To Central Oregon & Back

This past weekend Wendy and I went to visit my sis down in Sisters OR. We took a few pictures on the way down and a coupe on the way back, so I wanted to share.

A wind farm just south of the OR/WA border – lots of generators out there on Hwy 97. Pretty cool.

One of the mountains in view.

And another…

Neat old building in the middle of a field.

The Three Sisters – part of the view my Sis gets every time she leaves home to head to town.

This is Mt. Adams, I think. Another part of the view.

Broken Top.

Three Finger Jack.

T.F.J. and Black Butte.

 

A panoramic of most of them, Three Finger Jack and Black Butte are off to the right. The camera had a limit on how many frames I could use for the stitch process. :( Linked to a very large version…

Sophia fell asleep on Wendy on the way home.

West Seattle Winters

Well, over here in the little part of Seattle called "West Seattle" the snow has fallen, and then the temperature dropped into the 20's. So we have a great deal of ice on the roadways making navigation a tricky business. There are some drivers that know what they are doing, and others that have no clue what to do.

Having dedicated snow tires is a definite plus. Traction exists as long as I can keep tires on stuff that isn't wet-topped sheet ice. If there's any roughness to it, and it isn't in the sun, then navigating it hasn't been to much of a problem yet. There are areas where you have to be REALLY gentle, and use the brakes rather than back-pressure to slow down, otherwise the tail tries to overtake the nose.

I've heard that there were supposed to be plows out, but I haven't seen signs of any plows yet. There was one lane of the downhill run on 35th that was sanded, but it didn't look like the uphill run had been sanded. Hopefully it will be better by the time we are heading uphill after Wendy is done with her bell choir this morning. If not, I'll be putting the chains on the car to get home. I think we should go to the Farmers Market first though. Since a bunch of the vendors have shown up, then we should do our best to make it worthwhile for them.

That's all for this morning, I'm just relaxing at a little coffee-house called "Hotwire" here on California Avenue north of the Alaska Junction. The West Seattle Blog had a coupon book, so I got a free coffee to enjoy while Wendy was busy with bells.

4pm Update - here are a few photos from our evening walk in the snow. These were all from the first few minutes, as it started to come down quite heavy, and I packed the camera into my coat to keep it dry.

Wendy & Sophia, ready for the walk:

A few neighbors porches:

A couple of snow-laden bushes:

Automotive diatribe #3810...

I was thinking about something on the commute this morning, I wonder if I can remember what it was about...

I wanted to pull over and take some notes, because it was a really great idea.

Right, now I recall... design philosophy for a new car.

One of the worlds great automakers should begin designing a car (or two, or four) with the following attributes:
1) All materials used should be recycled or renewable
2) The vehicle should be designed to be recycled at end of life
3) The vehicle should employ current/near future tech for motive power

None of this is "new" thinking, however, let me expand on my thoughts for a few minutes and be a little more detailed... As there are many more details that should be taken into consideration in the vehicles I am thinking about.

Materials:
Many of a cars components can be made from recycled steel, aluminum, etc. rather than being from freshly mined ore. I don't know the current process for this, but I do know that there is a lot of scrap metal that appears to be under-utilized. It would be nice if that could all be accounted for, and tracked. If automakers are currently using recycled materials, it would be nice to know what percentage of the whole this was done for. For interior materials, some plastics would be fine where they needed to be formed, but since almost everything is gray or black, why not make it from recycled materials? Other trim materials for "extra" bits could be made from bamboo or other renewable resources. Natural fiber or recycled plastic carpeting. Kapok filled cushions in the seats. Leather upholstery - face it, the world eats beef, so we might as well use everything available. Alternatives could be organic cotton or wool. Sheepskin makes a wonderful seat cover, why not actually make the seat from it? My point is that with almost any level of interior trim there are renewable materials that can be utilized to meet or exceed current styles.

End of life:
Let's face it, currently there are a lot of cars that aren't designed to be torn down - they are designed to be crushed and melted down as a single piece, burning off any "impurities" that may be contained within the block (plastics, wires, etc.) While I know that tearing a car down takes time, if the larger assemblies were designed to be removed a little more efficiently, they could be processed separately from each other. For instance, in my car, built in 1991, many of the electrical components are routed through body cavities, and mounted to the body itself. A different method of design might make it so that all those capacitors, relays, and switches that are hidden in every little crevice and hole in the body where mounted to a dash subassembly that could be pulled as a unit. The wires running through the body could have connectors to plug into the subassembly in one location. Rather than having a master harness through the entire car, plugged into various components mounted in various locations, centralize the connections. Make it so that when the main cage is crushed, that's all that is getting crushed. Make it easy to remove as much non-metal as possible.

