in Boquillas:

The drunk who got thrown out the front door opening (Juan Valdez is his name...supposedly):

Help Scouting Some Roads?

2011-12-30T14:35:00.000-05:00

So another step forward.

What will hopefully be a new RallySprint for the NorthEast will go before the board of the proposed location on 1/5/12 for preliminary approval. I have been told by the head of the board that it should not be an issue in getting this initial approval.

From there I need to scout the potential roads for their appropriateness, mapping, etc. According to what I am being told there are some 15-20 miles of appropriate roads available for our use. The potential evidently for some extended RallySprint mileage is very enticing and I hope that it bears out. Given the descriptions and prior use of said roads I have a high degree of confidence that the roads will be near perfect for Stage Rally type competition.

If anyone wishes to help out with this effort, please let me know. I would particularly welcome someone who may want to scout these roads with me--even better if they have a "rally" vehicle they might want to run for a bit on these roads. I don't particularly want to drive my race truck to the location for scouting purposes as it has no heat, I don't want the extra wear and tear on it and the location is a number of hours from where I live. So if you have a nice Subie or Evo or whatever (doesn't need to be caged for scouting), you might have a weekend free in Q1 of '12 and are interested, please let me know.

I don't plan on making the location of the potential event public until it is fully approved but if you get out your protractor and do some triangulation you can figure out a general area of where it is by the following distance measures--518 miles from my home in Windham, NH, 496 from Boston, 313 from NYC, 198 from Balt., 99 from Pittsburgh, 201 from Cleveland, 266 from Columbus, 297 from Syracuse and 482 KMs from Toronto.

Book Review: Motherless Brooklyn

2011-12-29T22:27:00.000-05:00

My usual haul of Christmas gifts always includes a number of books. This year, this was one of them, given to me by one of my brother-in-laws.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem is a very good work. From looking a the descriptions of his other writings, this might be the most straight forward of his creations as the others are more closely related to sci-fi whereas this is firmly in the crime-drama, detective story genre.

The characters, even the lead who suffers from Tourettes can be a bit cliche and in the standard mold of a crime drama (old mafia bosses, cheating wives, Japanese Yakuza, small time thugs, etc.) but it is Lethem's way of bringing their surroundings to life that makes the book work.

Given Lethem was raised and lives in Brooklyn and has a home in Maine, its not much of a surprise that he sets the book in these two locales. Lethem seems to know each like the proverbial "back of his hand". He gets the tone, language and atmosphere of each dead perfect and that's what makes the book so good.

Told in the first person perspective it is easy to fall in with the narrator as he knows the in and outs of each street corner, knows the neighborhoods, the ethnic mix, the true feeling of NYC and Brooklyn in particular--or at least you feel he does (I really have no idea since I've not lived in Brooklyn). Regardless, watching a damaged (emotionally and physically) individual try and untangle the spaghetti soup that is the murder of his mentor/boss is great fun. Motherless Brooklyn won't win a prize for the most earth-shattering or intellectual novel of any year but it sure wins Lethem a lot of new fans.

2009-2010 NASA RallyMoto Champ Bill Conger--Dakar Training...

2011-12-28T12:54:00.000-05:00

So cool now that I participate in a series that can boast of multiple Dakar entrants. This video is of one Bill Conger, a BMW instructional driver from South Carolina who has taken the '09 and '10 RallyMoto championship in NASA Rally. The video is from Bill's training with Charlie Rauseo a few months back. Charlie's Rally Management Services is doing the servicing and chasing for not only Bill but Jonah Street and Ned Suesse as well.

Bill takes a wrong turn towards the end of the video and Charlie waits for him to come back to him after realizing his mistake. Love the terrain here as its part of what drove me to fall in love with events like desert racing, the Dakar and Rally in the first place. Enjoy.

2012 Should Be A Great Year For Movies

2011-12-22T20:59:00.000-05:00

And no, I don't mean because the new Batman will be coming out. Honestly I can't stand the new Batman movies. Bale is a one dimensional, growling sourpuss while not much of it makes any sense and all the "Bat"-contraptions look like they were made by a two year old with some Lagos and an erector set--and then people call it a great work. Heath Ledger in the 2nd of the new Batman films was excellent but the rest of the series I can do without and have no intention of seeing the third installment this summer...

But I digress...

What I am truly looking forward to is the return of my favorite director to Sci-Fi as Ridley Scott's Prometheus is due this summer. It should be truly scary, well thought out and well put together as Scott's films usually are. I'll see this 100 times before I watch another overrated Chris Nolan film...

And a second film I am looking forward to is first of the two Hobbit films. I'm glad they've broken The Hobbit up into two films so that elements such as the troll encounter and Beorn do not have to be eliminated. Peter Jackson once again stays about as faithful to the material as one could expect. This one comes out towards the end of the year...

Karma Is A Bitch Ain't She??

2011-12-20T21:43:00.001-05:00

Ahhh...youth...

In my sometimes unbridled agitation at stupidity I sometimes do stupid things.

One such occurrence was some five or six years ago when working at my previous employer (the loathsome Citizen's Bank owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland). I stumbled across an article written by one Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News in which he had one of the dumbest screeds ever put to print trying to cast the Red Sox manager at the time (Terry Francona) as perhaps the worst human on the planet. It was such a shallow attempt to get back at someone who had never given this fat slob the time of day during Terry's time as manager of the Phillies that it deserved an equally scathing response in return. One personal hatchet job deserved another.

