Northeastern "Off-Road" Events 5/18-5/19

I know this is a bit late...but just in case someone was looking for something to do this weekend I figured I'd put it up as there is always more going on than you might believe.

NEHA Ascutney Hillclimb: the event this year is running the long course for the first time in a number of years.  Ascutney is in southern Vermont and this even takes place over Saturday and Sunday with the first day being practice runs up the mountain and the runs that count come on Sunday.  The NEHA events are always great for both beginners and experts as even in a non-caged car you can run wide open the entire way.  Check out the rules and join in, this is a great way to get involved in motorsports and see if its something you want to take to the next level.  New England Hillclimb Association

J Day Off Road: on Sunday 5/19, J Day holds its third event of the year in Greenfield, MA at the Davenport Trucking Paradise GP.  J Day has been rapidly growing its brand and events over the past few years by presenting a unique mix of enduro, motocross and endurocross terrain in a spectator friendly environment.  The series not only runs a number of "pro" classes but classes for older and inexperienced riders as well making the series a welcoming one great for everyone.  J Day Off-Road

The Central Connecticut 4 Wheelers are putting on their second event of 2013.  CC4W holds its events at the Moto-X 338 facility in Southwick, MA.  These events represent some of the longest running short course events in the Northeastern, US and CC4W has opened a "beginners" class for those who might want to get their feet wet in short course racing.  Lots of excellent Jeeps, buggies and trucks running here with the race taking place on Sunday 5/19 and Team O'Neil Rally School performing demo rides as well.  Central Connecticut 4Wheelers

If anyone knows of any others please let me know so I can add them to my schedule of events to pay attention to in the future.  And if anyone attends any of these events and/or takes photos, please let me know as I'd love to give a mention/recap for each one.  So get out there and get involved.

Seeing Eye Cat??

Not sure how true this is but it makes for a nice story anyway...I just don't see video here of the cat leading the dog around and directing him...

Film Review: Senna

I'm far from a F1 aficionado. I follow the sport as much as I can in current times but I don't know much of its history.  That being said, I knew who Aryton Senna was and knew of his death before seeing this film.  I also knew of the hype surrounding this film.

For months before and after its release it was hailed as an actual great film for both casual moviegoers and hardcore motorsport enthusiasts.  After viewing it, I feel like it marginally met both standards for me.

The film is crafted entirely from historical footage both professional and personal.  It does a solid job of covering Senna's professional career and personality showing both his competitive fire and softer touch--particularly with the people of his home country of Brazil.

Particularly well done was the film's ability to create opponents both on and off the track for Senna.  The reality of the enmity between Senna and Alain Prost (on the track) and Jean-Marie Balestre (off the track) might be debated but at least here in the film, they are crafted as great foils to Senna, the racing white knight who in the end, is killed by Balestre's disregard for safety.

For all of the films positive qualities and tragic ending it never captured my imagination.  It was far more antiseptic that I expected.  Maybe that's because much of the footage is derived from the actual races themselves or the practices and interviews surrounding the races.  The personal footage is the most interesting and also that in shortest supply here.  Watching Senna with his friends, fans and family teaches you the most about who the man was and what he stood for.  As usual in "documentaries" it is the more unscripted moments that are most illuminating.  Senna is worth watching for its coverage of one of the major motorsports figures in the late 20th century, his death and some of the inner political dealings of the FISA (forerunner of the FIA), I'm just not willing to put it up there with the best films of '12 or in my all time favorites.

Nissan Pulsar SSS Specs and Release...

As we have previously predicted here, the Nissan Pulsar (Versa Note here in the US) in Australia is the first to receive confirmation of the hopped up version of the hot hatch.