Motive power:
We know have quite a few options for various forms of efficient generation of power. We have electric motors, hybrid-power, hydrogen, fuel-cell, engines that run on petrol, regular oil (diesel), natural gas, and biofuels like ethanol, biodiesel, and biogas. There are a lot of options, lets make use of them where they make sense. Vehicles for more specific purposes, fueled by the most efficient method for that purpose. Vehicles where the power plant can be selected based on best availability depending on where it will be used. For instance, a truck at a dairy farm could be the same as a truck at a farm growing soybeans, only the engine for the dairy truck would burn biogas, which could be processed at the dairy. A vehicle for a daily commute specializing in making a 100 mile round trip with amenities for comfort of the passenger, and would be able to recharge or refuel quickly. A luxury limousine built with a hybrid system would enable "on a whim" destinations without concern for distance. Even now there are efficient race cars that are winning every event they enter, specializing in long distance endurance racing, and running on biofuel. These cars are also quieter, faster, and more reliable than their "traditional" counterparts. If it's being done on the racetrack, can we bring it to the streets? Please?

So, to the manufacturers, I say this: Give us something that we can use, something comfortable, and something that looks nice. Make it something that doesn't make a huge carbon footprint. It doesn't have to be faster than everything else. It doesn't have to be bigger than everything else. It doesn't have to be the smallest. It doesn't need EVERY gadget on the planet. Let me have choices in how much engine I want, not what you think I want, or what "market research shows 70% think" - let me make my own decision. In Europe, there are four models of the BMW 1 series, with seven choices of engines. The 3 series has eight engine selections. Here in the US we get... two models, two engines in the 1 series, all four models of 3 series, but again only two engines. Give us a choice. Let us make the decision for ourselves. I'd love a 118d M Sport 3-door hatchback. Rated at close to 63 MPG, it almost feels criminal that it isn't offered here in the US. It's past time to be making cars based on what can be sold off the show room floor, and give people the ability to buy the car they need, rather than giving them what you think they want. It's past time to stop thinking that gasoline is going to last forever. It's time to start making cars for tomorrow rather than for yesterday.

BMW information source: http://www.bmw.co.uk

Update: Just received the new issue of Winding Road, which mentions a new design from Mercedes Benz. Will be interesting to see where this leads.

Wendy & I went with the BMW Club on a tour of Harold LeMay's auto collection on July 13th, 2008. We only attended the morning portion, about 300 or so cars on display.

Here's a small sample of some of the vehicles in the collection.

---

Learning to Drive

When I was a kid, Dad used to take Kimry (my sister) and I to a local dirt oval track in Oregon every once in a while to watch the cars go round and round. After a few years, as I got a little older, and Kimry lost interest, we went a few more times just him and I. Then, after a while we stopped going. I was never sure why - it's possible the track closed down, or the tickets got to expensive, or any of a hundred different reasons. I wasn't old enough to drive then, and we did go to other racing events. IMSA, a couple of CART races, the GTP races at Portland International Raceway. We even ended up in the paddock a few time. I still have a couple slides were I got pictures of Michael Andretti in his first or second season in a Texaco car.

As I grew up I started out driving a riding lawnmower, then the old Dodge pickup in fields while Dad & Kimry filled it with straw or hay for her horse. I think I was about 13. Then, later on, when I turned 15 and got my learners permit he took me out to teach me how to drive a manual. That was in a 1972 Saab Sonnet 3. It had front wheel drive, a stiff clutch that didn't always engage in the same place twice, no power brakes, and no power steering. It was a beast. But it really did teach me how to drive a stick.

He taught me how to be smooth, and told me about driving a line, and how to apex. I'd listen, and watch what the race cars were doing on track, and over a great deal of time see what I could here and there with my cars as I grew up.

Some of the things I ended up doing were (looking back) pretty stupid. I learned from those mistakes. I listened when others that I respected were speaking (or writing) above driving. When the internet came along, and I finally got online, I read even more about how cars handle, what affects their handling, and how to shift weight. In each car that I owned, I learned carefully where my comfortable limit was, and stayed fairly well within that safety cushion.

I started out in the family wagon, a 1972 Volvo Wagon, and the truck, a 1969 Dodge 3/4 ton (Uuuuuuugly....) My first car was a 1965 VW Beetle. Great learning car. Constantly adjusting the valves. Sometimes hard to handle. My second car was another Volvo wagon, a 1974 145 with a 4-speed. After that I bought a 1979 Toyota Celica. Drove that for several years. Then a 1993 Mazda Protege - one of the worlds great commuter cars, and still ahoot to drive. Also my first front wheel drive. After I married, we traded that car in on a 626 for Wendy, and I inherited the Nissan 240sx Wendy had. I hated the auto, so after a time sold that and bought a 1985 Toyota MR2. Sweet car. Loved it dearly. Eventually, though, it was time for something different and I bought (slightly on a whim) a 1989 BMW M3. Dream car. Quick. Nimble. I'll have to own another someday... but at the time it got me into to much trouble. Had to sell.