And so I quickly whipped off an email to Bill's Philadelphia Daily News email account pointing out all his obvious deficiencies as a human being. Instead of engaging in a quality tit for tat argument, he went whining to my employer saying I had insulted him from my work email account. Agreed I never should have sent it from my work email account (especially when the Philadelphia Phillies home ballpark is dubbed Citizen's Field after my very employer!!), but lesson learned and we move on--I didn't realize 60 year old men couldn't stand up for themselves and tend to go whining to the authorities whenever slighted....oh, well...

Anywho...now it's some five or six years later and what to my wondering eyes should behold!?!? But Mr. Bill Conlin resigning today from the Philadelphia Daily News as he now stands accused of molesting multiple children over a period of years!! Once again I feel as if my nose for scumbags of all flavors has been proven right. I couldn't stand the toad from the moment the camera had to pan backward to fit his corpulent frame on the screen of ESPN's SportsReporters and I now feel fully vindicated. I hope he rots in hell--after having his fill of large male inmates with a penchant for fat, immobile, aged men...

Bill Conlin resigns in disgrace...

Have Another Wing!!

2011-12-19T11:39:00.000-05:00

Holy crap...

This is supposedly the VIS Racing Sports Rally Body Kit and boy is it a hunk of crap.

Made for the very Rally-like Nissan Versa, this body kit will get you in with the likes of Ken Block and Travis Pastrana in no time!!

And look!! They've even discounted it from the usual $1000.99 price all the way down to $887.99!! What a bargain!

Just remember that as the description says...these modifications are for "off-road use only" as you will be just too cool to drive around on asphalt looking this ready to throw down for a race at a moments notice.

If you want to kit out your Versa like this, here is the link. God bless and good luck!
VIS Racing Versa Rally Body Kit!!

Nissan's First Rally Effort?

2011-12-17T18:12:00.000-05:00

This is Nissan's oldest Rally effort that I've seen so far. 1958 in fact.

The effort was evidently Datsun's re-entry into motorsports after WWII. The vehicles used were two Datsun 210s and it circumnavigated the entire Australian continent.

Though they only wanted to finish the event the Datsun's won their class and took home a fourth woth both vehicles finishing. The video and pictures in the article are great and the bare bones vehicles are a far cry from the plush rides we race today.

Nissan at the 1958 Mobilgas event...

Baja 1000 TV Ratings From 12/11/11

2011-12-16T17:31:00.000-05:00

I had forgotten that the World of Adventure Sports on NBC was going have its Baja 1000 segment this past Sunday.

Then I saw the thread on RDC complaining about the coverage and decided to go back and get the ratings for the program to see how it compares to prior shows.

The result? Zzzzzzz...same old same old. In truth, its no different than the ratings LOORRS is generating over on CBS for its broadcasts and not really different from prior World of Adventure Sports broadcasts.

The 0.5 rating equates to 0.5% of the 115.9 million TV households tuning into the broadcast. With approximately 1.1 viewers per the 580,000 households that were tuned in, that means some 638,000 people viewed the brief 2011 Baja 1000 coverage. '09's coverage of the B1K on NBC and within the World of Adventure Sports program generated a 0.7 rating and had approximately 900,000 viewers. '10's World of Adventure Sports Baja 1000 program garnered only a 0.3 rating and about 382,000 viewers.

So '11's viewership wasn't the best in recent years but it wasn't the worst. Not sure that this really has anything to do with either an increase in interest in the sport any more than the sharp decline in last year's results had anything to do with people leaving the sport. The ratings are what they are...probly about the number of people who turned their TVs on and were just too lazy to change the channel--but hey, at least maybe it wasn't so bad that people changed the channel AWAY from the broadcast.

TELECAST DATE NET TIME (ET) RAT.

"ESPN All America Team Show" 12/10 ABC 1:30-2:30pm 0.6

"ESPN Sports Saturday" 12/10 ABC 4:00-6:00pm 0.8

NCAA Basketball: Duke-Washington 12/10 CBS 12:00-2:00pm 1.4

"College Football Today" 12/10 CBS 2:00-2:30pm 2.5

NCAA Football: Navy-Army 12/10 CBS 2:30-6:00pm 4.0

Golf: Shark Shootout: Second Round 12/10 NBC 2:30-4:30pm 0.7

Ironman World Championship (taped) 12/10 NBC 4:30-6:00pm 1.0

"The NFL Today" 12/11 CBS 12:00-1:00pm 2.8

"NFL on CBS": (regional) 12/11 CBS 1:00-4:15pm 11.4

"NFL on CBS": Raiders-Packers (95%) 12/11 CBS 4:15-7:30pm 12.8

"Fox NFL Sunday" 12/11 Fox 12:00-1:00pm 3.4

"NFL on Fox": (single) 12/11 Fox 1:00-4:05pm 14.3

ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (taped) 12/11 NBC 12:00-2:00pm 0.9

World of Adventure Sports (taped) 12/11 NBC 2:00-3:00pm 0.5

Golf: Shark Shootout: Final Round 12/11 NBC 3:00-6:00pm 0.8

"Football Night in America" 12/11 NBC 7:30-8:15pm 6.5

"Sunday Night Football": Giants-Cowboys 12/11 NBC 8:30-11:30pm 16.1

2011 NISMO Festival

2011-12-13T09:35:00.001-05:00

30,000 attendees.

That's a lot of people for a one day, single make, performance car show.

But it is what Nissan Motorsports draws to its annual event showcasing the history of performance Nissan vehicles from the past 50 years or so.

The models here run the gamut from track to rally from the 60's right up to today's Nissan racers.

If only we could have an event and dedicated enthusiasts like this here.

2011 NISMO Festival...