The Pulsar will receive the "SSS" badging and is lauded by the initial article as being a decent competitor for the VW Golf GTI Polo (not the same as the US Golf).  While carrying a tad more HP than the Polo at 188 it does sport slightly less torque at 177 ft. lb.  Under the hood of this Nissan with be a turbo 1.6L vs. the NA 1.8L in the regular version of the Pulsar/Versa.  This engine matches EXACTLY the specs on the 1.6L turbo seen in the Juke and it is a safe bet that the SSS will be housing the same MR16DDT mill.  Knowing that the Juke engine has seen its HP pushed to 197 in the NISMO version of that CUV means that there is even more performance to be had out of this SSS particularly given the Pulsar will be about 600 pounds less than the Juke. The SSS will come standard...with a standard.  If you're a moron you can pay an additional $2500 or so for the privilege of having a computer do the shifting with an available CVT. 

These measurements should translate well to the US--if it comes here--which I can't forsee it not.  Likley dubbed the Versa Note NISMO I'm guessing, this will represent Nissan's entry into the performance end of the B-segment along with the Ford Fiesta.  I would anticipate Nissan USA announcing its arrival here in Q3 of this year and at dealerships by the end of '13 to Q1 of '14.

Oh, and the photo above is NOT of the SSS which I'm sure will come with more body cladding and such that always seems to come along with "performance" models...

Nissan Pulsar SSS announced...

Nasser Al-Attiyah Shorts Course at Rally Mexico...

Now in the desert or Dakar this would be fine in the "find your own line and hit the checkpoints" style of racing.  In rally however, I'm not sure how "proper" this is.  There are a number of instances where you can "short" a rally course if you so choose--but is it legal??  Is there a penalty??  There is no chicane here that he would have been required to pass through, he merely blew a corner and proceeded in the shortest possible direction back onto the course?  Thoughts?

Oh, and he was not penalized for this "maneuver"  See here: http://www.wrc.com/results/2013/rally-guanajuato-mexico/penalties/

Northern Water Snake in Windham, NH

Actually two of them.  The first one, which is the one seen in these pictures, was found on the road in front of my house.  At first I thought it was dead but when I tried to pick it up with a rake it started snapping at me and moving.  Eventually I got it on the rake and removed it to the woods to die (some of its intestines were hanging out) I turned around to find my 7 year old yelling that he had found another one.  This one was most definitely alive and just basking in the sun near my little "pond".  Getting near it, it rapidly reared up and then slid down the rocks into the pond, swimming very well and entering some cave under the rocks in the water.

Both were quite aggressive when disturbed raising their heads up off the ground a few inches and snapping rapidly at whatever was bothering it (in this case a plastic rake).

I didn't know what kind of snake it was at first (obviously not a rattler) but definitely the largest snake I'd ever seen in the "wilds" of NH as they were each about 3 feet long and quite thick.  Looking them up after the fact it appears they are generally common throughout NH though this is the first I've seen of one (or two!)

The frogs, crayfish and small fish we have in our stream are likely their favorite meals while the big snapping turtles we see every year likely love to feed on these snakes.  Ahh...the circle of life...

Virgin Galactic Breaks the Sound Barrier...

Developments are coming fast and furious in the private space industry right now.  Recently we had SpaceX and its Grasshopper test sessions and its second successful resupply/return to the ISS and Orbital's successful test launch of its Antares rocket.

Today its Virgin Galactic.  Virgin's efforts are decidedly the most consumer-centric of the bunch at the current time with its endeavors targeted toward getting well heeled customers into space for a brief period of time.  Virgin's design is based off of the Ansari X Prize winning design that some decade ago by Scaled Composites took private flight into space for the first time.

Utilizing a solid rubber fuel mixed (some engineer needs to explain to me how you control a solid propellant fuel burn--by throttling up and down the amount of oxidizer you "shoot" into the mixture/burn?) with nitrous oxide for its propellant the Virgin Galactic Space Ship Two broke the sound barrier during the first firing of its rocket in flight earlier today.  Ignited for only 16 seconds the ship reached Mach 1.2 and reached a height of 55,000 feet after being dropped by the White Knight transport at 47,000 feet.  Testing is expected to continue ramping up in the remainder of the year with a test to its intended suborbital height in excess of 328,000 feet (near triple the height of the Red Bull Stratos jump late last year) likely to occur before the 2014.