Then found what I was originally looking for, and bought a 1991 BMW 318is. Last of the E30 models with a 4-cylinder engine. Light, balanced, nimble, but not to quick. Easy and comfortable to commute in. Reasonable mileage, I can average 28mpg without trouble in mixed commuting, and can top 31mpg on a long freeway cruise. And... it does well at speed.

Which brings us to the point of this long, winding road... learning to Drive (with a capital D).

In 2004, after we bought the MINI Cooper and I had the MR2 a while, Wendy and I went to the BMW Club performance driving education "Skills Day" where they teach you car control. Things like threshold braking, weight transfer, controlling under-steer and (The Fun Part!) over-steer, collision avoidance, and line selection (finding the apex of a turn). At the time we didn't have the money for me to take the follow up on-track driving instruction. Then, when I bought the M3, I did another skills day, and again did not have the money to be able to take it to the track. (And it needed work to make it safer on the track at the time.) This year was the first year that I was finally able to get to the track for the first time, and I really enjoyed it.

I signed up for the IRDC Drivers School weekend before last, and had an absolute blast. This last weekend I went to another driving school through the local chapter of the BMW Club, and again had a great time. It's the first time I've really been able to explore either my car's or my own limits, and I've discovered that initially my own limits are much more stringent than my car's. It will easily handle any edge I'm willing to push towards right now. Which is a really nice feeling, as that means it's really easy for me to be able to drive it home from these events... Over the two weekends there were three incidents where the drivers exceeded the limits of the vehicles, and two of those incidents resulted in the cars being taken away on flat bed tow trucks.

There were a couple of photographers at each of the two days, but only one has posted pictures yet. Here's a few images that I was able to purchase for my own use from the first of those photographers to make the images available.









All images copyright 2008 Pete Stoppani, Red Mist Photo

Late February Mornings

These days there are many mornings where the fog rolls through different parts of the city. This morning was no exception. I had hoped it would be a clear morning so that I could take some good sunrise shots, but that didn't work out as I'd hope. This is what the morning started out like from our home in Highpoint.

Last night the sunset was nice. My 318iS is now sitting on it's not-frozen-weather wheels & tires, but is a little dirty. Maybe this weekend I'll be able to clean up both the cars...

What I did last Sunday...

Wendy & I claimed our new Townhouse Friday, so Saturday I started masking and prepping to change the interior colors from the drab off-whites used in the construction in between appointments with consultants.

Sunday, we went shopping for a new grill and for pots to move Wendy's garden to the deck. After that, I put the first coat of paint on the garage walls.

I forgot to take initial pictures, but remembered as I was finishing up the first wall, so here's the transformation. Later this week I'll put on a second coat before the garage people come out to estimate coating the floor.

Drywall, and a little blue tape...



It begins to turn white:








The next wall is done:





Starting to look much cleaner now.





First coat complete.











It's amazing, but I'd forgotten how much I hated painting ceilings...





Would have much preferred to be at the BMW Concours, or even a quick visit to the All British Field Meet, but am happy that the Missus has authorized (even suggested!) the upgrades to the garage before we really move in.

It's Happening, although slowly...

It's been a while since I posted anything. Been busy in most things, slow in others. Thought I would write a little about what's been going on.

So, here it is.

Last weekend, a friend & I did some maintenance on my BMW. We started out by pulling the exhaust off, then dropped out the transmission. Then we got to the heart of the issue... a worn out release bearing (also known as a throw-out bearing). It had started squealing extremely loud the last day I drove it... when we pulled it out, it was easy to tell that something was wrong with it. One race (bearing surface) was off center, and the whole assembly was fused together. A couple of firm taps on the concrete broke the fused surfaces apart, and it popped into pieces. Some of the balls popped out and tried to roll away.

Removing the clutch was next. The pressure plate came off as expected, along with the clutch plate. On inspection, it was easy to tell that this was the original clutch for the vehicle (a good thing) and that it was definitely due for replacement (the clutch plate was worn to the point of rivets cutting grooves in the pressure plate.

After that, we pulled off the flywheel. Rather than have it resurfaced, I had purchased a replacement flywheel ahead of time. One that saved about 20 pounds of weight where it will really make a difference... :) Before beginning to put everything back together we broke for lunch and a trip to the carwash to clean up the transmission.

Reassembly started after UPS dropped off the new clutch plate (there was a minor bubble in the initial order.) Reassembly went without issue, and the car was on the ground and running at about 9:00pm.

Other items of interest: today is the building inspection on our townhouse. This Friday is the Warranty Walkthrough of the same. Wendy's cell phone/PDA is dying. I've upgraded from a 4GB iPod Mini to a 30GB Video iPod... schweet!

:)