Reportedly over 500 people have already gotten themselves on board at a cost of $200,000 a pop for the rides on the ship when it becomes fully operational equating to some $100MM in revenue which is a good deal of money...but given Sir Richard Branson is a billionaire, really isn't that much for the effort...I have a feeling bigger and bolder plans are in store...

"Official" Rallye Sanair Video Part 1

At least I believe that is what this is titled in French.  Though the NISMO Stuff Racing Frontier makes only a single appearance (near the very end) its a nice tight shot of it with its full lights on--and we're not being passed nor do we look to be crawling along!

Also included in the video are a nice spinout by our fellow NH Ralliest, Vittorio Barres in the red Audi and a nice blown corner and wall smack by a Civic.  I definatly love gravel events and real roads better but this gives you a good idea of how head to head this event can get.

Stadium Super Trucks Initial 4/14 Ratings

Given the new TV relationship with NBC and being its initial broadcast, its very interesting to take a look at Robby Gordon's ratings for the Stadium Super Trucks race two weekends ago.  These are the FINAL ratings for these broadcasts and not the "overnight" ratings which are a bit less precise.  I believe these ratings would also include those individuals who may have DVR'd the broadcast and watched it within a day or two of the original broadcast.  I also don't have to use my usual estimate of # of viewers as it is provided for us--though I don't know how it is calculated...

Stadium Super Trucks garnered a 0.4 rating which is right in line with what we have seen over the past few years for LOORRS or TORC broadcasts on CBS and other major networks.  Also in line with the recent TORC/LOORRS broadcasts is the number of viewers which stood at 596,000 for this first Stadium Super Trucks show.  Of note is that this figure is more than DOUBLE what F1 races are seeing for viewership on the NBC Sports network on a COMBINED basis (both live early in the morning and on its rebroadcast later in the day).  So if I was Robby's marketing team, THAT is an item I would be heavily focusing on.  Full ratings from the weekend are below.



TELECAST DATE NET TIME (ET) RAT. VIEWERS (000)

The Masters: Final Round 4/14 CBS 2:00-7:00pm 9.4 14,700
The Masters: Third Round 4/13 CBS 3:00-7:00pm 5.8 8,500
NRA 500 (Texas) 4/13 Fox 7:49-11:20pm 3.8 6,269
NBA: Bulls-Heat 4/14 ABC 1:00-3:45pm 2.1 3,009
MLB: (regional) 4/13 Fox 4:00-7:00pm 1.8 2,500
"Masters Playoffs" 4/13 CBS 2:00-3:00pm 1.1 n/a
"Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta" 4/14 CBS 1:00-2:00pm 1.0 n/a
"NBA Countdown" 4/14 ABC 12:30-1:00pm 0.9 1,243
Liga MX: Leon-Club America 4/13 Telem. 9:00-11:04pm 0.5 975
Horse Racing: Blue Grass Stakes 4/13 NBC 4:30-6:00pm 0.7 935
NHL: Blackhawks-Blues 4/14 NBC 12:30-3:00pm 0.7 933
AMA Supercross 4/14 CBS 12:00-1:00pm 0.7 n/a
Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular 4/14 NBC 4:00-6:00pm 0.6 914
Liga MX: CD Guadalajara-Atlante 4/14 Telem. 5:55-8:00pm 0.4 726
"ESPN Sports Saturday" 4/13 ABC 4:00-6:00pm 0.5 611
Speed Golf World Championships 4/13 CBS 1:00-2:00pm 0.5 n/a
Stadium Super Trucks 4/14 NBC 3:00-4:00pm 0.4 596
Heads-Up Poker Championship 4/13 NBC 2:30-4:30pm 0.5 571